Yamafu Military Affairs

Chapter 660 An Empty Hole
Ta~
Suddenly, Qin Huai stopped, lowered his eyes and nodded, and squatted down with the torch lowered. The warm firelight immediately illuminated the patchwork ground in front of him, which consisted of steep rock slopes and flat stone slabs.

"It seems this is the end of the cave; the real road leading to that tribe should be just ahead."

Kneeling on one knee, Qin Huai stared at the stone path leading into the darkness before him and keenly noticed that from the starting point beneath his feet, there were perfectly regular circular archways in front of him.

The corridor was very high. Although the torches provided bright light, Qin Huai's current senses could only vaguely see the top of the passage. Moreover, there were no traces of stalagmites or stalactites on the ground or ceiling of the passage. Even the loose rocks and gravel scattered in other areas had disappeared without a trace.

Qin Huai guessed that these repair marks were made by followers of Ba Hui, but he didn't know if they had any additional effects. If they were just for aesthetic purposes, that would be fine, but if they were part of some sacrificial ritual, then things would be troublesome.

As Qin Huai pondered these possibilities, he suddenly noticed that there were some colorful paintings painted on the stone walls on both sides of the circular archway.

Qin Huai's eyes lit up, and he immediately connected these pictures with the legendary ancient Nanyu Kingdom.

Holding a torch, Qin Huai carefully examined the two murals, which were about ten feet high and fifty to sixty feet long. He found that they were very symmetrical. Not only were the contents the same, but the forms of expression, pattern composition, painting style and even color choices were also strikingly similar.

Both murals contain many scenes, each depicting different events, yet the transitions between scenes are remarkably natural, making the entire mural appear seamless and even giving the impression of watching a documentary.

Although the mural appears simple in composition and realistic in style from today's perspective, the objects and actions depicted are extremely vivid and full of tension. Every stroke of the painting demonstrates the artist's keen observation and superb skill.

After looking at them for a while, Qin Huai understood the chronological order of the scenes and the events they described, as well as the content they contained.

Simply put, they tell the story of a tribe that discovered the cave, accepted a deity, and then settled and multiplied there. This story is largely consistent with the Yi legend told by the peddler Ash, but it is richer and more detailed, with many more details that are difficult to describe in words.

According to the content of the image, the ancestors of the ancient Nanyu Kingdom experienced a brutal war.

The mural depicts two tribes, painted white and brown respectively, engaged in a bloody battle. Because the brown tribe outnumbered the white tribe, they used simple spears and clubs to surround and kill a large number of the white tribe members.

The remaining members of the white tribe began to retreat, fleeing towards the more treacherous mountains. However, the brown tribe did not give up. They followed closely behind, attempting to completely annihilate the remaining white tribe.

The white tribe had no choice but to fight and flee, eventually retreating into a depression among the precipitous peaks.

Based on some obvious topographical features, Qin Huai was able to determine that this depression was the valley where he was at that time. According to the winding river depicted in the mural, it can also be known that the underground river in the cave had not completely dried up at that time.

The brown tribe's pursuers climbed the mountains surrounding the depression, surrounded their enemies, and prepared to exterminate the white tribe.

Just then, a figure painted white stood at the cave entrance, waving and pointing into the cave, seemingly asking the white tribe, who were too exhausted to fight any longer, to follow him into the cave.

"A tribal elder, a priest-like figure?"

Although most of the figures in the murals are roughly depicted, with simple outlines lacking distinguishable details, the person standing at the entrance of the cave is depicted in great detail.

He wore a strange headdress, his body was covered with bizarre patterns, and his hands and feet were bound with the fur of some kind of animal.

The scene then shifts underground, where the priest wearing a headdress leads the remaining members of the white tribe deeper into the cave.

In the cave environment around them, there were always some huge bodies covered in scales that were faintly visible, as if some kind of huge, snake-like creature was roaming in places they could not see.

Then, the priest lost his footing and fell into the dark river, being swept away into the distance. The other white figures tried to save him, but could only watch helplessly as he was swept further and further away from the shore.

