My System Is Three Thousand Years Early

The spacious hall echoed with the cries of the Red Robe Daoist boy.

Cheng Guang, faced with the slightly sinister corpse of the Red Robe Daoist boy, was so shocked that he felt somewhat numb and didn't know what to say.

At the same time, even Cheng Shiyuan, who was experienced and knowledgeable, showed a similar reaction.

The Red Robe Daoist boy, receiving no response from Cheng Guang, cried louder, his voice becoming so shrill that it pierced Cheng Guang's ears, causing a stinging pain in his eardrums.

Cheng Guang frowned slightly, a sense of foreboding in his heart. He was about to say something when he saw the shoulders of the Red Robe Daoist boy in front of him shuddering as he sobbed quietly.

"Enough is enough, even if Brother does not speak, I also know that Master is probably not coming back."

"Red Robe was abandoned, but even though Red Robe was abandoned, he cannot leave this Dao Palace nor go against Master's commands."

"Red Robe doesn't know what to do, Brother."

The Red Robe Daoist boy sobbed, speaking in a low voice, and after a moment, his crying gradually subdued.

His vacant eyes fixed on Cheng Guang.

"Brother..."

"Are you back to burn the fire with Red Robe?"

Cheng Guang's lips moved slightly, feeling a dryness in his throat, and he responded with a forced laugh, "Without any wood, how could we burn anything?"

The Red Robe Daoist boy's sadness briefly subsided, a faint smile appearing on his pale face: "There will be a way."

"The fire of the Pill Furnace cannot be extinguished; even without wood, we can throw some useless things into it to serve as firewood."

"Useless things?" Upon hearing this, Cheng Guang seemed to realize something, and his gaze fell into the roaring flames beneath the Pill Furnace.

The flames burning under the large Pill Furnace were extremely hot. Even at a great distance and with the furnace as a barrier, Cheng Guang still felt the intense heat of the flames inside the furnace.

Even though his Spirit Dao and Martial Cultivation had both reached fourth rank, if he were to be thrown into this Pill Furnace, he would be instantly incinerated into a pile of ashes.

Cheng Guang's gaze turned to the orange flames leaping within the blast of heat, where he could vaguely make out the outline of humanoid shapes in the orange flames in the furnace.

However, those figures appeared more twisted than a normal person, emaciated and eerie.

At first, Cheng Guang just glanced at the human shapes in the furnace's flames and quickly looked away without giving it much thought. But after the reminder from the Red Robe Daoist boy before him, he suddenly realized that the entities being used as firewood in the furnace, which the Red Robe Daoist boy referred to as "useless things," might actually be living people.

Unwittingly caught up in the Secret Realm.

Upon this realization, Cheng Guang felt his scalp tingle.

He suddenly understood why Douluo Palace seemed so quiet, why there were so few dangers as he walked through it, and why the system task notification indicated Qin Yanqiu had died here.

It turns out that all of this was the handiwork of the Red Robe Daoist boy before him.

Captured by him, used as firewood, and thrown into the Pill Furnace.

Cheng Guang realized this, and so did Cheng Shiyuan standing next to him. The latter's aged face slightly tensed as he looked at the Red Robe Daoist boy, his eyes filled with increasing wariness.

His aura began to surge, ready to whisk Cheng Guang out of the Secret Realm at the first sign of something amiss or if the Red Robe Daoist boy showed any indication of aggression.

Cheng Guang looked at the Red Robe Daoist boy in front him, feeling the hairs on his body stand on end.

For so many years, the Red Robe Daoist boy had been burning fire.

One could imagine how many people who had inadvertently come here over the years had been used as firewood by the Red Robe Daoist boy and thrown into the Pill Furnace.

Many of these people had powerful cultivation, and it was possible that some of them had even reached the Heavenly Human Realm, yet they could not cause any disturbance within Douluo Palace.

The Red Robe Daoist boy in front of him was very strong!

His strength was extraordinary and terrifying!

At that moment, Cheng Guang even doubted whether Cheng Shiyuan could match the Red Robe Daoist boy.

Moreover, a sense of inexplicable worry started to creep into Cheng Guang's mind; he wondered how Qin Yanqiu was faring. If Red Robe Daoist boy had captured her and thrown her into the Pill Furnace, under such intense and scorching high temperatures, there was almost no chance she could survive.

With this thought in mind, Cheng Guang asked, "Where did you find these useless things you speak of and have they all been thrown into the Pill Furnace by now?"

The Red Robe Daoist boy tilted his head slightly to one side in thought upon hearing Cheng Guang's question, then shook his head and replied, "Most of the useless things I threw into the Pill Furnace are mortals who stumbled into Douluo Palace. I don't know where those mortals came from. Logically, mortals shouldn't be able to enter Master's Douluo Palace."

"However, I did not directly throw all those mortals into the Pill Furnace."

"Most were imprisoned; it's enough to burn a little each day. Right now, with Master absent and no Alchemy being performed, there's no need for a larger fire, so just keeping the flames alive is sufficient."

"Brother, you've become slow-witted."

As the Red Robe Daoist boy spoke, he pointed at Cheng Guang and chuckled.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Guang realized that the mortals the Red Robe Daoist boy was referring to might be the people taken by the Secret Realm, including Qin Yanqiu and her companions.