The reason for confirming it at a glance.
Except for the vague French text on the photo.
The most important thing is the name of the gold watch.
Cardia!
The oldest luxury brand in France started from the watch industry and was established in the 1840s, which is fifty years ahead.
In his previous life, he bought an old-fashioned Cartier mechanical watch on the second-hand market.
Just the only difference.
The latter is a watch.
"France?"
Listen to his mumbling.
The few people around were confused, and they only vaguely felt that it seemed to be a place name.
On the other hand, Yang Fang asked thoughtfully.
“Are they the foreign devils who broke into the capital during the Gengzi Year, burned, killed and looted?”
“Brother Yang Fang knows?”
Chen Yulou’s heart moved and he looked towards There was a trace of surprise in his eyes.
Although the Gengzi Rebellion occurred more than ten years ago, it was still difficult to survive in the troubled times. The poor people at the bottom had no chance to know what happened in the capital.
"Master Luo, who taught me boxing, was once a member of the Boxer Rebellion. Unfortunately, after the defeat, he became disheartened and lived in seclusion by the Yellow River, making a living by fishing."
Yang There was a hint of memory in Fang's eyes.
He was young at that time and did not understand the heroism of killing one dragon, two tigers and three hundred sheep, nor did he understand the momentum of the gods getting angry and the immortals getting angry and going down the mountain together to preach the Tao.
He only remembered that Master Luo took advantage of the wine and the strength of his fists to say it twice, but he was only interested in boxing moves. Seeing his lack of interest, a look of sadness flashed in his eyes. color.
"That's it."
Chen Yulou nodded with emotion.
In just over ten years, the world has changed, and the King's Flag at the top of the city has changed one after another.
For the poor in the mountains of western Hunan, the capital is too far and the mountain roads are too dangerous.
Most people, before this, may not be able to walk out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains in their lifetime.
"It turned out to be the Queen of Righteous Fist."
"No wonder your kid robbed the rich and gave to the poor in the world."
The old foreigner who was most familiar with Yang Fang and had the closest relationship secretly patted him on the shoulder. Next, he lowered his voice and said.
People in Jianghu may not know about the Gengzi Incident, but the word "Boxer Rebellion" is very familiar to them.
Hearing this, Yang Fang shook his head repeatedly. Instead of being very excited, he was filled with guilt.
If only I knew something back then.
Master Luo will not remain depressed for the rest of his life, drinking to drown his sorrows all day long.
"Guaizi, have you found anything else?"
Without worrying too much about this matter, Chen Yulou gently clicked the gold watch in his hand, and only heard a crisp clicking sound. He got up and buckled the pocket watch again.
Huamaguai shook his head, "That's all for now..."
"That's strange. From the looks of them, even if they just entered the city, they should have luggage with them."
Hearing this reply.
Chen Yulou couldn't help but frown.
Although the group of East India Company members who appeared in Xiye Ancient City was only a small team of a few people, they carried a full six or seven camel team with dry food, water and tools.
Right now, there are more than ten people hanging here alone.
It shouldn't be empty.
"Shopkeeper, could it be that... there is another team in the city?"
"Or maybe the team was originally very large, but there was internal strife, and these people died among their teammates. Hands? "
Hua Maguai still has a bright mind.
In the blink of an eye, two possibilities came to mind.
Even Chen Yulou heard it and felt that what he said was reasonable.
However, there was another guess in his mind.
That is whether the disappeared remnants of the Ghost Cave Clan are not dead, but have been hiding here, like ghosts in the dark night, guarding this place together with those black snakes.
Of course.
The possibility is slim.
After all, these people were not the only ones who had been to the ancient city before.
At least in the past few decades, the Uighur tribe wizard Azhiya has visited many times.
Also, although the road in the Black Desert is as difficult as climbing to the sky, for thousands of years, ruthless people who want money rather than their lives have inevitably forced their way across it.
If there are still people living in the ancient city of Jingjue.
There has been news for a long time.
"What's going on? We have to go to the city to see."
Putting away his thoughts, Chen Yulou waved his hand and led everyone into the city in person.
