The towering skeletal warrior didn't even glance at the Taotie on the ground. Mechanically, it turned its head towards the stone door, emitting a series of clicking sounds, and faint, indistinct words could be heard: "Guard... Intruder... Annihilate..."
Holding a long spear in both hands, it slowly walked into the stone gate.
Perhaps because it had just been revived, its movements were a little clumsy at first, but as it walked, its body became lighter and its movements became smoother and more fluid, and eventually it even started running.
At this moment, the other Taotie beasts rushed out of the mist at the gate. Seeing their companions lying on the ground with their heads separated, they tilted their heads, clearly not understanding why the strongest and fastest among them had become like this.
However, their instincts quickly overcame their curiosity, and they began to feast on the corpses of their companions.
In Chinese culture, the Taotie is synonymous with gluttony. It is said to eat everything edible, and legend has it that it eventually becomes so greedy that it eats its own body, leaving only its head...
After Zu'an and Pei Mianman entered the gate, things were fine at first, as the light coming in from outside was enough for them to see the road clearly.
Ahead was a straight avenue, with stone statues on both sides, carved with all sorts of animals. Some of these animals were quite common, such as horses, elephants, tigers, and camels, but others looked strange and their species were completely unrecognizable.
At first, Zuan was worried that there was something strange about these stone statues, but after a careful examination, he found that there was no sign of life on them at all.
Pei Mianman was still not at ease, so she deliberately burned the stone statues with black flames, but as expected, there was no reaction at all.
The two were relieved. Zu An said, "These should be ancient stone statues. This place is obviously a large tomb. However, the outer gate and the surrounding environment don't look like a tomb. They look more like a palace."
"Whether it's a tomb or a palace, we can think about it later. Let's go find a place to hide first." Pei Mianman was still wary of the Taotie and really didn't want to deal with them.
“Okay.” Zuan also knew that now was not the time to dwell on these things.
The two continued on their way and soon arrived at three bridges, with a small river meandering beneath them.
Pei Mianman exclaimed in surprise, "There's still water in this river!"
This place looks very old. Some major rivers may change course or even dry up over hundreds of years, let alone a small river like this. It's a miracle that it has survived to this day.
Zuan ran to the riverbank and reached out to test it, only to find it icy cold to the touch: "It is indeed water, very much like the water flowing out of karst caves."
“Karst landform?” Pei Mianman was taken aback, clearly not understanding the term.
“It’s just limestone that’s been eroded by groundwater, forming some cavities… You should have seen some caves with stalactites.” Zuan explained while pondering, “Given how cold this water is, this place should be underground. Could it be that the stone tablet transported us to this underground space…”
"Watch out!" Pei Mianman hurriedly warned from the side.
Having watched so many nature documentaries, how could Zuan be unprepared when he came to the water's edge?
He caught a glimpse of a dark figure rushing towards him out of the corner of his eye, and with a single stroke of his sword, he pinned it to the water's edge.
This time, I saw what it looked like: a crocodile, much smaller than a Nile crocodile and more like a caiman.
"Are you alright?" Pei Mianman rushed to his side, while warily watching the water. Perhaps Zuan's move was too clean and decisive, which had intimidated the other companions. Now the water was completely calm, with no other crocodiles in sight.
"It's nothing." Zaun sheathed his sword and squatted down next to the crocodile to study it. "It looks like just an ordinary crocodile, and its eyes are even degenerated. This is strange. How come there are so many carnivores in this place? What do they eat?"
This place was really strange in every way, but he didn't have time to think about it now. He directly put the crocodile's corpse into the glass pearl.
Pei Mianman was startled: "Why did you put it in?"
“Of course we’ll eat,” Zaun replied matter-of-factly. “We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck here, we’ll have to eat sooner or later.”
Cultivators possess power and speed far exceeding those of ordinary people, and their energy requirements are also incomparable to those of ordinary people. Simply put, they need to eat more. After the series of battles, Zu'an was already starving. If time allowed, he might have already roasted and eaten this crocodile.
In his previous life, many tourist attractions in various countries sold grilled crocodiles, but he had never tried it before.
“Eat? I don’t want to.” Pei Mianman’s expression was strange. Clearly, as a woman, she subconsciously resisted such an ugly thing, even if it meant eating it.
Zuan chuckled, not forcing anyone to share. He figured he'd eventually get hungry and start to enjoy it. He recalled how he'd initially thought it was charity food when he first arrived in this world, but ended up eating it quite happily.
The two then crossed the bridge and entered a building. As they got further and further away from the outer stone gate, the surrounding environment became quite dark. After entering the building, it was even darker, so dark that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face.
The two had previously suffered greatly from the thick fog outside, which prevented them from seeing their surroundings and caused them to accidentally fall into some traps. They really didn't want to go through that again.
Zuan recalled what he had on him and subconsciously wanted to take out the magical flashlight to provide light, but he quickly realized that this flashlight was peculiar in that it would not light up without any light source.
It hurts!
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