Lin Qiao got up and found herself lying on a pile of straw. There was a cup of heated milk beside her.
She wasn't sure if it was milk, but it sure looked like it.
However, the cup used to hold the milk was a wine glass from the 21st century, the stemmed kind. Lin Qiao picked it up, not only looking at it but also taking a sniff.
Oh, it was indeed milk.
This person was really strange. Who would use a wine glass to hold milk?
What an interesting idea.
Lin Qiao shook her dizzy head and stood up.
This wasn't the place where she'd fallen asleep last night, and Luo Nanchen wasn't by her side either. Putting aside the strange dream she'd had last night, the current scene was just as surreal.
It was exactly the cave from her dream, but there was no huge iron pot.
Instead, there was something even scarier.
Volcanic lava.
The entire cave was blood - red. The stones, the ground, the ceiling, and the throne not far away were all an oppressively blood - red color. Even the air was filled with a foul smell of blood.
The lava was at the bottom of the cliff, bubbling and giving off steam. As soon as Lin Qiao leaned over to take a look, the oncoming heat wave forced her back, and she couldn't even open her eyes.
From the bottom of the cliff, there were faint screams that sounded especially shrill and creepy in the empty cave.
Lin Qiao's mind was in a muddle. Was she awake, or... was this just the second layer of a dream?
She looked around and moved the stones everywhere but found no hidden mechanisms.
However, moving each stone felt real, not as ethereal as in the dream. That meant she was awake and not in a second - layer dream like in *Inception*.
As for Luo Nanchen and the others, she had no idea where they were, nor did she know where she was.
Before she could figure it out, a voice came from the cave entrance.
"Line up, one by one. If you don't behave, I'll deprive you of the chance to be reincarnated!"
Then came the sound of a whip lashing against flesh, clear and muffled.
Lin Qiao quickly hid behind a nearby boulder.
The sight that met her eyes made her freeze, her body going cold.
What a horrifying scene!
There were thousands of people, old and young, men and women. Each of them had gaping wounds on their bodies, were half - naked, and the bloodstains were shocking.
Each person wore a numb expression on their face and then lined up one by one, jumping off the cliff in succession.
...Under the cliff was volcanic lava!!!
However, these people didn't make a sound, not even a single pained cry. It was as if the cliff, the lava, and even themselves didn't exist.
It was exactly the same as in her dream.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind. "Is it interesting to watch?"
Lin Qiao was startled and quickly turned around.
It was a man's voice, and it sounded familiar, but he was wearing a mask, so Lin Qiao couldn't immediately figure out whose voice it was.
After spending so much time with Luo Nanchen, Lin Qiao had become a lot bolder. Even in this strange situation, she could calmly probe, "Who... are you?"
The masked man tilted his head back and laughed loudly and recklessly. After he'd had his fill of laughter, he tilted his head and said, "Such a disobedient girl. Why didn't you drink the milk I prepared for you?"
Drink my ass! What if there's poison in it?
Didn't your mother teach you to protect yourself when you're out in the world?!
The person who was whipping the people towards the cliff heard the voice and quickly ran over. "My lord, Daoist Cen has improved the Heart - Destroying Gu. From now on, there won't be any more noise to bother you."
Lin Qiao frowned. She sensed that something was amiss. "Noise" seemed to be a term from the 21st century, right?
Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "Meng Erliu, is that you?"
The masked man was stunned for a moment, then took off his mask and laughed heartily. "Empress Dowager, you never fail to disappoint me. You're still as interesting as ever."
"Fine, I actually guessed right," Lin Qiao said, feeling a bit speechless. "Meng Erliu, why aren't you being a good general? What on earth are all these things?"
The whip - wielding young man immediately got angry. "How dare you be disrespectful to our lord?!"
Then he whipped at Lin Qiao's face.
Before Lin Qiao could react, Meng Erliu quickly grabbed the whip. "Presumptuous! Who gave you the right to treat the Empress Dowager like this?!"
Then he used his inner strength to fling the whip back, and the poor, loyal young man was sent flying.
Lin Qiao watched this, feeling speechless.
What kind of master was this? Was he really worth risking one's life for?
The poor young man even crawled back. "My lord, please forgive me. I've realized my mistake."
In this tense and dangerous moment, Lin Qiao's mind wandered... This young man had been calling Meng Erliu "my lord". It sounded quite imposing at first, but if he got too excited while speaking, it would easily sound like "princess"...
The reserved and silent top and the arrogant and queenly bottom. To be honest, it was quite an interesting combination...
Meng Erliu waved his hand and said to the young man, "Get out of here."
"Yes."
Meng Erliu's shout brought Lin Qiao back to her senses from her wild thoughts.
She unconsciously took two steps back to keep a safe distance. Although Meng Erliu seemed to have extremely high cultivation, and she might not be his match... But if a fight broke out later, every extra step she could run counted.
This was a necessary survival rule.
Meng Erliu had been fierce and menacing towards the whip - wielding young man, as if he was about to order him to commit suicide. But when he turned to Lin Qiao, his attitude changed completely.
"Empress Dowager, please take your seat."