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墨書 Inktalez
Bai Yujing leaned over and looked down, observing the ground below. The area had been excavated with a series of stairs, indicating that someone had previously worked to stabilize this massive fissure, creating a path wide enough for craftsmen and many pedestrians to pass through.
Bai Yujing nodded and tossed the flashlight back to Zhou Jun. "That's right, this is the place. It seems we've found the right spot. The commander Liu Quanyi from the Ming Dynasty once constructed fortifications here, suggesting that this should be an important passage leading to the Bai Wang Tomb."
Zhou Jun was also quite excited. He had a personality suited for extreme exploration and adventure, similar to Bai Yujing's. While ordinary people would shy away from such situations, he was the first to move closer upon hearing about it. He eagerly applied to Qian Jia, insisting they must go down and take a look.
At this moment, knowing they were on the right path, they descended further, likely to encounter the tomb of a king from the ancient Bohou Kingdom, where a general who had once followed Zhou Wuwang in his conquests was buried. This thought thrilled Zhou Jun immensely.
"It looks like we might really find the Royal Tomb of Bai Wang this time!"
Seeing Zhou Jun a bit nervous, Bai Yujing joked, "I've never come back empty-handed on any expedition. This time will be no different; it's just a Bai Wang Tomb, it should be easy to secure!"
They deployed a terrain-detecting drone, and both Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun turned off their flashlights. They didn't know how long they would be underground, so conserving battery power was wise. The two took out cigarettes and began chatting idly.
After waiting for over half an hour, the drones slowly returned one by one. Bai Yujing checked them and confirmed the route down again. They shouldered their packs and set off deeper underground.
The fissure was longer than Bai Yujing had imagined; it seemed to stretch straight down into the earth at an angle for several hundred meters. However, in reality, they had only descended a few dozen meters. Bai Yujing calculated that despite walking for so long, they had barely covered one-tenth of the distance to the Underground River.
It seemed that he and Zhou Jun would have to wander through this underground cave for two days before reaching deeper levels. Bai Yujing estimated that by then, they would likely have walked out of the range of Bai Wang Mountain. Although the entrance was here, the actual location of the Bai Wang Tomb was very far away.
This situation explained why Wang Quanyi had spent several years at Bai Wang Mountain under orders, expending vast resources and mobilizing farmers, craftsmen, and slaves before finally locating the Bai Wang Tomb. However, the outcome appeared less than favorable; although they found the Royal Tomb, they did not obtain the Immortality Elixir that Wanli Emperor desired.
As a result, Wang Quanyi was demoted; it seemed that Wanli Emperor's anger was directed at him rather than any supposed blame for the deaths incurred during the excavation of Bai Wang Tomb. To the emperor, the deaths of some ordinary farmers and craftsmen were hardly worth consideration.
The ground fissure continued to stretch downward, and the stairs beneath were smoothed out, making it easier to walk. The spotlight on Bai Yujing's head illuminated the massive fissure on both sides. After being excavated, the fissure was about ten meters wide. Bai Yujing could sense that a large number of craftsmen had once carried wood and tools down here to explore.
Back then, there was no geological Water Vein Map like Bai Yujing had now, nor any terrain-detecting drones. The numerous underground caves were entirely explored by people bit by bit, and because it had been several thousand years since the Ming Dynasty, many of the underground formations had changed since the time of Zhou Wuwang.
For instance, some passages and caves from back then had collapsed or been sealed off due to earthquakes or tectonic shifts. Wang Quanyi would need to mobilize a large number of craftsmen to dig them out again.
Bai Yujing looked at the rock walls on both sides, where decayed ropes and wood could still be seen, along with dark burn marks. This indicated that torches had once burned here, with each torch inserted into the rock walls illuminating the path downward.
After passing through the fissure, a vast space appeared below. Here, traces of human construction were even more evident; piles of wood and stones were scattered on the ground. This was a large transfer station, a massive underground cave with a gentle terrain that served as a resting point for craftsmen and farmers.
Bai Yujing took out a lighter and ignited a decayed pot resting on some wood. The oil and wick inside flared up instantly, lighting up the surroundings and making the entire underground cave bright.
The rocks here all appeared to be pulled downward in a linear fashion. Above and on all four walls, it was the same. The entire space was over thirty meters high, creating an immense sense of openness. The surrounding rock layers stacked like a maze, resembling stairs that twisted and hid within. One could see numerous openings, some obvious and some concealed, varying in size.
Some openings had diameters reaching ten meters, while others could only accommodate a person crawling in bent over. Some led upward while others descended; looking around revealed so many openings that one could hardly count them.
Zhou Jun was momentarily stunned: "What kind of place is this? How long will it take us to find the right direction among these openings?"
Bai Yujing glanced around without rushing: "Don't worry; we don't need to search ourselves because they have already done it for us. We just need to look at the traces left by those who explored and excavated."
At that moment, Bai Yujing's ears perked up: "Listen? What sound is that?"
In the silent cave, even the slightest sound would be amplified. Although faint, Zhou Jun quickly heard it as well when he quieted down: "It sounds like water... flowing water."
Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun immediately followed the sound and reached the edge. At that moment, Bai Yujing realized that they had reached the end of the path beneath their feet. Although they had lit a bonfire from a distance, the light was not very bright, so there was a deep abyss in this area that Bai Yujing had not noticed.
Looking down, Bai Yujing saw that at the bottom of the steep cliff, there was a narrow crevice no wider than one meter. A gentle stream flowed through the slanted gap, trickling deeper into the abyss. Bai Yujing immediately said, "This water will flow according to the water vein and converge towards the Underground River. We should search this area; there must be an entrance leading downward, and it should be sizable. I remember Liu Quanyi once built ships underground and reached Bai Wang Tomb via the Underground River. If the entrance were too small, it would be impossible to transport the materials and supplies needed for shipbuilding inside."
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