Huozhezi fell from mid-air.
It hit the ground paved with stone with a thud.
The last bit of fire that was already dying finally disappeared.
But...
Partridge Whistle is obviously still prepared.
He calmly took out a phosphorus tube from under his sleeve.
Pull out the wooden pin and gently blow into it. You will hear a crash, and the flames will burst out from the inside of the tube, and then it will burst into flames.
The light of fire dispels the darkness.
The tomb, which was originally silent, became bright again.
“Brother Chen, please.”
Say hello.
The two of them walked straight in without any delay.
Completely different from the damp and gloomy atmosphere at the wellhead outside.
The air in the stone chamber beneath me is extremely dry.
It suddenly feels like transitioning from cold winter to hot summer.
The space is also much wider than the two outside ones, with a length and width of almost sixty or seventy meters, and the dome is also astonishingly high. Standing in it, not only is it not cramped, but it is extremely transparent.
However, as he glanced over, the whole stone chamber was covered with bones.
But looking at the bones, most of them are animals.
There are cows, horses, camels, tigers, leopards and wolves. No matter how many there are, it will be difficult for the two of them to tell them apart.
Compared to those animal bones, Chen Yulou and his wife were more attracted by the surrounding stone pillars at this moment.
To be more precise.
It is a dried corpse tied to a stone pillar.
At a glance, they are all human beings without exception.
There were more than a dozen dead bodies, their bodies had dried, their heads were hanging down, or their eyes were staring, with expressions of fear or unwillingness still on their faces.
As if silently roaring and calling for help.
This scene reminded the two subconsciously of the black-scaled shark with six heads tied to copper pillars in Zhelong Mountain that day and made into oil lamps.
An indescribable sense of gloom made the atmosphere even more terrifying.
“Human sacrifice?”
After a long silence, Partridge Whistle frowned and exhaled, breaking the suffocating silence.
Human sacrifice has existed since ancient times.
Especially before the pre-Qin Dynasty, it was almost a standard burial feature for princes and generals.
Even the princes of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods regarded this as a competition for national strength.
Countless slaves and prisoners of war, with their hands tied, were driven into the mausoleum burial pits like cattle and sheep, becoming the burial objects of the princes.
I don’t blame him for thinking so.
The current scene.
It is almost the same as human martyrdom.
"I guess it's about the same, let's look further ahead."
I didn't stay in the Bone Land any longer.
After saying hello, Chen Yulou walked straight over the piles of bones on the ground.
Because the air in the stone room is extremely dry, almost all of the animal bones have weathered. With a slight touch, you can hear a series of clicking sounds, and then turn into a pile of powder.
Those ancient corpses have also weathered to a great extent.
Even under the stone pillar, there is a clearly visible pool of corpse oil, which seeped into the bluestone slab, leaving a large shadow and exuding a disgusting smell.
The two have been fighting each other for many years.
I couldn’t help but frown tightly.
These people did not seem to be simply buried. At least there were no wounds from swords or swords except for traces of rope binding.
I looked at several ancient corpses silently.
The two of them came up with a guess at the same time.
These people may have been moved here after being sun-dried to death.
There were even traces of dried blood on the weathered mummies.
Under the firelight, brown blood dripped from head to toe, making the already ferocious faces even more horrifying.
"It's not a human sacrifice."
"This should be some kind of evil sacrificial ceremony!"
Chen Yulou gritted his teeth and exhaled, his eyebrows filled with gloom.
The mummies had different expressions, and their eyes almost all protruded outwards, which made people feel extremely uncomfortable.
After all, Gumo is one of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions.
There is still a big difference with Han customs.
Human martyrdom means simply killing people and being buried with them.
But all the methods revealed here are full of evil.
"But...who is being sacrificed?"
Partridge Whistle was slightly startled, and his eyes subconsciously glanced around.
A huge stone room.
Except for the white bones all over the ground and the ancient corpses on stone pillars, no stone statues or gods with religious elements have been seen so far.
"Is there a possibility."
"The person worshiping is the owner of the tomb here?"
Chen Yulou said calmly, but the indifference in his tone was completely concealed Can't live.
"You mean, the people buried here are inextricably linked to religious beliefs?"
Partridge Whistle was thoughtful.
He suddenly thought of A Zhiya, a wizard from the Uighur tribe, and Basi Gu, a demon from Malu Village.
As messengers of the gods, they themselves represent the gods walking in the world.
If the person buried here is a wizard or something.
The emergence of such evil sacrifices seems to be reasonable.
"Yes or no, you can tell when you open the coffin and take a look."
Chen Yulou did not explain much, but moved his eyes from the ancient corpse on the stone pillar in front of him to the one in the distance. On the huge sarcophagus.
See this situation.
The Partridge Whistle immediately took a few steps quickly, passed over the bones everywhere, and inserted the phosphorus tube in his hand on the stone wall nearby.
The fire flickered.
The sarcophagus finally appeared in their sight.
I saw that it was nearly ten feet long, as tall as a person.
