Endless route

Chapter 270 40. Stone statue darkroom and rotten ancient books

Various speculations arose in Zheng Yun's mind, so he did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he looked up and down in the flooded tower, trying to find more clues about the death of the soldiers.

The probability that this place is a dangerous place is very low.

Although the customs in various places in the Ming Dynasty were slightly different, this place was still the Yanhuang Han territory of the Ming Dynasty. Building pagodas and pavilions to store soldiers' spiritual tablets usually represented respect for these soldiers.

Which vassal king in history dared to use soldiers' magic tablets to make monsters, and even displayed them openly in the backyard of the Dusi Mansion?

Battalions in ancient times were completely different from those in modern times. The number of people could easily exceed 100,000, and any incident would be a major disaster.

So this place should be safer.

If the commander filled in the landscape lake in the backyard and built this tower to commemorate the martyrs of Maohu Camp, then this matter would be a historical story and have extremely high research value.

Searchlights shine all around.

The light inside the hexagonal pavilion is dark, and the area outside the searchlight beam is pitch black. The clear water reflects the light, and each black brick building the wall is neatly spaced and perfectly connected.

These bricks have gone through many vicissitudes of life.

It's a clear brick through and through.

There were a huge number of small holes in the wall. Zheng Yun roughly counted them. There were more than 60 rows up and down, and more than 200 columns left and right. The total number actually reached 12,000.

All the small holes and spiritual tablets were behind the middle-aged stone statue. The collapse of the well stirred up some silt, which surrounded the spiritual tablets and stone statues, making the scene in front of them extremely shocking and solemn.

There is a divinity emanating from it.

This kind of divinity is not a god, ghost or fairy in the conventional sense, but the sense of awe in people's hearts is even greater. As long as they enter the tower, no one dares to act recklessly and speak loudly.

Thousands of soldiers suppressed this place.

Even if the emperor comes, he must be cautious.

Zheng Yun also did not dare to make any mistakes. He looked for clues in the tower in an orderly manner, trying to find out the historical truth. What did these soldiers do and why were they placed in the tower.

Ji Dao also tasted it, and quickly put away the long sword in his hand. He bowed politely to the surrounding spiritual figures, then looked at the stone statues in the field and whispered: Junior, the 22nd generation descendant of Tiangong, accompanied by the contemporary Immortal Supervisor The Lord was looking for an old place and stumbled into this place, so I took the liberty of visiting. Please don’t blame me, senior heroes.”

...

Zheng Yun glanced at Ji Dao.

Jian Xiansi's airs were forcedly raised by Ji Dao to play awkwardly. Zheng Yun had long been accustomed to this, but Zheng Yun did not expect that Ji Dao could actually say the word 'presumptuous'.

They collapsed all the wells and made a huge noise. The tower pavilion was filled with smoke and mud.

I am too shameless to say the word presumptuous.

Master Immortal, something big may have happened in the ancient city of Nanze. The rules of the barracks are also strict. If these soldiers don't have amazing achievements, I'm afraid they won't be able to hold positions in the capital.

Ji Dao fluttered behind Zheng Yun and spoke in a low voice.

Shocking achievements...

Zheng Yun's words about Pinpin are indeed reasonable, but I'm afraid it's not merit, but some kind of contribution.

In ancient times, those who could receive such treatment were usually soldiers who had made great achievements in battle. Cases of soldiers receiving such honors were rare in history.

From what Zheng Yun can currently imagine, the most likely scenario is that these soldiers sacrificed their lives to do something.

To put it bluntly.

If these soldiers survive in the end, even if they are seriously injured and their lives hang on a thread, it will be difficult for them to enter the tower.

Can enter this place.

It couldn't be a living person.

But what exactly did they do?

Zheng Yun recalled the colorful porcelain vases he had pulled out of the mud in the dark hall of the ancient city wall. Those porcelain vases had a picture of 'Auspicious Appearance' painted on them. The specific content was:

The sun rises in the mountains.

The deer fled in fright.

