"Learn what?" Zuo Qingcang was puzzled.
The old man did not answer directly, but explained first, "The biggest function of this tomb is to imprison Shenzong in the deepest part of the tomb. The people of Western Wei believe that everyone has a soul. Everything they set up here, including the burial, the formation, and all kinds of traps.
The ultimate goal is to imprison Shenzong's soul in his body forever, and imprison his body in the coffin forever. Then, they will prevent all external factors from affecting this ultimate goal. "
"But if the coffin is broken in the end, what do you think will happen?" The old man turned his head and looked at Zuo Qingcang with a hint of ruthlessness in his eyes.
"If I were the designer of this tomb, I'd definitely design a mechanism. As long as the coffin is opened, the entire tomb will be blown up." Zuo Qingcang's gaze narrowed. "You want to open the coffin and let this tomb self-destruct?"
Speaking of this, he nodded again, "This is indeed a way, but we have to know what means he will use to self-destruct in order to be able to escape. And didn't the murals say that Shenzong is immortal? After we open the coffin, will we release a zombie? "
The old man laughed, "How is that possible? 2,000 years have passed, and he has stayed in the coffin without eating or drinking. Even a tortoise would have turned into ashes.
Although Shenzong's Taoist magic is powerful, he is still not a god. The so-called immortality is probably because something happened to him that the ancients could not understand at that time. The so-called Taoist magic is just the natural law of heaven and earth, not a miracle. "
The old man's words surprised Zuo Qingcang a little. Previously, he had thought that the old man was a superstitious old man. However, by the looks of it, the old man's attitude toward dao arts was more similar to how he viewed science.
He continued, "That is also very dangerous. 2,000 years ago in Western Wei, according to what you said, many of the Taoist magic have been lost. We may not be able to understand how it works at all. If we are not careful, we may be doomed eternally. "
"That is better than dying here alone." The old man said, "Originally, it was too dangerous for me to go down alone, but it's different with you. The two of us should be able to find a way to open the coffin.
What's more, I've been here for so many years, and I've made some progress in my research. There should be an underwater volcano under the island. The Daoists who built the tomb must have used the power of the volcano to set up the Daoist spells. They might have also set up a restriction inside the volcano. Once the coffin was opened, the underground lava would pour up and turn the entire island into a sea of fire.
What we need to do is to open the coffin and escape from here before we fall into the sea of fire. "
The old man took Zuo Qingcang to the mural on the coffin. While gesturing with his hands, he said, "There are two difficulties in doing this. One was how to get in, the other was how to get out.
We lack tools on this island. The only thing we can rely on is ourselves. Therefore, if you want to go in, your current skills are too weak. You still need to learn some martial arts and Dao techniques. And when we come out, we will definitely encounter the women of yin and giant elephants outside. You also need to learn some Dao techniques or martial arts. "
Zuo Qingcang nodded and walked to the mural. Looking at the coffin sunk deep into the ground, he suddenly said, "Have you ever thought that maybe we can escape first and then open the coffin?"
"What do you mean?"
"First, we can dig a hole that leads to the outside, and then use plants to make ropes to connect to the coffin. After we get out of the island, we can pull the rope and open the coffin. " Zuo Qingcang looked at the surrounding walls and said, "I don't know much about the structure and mechanisms of this tomb, nor do I know the principle of the so-called Dao techniques.
But I've seen the soil here. It's very suitable for digging. " He knocked on the bricks on the ground and looked at the ceiling. "If we can find some tools, maybe we can make a hole in this tomb.
When we were walking down the tunnel, I carefully calculated the angle and distance of the tunnel. This place is at most ten meters from the ground. If we have the tools, we can dig this hole in seven days.
As for food and water, you've been here for so long. I'm sure you've found a solution. "
The old man was stunned. His eyes revealed a trace of curiosity. "You seem to be very familiar with these things."
"Yes, a long time ago, I learned a little about this from a guy called Zhang Qi Ling."
As he said that, Zuo Qingcang knocked on the bricks on the ground. He suddenly lay down and began to listen on the ground.
"You're right. But other than the broken dragon stone at the exit, the walls and floor here have been reinforced with Dao techniques. With just the two of us, we won't be able to dig out in a few decades." The old man was puzzled. "What are you doing?"
"Something is ringing." After Zuo Qingcang said this, he signaled the old man to stop talking. The entire burial chamber became quiet all of a sudden. Under the illumination of the green night pearls, the entire underground chamber looked like a ghost town.
In this strange atmosphere, a series of knocking sounds came from under the floorboards. It sounded like a monk was knocking on a wooden fish. However, the fact that it appeared in this underground tomb made one's heart skip a beat.
