"Do you have anything else to say?"
Jin An saw that Ari was still standing behind him, and he suddenly became very quiet, so he asked without looking back.
The ancient ship at this time.
Still continuing to move forward in the deep cave.
Ari hesitated and said, "Taoist Master Jin An... I have something I can't figure out. I don't know if I should ask this?"
"Yari, aren't you a desert warrior? When did you become so hesitant to speak?" Jin An turned around and looked at Yari, who was nervously standing behind him, not daring to take a breath, and said with a smile.
Ari, who was originally worried that Jin An would be in a bad mood, felt relieved when he saw Jin An regain his smile, and then said with a wry smile: "Taoist Jin An, we desert warriors are not afraid of living people, no matter how cruel people are, they will always be in vain. The knife goes in and the red knife comes out, killing you with one knife, but the devil has no flesh and blood, so it cannot be killed with a knife... I am just a little curious, Taoist Priest Jin'an, when did you realize that that old bastard Amul is not human?"
Jin An smiled: "Are you worried about this matter?"
Ari scratched his head and smiled a little silly.
Jin An asked back: "Yari, do you still remember the night we met Amul?"
"Remember, wasn't it Amul who was rescued in the strong wind and waves? Don't you remember, Taoist Jin'an, such a recent incident?" Yali was puzzled.
Jin An explained: "Even you said that there were strong winds and waves that night, and the heaven and earth were angry. How could human beings be able to resist it? No matter how loud a person shouted for help, could it be louder than the sound of the storm and the roaring waves of the sky?"
Yali is not stupid, otherwise he would not be left by General Kulijiang to run errands with Jin An. When Jin An poked him, he immediately slapped his head in realization: "Look at my stupid brain, why didn't I think of this? Well, it turns out that Taoist Jin An discovered that the old bastard Amul was a devil from the very beginning."
Ari looked at Jin An's back and admired him even more.
"Hey, there is one thing that Ari still can't figure out. Since Amul is the ship owner who makes a shady living for Guchi Guo, and he said that he himself died on the ship, then why was he outside when we met Amul? In the desert sea?" Ari said in surprise.
Jin An: "Someone carried him out carrying the body."
Carrying a corpse?
Ari's scalp was slightly numb and he was startled: "Who?"
Jin An: "Do you still remember the story of the 'Four Devils of Black Rain Country' passed down orally by the old people in the desert? We are not the first people to find the holy mountain of Guchi Country. Hundreds of years before us, there was a The twilight king spent countless manpower, material and financial resources, leading an army to search for more than ten years in the desert, and finally found the Guchi Kingdom. He planned to go to the Immortal Kingdom to find the Eternal River and the secret of immortality... But I don’t know what happened later. In the sudden change, the whole army was destroyed, and only the lord and a few people escaped sporadically, like a lost dog. After this tragedy, the country's power declined rapidly, and soon the lord and his country were destroyed by the alliance of other countries. "
"And when the king entered the holy mountain of Guchi Kingdom, he also encountered the stranded strange ship like us. The strange ship of the Amur expedition that we heard about passing by was the king who led the people. My personal experience of exploring the strange ship. When the king and the devil made a deal, the king took Amul to escape from the country of Guchi. Although Amul did not know where the Kingdom of the Immortal God was, he was willing to give the king a secret of the country of Guchi. Techniques, such as peeling human skin and sealing life essence, can achieve immortality in another way. At first, the king did not believe that a small dead person would have the secret of immortality that he had worked so hard to find. Destroyed in the depths of the desert, his search for the Kingdom of the Immortal God failed, and the fate of the country was severely damaged. In addition, the life of the king's leader had also come to an end. Knowing that he did not have much time left, he could only choose to believe Amul's words and return to the country again on the way back. When passing by the stranded strange ship, the king made great sacrifices and stole the mummy of Amur. After such a torment, the few people left around the king also died, and only the king was left to escape with the mummy of Amur. "
"However, the leader of the country is also a ruthless and ruthless person. After deceiving the Guchi skinning secret from Amul, in order to avoid the terrifying pursuit of the ancient mercury corpse in the strange ship, he has not yet completely After escaping from the desert Haizi, I threw Amur's mummy into the sea to lure away the ancient mercury corpse."
The answer Jin An gave was really impactful.