The appearance of the black snake made him dare not take any chances. Not only were those ghosts highly poisonous, but they were also extremely vindictive.
This is why he did not hesitate to use the evil-destroying talisman in Yunlutian Book just now to forcibly kill him.
I am just worried that the smell will attract a tide of snakes.
It's just that the lone viper is fine.
If a wave of snakes comes, even he dare not say that he can kill them easily and then escape unscathed.
After all.
We really want to summon Luofu down.
It will definitely alarm the person in the ghost cave.
Before the final level, the most important thing is to keep your trump card. Otherwise, if you use all the final tricks, wouldn't it mean that you have to be on guard if you take the first step?
The group of people moved around.
While holding the wind lantern torch, he also held the pistol tightly to prevent sudden changes in the city.
Another team as Huamaguai guessed.
Or it may be a pack of wild beasts taking shelter in the city.
But the silence all the way after entering the city was terrifying. Even the howling cold wind was mostly blocked by the Zagrama Mountains. After blowing into the ancient city, it only set off small waves of wind.
Dark lights illuminate the surroundings.
The outer city is full of low mud houses. After thousands of years, they have weathered or simply collapsed, turning into ruins.
Based on the murals in the tomb of Prince Gumo when they were underground that day.
At that time, the allied forces of the thirty-five countries had already arrived at the city. As a result, the gods sent down a divine punishment, destroying the entire royal city and countless elite people in an instant.
Until many years later.
As the dunes move.
This ancient city has just reappeared in the world.
Judging from the current situation, there is flowing yellow sand everywhere in the city, which corresponds to the records in the murals.
The only bad thing is.
Count from the sea of fish.
In the blink of an eye, almost half a month has passed since they entered the Black Desert.
After such a long time, the group has become accustomed to it.
The only bad thing is.
The ancient city of Jingjue is too vast.
After walking for more than half an hour, we finally passed through the outer city and entered the center of the ancient city.
Different from the surrounding mud houses.
There are obviously many more turrets and stone halls in the city. At first glance, they are the residences of the most elite nobles.
Pile up with large black stones.
Even if it takes thousands of years, wind and sand have not been able to corrode the building.
The light reflected on the stone wall reflected a dazzling luster like black crystal.
If you don’t know its origin.
People who don’t know the product will probably think it is Hetian black jade.
Not long after.
Waiting for a few people to cross a long street submerged in yellow sand.
The crooked stone tower finally appeared in sight.
There are six floors in total, carved from a whole piece of black mountain stone. From a distance, it looks like a freshly baked black porcelain bottle.
Before this, they had only seen it in murals and ancient albums.
Now that I have seen it with my own eyes, I realize that the ancient pagoda is solemn and solemn, with an indescribable and amazing beauty.
“Finally we’re here.”
"Isn't this the Queen's Palace?"
"It doesn't look like it, it feels more like a religious altar."
Most of the people present are experienced inverters. .
Even though his eyesight is not as good as Chen Yulou and Partridge Whistle.
But outside, it is still a first-class old man.
Looking up at this moment, after a few simple exchanges, he guessed the function of the stone tower.
"What are you thinking about? You'll know if you go in and take a look."
Yang Fang gently waved the magic whip in his hand.
He felt that he had been eating and drinking for free all the way down and had not made much contribution. At this moment, he opened his mouth to ask for help and go ahead to explore the way into the stone tower for everyone.
Just.
Haven't taken a few steps yet.
My shoulders were held down.
"Wait a minute..."
The old foreigner grabbed the robe on his body. Seeing Yang Fang's eyes showing surprise, he subconsciously pursed his lips not far away.
“What’s the rush?”
"Didn't you see anyone guarding you?"
"Is there someone?!"
Hearing this, Yang Fang couldn't help but frown.
It wasn't until he glanced at the old foreigner's smiling face from the corner of his eye that he finally reacted.
Lifted the lantern forward.
In the flickering firelight, a low figure flashed past.
Seeing this, he subconsciously increased the strength of the hand holding the whip.
When I still want to take a closer look.
The reminder of the partridge whistle has been heard in my ears.
"It's an ancient corpse..."