Those porcelain bottles are also very weird. They may have some connection with this place. Maybe they can be combined to figure it out.

The presence of porcelain vases in the hall where weapons and supplies are suspected to be stored in the ancient city wall means that the porcelain vases were not fired by civilians, but official porcelain. At worst, they were fired by the government and privately. The content of the patterns can only be entered into the ancient city wall after being reviewed by the official government.

Then it's very weird.

Why does the auspicious manifestation bottle appear in the city wall? That dark hall should have been controlled and permanently stationed by the generals who defended the city. Even if the spirit of gods and ghosts was prevalent at that time, it seemed unreasonable.

Unless this is a consensus.

The ancient city of Nanze, from the commanders and generals who defended the city, to the common people and soldiers who defended the city, all have a tacit attitude towards the auspicious appearance and recognize that the auspicious appearance is a good symbol.

Similar situations are also common.

For example, folk-made birthday bottles, New Year bottles, auspicious bottles, etc. The birthday bottles often have patterns such as Antarctic immortals and ancient pine trees or the Eight Immortals celebrating their birthdays, which imply longevity and good fortune for the elderly.

But first a consensus must be reached.

Everyone agrees that the pattern and the allusions behind it are auspicious, so they are painted on the bottle and fired on a large scale.

The allusion behind this auspicious manifestation vase is unknown, but it always looks a bit strange. Only the glow is seen but no auspiciousness is seen, and the reason why the deer fled is unknown.

It's cloudy and foggy.

I can't guess the reason for this allusion.

Their previous speculation was that the auspicious appearance was probably a vision of heaven and earth, which actually made sense.

Because strange phenomena of heaven and earth often appeared somewhere in the ancient city and were seen by the people in the city, over time it became a folk custom and consensus similar to beating the beast during the New Year.

And mention the vision of heaven and earth.

It makes people think of Marsh Yancheng.

Flooding the city in the swamp is also a strange phenomenon, but they can't even determine why the city is flooded in the swamp. If they want to guess the strange phenomenon behind it, they can only dream and it doesn't make much sense.

Look for clues.

Zheng Yun and Ji Dao looked around. The only places where they could possibly find the truth were at the base and behind the stone statue.

The two of them dived down at the same time, looking through the sand for inscriptions or other written records, and studying the stone statues inch by inch.

There is a long case at the foot of the stone statue.

There was nothing on the case.

There is not even a bronze tripod for burning incense.

Going around and looking behind the stone statue, I saw a dark room three meters long and wide protruding from the pagoda, but the doors and windows were locked and filled in.

This whole pagoda is like this. It originally had doors and windows, but it was sealed tightly by future generations. It should have been specially protected by someone before Nanze was abandoned just now.

Pry?

Ji Dao asked hesitantly in a low voice.

The person who sealed the seal filled the tight gap. Once it was sealed, he had no intention of allowing future generations to open it normally, so he could only pry it open.

Try it a little bit.

Zheng Yun silently thought not to blame, took the crowbar from Jidao's hand, and personally took on this responsibility for Jidao.

Even if there is a coffin in this dark room, the blame for disturbing the ancients lies with me, not the Tiangong Taoist priest.

Insert into the gap.

Use your arms.

Creak.

A loud bang exploded in the water.

In the tower of deathly silence that could be heard by pindrops, the piercing noise was so loud that it stirred up echoes that could be heard in every corner, and even the vibrations of the water waves could be transmitted to every spiritual tablet.

Zheng Yun's tail vertebrae felt slightly cold.

The movement was so loud that it was hard for people to understand. He clearly only used three-thirds of his strength, but it was like a sap prying him to the ground.

You come.

Zheng Yun handed the crowbar to the ghost general.

Let the ghost generals do the dirty work. Anyway, they are already full of evil. They can even chop off the head of the statue of Zhenhai with a knife, and they can do something as simple as knocking on the door.

The ghost general had a weird smile on his face, and Zheng Yun did whatever he asked him to do. He took the crowbar and inserted it into the crack of the door to open it directly.