Ari was stunned for a while before he could figure out the cause and effect. He took a breath and said in shock: "The king that Taoist Master Jin An mentioned...is he the old king of Black Rain Country?"
"The national master among the four devils of Black Rain Kingdom...is the king!"
Ari was not stupid and reacted immediately.
Jin An glanced at Yali who had a bright mind, nodded in approval and said, "Yari, you react very quickly."
"Yes, the Peking Master is the old king in his twilight years. The old king is the Peking Master, one of the four devils of the Black Rain Kingdom. The old king wants to skin people to refine the elixir of life, but he doesn't want to be exposed. Hence the false character of National Master."
"Do you still remember the description of the National Preceptor in the story of the Four Devils of the Black Rain Kingdom? The National Preceptor claimed to be a person from the most mysterious kingdom of the immortal gods in the desert. He was deeply trusted by the leader of the Black Rain Kingdom and became the official within a few years. The national master of the Black Rain Kingdom', so it is not difficult to infer that the national master of the Black Rain Kingdom is the old master of the Black Rain Kingdom."
Yali was dumbfounded when he heard this, and sincerely gave a thumbs up and said in admiration: "Why does Taoist Priest Jin'an know so many secrets about the Black Rain Country and the Guchi Country?"
Jin An stared at the abyss he was heading towards: "These are what I have interrogated one after another from Amul these days."
"Amul was lucky. Before he was found by the strange ship, the desert sea dried up. He escaped, but he was always trapped in the vast desert and could not get out. He has been waiting for the opportunity of revenge, waiting for the Black Rain Kingdom The king was unwilling to go into the desert basin to look for the Kingdom of the Immortal God. He waited for a hundred years and a hundred years, but he never waited for the king of the Black Rain Kingdom to enter the desert. He did not know that the king of the Black Rain Kingdom was skinned. Under the influence of magic, his nature became more cruel, he lost his mind, and made the people miserable. In addition, the search for the Kingdom of the Immortal God led to the destruction of the army. Under internal and external troubles, the Black Rain Kingdom completely disappeared into the desert within ten years."
This can also be explained.
Why is it that Amul is so much weaker than the leader of the Teng Kingdom despite being a thousand-year-old corpse? His bones are trapped in the desert, where the sun scorches every day, making it difficult for him to practice cultivation.
However, Jin An did not take the initiative to express his doubts.
The desert has not been peaceful recently. Someone has been spreading news about the Guchi Kingdom in the desert recently. The person spreading the news is most likely the leader of the Black Rain Kingdom.
It seems that the other party still refuses to give up.
Still looking for clues about the Kingdom of the Undead.
If the leader of the Black Rain Kingdom has lived for so long and is still alive, does he not know that he is considered a human being now? Or considered dead?
"Taoist Master Jin An... why did you suddenly say so much to me today?" After a while, Yali recovered from the shock in his heart and asked, carefully looking at Jin An's back.
Jin An smiled and said: "These are not too important things. You will know it sooner or later anyway."
Ari looked a little grateful.
Although Jin An didn't say it explicitly, he knew very well that Taoist Priest Jin An really trusted them and the Yueqiang Kingdom, so he told them everything.
Along the way, Yali had already regarded Jin An as an omnipotent god-man like a desert god, as towering as the Tianshan Mountains. He could only see from afar, but was out of reach. He was extremely excited to gain the trust of Taoist Priest Jin'an.
He now felt that his blood was boiling all over his body, and he immediately drew his sword and was willing to shed his blood for Taoist Jin'an.
…
The ship continues to move forward.
Not long after, two bottle stones appeared in front of them.
The two bottle stones were carved from huge rock pillars, with lifelike female faces engraved on the surface. In this deep cave with an eerie atmosphere, it really frightened the people on the boat.
The stonemason's skills are exquisite, and the carving is really scary.
Jin An recognized at a glance that these two vase stones were carved based on the mold of human-faced clay pots.
Along the way, carvings of human faces began to appear frequently on the rock walls on both sides and on the roof of the cave above. These human face carvings all had one characteristic. Their faces were expressionless, cold and numb, staring at the outsiders who were traveling along the current.
These evil and strange carvings of human faces seemed to be the guardians of the Guchi Cemetery. After advancing for a while, they began to see a large number of cliff caves.
There is a dead body in every cliff cave, covered with thick dust.