Walking around in a circle.
The Partridge Whistle looks more and more weird.
For most of his life, he had seen too many coffins either while fighting upside down or on the way to the grave.
Although the styles of coffins have varied throughout the dynasties, they are basically the same. At most, the differences are in materials, but the one in front of me is too different.
Four and square, the inside and outside are integrated.
It is not so much a coffin as it is a box carved from mountain stone. Other than that, there are no decorative patterns. It is so simple that it is unbelievable.
“It should be a fusion of Han Chinese styles, but it turned out to be completely different.”
After all, Gumozhou was the most important town at that time. It was located on the ancient Silk Road and had countless trades. Especially during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, transactions with the mainland were extremely frequent.
This can actually be seen from the buildings in the ancient city.
It was deeply influenced by the Han people.
Hearing this, the partridge whistled and laughed.
Immediately, without any delay, I took out the vaginal claw.
Chen Yulou casually took off the bone knife from his waist that he had not used for a long time.
The gaps in the sarcophagus were sealed with beeswax-like isinglass, and a blade as thin as a cicada's wing was inserted into it and made a slight stroke.
In an instant.
The already petrified isinglass shattered to pieces on the ground.
The other end.
The partridge whistle saw the opportunity, and with quick eyes and quick hands, he hooked his probing claw under the coffin lid, then pulled the hook rope and exerted force suddenly.
As his blood surged up.
The coffin lid, which weighed hundreds of kilograms, was lifted by him forcefully.
Seeing that the gap between the coffin lid and the coffin body was getting bigger and bigger, Chen Yulou did not hesitate, raised his breath, jumped to the head of the coffin, and kicked out hard.
The force of this leg-breaking strike was extremely shocking.
Violent friction sounds were heard, and the stone lid attached to the edge of the coffin slid back for more than two meters before it came to a stop.
Huh——
See a gap at the head of the coffin.
The two of them did not rush forward, but took half a step back with a tacit understanding.
The aura of death in this ancient coffin, which has been sealed for thousands of years, is comparable to that of the black snake we encountered in the well. Even if you accidentally inhale one, the five internal organs in your abdomen may be dissolved. .
Since ancient times, countless people have died like this. As old Jianghu people, how could Chen Yulou and Partridge Shao not understand?
In addition to the miasma in the coffin, this behavior is also to prevent the deactivation device.
Fortunately.
A moment later.
Apart from a pungent corpse aura escaping, no hidden arrows, flowing fire, sword slaves or crossbows were seen being fired.
After confirming that there was no danger, the two of them approached each other, one on the left and the other on the right.
By the light of the phosphorus tube inserted on the stone wall.
Looked down.
Two ancient corpses, a man and a woman, sleep in each other's arms.
Similar to the ancient corpses seen along the way, thanks to the unique climate environment of the Black Desert, the corpse in the coffin did not rot, but dehydrated and turned into two mummies.
However, their noble status can be easily distinguished from the clothes and decorations on their bodies.
Although it is not to the level of golden strands and jade clothes.
But it is also an extremely rare brocade silk garment in the Western Regions.
The man is dressed in a vermilion black robe, and you can faintly see the black bird embroidery, the shape is smooth and majestic.
As for the woman, she was wearing a white feather coat, as thin as a cicada's wings. Even after thousands of years, there was not much damage.
As for the two people, they each held an artifact, which reflected a bright gold and silver luster under the firelight.
"It should be a gold instrument that proves identity."
Looking at the tightly clenched hands, both of them's eyes lit up.
Han people have the custom of swallowing jade when they are buried.
At present, there are two ancient corpses of a man and a woman. Their dehydrated cheeks are deeply sunken and there is no sense of fullness. It is obvious that they have not swallowed antiseptic ancient objects such as Yasheng, Yuxi or Yinzhu.
The partridge whistle jumped up and stood on the edge of the coffin.
The vagina-exploring claws in his hands carefully stretched out towards the male corpse's hands.
I tried to hook it hard, but there was no movement.
After all, for thousands of years, the fingers of both hands have been clasped together, making it difficult to separate easily.
Plus I don’t dare to use too much force.
In case the goldware is damaged.
It is not easy to repair.
Chen Yulou was not in a hurry. While he was taking advantage of the light, he walked around the coffin body and looked elsewhere inside the coffin.
Except for what the two of them hold.
There are many funerary objects in the coffin, including gold, silver, jade, glass wine cups, rhinoceros horns and ivory, and utensils with a strong Western style.
All are priceless goodies.
Chen Yulou will naturally not let it go.
The journey is difficult, and with two to three hundred brothers following us, we cannot return empty-handed.
However, when he was gathering the bright objects, a strange-looking gold object caught his attention.
Grab it and put it in your hands.
That was actually a snake head with two ferocious pupils!
To be precise, it is Jingjian Ahan!
Made of pure gold in the style of a snake mother.
The snake's head was raised high, spitting out the snake letter, and its huge pupils were full of indifference to all living beings.
