"Little brother, it seems we have found a big treasure this time."
"The term Xuan Palace in Taoism is not simple. It refers to both Taoist temples and palaces where immortals live."
The old Taoist priest became more and more excited as he talked.
According to the old Taoist priest, this Xuan Palace must be the main hall of the underground palace, where the owner of the tomb is buried. Unexpectedly, they could find the main tomb chamber so easily and get a glimpse of the true face of the owner of the tomb in Lushan.
Perhaps because they were both Taoist disciples, the old Taoist priest was particularly excited when he saw Xuan Gong, while Jin An was much calmer.
He bent down to check the dusty footprints on the ground, frowned and said: "There are many footprints on the ground that entered Xuan Palace and never came out. They should be left by Daoyou Xu, Prince Xiaoling, and Monk Qianshi. The only footprints left are those of entering. Go out and be careful on the next road, there is a possibility that these people are still in the Xuan Palace, unless there is another exit from the Xuan Palace."
Next.
The three of them entered the majestic and huge temple in front of them one by one, like a long snake procession, with Jin An in front, Chi Jian in the back, and the old Taoist priest in the middle.
They entered the Xuan Palace with caution and vigilance. The torch in their hand was crackling and burning, reflecting the surrounding stone walls. In fact, Jin An, who was dressed in jewels and jewels, was walking in front, which was the best light source.
The door of Minglou of Xuan Palace has been pushed open. I don’t know whether it was pushed open from the beginning or by Prince Xiao Ling and others. After passing through the Minglou building, there is the main building of Xuan Palace. Xuan Palace is composed of Made of stone strips, each of which is half a person's height, the main buildings in Xuan Palace are still well preserved and were not seriously damaged in the earthquake.
This Xuan Palace is very grand and tall, and it is very dark inside. Except for the stone buildings that can be seen everywhere, there is not a single bit of gold, silver, jade, bronze and ironware. It is obviously the Xuan Palace of the main tomb, but it is still magnificent. Nothing beats the last floor of the morgue tower.
Not only is there no grandeur of gold, stone and jade railings as imagined, but after the ever-burning lamps in the lamp holders are extinguished, only the gloomy darkness remains.
Even if you want to look up at the top of your head, because Xuan Palace is so tall, the top of your head is completely shrouded in dark shadows and you can't see anything.
It's really weird everywhere.
After passing through the hole in the city wall of Minglou, there is an open area in front of you. There are several five-color earth towers lined up in the open area, corresponding to the five colors of earth: blue, red, yellow, white, and black.
And in each five-color earth tower is a sarcophagus.
The three of them counted carefully and found that there were ten five-color earth pagodas lined up in a row. Among them, the first to the ninth five-color earth pagodas all contained a sarcophagus. Only the tenth five-color earth pagoda was empty. It was empty. What was it? Didn't let it go either.
"Nine is the number of extremes, and ten is the number of infinitesimals. The ten after nine is the circle of the sky, and all things are destroyed, which represents the return of the nine and nine to the chaotic world where all things originated, that is, escaping into the void. This tenth There is nothing placed in the five-color earth pagoda. It should be taken from this void. The meaning of chaos corresponds to death?" The old Taoist priest studied the five-color earth pagoda and whispered.
He continued: "Old Taoist, I see that the surfaces of these five-color earth pagodas are all engraved with scriptures. The ten five-color earth pagodas in front of me should not only correspond to death, but they should also be used to ward off evil spirits and exorcise nuó. There is a lot of yin energy underground in this mountain. It is good at raising evil spirits, mountain spirits and wild monsters, so it needs guardian gods and door gods to prevent evil spirits from invading the palace and disturbing the sleep of the deceased."
"Of course, no matter how powerful this five-color earth pagoda was originally, it has been destroyed now. If it had not been broken, the sarcophagi in the five-color earth pagoda would not have been overturned and smashed." The old Taoist priest finally added.
Indeed, as the old Taoist priest said, the sarcophagi in these five-color earthen pagodas have long been destroyed and covered with thick dust.
After passing through the gap between the five-color earthen pagodas, you directly come to a huge stone paved road, which is more grand and spectacular. The main hall is very empty. In the center stands a huge stone tree covered with yellow symbols. Only the tree body is bare. And branches, no leaves.
The petrified tree was really too big, with thick texture. It was even taller than the giant tree where they spent the night a few days ago. The bark was like the edges of rocks, showing a lime gray color, and a heavy and ancient artistic conception was oppressing it.
The three of them were all surprised. They held torches and tried to look up to see how tall the petrified giant tree was. As a result, the petrified giant tree kept growing into the darkness above their heads, with no end in sight.
call out!
Jin An pulled out a stone arrow, tied it to a torch, and shot an arrow into the sky. He finally saw what was on top of Xuan Palace for the first time.
"ah?"