"Hmm, weird?" Jin An exclaimed in surprise as he saw only bones left in the cave.
"What's wrong with Taoist Jin'an?" Ji Ji and Sureti asked nervously at the same time.
Jin An pointed at the bones in the cliff cave and said in surprise: "Look at these bones, don't you think it's strange?"
"The climate of the desert is dry and there is a lack of rain and water all year round. The corpses buried in the corpse ridge should be dehydrated mummies. Look at the corpses in these cliff caves. They all rotted into bones, and none of them are mummies."
"Maybe it's what the corpse crickets eat?" Sureti spoke and Yari translated.
Jin An shook his head and pondered: "Corpse crickets like to grow in dark and humid places all year round. It is rare to see such a large group of reproduction in arid places. I guess there should be an underground river that has not dried up in this mountain. If that is the case, what appears here? It’s no surprise that there are so many dead crickets.”
In fact, there was nothing he said in his heart.
If there really is an underground river here, then those human-faced painted pots and human-faced stink bugs that have drifted out would make sense.
"Taoist Master Jin An is really wise and insightful." Yali flattered him.
Jin An was amused: "Yari, this is the first time I know you can flatter someone."
Yali flattered him again and said: "This is all the work of Taoist Jin An. I don't know why, but when I am with Taoist Jin An, I always feel very clear-headed and learn everything quickly."
Jin An always felt that something was wrong when he heard this. Didn't this mean that Sang scolded Huai and said that he had learned to flatter him?
Jin An's face turned dark.
How to talk about this.
As we went deeper into the Corpse Hidden Ridge, the density of the cliff caves became larger and larger, and we saw more and more corpses. However, it was so peaceful that we didn't encounter any dangers along the way.
Jin An originally thought that the Corpse Hidden Ridge would be the yin virtue of the mountain.
As a result, I haven't even caught a single yin virtue since I entered the mountain.
What about the giant corpse cricket with a human face as big as a camel?
This cliff cave road is very long, winding in the mountains. Many bones of people from the Guchi Kingdom are buried in the cliff caves. A rough calculation shows that they have seen no less than a thousand cliff caves along the way.
This shows how big this place is.
However, they only saw cliff caves used to bury the bones of ordinary people along the way, and never saw a place used to bury the nobles of the Guchi royal family, indicating that there was still a long way to go in the corpse ridge.
Going around and around, boom!
Boom!
In the originally quiet cave, there was a loud noise like the galloping of thousands of horses, and the sound spread far away in the cave in a claustrophobic environment.
"what sound?"
Everyone on the boat looked forward in surprise, trying to see the source of the sound, but it was too dark ahead to see anything.
Only Jin An's expression changed: "It's a waterfall!"
Jin An was no stranger to the sound of underground waterfalls. Whether it was the Tomb of the Dragon King in the Yinyi River or the Tomb of the Mountain God in the Yin Tomb of the Dojo, he always escaped from the underground river waterfall.
So as soon as he heard the slightest movement, he immediately recognized what it was.
"Sureti, take a few people and go to the cabin quickly to see if our camels, sheep, supplies and water are tied securely!"
"Yari, tell everyone to go back to the cabin and tie ropes around their waists to secure them to the cabin, so as not to cause chaos later and be thrown out of the ship!"
In fact, they could hear the sound of the waterfall, and they were already not far from the waterfall. It didn't take long for anyone, no matter how slow to react, to notice that the speed of the boat was accelerating.
The closer you get, the more deafening the sound of the waterfall becomes.
The cave is filled with water vapor.
The waterfall splashes countless water vapor.
Under the illumination of the torches, a gap appeared in front of their eyes. With a bang, the ship's hull suddenly shook, and the environment on the ship suddenly became dark. All the torches inserted on the ship's side were shaken off, and the mountain was suddenly so dark that they could not see. Five fingers.
"Are you okay?"
"Is everyone okay?"
"Taoist Priest Jin'an, Taoist Priest Jin'an..."
"I'm here, I'm fine."
In the chaos and noise, someone touched a torch and lit it, and then counted the number of people. Thanks to Jin An's warning in advance, there were many people. Apart from a few bruises, everyone was fine.
As more torches were lit, everyone began to take stock of the environment in front of them.
Suddenly a horrified scream sounded, and a person paralyzed to the ground with his fingers on top of his head.
This is a huge cave.
