Enamorarse del diablo

Capítulo 25

"Yes, it should be similar to Hell, but Hell punishes souls, while the Grim Reaper's blood sacrifice uses the corpses of the dead to torment and slaughter."

Princess Jenny's story became increasingly mysterious, and she knew it was intriguing. Before we could speak, she continued, "In the realm of death, the spirit of the soul and the body maintain a close connection. When one sees their own body being tortured and mutilated in all sorts of cruel ways, with blood gushing out, the soul is affected by fear until it is frightened to death, at which point the blood sacrifice will end."

"Besides the body being murdered and mutilated, the soul also has to endure the repentance and condemnation of sins, which is truly unbearable to witness."

After talking for a while, Princess Jenny finally finished her story. Although I was very strong, I almost threw up all the food in my stomach. Xin patted her chest and asked carefully, "Princess, does Death only judge the wicked?"

Princess Jenny shook her head, looking bewildered, and said, "No, whether good or bad, everyone is guilty in its presence."

"Damn it, isn't that a murderous demon?" I protested angrily.

The eldest brother then said from the side, "I see. We mustn't run into this ancient legend, or else, hehe..."

To my surprise, the boss was still in the mood to joke at this time, leaving me speechless.

The Tomb of Qin Shi Huang (Side Story): The Dragon's Treasure - Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Sleepless Tree

Chapter word count: 2290 Update time: 08-03-25 08:28

Princess Jenny paused the conversation, seemingly unwilling to discuss Black Mirror further. I also found the story rather perverse and disgusting, so I didn't press the matter.

The wilderness was exceptionally cold in the dead of night, and strangely, there wasn't a sound of wind. Everyone remained calm as they subconsciously moved closer to the fire, the fiery red light illuminating their faces.

"Boss, are Chicken, Know-It-All, and Mighty Man cold?" I kept rubbing my hands together to warm them, and looked at the three people lying flat behind me.

The eldest brother glanced at the three of them and then said, "Tenglong, don't worry! They're asleep, they're not afraid of the cold, and their bodies are still warm."

"Hot?" I was puzzled. How could that be? Although the floor had been covered with hay by the boss, the air in the deep mountains should still be quite damp and cold. Besides, even we felt shivering all over when we were warming ourselves by the fire. It would be strange if they didn't turn into snowmen lying outside.

Yeah, how could there be no snow in such cold weather? I looked around and saw that everything was pitch black except for the area illuminated by the firelight. There were no snowflakes on the ground. Somewhat disbelieving, I got up and walked over to the three of them. I reached out and touched my skin. Damn! The eldest brother was right. It was warm skin, without a trace of coldness.

I sat back down by the fire and asked, puzzled, "How come the people who are sleeping don't feel cold? Are they being judged by the Grim Reaper?"

Lucy tapped my head and said, "You idiot, why are you saying such unlucky things? If they're still under death's judgment and haven't woken up yet, then wouldn't we have already been judged? Think about it, have you seen death in your dreams?"

"No," I replied instinctively.

Princess Jenny ignored Lucy and me fooling around and simply asked, "Instructor Henry, were you the first to wake up? Did you notice anything amiss here?"

The leader held up a tree branch and waved it in front of everyone, saying, "We fell out of the dark, and when I woke up I found ourselves here. Look at this tree branch in my hand."

I looked at it for a long time and didn't find anything strange about it. Could there be some kind of article on it?

Princess Jenny took the branch and examined it for a long time, her expression changing several times. It seemed like a bad omen, so no one spoke. "This...this is the Sleepless Tree?"

Sleepless Tree? What kind of tree is that? I searched my memory but couldn't find the name, let alone the tree. I picked up a branch and looked at it. It looked no different from any other tree we usually see. Why was Princess Jenny so surprised? Could it be a tree spirit?

"You big idiot, you never say a nice word all day long." Sally glared at me, and I realized my own rudeness.

“Look…” Princess Jenny said, holding a branch in one hand and pointing to the broken branch with the other. “We all know that trees are measured by annual rings, which means that the heartwood of the trees we often see has circular annual rings, indicating how long it has been growing. However, this sleepless tree has no annual rings. Its heartwood is completely white. It is a legendary tree that never dies, so it is called the sleepless tree in ancient books.”

The eldest brother nodded with a smile, it seemed that Princess Jenny was right. Princess Jenny continued, "The Sleepless Tree was born in the Triassic period, but as for when it became extinct, we do not know."

Strange? Didn't Princess Jenny just say that the Sleepless Tree was an immortal tree? How could it be extinct? If it continued to grow for millions of years, wouldn't it be taller and larger than a mountain?

