Xia Houyun also knew that he had gone astray, so he hurriedly said: "I am an old man who talks too much." Everyone stopped talking nonsense, collected their thoughts and started to go deeper into the cave.
After passing the lair of the beasts, the space in the cave was already very large. You could feel that the rock wall above your head was expanding rapidly upwards. Sure enough, the five people had not gone far when the surroundings of the rock wall suddenly turned. In front of them, In an instant, the cave turned into a thoroughfare—the bottom of the valley was reached, where two underground rivers, one Yin and one Yang, were traversed.
The air at the bottom of the valley was not as good as expected, probably because the volcano in the north often erupted, and the air was filled with the smell of sulfur and other choking smells.
However, in such a deep underground valley where breathing was difficult, everyone discovered an unusually large man-made building.
After walking out from the side of the valley bottom, what appeared in front of them was a stone bridge more than three feet wide. The length could not be reached at a glance. Through the light of the magma from the volcanic crater in the distance, they could vaguely feel that the stone bridge was leading to the valley. The rocky mountain in the center of the valley.
The grim-faced Taoist priest walked onto the stone bridge and saw a narrow river crossing at a distance below the stone bridge. He then looked at the rocky mountain half hidden in the darkness in the distance, and he roughly understood the structural pattern of this deep valley. .
The topography of the valley bottom was mostly formed by the cooling and deposition of magma. This can be seen from the many tributary channels under the stone bridge. The abrupt rock mountain in the middle of the valley bottom is also very likely to have been born here, because it is the main stream of the underground river and the Where the magma rivers meet, the year-round cool river water continuously washes away the south-flowing magma, causing the lower half of the magma river to gradually shift, causing the mountain in the middle to accumulate higher and higher until it finally looks like a city gate rising from the ground. If you need to confirm this, you can go to the rock mountain later and see if the surrounding area is rhymed igneous rock.
At this time, more than four hours had passed since the Grimace Taoist and his entourage went into the fight. It was already bright outside the fight, but they could not see it at the bottom of the mountain valley. However, the Grimace Taoist could feel something from his growling stomach. , so he asked everyone for their opinions and said: "Shimen has broken in anyway, and Li Tianwen's whereabouts will not be found for a while. We have been tired all night, how about we just eat some dry food here before moving on?"
Everyone knew that the grimace Taoist's move was to stabilize everyone first, so they all nodded, found a place to sit down near the bridge head, and began to eat simple dry food.
The grim-faced Taoist priest sat a little closer to He Siniang and Xia Houyun. He looked at the rushing river under the bridge behind him and said to the two of them: "The bridge and sewers are crisscrossed, and you can't tell the depth and geometry. We will pass by it later. You have to be extremely careful.”
He Siniang heard this and replied: "It's okay if it's just river water down there, I'm afraid there are some 'other' things hidden there."
"something else?"
Just when the grimace Taoist priest and Xia Houyun were puzzled by He Siniang's incomprehensible words, He Siniang raised her hand and asked them to look towards the river bank next to the bridge.
The ghost-faced Taoist priest looked around, and his sitting body straightened up instantly. He saw a human skeleton lying on a rock very close to the water... To be precise, it should be half a human skeleton, because from the waist of the skeleton down, They are all hidden in the dark river water. From the bridge, it is impossible to tell whether the half in the water is there or not.
Everyone was startled and asked He Siniang how she found out. At the same time, they all got up and moved closer to that side.
He Siniang said that she had just seen it, and at this time, Xia Houxiang, who was closest to him, had already seen clearly the general outline in the water, and said in surprise: "It is a complete skeleton, and there are legs under the water."
"Xiang'er, come up quickly, be careful of something changing in the water!" Xia Houyun saw that Xia Houxiang was too close to the river and hurriedly stopped him.
Luo Laoqi on the side didn't care at all. He looked at the skeleton without any skin and flesh and asked doubtfully: "Who is this person? Li Gouzhi or Xu Yaodao? How did he become such a jerk?!"
"Maybe you can become like that if you work harder." The grim-faced Taoist priest came over and continued: "Looking like Li Gouzhi and others, this person is obviously much shorter. Maybe he has been here before. People from this place.”
"Yes, in front of the stone gate guarded by the beasts, the blood stains are all around the altar. I think this place is not inaccessible, but when I look at the skeleton, it doesn't even have hair. Why does it feel like the body has been eaten by something? ?”
"Most likely it was eaten by something in the water." The Taoist Priest with a grimace held a torch and moved toward the water: "The hands of the skeleton were embedded in the rock crevices. It was obviously an escape posture, but the legs under the water were It was straight, Pindao concluded that this person must have been grabbed by something at that time, and no matter how hard he used his hands, he could not break free, so he ended up with such a bodyless end."
"Taoist Master, can you tell this? Sajia thought it was taking a bath by looking at its posture."
"Did you face down in the bath? Did you take a bath? Besides, what Pindao said is just an inference. We haven't witnessed what happened at that time, so how can we know?"
"Whether it's an inference or a fact, something the Taoist Priest and He Siniang said gives us a heads-up." Xia Houyun said: "There may be something lurking in the river at the bottom of the valley, and that thing is not only Eating people seems to be quite powerful now."
"It can eat people and is powerful...could it be the crocodile?"
"If it is really a Zhupolong, the skeleton will not be complete. I feel it should be a very strong fish but without teeth." Xia Houxiang said.
"How can we eat meat without teeth?" Luo Laoqi immediately argued.
"Suck it..."
"Oh, you two, stop arguing!" He Siniang interrupted the two of them: "There is no point in worrying about what is hidden in the water. Everything has to be seen to be believed. We just need to be prepared and don't wait for unexpected situations. Just mess around and it’ll be fine.”
"Siniang is right, let's fill our stomachs quickly now, and then we can continue our journey when we have enough energy." After finishing speaking, the Taoist priest with a grimace walked back to the stone bridge. However, despite his words, he was still upset in his heart. Eight times, the sudden appearance of this skeleton was like a flash of lightning in the dark clouds. While warning of the danger around it, it also presented the invisible fog in front of everyone - who is this skeleton's true body? Is it the Taoist priest from Jianghua who built the mausoleum or the guardian of Luck on a Rainy Night? Or was it someone else who appeared here earlier? And how on earth did he fall into the river? If it was just because his feet were slippery, that would be okay, but what if he was dragged down by something in the water? Isn't this stone bridge across the river a Naihe Bridge? !
Thinking of this grim-faced Taoist priest, he couldn't help but glance at the stone bridge again. This stone bridge is the same as the stone gate at the altar. Although the workmanship is fine, it is very simple. There are no handrails or sills on both sides for protection, which makes it even more... It increases the difficulty of crossing the bridge. It's okay if there is nothing in the water. If something comes up, you will have to face close combat.
