Jiang Man and I passed through the stone gate and continued walking forward for about twenty meters when a huge arched cave suddenly appeared in front of us.
On either side of this cave stand two enormous statues of tribal royalty, each holding a weapon, leaning forward, and looking down at us.
I shone my flashlight into the cave ahead: "This should be another entrance, but due to time constraints, we didn't have time to install a gate. However, the third gate we're looking for should be behind this."
Seeing my confident assertion, Jiang Man became interested: "You just said that this tomb has no established rules to follow and that you know nothing about it. Why are you so sure now?"
"trace."
I shone my flashlight on the severe friction marks on the ground: "The ground here is hard, only heavy objects can leave marks here. Look at these grooves on the ground, they are obviously marks left after dragging heavy objects. They are probably the marks left after designing mechanisms, or stones and waste materials used to build statues! We have not seen these things on the way before, and the ancient transportation capacity was limited. They would not, and did not have the ability to, transport such heavy things to a far place."
Jiang Man still looked at me with some confusion: "What does their moving of heavy objects have to do with your speculation that the main burial chamber is at the back?"
"Of course they are related."
As I walked, I shone my flashlight into the cave ahead: "This spot is clearly a door, but it's not sealed off, which means it's not finished! Yet a lot of materials have been transported inside. Can you guess why?"
Jiang Man understood immediately: "Because what's inside is very likely the most important part of the tomb, namely the main burial chamber! They didn't seal the door here because materials had to be limited for the main burial chamber, but before the outer door could be built, the owner of this tomb had already been defeated!"
"Another possibility is that the ancestors of Ping'an Village built a third gate to seal off the meteorite and the berserker, and did not waste manpower and resources on the checkpoints along the way."
As I was talking to Jiang Man, we quickly passed through the gate.
After passing through this gate, there is a wall made of piled stones in front of you, with a pointed gatehouse in the center. However, like the gatehouse outside, this gatehouse is just a frame and does not look very grand.
"It seems that the ancients already had the concept of burial sites! They built courtyards underground, probably imitating the places where they lived in life."
As I marveled at this discovery, I stepped into the courtyard.
In front of us is a house with a triangular roof, and under the sloping roof, there is a ring of eaves, supported by a ring of stone pillars.
The only thing that felt awkward was that there were twelve doors under the eaves directly in front of us, all of which were just black holes with only door frames.
Jiang Man shone her flashlight on the house in front of her: "Didn't you say that the buildings here were modeled after the house where the deceased lived in life? Then why did the deceased have so many doors in his house?"
"Let's go take a look."
Jiang Man's question really stumped me, because before stepping into this courtyard, I thought the house inside was the main burial chamber, and the third door was the door to this house.
As a result, the house not only had twelve doors, but each one was wide open, allowing anyone to enter at will.
It was completely different from what I expected.
As I approached the house, I shone my flashlight forward and saw door frames without doors, and behind them, pitch black.
In a daze, in the dark and obscure.
It's as if it can devour light.
Without knowing the purpose of the building, I did not rush into the house, but instead examined it from all sides.
The courtyard here has only three walls, and the back is directly connected to the mountainside.
The entire mountain wall is a natural formation, with no trace of passages or mechanisms.
In other words, we have reached the end of the Miao Jiang Fairy Palace.
And the house in front of us is its core.
After confirming that there were no traps behind the courtyard, I returned to the front, looking for any clues that Duan Jinyan and his group had been there.
Unfortunately, the ground here is just rocks, without even dust or footprints. The shell casings and bullets that used to be seen are nowhere to be found.
It looked as if no one had ever been to this yard.
Unable to find any trace, I squatted down in front of the house steps and carefully checked them to make sure there was nothing wrong with the steps before stepping up and shining my flashlight into the doorway.
These doors are wide on the outside, but inside there are only corridors about half a meter wide, and they vary in length.
The only thing they have in common is that at their end, there is a stone wall, forming a dead end.
I checked the front of the house and found that none of the doors led to the rooms; they were all dead ends.
Jiang Man stood in front of a door and shone her flashlight inside: "All the doors here are sealed shut. Is there any feng shui mystery behind this?"
"Unheard of."
I shook my head: "Although I don't know much about Xia Dynasty tombs, this house is definitely modeled after the environment where the tomb owner lived during his lifetime. Once you enter this house, you've entered the tomb! But this passage is too strange. Feng shui is something that has been passed down through the ages, but there has never been a dead-end alleyway design for a tomb. So I analyze that it is not a feng shui arrangement, but a mechanism! You stay outside, I'll go in and take a look!"
"Duan Shenxing, wait a minute!"
Jiang Manyi grabbed my arm and shook her head, saying, "The situation here gives me a bad feeling. You'd better not go in and take the risk! Judging from the previous traces, Duan Jinyan and those people from Ping'an Village were fighting to the death, but we haven't seen any trace of them in this courtyard. I always feel that this place is not as simple as it seems!"
Didn't you say before that if we couldn't stop Duan Jinyan from opening the door, we should ambush him on his escape route? Right now, Monkey and Manjing haven't arrived to meet us yet, and it's too dangerous for you to go in alone! I suggest we retreat the way we came!
I took a few steps and stopped in front of the shortest corridor: "We have overcome countless difficulties to get here. Now the secret of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace is right in front of us. It would be a great pity if we could not find out!"
"Duan Shenxing, don't be so stubborn!"
Seeing that I insisted on entering the building ahead, Jiang Man stepped in front of me and blocked my way: "I know what you're thinking. You deduced that there was danger behind the third door and wanted to stop Duan Jinyan from opening it in order to save his life, right?"
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