?

  At this moment, Lao Liu had already wrapped the rope around his waist, and the other end of the rope was tied to Jin Er's bloody head. In order to avoid being discovered, I could only half-close my eyes and couldn't see clearly.

  Then, Old Six threw the skull upwards with great force, and the rope on the ground was pulled up like it was being manipulated. Just as the skull reached its highest point and was about to fall back down, a white tendril shot out like lightning and yanked the skull upwards again. Old Six was caught off guard by this sudden force and his feet left the ground. He quickly grabbed onto the rope and started climbing up.

  At this time, due to the position, I couldn't see Lao Liu's situation clearly. After thinking for a moment, I coughed heavily and "slowly came back to life". Then I asked Ershu: "What happened to me?"

  Second Uncle performed very well, just like a movie emperor, looking at me with worry and anxiety, and asked urgently: "You fainted, are you okay?" My heart skipped a beat, the first time I saw Second Uncle's facial change, it was as swift as lightning, absolutely on the same level as Dumb Oil Bottle.

  I nodded in agreement and said, "It's nothing." Then I 'accidentally' looked up and exclaimed, "How did Lao Liu get up there?"

  At this time, Minmin whispered: "Don't talk." Only half of Lao Liu's body was hidden in the darkness, but because he had a cold cigarette in his mouth, he could still vaguely see the situation around him.

  At this moment, his two feet were tied with ropes, and his hands were released. He quickly broke the cold flame into two pieces and threw out all the chemical liquids inside. For a while, the top of the grave was filled with a soft green glow, as if a firefly was flying above.

  The chemical substance in the cold smoke contained extremely high phosphorus, which would self-ignite even without an open flame when the temperature rose. Therefore, after Old Six scattered the substance from the cold smoke, he quickly lit a lighter.

  His lighter only lightly touched, the big fire roared to burn, illuminating the entire tomb chamber red. The whole process was extremely brief, Lao Liu's hands were quick, from sprinkling phosphorus to igniting, almost less than half a minute, and in the instant when the big fire ignited, we saw what was on top of the tomb.

  It was something like a giant radish, only much smaller than the tomb pit, with corpses hanging all over its body. At this moment, Minmin exclaimed, "Heavens! It's Old Ma and them!" I narrowed my eyes and found that there were three modern corpses on it, one of which was Jin Erbao's, and the other two were estimated to be the two people who got lost in the tomb passage.

  But what's truly astonishing is that this big radish was actually locked up.

  Because the tombstone above our heads was actually a structure like iron bars, which just locked the big radish inside, and we previously thought it was the bullets that stopped the big radish from coming down, but in fact it was those iron-bar-like railings.

  At this time, the big radish inside the iron cage was already wrapped in raging flames, and the tomb chamber emitted a strong stench of corpses, which was the smell of human flesh burning. After a long time, perhaps the corpse outside had been burned to ashes, and the fire spread to the interior of the big radish, we heard the big radish's mournful cry, like a sharp cry with its neck being strangled.

  Lao Liu had already fallen to the bottom of the grave, and we stood below, looking up at the big radish that was twisting in agony, with charred flesh falling off from time to time. After a long while, it finally turned into a lump of charcoal, no longer moving.

  In the tomb, the smell of smoke was still very strong, making people feel nauseous. Old Six wiped the sweat from his head and continued to say to Second Uncle: "The exit is right above our heads, the gap between those iron bars is quite large, we can all climb through."

  The next thing was easier to handle, without the threat of Da Luobo, we tied something on the other end of the rope, relying on Lao Liu's extremely accurate technique, and quickly hooked a rope.

  I looked at the extra equipment pack on the ground, feeling a bit uncomfortable. It was Jin Er Pao's, and now no one was carrying it, so I took it over and put it on my back.

  I am unable to describe the feeling in my heart at this moment. As our ancestors said, "I did not kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me." In a sense, Jin Erpang was also killed by me. I was too rash at that time.

  In such a dangerous place as an ancient tomb, there were no preventive measures at all, and he was allowed to go in bare-handed.

