Zhou Xuan and An Guoqing stood by the lava pit staring at the flying saucer. Nine Star Pearl was stunned, and Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying were also astonished, unable to say a word.
An Guoqing didn't dare to jump across to the other side to find out, and neither did Zhou Xuan. Neither of them was confident they could jump to the other side. They looked around and saw that apart from the few of them, there were no other tools they could use. Building a bridge was out of the question.
The temptation of the Nine Star Pearl being so close at hand was irresistible to Zhou Xuan and An Guoqing. Zhou Xuan suddenly realized that no matter how dangerous or terrifying this place was, as long as they could obtain the Nine Star Pearl and fully activate the Nine Dragon Cauldron, they could travel through time and escape from this place. Whether there was a way out or not was not the most important thing to them.
Of course, An Guoqing did not explain the secrets of the Nine Dragon Cauldron and the Nine Star Pearl to the four people he had invited. He did not say a word about them. He only told them that he was looking for something called the "Nine Star Pearl". Naturally, he did not tell them about its origin and purpose.
Therefore, Roger, Wolf, Daniel, and Zhang Yage were unaware of the importance of the Nine-Star Bead. Apart from being surprised by the UFO, they had no other thoughts. The four of them split up to search for a way out of the big hole. At this point, they no longer had excessive feelings for the countless diamond treasures. What use is wealth if you can't get out?
After circling the entire cave, the four men met again, their faces pale with shock.
All around were solid rock walls. Apart from the water cave entrance, there was no other exit in this enormous cave. Fear was evident in the eyes of the four people. This place was still a dead end, and it was impossible to return to the surface of the deep pool now, because the gas in their tanks had been exhausted. It was impossible to simply pass through the seven hundred meters of water. Besides, even if they went back there, it would still be a dead end, and there would be no way out.
Now the thrill of the diamonds vanished without a trace, leaving only endless fear and despair.
While on the surface of the deep pool, they were still trying to find a way out underwater, but now there was no way to find a way out at all. The only entrance was the waterway they had come from, but their air tanks were all empty. They probably wouldn't be able to hold out for even a few minutes underwater. In such deep water, it was obvious that the underground river's path would be no shorter than three thousand meters, because even if the light reached the surface, it would still be over three thousand seven hundred meters deep. In such deep water, even with a full air tank, it was impossible to dive out.
The four men sat down dejectedly, sweating profusely. The temperature inside the cave was at least forty degrees Celsius, which would be extremely hot even on the surface, let alone at the bottom of such a deep cave.
Zhou Xuan and An Guoqing and the others also turned back and returned to where Roger and the other three were. They all sat down, but everyone remained silent and had nothing to say.
Actually, it's no use saying anything; no one has the ability to escape this place.
However, Zhou Xuan had a different idea. He knew that as long as he obtained the Nine Star Pearl and then activated the Nine Dragon Cauldron to return to the original time, he could escape from this place. However, he did not want to say this for the time being and would consider it carefully after obtaining the Nine Star Pearl.
After sitting down and thinking for a while, Zhou Xuan turned to An Guoqing and asked, "Mr. An, now that I've thought about it, could you tell me the secret of the Nine Dragon Cauldron?"
An Guoqing's expression was uncertain. After hesitating for a long time, he said, "The Nine Dragon Cauldron can only be fully activated after all nine Nine-Star Beads are gathered. The most important thing now is to obtain the other eight Nine-Star Beads."
Zhou Xuan stared at An Guoqing. This man had clearly only revealed a tiny bit, omitting the most crucial information. What Zhou Xuan needed was how to fully activate the Nine Dragon Cauldron, whether there would be any side effects, and how to return to the original time. If activating the Nine Dragon Cauldron resulted in arriving in another time—perhaps the primitive society, or even the age of dinosaurs—that would be disastrous.
“Mr. An, I think you should tell me how you can use the Nine Dragon Cauldron to reach the desired time as a condition for exchange. Isn’t this the condition we agreed upon?” Zhou Xuan asked calmly.
An Guoqing fell silent for a moment, but everyone else was puzzled. Apart from Zhou Xuan, Wei Xiaoyu, and Fu Ying, everyone else was wiping away sweat, seemingly unable to breathe from the heat. But Zhou Xuan and the other two seemed to be enjoying air conditioning, with no heat on their faces at all.
Roger and the other three didn't understand what Zhou Xuan and An Guoqing meant by talking to each other, as if they were speaking in riddles.
An Guoqing was silent for a while, then looked up at Zhou Xuan, and after a moment of silence said, "How can I guarantee that you will hand over the Nine Dragon Cauldron to me after I tell you?"
Zhou Xuan fell silent, then thought for a moment before replying, "I don't think any guarantees I make now will be of any use. I can only say that I will keep my word. The Nine Dragon Cauldron is in my backpack. If you don't trust me, then I can only apologize."
At this moment, Zhou Xuan would absolutely not hand over the Nine Dragon Cauldron to An Guoqing. If An Guoqing got his hands on the Nine Star Pearl, he could use it and escape through time and space, leaving the seven of them here to die.
Having captured Zhou Xuan, he knew none of these people harbored deep hatred for him, and if they could escape, he wouldn't have the heart to leave them stranded in this deadly place. But An Guoqing was different. An Guoqing was absolutely ruthless enough to abandon them all and flee this place alone. He couldn't gamble with this only chance of escape; one must always be wary of others.
