After walking for about ten minutes, Cao Ya stepped out of the passage.
He actually didn't need that long, but considering that others weren't as fast as him, he slowed down.
At the end of the crevice were a large number of rubble. Once outside, Cao Ya was clearly visible even in the darkness.
This is probably the wider part of the entire mountain fissure, about the width of four or five small vans and about one and a half basketball courts long. The ground underneath is full of large and small boulders, all torn off by geological activity when this fissure was formed.
Wu Xie, Fatty, and Zhang Qiling also came out. Unlike Cao Ya, Zhang Qiling had good eyesight. He threw several glow sticks around, and the warm yellow light illuminated the whole place.
The fat man widened the beam of his flashlight, looked around, and said, "Strange, there are murals here. It seems we're not the first people to come here."
Cao Ya glanced at it and saw that there were indeed large colored murals on the cracked mountain wall, but the murals were in very poor condition, the colors were dull, and the patterns on them could barely be made out to resemble celestial maidens flying.
Besides the murals, there are several small hot spring vents among the rubble. They are all shallow, but steaming hot, which is incredibly tempting to the tired crowd.
Further in, the crevice gradually narrowed, becoming a narrow gap about two people wide, leading deeper into the mountain rock. Hot air occasionally blew out from the crevice, and Wu Xie even shone his flashlight in that spot.
After exchanging opinions, everyone agreed that there was no need to go in anymore, as this place was already a good place to shelter from the blizzard and spend the night.
The fat man tested it and found that the air quality was not too bad. He turned on the wind lamp used for long-term lighting, and the light seemed to be somewhat warm.
After a while, Monk Hua and Lang Feng arrived and gathered around Chen Pi Asi to discuss the characters they had drawn.
The atmosphere eased, and both Fatty and Ye Cheng took out cigarettes, lit them, and started smoking.
Cao Ya originally wanted to continue deeper into the area, but seeing that everyone looked exhausted, except for the Silent One, he thought for a moment and sat down as well, not in a hurry.
Anyway, the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds has been here for hundreds of years, so it won't make a difference if it's not for a while longer.
The bronze door and what lies behind it have a history of several thousand years.
Although there was still Aning's team, they obviously couldn't get into the bronze gate.
It doesn't matter if Cao Ya goes in first or last; he's determined to loot everything anyway.
If there's anything good.
If there's nothing good, everything will be ruined.
Cao Ya harbored a destructive mindset towards "it" and the Wang family's schemes.
I had a really bad experience reading the book before.
Ye Cheng took out a compressed can of food, heated it in the hot spring water, and then distributed it to everyone.
Everyone was enjoying their meal. Outside, the wind and snow were howling, but inside, the heating was on and there was cooked food to enjoy. Suddenly, they felt that this was one of life's greatest pleasures.
Cao Ya took the canned food and finished it in a few bites.
He could actually go without eating, but the food tasted good, so eating a little would be a treat.
Once you have the power, it's okay to occasionally become an ascetic, but you can't mistreat yourself.
After eating and drinking their fill and resting for a while, the group went to see the murals.
"This place is clearly naturally formed and the space is narrow, so why paint murals here? What's the purpose?" Wu Xie wondered.
No one could answer his question.
Cao Ya asked, "Have you set off?"
“Let’s go back, back to that slope,” the fat man said.
Cao Ya waved his hand: "No need for that. We can just fight our way in from here."
"Huh?" The fat man thought he had misheard. Break in? Break in from where?
Don't tell me you're planning to fight your way from here all the way to the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds.
The others also looked at Cao Ya in surprise.
They discovered that Cao Ya had brought them far too many shocks along the way.
Cao Ya looked relaxed. This place was very close to the Nine Dragons Carrying the Coffin. Instead of climbing back up the slope and going through the Cloud Palace from the outside to the inside, experiencing those useless places, it would be better to just charge in from here.
Deep within this crevice lies the core of the Heavenly Palace on the Cloud Top—the Nine-Dragon Coffin of the King of Dongxia!
The bronze gate that Cao Ya was targeting was also located in this area.
He definitely won't go back.
Although the dangers of the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds were insignificant to him, what was the point of wasting time going through them?
"No rush, let's see what the murals are about first." Chen Pi Asi asked Hua Heshang to help him up so they could look at the murals.
Cao Ya said it didn't matter, they had already arrived at their destination, and it wouldn't hurt to wait a little longer.
He noticed that everyone seemed quite interested in the murals.
After all, people who deal with antiquities, even tomb raiders, are always very interested in murals and reliefs, which convey a lot of information.
Everyone gradually walked over to look at the murals.
Cao Ya sat there, took out a can of food to heat up and eat, while also paying attention to the murals.
However, the murals do not contain much information. The murals of celestial maidens flying are mostly located in magnificent palaces or on ceremonial objects, and only depict a beautiful scene of singing and dancing, without any actual meaning.
Most of the mural fragments here are like this; these are people who crawled out of ancient tombs. After seeing so many, one loses interest at first glance.
"There's another layer inside," Cao Ya reminded him. The mural of the celestial maiden flying was just a cover; there was another layer of murals inside, and that was the one with real significance.
His lack of interest in the murals doesn't mean he's unwilling to even offer a reminder.
There's another layer? Cao Ya didn't even come over to take a closer look, how did he know? Was he guessing?
The group of people were stunned for a moment.
The fat man suddenly clicked his tongue, extended his thumb, and began to peel off the mural with his fingers.
The crowd gathered around, and sure enough, in the corner of the mural where the fat man had peeled off, there was a piece with a composition that was clearly different from the ones next to it, and the things depicted were also different. However, this piece was extremely inconspicuous, and if Cao Ya hadn't pointed it out, the fat man, with his sharp eyes, would never have noticed it.
"There really are two layers?" Everyone was surprised and couldn't help but turn to look at Cao Ya. He had noticed it from so far away?
They were right next to each other and didn't even notice.
This is clearly the result of someone repainting a layer on top of a mural, covering up the original one.
"Don't just look!" the fat man shouted, continuing to scrape with his fingers. Bright colors began to appear where he scraped away.
Wu Xie, Pan Zi, Ye Cheng, Lang Feng, and Hua Heshang all scratched at the mural with their fingers, while only Chen Pi Asi, Men Youping, and Shunzi didn't touch it.
Chen Pi Asi frowned deeply. The surface layer didn't seem to have completed all the steps, so they could easily scrape off the color with a simple scrape. Otherwise, if the complete process were followed, a special clear varnish would be applied to the outside of the murals after the Tang Dynasty. This varnish would protect the murals like clear varnish, making the colors less prone to fading and peeling.
"Since a layer of murals was added to cover it up, it means that someone wanted to hide something in the first place. But why wasn't this layer of murals depicting celestial maidens and flying apsaras completely finished?"
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