  I didn't say much either. One by one, we climbed up. The first to go up was Heimian Shen, my second uncle was in front of me, and I followed behind.

  That iron railing only had three vertical bars, we chose the middle one, at this time, others have already climbed over, my second uncle stretched out his hand to pull me up, I climbed to the top, grabbed the railing and was about to climb up when suddenly I felt a chill on the back of my neck, at the same time, I felt like I was being pulled down by something, almost falling.

  At the critical moment, my uncle suddenly grabbed my wrist. He was old and frail, but he pulled me, a grown man, with such force that the veins on his forehead bulged out. Old Lei rushed to help, pulling me up, but I felt an enormous force holding me back. What was most terrifying was that I didn't feel like anything was physically grabbing me, but rather it seemed like some kind of invisible force, a power that came from nowhere.

  Just then, a cool breeze suddenly swept past my ear, and immediately after that, I heard a voice, which seemed to be echoing in the depths of my brain. It said: "You've all left, leaving me behind alone? Staying here is really miserable..." Then I felt that the force pulling me was getting stronger and stronger, my wrist was being grasped by Second Uncle and others, and under this force's tug-of-war, it almost dislocated.

  This voice was unfamiliar to me, but I still recognized it as Jin Erbao's. In that instant, a sense of terror arose.

  Brother, although it was indirectly me who killed you, I really don't want to die. Spare my life!

  At this moment, Lao Liu's pistol suddenly passed through the iron railing and fired a few shots into the air.

  It seemed that the sound of gunfire had stunned me, and the force pulling my body suddenly disappeared. My second uncle and others took advantage of the opportunity to pull me up instantly. As soon as I was pulled up, I went limp, and my whole body felt like it had been drenched in cold water, with my clothes soaked in sweat.

  At this time, we only had a flashlight in our hands, and the light was very dim. I subconsciously looked down at the bottom of the tomb chamber, in the corner, where something seemed to be shrunk into a ball, vaguely resembling a human figure.

  I shuddered all over, and hastily said: "Quickly, let's leave here first." As a result, I raised my head and suddenly bumped into a layer of tomb bricks. It was only then that I realized we had entered another tomb passage, but this one was extremely short and narrow, and even an adult squatting inside couldn't lift their head.

  "Let's leave first and talk later," said Second Uncle immediately. "What was that thing just now? Its power is really great."

  My throat seemed to be choked, and I couldn't say a word. After a while, I swallowed my saliva and said, "It's... Jin Er Piao."

  As soon as the words came out, the tomb chamber fell silent. After a moment, Old Six said, "Let's leave here first." The grave path we are currently in is the same front and back, and for a while, I couldn't decide which direction to go. After what happened with Jin Erbao, I felt extremely pressured, fearing that I would make another wrong decision and harm others.

  No one spoke for half a day, and finally Old Six frowned and said, "Then let's move forward." We formed a column and crawled forward like snakes, but not long after, another railing appeared in front of us. For a moment, I felt that we were like wild beasts trapped in a cage.

  This railing is very wide, we can get out sideways, after crawling out, it's a tomb chamber.

  I swept the flashlight around, and the tomb was empty. There were no burial objects inside, it was a completely empty room, except for lamp holders on the walls. I then asked my second uncle for a lighter and lit them one by one. When I lit the fourth corner, my eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of a strange ghost face.

  That ghostly face suddenly appeared in my line of sight, almost making my heart skip a beat.

  It hid in the dead angle of candlelight, its face was long and thin, only as big as an adult's palm, but on that palm-sized face, two eyes were very long, extending from the eyebrow to the temple, looking very evil.

  My heart skipped a beat, and I subconsciously grasped the dagger at my waist. At this moment, Old Six suddenly lit a candle and walked over, apparently he had also discovered the thing in the corner of the wall. He said, "It seems to be a carving." Then, without paying attention to my reaction, he walked straight over, and the thing in that corner, as the candlelight approached, gradually revealed its true form.

