The story of Rose starts with being a brother

Chapter 543 Heavenly Palace on the Clouds (Nine) Crisis

The palace is the main part of the above-ground mausoleum in the entire cave, and it is the largest in scale. The people standing on the tiled roof carefully climbed up the dragon heads on the eaves one by one and used ropes to get down to the outside of the main hall.

"This thing is called the Mocking Phoenix Dragon Head. The Mocking Phoenix is ​​the third of the nine sons of the dragon. It is fond of danger and looking into the distance. It likes to climb high and look into the distance and likes to stand in dangerous places. Therefore, the ancients placed it in a dangerous place with upturned eaves and corners. It has the meaning of warding off evil and eliminating disasters. Because it is fond of looking into the distance, it also symbolizes the insight, observation and vigilance of the situation in all directions. It has the meaning of deterring demons and eliminating disasters."

"The chiwen on both sides of the roof ridge is the ninth son of the dragon. Legend has it that the chiwen can spray waves and bring rain. It is of the water element. Placing it on the roof has the meaning of suppressing fire and avoiding fire."

Once on the ground, Zeng Xiaoxian, a history master's student, perhaps feeling that his performance earlier was somewhat disgraceful, used his expertise to explain the knowledge to everyone.

"I can't believe it, Zeng Xiaoxian. You were so scared just now, but you can still remember what you knew before," Hu Yifei said with a smile.

"Heh... I'm a refined person, and that kind of behavior isn't my forte," Zeng Xiaoxian said, trying to save face.

“Look, that door is open,” Chen Meijia said, pointing ahead.

In front of the larger hall stands a blank stone tablet, behind which is a white jade gate. The gate is very large, almost as tall as three people and as wide as two people.

Now, a large gap has been pushed open on the left side of this stone door.

“It must have been someone in front who pushed it open.” At this point, Lü Ziqiao suddenly remembered something and added, “By the way, where’s Zhang Wei’s backpack?! I saw it at the entrance of the cave earlier.”

After his reminder, everyone immediately began searching the surrounding area.

"found it!"

At this moment, Guan Gu shouted loudly, which attracted everyone's attention.

Where did you find it?

"Behind the stone tablet."

After explaining for a moment, Guan Gu took Zhang Wei's pink backpack and opened it in front of everyone.

"Clothes, keys, watch, wallet, razor, bottle opener, hair dryer... these are all Zhang Wei's possessions and his life."

Lu Ziqiao checked the contents of his backpack and couldn't help but complain, "He even brings all this with him when he goes into tombs."

"Wait, if these are Zhang Wei's life and fortune, why would he abandon them?" Tang Youyou asked.

Everyone immediately realized what was going on, and their expressions quickly turned grim.

"Could it be... that Zhang Wei encountered some danger and didn't have time to take it?" Zeng Xiaoxian voiced everyone's concerns.

An atmosphere of worry and fear filled the air, and Tang Youyou gripped Guan Gu's hand tightly, hoping to draw warmth and strength from him.

"I'll say it again, Zhang Wei is tough as nails, he can't possibly die so easily." Hu Yifei quickly encouraged everyone, "Besides, maybe Zhang Wei just thought these things were too heavy and wanted to get rid of them so he could travel lighter!"

"But there are still some pieces of clothing over there."

"..."

Zeng Xiaoxian's words made Hu Yifei glare at him fiercely: "So what if there are pieces of clothing? Does that mean Zhang Wei can't be a wild boy?"

“That’s right, Yifei is right.” Wensheng also reassured the troops, “There’s no bloodstain on his clothes, so Zhang Wei might not be in any trouble. And there’s no food in his bag, which means Zhang Wei at least had some food with him and could last.”

Seeing this, Lü Ziqiao also said, "Anyway, I said before that we must find Pao'er, whether he's alive or dead."

"Hey, there's another bag of stuff here."

Chen Meijia took another cloth bag out of Zhang Wei's backpack, opened it, and found that it contained glutinous rice.

"Glutinous rice? Isn't that the food Zhang Wei brought?"

"Damn, who carries raw glutinous rice with them when they go out? Do you think they can cook it in the wild and then wrap it into zongzi?" Hu Yifei said speechlessly.

"Then this is..."

“I remember now, this glutinous rice shouldn’t be for Zhang Wei to eat.” Xinling spoke up at this moment. She looked at the bag of glutinous rice thoughtfully and said, “In folk customs, glutinous rice, as a pure grain, carries positive energy and can be used to ward off evil spirits and impurities.”