Creak.

Creak.

Loud noises were heard one after another.

A gap was opened in the stone door.

Several people immediately used searchlights to look inside. The culprit of the noise turned out to be an iron door bolt. This door bolt was clamped at the bottom of the stone door, forcing a gap in the stone door.

The darkroom is even darker.

The black bricks here seem to be able to absorb light, and there is no refraction when the searchlight shines in, only a strange light beam.

Is this a roster room?

Ji Dao said with a slight sigh.

There were a large number of wooden shelves that were soaked and rotten in the dark room, and there were a large number of books on them, like a roster of soldiers. But the wooden shelves were rotten, so how could the books be any better.

Just by scanning with the naked eye, you can see that most of the books have only the skin left, and the shells have become a mess.

There are microorganisms or fungi in the water.

Zheng Yun sighed with regret. This is a swamp after all. No matter how clean the water is, it is still swamp sediment water. It cannot be so clean. It must contain natural decomposers.

Professor Zhang has mentioned before that the most critical part of swamp ecology is decomposers. Without strong enough decomposers to deal with biological debris, swamps cannot circulate.

The swamp ecosystem is most suitable for the reproduction of decomposers, which turn the corpses of organisms into huge nutrients and support extremely vibrant vegetation. This cycle will continue after the death of the vegetation.

If a human accidentally falls into a swamp.

Then his body can only exist for seven days.

After seven days, only the skeleton will be left. After another year and a half, even the skeleton may not exist. It has all been rotated by the swamp decomposers, and there is no possibility of leaving any residue.

This is a bit similar to Han Xian.

But Hanxian is because there is no food in the glaciers and mountains, so he has to eat everything to survive, and he can only move around near the Fairy Cave, because there is a volcanic hot spring in the mechanism behind the Fairy Cave that supplies water to the fairy gate, which may be the only source of heat.

I froze to death after leaving the Fairy Cave.

You may freeze to death if you run around after getting wet.

To a certain extent, Hanxian has little advantage in the glacier ecology, and has a sense of vulnerability that it may become extinct at any time.

But these decomposers in the swamp ecology are exactly the opposite. They are in a very strong position. Without countermeasures, animals and plants will be spined alive.

Especially some bacteria.

It can really eat people alive.

The archaeological team is equipped with professional sterilizers.

Going back to the scene in front of us, the ancient city of Nanze should also have something similar to the 'Compendium of Mountains and Seas', an ancient book on Nanze Xianzhou's exclusive products, and a countermeasure similar to the fragrant sand restraint method.

If there are any shelves left on these wooden shelves, it means that they have been specially treated, otherwise the darkroom would be empty.

But it still cannot withstand the years.

It was corroded to the point where almost nothing was left.

I'll go in and take a look.

Ji Dao swam into the dark room with a splash.

His larger movements caused slight disturbances in the water flow in the dark room, which was transmitted to the vicinity of the wooden shelves, causing the remains of the book to fly all over the sky like ashes carried by the current.

come back.

Zheng Yun quickly recalled Ji Dao.

This scene is like going to a grave to burn paper. It shows that the fragments are fragile and can no longer withstand their torment.

This has to be done by the archaeological team.

The ancient archaeological team's ability to excavate and preserve cultural relics is unparalleled in the world. They regard ancient books as treasures, almost to the extent that they are afraid of melting when they are held in their mouths.

Their methods and experience are also incredible, their equipment is all professional, and they have seen countless similar situations.

Even if these books are so rotten that they are almost like some boxy shells of black mud, the archaeological team must still be able to extract effective information from these black mud.

Zheng Yun has great confidence in them.

It's best to leave this place to professionals so that it won't be destroyed. I happened to owe Zhao Qiufu a favor before, so let's use this darkroom to pay it back and get a ride.

After they deciphered the information.

You can also take a look at it yourself.

It’s really the best of both worlds.

