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墨書 Inktalez
At noon the next day, the weather suddenly turned overcast. The bright sunshine from the morning had barely shone for long before it started to rain heavily in the rainforest, and Bai Yujing instantly became drenched.
Bai Yujing hurriedly looked for a place to take shelter from the rain but suddenly lost his footing and fell from a height, landing hard on the ground. After struggling for a while on the grass, he finally got up; that fall had been quite severe, and he was almost dazed. However, as he lifted his head, he noticed an opening ahead.
Bai Yujing looked at the opening, which was about four meters high. A large tree grew at the entrance, and thick, dense weeds completely covered it. After observing for a moment, Bai Yujing realized that this was not a naturally formed cave, which immediately piqued his interest.
Finding an artificially created cave in such a place could signify many things. Bai Yujing took out a flashlight from his backpack and held a machete in one hand while biting down on the flashlight with his mouth as he slowly ventured inside. The cave appeared to be quite old; although there were no signs of wild animals around the entrance, it was still wise to be cautious.
Inside the cave was somewhat damp, with rainwater flowing on the ground, but the walls were very dry. This was typical volcanic rock, a characteristic feature of Wales' geography. As Bai Yujing moved further in, he discovered that this was a mine rich in copper ore.
There were signs that this copper mine had been previously exploited, and it seemed that the mining methods used were quite primitive. Thousands of years ago, once ancient people mastered the techniques of smelting bronze, humanity began its history of copper mining. As Bai Yujing continued forward, he could see more signs of human activity.
Initially, Bai Yujing thought this was a mining tunnel and even hoped to witness the secrets of ancient civilization's mining practices. However, as he progressed further, he felt increasingly uneasy; the entrance had been too neatly maintained. If it were merely a mining tunnel, there would be no need for such meticulousness. Moreover, the passage was too straight, as if it had been constructed specifically to lead somewhere.
The tunnel was very long; Bai Yujing felt that this was beyond what ancient people could have excavated. To create such an extensive artificial cave would require immense manpower and resources. Could such a long passage really have been dug out using only primitive tools?
At that moment, Bai Yujing's Strange Hunter Alarm System went off in his mind. He immediately searched around and soon found a mural on the side of the cave wall. The mural was quite abstract, but Bai Yujing could roughly understand its meaning.
The first image depicted a half-naked goddess descending with the setting sun into a lake. The second image showed the goddess receiving her people, with countless subjects kneeling at her feet; behind them were scenes of offerings made to the deity. However, it was the last two images that intrigued Bai Yujing most: the goddess handed a golden disc to one of her subjects and left her attendant as the guardian of the tribe.
The tribe used the technology left by the goddess and the power of their guardian to drive away slaves and built a massive structure for their deity and protector. This structure appeared to lack a roof, suggesting it might represent a unique culture or perhaps a special preference of their guardian.
After viewing this series of murals, Bai Yujing felt as if he understood what he was about to witness next and hurried toward the end of the cave. At the very end stood a stone door over four meters high. In the center of this door was an image of a goddess wearing a floral crown and leaning against the sun, flanked by two guards with long spears who had bodies like cats and heads like humans.
Bai Yujing shone the flashlight up, revealing that the stone door was very heavy and opened outward. Bai Yujing pushed against it with all his strength, but the stone door did not budge at all, as if something was blocking it.
"Could there be some mechanism?" Bai Yujing looked around and finally noticed a dense network of tree roots hanging down from the top, tightly clinging to the top of the stone door. He guessed that it was likely the same on the outside; the stone door had not been opened for many years, and something might be blocking it from behind.
Bai Yujing exerted all his strength and hit it a few times. He immediately felt the stone door loosen. After repeating this five or six times, the stone door suddenly swung open, but Bai Yujing's feet could not stop in time, and he stumbled out. He immediately felt a mass of vines and tree roots brushing against his face, scratching him painfully; these were the aerial roots of numerous vines and trees clinging to the outside of the stone door.
Intense light poured down from the sky. After being in darkness for so long, Bai Yujing felt somewhat unaccustomed. After a while, he opened his eyes and was greeted by a fantastical world.
Before him was a green hillside, at the foot of which lay a lake resembling a moon. The overcast rain in the sky had stopped at some point, and sunlight streamed down, casting its glow on the hillside and the surface of the lake.
On top of the hillside stood a massive structure made entirely of huge stones. The stones, towering over twenty meters high, looked like colossal pillars reaching for the sky. They were arranged in a circular formation, tightly fitting together to form a large circle. Through the gaps between the stones, Bai Yujing could see stone columns arranged inside.
This was the original Stonehenge. The Cretans who migrated from the Aegean Sea region encountered their sun goddess here and rebuilt their new home, designating this place as their Holy Land.
The ground around Stonehenge was completely paved with stone slabs. The path from the cave entrance to the structure was constructed like a pilgrimage Stairs. There was also a similar path leading from the structure to the lake; this was an ancient civilization's Sacred Lake, a place where deities bathed—an existence not to be desecrated. At that moment, Bai Yujing saw some rabbits and squirrels gathering by the lakeside to drink water.
However, it had been unknown whether two thousand or three thousand years since anyone had been here; weeds covered the massive stones, climbing with layers of vines that completely obscured them. The open spaces were similar; vines hung down like curtains, blending natural elements with human architecture, showcasing itself anew after thousands of years.
The ground that was once covered with stone slabs now had weeds bursting through cracked seams, growing over a foot deep. Many tall trees had also sprouted on the hillside—something that had never existed before. The stone door behind Bai Yujing was covered by a tree and vines growing from the rock wall.
Although it was already November and winter should have arrived—especially in such a cold northern place as England—the Mountain Valley felt like summer; it was warm as usual, flowers bloomed everywhere, and Bai Yujing even saw fruits hanging from trees—almost miraculous.
Taking advantage of the sunlight breaking through the Clouds at its brightest moment, Bai Yujing hurriedly took several photos; this would become one of the most beautiful scenes in his life. Along the way, he also spotted some small statues depicting ancient-looking figures with human bodies and owl heads; it seemed that the Cretans who migrated here had a special reverence for cats.
Bai Yujing walked up the stairs, stepping on the grass and wading through the dense weeds, finally arriving at the site of Stonehenge. From a distance, it was already quite shocking, but seeing it up close made the towering stones, over twenty meters high, even more awe-inspiring.
Standing at the base, Bai Yujing felt like a small ant beneath a giant's thigh. Was this really carved out by human hands? How was it constructed? Ancient civilizations truly possessed such power.
Pushing aside the vines and walking inside, Bai Yujing saw the internal structure. The stones inside were shorter than those forming the outer circle, but they were not arranged very regularly. Upon reaching the innermost part, Bai Yujing finally found the most important purpose of this visit.
In the center of Stonehenge stood a square stone pillar, topped with a statue—the guardian left by the Sun Goddess for the Cretans, a winged White Cat. The massive square stone pillar was over twenty meters tall, nearly seven or eight stories high, and its surface was very smooth; gripping it felt somewhat slippery, which was indeed a bit troublesome.
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