Along the way, they saw many corpses.
There were merchants who did business between Central Asia and the Western Regions and eventually died in the desert, and there were also foreign devils who were swallowed up by sandstorms in order to steal cultural relics.
There are not many ancient corpses.
Most of them are buried in tombs.
Such as the stone coffins we saw along the way, and the Gumo Stone Hall hidden underground.
Yang Fang couldn't help but feel a little curious, and looked intently, and saw a door standing at the bottom of the stone tower where it met the quicksand.
At the tower gate.
A corpse sits cross-legged.
The shape is like an old monk in meditation.
Looks like he must be old and covered in dust, but his gestures are extremely weird, with one hand on his lower abdomen and the other pointing to the sky above his head.
Although most of the clothes on his body were corroded, some of them could still be seen from the material and style, and they were at least thousands of years old.
"Is it the gatekeeper?"
Huamaguai frowned and suddenly came up with a word.
The gatekeeper is roughly equivalent to the Buddhist pagoda monk or the Tantric Tiebang Lama.
This ancient corpse must have been waiting here for many years.
Never moved.
Looking at where he was sitting, it seemed that he was trying to prevent outsiders from entering the tower.
"Whether it's the one guarding the door or the one opening the door, they have been dead for thousands of years."
Yang Fang raised the corners of his eyes, and murderous intent appeared in his brows.
The magic whip in his hand is the most powerful thing to restrain the evil spirits.
It has been here for so long, but it has never been put to use. If it is rigor mortis, it can just loosen his bones.
With a cold shout, as he spoke, he was already walking straight towards the tower door with a four-edged steel whip.
The old foreigner was a cautious person, so when he saw this situation, his heart sank.
But how could he sit back and watch Yang Fang go into danger alone.
Immediately took off my umbrella and followed quickly.
The two of them stood outside the door, one behind the other. The wind lamp swept across it, and the ancient corpse sitting cross-legged on the ground was immediately reflected more clearly.
Standard Western appearance.
My eyes were closed tightly.
Because he was covered in yellow sand, he looked like a clay statue of the Bodhisattva. But as he looked at it, Yang Fang couldn't help but feel a touch of surprise in his eyes. For some reason, he always felt that the ancient corpse in front of him looked more and more familiar.
Until he glanced at the old foreigner beside him from the corner of his eye.
He suddenly reacted.
The appearance of the ancient corpse... seems to be carved from the same mold as the old foreigner.
As if he noticed something strange about him, the old foreigner looked away from the darkness behind the tower door and glared at him with a frown.
“Have you seen a ghost?”
"No..." Yang Fang swallowed and pointed at the ancient corpse in front of him, "You didn't find anything wrong?" , can it still survive?"
The old foreigner shrugged and said with a smile.
The first time he came over, he carefully checked the aura on the ancient corpse.
What the Bishan lineage is best at is restraint, and they have many unique secret methods for dealing with rigor mortis.
With a casual glance, he realized that the ancient corpse had no chance of becoming stiff.
I simply stopped wasting time and turned my attention to the depths of the Black Tower.
"No..."
Yang Fang shook his head again.
With a tangled look on his face, he hesitated to speak, and finally gritted his teeth.
"Don't you think it... looks a lot like you?"
As soon as these words came out, Yang Fang lowered his head and was ready to be beaten, but strangely, it took a long time. , and there was no movement in front of him.
People couldn't help but secretly open their eyes.
Not far away, the old foreigner seemed to be frozen in place. He stayed there blankly, staring at the ancient corpse, with a hint of complexity that he couldn't understand flashed between his brows and eyes.
“Hey, no, I just said it casually.”
"Don't really believe it."
Seeing his appearance, Yang Fang also panicked and kept explaining.
Just as he finished speaking, he saw the old foreigner looking away from the ancient corpse as if he had just woken up from a dream, with a complex expression showing a bit of pain.
"I have probably guessed his identity."
"Priest or some kind of gatekeeper?"
"None of them." The old foreigner shook his head, "They are the ancestors of my lineage."
"What...what?!"
Hearing this.
Even though Yang Fang had seen it before, he was shocked and dumbfounded.
