After a long time, Xia Qingqing stretched out her arms and hugged the oil-stained snake anemone. The latter swayed its tentacles and hugged Xia Qingqing gently. He patted her back twice before reluctantly letting go of Xia Qingqing. , pushing the coffin in front of her.
Xia Qingqing waved to Shekui, and when she turned and walked towards me, Shekui carefully put the coffin into the tentacles.
The moment the snake anemone's tentacles opened, I clearly saw another small nest surrounded by tentacles deep in the flower bush like thorns. That's where the snake's coffin was stored. Even when it almost had nowhere to live, it never moved to that small nest.
I couldn't help but frown slightly, but I saw Shekui once again stretched out its tentacles and handed the sealed box with one finger to Xia Qingqing. That should be Shekui's last gift to Xia Qingqing.
It wasn't until Xia Qingqing took away the secret box that Shekui closed it again.
As soon as I slid along the rope to Xia Qingqing, she asked: "Huanzi, can you find a way to make water accumulate here again? I don't want to watch the snakehead being fucked to death."
I turned around and glanced around the hall, then walked to the mermaid statue with arms raised on the north side of the hall, and tentatively pressed the mermaid's arm. Not long after, water spurted out of the mermaid's mouth. I saw As the water continued to flow towards the pool, he said, "That's enough. It won't take long for this place to be filled with clean water again."
Just as Xia Qingqing was about to speak, I saw the snake's tentacles coming from the air. I was shocked and reached out to grab the handle of the knife, but a delicate key was pulled out of the snake's tentacles.
Just now, Shekui only gave Xia Qingqing the secret box, but not the key
But there is obviously no keyhole on the secret box. What can this key do
Before I could react, the snake's tentacles were already pointing at the left eye of a mermaid statue, which was the real keyhole.
I gave Xia Qingqing a wink, and the latter inserted the key according to Shekui's guidance.
Under the influence of the secret key, the mermaid statue slowly moved away, leaving us with a staircase leading straight into the mountain, leading me to a secret room with only one table.
The oil lamp that had been stored in the secret room for who knows how many years can still be lit, but a piece of the stone table lying across the secret room has been missing. It looks like someone has deducted a piece of it that is one foot square and one inch deep. groove.
"This should be the place where the secret box is placed!" I said to Xia Qingqing: "Put the secret box up and try it."
When Xia Qingqing placed the secret box in the middle of the stone table, the secret box began to slowly sink into the groove on the table, and the door to the secret room was locked.
According to the speed at which the secret box is sinking, it is estimated that it will take a long time before the mechanism is officially opened by activating the secret box. The few of us simply retreated a distance and waited quietly for the mechanism to start.
Xia Qingqing seemed to be unable to bear the silence in the secret room, so she took the lead in breaking the silence: "Huanzi. How do you know there are secrets hidden in the dungeon?"
"You can tell from the mural."
I explained: "According to the description of the mural, the ancestors here once prayed for the nine-tailed fox to come, but the nine-tailed fox was not moved. Later, in order to show their sincerity, the ancestors built a temple for the nine-tailed fox. An extremely magnificent palace. During the process of the ancestors building the palace, although the nine-tailed fox did not appear, it always hid nearby and watched everything. In the end, it was moved by the ancestors' sincerity and became their patron saint, and also lived in it. In that palace."
"Later, I don't know when or why, someone gathered a large number of troops to attack the Nine-Tails Temple. The battle ended with the attackers' defeat."
Su Zimo interrupted me and asked, "Are the people who attacked the Nine-Tails Temple the aborigines here?"
"I don't know!" I shook my head and said, "Because a large part of the mural is missing. The people who attacked the Nine-Tails Temple wore completely different costumes from the previous murals and looked more exquisite. I can't judge whether they attacked the Nine-Tails Temple. What is the origin of this person?"
When I said this, I changed the subject and said, "However, I suspect that the people who attacked the Nine-Tailed Hall are the aborigines here."
"The content of the third mural is that the black fox guards escorted the prisoners to the Forgotten Valley. I suspect that the nine-tailed fox, as the winning side, did not massacre the prisoners, but completely erased their memories."
"It was very common in ancient times to kill prisoners, especially the rebels who were merciless. If the Nine-Tails Temple doesn't have certain feelings for those prisoners, it will never show mercy."
I finished my sentence and said: "When I saw Su Zimo outside the water prison gate, I had a guess. The place we were in was not a water prison, or in other words, it was not a prison cell at the beginning. It was the lower level of the Nine-Tailed Hall. "
As I spoke, I looked at Su Zimo, who nodded and said, "After we entered the main hall from above, we discovered that there is an extremely large underground palace under the main hall. The tunnel alone is enough to describe it as extending in all directions."