The priest, adorned with a headdress, drifted further and further with the current, rounding a gentle bend, entering a rapid, narrow ditch, and then plunging down a waterfall into a deep pool before finally being washed ashore on a calm riverbank.

Several bizarre-looking, bluish-gray reptiles spotted him. These reptiles resembled anthropomorphic lizards or snakes, with flat heads and slender bodies like snakes, but with two thin, scale-covered forelimbs—a trait unique to reptiles—growing at about the size of a human arm. However, these creatures lacked hind limbs; a thick tail served the function of hind limbs, allowing them to stand upright like venomous snakes.

They gathered around the headdress-wearing person on the riverbank of the underground river, making different gestures, as if they were discussing something.

Meanwhile, in a pile of gravel not far away, an unimaginably huge serpent was resting with its eyes closed.

The mural only shows the outline of the giant snake and a few scales and claws. It depicts an unimaginably large head silhouette and a small part of the snake's body connected to the head, as if using blank space to depict the size of the giant snake.

Then, the grotesque serpentine monsters seemed to agree, and they lifted the headdress-wearing man and put him into the mouth of the giant snake.

The giant serpent swallowed him, while the serpentine monsters coiled evenly around the massive serpent's head, facing the serpent and prostrating themselves on the ground, seemingly performing some indescribable ritual.

The scene that follows is the most difficult to understand in the entire mural: the giant serpent opens its massive mouth again, and a new serpentine monster stands upright in its mouth. But this monster is different from the others; it is painted white and wears the same headdress as the tribal chief, its forelimbs are covered with animal skin, and its slender body is decorated with similar patterns.

Then, the white serpentine creature led the other bluish-gray serpentine creatures away from the giant serpent and found the remaining members of the white tribe.

Humans seemed to accept these strange visitors, bowing down before the white and bluish-gray serpentine creatures to express their reverence and fear.

Finally, the bluish-gray serpentine creatures led the members of the white tribe out of the cave. They drove countless scaly, indescribable monsters to devour a large number of soldiers from the brown tribe, completely annihilating the white tribe's enemies.

"The white figure was a later follower of Ba Hui, the snake-man was a follower of Ba Hui, and the priest with the headdress was a saint who embraced suffering, was chosen by Ba Hui, and was actively promoted to ascension?"

Gazing at the mural, rich in metaphors, Qin Huai pondered for a while, somewhat unsure whether the human priest had already possessed the merit and aptitude to become a saint, thus surviving the calamity and ascending to immortality; or whether it was simply due to the high rank of the Ba Hui that the priest achieved such a meteoric rise. However, Qin Huai didn't dwell on it for long. He had seen far too many extraordinary creatures like snake-people, and as long as they didn't attract demonic corruption, he didn't care what kind of deformed figures these Sichen believers looked.

As Qin Huai walked deeper into the darkness along the stone path, he discovered that there were still contents on the stone walls on both sides. However, judging from the technique and the age of the carvings, it could be basically determined that they were added later.

The inscriptions on these stone walls share the same origin as the symbols on the black leather scrolls worn by Qin Huai, and they are neither like Yi script nor any script that circulates on the Chinese mainland.

Even more terrifying is that Qin Huai, who didn't recognize these characters at all yesterday, now strangely understands the meaning behind these inscriptions!
After just a couple of glances, these stone carvings seemed to come to life, struggling to leap off the rock face and crash into Qin Huai's eyes!
gudu~
As the sweet spring water entered his throat, the characters before Qin Huai's eyes finally became unfamiliar once again.

After confirming that he had recovered, Qin Huai asked with lingering fear, "Damn, when did I get hit?"

Qin Huai wanted to turn around and look at the two murals that were the most suspicious, but reason told him that it was best not to.

In just two or three seconds, Qin Huai had already figured out what the rock carvings were.

This is the cultivation method of the Bhakhu followers, which is entirely about how to torture oneself and please the Bhakhu in order to experience more extreme and purer pain.

Plucking fingernails, gouging out eyes, cutting off ears, and skinning people are all minor offenses. Even more sinister is having believers indulge in a fabricated dream of happiness, only to have it shatter suddenly, allowing them to experience extreme pain through the stark contrast between the two.