He has been in Chenjiazhuang for the shortest time.
The true origin of their lineage is unknown.
But as a descendant of Mojin, I have been around in the world of Dou Dou for so long, but I have never heard of Taoist Banshan Taoist.
Although when they first met, he was indeed a little surprised that the appearance of the three old foreign seniors, brother and sister, seemed to be very different from that of the Han people.
But beyond that.
The accent, habits, and clothing are all the same as those of the Han people.
Now...an ancient city far away in the Black Desert of the Western Region.
How could an ancient corpse that had already weathered be an ancestor of his lineage?
“Are you, no, are you crazy?”
“You’re starting to talk nonsense.”
Yang Fang stepped forward and was about to test him. The temperature on his forehead made him wonder if the old foreigner was possessed by evil spirits, otherwise he would be talking nonsense.
But before his hands touched him, he was avoided by the old foreigner.
Looked at him seriously, "It's not a joke."
"This..."
Looked at him deeply.
At this moment, the old foreigner's eyes were clear and his expression was calm. He didn't look like he was trying to see something evil, but what he said was unbelievable.
"It's true."
His heart was in a mess, and he didn't know what to do.
A calm voice came from behind.
Yang Fang subconsciously turned around.
Just in time to meet the partridge whistle coming out of the darkness.
At this moment, his expression was almost exactly the same as that of the old foreigner, indescribably complicated.
And Chen Yulou next to him.
He also had a calm face, without any surprise, as if he had expected it.
For a time, Yang Fang was even more confused inside, feeling like he had been abandoned by the whole world, "What... is going on?"
"At the end of the mural on the tomb of Prince Gumo in Jingxia, It records a person who, after the assassination failed, came up with an idea for Prince Gumo to hide poison in mutton and offer it to Queen Jingjue.”
"Soon, the news came that the Queen had died of poison."
"Prince Gumo then led the coalition forces to defeat the entire country and marched to the city."
"And that person... I didn't guess. If it’s wrong, it should be him.”
Partridge Whistle said calmly, as if it was a trivial matter that had nothing to do with him.
But at the end of his words, he changed the subject and sighed, "He is actually the ancestor of my Zagrama lineage."
After the tribe moved eastward.
Because the whereabouts of Muchen Bead has never been found.
A wise man in Zagrama thought of a way to return to the Holy Mountain to find the jade eyeball made by the sage.
But when he returned to his ancestral land after all the hardships, he found that the world had changed, and things and people had changed.
The once holy mountain was occupied by the ancient kingdom of Jingjue.
Jade eyes are also regarded as the queen's possession.
In order to regain the ancestral belongings, he cooperated with Prince Gumo, who also had a deep hatred.
It's just...
Zagram's family book only records the wise man's return to the Holy Mountain, but there is nothing about his follow-up.
Now that he saw the ancient corpse outside the stone tower, Partridge Whistle finally understood.
The wise man died here.
Perhaps after the ancient city was submerged, he tried his best to find the ancient tower, but in the end he could not find the passage into the palace.
Died at the last step.
What a pity.
At this moment, I suddenly saw the ancestor in the family book appearing in front of me. The feeling was beyond words.
"My condolences..."
Stand aside.
After hearing the cause and effect, Chen Yulou looked at his trembling shoulders and couldn't help but patted him gently and comforted him.
The ancestors have succeeded one after another.
We meet again after a thousand years.
There is really no relief in this kind of thing.
"Old foreigner, collect the bones of your ancestors."
Partridge Whistle shook his head, indicating that he was fine, then took a deep breath and said seriously.
“Yes, senior brother!”
Isn’t that true for the old foreigner.
The moment he had a flash of inspiration and recognized the identity of the ancient corpse, he had so many thoughts in his heart that he even felt a strong sense of suffocation.
"Shopkeeper, should we go over and help?"
I saw the two brothers carrying the ancient corpse aside.
Huamaguai couldn't help but lower his voice and asked.
Chen Yulou hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head.
It's better to let them do this kind of thing themselves. After all, they are outsiders and can't interfere.