"Isn't this a scene from a Hong Kong movie? Glutinous rice can ward off zombies." Tang Youyou chimed in, then asked doubtfully, "Did Zhang Wei bring glutinous rice to fight off zombies?"

"First there were black donkey hooves, then glutinous rice. Could there really be a zombie in this tomb?" Guan Gu Shenqi asked with a frightened expression.

"Don't scare yourself," Zeng Xiaoxian, a materialist fighter, comforted him. "That's all just movies making things up."

“Of course you’re not scared, Teacher Zeng,” Lu Ziqiao whispered, leaning closer. “I’ve heard that children’s urine can ward off evil spirits.”

"..."

After everyone regained their composure, they prepared to enter through the white jade gate in front of the main hall.

This time the situation was different. Wen Sheng went first, stepping over the knee-high threshold and entering, before the others followed closely behind.

The main hall was pitch black, and the group could only move forward by the light of their flashlights.

I could vaguely see the large stone pillars on both sides of the main hall, each about five meters long.

Among the supplies prepared for this trip were several lighting items. Zeng Xiaoxian turned on the windproof oil lamp, and Tang Youyou lit a tinderbox.

Although this light was only a drop in the ocean for such a large hall, it was enough to allow everyone to see clearly.

At this moment, everyone felt as if they were on an adventure. Affected by the dark surroundings, no one spoke, as if afraid of waking up something inside.

Only the sounds of breathing and footsteps echoed in the hall. After a few minutes, unable to bear the atmosphere any longer, Lü Ziqiao said, "Can you guys make some noise? My heart can't take it."

"Shh!" Chen Meijia slapped him. "Keep your voice down, can't your heart take it? Even Xinling hasn't said anything!"

"..."

Holding Dali's hand, Xinling's lips moved slightly, and she whispered, "Actually, I'm scared too."

"Hey, I've seen all sorts of traps and mechanisms in the tombs in the movies, so be careful not to step on them," Tang Youyou reminded everyone.

Zeng Xiaoxian complained, "It's pitch black here, I can't see any mechanisms at all."

After the brief chat, the tension among the group eased considerably. When Wen Sheng, who was walking ahead, stopped, everyone raised their lighting equipment and realized that they had reached the center of the main hall.

A jade platform appeared before them, surrounded by four enormous statues with human heads and bird bodies, and a large black statue stood atop the jade platform.

Looking at the statue in front of him, Lü Ziqiao asked, "What is that thing on top of me? It's so ugly, it's crooked and twisted like a big leech."

“Don’t talk nonsense. If the murals we saw at the hot springs are real, then this should be the burial mausoleum of the Eastern Xia emperor,” Zeng Xiaoxian explained. “Then this should be their religious totem.”

"That centipede? It doesn't really look like one." Tang Youyou frowned and said, "Those people from Dongxia Kingdom really have strange tastes."

"Hey, there are candles on both sides, we can light them for illumination," Chen Meijia called out as she walked to the side.

"I come……"

“Don’t order!”

Just as Lü Ziqiao was about to light the lamp, Wen Sheng stopped him.

"The main hall inside this cave is surrounded by ice. If we light these lamps, the ice may melt and cause the cave entrance to collapse."

Hearing Wen Sheng say this, Hu Yifei, who was also about to light a fire, had no choice but to put away her lighter.

After briefly looking around, the group continued to explore the path, but then Xinling suddenly said, "This is so strange."

"what happened?"

"If this is the tomb of the King of Dongxia, then it should be a tomb from the Song or Yuan Dynasty. But the buildings we've just passed are clearly in the style of the Ming Dynasty. How is that possible?"

Xinling's words startled everyone. Zeng Xiaoxian, a history master's student, was the first to react: "Yeah, that's why I felt something was off when I came in."

"Come on!" Hu Yifei glanced at him, too lazy to complain anymore.

"No, I really find it strange." Zeng Xiaoxian thought for a moment and said, "If Zhang Wei dropped his bag because he encountered danger, then we've been inside for so long now, how come we haven't encountered any danger?"

"..."

The hall was silent; Zeng Xiaoxian's words immediately brought everyone to their senses.

"Yeah, apart from being a bit dark, there doesn't seem to be anything dangerous here."

"Damn, isn't it good that there's no danger? Do you expect something to happen?"

Although everyone was nervous, they chatted amongst themselves as they walked to the end of the dark hall.

