Chapter 11: The Blood Pool

  Since the dawn of time, no one knows how many years have passed. During this period, the situation has changed dramatically, with frequent occurrences of earthquakes, landslides, meteor showers, volcanic eruptions and other disasters that have lasted for billions of years, until the universe finally stabilized. As the saying goes, "time flies like an arrow" and "days and months pass like a shuttle", humanity eventually emerged in this world.

  The Eastern civilization has been in existence since the dawn of time, with the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors vying for dominance in the Central Plains, competing for hegemony throughout the world, and gathering to hunt in the Nine Provinces. Various tribes rose up one after another, and heroes from all sides swarmed in. However, evil spirits ran amok, and great calamities occurred frequently, making it a period of turmoil for the world. Later, the Yellow Emperor defeated Chi You, subdued all the demons and monsters, and finally laid the foundation for the world.

  But later, after Yi Qi "Yao" succeeded to the throne, there were still wars in the Central Plains, and the various large barbarian tribes in the southwest occupied the strategic passes of the Yangtze River, eyeing the Central Plains covetously. Fortunately, the Central Plains had strong troops and many able men and extraordinary scholars, which made it possible for the barbarians not to dare to make reckless plans.

  A branch of the Yaoshen ethnic group, originating from the Lancang River basin in the southwestern mountain range. They were skilled in the art of ghosts and gods, and once ruled over 22 tribes in the southwest. Yao knew their pros and cons, and launched several southern expeditions to conquer them. With the help of the ancient divine object "Dragon Pearl" and the primordial beast "Three-eyed God", they defeated the Yaoshen tribe and drove them back to Dianchi.

  Later, the new king of the Ya tribe succeeded to the throne and created a "beautiful" plan to seduce the three-eyed god with his beauty, causing the three-eyed god to betray and hand over the dragon pearl. However, this evil deed did not obtain the way of heaven, the three-eyed god was cursed and died, and the Ya tribe was also buried by a mountain flood, eventually disappearing into the historical torrent.

  After Yao, Yu succeeded him. At this time, the flood disaster in the world had been calmed down by Yu, and with his merits covering the world, he took control of the world and established the Xia Dynasty of Yu. However, when he went south to find the Yaoshen tribe and tried to retrieve the Dragon Ball, there was no trace of the Yaoshen tribe.

  We four entered the Wu Wang Tomb from Longmen, and learned about these things in the murals of the front tomb. It is speculated that the great Yu's search for the Ya Shen tribe recorded in the "Jia Jing" was for the dragon pearl. However, at that time, the territory of the Ya Shen tribe had already been destroyed by the devastating flood, and Yu's search for the Ya Shen was fruitless, and this matter came to an end.

  But from the last mural, one can see the last prophecy made by the Witch King to the Ya Shen ancient tribe - when the sun is eclipsed and the Dragon Pearl falls on the highest point of the palace, a devil will blow the golden horn, and guide the soul of the Ya Shen queen back from underground, at that time, all the people of the Ya Shen tribe will be reborn in the underground palace.

  Although these secrets can no longer be verified, we still cannot believe that the Ya Shen tribe will revive, thinking that this is an ancient fantasy. At this time, Zhou Xing stared at a place on the mural in a daze, I walked up to take a look and saw that on top of the last palace built by the Ya Shen tribe, there was a pattern resembling an orchid, suddenly said: "Why is the totem of this palace like this? Isn't their totem 'Man Man'?"

  Youzi and Aixia also felt strange after seeing it, but they didn't pay much attention to it. After all, this thing is just a pattern, not necessarily the totem of the Ya Shen tribe.

  And I vaguely felt that something was wrong, the Ya Shen Queen had invented another evil technique on the basis of "脔" before the flood came. This evil technique could make the Witch King think that this move reversed the heaven and changed the fate, causing the misfortune of the Ya Shen tribe to take a turn for the better. The orchid pattern carved on the top of the palace might have something to do with this matter.

  Although I don't understand it, this orchid pattern does have some effect on us. At least the underground palace where the remains of the Sub-God tribe are sealed has a name - Orchid Palace.

  Behind the front hall, there is a large pit, with both length and width over 10 feet, and depth of 20 feet. After we finished watching the murals, we walked to the front of this pit, wondering what it was used for.

  Youzi shines the flashlight down into the pit and discovers that the bottom of the pit is filled with a thick layer of black residue. He says to us, "This should be a blood pool used for sacrificial purposes. When the shaman king was buried, he might have slaughtered many slaves and poured their blood into this pit."

  Ai Xia frowned and asked You Zi: "How did you know that there's human blood in here? Could it be an animal's?"

  "Must be human, in that era, using humans for sacrifice was the highest standard, because they believed that a person's soul is closest to the divine. His mother, this blood pool is at least four meters deep, and I don't know how many people's blood it would take to fill it up back then, definitely full of resentment, let's just steer clear and keep our distance from this place."