Looking at the actions of the two Partridge Whistle, there is a high probability that they plan to collect the bones first, and then send the remains of their ancestors to be buried under the holy mountain after leaving the city.
Let’s put it this way.
Compared to those tribesmen whose leaves cannot return to their roots and can only be buried behind Peacock Mountain, they are still lucky.
Not long after.
The two gathered the remains.
Seeing the tense and solemn atmosphere, Chen Yulou pointed to the pagoda door in front of him, "This stone pagoda has an amazing shape. Maybe we can find some clues."
While speaking.
Taking Huama's handheld hand lantern, he stooped and went straight through the door.
Seeing this, everyone filed in except for the two guys who stayed outside to take care of them.
The space inside the tower is not small.
More than ten people entered, and they didn’t feel crowded at all.
The wind lanterns shone one after another, and soon the dark tower was brightly lit.
I saw that the stone walls inside the tower were densely carved with ancient characters.
Except for a few of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions that do not have their own language system, most of the ancient countries have written records. Even big countries such as Jingjue and Loulan have several languages.
But glance at it.
The writing on the stone wall is different from any ancient writing seen before.
“It doesn’t seem to be the Qilu script.”
“It’s not indeed. If I guessed correctly, this should be the legendary Ghost Cave script.”
The Ghost Cave Clan , with Ghost Cave as its origin, no matter the Demon Kingdom, the Samsara Sect or the Jingjue Ancient Kingdom, they are all members of the Ghost Cave clan.
But obviously few people outside me have never heard of it.
"Do you know the shopkeeper?"
"What are you thinking? If I know everything, wouldn't I become a god."
Chen Yulou waved his hand.
Just holding the wind lantern, he walked to a stone statue standing behind him.
It was a blue sheep carved from black mountain stone.
It is lifelike, which shows the craftsmanship, but there is nothing special about it.
The group did not delay and spiraled along the stairs beside the stone tower to the second floor. They found another stone man at almost the same location.
No different from ordinary people.
But the eyes are surprisingly big.
"Aren't these the giant-eyed stone men we saw in Xiye City?"
Yang Fang had a strange look on his face.
At first I thought it was unique to Xiye, but now it seems that is not the case.
“They are, probably a symbol of the Jingjue Kingdom. Xiye has been occupied by Jingjue for many years, so it is not an accident that similar giant-eyed stone men appear.”
“This happens every time. There is a stone statue on the first floor, and it doesn’t look like a valuable thing.”
Huamaguai looked around. Except for the stone statues and the cryptic text on the wall, the hall was completely empty. If he hadn't confirmed that no one had been there, he would have suspected that someone had climbed in first.
“This is called religious belief.”
“Didn’t you realize that the characters on each level are different, and their status and status are completely different from low to high?”
Chen Yulou glanced at him and smiled.
"Shopkeeper, what you mean is that the first layer of stone sheep represents livestock, and the second layer is people. So if you put it that way, the third layer must be the queen."
A group of people went up.
But what appears on the third floor is not the exquisite queen wearing a gauze veil and a crown.
It is a general with a snake body and a human head, holding a sword and shield, looking ferocious and ferocious, looking like the glaring King Kong in the temple.
"This is..."
What I saw when I came up was completely different from what I guessed.
Huamaguai couldn't help but froze in place.
What he saw below was at least traceable. The sudden appearance of a monster made him confused.
“Didn’t you say that before?”
“Gatekeeper?”
Seeing the shopkeeper reminding himself, Huamaguai blurted out.
"It's almost the same, or it might be more appropriate to call it a patron saint."
Looking at the glaring figure, Chen Yulou couldn't help but flash the appearance of those black snakes in his mind.
The ancients were really good at creating.
That kind of ghost thing can be beautified to such an extent.
“Shopkeeper, something doesn’t seem right.”
"This black tower has a total of six floors. The stone sheep, stone men, and guardian gods. Even if you add the queen and the supreme god they believe in, there are only five floors."
It is Kunlun who has never spoken.
I was the first to notice something strange.
Speaking of this, he frowned, looked at the people around him, and spoke in a low tone slowly.
"What is that extra layer...?" (End of this chapter)