Thus, Zuo Qingcang followed the old man into the crack. The crack created by the earthquake was very narrow. People walking inside could only see what was in front of them. They couldn't even turn their head. It felt very oppressive.
Fortunately, the crack wasn't long. Zuo Qingcang walked for about ten meters before he came out of the crack. What he saw was a huge palace.
The palace was about a few hundred meters long and wide. At the end of the hall, there was a five-meter-tall stone door that completely blocked the next step.
In the hall, there were also 18 huge pillars erected on the ground. Each pillar had a monster that looked like a dragon, yet was not a dragon, yet was also a tiger, yet was not a tiger. The monsters' eyes emitted waves of green light as they stared at Zuo Qingcang, as if they would pounce on him at any moment.
The old man patted Zuo Qingcang's stiff body and smiled, "Don't be nervous. They're not alive. The luminous pearls in their eyes are shining."
Hearing the old man's explanation, Zuo Qingcang relaxed. There was nothing he could do. He had already encountered two groups of monsters on this island. Now that he took a closer look, he realized that the monsters on the pillars were indeed carvings. However, the carvings were too lifelike. Coupled with the dim light from the luminous pearls, it gave him the illusion that they were alive.
"The entire tomb originally relied on Daoist techniques to operate. However, too much time has passed and there's a lack of maintenance. Especially after the earthquake, many of the mechanisms and formations here have lost their effectiveness. There's basically no danger. " As the old man spoke, the torch in his hand finally burned out. He casually threw the torch on the ground and walked into the depths of the palace with the help of the luminous pearls.
"The passage behind us has been sealed. This is the furthest we can go through the cracks in the rocks. If we want to go further, we'll have to think of another way. "
"This room is used to store funerary objects. This is the habit of the Western Wei Dynasty's nobles. They also have a habit of recording the life story of the tomb owner in the burial chamber. Follow me. "
Zuo Qingcang followed the old man and saw that the room was filled with all kinds of bottles, jars, statues, gold, and silver.
The old man explained, "The owner of this tomb was also a cultivator, so in addition to all kinds of utensils, there were also many materials used to cultivate Daoist techniques."
Zuo Qingcang nodded. Suddenly, his eyes fell on a crystal coffin. The coffin was embedded vertically into the wall. Zuo Qingcang could clearly see that there was a mummy with a human head, a bird's body, and curled up its wings in the coffin.
"This is called Bo Bo." The old man said, "During the Western Wei Dynasty, the Taoist priests had a habit of burying the monsters they defeated in front of them as specimens and buried them together. I hope that even though they have no hope of ascending, they will still be surrounded and followed by thousands of demons when they descend to the Underworld. "
"It's the same for the Yin Woman you met earlier. Because the owner of this tomb is very powerful, there are many burial items. "
Zuo Qingcang continued walking. It was as if he had come to an exhibition center of monster mummies. There was a giant python with a human head, a centipede the size of a small car, a tiger with three heads, and so on.
They had all become mummies, but their faces were still ferocious. Even if they curled up in the crystal coffin, they still gave people a terrifying and strange feeling, as if they would come back to life at any time.
After walking and looking, Zuo Qingcang and the old man finally came to a mural. The mural covered the wall that was hundreds of meters long. The figures on the mural were vivid, but because of the passage of time and the earthquake on the island, there were many cracks and fades.
The old man pointed to a boy at the beginning of the mural and said, "This is the owner of the tomb."
The boy on the mural had his hair tied up in a bun and wore a Taoist robe. He was following an old Taoist priest into the deep mountains. With the old man's explanation, it was easy to understand this mural. It was obvious that the boy had followed the old Taoist priest into the deep mountains to cultivate Taoist techniques.
The next mural was of a young man sitting cross-legged at the top of a mountain. The old man was holding a book and teaching him something.
The mural after that was all about the man's life. It said that after he had succeeded in his Taoist techniques, he went down the mountain and was recruited to be a subordinate of the royal family of that time. The man made use of his astonishing Taoist techniques to shine in the army. He defeated all kinds of monsters and foreign races, conquering the north and south for the ruler of that time.
The mural was filled with black ribbon-like things emerging from his body. No matter what kind of monsters, martial artists, or enemy Taoist priests, they would be defeated once they were wrapped up by the black ribbons.
Then, from the mural, it could be seen that these defeated people were all tortured. Their heads were chopped off, their bodies were chopped up, and they were pushed into thrones made of corpses. The man sat cross-legged on the throne. His body was covered with hundreds of black ribbons that kept flying around like demonic claws.
Then, the mural changed. The man appeared at the banquet. It seemed that because of his achievements, he was persecuted by the royal family. Several babies and women were executed. The man in the mural looked furious. It was obvious that this part of the mural was very detailed. Zuo Qingcang could even feel the resentment and fury in the other party's eyes.
After that, the man escaped alone. Along the way, he was chased by all kinds of strong enemies.
