After hearing what the monkey said, my expression turned serious: "I thought Duan Jinyan would be the first to enter the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, but I didn't expect the people from Ping'an Village to be even faster. Does that mean they've already entered the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace?"
Jiang Man said, "I'm afraid the situation is even worse. If the people from Ping'an Village can enter here by digging tunnels, then other tomb raiders must be doing the same! Perhaps the number of people in our team ahead is already beyond our imagination."
"Impossible! Apart from us, it would be very difficult for any other team to enter the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace through the tunnel!"
Hearing my words, the monkey explained from the side, "Although the people of Ping'an Village are the guardians of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, they cannot enter this place at will. They left a back door."
I glanced at the monkey and asked, "Explain in more detail, what do you mean by 'back door'?"
“The feng shui master of Ping’an Village had a stone slab with patterns carved on it. Although I didn’t see what was carved on it, I think it was probably a map. Because every time the feng shui master arrived at a place, he would stare at the stone slab for a long time before letting me dig. He searched several places before he finally determined the passage that led us down.”
"So the holes where we dug up the clay and pottery were all dug by you."
I glanced at the monkey: "If they really had a map, why would they have dug so many tunnels?"
“I think the map they had was incomplete, and the tunnel we finally came down into also had traps. I dug out a lot of pottery fragments, mixed with a lot of white particles. The people responsible for dumping the soil got blisters on their hands as soon as they came into contact with those particles, and their skin rotted away in no time. I thought the tunnel would be ruined, but the feng shui master told me to keep digging. After digging for a short time, we actually made a path!”
After we climbed down the tunnel, we found a cave. There were many traps inside, but the people from Ping'an Village knew their locations without even checking them.
The monkey threw his cigarette butt into the campfire and shared his guess: "I think that stone slab is a passage to the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, but the information recorded on it is probably missing. That's why the feng shui master tried several places, and even after digging down to what was below, he told me to keep digging! After we entered the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, those people became cautious. I suspect their map only marked the entrance."
Jiang Man didn't quite agree with the monkey's statement, and frowned, saying, "This argument doesn't hold water. If Ping'an Village really had a map of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, why wasn't it made more complete, instead of just marking an entrance used for digging a tunnel?"
"Could it be a maintenance access road?"
Lin Que interjected, "Just like the manhole covers we see on the road, Ping'an Village regularly comes down to inspect the mechanisms and feed the water monkeys to protect the safety of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace!"
Manjing sniffed: "Don't they have keys? Why don't they just come in through the front door?"
Lin Que was calmed down by Man Jing, but he stubbornly retorted, "Since ancient times, there have been so many tomb raiders searching for the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, so of course the people of Ping An Village have to be careful! They swagger in through the main gate, what if someone with ulterior motives sees them?"
"Although Lin Que's statement has loopholes, it is not entirely impossible. However, I suspect that the map was left behind by the person who designed the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace. I just don't know why it fell into the hands of Ping An Village and was not destroyed! But this time they lost the key to enter the Immortal Palace, and that stone slab did help them a lot."
I sorted out my thoughts and pieced everything together: "According to Miao Xiaoxian, after Ping'an Village learned that we wanted to enter Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, their original intention was to destroy the Three Treasures Key and permanently close the gate. This shows that they were confident that as long as the key was destroyed, no one else would be able to enter!"
Later, with Miao Xiaoxian's help, we successfully obtained the bull's head. Ping'an Village, having lost the Three Treasures Key, had already devised this plan! That's why they were able to organize a tomb-raiding team in such a short time!
Lin Que scratched his head: "Big brother, what are you talking about? I don't understand."
"Duan Shenxing means that even the people of Ping'an Village cannot enter the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace. If they could find the way into the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, they would have already come in and destroyed everything here, instead of waiting for us to get the key before taking action. This shows that they have only chosen a backup plan as a last resort."
Jiang Man shared my thoughts, then added, "If we analyze it this way, it means that Ping'an Village has no ability to penetrate deeper. At most, they can only cross the first gate and intercept the tomb raiders at the second gate, or pursue them further if the second gate is open."
"The Marquis just said that the people from Ping'an Village arrived here early this morning, making them the first group to enter this place today. They must have already reached the second gate."
Lin Que sniffed: "In this way, although Duan Jinyan has left us behind, they'll be in for a tough time when they reach the second gate. Duan Jinyan is not someone to be trifled with, but the people of Ping'an Village are a bunch of complete desperados!"
After hearing Lin Que's words, I immediately perked up and asked Wei Shengnan, "How is Qu Ruilin? Can he continue?"
Wei Shengnan sighed: "He choked on water and has a high fever. His condition is not optimistic. I have given him antibiotics, but he still needs to rest for a while."
"Cough cough... I, I'm fine... Catching them is the priority!"
Qu Ruilin coughed violently a few times, then propped himself up to sit up: "Is there any new clue?"
I remembered that Qu Ruilin was injured while trying to hold off the water monkey, so I replied gently, "That's right, the people from Ping'an Village have already entered the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace. Our analysis is that their purpose is to prevent the tomb raiders from passing through the second gate. The existence of these people is a threat to Duan Jinyan and will also slow him down. If we chase after them now, it will be the best time to close the distance with them!"
After hearing my words, Qu Ruilin staggered to his feet: "There's no time to lose, let's set off immediately!"
"Brother Lin, are you crazy?"
Seeing Qu Ruilin's appearance, Wei Shengnan said to him very seriously, "Given your current physical condition, even if you catch up with Duan Jinyan, what then? Can you even capture him?"
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