Close the door. Zheng Yun called out to Ji Dao, and then worked together to close the wooden door to avoid accidental damage.

After that, they walked around the pavilion again, but found nothing, so they could only look for the exit to find the fairy gate.

The exit is easy to say.

There is a window opposite the stone statue, which is also tightly sealed. You can also use a crowbar to pry it open.

But Zheng Yun was a little worried. If there was mud behind the window and poured into the pagoda, the place might be flooded.

So Zheng Yun spent some time driving a few climbing nails into the stone window. He had to hold back when applying force. If something went wrong, he would try his best to pull the door back.

After repeated emphasis.

Four or five people stood in various directions of the stone door, slowly exerting force to pry the stone window, and forcefully pry out a gap.

Then nothing happened.

There is actually no mud outside.

Everyone used their strength to widen the gap again and shined searchlights, only to see a deep straight corridor outside.

What is going on? Is there a corridor outside the pagoda door? Jidao exclaimed. Logically speaking, there would be no other buildings around this kind of pagoda, but the situation in front of him was different.

Go out and have a look.

Zheng Yun led the team into the corridor.

This straight corridor is also sealed, like a corridor, and at the end is another stone gate, I don't know where it is.

Master Immortal, from the drawings, this direction is south, and there is a landscape pavilion in front of it. We have to try to go northwest before we can find another shade well and go down.

Ji Dao took out the drawing and observed.

He had planned the entire route earlier, which allowed him to go left and right inside buildings and corridors. He only had to carry a dozen meters of swamp and climb a wall to reach his destination.

But the situation is different now. This place is different from the one on the drawing. They can only break through the wall to get out, directly bear the pressure of the swamp, and make an extra detour before returning to the correct route.

Let's talk after the door is closed.

Zheng Yun turned around and led someone to close the door.

As long as the door is closed, they can find a way to open the wall, even if the swamp mud floods the place, they are not afraid

After a while.

Everyone was prepared. Under the leadership of Ji Dao, somewhere in the middle of the corridor, they took out the crowbar and took action again.

Phew.

The moment the gap appears.

A large amount of silt was poured into the vertical corridor.

The sludge came with ferocious force, spraying straight into the corridor, and became more and more intense, squeezing the gaps wide.

Phew.

Phew.

The sludge continues to spray.

Zheng Yun and others quickly stood in a row against the wall, breathing heavily to endure the sudden increase in pressure. However, within a few seconds, the sludge spray slowly became smaller and suddenly became much trickier.

Water cannot be compressed.

Once the pressure inside and outside the corridor is balanced, the silt will still fill the corridor, but it will take a longer time.

Zheng Yun and others adapted for a short time, but a huge force pressed on his chest, which was more powerful than three hundred meters under the sea. The pressure made Zheng Yun's chest make a muffled sound, and he had to open the immortal gate and go back to prepare.

This scene is more difficult than imagined.

This is no longer just water pressure, but the gravity of the thirty-meter swamp, which can really crush people to death.

Zheng Yun immediately opened the Immortal Gate.

Several people fled back to the secret realm in a hurry.

Ji Dao was forced to breathe heavily, the ghost generals all turned pale, only the Yin ghost figurines were fine and even wanted to laugh.

Master Xian, we have to think of a way. This situation is not feasible now. I'll think about it. Ji Dao coughed and spoke.

Think about it.

Zheng Yun was also extremely uncomfortable.

No wonder Western archaeological teams use steel pipes. The pressure is really great. Maybe they have to buy some steel pipes.

As long as they can withstand the gravity from above their heads, they can travel through the underground mud. The principle is the same as the underground waterway, except that the material is replaced by contemporary special steel pipes.

before water or silt floods the steel pipe.

There won't be much pressure inside the steel pipe.

They have a huge advantage in this regard.

At the very least, you can evade at any time. If you want to use a steel pipe, you can buy it immediately. You can take it into the depths of the swamp at any time, and you can even drive a steel pipe from the inside of the swamp directly to your destination.

Just be ready.

The road ahead will be clear.