He was trying to see if Zhou Xuan wanted the Nine Dragon Cauldron or the two women.
Zhou Xuan certainly didn't dare to gamble with him, so he took off his backpack without hesitation, then took out the Nine Dragon Cauldron and said, "Nine Dragon Cauldron, I'll throw it to you right away. Don't hurt those two, or I'll throw the Nine Dragon Cauldron into the lava and destroy it!"
An Guoqing chuckled coldly. Zhou Xuan was indeed as he expected, a womanizer. How could such a person accomplish anything? But perhaps it was because he didn't know the greater secret of the Nine Dragon Cauldron. If he knew that secret, perhaps he wouldn't have given it to him so readily!
“As long as you throw the Nine Dragon Cauldron over here and give me the Nine Star Pearl, I won’t hurt these two girls!” An Guoqing continued to wave his pistol.
Zhou Xuan wrapped the Nine Dragon Cauldron in his backpack, then threw it forcefully, landing it at An Guoqing's feet.
An Guoqing used his foot to scrape the Nine Dragon Cauldron and drag it to his feet, then shouted, "Quickly take out the Nine Star Pearl and throw it here to me, hurry up!"
Volume 1: The Lotus Seedlings Begin to Bloom; Volume 2: Emerging from the Cocoon; Chapter 402: Cataclysmic Disaster or the Way Home?
Chapter 402 Cataclysmic Disaster or the Way Home?
Seeing Fu Ying helplessly suspended by An Guoqing on the lava, Zhou Xuan panicked terribly. Forgetting everything else, he quickly said, "Be careful not to let Fu Ying fall into the lava. If anything happens to her, I will never forgive you!"
An Guoqing chuckled sinisterly, "Don't worry, as long as you obediently give me the Nine Star Pearl, I will absolutely not harm either of them."
An Guoqing thought to himself that after Zhou Xuan threw the Nine Star Pearl over, he wouldn't push Fu Ying into the lava. To be honest, although he wasn't particularly fond of women, it was rare to see such a beautiful girl. It would be a pity to destroy her by pushing her into the lava. Since he was going to leave Zhou Xuan here, he might as well leave two beauties for him to keep him company. It would be a way of paying back for the trouble he had caused him.
Zhou Xuan dared not gamble with him, so he hurriedly took out the Nine Star Beads. After taking out the eight Nine Star Beads, the glowing gem on top flashed again and then returned to normal.
Zhou Xuan said urgently, "Throw the backpack over here again, I'll put the beads in it and then throw it back to you, otherwise if one falls into the lava, we won't be able to get it back."
An Guoqing brandished his pistol at Wei Xiaoyu, kicked the empty backpack over, and said, "Miss Wei, could you please throw this bag over there?"
Wei Xiaoyu dared not disobey. If An Guoqing loosened his grip or lost focus even for a moment, Fu Ying would fall into an abyss of no return. Although she envied, was jealous of, and hated Fu Ying, she didn't want her to be pushed into the lava by An Guoqing. Zhou Xuan was a sentimental person who wouldn't yield to force, and if Fu Ying died because of her, Zhou Xuan would probably never forgive her.
An Guoqing brandished his pistol and shouted, "Hurry up!"
Wei Xiaoyu didn't dare to hesitate and quickly picked up her backpack and threw it to Zhou Xuan. Zhou Xuan didn't dare to hesitate either. He put the Nine Star Beads into his backpack, zipped it up, and then threw it at An Guoqing.
An Guoqing witnessed Zhou Xuan put the Nine Star Beads into his backpack and throw it to him. He then dropped the backpack at his feet, pulled it over with his foot, and dragged Fu Ying back and threw her to the ground.
Wei Xiaoyu quickly grabbed Fu Ying and dragged her far away from An Guoqing.
An Guoqing opened his backpack, took out the Nine Star Beads, and placed them one by one into the Nine Dragon Cauldron. As he did so, he smiled at Zhou Xuan and said, "Zhou Xuan, before I leave, I want to tell you a few secrets. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease. A person's biggest secret can never be revealed; it's actually a very painful thing. Now I have the chance to tell you, and you will never be able to leave. After hearing this secret, even dying will be worthwhile."
Zhou Xuan was about to transform and devour An Guoqing when he heard what An Guoqing said. He immediately stopped using his superpower. As long as An Guoqing released Fu Ying, he was confident that An Guoqing would never be able to harm Fu Ying and Wei Xiaoyu again. He was ready to hear what An Guoqing's secret was.
"Let me tell you, you may never believe it," An Guoqing said smugly, "I am actually Liu Zijie from two hundred years ago, and that story is actually my own personal experience."
Zhou Xuan was taken aback, then asked, "How is that possible?"
An Guoqing laughed heartily, "Hahaha, have you forgotten the Nine Dragon Cauldron? Two hundred years ago, after I obtained the Nine Dragon Cauldron, I triggered it, and ended up in 1990, nineteen years ago. However, due to a mistake, I lost the Nine Dragon Cauldron. But I also figured something out because of it."
He paused, then continued, "You must have heard of the legend of immortality, Zhou Xuan, right? What I'm about to tell you is that the Nine Dragon Cauldron is a living legend of immortality."
Zhou Xuan and Wei Xiaoyu were both stunned. Immortality?
That's too outrageous. Even if it were an advanced alien civilization, it would be impossible to achieve that. Zhou Xuan understood that the energy of the Nine Dragon Cauldron and his ice-qi ability could prolong life, but that might only allow humans to live for a few decades longer. Even Zhou Xuan himself probably could only live to be a hundred years old. He didn't believe in immortality.
