Acai's Sky

The roar of gears came from the depths of the dark river, and three bronze ghost gates rose from the ground like giant beasts breaking out of the earth.

Strange copper-green ripples appeared on the water surface, as if it had been injected with poisonous blood.

The Taotie pattern on the door is hideous and ferocious. Each fang is actually made of human teeth. The dark red blood vessels at the roots of the teeth are still trembling slightly, emitting a disgusting stench.

The Big Dipper seal on Ah Cai's wrist suddenly felt a burning pain, and the Purple Palace star map was projected on the left door. The bright starlight formed a sharp contrast with the gloomy Ghost Gate.

Just as Brahma unfolded his fire feathers and was about to push open the bronze door corresponding to the star map, a familiar honey aroma suddenly seeped out from the crack of the right door - it was the taste of Xuanjizi's favorite locust flower honey, which was sweet but concealed a heart-pounding murderous intent.

"Here is the Taoist badge!"

Half of a gilded token slowly floated out from the crack of the door, with fresh brain matter still on it, leaving a strange blood mark in the dark river.

The golden raccoon dog couldn't contain its greed. As soon as its claws touched the token, the embedded human teeth suddenly fell off and gathered on the river surface to form the phantom of Xuanjizi's head.

The shadow had an evil smile on his face, and his voice was as sharp as a venomous snake: "Girl, don't you want to know the truth behind the human sacrifice and the casting of the artifact twenty years ago?"

【A strange choice】

The dagger on Acai's waist suddenly made a buzzing sound, which was the sensation one would feel when meeting a close relative.

Her pupils suddenly shrank - what the shadow was holding in his hand was clearly the jade earrings her mother was wearing when she disappeared!

The ghost gate on the right suddenly opened, revealing the illusion of a restaurant with carved beams and painted buildings, and a familiar lullaby from childhood drifted in the breeze.

The gentle melody was like a soft knife, piercing straight into the softest corner of her heart.

"It's the Seven Emotions Bewilderment Formation."

Black blood beads oozed out of Xuantian Tortoise Shell, and the voice was low and hoarse, "The left gate has eight points of dead energy, and the right gate has nine points and nine cents of dead energy."

The fluff suddenly exploded, and each tip of the hair pointed to the quietly rotting bottom of the raft, sending out a sharp alarm.

[Countdown to Fateful Decision: 10 seconds]

(Current oxygen value: 189 seconds)

The countdown numbers jumped before my eyes, and the sense of oppression surged like a tide.

Jin Yuanbao suddenly leaped into the water, drunkenly clinging to the left door knocker. The copper rust that seeped through the crack in the door stained its white fur red, but it also miraculously filled in the missing Yaoguang position on the star map.

Ah Cai made a quick decision and threw out the silk rope to tie around everyone's waists: "Let's go!"

【Nine Springs Money Eye】

Behind the bronze door is a dark shaft that leads vertically downwards, and the walls of the shaft are covered with breathing copper coin patterns.

From time to time, blue-gray ghost hands stretched out from those holes that were round on the outside and square on the inside, with nails as black as ink, trying to hook away the metal objects on people's bodies.

The night pearl hidden in the inner pocket of the golden raccoon dog suddenly became hot, and a pattern of the Big Dipper was burned through the fabric. The burning sensation made it grimace.

“It’s talisman money!”

Ah Cai swung her sword and cut off the ghost hand that was grabbing Feiyue. The sword blade and the ghost hand collided, splashing blue sparks. "Throw away all the copper and iron objects on your body!"

Brahma gritted his teeth and plucked out three fire feathers, which drew graceful arcs in the air. The golden raccoon dog, with a sad face, threw away the newly stolen gilded belt, which was its most precious trophy.

The copper coin patterns were like hungry ghosts, swallowing the metal objects into the square holes in an instant, making a teeth-aching chewing sound.

The shaft suddenly began to spin wildly, and everyone collided in the copper coin grid like dice.

The wine Jin Yuanbao spat out drew a mysterious hexagram on the wall of the well. Xuantian immediately shouted, "Zhen on top, Kun on bottom. The Yu hexagram is conducive to the establishment of the marquis and the army—jump to the southeast!"

【Money-eating bones】

Everyone broke through the half-closed secret compartment and fell into an even narrower shaft.

The copper coins here are covered with sharp teeth, which are gnawing at the well wall frantically.

The broken blue bricks fell to the ground, revealing the load-bearing pillars made of white bones behind them.