Above their heads, there were countless dead people hanging upside down with their faces cut off. Their hands, feet, and torsos were tightly bound, but their bodies showed no signs of mummification or decay.
Especially the dark face with no nose and mouth after being cut off, which is indescribably terrifying in this dark environment.
Under these hanged people, there is an altar with a dead giant tree with a human face growing on it.
On the bare crown of the dead giant tree with a human face hung a dozen painted clay pots with human faces.
"Why are there so many dead people here!"
"These hanging corpses seem to be women's corpses!"
Ordinary people would never experience this kind of battle in their lifetime. The ship was in chaos, filled with all kinds of panic and frightened sounds.
In the end, it was Yari and Sureti who came forward at the same time to temporarily suppress the noise on the ship.
At this time, Jin An came to the bow of the ship, holding a torch and looking at the strange and huge cave in front of him, his brows furrowed.
Because he sensed a strong aura of resentment on the hanged people above his head. So many people were skinned and executed, causing the place to be filled with deep Yin Qi that lingered for a long time, forming an artificial gathering place where corpses were kept in the Yin all year round. It is moisturized by Qi, so it does not rot for a long time.
"What's the matter with this tree, Taoist Master Jin'an? How can a tree grow clay pots? Also, I don't know why those clay pots on the tree always feel so familiar to me, as if I've seen them somewhere before. ?”
After finally calming down the morale of the team, Yali and Sureti came to Jin An and looked at the huge cave filled with dead people in front of them with chills.
"Because the carving technique of the human faces on those pottery pots is the same as the human faces on the stone bottles and the human faces on the cliffs that we encountered on the road." Jin An held up a torch and glanced at the still shocked team. He asked Yali and Sureti to retrieve several bodies from the water with net ropes.
The ancient ship crashing down the waterfall made a loud noise just now, causing high water waves and causing a lot of corpses to fall down from the top of the cave.
Thanks to the majesty of the waterfall, the water surface suddenly widened and the water flow became faster. The height of the waterfall itself was not high, so it did not cause much damage to the hull.
This old ship seems to be falling apart at any time, but it can always help them save the day.
The body was recovered successfully, and Jin An conducted an autopsy in public without hesitation.
The autopsy process was very fast. When Jin An stood up again, Yali and Sureti, who couldn't hold back their curiosity, hurriedly asked: "Is there anything weird about these women's corpses? Did Taoist Jin An discover anything?" , why do they need to be dissected and examined?”
"Yes, I did make a lot of discoveries." Jin An nodded.
"These clay pots on the tree are called human-faced clay pots. In the pots, there is a kind of human-faced stink bug that eats human organ sacrifices."
While he calmly looked at the surrounding environment of the cave, he continued to explain: "According to the shape of this cave, this should be a place used for sacrifices at the Guchi Kingdom's Holy Mountain. The people with their faces cut off above their heads are those who were worshiped during the sacrifice ceremony." After Guchiguo skinned these living people as sacrifices, they hung them alive from the ceiling of the cave and offered them to the worms to eat. By the way, the worms laid eggs in the bodies of living people. Because I just said When several corpses were dissected, insect eggs were found in their bodies.”
"You don't have to worry. The Guchi Kingdom has been destroyed for thousands of years. These insect eggs are all dead without subsequent sacrifices. There is no need to be afraid of these corpses." Seeing that everyone was frightened, Jin An comforted them.
"According to my speculation, this tree should also be an important part of the sacrifice ceremony of the Guchi country. The steps of the entire sacrifice ceremony should be like this. The people of the Guchi country first kidnap and sell women, then peel off their faces and suffer all kinds of pain. The more tragic the death, the greater the grievances, the stronger the yin energy of the human-faced bugs and the stronger the evil thoughts... After peeling off the skin, the person at this time will scream in pain and resentful curses, taking advantage of the living person's heaviest grievances. At that time, a living person was hung upside down on the ceiling of the cave, and the blood of resentment dripped to the ground to nourish the giant human-faced tree and become the growth nutrients of the giant human-faced tree. As the ceremony began, the male-faced stink bugs on the giant human-faced tree woke up. They burrow into the human body through the holes in the mouth and nose after cutting the face, or eat the internal organs of a living person, or lay eggs in the body of a living person... This is an evil sacrificial process, and human life becomes the least valuable sacrifice in this sacrificial ceremony. "