  That was a stone carving of a human body with a wolf's head, standing at the corner of the wall. The wolf face had a slightly open mouth, as if still smiling, and its narrow eyes were wide open, giving off an air of majesty. Suddenly, I remembered Samba's words - he said that deep in the Kunlun Mountains was the palace of Kula Jiezei, and Kula Jiezei was precisely the wolf-headed snake-bodied one... Could it be that the so-called Heavenly Abyss Coffin was actually Kula Jiezei's tomb?

  But does such a legendary god really exist?

  I was a little frightened, perhaps due to psychological reasons, and I always felt that the stone carving was somewhat strange. Those eyes seemed to be measuring me, exuding an evil spirit. Unconsciously, I shifted my gaze, only to discover that beside the stone carving was a tomb path.

  If we have entered the eastern palace of the tomb chamber, then according to the layout of the tomb, behind this tomb passage should be connected with different ear chambers, and further forward is the main tomb chamber for placing coffins.

  Just thinking about it, my heart is racing with excitement. Is the Ghost Seal inside the main tomb? Will there be any clues about Third Uncle's whereabouts? And what Chen Wenjin said, that there's a way to save the suffocating oil bottle and reveal the ultimate clue, will I finally get the answer soon?

  It suddenly occurred to me that I had been given a shot of adrenaline, and all my previous worries became unimportant. I knew that if I just made a bit more effort, I would be able to grasp everything I wanted to know.

  I was just about to speak up and ask Er Yishu and the others to catch up, but when I turned around, I found that there was suddenly no one by my side.

  Second Uncle, Old Lei, and Minmin are all gone. In the empty tomb chamber, only I and Old Liu are left.

  This tomb chamber, apart from where this stone carving is located, there are no other burial passages. Where did Second Uncle and the others go?

  My gaze quickly swept the entire tomb, and the four corners of the tomb were all lit up. Everything was clearly visible, but just as I and Lao Liu were observing this stone carving, three big living people mysteriously disappeared.

  I was shocked in my heart, had the second uncle and them triggered some mechanism? Damn it, what's going on with this tomb anyway? If you're going to make trouble, at least give a warning, don't catch people off guard.

  Lao Liu was also clearly puzzled, his eyebrows furrowed in a "川" shape, and he swept his gaze around before crouching down to shine the flashlight through the railing into the narrow tomb passage we had come from.

  I couldn't help but feel a bit strange, so I asked: "What are you looking at? Are they going back the way they came?"

  Lao Liu furrowed his brow, stood up and said: "I suspect there's a hidden mechanism inside." As he spoke, he took out the small iron hammer again and tapped against the tomb wall one by one. After a while, he sighed and said: "Can't find it, what to do?"

  I irritably grasped my hair, looking at Old Six's furrowed brow. Suddenly, I had a thought - could it be that Second Uncle and the others intentionally triggered some mechanism? From what happened last time, I was almost certain that Old Six and Second Uncle weren't on the same path. Perhaps they were like Xiaohua and Roadside A, forced to be together for some reason. And now, with Second Uncle suddenly disappearing, could it be that he had found a way to intentionally get rid of Old Six?

  The more I think about it, the more I feel that Minmin's reminder to pretend to faint at the time was also for Ershu's sake. As for Lao Lei, he doesn't even need to be said, his relationship with Ershu is not ordinary. These three people are obviously in cahoots, and now they've all gone missing together.

  But Lao Liu's first reaction was to check the passage they came from, which seemed a bit unreasonable. Because in this situation, the main tomb chamber is only a few steps away from us, and no one would inexplicably walk back on their own trail. So, when I found that Er Shu and others were missing, my first reaction was: Is there something strange here that took them away? Or is there some kind of mechanism or trap here?

  But I never thought that Ershu and others would turn back, because it makes no sense. But Liu is different, he knows that Ershu wants to get rid of him, so after finding out that Ershu and others are missing, his first reaction is that they escaped through the narrow tunnel, so he squats down to take a look.

  After analyzing it this way, I suddenly felt that it was not far from the truth. Moreover, Second Uncle had given me a preventive injection beforehand, and those words were like a will, obviously hinting to me that he was now in an extremely dangerous situation, with his life in danger at any moment.