Looking at the overall style, it seems to have been broken off from something, and there are obvious cross-sections.
‘The Queen’s Throne? ’
Chen Yulou thought about it carefully, and the more he looked at it, the more he thought it was the embellishment at the front of the handrail.
But she dared to carve Jingjian Ahan and the guardian spirit of the ghost cave on the chair. Looking at the thirty-six countries in the Western Region, there was only one Queen Jingjue.
The reason why I thought of her.
There is another most important reason.
If I remember correctly, this should be the burial coffin of Prince Gumo.
He led the coalition forces to attack the ancient city of Jingjue, breaking the Queen's high-pressure rule.
As the victor, he removed an object from the throne and was buried with him to commemorate his great achievements.
“I got it!”
While he was holding the golden snake and thinking about it.
The sound of a partridge whistle can already be heard in my ears.
"What is it?"
"Golden Seal!"
The partridge whistle opened its palm.
It is clearly a seal with a camel as a button. It is made of pure gold and the camel carving is lifelike and dynamic.
However, Chen Yulou only glanced at it and looked under the button seat.
To his surprise, what was engraved under the gold seal was Han Li, and there was a small line of ancient Sanskrit on the side.
"Gu Mo, Wang Yin?"
Partridge Whistle read out slowly, then raised his head with a surprised look on his face.
"It seems that this is not a wizard, but the king of Gumo Royal City..."
There were bones everywhere, and ancient corpses dripping with blood were used as sacrifices. They also speculated whether the owner of the tomb here could be Gumo. A figure like a wizard of a country.
But now judging from this golden seal, this is not the case.
"What's one more thing?"
Chen Yulou nodded and subconsciously looked at the hand of the female corpse, and found that her clenched fingers had also been opened, and the gold weapon hidden in it had disappeared without a trace.
"It's a fish."
Partridge Whistle calmly let go of his left hand.
Different from the gold seal, the object held in the woman's hand is a goldfish the size of a baby's hand.
Every detail on the back of the fish's scales and fins is exquisite. It is even more lifelike than that of the camel, as if it can come back to life and swim away happily if it is thrown into the water.
It’s hard to imagine that it was an ancient artifact from the Thirty-Six Kingdoms era of the Western Regions thousands of years ago.
"So, this is the mausoleum where King Gumo and his wife are buried together."
Chen Yulou rubbed his eyebrows.
I didn’t pay much attention to the goldfish.
Although the design is exquisite and shocking, the goldfish itself does not have a symbol of rights. It is more like it was owned by the female corpse during her lifetime. Because she liked it too much, she was buried with it after her death.
“Can’t be wrong...”
Partridge Whistle nodded and handed the seal and fish to Chen Yulou.
Moving the mountain line is not a clear weapon.
In his opinion, these things are only somewhat interesting at most, but they are not enough to make him tempted.
It was the snake head in Chen Yulou's hand that made the corners of his eyes twitch.
The lights flickered, and in a daze, he almost thought that the black poisonous snake from before appeared again.
Seeing his eyes falling between the palms of his hands, Chen Yulou briefly explained.
"Decorated with a black snake...Brother Chen, this is not good news."
The Partridge Whistle responded very quickly.
My face immediately became ugly.
He was secretly relieved when he didn't see any more black snakes all the way down the well.
But the appearance of this thing now shows that at least a thousand years ago, the Black Snake had unimaginable influence among the countries in the Western Region.
Even... it is most likely a totem belief.
Chen Yulou knew it well, but he was also amazed at his quick thinking. After thinking for a while, he smiled helplessly.
“Soldiers will block you, water will block you, and water will cover you. We can only take one step at a time.”
“That’s all we can do.”
Seeing his calm expression, Partridge Whistle's brows were always furrowed.
The depression accumulated in my heart is so strong that it cannot be dissolved.
There is something he has never dared to say.
The moment I saw the black snake attacking and killing me, ancient memories poured out like a flood that opened a floodgate.
In ancient rumors passed down by word of mouth in Zagrama.
The first disaster the high priest caused because he spied into the ghost cave... was not a ghost curse, but a group of strange snakes crawling out of hell, which killed countless tribesmen.
With the death of the high priest, the tribe could only push out two sages to stabilize the situation.
The two men led the warriors to kill the strange snake and its mother.
The corpses were all thrown into the ghost cave.
Then the sage made a divination at the cost of his life and learned that an invisible disaster had befallen the tribe.
And that disaster was a ghost curse that caused their clan to endure thousands of years of pain and countless deaths!
But he didn't dare to confirm whether the poisonous snake that appeared in the ancient well was the same kind of strange snake passed down from his family!
That’s why he followed resolutely.
Just want to find out.
But even Partridge Whistle himself did not expect that what happened after entering the well was completely beyond his expectation.
The imagined snake nest was not seen.
Instead, we found the tomb of Prince Gumo.
"Brother Taoist, come and see, these murals...may be able to explain something to us." (End of Chapter)