Although the man's strength was amazing, he was ultimately outnumbered and was captured by the royal family. However, for some reason, the man was not executed. Instead, he was taken by a group of cultivators across the sea and came to this island.
They used Taoist techniques to start building a tomb on this island. They created a fist-sized humanoid figure to do the construction. They also built a two-meter-tall stone man to do the heavy work.
In the mural, the entire deserted island was built into an unprecedentedly huge tomb. According to the description of the mural, the island had a total of seven floors underground.
While the man was still alive, he was chained up from head to toe and sent into a stone coffin to be sealed.
At the end of the mural, a pitch-black coffin was sunk into the underground abyss. In the abyss, countless ghosts and flames surrounded the coffin. They seemed to be roaring excitedly.
After looking at the entire mural, Zuo Qingcang frowned. He looked at the old man and said, "Even if this is a tomb, why can't we get out?"
"Don't you understand? This is not only a tomb, but also a seal. " The old man said with assurance, "The owner of this tomb is not an ordinary person. He is recorded in history. He should be a great cultivator in the middle period of Western Wei, Shenzong. "
"Legend has it that Shenzong was born with knowledge. He was brought into the mountains by Taixuan Sage of the Southern Sacred Sect to cultivate for 20 years. After he left the mountains, he quickly gained a foothold in the dynasty with his amazing Taoist techniques. He conquered the White Head, Nine Bird, and Tengri for the imperial court."
The old man pointed at the mural of a man torturing others and using their corpses to build a throne.
"Legend has it that he has the power to communicate with the underworld and summon ghosts and gods to fight. After every war, he would kill the prisoners of war as a reward for the ghosts and gods.
"Because of this, it is said that he has the power to communicate with the two worlds of Yin and Yang. He can be injured but not die, and come back to life. Look here … "
The old man pointed at the mural of Shenzong's falling out with the imperial court and said, "Look, there are swords and daggers in his body, but he still didn't fall down. "After that, there was a fire and a flood. It wasn't a fight between the two sides. They just wanted to kill Shenzong.
"So it wasn't that they didn't want to kill Shenzong, but that they couldn't. "So they found this place and wanted to lock Shenzong up and seal him forever."
Zuo Qingcang didn't agree with what the old man said about not being able to kill, but he didn't show it. Instead, he asked, "You mean to say that in order to lock Shenzong up, there's a seal on this island and no one can get out? "But if it's for the seal, isn't it strange to build a tomb here?"
"I didn't say it." The old man walked to a mural and patted it, "They said it." On the mural, a few Daoists surrounded the island and made different poses.
"This is called the Star Shifting Formation. They used this formation to cover the entire island. It made it hard for anyone to get close. "As time passed, the formation's effect gradually weakened. That's why we came here by accident.
"But compared to coming in from the outside, it's more than a hundred times harder to get from the inside to the outside.
"And this is the Southern Sacred Gate's formation. Look at these Daoists, they're wearing the same Daoist robes as the old man from before. They were Shenzong's fellow disciples. That's why they built this place into a tomb. "
"How do you know all this?" Zuo Qingcang was puzzled, "There's nothing written on the mural."
"Because I know Daoist techniques too. I know more about the history of Daoists. " The old man looked at Zuo Qingcang, and the latter suddenly felt a burning sensation in his chest. He saw that there was an additional charred spot on the robe at his chest.
"This is called Instant Fire. When practiced to the extreme, one look can burn someone to death."
Zuo Qingcang's face was full of surprise. But when he looked at the spot on his chest and touched it with his hand, he felt a warm sensation.
"Is there really a Daoist technique?"
At this point, the old man sighed, "My insignificant Daoist techniques are nothing compared to the expert who built this tomb and the Mirage Sect. There's no difference between having it and not having it. "
"I'm afraid that I won't be able to find a way to leave this place even if I spend my whole life." The old man's face was full of loneliness. Zuo Qingcang did not say anything. He just raised his head and looked around, as if he was looking for something on the mural.
Seeing that Zuo Qingcang did not respond, the old man pretended to be solemn and said, "But if we want to leave this tomb, other than breaking the Star Shifting Formation directly, there's actually another way."
"Is the real show finally here?" Zuo Qingcang narrowed his eyes and asked cooperatively, "Oh? What other way is there? "
"The formation covers the entire island. There's no danger in the entire tomb, but outside the tomb, there are monsters like the Lady of Darkness and the Giant Elephant. Oh, the Giant Elephant is that huge stone man. With those monsters, we'll be besieged as soon as we go out.
And even if we get out of the tomb, it's impossible to leave the island. Under the influence of the formation, there are all kinds of whirlpools and torrents in the sea far away from the island. We can't get out from the sea. " The old man pointed to the ground and said, "Our only way out is underground. It's in Shenzong's coffin."
"But before you go there, you have to learn something first."
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