After listening to Keli's explanation, Song Siyuan continued to ask: "Then, how did these quicksands form? Isn't it said that Mi Lanze has dried up? If it has completely dried up, how did these mortar-shaped quicksands appear? "
They were really curious about this and had to ask more clearly.
Keli shook his head, as if he was not very clear: "I don't know the specific cause. When my father and I went near the quicksand, I once heard him mention a theory..."
Secret Lanze did dry up after the Kongque River was diverted, forming an alkali tidal flat, but the skinny camel was bigger than a horse. After all, Secret Lanze had been soaked for thousands of years. What really dried up was the surface of the lake basin. It forms a hard salt crust several inches thick on the surface of the lake basin.
Because of this, the lake basin is shaped like a lid, completely covering the land under the lake basin. Under these covered lake basins, there are still some underground caves that have not completely dried up, allowing the groundwater to continuously replenish the salt. The mud under the shell forms a swamp-like soil state.
In the event of an earthquake or an impact to the salt crust, the salt crust will shatter and break, exposing the salt crust in the swamps under the salt crust. At the same time, many hills above the lake basin will continue to be eroded by wind and sand, forming sand and soil falls. On the swamp, the sand and soil mix with the swamp to form a viscous mortar.
As the desertification of hills continues to cease, the swamps will always be covered with a layer of dry sand, creating the illusion of complete dryness near the lake basin. If visitors are not careful, they may treat this sand as an ordinary sand trap for walking. Go up.
Once the body falls into a deep pit, it will be sucked into the swamp by the pull of the mud. Human strength is really limited. The suction force of the mud is extremely strong, and it is easy to flow due to ground vibration or sound disturbance, forming turbulent quicksand. , coupled with the fact that the mud comes from underground caves and underground rivers, it is more likely to have downward suction. As long as humans and animals fall into it, they cannot easily escape.
It is precisely because the sand cannot be disturbed that Sha'er City is called the Devil's Ear. It only means that as long as the devil hears someone coming, it is possible to use magic to make people disappear in the quicksand.
Keli's words basically explained why Devil Sha'er City was so terrifying. Yue Guanchao pointed to the photo and asked: "What are these long earth platforms between the sand dunes? Why were the tombs built on the top of the mountain?"
They were curious about why the water tomb appeared on the top of the mountain from the beginning. Taking advantage of Keli's familiarity with Sal City, they simply asked this time to avoid danger in the place.
Keli carefully observed the recent photos of the mounds and the long earth platform in these photos. After thinking for a moment, he continued to explain: "I mentioned just now that in addition to the largest oasis in Secret Orchid City, there are also other places in Secret Orchid Ze. There are thousands of oases in existence, surrounded by water and rising above the land, like islands."
"The sand mountains we see were actually many islands in the swamp in the past..."
These oasis islands are located on the outskirts of Secret Orchid City. According to ancient records, there are probably tens of thousands of Secret Orchid oasis islands, shaped like chess pieces on a chessboard, scattered inside and outside Daze.
They have two functions, one is to serve as a docking platform for commercial ships, and the other is to serve as land in the water for the people of Secret Orchid City to place tombs to bury the bones of their relatives.
Burial of bones on the island is the funeral custom of Secret Orchid City!
Secret Orchid City is an important commercial town leading from Central Asia to the East. The price of land in the nearby oasis is very expensive. Especially since the oasis in Secret Orchid City is surrounded by water, the price is even more expensive. Under normal circumstances, it is used to build guild halls and shops. Buildings, temples, and mansions are not allowed to build buildings that take up space such as tombs. Whether they are civilians or nobles, they can only put the corpse into a coffin and bury it on a certain island in the water.
In this way, we can stay away from the big swamp and use the island to locate the tombs to prevent them from disappearing.
The long giant lines in between are probably the irrigation canals extending from Milan City to the outside world. It is these irrigation canals that the people of Milan rely on to farm and work among the oases.
After the water shortage in Milan Ze, the irrigation canals first stopped functioning, and the oasis gradually degraded. Then Daze completely dried up, and these islands degraded from oasis islands into sand mountains, becoming what they are today.