The pillars were engraved with twisted confessions of guilt, with black grease seeping out from between the characters, emitting a pungent fishy smell.

"It's an official copper coin from the 17th year of the Yongtai reign."

Ah Cai picked up the broken coin with her dagger, her voice trembling slightly, "The emperor melted down three thousand executed prisoners to make talisman coins to suppress the flooding of the Yellow River."

As soon as he finished speaking, the bone pillars suddenly collapsed into powder, and the entire shaft began to collapse in a spiral.

Debris fell like raindrops, and everyone struggled to find a way to survive in the dust.

【Coal-smelling Fantasy】

The falling speed suddenly slowed down, and everyone fell into the sticky copper liquid.

The bustling street scene of Chang'an East City emerged on the surface of the liquid metal, with people coming and going and shouting one after another.

However, upon closer inspection, the smiling faces of every passerby were slowly melting, their facial features distorted, revealing the bluish-gray skull faces underneath.

Jin Yuanbao greedily tried to catch the floating Hu Bing, but his entire arm was instantly covered with copper rust, and he cried out in pain.

"Close your eyes! This is the Heart-Eating Copper Mother!"

Seven star rays shot out from Xuantian's carapace. When the Big Dipper's beam of light pierced through the illusion, everyone found themselves standing on the edge of a huge copper coin's square hole.

Below is a boiling copper water pool, in which float golden statues of corrupt officials from past dynasties.

The surfaces of those golden bodies were covered with cracks, as if telling of endless greed and sin.

[System prompt] Trigger the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance

★ Greediness test: Golden Raccoon (99%), Gold Ingot (87%), Acai (13%)

★ Rage value test: Feiyue (76%), Brahma (34%)

★ Delusion value test: Tuantuan (5%), Xuantian (0.1%)

Suddenly, hundreds of bronze arms stretched out from the pool, and the treasures in the golden raccoon's arms automatically flew to the center of the pool.

Ah Cai threw out the Xuanwu jar, and the Xuanming heavy water in the jar turned into a dragon, opening its huge mouth to swallow the treasure.

The copper pool roared unwillingly, and a floating bridge composed of bronze statues of the twelve zodiac animals rose from the bottom of the pool, each statue emitting a cold murderous intent.

[Rat holding a candle]

Every copper plate on the floating bridge tells of sin: the bronze statue of the tiger holds half a baby's leg in its mouth, and the scales of the dragon are made of gold foil from Buddha's face. Blood and blasphemy are intertwined.

When everyone reached the bronze statue of the Rat, the rat's eyes suddenly turned, and a faint blue light shot out from the empty eye sockets: "Leave behind the most precious things, otherwise the bronze rust will enter your heart."

Ah Cai sneered and suddenly turned the Xuanwu Jar upside down on the rat's head.

The wine in the jar boiled like a clear spring, washing away the patina on the surface of the bronze statue, revealing the dense inscriptions underneath - it was actually a rubbing of the contract signed between Xuanjizi and Emperor Ming!

The truth is revealed: the so-called river-suppressing divine money is nothing but the slag of refining elixir, it is a shocking scam.

"I see..."

The Xuantian Carapace star map shone brightly, and light suddenly streamed through the well. Everyone followed the beam, finally landing on something soft and cloud-like—a cushioning layer of tens of thousands of Jiaozi banknotes.

The banknotes exude a faint scent of ink, as if telling another dusty history.

【Flying Money Rain】

The banknotes suddenly came alive, twisting and coiling in the air, forming a giant copper coin python.

Feiyue leaped up, and tore the python's belly with his sharp claws, and suddenly blood rained down all over the sky.

Every drop of blood that hit the ground turned into a knife coin, and the blade was engraved with three small seal characters "Life-buying Money", which exuded a chilling chill.

Ah Cai cut her palm, smeared the blood on the inner wall of the Xuanwu Zun, and shouted: "Blood destroys wealth, all the gold will be gone!"

The gust of air that erupted from the jar was like a tidal wave, overturning the money python and revealing the real exit at the bottom of the well - a stone door sealed with abacus beads.

The copper nails on the door were arranged in the shape of a river diagram, and Xuanjizi's jade earrings were inserted in the missing "Four Springs of the Earth".

The stone door opened with a bang, and the moonlight outside was as silver as silver, illuminating the inverted amber wine lake.

Behind them, the copper coin well was dissipating into smoke in the night breeze. The last thing to vanish was a bloody handprint that suddenly appeared on the well wall. The print was identical to Ah Cai's cut left hand, as if telling a secret that transcended time and space...