Chapter 36: Arrival at the Entrance of the Sacrificial Grounds

  Not only did Professor Zhou Tao feel something was amiss, but Liu Yi also discovered the anomaly. He quickly paddled the rubber raft, trying to avoid the hidden current, but it came too fast and its influence was too wide. He used all his strength, but still couldn't avoid it.

  A huge "throwing force" struck the rubber raft, instantly sweeping them along with the raft into the air. The rubber raft rolled in mid-air, and Liu Yi and the three of them drew a beautiful arc in mid-air before falling into the red water.

  Malacca, who had fallen into the water in a coma, opened his mouth under the self-protection function of his subconscious mind and drank a bellyful of red sandstorm mixed with rainwater.

  Liu Yi was thrown into the air, one hand grasping his equipment and the other holding onto Professor Zhou Tao. Both hands were gripping tightly as he heavily crashed into the water. Poor Liu Yi couldn't swim, and a hint of despair instantly rose in his heart.

  Don't look at Professor Zhou Tao's age, but his swimming level is very high. With difficulty, he pulled Liu Yi in the direction of Malacca, drifting away. At this time, the monster that capsized their rubber raft also floated to the surface. Liu Yi saw the giant guy in the rain and cursed: "Ge Laozi's big black fish!"

  It turned out that this mischievous creature was actually the giant carp in the Black Water Swamp. Only to see him hiding in the white protective airbag on his back, a little lamb was jumping and bleating at them, seemingly enjoying playing tricks on Liu Yi with the big black fish.

  It's estimated that the Tibetan antelope must have encountered such a storm before, so after escaping from the cave, it jumped along the wind-eroded rocks all the way to find the reincarnated fish for help.

  In the water, the giant fish was the overlord here, instantly lifting Liu Yi and Professor Zhou Tao up, with a flick of its tail, it shot out like a bullet, rescuing Malacca. Immediately afterwards, the white protective airbag on its body popped up, covering the three people inside. Then, the fish was seen diving into the water in the midst of the stormy rain, swimming forward happily.

  Liu Yi was stunned in the protective airbag, feeling as if he had walked through the underworld, and if they hadn't encountered a reincarnated fish but some other monster instead, the three of them would have ended up signing their names on Yan Wang's register.

  Even if they didn't encounter any sea monsters, just falling into the water would likely be a dead end. After all, Professor Zhou Tao is old and can he really take Liu Yi, this big lummox, across the Red Sea? Who would believe that!

  Before Liu Yi's eyes were only the mixture of reddish-brown rainwater and red sand, occasionally seeing the corpses of blood-colored revenge ants mixed in.

  After who knows how long, they floated up to the surface of the water.

  Liu Yi looked out and saw a huge stone platform in the shape of a sun standing not far away. The sky was pouring down heavy rain, but within the range of the altar, not a single drop of water fell. Moreover, even the red water flowing to the surrounding area seemed to be separated from it, circling around the stone platform for hundreds of meters before rushing away. And within the hundred-meter range of the stone platform, there was not a single drop of water, which was extremely strange.

  At this time, the fish that had been carrying them flicked its head and positioned itself horizontally at the edge of the Red Water, apparently having arrived at their destination. It seemed to be telling them to gather their belongings from its back and disembark.

  Liu Yi jumped off the fish's back and stood on the dry ground, as if he couldn't believe it, stretched out his hand to feel the sky in this place, and indeed not a single drop of rain fell from it. The rain seemed to be hiding from this altar, falling happily elsewhere.

  "Liu Yi let out a sigh of admiration: 'Wow, wow, wow! Only the power of God can create such a wonderful scene!'"

  After everyone and the little antelope had gotten off its back, the fish spat out a huge bubble from its mouth, looked at Liu Yi and the others with satisfaction, turned around and sank into the water, disappearing from sight. Liu Yi was lost in his admiration, and even forgot to bid farewell to the fish.

  Down from the fish back, Cangyang little can jump and run to the huge "sun-shaped stone platform" first, along a white stone road emitted by the sun stone platform, three jumps and two leaps to get on the platform.

  Liu Yi saw the situation, carried the unconscious Malacca, and followed closely behind. Professor Zhou Tao took out his camera again to take pictures of the strange scenery here, wherever he went, it became a symbol of Professor Zhou Tao.

  As they walked towards the Sun Stone Platform, Ma Liucao, who was slumped over Liu Yi's shoulder, suddenly let out a loud "whoa" and spat out a lot of the Chi Water he had drunk, instantly splashing Liu Yi's face.

  Liu Yi muttered to himself as he lay flat on the ground, astonishingly discovering that all the red spots on his body had completely disappeared. Meanwhile, Malacca's eyelids moved twice and he came to.

  Professor Zhou came over, flipped Liu Yi's eyelids again, and took his pulse once more. He found that all of Liu Yi's bodily functions had returned to normal and exclaimed delightedly: "The toxins in his body have been completely eliminated?"

  "He didn't take any antidote, how did the toxin get resolved? That antibiotic only had a relieving effect, it couldn't eliminate the toxin in his body!"