  At first, I thought Ershu was referring to the big radish as the danger, but now it seems he was hinting at Lao Liu.

  I suddenly felt a big head, why would Second Uncle be with this person to play chess, and with Second Uncle's strength, there are very few people who can make him so cautious, what is the origin of this old six?

  Having thought this through, I felt a little more at ease in my heart. Although I didn't know what method Second Uncle had used, I also couldn't drag him back. Since there were no traps here, it was very possible that Second Uncle had really taken a detour.

  Lao Liu struck again, but didn't find anything. He then shifted his gaze back to the tomb path, seemingly wanting to go back and search some more. Since Second Uncle was going to such great lengths to get rid of Lao Liu, he must have had a plan in mind. How could I hold Second Uncle back at this moment?

  Although I cursed the second uncle in my heart, since I knew that this old six was not good at heart and actually left me alone, I kept muttering to myself, but my face was solemn. I immediately interrupted the old six and said: "You can't really think that the second uncle and others have returned, right? Look, the mechanism here is great, look at the tomb passage we walked before, the designer of this ancient tomb is not trivial, although we didn't find it, but that doesn't mean there isn't one."

  Lao Liu raised an eyebrow and looked at me, saying: "Then what do you think we should do?"

  I put on a difficult expression, struggled for a while, and then said: "The three of them, including Second Uncle, should be able to handle it even if something happens. Our food and equipment are all with Second Uncle, we can't afford to waste time like this. In my opinion, let's head towards the main tomb chamber first. As long as our destination is the same, we'll meet up eventually." Old Six nodded in agreement, and then we turned on our flashlights and entered that passageway.

  The air in the tomb was damp, and the environment inside was very dark. Our lights shone in, but the light seemed to be absorbed by the darkness. At this time, I found that there were also some murals on the wall of the tomb passage.

  In the past, we would rush to the burial chamber and pay little attention to the murals. After all, we were tomb raiders, not archaeologists. But this time, I couldn't help but take a closer look because I had too many doubts about this tomb. Until now, except for Sanba's legend, we knew nothing about the identity of the tomb owner.

  Then, just the first mural alone caught my eye.

  The murals in the ancient tomb can be divided into three categories. The first category is narrative murals, which mostly record the life stories or major events of the tomb owner. The second type is allegorical murals, which are often fictional, such as if the tomb owner believed in the way of immortality, then the murals on the wall of the tomb would often depict scenes of gods descending; There is also a third category, decorative murals, which are commonly seen in the Eastern Palace.

  The construction of ordinary tombs is based on the specifications of the tomb owner's life, that is, what kind of house the tomb owner lived in before death, and the underground palace after death will also be built accordingly. Therefore, our ancestors also said: "Yangzhai is too big, and Yinzhai is difficult to build." Of course, this was just a joke among the poor people in ancient times, which was a kind of satire, satirizing some wealthy but unkind people who built their houses too large, worrying that they would not be able to afford a decent tomb after death.

  Decorative murals, mostly in the eastern palace of a tomb, where the owner's spirit rests. The murals on the walls are decorated with flowers and birds. Some wealthy and powerful individuals would even bury their concubines with them in the eastern palace.

  And the mural in front of me, if it's narrative, it seems too absurd, if it's expressive, it seems out of place, and it doesn't seem decorative either, because at the beginning of the mural, a military troop is painted.

  This tomb is unknown for many years, the pigment on the mural has long been peeled off, and only occasionally can you see a little bit of red lacquer hanging green. The figures in the murals are an army marching through the deep mountains.

  What's even stranger is that this army, some with severed hands and others with severed feet, seemed to have just lost a battle. Due to the passage of time, even the outlines of the figures are somewhat blurry, and their facial expressions can't be made out clearly, making it very difficult to identify them.

  The leader of the army is depicted as being very tall and large, probably an exaggeration by ancient people. The leader walks in front, and the entire mural depicts their procession.

  I followed behind Lao Liu, shining my flashlight on each frame, but the more I saw towards the end, the more shocked I became, and even a chill ran up my spine.

  Because when the mural reached the sixth panel, this army entered a tunnel.