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墨書 Inktalez
"What is that? Is it a corpse or a statue?" Zhou Jun raised the spotlight and shone it upward.
As they looked at the strange cave, a figure sat quietly inside. As the two passed by in their boat, it felt as if countless eyes were watching them from both sides. In this dark and silent underground river, various unsettling thoughts arose, filling them with a sense of horror.
The figures were not uniform in their postures; some stood, some sat, while others knelt or lay down. They were all positioned high up, resembling deities, gazing down at the people and boats passing below, creating an inexplicable sense of awe.
"They are statues!" Bai Yujing focused on the cave above and finally discerned some details. Those were not corpses but rather statues carved by human hands.
"Whose statues?" Zhou Jun asked, confused.
Bai Yujing immediately replied, "They are the statues of the Ancient Divine Clan. Although these Ancient Divine Clans began to decline during the Zhou Dynasty, Bai Wangji once climbed along the colossal tree Jianmu all the way to the celestial realm. He might have truly seen these Ancient Divine Clans. After returning, he recorded these events here; these should be statues of some ancient deities!"
After Bai Yujing finished speaking, Zhou Jun still did not fully understand. He was aware of Bai Wangji's deeds but was unclear about Jianmu and the divine clans. Bai Yujing then recounted his experiences in Shennongjia.
"Are you saying these things are not just legends? Jianmu and the celestial realm actually exist?" Zhou Jun found it hard to believe.
Bai Yujing continued, "According to my speculation, the so-called celestial realm should be a space between illusion and reality, while Jianmu has an entrance to this space. As for what exactly it is like, no one knows for sure. It might just be something imagined, similar to humanity's concept of perpetual motion machines and fantastical technologies. If there were gaps in human history, these things could also be regarded as real and passed down as legends!"
"The so-called celestial palace is also part of this celestial realm and represents those ancient divine clans as an imagined existence. Whether they succeeded in creating it remains uncertain. However, the fact that Bai Wangji once entered the celestial realm lends some credibility to this rumor, which is also our purpose for coming here!"
Zhou Jun looked at those statues: "Are these really the deities from ancient times? They look quite similar to us."
After discovering the true existence of these figures, the previous sense of strangeness dissipated. They continued forward as the Underground River gradually approached its end. Several tributaries branched off from this Underground River, dispersing its waters, and the riverbed behind them became increasingly narrow.
As they moved further along, the water flow became increasingly gentle, making rowing no longer as effortless as before. They had to push harder to make the boat advance. At that moment, a foul smell suddenly wafted through the air, and both Zhou Jun and Bai Yujing immediately looked ahead. Bai Yujing raised a flashlight to illuminate the river surface.
The light pierced through the darkness, instantly revealing the river channel and surface ahead. What Zhou Jun and Bai Yujing saw were numerous floating corpses drifting on the water, layered upon one another, silently floating without any movement.
As Bai Yujing's boat approached, the waves and thrust created by their movement caused the corpses to gently ripple on the surface. Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun stared in shock at the floating bodies; it was a vast area densely packed with corpses, nearly everywhere they looked.
Zhou Jun couldn't help but exclaim, "There must be at least a thousand bodies here!"
Bai Yujing nodded, "It might even be more!"
As their small boat glided through this area, many floating corpses drifted past on either side. Bai Yujing crouched down for a closer look. "From their clothing, these corpses should be from the Ming Dynasty. So these must be the people brought here by Wang Quanyi and his group?"
Most of these corpses were reduced to bones and clothing; their flesh had been devoured by fish in the water. Alongside the floating bodies were several sunken boats and broken planks, causing Bai Yujing's expression to tighten.
"Be careful; these bodies and sunken boats indicate that Wang Quanyi must have suffered a heavy blow here back in the day. With so many deaths, this place is definitely not simple; there is great danger!"
Upon hearing this from Bai Yujing, Zhou Jun immediately stood up. It was evident that many of the bodies floating in the water were wearing military uniforms. The fact that so many trained soldiers had died here hinted at how terrifying their enemies must have been.
In the vast underground space, they navigated through this enormous cluster of floating corpses and continued onward until they finally reached their destination. At the end of the Underground River appeared something that Bai Yujing never expected.
The focal point of the Underground River was a massive stone wall, with a hollow opening at its top leading directly upward. As Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun emerged from the river channel and looked up, they realized they could not see the top at all; it felt as if they were at the bottom of a deep abyss, with an opening that seemed to lead straight to the surface.
However, what caught Bai Yujing's attention was not this but rather something embedded in the wall—a gigantic root system extending into the depths of the Underground River. The thick main trunk appeared to occupy the entire massive stone wall when viewed from below.
"What on earth is this? A stone sculpture? How could there be such a large tree? This is beyond reason!" Zhou Jun's first impression upon seeing this object told him that it couldn't possibly be real.
"Jianmu!" However, Bai Yujing's words immediately shattered Zhou Jun's speculation.
Bai Yujing was astonished; the Jianmu here was even larger and darker than the one Bai Yujing had seen before. Yet, this Jianmu seemed to have never grown, having died countless millennia ago, transforming into a peculiar fossil deep within the earth.
"Jianmu? Are you saying this thing is Jianmu?" Zhou Jun pointed at the massive trunk partially embedded in the stone wall. It looked nothing like a real tree; it didn't resemble stone either. Instead, it appeared more like a metallic ore vein embedded in the mountain.
Bai Yujing nodded. "That's right. I've heard that cultivating Jianmu requires special environments and conditions; otherwise, it can't mature. This Jianmu here doesn't seem to have matured either; it simply died and turned into a fossil."
Zhou Jun's mouth dropped open. "Are you kidding me? Something this big hasn't matured? How large would it have to be when it does?"
Bai Yujing shook his head as the boat slowly approached the final cave. At that moment, Bai Yujing suddenly looked to the other side, his eyes narrowing. "What is that?"
As Zhou Jun shone his flashlight over, he saw a massive dark shape lying on the shore. Its enormous size resembled that of a ship, resting on the bank and drawing attention. Just moments ago, both Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun had been completely captivated by the Jianmu and hadn't noticed this object in the darkness at all.
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