"For ordinary people, bones, muscles and skin are biological tissues that are difficult to regenerate. If the followers of the Bahui practice this thing, unless they have some way to regenerate severed limbs, they will all be disabled."

Qin Huai rubbed his temples, glanced at the stone carving one last time out of the corner of his eye, and continued walking until he reached the exit of the arcade tunnel.

Emerging from the tunnel, one finds a five-foot-square stone platform and an incredibly large hollow.

Qin Huai looked around and could only see dense darkness that the firelight could not penetrate. This environment and rock structure always made him feel somewhat familiar.

"Rest in peace, the tomb of Attila's resurrection?"

Qin Huai raised an eyebrow, feeling a strange sense of detachment, but then, considering the similar habits of dragons and snakes, he felt that everything made sense.

There was no path ahead of the stone platform, only a narrow trail on the right, wide enough for three people to walk side by side. It clung tightly to the edge of the stone wall, extending at a relatively gentle slope into the depths of the cave.

The path is of regular width, its surface is uneven but polished rock, with scattered stone chips, like remnants left by craftsmen many years ago.

Qin Huai tested the support of the path with his foot, and after confirming that it would not suddenly collapse, he walked along the path close to the stone wall and headed deeper into the cave.

Soon, Qin Huai discovered that there were more murals depicting the stone wall close to the path. However, he had become smarter this time. While admiring the murals and gathering information, he kept his wine gourd tightly in his hand, ready to pour the spring water into his mouth at any time.

Basils, snake-men, sacred caves, magnificent cities, all sorts of towering buildings, bizarre gardens growing giant fungi, and empty plazas with strange outlines and no discernible pattern.
Qin Huai quietly looked at the pictures, walking around as he did so, gradually learning about an underground world that was in no way inferior to the Central Plains of China. There, too, were continuous mountain ranges, steep river valleys, vast plains, and deep oceans. And their enormous divine serpent, Ba Hui, which was as large as a mountain range, rested and roamed in this world.

"Could it be that this fruit really contains some kind of underground world?"

Qin Huai couldn't suppress the question welling up in his heart, but unfortunately, no one could answer it.

After walking along the path for about fifteen minutes, Qin Huai keenly noticed some scattered skeletons on the ground. With just a little identification, Qin Huai, who was also well-versed in medicine, recognized that these were human bones. However, they had been exposed to the air for a very long time and had already shown signs of petrification.

He continued down, and the number of skeletons gradually increased, some even retaining some of their original structure. Most of the bones were remarkably well-preserved, showing no signs of violent damage or tooth marks left by animals.

"Suicide? Or human sacrifice?"

Just as Qin Huai reached the end of the path and saw the wide, flat ground, he discovered a relatively well-preserved skeleton.

It looks like some kind of large, quadrupedal beast, but has an S-shaped spine similar to that of a human; its skull and other small bones resemble those of highly evolved primates and humans, but its slightly protruding upper and lower jaws are covered with sharp incisors and huge canines like those of a wild beast.

"Like the Celestial Race, are they beasts transformed into servants by the Bahui? Or are they snake-people?"

Without lingering too long on the skeleton, which was clearly a member of the Ba Hui's retinue, Qin Huai calmly walked around it to the bottom of the huge cavern. Holding a torch, he circled around it and, sure enough, found several stone lamps and interconnected grooves filled with a viscous, oily liquid.

Qin Huai thought for a moment, then flicked his finger, and specks of blood fire fell into it, igniting a scarlet flame powerful enough to dispel the dense darkness and illuminate the entire vast space.

Wow~
As the flames of blood ignited, the dark room was illuminated. What appeared before Qin Huai was a vast, flat area with some huge, strangely shaped stone buildings piled up on it. Scattered on this flat area and the stone structures were many rubble that had fallen from above, as well as a pile of grayish-white human bones.

"A temple? Or a shrine?"

Qin Huai murmured to himself.

"neither."

Just then, a hoarse, low voice, like a snake flicking its tongue, sounded behind him.

(End of this chapter)