The old Taoist priest exclaimed, and there was a huge mural on the top of Xuan Palace. The painting was of an ugly monster with arms and legs, a green face and fangs. It was staring down with a pair of evil eyes that looked like it wanted to eat people. Watching all those who enter the Xuan Palace.
Under the illumination of the torch, Jin An saw a large hole in the roof of Xuan Palace. The body of the petrified giant tree passed through the hole in the roof, growing towards the sky, and finally pierced into the rock formation. He didn't know where it ended up growing from. A large number of ancient vines and beards like stone pillars hang down from high places.
Seeing that the petrified giant tree could not be seen to the end, the three of them looked at the tree trunk in front of them and carefully approached the petrified giant tree. When they walked around behind the petrified giant tree, they suddenly saw a white figure standing motionless behind the tree. Caught off guard, the three of them were all violently beaten.
When I looked carefully, I realized that the white figure was a lifelike stone figurine. The posture of the stone figurine was a bit strange, with its palms pressed against the petrified tree, and its face still showed the fear and panic of life.
It's weird to say that the skin of this stone figurine is exactly the same as the dead people covering the riverbed outside.
The only difference between the two is that the clothes of the dead man in the river bed are old-fashioned and he does not belong to the Kangding country at first glance, but the stone figurine under his feet is wearing the clothes of the Kangding country.
"Could it be the group of people who went down to the underground palace before?"
It wasn't until the torch came closer that he could see clearly the facial features of the stone figurine. Jin An was surprised. This man had just exchanged information with him in the morning. This was not a stone figurine carved from stone. It was clearly a living person who had been petrified and turned into a dead person.
This discovery directly made him frown.
"Hey, why does this old Taoist look so familiar to me?" The old Taoist also followed Jin An and leaned his head to look at the stone figurines on the ground.
Jin An held a torch and shined a light on the petrified tree, and then on the stone figurines on the ground who were full of fear before they died. After several comparisons, he said solemnly: "Old Taoist, sharpen your sword, do you think this is the case?" Is the color of the petrified tree similar to the skin color of the stone figurines under our feet, or the skin color of the stone figurines piled with corpses in the riverbed outside?"
Well!
The old Taoist priest was not a dull man. He seemed to think of something immediately. He was so frightened that he hurriedly took a few steps back, away from the stone figurines and giant petrified trees on the ground: "My mother, it turns out that we really stepped on dead people along the way. The corpse came over!"
"There are so many stone figurines in the valley...how many people should die?"
Jin An did not answer the old Taoist priest's words. He took a few steps closer to the petrified tree and made an even more startling discovery. There were a large number of yin-like polygonum multiflorum growing on the bark of the petrified tree. I still want the Yin stuff Polygonum multiflorum that arrived, but now it’s just the petrified Polygonum multiflorum which is dusty.
I didn't notice it until I was standing far away. It wasn't until I got closer that I realized that the stone bumps I saw before were all petrified Polygonum multiflorum.
When the old Taoist priest saw that Jin An was so close to the petrified tree, he was so frightened that his heart almost jumped into his throat. He quickly shouted in a low voice: "Little brother, be careful, don't get too close. This is a giant tree that looks like a stone." Question, haven’t you seen that everyone who touches it turns into a stone? This petrified tree can petrify all things, it’s a bit like the Taoist Midas Technique!”
The old Taoist priest stared at Jin'an who was very close to the petrified tree without blinking. He was afraid that he would accidentally fall or trip over the floor tiles without paying attention, so he threw himself on the petrified tree and was burned into stone. On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month to pay homage to Jin An, one could only come to this underground palace to burn paper money.
After Jin An returned, the old Taoist priest expressed some of his conjectures with a sigh of relief: "Little brother, old Taoist, I probably understand why this Xuan Palace only has stones, and there are no stone bridges or morgue towers." It is resplendent and inlaid with gold, silver and jade..."
"The five elements are mutually reinforcing and restraining each other, metal overcomes wood, and wood overcomes earth. This sacred tree in front of me can be like Taoist stone magic. Among the five elements, it is wood. It serves as a needle to stabilize the sea and calm the eye of the formation. It can stabilize the underground palace and the thick earth and ward off evil spirits. To drive away Nuo. That’s why we didn’t see gold, silver, bronze, or iron in Xuan Palace, except for stones. We didn’t want the metal energy to damage the foundations of stone and wood.”
After circling the stone and wood, they found no clues. The three of them decided to go to other places in Xuan Palace to see if there were any other clues.
"Mom, that mural above my head looks really scary. I don't know why we painted such a scary demon mural in the Xuan Palace where immortals live." Along the way, while searching the Xuan Palace, the old Taoist priest He muttered in a low voice, and from time to time he looked up at the terrifying green mural with eerie and distorted features above his head under the dim light of the torch.
In fact, the old Taoist priest originally wanted to say that what is enshrined here is not the immortal from the Taoist blessed land, but some kind of man-eating demons and ghosts? But he was also worried that something in the underground palace would hear him if he slandered the underground palace and angered the underground palace, so he suppressed the words in his stomach.
