At the entrance to the cliff tomb, I looked towards the tomb passage in the direction that Old Song was pointing, and I frowned as well.
Just as I guessed, the tomb passage behind the stone gate had a square dome structure, but a deep trench had been dug out in the ground, filled with crisscrossing spikes.
"It's that kind of crappy terrain again, just like the anti-theft devices we saw in the Ze King's tomb!"
Song Laosan pointed at the spears inside and said irritably, "The last time we saw this kind of mechanism, at least we could lay some iron ships on it, but today we are not prepared at all and cannot get through!"
"We've prepared contingency plans and considered all possible scenarios!"
I didn't act as nervous as Song Laosan. Instead, I opened my travel bag and took out a pair of "iron shoes".
These shoes have a three-centimeter-thick sole with a leather strap that can tighten the sole around the foot, making them look like a pair of oversized sandals.
Seeing that I had tied the iron shoes to the soles of my feet, Song Laosan thought for a moment and asked, "Are these sand-shifting shoes?"
I nodded: "Yes! There are records of such tools in the Judge's Record. I provided the idea to Jiang Man, and the Jiang family made these imported products when they were preparing the tools."
Quicksand shoes are a type of tomb raiding tool. As the name suggests, these are specifically used in quicksand tombs.
After I put on the sand-shifting boots, I turned the switch on the back of the shoes, and immediately countless metal pieces popped out from the soles, looking like duck feet spread out.
The reason I had the Jiang family do these things was just in case, to avoid encountering similar traps again. I didn't expect that my gamble would actually pay off today.
After putting on the sand-dust boots, I put on my stab-proof gloves, stood up and moved around a bit. Although the boots were a bit heavy, they weren't so heavy that they made it difficult to move around.
Seeing this, Manjing and the monkey followed suit and started wearing sandalwood shoes.
Seeing that we were all carrying equipment, Song Laosan asked, "Xiao Duan, do you have any extra sand-shifting boots?"
"No, everyone is carrying their own equipment; we don't prepare too much of this kind of thing."
I shook my head, pulled a stab-proof vest from my backpack, and then took off the one I was wearing: "This is all the equipment I can provide you. Wear it on your feet for protection. As for whether you can get through, that's up to you!"
Looking at the three of us fully armed, and then at the stab-proof vest in his hand, Song Laosan gritted his teeth and said, "It's better than nothing, let's do it!"
While Song Laosan was putting on his stab-proof vest, I said to Monkey and Manjing, "This cave is a dead end, full of traps, some of which are completely impossible to break. So you must carefully follow behind me. No one is allowed to move without my permission!"
The monkey nodded, turned off the safety on the crossbow, slung it over his shoulder, and drew his machete, replying, "None of us are novices; we know what we're doing!"
"Stay close to me!"
I left a message and then entered the tomb passage behind the stone gate.
The walls on both sides of this tomb passage are adorned with exquisite painted reliefs, and because the tomb passage was well-sealed, the colors of these murals remain remarkably vibrant.
These murals don't contain any substantial content; they depict gods soaring through the heavens, and even the details of their hair and clothing are meticulously carved.
I stood at the edge of the entrance, placing my sandal-clad feet on the various spears pointing in different directions on the ground. After stabilizing myself, I moved my other foot onto the ground.
Once I confirmed that the spear below could support my weight, I continued to move forward.
After entering the cave, the second monkey glanced at the murals beside him and asked in surprise, "Young Master Duan, I feel like we've come to the wrong place! When we went to the Golden Rooster Cave before, the walls there looked like they'd been chewed by dogs, but the murals on both sides of this passage don't seem to be in the same style at all!"
"The He family's pursuers are right behind us. No matter what lies at the end of this passage, we must go in and find out!"
I turned my head and saw that Manjing and Song Laosan had also come in. I asked loudly, "Song Laosan, what was it like when you went to Jin Yang Cave before?"
Song Laosan responded, "Jin Yang Cave is a natural karst cave, but it has clearly been artificially excavated."
I continued walking: "Is there anything else besides this?"
Song Laosan replied, "Yes! There are murals inside that cave! They depict a lot of things, but the general idea is that a group of people worshipped a temple here, and the goddess in the temple would provide these people with divine power to help them fight against ferocious beasts and enemies!"
I heard there were murals in Jin Yang Cave, and I immediately became interested: "Anything else?"
Song Laosan continued, "The Golden Sheep Cave was flooded, and part of the murals on the wall were washed away, resulting in missing sections. The story in the middle is no longer visible... The murals at the back depict four moons appearing in the sky. At that time, the entire tribe came out to worship, and three of the moons fell to the ground. The tribe also selected a group of warriors to search for the fallen moons."
When I heard what he said, which was the same as what we had heard in the audio recording, I knew he wasn't lying: "You said the murals in Jin Yang Cave were washed away by water. Aren't the murals there reliefs like the ones here?"
Old Song shook his head: "No, the murals there are painted on the mountainside, and they are only black and white, without any other colors."
Hearing Song Laosan's answer, I actually felt a little relieved: "So, Golden Rooster Cave and Golden Ox Cave are completely different styles?"
"I don't think these three caves were built by the same group of people!"
Song Laosan explained, "There are a lot of murals in the Golden Sheep Cave. I only mentioned a part that we can understand. The other paintings are too abstract for us to understand at all! But now that I think about it, I seem to understand some of the content in those murals! That is, many small tribes worship that temple. It was because of the existence of the god that they came together!"
Thinking about it now, perhaps after these small tribes discovered the meteorite, they separated it and made different statues from it. The caves where they stored these statues also varied due to the different tribal cultures. Do you think this hypothesis is plausible?
"I don't agree!"
The monkey chimed in, "That argument is completely untenable! Even if those meteorites were indeed taken away by different tribes, they should have been from the same period, right? Young Master Duan, think about the Golden Rooster Cave from before, and then look at this cave now—it's worlds apart! Tribes from the same period and with the same beliefs wouldn't have such different levels of craftsmanship, would they?"
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