Unorthodox methods, cultivating immortality relies on rich women

Shen Qingzhou squatted by the well smoking, while the three of them stood by with their hands at their sides, not daring to breathe.

Just then, a girl's soft laughter seemed to drift past their ears, followed by a gust of wind that blew down the pale yellow flowers blooming by the well.

The petals floated and twirled as they fell into the well, only to be swallowed up completely by the thick darkness in the blink of an eye.

The atmosphere was so oppressive that it made one's chest feel tight, and even breathing became unconsciously slowed down.

None of the three dared to speak first. Even the pit bull lying at Ma Chenggang's feet obediently lay on the ground, not daring to wag its tail.

By the time Shen Qingzhou finished smoking his cigarette, most of the incense burning beside him had burned down.

He then stubbed out his cigarette, stood up, and said only two words: "Let's go."

"Where...where to?" Ding Xiangkui asked, her voice very low.

Although she asked the question aloud, she already had the answer in her heart.

"Of course, we'll go to the bottom of the well to take a look. If you don't want to go down, just wait up here. If we find what you're looking for, I'll bring it up for you." Shen Qingzhou's tone was calm, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

After these words were spoken, Ding Xiangkui did not respond, but Ma Chenggang took a step forward first: "Mr. Shen, I will go down with you."

Zhao Changming didn't say anything, but silently took a step forward.

"Let's go down together," Ding Xiangkui finally said.

Shen Qingzhou glanced at her with slight surprise, clearly not expecting her to be willing to take the risk, but she didn't ask any further questions, only instructing, "I'll go down first, you all follow behind me, don't run around, don't touch or grope..."

The three nodded quickly, not daring to utter a single unnecessary word.

"Do you have a flashlight?" Shen Qingzhou asked again.

Seeing that Ding Xiangkui was dressed in outdoor gear and carrying a hiking backpack, he guessed that he would have such common equipment.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, Ding Xiangkui took off his backpack, took out a powerful flashlight from it, and handed it over.

Shen Qingzhou took the switch and pressed it. A blinding white light burst forth instantly, with a brightness of at least 10,000 lumens.

Without saying another word, he jumped into the well.

The three rushed to the well and looked down. They saw a blinding white light, like the sun falling into ink, but it was immediately swallowed up by the thick, impenetrable darkness, and not a single ray of light could penetrate it.

Such a powerful flashlight couldn't penetrate the darkness of this well. I wonder if the well is unimaginably deep, or if there's some other reason.

All three of them wore expressions of barely concealed tension. Ma Chenggang spoke first: "Miss, why don't you wait upstairs? If anything unexpected happens, you'll have someone to help you."

Ding Xiangkui turned and glanced around, then shook his head: "It's more dangerous to separate now. I'll go down with you."

As she spoke, she took out a safety rope from her backpack and had Ma Chenggang tie it securely to the well-pressurizing stone that had been moved aside. She then took out a handful of glow sticks, broke one into light, and threw it into the well.

The faint green light flashed for only a moment before disappearing without a trace.

"Mr. Shen, are you alright?" Ding Xiangkui asked cautiously, holding onto the wellhead.

"It's okay, come down."

Shen Qingzhou's voice came from the bottom of the well, and the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

At this point, Ma Chenggang had already secured the safety rope. Zhao Changming grabbed the rope and started to descend first, with Ma Chenggang following closely behind.

Just as the two figures were about to be swallowed by the darkness, Ding Xiangkui gripped the rope tightly and climbed down after them.

The well walls were wider than expected, enough for two people to walk side by side. The stone walls were covered with a thick layer of moss, making them slippery and cold. (Note: The last sentence appears to be unrelated and possibly a separate text snippet: "Unorthodox Paths to Immortality: Cultivating Immortality with a Rich Woman" is unrelated and likely a separate text snippet.)

The deeper you go, the cooler the air becomes, carrying a heavy earthy and musty smell. The only sound is the sound of water droplets sliding down the stone wall, creating a soft, muffled echo in the well.

"Young Miss, have you come down?"

Ma Chenggang's voice came from the darkness beneath him, muffled, as if it were thickly enveloped by something.

Ding Xiangkui increased his descent speed, and in no time, he crashed into a layer of thick, almost tangible black fog.

Suddenly, she was plunged into complete darkness. Even though she had a glow stick pinned to her chest, the faint light seemed to be held tightly by an invisible hand, barely illuminating an area about a fist's width around her body, with not a single ray of light escaping.

A chill crept into her clothes, and she could clearly feel countless eyes staring at her in the darkness, making her feel suffocated and unable to breathe again.

However, the faint scent of incense in the air gave her a sense of peace.

Just then, all the strange sensations vanished, because her toes touched the ground, and she had descended to the bottom of the well.

There was no water at the bottom of the well as expected, and the ground beneath our feet was covered with a layer of bluish-gray bricks.

This place is much more open than when looking down from the wellhead; it doesn't resemble the bottom of a deep well at all, but rather a semi-underground stone chamber.

Even more surprisingly, the well was not as deep as it had felt when I fell, and the safety rope in my hand was still loosely hanging down by a long section.

The dense blackness that had previously enveloped the light faded away, and the glow stick pinned to her chest finally regained its original brightness, its emerald green light spreading steadily and illuminating an area several feet around her.

She looked up and saw Ma Chenggang and Zhao Changming standing with their backs to her. She quickly untied her safety rope and walked over quietly.

Only when they got closer could they see that Shen Qingzhou was squatting in front of them, taking out a piece of fruit candy from somewhere and gently placing it on the blue brick in front of her.

The next instant, a pale, thin hand suddenly reached out from the dark shadows, grabbed the candy on the ground, and instantly retreated back into the darkness.

The bizarre scene startled the three of them, making their breathing quicken, but Shen Qingzhou, who was squatting on the ground, grinned.

He turned around, caught sight of the three people standing behind him, then stood up and casually tossed the flashlight in his hand to Ding Xiangkui.

Ding Xiangkui quickly reached out and caught it, subconsciously turning on the switch, but the flashlight did not emit any light at all.

"Is it broken?" she wondered.

"The owner here doesn't like light," Shen Qingzhou said.

As soon as he finished speaking, he took the lead and walked forward. The three of them quickly followed, and then they saw that there was a hole more than a person tall embedded in the well wall opposite them. The edges were neatly finished, and it was an archway.

Seeing that Shen Qingzhou did not hesitate and strode in, the three of them did not dare to delay and quickly followed behind.

After passing through a long, narrow, and dark tunnel, the path under their feet gradually widened, and finally the group stopped in a spacious underground hall.

All three were shocked; none of them had expected that such a place would be hidden beneath the village ancestral hall.

In the very center of the hall stood a high platform, upon which rested a large bronze cauldron, its body engraved with indistinct, ancient patterns.

The ground surrounding the platform is crisscrossed with ravines, forming eerie patterns like riverbeds. Even after many years, the air is still filled with a stench of corpses and blood.

Beside the bronze cauldron on the high platform, a woman with her back to the crowd appeared out of nowhere. She had a curvaceous figure and long, flowing hair; she was the same woman they had encountered earlier.

She stood there quietly, as if waiting for something.