Chapter 104 Chapter 109

  No one came back, and no one came back. Zheng Zedao, Jia Dingyi, and others returned one by one. Within an hour, Bingguazi and Liangba came up one after another, each holding two number plates, and returned to the stone room. Bingguazi held his own and Zhuo Wangnujiang's number plates, while Liangba held his own and Guilong's number plates. The two of them handed back their number plates, which meant they had passed the test, and were invited by Xiaozuo'er and others to return to their rooms to rest. Zhuo Wangnujiang returned to the stone room with a deadpan expression, only saying "I lost" before leaving the stone room in large strides. Xiaozuo'er and others hurriedly followed him, sending him out of the Qingyun Inn.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié was struggling to move forward in the cave, picking up dark crevices and carefully trying to get as far away from his original high platform as possible. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié hid for half a day, finally seeing a large stone cave not far ahead, with light shining out from inside. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié hesitated slightly before crawling towards the cave, just reaching the entrance when he smelled a strong bloody smell coming from inside.

  "A thought flashed through Xiao Yan's mind: 'I hope nothing has happened to Big Brother Zheng!' Without hesitation, he poked his head inside and entered the stone cave. Inside the cave were several fire basins of varying sizes, one of which was already lit in a corner. In another corner lay a disheveled corpse with no clothes on, its body covered in blood that had flowed all over the ground."

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié was taken aback, swallowed hard, and carefully examined the corpse. The dead man was short and stout, despite his clothes being torn to shreds, it could still be seen that he wore bright red and green, with a bald head covered in tattoos, not the Red Clown who had cut open Huǒ Xiǎo Xié's pants, who else could it be?

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié was shocked to see the red-clad figure lying dead in front of him. He looked around and saw a passageway leading upwards on one side of the cave, which seemed identical to the entrance he had used to descend into the cave. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié thought to himself: "Could it be that this red-clad figure was hiding at the exit, planning to ambush whoever came out with the token? But instead, he ended up losing his own life? Or perhaps ā Dīng Yǐ didn't like him and killed him?"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yī walked cautiously to the corpse of Hóng Xiǎo Chōu, seeing that his face was pitch black, as if it had been smoked by fire. His eyes were wide open and he refused to close them in death. On the neck of Hóng Xiǎo Chōu, there was a hole about the size of a thumb, from which fresh blood was still seeping out, indicating that he hadn't died for long. The wound on Hóng Xiǎo Chōu's neck was extremely deep and had clean edges, as if a sharp blade had instantly cut away a piece of flesh, and it seemed that this was the cause of his death.

  "Retribution, retribution! They cut open my pants, but let someone kill me like this. This retribution seems too excessive."

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié didn't think to search for a license plate on Hóng Xiǎo Chóu's body, and assumed there wouldn't be one. Since it wasn't convenient to stay here for long, he planned to leave quickly. Just as Huǒ Xiǎo Xié ran to the entrance of the cave, a Buddhist chant sounded out, startling him into jumping aside: "Amitābha, little donor, why are you in such a hurry? Where are you going?"

  Ku Deng and the monk walked into the stone cave with a serious expression, and at a glance, he saw the corpse of Hong Xiao lying on one side. He couldn't help but frown and said: "Little donor, did you kill him?"

  "It wasn't me! I didn't kill him!"

  Ku Deng said: "Why is that little donor here? And why so flustered?"

  "Fire Xiaoyao shouted: 'When I arrived here, he was already dead! You can come here, but I can't? You see a dead person and you're not afraid? Don't hurry up and leave, do you want to spend the night with the dead? Monk, don't wrong good people!'"

  Ku Deng said: "Little donor, words are useless without proof."

  "What can we do? I didn't kill him, and that's it!"

  Ku Deng said: "Alright, little donor, don't go yet, come with me to take a look at the corpse."

  Huoxiao saw the bitter lamp and the monk's appearance, which would never give up. He was so anxious that he stomped his feet repeatedly and shouted: "You can look, but you can't wrong people!"

  Ku Deng didn't answer, walked to the corpse of Red Xiao Jester, squatted down and examined it for a long time, unwilling to stand up. Huo Xiao Ye stood aside, not daring to move, standing there with anxiety, thinking that this monk wouldn't really think he killed Red Xiao Jester, looking at his attitude towards Jia Ding Yi, if he was misunderstood, he would be in trouble. Ku Deng monk chanted a Buddha's name, stood up and said: "The technique is exquisite, one hit and it's done, what a great killer!"

  Huo Xiao hurriedly said: "I've never even killed a chicken in my life, let alone a person! Monk, take a closer look, if I could kill him, would I have let him slash his pants to shreds?"

  Ku Deng and the monk looked at Xiao Xiaosheng up and down, then said: "Little donor, you indeed don't have this skill. But little monk asks you, do you know who killed Hong Xiaochou?"

  "If I knew, I would have told you already! I guess it was A, D, B who killed."

  The monk Ku Deng remained silent for a moment, then said: "Young donor, this place is full of right and wrong, and people's hearts are treacherous. Be careful! The monk takes his leave."

  "Heshang, are you going back?"

  Ku Deng said: "I have three tokens, I've already passed the test. Since A and B are not in the cave now, I won't stay here any longer."

  Ku Deng and the monk finished speaking, then walked towards the crossroads.

  Huoxiao looked dazedly at the back of Suteng and Shang, his thoughts churning, when he suddenly opened his mouth and shouted: "Shang, wait a minute!"

  The monk Ku Deng turned his head and said: "Is there anything else, little donor?"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yé took a step forward and said, "Monk, you have three tiles, one more than me. Although I don't have it, I'd like to challenge you! If I win, I'll take one of your tiles!"

  Ku Deng and the monk smiled faintly: "Little donor, what if you lose? What will you use to repay me?"

  The little monk stuck out his tongue and said: "Hey, you're afraid of losing to me? Don't dare to compete?"

  The monk Ku Deng smiled and said, "Little donor, it's not that I'm afraid to compete or being petty. If you want a plaque, I can give you one, but you should know that having one in your hand will bring you mortal danger!"

  Huo Xiao suddenly became angry and said: "Monk, don't look down on people. Who says I'll be slaughtered by others? If you want to compete, then compete. Don't talk nonsense."

  Kulang Monk said: "Amitabha Buddha, little donor, since you are not afraid, let's try it out. What do you say we compare?"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yé said: "Alright, let's have a fire-stealing contest!"

  Ku Deng and the monk were slightly stunned, asking: "Thief of fire? What is a thief of fire?"