At the end of the main hall, another jade gate appeared, with a hundred-legged dragon made of glazed tiles coiled on the door hinges, a relief of music and dance performances on the lintel, and a gatekeeper carved on the door.

And similarly, the door was still open.

"The back should be the rear hall. I saw on the news that tomb raiders usually choose to enter from the rear hall when they raid tombs because, in addition to the tomb owner's offerings, there might also be something like an underground palace inside," Xinling explained.

The group looked at each other, and in the end, Wen Sheng was the first to enter the Jade Gate, with the others following behind.

Upon entering the corridor behind the door, the murals on both sides and overhead immediately attracted everyone's attention.

The mural was covered with a layer of ice, and when everyone raised their flashlights to look at it, they couldn't help but gasp.

The murals were almost entirely covered with centipedes coiled in the clouds, making the entire wall look like a corridor crawling with centipedes.

"Ugh! This is disgusting. I'm starting to develop trypophobia."

"Are the people of Dongxia Kingdom really this perverted? None of the things in these tombs are normal."

The entire corridor is covered with centipedes, and unlike the ones at the hot spring, the murals here are all colored, making them look more lifelike. Anyone who looks at them gets a little creeped out.

So everyone quickly hurried through the corridor and breathed a sigh of relief once they entered the back hall.

The layout of the rear hall is almost the same as that of the main hall, but it is much smaller. The surrounding walls are also decorated with murals of centipedes. However, because the space is larger than the corridor, the sense of oppression is not as strong as before.

"Hey, there are three stone beds here." Upon seeing the stone bed in the center, Lu Ziqiao plopped down on it. "Perfect timing. I'm quite tired from walking this far. I need to rest for a while."

He lay down on it, and Xinling said, "This kind of stone bed is for placing coffins, right? Coffins are usually temporarily placed on stone beds after they are brought in."

"..."

As soon as Xinling finished speaking, Lu Ziqiao's face turned green, and he hurriedly got up from the stone bed, cursing his bad luck.

"Hey, Lu Ziqiao, why don't you keep lying down and see how the beds that ancient princes and nobles lay on after they died are different from the Simmons mattress in your room? They say sleeping on a hard bed is good for your back," Chen Meijia teased.

Why is this place so empty?

After observing the surroundings, Tang Youyou asked curiously.

"This stone slab has been pushed aside. Look, there's a turtle here!" Zeng Xiaoxian shouted.

Hu Yifei went over to take a look and said, "But why is this turtle cracked? And..."

"It has a faint fragrance," Zeng Xiaoxian added.

At this moment, Wen Sheng stood still and looked around before his expression changed. He quickly said, "Don't make a sound! Get out of here quickly."

"What's wrong?" Xinling asked.

Wen Sheng pointed to the top of the rear hall, then shook his head, indicating that everyone should return the way they came.

Although the others were somewhat confused, seeing Wen Sheng's serious expression, they wisely retreated.

After leaving the inner hall, Wen Sheng whispered, "There are centipedes in here, don't wake them up."

Hearing this, Zeng Xiaoxian asked in surprise, "It's just a bug, what's there to be afraid of?"

“What if there were tens of thousands?” Wen Sheng asked, glancing at it.

"..."

Zeng Xiaoxian was speechless, while Hu Yifei exclaimed in surprise, "Really? How did you know?"

"I just saw it on the roof of the rear hall. It covers the entire roof, and you can't see it unless you look closely," Wen Sheng said solemnly.

No one doubted Wen Sheng's words, but if they withdrew now, they would not be able to find Zhang Wei later.

"What should we do now?"

"Go out first, we'll meet again later..."

"Crack!"

A very faint sound came from behind. No one else heard it, but Wen Sheng did. He immediately picked up Dali and said, "Run! Run out of the main hall as fast as you can!"

"What's going on? What happened?"

When Tang Youyou pressed him for answers, Wen Sheng simply said, "They've woken up," and urged everyone to run.

Although everyone hurriedly ran from the corridor into the main hall as Wen Sheng had instructed, some questions still lingered in their minds.

The expressions on everyone's faces changed when a very faint rustling sound grew louder and louder.

"Did you... hear that?" Hu Yifei asked as she ran.

"I heard it, there's something up there."

"The number sounds like a lot."

"But everything was fine before, how did it suddenly appear?"

No one can answer this question; nobody knows how this situation came about.

"Put your hats on," Wen Sheng reminded them.

"Uncle, there are stars above your head."

"That's not a star."