"How is that possible?" Zhou Xuan asked An Guoqing in a daze.
An Guoqing chuckled and said, "To live forever, I believe no one in this world can do it, and I can't either. But I can use the power of the Nine Dragon Cauldron to go back several decades. I've figured it out: if you use the Nine Dragon Cauldron to travel through time, only your mind goes back, not your body. In other words, if you go back twenty years, even if you were an infant then, you would still have your current thoughts. When you live to be twenty years old, you can go back twenty years again, and so on in an endless cycle. Your body will grow from small to large each time, but your brain and your thoughts will remain the same as they are now. Doesn't that mean you'll live forever?... Hahaha..."
Seeing An Guoqing laughing wildly, Zhou Xuan finally understood his thoughts and learned his secret. He immediately chuckled coldly and said, "An Guoqing, you've calculated everything, but you overlooked one thing. Don't you find it strange that I don't know this?"
An Guoqing was taken aback, brandished his pistol, and asked arrogantly, "What's so strange about you? You're unarmed, what can you do to me? Are you saying that Miss Wei and Miss Fu are both exceptionally skilled in combat?"
He chuckled and said, "I know that the two beautiful young ladies are very skilled in martial arts, but how can they compare to someone like me who has practiced for two hundred years? Besides, I have a pistol in my hand now, and Miss Fu has had her pressure points sealed by me. Even if the two of them attacked together, they wouldn't be a match for me. Moreover, there's only Miss Wei here now. How could she possibly do anything to me?"
Zhou Xuan said calmly, "Is your pistol still of any use?"
An Guoqing paused for a moment, then fired a shot into the air, but only heard the firing pin; no bullet was fired. After a moment of stunned silence, he pulled the trigger several more times, but still no bullet came out.
An Guoqing was shocked. Could it be that Zhou Xuan was also a martial arts master?
If that were the case, then it would be far beyond his ability to handle. Thinking of this, An Guoqing immediately made his move.
He wanted to capture Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying. A master of that level was truly terrifying. He wouldn't be able to relax until he escaped using the Nine Dragon Cauldron.
However, when An Guoqing tried to move, he suddenly found that he couldn't move an inch. His feet felt as heavy as steel. He didn't know why, so he quickly pulled up his trouser legs and saw that his feet below the calves had turned golden and shiny, like gold. He was stunned. When he looked up, he found that his hands had also turned golden and shiny. In a panic, he tried to move his body, but he fell to the ground. Apart from his body, which he could still move to read, his legs and hands felt heavy and numb. He didn't even feel that they were his own.
Zhou Xuan then hurriedly said to Wei Xiaoyu, "Xiaoyu, quickly grab the rope, I'm going to jump over. Run backwards, I need your help."
Wei Xiaoyu's face changed color, and she quickly said, "Zhou Xuan, don't rush, you can jump after we're ready. I'm afraid I can't hold you back by myself..."
"There's no time, Xiaoyu, look at the lava..." Zhou Xuan pointed to the lava, then to the entrance outside the cave, "Listen over there, the floodwaters are coming in fast, we have to hurry."
Wei Xiaoyu was stunned for a moment, then looked into the lava pit. She saw that the fiery red lava had risen fifty or sixty centimeters higher than before, and was only a little over two meters higher than the top of the rock they were standing on. Then she heard thunder outside the cave, and a stream of water shot into the cave like a high-pressure water jet.
Wei Xiaoyu's expression changed drastically. Seeing that Zhou Xuan had already taken a few steps back and was crouching down to prepare to sprint, she quickly tied one end of the rope around her waist, then held on tightly with both hands, took a few steps back, and waited for Zhou Xuan to jump over.
Without hesitation, Zhou Xuan rushed over and leaped over the edge of the flying saucer. On the other side, Wei Xiaoyu ran back desperately. Zhou Xuan was pulled by her while he was still in mid-air and landed several meters above the rocks.
Without hesitation, Zhou Xuan ran to An Guoqing's side, picked up the Nine Dragon Cauldron, and then picked up Fu Ying. Fu Ying then used acupressure on An Guoqing, which Wei Xiaoyu couldn't undo for a moment, as this skill was not her forte.
Zhou Xuan beckoned Wei Xiaoyu to his side, then cut his hand and let the blood flow into the Nine Dragons Cauldron. He then quickly activated the Nine Dragons Cauldron, and in the billowing mist, Zhou Xuan saw An Guoqing's extremely terrified eyes.
An Guoqing couldn't move his hands and feet, but he could still speak, shouting, "Zhou Xuan... don't... don't leave me behind! I... I have money! I... I'll give you 10 billion, 10 billion! Take me with you, take me with you!"
Zhou Xuan snorted coldly, pointing at the corpses of Roger, Wolf, and Daniel, and said, "An Guoqing, if you weren't so ruthless, I would have lied to you. If I could go back to the original time, I was going to give you this Nine Dragon Cauldron. But you treated these people you invited yourself so cruelly, and then you attacked Fu Ying. How can I forgive you?"
An Guoqing's face turned deathly pale with anxiety, and his voice trembled as he said, "I know... I know I was wrong, Mr. Zhou, please take me out of here. I... I... I'll give you all my possessions, I'll give you everything, just so you can take me away."
At this point, the lava beneath the rocks was less than a foot from the shore, and the raging floodwaters swept in like a tsunami, engulfing everything.