In the pitch-black cave, I saw the man in black robes preparing to attack us. He reached into his scabbard and pulled out two throwing knives, ready to throw them.
"Bang!"
Just then, a gunshot rang out beside me. Lin Que, holding a pistol, stepped in front of me and pointed at the three people opposite: "We're all trapped in this godforsaken place now. I don't want to kill anyone, but if any of you dare to move, I guarantee he'll be the first to die!"
Holding a flashlight, Song Laosan shouted, "These people are ruthless madmen who kill without blinking an eye. Don't waste your breath on them. Our men come over here and tie them up!"
Under the beam of Song Laosan's flashlight, I also observed the crowd around me.
Manjing and Linque followed us in, and with Jiang Man and me, there were four of us in total.
On the other side, Qu Ruilin, Wei Shengnan, Song Laosan, and three members of the Wei family were also there. In addition to the ten of us, there was also a person in black robes mixed in.
In this small, enclosed space, the gun in Lin Que's hand did indeed have a deterrent effect. Man Jing and two members of the Wei family stepped forward and tied up the four people on the other side.
After Lin Que and the others were subdued, he turned to ask, "Big brother, are you alright? Luckily, I found this gun at the door earlier, otherwise, the few of us might not have been able to defeat these bastards!"
Before I could reply, Qu Ruilin turned on his flashlight, shone it around, and then fixed it in one direction: "Look here!"
Upon hearing Qu Ruilin's words, we all looked up and were stunned by what we saw.
On both sides of our cave are square tunnels, covered with skulls.
They were densely packed, like tiles embedded in the soil.
Within the beam of the flashlight, the walls on both sides were covered with pale white skulls. The backs of these skulls were embedded in the walls, leaving only the faces exposed. Moreover, the skulls were hollow inside, with the eyes and nasal cavities just three dark holes.
Wei Shengnan stood up and tapped the skulls on the wall with her dagger: "These skulls are all human, and they have neat teeth. They look like they are all young and strong, but the skulls are different sizes, so there should be both men and women!"
Song Laosan added, "Some of these skeletons have wounds on their skulls, while others are intact, indicating that their causes of death are not the same. However, it can be deduced that these people were all killed in their prime, and then their heads were cut off and used to build up the walls... As far as I know, the purpose of the funerary sacrifice system is to take everything the deceased enjoyed in life to the grave. The people sacrificed are all sent in whole, so the so-called servants continue to serve the deceased. What is the meaning of this pile of heads?"
Qu Ruilin shone his flashlight forward and frowned as well: "Roughly speaking, there must be at least a thousand heads here. Although a tomb is not a burial site, it should still gather yin energy and not evil energy. With so many heads here, it must be a violent death, right?"
I shook my head: "No, a head lying on the ground is a violent death. This kind of head-on-the-wall practice is common in Tibetan temples. They use the heads left after a sky burial to build walls. This is not a form of suppression, but a form of respect! In ancient times, the Miao tribes migrated constantly, and Sichuan is so close to Tibet. It is understandable that there are some similarities in sacrificial rituals or religious customs."
Qu Ruilin interjected, "It is said that the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace is the burial place of the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden, who held an extremely high position in the Miao tribe. If, as you say, this method of hanging human heads on the wall is some kind of religious secret technique, can I interpret it as these heads being placed here to guard the gate of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace?"
“That’s possible! Judging from the number of these heads, the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace is much larger than I imagined. According to existing archaeological data, the tomb with the most living people buried with the deceased should be the Qin Palace No. 1 Tomb, with a total of 186 people buried with the deceased. Although this form of burying people with heads on the wall is not considered burial, death is inevitable.”
Looking at the densely packed skeletons that seemed to be staring at us, I said in a deep voice, "So many people have been killed in just this one passage where we haven't even seen the tomb door yet. I can't even imagine what's going on inside."
"Oh dear, what you should be thinking about right now isn't these things, but whether we can survive! Although the cave behind us has been destroyed, the people from Ping'an Village are still here! They could dig in at any time, and we don't even know if there's a road ahead!"
Song Laosan stood up from the side: "The most urgent thing now is for us to take stock of the supplies we have and then find a way out as soon as possible!"
Jiang Man took out her personal air quality monitor: "The air quality here is normal, and no toxic substances have been detected."
I thought about it for a moment and felt that I couldn't hide Duan Jinyan's situation from him anymore. I took a deep breath and said, "There must be a way in here. When we were outside, I saw Duan Jinyan and his group come in."
Qu Ruilin suddenly became excited: "You saw Duan Jinyan?!"
"No, but I saw the leopard next to Duan Jinyan. You should know his status in the Black Robe. I feel that since he's here, Duan Jinyan must be with that group as well. There are six of them in total."
I paused for a moment, then continued, "Since Duan Jinyan has already entered, and Cao Xiong even dared to blow up the cave entrance, it means they must have found a passage inside. However, you all know how cautious those people are. If we want to chase after them, we should act as soon as possible, otherwise we'll be finished once they destroy the passage!"
After listening to my words, Wei Shengnan instructed her people, "Immediately check the equipment and prepare to depart!"
We came here specifically to raid tombs, so we carried all sorts of equipment with us.
I took off my backpack, took out my tactical belt, and sorted out all my equipment, including my flashlight and knife. I also took out my first-aid kit.
At this moment, two members of the Wei family also took off their travel bags. After inspecting them, one of them nodded and said, "Our kayak is intact and undamaged!"
I heard their conversation and subconsciously frowned.
According to Qu Ruilin's analysis, we need to travel by waterway to reach the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace. Although we prepared hovercraft in advance, Xue Dong has not yet had time to send anyone to deliver them.
At this moment, Duan Jinyan is very likely in the tomb passage ahead of us. If Qu Ruilin and the others do not provide a means to cross the river, it means that we will be eliminated directly.
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