What is royalty and wealth.

Chapter 568 Hu Bayi's Childhood Memories.

Inside the dark canyon, outside a river pool, Zhang Tian and a few others stared intently at the pool before them.

The pool wasn't large, only tens of meters wide, and it looked eerily dark and strange. What drew everyone's attention the most were the patches of glowing, flesh-colored objects floating in the black water.

"Boss, what are those things?" Fatty asked, his gaze fixed on the floating objects, a sense of curiosity stirring within him.

Zhang Tian also frowned slightly. He had never seen anything like this before.

"They look like fetal hearts," Hu Bayi said, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "It seems like there are children inside."

"Children? How could there be children here? It's lucky enough if there are people in this dark, desolate place," Fatty questioned with a bewildered expression.

Zhang Tian was also puzzled. This place was uninhabited, so how could there be children? Yet, the things floating in the river pool looked exactly like fetal hearts. He could even see something wriggling within some of the fetal hearts.

Fatty took a few steps closer to the river pool. He looked around.

"Boss, there seems to be a sacrificial burial pit here too!" he suddenly shouted, pointing to a spot not far away.

Zhang Tian and the others looked in the direction Fatty was pointing. Indeed, a large pit appeared before them, and within it, Zhang Tian saw countless skeletons.

Shirley Yang took out a signal flare, pulled it sharply, and shot it towards the sky. Instantly, the entire area was illuminated. A massive sacrificial burial pit, hundreds of meters wide, appeared before them.

"What a huge pit. I wonder how many people are buried here," Fatty remarked with a sigh, looking at the pit.

"In ancient times, some kings believed that those buried with them would continue to serve them in the next life, ensuring their status as royalty and their subjects. But in fact, burying so many people with them would surely lead them to hell," Zhang Tian said calmly, looking at the sacrificial burial pit.

As the signal flare illuminated the area, the entire cave became bright. Just then, Zhang Qilin, who had been observing the riverbed, spoke up.

"Those are not human fetal hearts, but snake fetuses," he said.

Zhang Tian's gaze followed his. Snakes typically reproduce by laying eggs, often a dozen or more at a time. The immense snake fetuses before him made Zhang Tian doubt. They were as large as human fetal hearts, as big as an infant's. Upon closer inspection, Zhang Tian could see things wriggling within them. He averted his gaze without looking further.

"These must be eggs laid by some kind of animal. Be careful, everyone," Zhang Tian said. The group began to cross the sacrificial burial pit. Hu Bayi, holding his compass, led the way.

"Snake fetuses, how strange," Fatty muttered to himself.

As they moved, the sound of crunching filled the air with every step they took on the scattered skeletons. It was the sound of bones breaking. On one side of the burial pit was the riverbed. The glowing snake fetuses did not follow them but drifted aimlessly on the river, like jellyfish.

"Boss, this pit is quite deep," Fatty said, probing the ground with his stick as they walked. The pit was long and very deep. They moved slowly, the skeletons reaching their thighs.

"Moo... moo..." Suddenly, Fatty's ears caught strange sounds. His expression shifted from confusion to shock, then to bewilderment.

"Boss, do you guys hear anything strange?" Fatty asked in a low voice.

Zhang Tian tilted his head, but he heard nothing unusual.

"No, Fatty, are you hallucinating?" Hu Bayi asked, shaking his head and looking at Fatty.

Fatty narrowed his small eyes. He looked at Hu Bayi and whispered, "Lao Hu, do you remember that strange thing we encountered when we were kids?"

Fatty and Hu Bayi had been good friends since childhood, practically inseparable. They were also mischievous, like most children.

"What? We encountered a lot of strange things when we were kids," Hu Bayi replied, puzzled as to why Fatty was bringing this up. Perhaps due to his circumstances or luck, Hu Bayi had indeed experienced many odd occurrences in his youth.

"Don't you remember? When we were kids, it was so hot in the summer that we went to the river with a bunch of kids from the village!" Fatty recounted animatedly. "I suggested we jump in and swim, but you didn't. You said you met an old woman by the riverbank who asked us to rescue her grandson who had fallen into the water!"

Hu Bayi seemed to recall something and nodded. "That incident was indeed a bit eerie, but looking back, that old woman was probably a ghost," he said.

"Lao Hu, don't be a buzzkill. Pang Ye is in the middle of a good story," Fatty pouted, somewhat dejected.

"Fatty, continue, I want to hear it too," Shirley Yang interjected, curious about Hu Bayi's childhood experiences.

"Later, Lao Hu didn't say anything, and the old woman disappeared. Then she reappeared by the old tree, waving at us," Fatty continued. "We found it very strange and all got out of the water. Only that kid, Ma Guoqing, refused to get out. A few days later, his body was found, tangled in water weeds, with a skeleton at his feet. His death was gruesome," Fatty whispered, as if telling a ghost story.

At the time, these events seemed bizarre, but now, with their more extensive experiences, they seemed less so.

"Was that old woman a water ghost? How could she appear in broad daylight?" Shirley Yang asked, her large eyes filled with curiosity.

"When people die after a long time and their resentment is too strong, especially if the old woman might have committed suicide by drowning because her grandson drowned," Zhang Tian explained. "Her intense resentment, combined with the fact that those who die in water are not managed by the underworld, and those who die in the weak waters have heavy resentment, she likely appeared not just to take one person."

He explained that there was a legend that those who drowned in rivers and lakes became water ghosts, which was very strange. To manifest, that old woman likely needed an external force.

"I see. That reminds me of the underwater tomb we explored before," Shirley Yang said. She had encountered many strange things in the underwater tomb as well.

"Ah, Fatty, you mentioning that has reminded me of a few more strange incidents," Hu Bayi said, as if recalling something.

"Wait, I hear something," Zhang Tian suddenly interrupted them, his expression becoming serious.

They had now emerged from the sacrificial burial pit and were facing a vast river. To enter the tomb of King Xian, they would likely have to swim across. However, faint sounds seemed to be emanating from the river.