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墨書 Inktalez
"Plop!"
At this moment, as if the waves brought by the approaching boat stirred something from the bottom, a massive splash erupted on the surface of the water, flipping over a large number of floating corpses, startling Zhou Jun and Bai Yujing.
"What is that?"
"Don't panic, it's dead!"
As Bai Yujing approached, he also discovered the object, which was nothing but a skeleton that looked like it had been dead for countless years. The remains were at least ten meters long, with a massive skeleton resembling a ship; the upper body looked like a fish, while the lower half resembled a snake.
Zhou Jun noticed it was an inanimate object and felt relieved: "It seems to have four claws. What kind of monster is this?"
Bai Yujing observed for a moment: "Fish body and snake tail; this creature is somewhat similar to the legendary Tiger Jiao. In the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas - Southern Mountains': 'Five hundred miles east is Mount Daoguo... The Liao River flows out from there and southward into the sea. Among them is the Tiger Jiao, which has the body of a fish and the tail of a snake, and its sound resembles that of mandarin ducks.'"
"Legend has it that such monsters are descendants of dragons. A creature this large would indeed be an insurmountable monster for ancient people. Look at its four claws; they are amphibious animals that can come ashore. Whether in water or on land, it can be considered a top predator!"
Zhou Jun immediately asked, "Can it compare to the Nine-Headed Serpent we encountered before?"
Bai Yujing chuckled in disbelief: "There's really no comparison. That thing, even when locked up, Wang Quanyi didn't dare to touch it. He went through great lengths to change course just to come down here. Yet this Tiger Jiao was captured by them working together, and there were several of them."
"Weren't there only two?"
Bai Yujing glanced at the bottom and then pointed at the shore: "There are both at the bottom and on the shore!"
Zhou Jun was somewhat surprised: "With such monsters, even though firearms existed in the Ming Dynasty, they were still in the cold weapon era. How could they possibly kill such a creature? A sword or knife would have little impact against such a massive body, right?"
Bai Yujing glanced at the dead creature on the shore: "Look at that crossbow bolt on it; it should be from a repeating crossbow. Wang Quanyi must have sent down more than one ship. The journey here hasn't been as calm as when we arrived. However, Wang Quanyi has cleared most of the dangers for us, which is why our passage has been so smooth."
Zhou Jun chuckled: "I didn't really feel it was that smooth. Well, compared to them, it does seem relatively smooth!"
Zhou Jun looked at the large number of floating corpses on the water and couldn't help but feel heavy-hearted. If they were among the first to come here and encountered these dangers, along with the Tiger Jiao, they would likely have had a hard time escaping. Previously, when they encountered the Nine-Headed Serpent, they managed to escape by chance since they were locked up.
The situation with the Tiger Jiao was different; whether on the way or at the Bottom, Bai Yujing could be pursued without any way to escape. Thinking about it this way, their luck seemed quite good.
The two finally docked their boat and after securing it, they climbed onto the cave's entrance. The light shone down to reveal numerous corpses on the ground, and to one side lay a rotting and foul-smelling Tiger Jiao corpse, half on the shore and half hanging over the Bottom.
Looking at the ground covered in corpses and several other Tiger Jiao remains, one could sense what kind of thrilling struggle Wang Quanyi must have experienced here back then. To be honest, it wasn't easy for Wang Quanyi either; after expending so much effort digging this out and losing so many people, he still failed to satisfy the emperor and was demoted. This suffering truly had no one to share it with.
The two shouldered their backpacks from the boat and checked their supplies before replacing the batteries in their searchlights. In a place like this, running out of power would be disastrous; even infrared night vision goggles required batteries. Without power, they would truly be blind here, and Bai Yujing felt uncertain about climbing back.
Zhou Jun was also very concerned about battery life: "How much battery do we have left? Is it enough for our return trip?"
Bai Yujing nodded: "You still have a few batteries left; I have plenty as well. Now that we've made it this far, we definitely have more than enough for our return!"
Zhou Jun nodded and followed behind Bai Yujing as they cautiously surveyed their surroundings. In such a place, being careful was never excessive. Here, most of the corpses were desiccated and relatively well-preserved.
Bai Yujing could see that most were soldiers; besides them, there were quite a few dressed as civilians. Those who came here must have been craftsmen because once they arrived here, farmers and craftsmen had little use. Wang Quanyi must have brought along trustworthy and manageable people—his own soldiers—to explore Bai Wang Tomb.
The ground was covered with bloodstains that had dried for an unknown amount of time. Most of the corpses were incomplete, with very few intact bodies, and the deaths were mostly extremely tragic, leaving hardly any whole corpses.
There were many decayed weapons and spears scattered on the ground, many of which were broken or bent. Seeing this scene, Bai Yujing couldn't help but exclaim, "What kind of strength must this monster have!"
Zhou Jun looked over and said, "There are still a few over here!"
Bai Yujing glanced in that direction and saw a smaller Tiger Jiao lying on the ground, its size smaller than the one lying on the shore. Beside it were several juvenile Tiger Jiaos. Although they were young, their size was already beyond that of an average person, weighing at least a couple of hundred kilograms. The juvenile Tiger Jiao had dozens of spears sticking out of its body, indicating it had met a tragic end at the hands of these Ming Dynasty soldiers.
Zhou Jun looked at the monster's sharp teeth and massive body and said, "It seems the Ming soldiers wiped out these monsters completely. If there were any left, we would be in trouble. By now, they would have grown into a large group of adults!"
Bai Yujing immediately shone his flashlight in that direction and said to Zhou Jun, "Don't say such things! I had a jinxed companion in Shennongjia who would say whatever came to mind; just saying that makes me anxious!"
Zhou Jun looked around and asked, "Really?"
The surroundings remained silent. Bai Yujing laughed and said, "There shouldn't be any left. If there were any remaining, these corpses would have long been devoured by such monsters. Look at this scene; it still looks like it did hundreds of years ago, untouched, indicating that no people or animals have come here since."
Zhou Jun stood up from his crouched position and looked up. "But we should still be cautious. The Bai Wang Tomb should be right above us. Let's find a way to see if we can get up there!"
When they reached the base of the Ancient Tree Fossil, they could truly feel the extraordinary greatness of this ancient divine tree. It hardly resembled a tree; instead, it looked more like a mountain. Along this divine tree embedded in the stone wall, there were numerous various buildings constructed along its length, extending upward. A large number of Wooden Racks were nailed to the wall, supporting one walkway after another.
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