"Qin Baiyi divided us into four teams in order to find out the situation of the underground palace as soon as possible. I was responsible for searching the east road, and then I met you."
I nodded slightly and said, "It's pretty much what I expected."
I continued: "The last part of the mural was completely destroyed, which is equivalent to destroying the most critical part. However, according to the current situation of the underground palace, it is estimated that the Nine-Tails Temple was eventually breached. The destroyed murals are likely to record The process of the Huhu Palace being breached."
Xia Qingqing hesitated and said: "Then what happened to the cave we entered? Could it be that the people who invaded the Fox Palace opened a gap from there."
"If I guessed correctly, that should be the place where the Fox tribe prisoners escaped." I said, "If I guessed correctly, that cave should have been a cave where foxes lived. It was not until the underground palace was built that they abandoned the original cave. Fox Den.”
When I was in the Northeast, I heard people talk about hunting foxes. No animal's den is more complicated than a fox's den. It is dug out by the fox and has secret passages extending in all directions. The level of re-examination is undoubtedly that of a maze. Hunters never take the trouble to dig fox dens.
When I said this, I couldn't help showing a sneer and said: "After the Fox Palace was breached, they imprisoned the Fox tribe prisoners in the underground palace where we are now. However, the Fox tribe quietly opened a gap behind the underground palace. , fled into the cave where they once lived.”
Su Zimo looked at me and said, "Your inference should be correct, but why do you conclude that there are other secrets hidden here."
I slowly analyzed: "According to the structure, this should be the place where the Fox tribe bathes, and it is the least likely place to defend or escape. According to normal thinking, the Fox tribe deliberately left murals here, just to express Their despair may explain to others the process of the Fox clan’s demise.”
"Such a huge mural cannot be destroyed in one go, so the Fox clan should have survived here for a long time. The Fox clan attaches great importance to the inheritance of the clan. Since they can leave murals, they will also leave other things. .”
Su Zimo frowned and said to himself: "Since the Fox Clan has found a way out, why do they still want to leave a legacy?"
I said again: "The biggest characteristic of the Fox Clan is their suspicion. They never focus all their hopes on one point. In other words, the Fox Clan are the people who don't like gambling the most. They always make their first move. Moreover, There will also be countless back-ups left behind. Just like this secret room."
I continued without waiting for Su Zimo to speak: "Maybe the people who attacked the Fox Clan didn't expect that the Fox Clan would build such a secret room in the bathroom, right?"
While I was talking, the secret box placed on the table by Xia Qingqing had completely sunk into the stone table. After the top of the secret box was just flush with the table, I heard the sound of keys being inserted into the keyhole simultaneously from all around the secret box.
The moment the secret box lid popped up, a few dark blue beads rolled down around the lid.
I carefully picked up a round ball that looked like a glass marble. When I looked at it towards the light, I couldn't help but take a breath. The seemingly clear round ball was actually just a glass container, hidden in the glass. The blue smoke in it is like a dream but has an undercurrent of murderous intent.
This stone table is the real key to the secret box. If we forcefully open the secret box, the glass marbles hidden inside will definitely be shattered by external forces, and we will probably die without a burial place.
The poisonous claw snake outside is not only the guardian of the fox clan's inheritance, but also the guide. Without his guidance, no one can find the true secret of the fox clan.
I looked at Xia Qingqing and nodded slightly. Xia Qingqing solemnly opened the secret box and pulled out the sealed scroll hidden inside. There was only a map drawn there. According to the marks on the map, its starting point was the secret room where we were.
Xia Qingqing spread the map on the stone table and said, "Huanzi, look at where the map leads."
"It should be the Forgotten Valley..." I made a rough estimate and said, "I understand!"
In fact, the first mural has already shown the position of the nine-tailed fox. The priest in the painting should be facing the rising sun in the east. The Forgotten Valley is also exactly in the east of the Sea of Stars. However, the nine-tailed fox has replaced the position of the sun. I I didn’t associate the nine-tailed fox with the sun.
I said in a deep voice: "It seems that the burial place of the first generation of nine-tailed fox is in the Forgotten Valley. Look at the map. According to the marks on the map, we should go to the underground palace. The passage that can safely enter the Forgotten Valley is not Outside the underground palace, but inside the underground palace. Get ready, let's set off."
"Where should we go?" Su Zimo pointed to the secret door of the secret room and said: "The way we came here is all blocked, and the door over there is not open..."
"The mystery is still in the secret box..." I reached out and picked up the lid of the secret box. Sure enough, there was a groove about the size of a thumb with a hollow needle at the bottom of the secret box: "The inheritance of the Fox Clan attaches great importance to blood, and blood is the only solution. The key to the secret mechanism, Xia Qingqing, come here!"
After Xia Qingqing pressed her finger to the needle, there was indeed a sound of turning mechanisms around the secret room.