“Look at the murals on the wall, and you can tell that they were painted by many people.”
"From the initial exquisite and detailed style to the rough and casual line drawings, I can currently distinguish the styles of nearly twenty different people."
"These painting pigments are all mineral pigments. Judging from the degree of fading, this entire painting took at least a hundred years to complete."
This surprised both Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an.
Jiang Xi quickly waved her hand: "It's not that it will take a hundred years to finish painting it, but that these paintings were painted by one generation after another, and it has probably gone through twenty generations in total."
She said calmly, "Perhaps because of the busyness of survival, these people did not have much energy to improve their painting skills, so their painting ability declined from generation to generation. Judging from the degree of fading of the paint in the last painting, the last generation should be more than two hundred years ago."
"From the last few paintings, we can see that the number of people depicted decreases. At the beginning, there were women and children. Later, there were only men."
She then added, "In the final scene, only a man with one arm appears. If he had painted it in the previous style, there would have been a worst possible outcome: he might have been the only one left in the entire tribe."
"Judging from the situation here, if these people were still here as a place of worship, they would definitely clean this cave regularly. But look, there are fallen leaves and weeds everywhere, and even the murals on the walls are covered with a thick layer of dust."
A few moments of silence fell over the air.
Yan Zheng said, "If they are still alive, is it possible that they built another ancestral hall similar to those in the Central Plains to record their history, and this place was abandoned?"
This line of thinking is also correct.
Jiang Xi nodded: "It's not impossible, but whether it's the ancestral hall or the cave, we have to search for them first. Even if it's just traces of habitation, we must first confirm whether they are still there."
Only after finding a place and knowing whether they are alive or dead can they feel at ease living in the vicinity.
Otherwise, it would be dangerous if we happened to run into them while we were out.
Upon hearing this, Yan Jing'an was the most troubled. He had only wanted to find a new cave, but he had unexpectedly brought himself a lot of trouble.
Yan Zheng looked at Yan Jing'an: "How much do you know about this area?"
With time running out, they must utilize existing resources and their understanding of the forest to plan the most suitable search area.
Yan Jing'an spread his hands: "I've looked over this entire mountain, and I haven't found any other caves or settlements."
He had explored many routes to settle Jiang Xi, but as for tribes and settlements, it was impossible for him not to have discovered such a large area.
Before we knew it, it was already late. The snow-white mountain peaks in the distance were dyed a magnificent golden yellow by the sunset.
Yan Zheng said solemnly, "It's getting late, we should go back."
Let's talk about everything tomorrow; the longer we stay outside at night, the more dangerous it becomes.
Jiang Xi extinguished the torches in the snow, and the group then descended the cliff along the same route.
The temperature difference between day and night is large here. After a day of baking by the sun, some of the snow melted and the melted water accumulated on the cliffs, making the way down the mountain more difficult than the way up.
Yan Jing'an sighed, "If we really move here, how will the little deer get up there?"
Jiang Xi had just come down a steep slope and, catching her breath, said, "A herd of deer passed by the lake earlier. There must be another path near this cliff, otherwise, where would the deer have come from?"
Yan Zheng, who was leading the way, had a sudden thought upon hearing this.
Such a large herd of deer migrating must not be on a small path; we might actually find a fork in the road soon.
He asked Yan Jing'an, "Speaking of which, did you notice any other side roads around here before?"
This question stumped Yan Jing'an. He thought for a moment and said, "No... cough cough, wait, there's a place I've never been to."
It was the entrance to a canyon in the middle of a cliff.
It's somewhat like a canyon in Northwest China. The mountains on both sides of the canyon are as neat as if they were cleaved by a knife. The canyon entrance is at an angle of about 30 degrees to the lake shore, and the view is blocked by the cliffs on the side.
You wouldn't notice it unless you looked very closely.
The canyon was full of loose rocks, so he didn't go any deeper into it.
Looking back now, maybe that was another fork in the road.
After listening to what he said, Yan Zheng understood the situation.
"When we get there, show us around first. If the weather's good tomorrow, we'll go into the canyon."
Yan Jing'an nodded and kept a close eye on things along the way.
The group walked along the lake shore for several kilometers when Yan Jing'an suddenly stopped: "We're here, this is it."
I almost missed it.
He took a few steps to the side: "I remember this fig tree."
It is still lush and leafy in autumn.
Yan Zheng carefully observed his surroundings. This place had many trees, vines, and rootstocks that climbed on them, and it was indeed no different from the surrounding area.
You need to walk a few steps further in to see the opening of the canyon.
The three of them walked through the woods and went about fifty meters into the canyon when the entrance came into view.
The canyon is only about three meters wide, with steep and deep sides. You can see the winding road inside, which seems to have no end in sight.
Just as Yan Jing'an said, there were fallen rocks on both sides, and the area was bare, with no trees or weeds.
In the corner lies the skeleton of a mammal, looking rather tragic. It had curled itself up when it died, somewhat resembling a deer and a camel, suggesting it hadn't made it out during its migration.
With some progress made, Jiang Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief. She tightened her cloak, but worries soon followed.
Who knows what discoveries we'll make tomorrow? Even if we find a primitive tribe here, it might not be something to be happy about.
Tomorrow's discoveries might change your life now. It will either get better or worse.
She patted her frozen face and let out a long breath.
Yan Zheng seemed to sense her nervousness: "Don't be nervous, it's nothing. We're just here to take a look tomorrow. Even if there are people there, let's not alert them."
Jiang Xi nodded: "Let's go back."
After a long day, everyone was exhausted, and they didn't talk much on the way back.
When they were almost home, Yan Zheng called the two of them back quietly for a moment. A little while later, he came back carrying a pheasant and said, "I spotted it earlier and followed it all the way."
Yan Jing'an had already decided whether to braise or stew it. After a busy day, being able to eat meat when he got home would boost morale.
Jiang Xi entered the cave, but the firewood had long since burned out during the day, and the house was as cold as a snow cave.
Yan Zheng quickly unloaded the firewood they had collected along the way and lit the earthen stove.
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