Entering the Dou Shuai Palace, one immediately sees an extremely spacious plaza. Visually, the plaza is several miles long and about ten miles wide, surrounded by clear water, with lotuses blooming and lotus leaves a lush green.
Looking down into the water, one can see fish with brocade-like auspicious patterns swimming within. Each sway and swim resembles floating white clouds, truly a beautiful sight.
Spanning the water are three arched bridges made of white jade stone. The arched bridges are ten zhang long, engraved with various auspicious beasts in countless poses. Walking upon them, one feels overwhelmed by the endless stream of exquisite and marvelous creations.
Looking at the plaza again, eight enormous pillars stand independently, each with a golden dragon coiled around it. These eight pillars form a strange array, with a huge cauldron placed in the center.
Jiang Wen looked at the cauldron, examining it closely, and felt a sense of familiarity.
Thinking about it carefully, he suddenly remembered the cauldron used for sacrifices that he had seen in the Tuoba clan. The patterns on it were exactly the same as the cauldron before him, and even the size was similar.
"Could this be the cauldron used for sacrifices by the Tuoba clan?" Jiang Wen walked over and circled the cauldron, discovering that this cauldron was indeed the one he had seen in the Tuoba clan. He just never expected that after so long, he would actually see it here. He didn't know if it was fate or coincidence.
Reaching out to touch the cauldron, he still remembered the patterns on it clearly. Jumping onto the cauldron to look inside, he saw that the thick layer of sacrificial ashes was gone. In the past, many elderly people, for the sake of the Tuoba clan's continuation, jumped into the cauldron to be cremated, and their ashes slowly filled the cauldron.
Now, the cauldron was empty of these things, but the walls of the cauldron, scorched for many years, still retained the shadows of people.
"What's wrong, kid? Are you familiar with this cauldron?" Seeing Jiang Wen staring at the inside of the cauldron, the tiger asked out of concern.
Jiang Wen calmed his emotions and nodded to the tiger: "I've seen this cauldron before. It used to be filled with ashes."
"Ashes? Really? Don't you lie to this old one." The tiger blinked, not quite believing that such a large cauldron could be filled with ashes. After all, a person burned to ashes would only be a little bit. To fill this cauldron, which was nine zhang, nine chi, and nine cun high, and sixteen zhang, six chi, and six cun wide, how many people would have to be burned to death?
"Really." Jiang Wen nodded in response. "I even saw the sacrificial scene back then, those people…"
He described the scene of the Tuoba clan's sacrifice, captivating the tiger and the ginseng spirit. After he finished speaking, the ginseng spirit exclaimed: "Wouldn't it hurt them to be burned?"
"It would hurt." Jiang Wen said.
"If it hurts, why would they jump in themselves? Yin Yin doesn't understand." The ginseng spirit said in confusion.
"For the continuation of the clan, some people must sacrifice themselves." Jiang Wen sighed.
"You humans are really strange. For this kind of reason, you can actually jump into a fire pit and be burned to death. If it were this old one, this old one would definitely not be willing." The tiger shook his head repeatedly.
"Perhaps it is because of this that humans can survive and reproduce in this dangerous world." Jiang Wen did not take the tiger's words seriously. The biggest difference between humans and demons lies in that glimmer of light in human nature.
Humans may be despicable, vicious, cruel, and selfish. But there are always selfless and fearless heroes who appear to guide the world forward. Whether it is a sage or a great Confucian, it is the same.
For some reason, Jiang Wen suddenly thought of the Yu Yun clan. For the sake of the Yu Yun clan's continuation, many people did not hesitate to give up their lives.
Now that Deng Luo has been resurrected, the Yu Yun clan can be considered to have returned. He didn't know what they would become in the future.
"This old one doesn't understand." The tiger shook his head and no longer asked these profound questions. They circled the giant cauldron, but did not find anything peculiar about it. They also didn't know what Chunyang Zhenren was doing when he retrieved this cauldron and placed it here.
Just as Jiang Wen and the tiger were wondering, they heard creaking sounds coming from all directions. They all looked up and saw that on the eight huge pillars, the eight golden dragons were slowly moving.
These eight golden dragons were all cast from gold, and they emitted a sharp metallic sound as their bodies moved. They were coiled on the dragon pillars, their claws grasping the pillars, their huge heads looking towards Jiang Wen and the others.
"Not good! This old one remembers! This is Chunyang Zhenren's Eight Dragon Heavenly Fire Grand Array!" The tiger suddenly shouted, looking somewhat flustered. It looked at the golden dragons, its tone filled with unease.
"It's over, it's over. This old one is afraid that I will have to explain myself here!"
"That's the only way." The tiger agreed with Jiang Wen's view, holding his axe and chopping at the golden dragon on the pillar.
Jiang Wen was not to be outdone, taking out the wooden whip and looking for the nearest golden dragon. Stepping on the dragon pillar, he rushed up, and at the moment when the golden dragon raised its head, he swung down the wooden whip.
This wooden whip had the power to uproot mountains and overturn rivers, striking the golden dragon's head, causing the golden dragon's scales to fly out. Before the golden dragon could recover, he struck the golden dragon with a storm of attacks. He struck until golden scales fell all over the sky, covering the plaza, truly glittering with golden light.
After the golden dragon suffered a heavy blow, it coiled down the dragon pillar. Jiang Wen stood in place and rested for a moment, and saw that the golden dragon had already returned to its original state.
He looked at the tiger's side again, and saw the tiger wielding the mountain-opening axe, cutting the golden dragon into several pieces. Unfortunately, in the blink of an eye, the golden dragon's body seemed to merge together like a liquid, and once again became a complete golden dragon.
"Are these golden dragons so difficult to destroy?" Jiang Wen narrowed his eyes and looked at the golden dragon, feeling the spiritual energy filling the golden dragon's body.
He then took out talismans and cast several thunder spells. Although the lightning was fierce, it had no effect on the golden dragon's body, and even made the golden dragon more majestic.
"It's not working, this old one can't kill these golden dragons at all!" The tiger shouted.
Just as Jiang Wen was about to say something after hearing these words, he suddenly heard a whistling wind. The eight golden dragons had already swung their giant tails towards them.
Dong—!
This strike was fierce, shaking the entire palace. When the dust settled, Jiang Wen was seen standing in the center, with four flying swords protecting them.
"Come, let's see if my Four Symbols Array is more powerful, or your Eight Dragon Heavenly Fire Array is more powerful."