  Professor Zhou Tao looked at the red sand with blood on the ground in Malacca, and after a moment of contemplation, he said: "As the saying goes, within seven steps of a poisonous snake, there must be an antidote. Could it be that the sandy soil where the blood ants live contains mineral substances that can detoxify?"

  Liu Yi was also at a loss, so he didn't bother with him and supported Ma Liya, who was still slightly weak, to walk up to the Taiyangshi platform.

  The sun stone platform was milky white, with a diameter of about 50 meters, as flat as if it had been cut by a knife. However, the surface of the stone was carved with many strange patterns. Liu Yi thought to himself: "Since Cang Yang let Xiaoke bring them here, could this be the entrance to the ancient Qiang sacrificial site?" As he thought about this, he looked up at Xiaoke, who was walking towards the edge of the platform.

  As he reached the edge of the platform, Xiao Ke lifted his front hoof and slammed it fiercely onto the ground. Immediately after, a rumbling sound came from beneath the ground, followed by a feeling that the stone platform was about to collapse, shaking violently.

  Liu Yi and three others stood together staring intently at the white stone surface, in case a hole suddenly appeared and they fell through and got smashed to death.

  At this time, the little Tibetan antelope turned around and ran to Liu Yi's side. Then Liu Yi saw that the stone surface under his feet suddenly fell slowly without any warning, just like taking an elevator.

  It was unknown how long it took, but after a loud rumble, it seemed to have arrived at some underground location. The front was pitch black, and after everyone got off the stone platform, they saw that small circular stone platform slowly rising up again.

  Malacca pointed at the stone platform and exclaimed: "Isn't this the ancient elevator? But I don't know what its working principle is."

  Professor Zhou smiled and said: "It must be some kind of active mechanism!"

  Liu Yi took out his flashlight and shone it forward, revealing a long, arched tunnel before him. Water droplets fell from the top of the tunnel, landing with a clear "drip-drip" sound in the puddles on the ground, making the silence even more pronounced.

  The little Tibetan antelope became listless again, hanging its head and walking slowly in front.

  Liu Yi and the others followed it forward, looking around, only to see that inside the stone wall were growing many fine roots of trees, apparently they had already gone deep underground for who knows how many meters.

  The farther forward, the more puddles on the ground, the darker and more humid, the softer the ground became, and the roots on both sides of the tunnel wall became thicker, from yellowish brown to a faint red color, like the tiny blood vessels on human body.

  Liu Yi thought: "Can it be that this tree with such a large root is actually alive?"

  As I thought about this, the Tibetan antelope in front of me suddenly turned a corner, and everyone rushed to follow. After turning the corner, they were stunned again by the scene in front of them. The red roots on the wall of the cave were like octopus tentacles, flying in the air of the cave, and several tentacles were wrapped around the Tibetan antelope's body, crawling all over it, as if examining its body.

  Malacca saw Xiaoke being entwined, took out his pistol and was about to shoot. Suddenly a red tentacle stretched over, wrapping him and the pistol together, and in the replacement of countless tentacles, under the illumination of Liu Yideng's light, it arrived at the other end of the "Tentacle Cave". A loud crash was heard, Malacca was heavily slammed to the ground by the red tentacle, but his pistol and dagger had been confiscated.

  "Damn your ancestors!" Malacca also didn't care about being afraid, jumped up, pointing and scolding loudly.

  Just then, there were several "bangs", and Professors Liu Yi and Zhou Tao were also thrown to the ground.

  It was the Tibetan antelopes that were unexpectedly gentle, after being touched and stroked by Xiao Ke's hands, they seemed to sense the familiar aura on his body and instead of sending him away, they made way for him to pass through.

  But Xiaoke still looked completely unassured, glancing around left and right, her eyes revealing a sense of vigilance. Judging from the situation, Xiaoke must have been frequently teased by this red hand, otherwise she wouldn't be so listless when entering the cave.

  "My goodness, my dagger and pistol, is this passing security?" Malacca exclaimed.

  Liu Yi and Professor Zhou exchanged a glance, also with a hint of fear in their hearts. Except for the few important tokens related to the ancient Qiang tribe that Liu Yi carried on him, as well as the black obsidian sword which had not been confiscated, all their backpacks and other items on them were intercepted by the red tentacles halfway, almost stripping them bare.

  Professor Zhou was very regretful, because his camera was also confiscated without exception. Such a rare and spectacular sight, if there is no evidence left behind, if he can leave this place of sacrifice alive and tell others about his experience, who would believe it?

  At this time, they carefully examined the stone room where they were located. The stone room was very large and warm, with red tentacles on the surrounding walls that differed from before. The tentacles actually emitted a faint red glow, enveloping the entire stone room in a layer of hazy red light, similar to the dim light of a brothel, but much weaker.

  In the blink of an eye, they saw a huge "soft soil heap" in front of the stone room. On top of the soil heap lay a huge monster, like a snake as thick as a water bucket, about three meters long, with ring-shaped segments forming its massive body, covered all over with stiff hairs, it was an extra-large earthworm.

  "Look at this! It's the legendary underground blind worm!" exclaimed Professor Zhou Tao.