After running into the main hall, Wen Sheng's expression shifted slightly after saying this. He glanced at the group of people wearing thick clothes and carrying equipment, knowing that they still couldn't outrun the centipede army if they continued like this. So he put Dali down and said, "Xinling, you pull Dali along."

"And what about you?" Xinling asked, panting, as she pulled Dali's hand over.

"I'll go and close the jade door in the corridor."

After saying that, Wen Sheng ran back and grabbed the open jade gate with both hands, pulling it back.

At this moment, centipedes were already falling down from above. Wen Sheng didn't even look at them, but raised a hand to slap them away and continued to close the jade gate.

But just then, he frowned slightly and looked up at the centipedes above the corridor.

……

Inside the main hall, a group of people were running frantically, their flashlights waving around the hall, completely oblivious to where they were going.

But after running for three minutes, Hu Yifei, who was in the lead, suddenly stopped.

Zeng Xiaoxian and Lu Ziqiao, who were behind and unable to brake in time, crashed into it.

"oops!"

Upon hearing Hu Yifei's cry, the two quickly got up and asked, "What's wrong? Why did you suddenly stop?"

Hu Yifei didn't have time to dwell on being bumped into at this moment. She stood up and said, "Something's not right. This main hall is only a few hundred meters away. How come we haven't gotten out after running for so long?"

Guan Gu and Youyou Meijia, who were catching up from behind, stopped in their tracks upon hearing this. Lu Ziqiao exclaimed in alarm, "Have we encountered a ghost wall?"

"..."

The crowd looked grim, and some unpleasant thoughts began to linger in their minds.

"Look up there!"

Guan Gu shouted, and when everyone looked up, they saw countless tiny green lights densely gathered on the roof.

"Is this... a star?"

"What stars? These are bugs!"

Zeng Xiaoxian screamed and immediately turned and ran away.

Seeing this, the others dared not linger any longer and started running after them.

"Those bugs aren't just in the back hall, they're in the main hall too! Now I know why Zhang Wei didn't have time to grab his schoolbag!" Lu Ziqiao roared.

"Stop talking nonsense and run!"

As soon as Zeng Xiaoxian finished speaking, he felt something fall on his shoulder, and then he felt an itch on his face.

He quickly reached out and grabbed it, and with the help of the flashlight, he saw the long, waving centipede in his hand.

"Mom!"

Startled, Zeng Xiaoxian quickly dropped it and ran faster.

At this moment, the others also felt the insects falling down. Fortunately, they had been reminded to put on their hats beforehand, otherwise they would have been in big trouble.

"Zeng Xiaoxian, have you found the way yet?"

Hu Yifei called out from behind.

"No, I don't either... Ah!"

Zeng Xiaoxian suddenly shouted halfway through his sentence, and then the people behind him saw the most prominent flashlight suddenly disappear.

"Zeng Xiaoxian! Zeng Xiaoxian!" Upon seeing this scene, Hu Yifei immediately panicked and rushed over to look for Zeng Xiaoxian.

Then, suddenly, a large hole appeared in front of us, and we didn't know when.

Upon seeing the light from a flashlight inside the cave, Hu Yifei quickly called out, "Zeng Xiaoxian! Zeng..."

Below the large hole was a slope. After being thrown around and feeling dizzy, Zeng Xiaoxian regained his senses and felt sore all over.

But he couldn't worry about anything else at this point. It was pitch black all around, and he called out the names of the other people but received no response.

Fortunately, the flashlight was right at my feet, but the spotlight was blocked, so it didn't shine out.

Zeng Xiaoxian quickly bent down to pick up the flashlight, but just as he got the flashlight and was about to stand up, he suddenly realized that what was blocking the flashlight was a foot wearing black cloth shoes.

In an instant, the hot sweat that had just appeared on Zeng Xiaoxian's forehead turned into cold sweat.

Just as he was about to get up, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

The surroundings fell into dead silence. Zeng Xiaoxian held his breath and began to tremble.

After a few seconds, Zeng Xiaoxian couldn't hold it in any longer. He kept telling himself that he was a materialist and shouldn't scare himself.

"I am a materialist fighter... I am a materialist fighter..."

Zeng Xiaoxian, who was terrified, gradually began to recite it aloud, and perhaps because he recited it so often, he became a little bolder.

After reading it a few more times, he prepared to see what was behind it.

However, Zeng Xiaoxian's body remained hunched over, and he dared not stand up completely. He could only slowly and stiffly turn his head around. In an instant, he saw a bluish-purple, withered, strange face peeking out from less than twenty centimeters behind his shoulder.

(End of this chapter)