"The heartwood of this tree is incredibly hard, like a copper wall or iron arm. Although it is hard, it is extremely flammable, making it a frequent fire-prone area during the hot summer. Furthermore, the heartwood is extremely durable and is an excellent material for making charcoal and torches."

"Oh, it's just used to make charcoal and torches, so it doesn't seem to be worth much money?" I said with a disappointed look.

Princess Jenny looked at it again and again, and laughed, "Tenglong, you don't know this. Take this little branch of the Sleepless Tree I'm holding in my hand, for example. If you take it to the market, someone who knows its value would value it for at least 100,000 gold coins."

"One hundred thousand gold coins?" We were all dumbfounded. Although I had a one hundred thousand gold card, I had spent almost all of it on buying houses and beautiful women in the capital city. When it comes to money, hehe... Although I am greedy for money, I am nothing compared to Shanji. I still stole a glance at Shanji. The kid was lying there peacefully. If it were any other time, he would have jumped up.

This tiny twig is worth 100,000 gold coins! Wow, this money is too easy to make! I was obviously tempted and was thinking of grabbing my equipment bag to fill it up. After all, if you come across something valuable while tomb raiding, you can't just go back empty-handed. Hehe... I felt an itch to grab it. In front of so many people, I had to act like a gentleman. The boss said we're rich now, so we should at least behave civilly. I'll make a killing after everyone's asleep.

The eldest brother smiled at me. After years of getting along, he could tell what I was thinking at a glance. Princess Jenny continued, "Ten thousand gold coins are just a branch. If you can get a large piece of the heartwood, like the heartwood of the Sleepless Tree that several people can hug, that would be priceless. In this world, even the ancestors of the monarch of the Kaiyue Empire did not have such a fine coffin."

"What? You mean you're using this tree heartwood to make a coffin?" Although I've been tomb raiding with my boss for many years and have seen countless coffins, including stone coffins, wooden coffins, and earthen coffins, I really can't believe that a coffin could cost such an astronomical price. Damn it! I never thought that coffins could be so valuable when I was tomb raiding before. I've been so blind to the value of coffins all these years. This time, I've really opened my eyes.

"The Sleepless Tree lives in extremely cold and hot places, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon. Its material is as hard as copper walls and iron arms. It is one of the important materials used by martial artists to forge wooden swords and divine weapons. If the purpose of using the heartwood to make coffins is to preserve the corpse from decay and make it lifelike, just like a living person. It is said that this heartwood can also allow the dead to cultivate Tao and become immortals or Buddhas."

After hearing Princess Jenny's words, I was still half-asleep and couldn't quite process what she was saying. All I could see was money; it was as if I saw a mountain of gold—no, many mountains of gold, and I was standing atop them…

Lian's eyes lit up as she gestured with the branch, as if she had a sword in her hand and the feeling of a sword saint bowing down.

Lucy kept reaching out to stroke it; if she could make a harp from this heartwood, wouldn't that be wonderful...?

The eldest brother coughed twice, pulling us back from our reverie. I looked at the firelight and sighed, "If I'm not mistaken, this fire is the most extravagant thing in the world. I wonder how many gold coins it has burned?"

Princess Jenny sighed helplessly, while the eldest brother laughed heartily, "You lot! There are plenty of these Sleepless Trees here, they're practically worthless!"

"What?" We were shocked.

The Tomb of Qin Shi Huang (Side Story): The Dragon's Treasure, Chapter 40: The Triassic Century, Crossing the Age of Pigs and Beasts

Chapter word count: 2207 Update time: 08-03-25 08:29

When the leader saw that we didn't believe him, he pointed to a big tree in the firelight and said, "That one is the Sleepless Tree, and that one, and that one, all the trees around here are Sleepless Trees."

The leader kept pointing in the direction, and we finally saw the real giant sleepless tree. The branches we saw earlier were just samples, but the living, upright tree in front of us was as big as three people could hug. My eyes lit up, and I was thrilled: "Damn it! We're going to be rich this time!"

The tree was so big that it would take three people to encircle it. I wondered how tall it really was. All I could see was the trunk, straight and without any branches. Looking up, it was pitch black. Suddenly, a thought struck me: if the tree was so valuable, wouldn't the roots be even more valuable? If that were the case, I would definitely have to dig up a few roots to take back. As long as we could get out of this godforsaken place, even if we didn't find the Heavenly Dragon Treasure, we would still be rich with these roots.

Everyone's attention was focused on the Sleepless Tree. I had already made up my mind to call on Chicken, Know-It-All, and Mighty Man to take action together.

"The Sleepless Tree in front of us is small. There are even larger ones around, some so big that it would take more than a dozen people to encircle them. Those trees are simply indescribable."