  I heard Oil Zi say that this was a blood pool, and I couldn't help but feel my scalp numb. Just as I was about to call out for everyone to leave quickly, I saw Zhou Xing staring intently at the bottom of the pool. I thought he must have discovered something again, so I asked him: "What's wrong?"

  Zhou Xing pointed to the bottom of the blood pool and said to me: "This blood pool is not for sacrificing to the Witch King."

  I followed his direction and looked down, and suddenly I found that at the bottom of the pool, in the center, there was a strange depression, which looked like a curved cone, about half a meter long. For a moment, I couldn't see what purpose this depression served, so I asked Zhou Xing again: "What is this thing?"

  Who would have thought that Zhou Xing Er didn't say a word, and with a sudden movement, he jumped into the blood pool. His legs bent slightly to absorb the force of the fall, and he landed steadily at the bottom of the pool, which was over four meters deep. I don't know why he wanted to jump down there. I thought that although this blood pool is ancient, the slaves who were killed and bled to death back then must have had a deep grudge. Who knows what kind of danger might happen in this blood pool? I'm worried that this kid will make a mistake at the bottom, so I took out my ice axe and said to Oilzi and the others: "I'll go down and take a look too. You guys get ready with the ropes and pull us up later."

  Youzi was worried and said to me: "Let's do this, let Aixia go down with you, I'll stay up here and lower the rope for you."

  So I jumped down into the blood pool with Ai Xia, and only then did I see Zhou Xing lightly jump down. I couldn't help but feel a bit too confident, and it wasn't until I landed that I realized four meters was no small height. Even with my martial arts skills, I was shaken to the point where my legs went numb, and I had to crouch for a long time before I could stand up again.

  Zhou Xing and Ai Xia were already squatting in the recess, I went forward to take a look, and saw that the shape of this recess was particularly familiar. So I squatted down to take a closer look, and suddenly understood. It turned out that this recess was symmetrical with the corner of Jin Hao's house.

  Ai Xia hadn't seen the treasure either, so she asked me what it was. I told her about the copper corner and the golden number, when suddenly we heard Oilzi shouting from upstairs: "Take a good look! What's that recessed groove thingy?"

  Obviously he was also very curious on the top, I caught the rope he threw over and said to him: "This groove is for placing that corner of Jin Gang, Zhou Xing said it right, this blood pool should not be for sacrificing Wu Wang, but for sacrificing that treasure."

  Youzi tied the other end of the rope to a place, and after listening to my words, he pondered on his own: "What is that Jiao Jin Hao anyway? Why do you still need to use human blood for sacrifice? Is it...?"

  As soon as he finished speaking, a strange creaking sound came from the bottom of the blood pool. The three of us who were squatting at the bottom of the pit were shocked and thought that something unusual had happened, so we quickly stood up and retreated. It was at this moment that the entire ground suddenly began to shake violently. I and Ai Xia were caught off guard and almost fell to the ground, but fortunately, Zhou Xing grabbed us in time.

  But just as we had barely found our footing, we suddenly felt the ground beneath us give way, and the entire floor split in two, flipping open to either side. The three of us had not expected a trap at the bottom of the blood pool, and we let out cries of surprise as we fell downwards.

  In the darkness, I felt my body drop two or three meters and heavily hit the ground. This fall almost stunned me, and cold sweat was scared out, thinking that this broken mechanism didn't know which scoundrel designed it, fortunately, the bottom wasn't too high, otherwise, I would have died unjustly here?

  Although I'm burning with pain all over my body, I don't dare to be careless. Since this place is a trap, it's inevitable that there will be some deadly mechanisms set up. Who knows what's below, whether it's a mountain of knives or a sea of fire? If we want to escape unscathed, we need to hurry and let the oil lamp above us lengthen its rope to pull us up.

  No sooner had the thought occurred to me than Oilzi had already jumped down with the rope, and I almost vomited blood when I saw this. This section of rope was originally only four meters long, but now we have fallen another two or three meters, and it's definitely impossible to climb back up the rope. We were still hoping that Oilzi above would pull the rope longer, but who would have thought that he too had come down.

  Ai Xia was so anxious that she jumped up and down, saying to You Zi: "How did you come down? Now that you've come down, how are we going to go back up?"

  "Hey, don't be in a hurry, this isn't a trap, this is the entrance to the underground palace."

  "I exclaimed in surprise: 'This place has a trapdoor, how can it be the entrance? Which entrance opens downwards? Isn't this just toying with people?'"

  "You forgot how the dragon gate was opened earlier? I think all the doors here are equipped with mechanical locks. The slot on the flip board for the copper coin, it's definitely not just for worshiping the copper coin, at least not only for that purpose. It should be used as a key to open the entrance of the underground palace."

  I still don't quite believe it, and asked Oil: "Didn't we not put the corner of the golden horn into the slot?"

