“Thirteen should be carrying a tinderbox,” Fourth Master said.
Because the space inside the stone gate was extremely cramped, the Fourth Prince ordered Alhatu to arrange a few vanguard soldiers, who then followed behind, and the rest of the soldiers had to file in. These soldiers all carried tinderboxes, and as soon as they entered, they immediately pulled out tinderboxes from their waists and lit them. Instantly, they surged forward through the dark, narrow passage like a centipede.
The entrance was narrow at first, but it gradually widened as they walked. In less than ten minutes, they entered a large cave that resembled a karst cave. There were several other entrances around the cave, which should lead to different places.
Fourth Master and Alhatu walked to the front and carefully examined the surroundings of the cave by the light of the others' tinderboxes.
“This is a cave!” Alhatu said.
"Yes, that's right. I didn't expect the path we came in through to be so narrow. But once we're inside, it's a completely different world, and so big." Fourth Master looked around and saw several entrances, unsure of which way to go.
"What exactly is hidden in here? What are those people doing in this cave?" Alhatu scanned the molten salt around him. In the darkness, he saw limestone pillars hanging down from the cave ceiling, each with a different shape: some like the heads of beasts, some like birds, and some like flowers...
Thump, thump, thump...
After a moment of silence, a series of tapping sounds suddenly came from somewhere. The sounds were rhythmic, one after another.
"Fourth Prince, there seems to be a voice. Where is it coming from? What is it?" Alhatu had all been through thick and thin, and his courage and willpower were extremely strong, so he was naturally not afraid of anything.
However, Cui Er was so frightened that his legs began to tremble. After all, the sudden strange noises coming from inside the cave were indeed quite frightening.
"It sounds like knocking. Let's go, follow that sound." Fourth Master carefully tried to pinpoint the source of the sound.
“The sound is coming from over there, but there are two entrances. Why don’t we each lead two hundred men into each entrance to take a look?” Alhatu suggested.
Fourth Master nodded, and so the two of them each led two hundred men into different caves to continue their journey toward the source of the sound.
Cui Er naturally followed Fourth Master. He was worried about Cui Da. He walked in without seeing a single person and wondered where he and Thirteenth Master were.
Fourth Master was walking at the front of the group. He had only gone a short distance when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound in his ear!
"Crouch down, there's an arrow!!" With that, he suddenly dropped to the ground. The soldiers behind him were seasoned veterans, naturally quite sensitive to the sound of arrows. Before the Fourth Prince could even shout, some of them had already reacted.
However, Cui Er, who was behind the Fourth Prince, was less fortunate. When the Fourth Prince shouted, he hurriedly ducked, but still couldn't avoid the arrow, which struck his shoulder. Cui Er fell to the ground in pain, and a few of the soldiers behind him were also hit by arrows, but the vast majority managed to avoid this volley.
"Fourth Prince, the enemy is in the shadows while we are in the open. We are now in such a narrow passage, it's too dangerous. We must retreat immediately." The voice belonged to one of Alhatu's generals.
"Help the wounded and retreat the way you came. Everyone, hunch your backs and retreat. There are ambushes ahead; we can't maneuver." Fourth Master said to the dark air behind him. Then he himself slowly groped his way backward on the ground.
Although Cui Er's shoulder was in great pain, he had no choice but to lie on the ground and slowly back out of the passageway.
After everyone had left, they discovered that Al-Hatur seemed to have suffered the same fate, and they also left.
"Are there people shooting arrows over there too?" Alhatu asked as he saw the Fourth Master step back. He quickly went over to check on their situation.
"Yes. They were released from the front. We couldn't resist them at all and had to retreat." Fourth Master looked back at Cui Er, who was squatting on the ground with a pale face, and several others who had been shot in the arm. The soldiers all carried their own bandages and medicine for bandaging and stopping bleeding, and they began to treat the wounded.
"Treat their wounds first. I wonder how Thirteen and Cui Da are? Did they get captured?" Fourth Master asked.
“Possibly. What are these people doing in this cave? Could this cave be the tomb?” Alhatu asked.
"Perhaps the so-called tomb is just a lie. This is the real place they wanted to hide. They just didn't expect that I would have Thirteen deliberately release him and then follow him here," Fourth Master said.
“If we really can’t get in, we might as well block that exit. They can’t stay inside without eating or drinking; they’ll eventually have to come out,” Al-Hatu said.
"No, the longer Thirteen and Cui Da stay inside, the greater the danger they face. Besides, they might have stocked up on food and water inside. And there might even be an exit we don't know about. Let's think of a way to defend ourselves against their sneak attacks from the shadows," Fourth Master said.
The two checked the wounded man's treatment again, but still couldn't figure out how to get inside.
"They can only crawl in. They have to crawl in one by one on the ground," Fourth Master said.
“Fourth Prince, why don’t you stay here? I will divide the soldiers into ten groups of ten, and they will advance one group at a time, crawling on the ground,” Alhatu said.
"No, Thirteen is still inside. We can't just sit here waiting for news. Enough said, let's get people into the cave right away," Fourth Master said.
Apart from a dozen or so wounded soldiers and Cui Da who stayed behind, the rest were divided into small groups and began to crawl forward. Although Fourth Master and Alhatu were not at the very front, they followed closely behind the vanguard.
Sure enough, when they were halfway up, the arrows started flying again, but the people on the ground only heard the whooshing sound of them passing through their backs and did not feel injured.
"Keep moving forward!" Fourth Master said in a deep voice, lying on the ground.
The group continued forward, and with each step they took, the people on the ground felt increasingly hot, as if waves of heat were emanating from the depths of the cave.
As they climbed to the cave entrance, several men in black suddenly rushed in. The soldiers on the ground quickly got to their feet. Due to the narrowness of the cave, the attackers couldn't maneuver effectively. The vanguard began fighting one-on-one with the men in black who had rushed in.
Fourth Master and the people behind him slowly began to get up from the ground.
All that could be heard were the sounds of flesh being pierced and people groaning in pain. The vanguard was the most skilled in martial arts, which was why Al-Hatu had chosen them as the vanguard. They drove back the men in black who had come to stop them in the cave and rushed out in an instant.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