These so-called sand mountains used to be island oases in Daze. At that time, the water level on the mountainside was not very high. It was the decline of the water level over the past thousands of years that exposed the land in the mountains to the water. The height difference was too great. They look like tall hills.
Those tombs that were originally buried on the oasis island, of course, due to geographical changes, seemed to be buried on the top of the mountain dozens of meters above the ground, thus creating the wonder of the tombs going up the mountain.
At this point, everyone finally understood why Steinhein found the tomb on the top of the sand mountain. This was not some mistake, but the original form of tombs of the people of Secret Orchid City.
"Do you really want to go?"
Ke Li just said that he should first explain the danger of Sal City clearly. If they still want to go after knowing the danger of Sal City, then he will sacrifice his life to accompany the gentleman.
Song Siyuan nodded: "Of course, if my guess is correct, Secret Orchid City is actually Milan City. Since it is a legacy city of the ancient Shanshan civilization, we really have to go."
"Keli, what about you?"
Seeing Yue Guanchao stretching out his arm, Keli slapped it on him: "I will go with you if I risk my life to accompany you. Once I have settled Nayi, I will prepare some things to take you to Sal City."
"Okay, it's settled."
Several people discussed the plan and had been delayed for an hour or two. It was already late at night, and Nayi and Keli must have rested. Yue Guanchao led everyone out of the cave and returned to Taoist Wang's cave.
Sitting in the cave, Taoist Wang obviously had something to say. He hesitated and his eyes flickered. Yue Guanchao noticed this and asked, "Taoist Wang, do you have something to say? You seem to be sneaky."
Wang Yuanlu lowered his head, picked up the tea bowl, took a sip of the angustifolia tea, and said honestly, "I was wondering if you could take me with you too."
"Take you with me? Why are you going to Sal City?"
Yue Guanchao became curious, squinting his eyes with confusion on his face.
Taoist Wang took off his round hat and touched his gray hair: "Since Secret Orchid City is an important commercial town and there are many ancient tombs of nobles, there must be a lot of gold and silver utensils in them. Even if I only get one of them, I am too Qing Palace... Hehehe, I just had enough to eat and drink."
It turned out that the idea was to bury the nobles. Yue Guanchao quickly waved his hand: "Then your wish will come true. Keli is going to find the truth about Gunizi's disappearance. We also just want to see the ruins of the ancient Shanshan civilization. Can we Find traces of the royal city."
"Neither he nor we have any intention of robbing tombs. It is useless for you to follow us. We may not really be able to find the ancient tombs of nobles. As for whether we can get any gold and silver utensils, that is another matter."
Xu Xiake put his arms around Taoist Wang's neck: "How can a monk have such a great desire for money? You should stay in Thousand Buddha Cave. When we come back, we will build the Taiqing Palace for you. You will live here from now on." Wouldn’t it be nice to watch the Taoist priests?”
Taoist Wang nodded slightly, and said in a rather helpless tone: "Old Taoist, I used to think the same way. All the money I raised was used to repair the Thousand Buddha Cave. If I were interested in property, I would have given the found scriptures a long time ago. They are all sold, but after you built the Taiqing Palace for me, the Thousand Buddha Cave is still in tatters. As long as I get a piece of gold or silver, I will no longer have to worry about money in this life. The Buddha Cave will be saved."
He paused, and his tone was quite innocent and pious: "Even if we take a step back and say that we didn't get the gold and silverware when we went to Sha'er City, I can still be considered a help to you. I deserve this Taiqing Palace. After all, it is I venture into dangerous situations to take advantage of what I have earned through my own efforts.”
Yue Guanchao narrowed his eyes: "But I still don't know how you can help us. You can't carry it on your shoulders. How can you help us?"
Taoist Wang seemed to know that he had this question. He nodded and pretended to be profound and said: "Old Taoist, I have been in Thousand Buddha Cave for so many years, and I still know a lot of Buddhist scriptures and allusions. Do you know why Secret Orchid City is also called Milan?"
"I would like to hear the details." Yue Guanchao spread his hands and motioned to Taoist Wang to continue.