Then, they found a side hall in a corner of the main hall. There was nothing in that side hall except a dry spring.
According to the speculation of the old Taoist priests, the springs that appear in the Yin House are generally vents used to release Yin Qi and gather Yang Qi. The main purpose is to prevent the Yin Qi in the tomb from being too heavy, which can easily nourish evil spirits and bring about ominous signs.
Although water belongs to the black evil and xuanshui, it is yin energy, but the yin pole generates yang energy. The flowing water can bring vitality. In places with heavy yin energy and coldness, it can bring a glimmer of life, that is, yang energy.
After walking out of the side hall, the three of them continued to explore in the dark Xuan Palace, looking for any clues. They did find another passage, but before they could go far, they found that the passage collapsed and turned into a dead end.
Jin An stepped forward and looked at Duantou Road, then shook his head at the old Taoist priest and Xiejian and said: "No, these earth and rocks are buried very deep at first glance, completely blocking the passage. Even if you want to explode, you can't blow it open. It will only Causing larger landslides."
At this time, the old Taoist priest held up the compass and said, "If I read it correctly, Taoist, this passage is opened on the central axis of Xuan Palace, and it should be an apse."
"Generally speaking, the back hall of this mausoleum is an important place used to store shrines, ancestors' memorial tablets, and coffins. This Xuan Palace is where immortals live. There are no coffins for human burials in the main hall. Maybe the underground palace we are looking for The owner of the tomb was buried in the apse... It is a pity that the apse collapsed and buried him, and future generations will never be able to see the true face of the owner of the Xuan Palace in Lushan."
The old Taoist priest said with a sigh.
Seeing the regretful look on the old Taoist priest's face, Jin An smiled and said: "As an old Taoist, according to the extent of the destruction of this underground palace, we only saw empty coffins and not a single corpse along the way, even in this apse. If there are really people buried, the immortal’s body is probably gone long ago, otherwise why do you think the apse collapsed?”
The curious old Taoist priest couldn't help but ask Jin An: "Little brother, aren't you curious about who the owner of this underground palace tomb is?"
Unexpectedly, as soon as the old Taoist priest finished speaking, an explosion suddenly sounded in the underground palace, and then the mountain shook violently, and a large amount of dust fell down as they banged on the ropes above their heads.
Jin An shouted nervously: "No, run quickly, there's going to be another landslide here."
The earthquake came and went as quickly as it came. The three of them had just run back to the main hall. The earthquake had disappeared. Jin An couldn't help but complained to the old Taoist priest: "Old Taoist, you have a mouth with the thirteenth zodiac sign of crow. , say less unlucky words in the underground palace, you will make the old man in the underground palace angry, so you are not afraid of someone who has been dead for thousands of years dragging you into a coffin to reminisce about the past!"
The old Taoist priest felt very wronged. He was just curious about who was buried by the owner of this underground palace. He was curious because he was curious, and he respected the dead because he respected the dead. He had not lived enough yet and was eager to be buried as a burial object. He was about to defend himself with a look of grievance on his face. Suddenly , Jin An shouted coldly in the main hall: "Who is hiding there!"
"Cut the sword, you stay and protect the old master!"
sulfuric acid! The Kunwu sword was unsheathed, and the air shook. After Jin An yelled at Xiangjian, he was already rushing towards the petrified tree in the center of the main hall.
Through the gaps between the hanging vines and roots, I could vaguely see a dark figure squatting behind the petrified tree, peering at the three of them.
However.
Jin An rushed behind the petrified tree and there was no movement. There was no sound of fighting or talking. Ever since he entered the underground palace, the cemetery has been full of weirdness. Weird things happened one after another, especially when the Xuan Palace fell into silence. , the oppressive feeling from the unknown darkness made people even more breathless. The old Taoist priest waited and waited for no news from Jin'an. He worriedly shouted behind the petrified tree: "Little, little brother, you How is the situation over there?"
Jin An shouted from behind the petrified tree: "Old Taoist, Chi Jian, come here quickly and see what I found! You will never imagine what fell from the petrified tree in the shock just now!"
Jin An's tone was a little strange. It was both surprised, as if he had seen something shocking, and also solemn and vaguely uneasy.
Hearing Jin'an's shout, the old Taoist priest He Xiajian, who had long been concerned about Jin'an's safety, hurried over.
Kick, kick, kick!
At this moment, the quiet Xuan Palace where there were only Jin An and the other two people heard the messy footsteps of many people. They saw haggard people running out of the right hall in another part of the Xuan Palace in embarrassment. As soon as they left the right hall, they heard When I arrived at Jin'an, I shouted.
There are many old faces among these people, including Prince Xiao Ling, Xu Anping, Monk Qianshi, who were the first to descend to the underground palace... and Zong Ren, who is disguised as a coffin bearer!