An Guoqing thought for a while, took a deep breath, and said, "Xiao Zhou, since that's what you think, then I'll trust you this once. I'll tell you, placing the Nine Star Pearl inside the Nine Dragon Cauldron will activate it. However, we need to ensure that the Nine Star Pearl has sufficient energy. I originally estimated that the Nine Star Pearl's energy would be almost depleted at such a deep underground location, but I never expected there to be underground magma here. The Nine Star Pearl absorbs the heat energy from the magma, so there's no problem with its energy. The Nine Star Pearl can fully activate the Nine Dragon Cauldron. After the Nine Dragon Cauldron is activated, you only need to think about the time you want to go, and you can return to that space. And this time can be almost accurate to the day and hour level."
Zhou Xuan stared at An Guoqing, filtering through the results he was about to say. The credibility of the results was still about 90%. Although he didn't have a good feeling about An Guoqing, the activation method of the Nine Dragon Cauldron should be like this. That was correct. After all, he had already used it once. Although he didn't quite understand it and hadn't fully activated the Nine Dragon Cauldron, he could still feel the process, and the difference wasn't significant.
It's a pity that Zhou Xuan doesn't have Ma Shu's mind-reading ability, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to see what An Guoqing was thinking.
Roger and the others were completely confused, not understanding what Zhou Xuan and An Guoqing were talking about. However, Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying understood, because Zhou Xuan had already explained the whole story to them.
However, Roger and the other three could tell from the expressions on Zhou Xuan and An Guoqing's faces that the two of them were not particularly anxious. In addition, judging from the meaning of their conversation, they wondered if the two of them had a way to get out.
An Guoqing then looked at Roger and the others and said, "You four shouldn't doubt anything. I'll tell you now, I know nothing about this place. I obtained the Nine Dragon Cauldron from the sixth sky window. Now, as long as we find a way to get those eight Nine-Star Pearls and use the power of the Nine Dragon Cauldron, we can leave this place and escape."
Wolf and Daniel's understanding of Chinese was not yet sufficient, so they didn't understand it at first, but Zhang Ya and Roger understood it, and both of them were very surprised.
Zhang Ya Ge paused for a moment, then asked, "Mr. An, I still don't understand what you mean. What is the Nine Dragon Cauldron? And those beads on the flying saucer, are they the ones that can be used to leave this place?"
An Guoqing's words left Zhang Ya Ge confused. Just a few beads and they could leave this place? That was simply unbelievable. But there were so many unbelievable things these days, like that UFO. It was obviously the most unbelievable thing. He wondered what was inside that UFO. Did it contain a way to escape?
This deep underground cave may be an insurmountable problem for the eight of them, but for Earthlings, nothing is more mysterious than extraterrestrial civilizations and aliens. For extraterrestrial civilizations, this doesn't seem to be a problem at all. The fact that this UFO is alone in such a difficult environment shows that it is beyond human imagination.
An Guoqing frowned, thought for a moment, and then replied, "I don't understand the reason for the Nine Dragon Cauldron either, and the appearance of this flying saucer was something I never expected, or rather, I never imagined. To be honest, it was also beyond my imagination, so I can't answer you. I can only say that if we get those eight Nine Star Pearls, we can leave this place and return to the ground. I can guarantee that."
Zhang Ya Ge was stunned for a moment, still unable to understand. But it didn't matter; as long as he understood what An Guo Qing meant by leaving this place, that was enough.
An Guoqing made it clear that they absolutely had to obtain the Nine Star Beads from the molten lava; only after obtaining the Nine Star Beads could they achieve what An Guoqing had said.
But how could they possibly obtain those Nine-Star Pearls? There was a distance of nearly four meters between them—a distance that would be difficult to leap even on flat ground, let alone over deadly molten lava.
Although An Guoqing said they could escape this place, obtaining the Nine-Star Pearl would be an extremely difficult situation; trying to jump over it would be gambling with their lives.
Everyone fell silent for a moment. No one was willing to go to the other side of the lava to retrieve the Nine-Star Pearl. To jump such a distance, with no room for error—only success was allowed, failure meant certain death—no one was willing to take such a gamble.
The eight people looked at each other, then An Guoqing squinted and thought for a moment before saying, "Whoever can retrieve the Nine-Star Pearl, I can pay them one hundred million in cash."
Despite An Guoqing's generous offer, no one was moved. An Guoqing paused, then immediately understood: in this place, money was meaningless. The value of the diamonds and treasures in the cave was incalculable. A hundred million in cash would be incredibly tempting outside, enough to make someone abandon their wife and children, even betray their parents and kids. But inside this cave, a hundred million in cash was worthless. These natural diamonds were purer and larger than any diamond ever discovered in the world. Any one of them would be priceless, let alone the endless supply.
Zhou Xuan saw that everyone was in a daze, obviously thinking about how to get the Nine Star Pearl. But it was no use thinking about it. No one dared to get close. The temperature at the bottom of the molten lava pit was at least 200 degrees Celsius. The air could burn people, so why would anyone dare to jump over there?
Only he can withstand the extremely high temperature with his superpower, but how could he jump such a long distance?
If Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying were to go, Zhou Xuan would absolutely refuse. The other four people kept their mouths shut, not uttering a single word, which speaks volumes.
At that moment, Zhou Xuan suddenly had a thought and remembered something.
An Guoqing just said something that went unnoticed by everyone, and even An Guoqing himself seemed unaware of it.
Zhou Xuan thought about it carefully again before confirming An Guoqing's words. An Guoqing had clearly stated, "I obtained the Nine Dragon Cauldron from the sixth sky window."
Zhou Xuan carefully recalled what An Guoqing had said and was certain that he had indeed said it. Did he obtain the Nine Dragon Cauldron from the Sixth Window?
What about Liu Zijie, the Qing Dynasty figure from two hundred years ago, in the story An Guoqing told him before? Was Liu Zijie just a fictional character he created?
Volume 1, Chapter 400: Drawing Lots