"Isn't that towering into the clouds?" Many people have seen mountains so tall that they reach into the clouds, so it's not surprising. But to say that trees are so tall that they reach into the clouds is a wonder of the ages. I never thought that I, Tenglong, would have the chance to see such a sight. My life has not been in vain.

"Hahaha……"

The leader laughed and said to us, "It's not that exaggerated, but when it gets light, everything will surprise you."

Our attention returned to the roast suckling pig over the campfire. It didn't look like an ordinary wild boar; it was exceptionally large. I couldn't make out anything about it, except that its tusks were particularly long and curved, somewhat resembling an elephant's.

Princess Jenny moved the wooden stick that was stuck across the suckling pig. The stick caught fire and burned inside the pig's body. The crack on its belly showed that it was made by the boss with a knife, and the internal organs were removed. The whole body had been deboned. She remembered that when they used to raid tombs and kill wild animals in the primeval forest, the boss always took care of everything. She had never seen bones before. Now that she thought about it, she didn't expect that the boss was really skilled.

Princess Jenny observed for a while and said, "This suckling pig is less than a year old and is a fierce-footed beast. If I'm not mistaken, it should be a pig-like beast from the Triassic period."

"A pig-beast?"

"Well, the pig-beast, in modern terms, is the ancestor of the wild boars we see in the mountains, which is an earlier type of foot beast."

The eldest nodded, but I found it strange. "Princess Jenny, how did you determine the identity of this wild boar?"

"Birds and beasts can be roughly divided into two types: those that fly in the sky, which are what we commonly call birds, and those that roam the earth, which are what we commonly call beasts. Roaming beasts are represented by terrestrial animals, such as wolves, leopards, and tigers. Why is it called a boar? Anyone who has seen a wild boar can imagine what it looks like. The ancestors of wild boars were born in the Triassic period. They were huge, with boar faces and tusks, and had faces very much like elephants. After years and environmental changes, the boars began to evolve and became the wild boars we see today."

"Oh, I see. So how do you know it's less than a year old?"

Sally looked at me and said, "Tenglong, you have so many questions, you're practically an expert on questions."

Everyone laughed, and I covered up my embarrassment by replying, "Look, isn't it because I'm diligent, studious, and striving to be a master of knowledge?"

Princess Jenny didn't blame her and continued, "Look at its teeth. It only has a few baby teeth, which tells you it hasn't been born for long. Ancient boars grew and developed very quickly, unlike modern wild boars. Its tusks were already this long when it was less than three months old, but its teeth grew very slowly. Now, its size is equivalent to ten years of growth for a modern wild boar."

There's so much to learn here. Now that I know all this, I can't help but ask about the time concepts of the Jurassic and Triassic periods. My mind is full of questions, and it seems like I won't be able to finish asking them all anytime soon.

After Princess Jenny's analysis, I learned that our current era is called the present world. Before the present world was the Imperial Age, before the Imperial Age was the Ancient Age, before that was the Ape Age, which is the origin of mankind, before that was the Jurassic Age, before that was the Triassic Age of this pig-beast, before that was the Ancient Age... and so on.

The chronological order was now clear, and everyone was listening attentively. Upon seeing the pig-like beast, Xin suddenly realized something and exclaimed, "Then...then haven't we gone back to the inhuman Triassic century?"

We also noticed Xin's scream. The Triassic period? What kind of era was that? We know nothing about such a distant and unknown era, only fragments of Princess Jenny's words.

Have we accidentally stumbled into a time tunnel?

Everyone talks about traveling through time, across time periods, and across species. The old storyteller at the teahouse told us this story many times before, and we were always eager to learn more. But this time, hehe... if we could catch some strange and unusual animal and open a museum, we'd be rich!

"Time travel?" Princess Jenny murmured to herself, it seemed this time it was definitely true.

"Then the dark path at the canyon entrance before, wasn't it a time tunnel? Then... how do we get back now?" Sally was clearly scared.

I'm not afraid at all. I've never seen what ancient times were like since I was a child. This is truly an extraordinary encounter. If I don't explore it, how can I live up to the arrangements of heaven? I deliberately scared Sally and said, "Since we're here, we don't plan to leave. How can we not see the sights after such an unprecedented encounter? At worst, we can just stay here and live with the ancestors of these birds and beasts."

"Huh?" Sally and Xin turned pale, and I chuckled to myself.

Princess Jenny snapped out of her daze, glared at me, and said, "Tenglong, all you do is bully girls." Then she turned to comfort the two girls.

Lian remained silent throughout, and I truly admired his composure. Lucy didn't speak, but was just thinking about some issues. The boss was also deep in thought. I turned around and looked at Chicken, Know-It-All, and Manly Man, wondering: I wonder how you will react when you wake up and find out that this is an unknown world.

