"Master, there is no way ahead."
Sharpening his sword, he turned to look at Jin An behind the palace and told him the reason why he suddenly couldn't stop.
Jin An found a slightly wider crack, exchanged places with the old Taoist priest, and walked to Xiejian. The first thing he heard was the sound of gurgling water. He looked surprised. Is there an underground river nearby?
There was indeed no road ahead of them, only an underground river flowing slowly.
Jin An looked at the underground river in surprise and said thoughtfully: "There is a dead end road. Since Xiao Ling Wang and the others were able to pass through here and did not go back, it means that the underground river is not deep. Xiao Ling Wang and the others finally waded through the river. ”
Next, he sharpened his sword and tested the depth of the water with the ancient sword in his hand.
This underground river is indeed not deep.
It's probably about waist level.
Later, Jin An found several bloody palm prints on the rock wall of the river. It seemed that these bloody palm prints were left by the Feng Shui master who was blinded. He walked back to the underground river all the way.
The three of them cleaned up and started to go into the water. They walked in the direction of the bloody palm prints. There were three consecutive sounds of falling into the water. Jin An, Xi Jian, and the old Taoist priest all jumped into the underground river.
But just as he jumped into the underground river, the old Taoist priest whispered: "There seems to be something scratchy under the river. Old Taoist, I seem to have stepped on something!"
The three of them lowered their heads and got close to the water, looking through the dark surface of the river to carefully see what was under the water. When they saw it, Jin An's head jumped hard, and one face after another with their eyes open looked straight at them. Staring at them underwater.
They now cross the river by stepping on dead bodies.
It turns out that the underground river is not shallow, but that the underground river is filled with corpses.
This unexpected scene shocked the old Taoist priest so much that the scalp on the back of his head flew up. He just happened to step on a dead head. Unsteady on his feet, he almost stumbled and fell into the underground river. Fortunately, Jin An had quick eyesight and quick hands. , caught the old Taoist priest in time, and prevented him from drinking the bath water of the dead.
After Jin An helped the old Taoist priest steady, he boldly put his head close to the water again and took a closer look at the sunken corpses under the water.
When I was mentally prepared to observe carefully this time, I found several abnormalities among the dead people piled up on the river bed.
"Old Taoist, Chi Jian, have you noticed that the skin color of these dead people is a little different? The skin is not at all like the pale white or the long-lasting black and blue of other dead people...The color of their skin looks like stone, To say they are dead people, is it better to say they are stone figurines?"
"And have you noticed that these corpses are very hard. When we step on these corpses to cross the river, it's like crossing the river on stones. They don't have the soft feeling of ordinary corpses?"
Jin An said thoughtfully as he continued to hold a torch and carefully look at each of the dead bodies in front of and behind him.
The expression on his face was calm, and he did not feel timid about walking on a river of dead people.
He was not worried at all whether the countless corpses beneath his feet would suddenly rise up and eat people.
If these corpses really want to deceive corpses, the experts from Yujing Golden Tower, Zhenguo Temple, and Tianshi Mansion who are far more knowledgeable than him cannot fail to see that since those people are willing to go down the underground river and walk upstream, it means that These piles of dead men are safe for now.
After listening to Jin An's words, the old Taoist priest, who had regained his balance and no longer had cramps in his calves, said in surprise: "Little brother, are you saying that these are not really dead people, but stone figurines used as sacrifices to the local palace?"
Jin An glanced at the old Taoist priest, neither admitting nor denying that since they descended into the underground palace, strange things have happened one after another in the underground palace. Since there is no danger for the time being, there is no need to create an overly tense atmosphere.
but.
Stepping on the piles of dead people in a river valley, even as brave as Jin An, I feel panicked. It's as scary as stepping on corpses even if I take a step in the cemetery. Sometimes my ankles accidentally get stuck. It takes a lot of effort to pull out the legs from the dead man's armband.
The three-person team followed the bloody palm prints on the rock wall and began to swim upstream, one step deeper and one shallower.
The further upstream you go, the shallower the water level becomes. This is because more dead people accumulate in the river, and the dead people downstream are washed down from the upstream.
The underground river also had several forks, but fortunately there were bloody palm prints as guides. In the end, the three of them successfully found a place to go ashore.
As a result, as soon as they landed, they saw several boxes that were almost rotten and worn out. After being opened, they were thrown on the shore.
The old Taoist priest hurriedly rushed to the rotten boxes, but naturally found nothing.
The box is empty.
If there really was a treasure in every year, it would have been taken away long ago.
"Little brother, there are still water stains under these boxes that have not been completely dried. These boxes were just fished ashore not long ago. The underground palace must have been cracked by the earthquake, and there are many good treasures flowing underground from the depths of the underground palace. The river fell out and we were a step too late." The old Taoist priest looked at the empty box on the ground and said sadly.
At first, the three of them were attracted by the rotten boxes on the shore. It was not until they re-examined the huge cave in front of them that they realized that they were now in an underground cave in a huge space. Perhaps it was because the underground river lasted for a long time. The underground air was very humid, and many stalactites hung above their heads.
There are no traces of artificial carvings or mausoleum layout in this crypt. It should not be part of the underground palace building in the first place. Such a temporary passage was created because the underground rock layer was shattered.
Listening to the sound of gurgling water in their ears, the three of them walked along the river bank in the darkness. After walking for about a stick of incense, they once again saw traces of human activities.
It was a very grand square. There were four bronze pillars standing on the square. Several people hugged each bronze pillar. Behind the four bronze pillars was a temple. The temple had a bright tower, high walls, and a moat... maybe it was because of the earthquake. Cause the underground river to change its course. The water in the moat has dried up long ago, exposing the bare river bed and the dead people piled up on the river bed.
Those dead people are all the same as the dead people in the underground river, with weird skin colors, like stone figurines.
When the river no longer blocked their sight and they could clearly see so many dead people like stone figurines for the first time, Jin An and the old Taoist priest realized belatedly that they had just stepped on so many dead people to walk all the way. So audacious.
As for sharpening the sword?
There was no change in expression along the way.
Passing through the square with four bronze pillars, the three of them stood in front of the majestic temple with high walls, Xuan Palace?
There is a bronze plaque hanging high on the main door. Although it has a lot of patina, the word "Xuan Gong" can still be vaguely recognized.