The old man's face turned pale. Zuo Qingcang's face was still cold. Instead, he crawled towards the direction of the sound. He knocked on the ground and frowned. "The back of this place is hollow."
The old man was shocked. "How is that possible?"
"Nothing is impossible." As Zuo Qingcang said this, he had already used the dagger at his waist to insert it into the gaps of the bricks. Little by little, the bricks under his feet were all pried out.
After more than half an hour, a dark hole appeared in front of Zuo Qingcang and the old man. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, the sound came from this dark cave.
A gust of cold wind came from the hole. The old man's face was pale. His body trembled. "How is this possible? What is this? Why is there a hole here? Is the thing below really still alive? "
"I want to ask if there were any ordinary craftsmen involved in the construction of the tomb, other than the Taoists and the monsters they created."
The old man seemed to be infected by Zuo Qingcang's calm demeanor. He calmed down a little and said, "There should be. The entire tomb mainly relies on Taoist magic.
But some basic mechanisms rely on delicate metals, threads, and other things that won't last hundreds or even thousands of years. They still need boulders, water, and other mechanisms to maintain them for a long time. And those carvings and murals must all be the craftsmen's handiwork. "
"That's right. Since the Taoists built this tomb to seal Shenzong forever, those craftsmen would naturally be killed.
In many ancient dynasties, there was a tradition of burying the craftsmen with the emperor after building a tomb. If I were these craftsmen, I would secretly dig an escape tunnel for myself in the burial chamber when building this tomb to prevent being killed. "
Zuo Qingcang's eyes stared into the depths of the cave, but it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything.
The old man frowned and said, "Are you saying that the craftsmen dug it out?"
"That's only the first possibility." Zuo Qingcang rubbed his eyebrows and said, "There's another possibility. After the tomb was built, before the two of us came here, there were already guests."
"You mean tomb robbers?" The old man's face was full of disbelief. "But who would be able to find this place and come here to rob a tomb? How did they get out? "
"If someone can build a tomb in this place, there will naturally be people who come here to rob tombs." As Zuo Qingcang spoke, he put the dagger in his hand back to his waist. "Besides, they might not have left. Maybe they died in there. No … "He suddenly frowned." Assuming that this hole was dug by a tomb robber and he only went in and didn't come out, he couldn't have covered this hole with bricks. "
As he spoke, he started to move quickly in the burial chamber and kept tapping with his fingers.
"The walls and floor here are all reinforced by the sealing water. If you want to break it, you need other materials to dissolve the sealing water on the surface of these materials." The old man was shocked. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for another hole. The craftsmen only need to dig a hole to escape. Only the tomb robbers need to dig a hole to come in before digging a hole to go down. " Zuo Qingcang said without turning his head, "If you find it, it means that this hole was dug by a tomb robber."
Halfway through his words, he stopped at the edge of the wall ten meters away from the hole and kept tapping with his fingers.
"The back of this place is also empty." Zuo Qingcang touched the bricks on the wall. "There are traces of being turned over. This, or this group of tomb robbers is a bit strange. Not only did they leave, but they also put the wall back to its original state. Logically speaking, this shouldn't be necessary.
In the wilderness, there are no authorities. Why would they put the wall back? "
Zuo Qingcang still had many questions in his mind. Did these tomb robbers finally get out? If they broke through the Star Shifting Formation, how did they do it? What exactly were they looking for after coming all the way here?
Just as Zuo Qingcang was thinking, he used the dagger again to pry out the bricks on the wall. However, the cave in front of him also led underground.
The old man beside him exclaimed, "What's going on? Why did these tomb robbers dig two tunnels that lead down? Did they dig the wrong one? "
"No." Zuo Qingcang's eyes flashed with understanding. "It's because of the monsters on the ground. In order to avoid those monsters, they first dug a vertical well away from the monsters. Then, they dug a horizontal well underground. Finally, they dug all the way to the burial chamber. Then, they used this underground palace as an outpost. While resting here, they dug the tunnels down. "
The old man's face was shocked. He said excitedly, "You mean, through the first tunnel, we can go outside?"
"I'm not 100% sure." Zuo Qingcang suddenly put the bricks back in the two holes. "There are still too many things that I haven't figured out. Since those people put the bricks back, I'll put them back first.
During this time, tell me more about Daoist techniques. What exactly are Taoist techniques? How do the Taoist techniques in this tomb work? "
Hearing that, the old man nodded but did not react. It was unknown since when, but Zuo Qingcang seemed to have taken over the initiative. It was as if Zuo Qingcang was born with the disposition of a commander, causing others to be unable to help but trust and obey his orders.
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