I sighed. The Triassic Century, such a distant era, yet we've stumbled upon it. What dangers await us tomorrow? Heavenly Dragon Treasure, where are you?

The Tomb of Qin Shi Huang (Side Story): The Dragon's Treasure of Heaven, Chapter 41: The First Day of the Pig-Beast Era

Chapter word count: 2214 Update time: 08-03-26 12:28

In the dead of night, with no stars or moon, and freezing cold, I unexpectedly traveled to a pre-civilization era. All of this felt so fantastical and legendary.

What will tomorrow bring? What will we do afterward? Will we be able to go back? These questions swirled in our minds. After a moment of silence, each of us pondered our own thoughts.

The leader stretched and yawned, saying, "Since we're here, let's make the best of it. We can talk about tomorrow's problems tomorrow. It's late, everyone should get some rest." Before anyone could reply, he lay down on the haystack.

I was also very tired. Having followed the boss for many years, I was used to it all. I collapsed onto the haystack and casually called out, "Goodnight, ladies."

Before the eldest son closed his eyes, Princess Jenny asked, "Instructor Henry, should we arrange for someone to keep watch?"

The leader waved his hand and said, "No need, you can all go to sleep. I've arranged everything here, it's very safe. Everyone's tired, get some rest."

After the eldest brother finished speaking, he fell fast asleep. I was truly impressed by him. If we were to say who among the four of us truly inherited his skills, it would be the tough guy, followed by the know-it-all, and then Chicken and me. They all fall asleep incredibly quickly, just like that.

Princess Jenny glanced at everyone and waved her hand in return, seemingly agreeing with the leader's suggestion. She then lay down to rest. Her two personal maids could only lie down after Princess Jenny fell asleep. Lian and Lucy also lay down. The ten of us, under the open sky, with the seven of us huddled around a campfire, all drifted off to sleep.

I don't know how much time passed, but I was still half asleep when I opened my eyes to bright sunlight. I rubbed my eyes, stretched, and then... wait, where did everyone go? A chill ran down my spine: Could they have been eaten by wild animals?

I looked around but didn't find any blood. Strange! Where did everyone go? Apart from Chicken, Manly Man, and Know-It-All lying peacefully on the haystack, the other six were nowhere to be found.

"I should be fine, don't scare yourself." He patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tenglong, you're awake. You can really sleep. The sun's already high in the sky."

The boss suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startling me. I shouted at him, "Boss, next time you show up, at least say hello first. Showing up silently like this is going to scare people to death."

The eldest brother chuckled and said, "Tenglong, aren't you fearless? Why are you suddenly scared?" Without even looking at me, he waved his hand and said, "I'm going to find some food. Princess Jenny and the others have gone to play. Why don't you wander around too? This is a great place to broaden your horizons."

In the blink of an eye, the boss was gone. I pointed to the sky and made a disdainful gesture: "Damn! Everyone said it was safe, but he still used flying techniques."

Wow... there really was no sun in the sky. I was stunned. Although the boss had mentioned it last night, seeing it with my own eyes was truly a wonder of the world.

The vast sky was incredibly bright, without a single cloud. A clear sky should at least have white clouds, so could it be that the sky in the Triassic period had no clouds or sun? Chaos created the world, Gonggong split the mountain, and heaven and earth were opened up. The laws of nature had been formed, so there shouldn't have been any changes in heaven and earth.

I was completely baffled. I don't understand astronomy, and after thinking about it for a while, I got a headache. I'll leave this matter of science and nature to the eldest brother and Princess Jenny. As for me? Hehe... I'll wander around and see if there's anything valuable. If I do find something, don't blame me for being ruthless.

I picked up my gun, emptied my gear bag, reloaded it with the necessary magazines and water, waved to the three of them (Chicken and the others), and walked into the woods.

Although the boss said it was safe here, I'm still a little worried. I don't know magic or martial arts. What if some ferocious beast or monster jumps out on the way? Wouldn't I be buried deep in the mountains? There's tons of money here. With a little effort, I could be a millionaire. Die here? Heh heh... that's for idiots.

Sometimes, I find myself to be a genius, hahaha... Thinking about this makes me burst out laughing, luckily no one here can see.

The weather here is really hot. I was already drenched in sweat after walking for a short while. I drank some water and wanted to find a shady place to rest for a while. I looked up at the sky and cursed the damn sun. This place is really strange. Although I was walking in the woods, the trees had no leaves at all. There were crisscrossing branches everywhere, some as thick as a person and some as thin as a needle. At least these dense branches could block the intense heat.