Tudeng Gero, one of the three elders.
His skin had completely carbonized and blackened, the charred hide curling up to expose dark-red cooked flesh beneath. Murky yellow fluid wound its way down his limbs.
Heart-piercing agony drew wretched groans from him.
"The elder is the only one who can get us out now! If he dies, or his Vengeful Ghost revives, this place will become even more dangerous."
Qu Zan fixed this thought in his mind and hurried over to check the elder's condition.
As soon as he approached the elder, he smelled a nauseating stench coming from him, like a burning corpse.
Green firelight shone from the cracks in his body.
Amid those licking flames, an illusory, uncanny figure flickered in and out of sight.
It had the scorched face of a dead person and an emaciated body, yet its belly bulged. Charcoal-black flesh clung tightly to its jagged skeleton, its skin scorched dry and cracked in many places, its eyelids burned shut-
A jeweled skull crown sat atop its head, and eerie green flames streamed continuously from its mouth and nose.
Is that the [Flaming-Mouth Ghost Mother] bound by the elder? Qu Zan wondered.
The Vengeful Ghost was initially a phantom, but it grew increasingly solid, and an uncanny, scorching heat spread with it.
Judging by its appearance, was the Vengeful Ghost about to revive at a time like this?
Qu Zan and the others could already feel their lips drying and peeling.
"Elder!" Qu Zan shouted. "Elder Tudeng Gero!"
Hearing his own name, Tudeng Gero slowly regained awareness through his pain and weakness. He opened his eyes and saw Qu Zan and the others.
"You're still alive? Hurry and go-those two from [Hell's Beings] aren't easy to deal with!" After a pained groan, the elder said quietly,