  Just then I suddenly realized something, hastily said wait a minute, and then thought carefully: "If you say so... could it be that the 'Black Button' gang had already opened this revolving door with the corner of Jin's number plate?"

  Oil son nodded and said to me: "Right! They must have been here, and they've already opened this door. Maybe they've entered the underground palace!"

  I listened to Youzi and also felt that what he said was quite reasonable. It seems that the "Black Button" gang wasn't simple in the first place, and now that we've fallen behind, they probably took a step ahead of us. The Wu Wang tomb is full of strange things everywhere, and the murals depict extremely mysterious and unpredictable events. It's clear that these people have been trying every means to get in here, and they even brought the "key" to open the underground palace, the Jiao Jiao Jin Hao. Obviously, they came prepared. If my guess is correct, this muddy water we're rushing into will definitely be deeper than I imagined.

  Zhou Xingfang just fell with us, but looking at his calm expression and neat clothes now, it's possible that he wasn't affected by the fall. I don't know how much Zhou Xing knows, but he is a mysterious person with extremely deadly skills. Hopefully, we can maintain an alliance with him; otherwise, the three of us might not be able to handle him.

  At this moment, I confirmed that "Hei Niou" had entered the tomb of the Witch King. I couldn't help but become more suspicious and couldn't resist taking a few more glances at Zhou Xing. But just then, I discovered that Zhou Xing's eyebrows were tightly furrowed.

  I feel a bit strange, Zhou Xing's face is always expressionless, and he rarely makes this kind of expression. He stares blankly at one place, which means he has found some clue. Then, what does it mean when he frowns?

  I had a faint feeling of unease and hastily asked him: "Zhou Xing, what's going on?"

  My "you" had only said half when Zhou Xing suddenly interrupted me and whispered to us, "Don't make a sound!"

  The hearts of the three people skipped a beat, unsure of what had happened, and they all held their breath as they stared at Zhou Xing. The entire gloomy atmosphere immediately fell into a dead silence.

  As the surroundings quieted down, I also started to feel a sense of unease. The place seemed increasingly eerie and ominous, as if there was an inexplicable danger lurking around us. Just now, I fell without warning, and until now, I haven't had a chance to carefully observe our surroundings, nor do I know what kind of situation might occur in this ancient tomb that has been sealed for thousands of years.

  I saw Zhou Xing with empty hands and no defensive objects, so I took out the short knife from my waist and handed it to him. I myself gripped the ice axe tightly. Zhou Xing didn't decline, took my short knife and slowly moved forward, paying attention to the surroundings at the same time. We also turned on our flashlights to carefully illuminate every corner nearby.

  Here is the translation:

  There is another stone path here, but it's much wider than the previous ones. The distance between the two stone walls on both sides is about 5-6 meters, and the height of the top is also about 3 meters. Even if a tank were to pass through, it could still get through. We looked at the stone walls on both sides and saw that they were filled with ancient hieroglyphics. These characters are like paintings and symbols, covering the entire wall, densely packed together, looking like many ants.

  I looked at these numerous ancient characters, feeling a bit strange in my heart. I softly asked the three of them: "What are these carvings? Why do they seem to look like talismans? I've heard that the pyramids of ancient Egypt often have curses carved by pharaohs, and many of these curses have come true. Do you think... could this script also be some kind of evil magic?"

  Youzi told me, "Don't believe that stuff about ancient Egypt. Scientists have already proven it. The thing in the pyramids that kills people isn't the curses that the pharaohs had inscribed, but some kind of ancient bacteria. Actually, many tombs around the world have these intimidating messages, but they're probably all fake."

  I still feel uneasy and retorted to Oilzi: "Aren't we living examples of being harmed by curses?"

  Youzi waved his hand and said, "That's different. I think there must be something in the eyes of those three-eyed stone statues. It's probably some kind of stone with strong radiation. If you say that there are traps buried in this tomb, I might believe it. But if you say that simply engraving a few words can curse people, that's definitely a scam."

  He had just finished speaking, when Zhou Xing, who was walking in front of us, suddenly stopped and signaled for us to be careful. I thought something was wrong, so I quickly raised my ice axe and carefully guarded the surroundings. At this time, I heard Zhou Xing say: "There's a problem with these words, it's the 'Quxie Jing'."

  I was full of doubts, not knowing what his so-called "Quán Jiǎo Jīng" was. Oil son said that these ancient characters were nameless, while Zhou Xing said that these words had a strange meaning. For a moment, I didn't know who to believe either. As I pondered what to do next, suddenly, the Zhou Xing in front of me shook his whole body and lowered it abruptly, placing a short knife on his chest.

  Right after that, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine. Before I could react, I was overcome with an inexplicable sense of fear. The eerie cold air also seeped into my pores in an instant.

  My heart skipped a beat, and I felt an inexplicable chill run down my spine, striking at the taut nerves throughout my body, making my scalp prickle with fear.