Chapter 514: Eerie Mural

The tall skeletal warrior didn't even glance at the Taotie on the ground, mechanically turning its head towards the stone gate. A clattering sound came from its mouth, and some indistinct words could be vaguely heard: "Guard... Invader... Eliminate..."

Holding a long halberd in both hands, it slowly walked towards the stone gate.

Perhaps because it had just awakened, its movements were a bit stiff at first. But as it walked, its body became lighter and its movements grew smoother and more fluid, until it finally started to run.

At that moment, the other Taotie at the gate also rushed out from the mist. Seeing their decapitated companion on the ground, they tilted their heads, clearly not understanding why their strongest and fastest among them had ended up in such a state.

However, their instincts quickly overcame their curiosity, and one by one, they began to feast on their companion's corpse.

It is important to know that in Chinese culture, the Taotie is synonymous with gluttony. It eats everything it can, and there are even legends that it eventually becomes so greedy it eats its own body until only its head remains.

After Zu'an and Pei Mianman entered the large gate, everything was fine at first. The light filtering in from outside the gate was enough for them to see the path clearly.

Ahead was a straight main road, flanked by stone statues carved with various animals. Some of these animals were common, such as horses, elephants, tigers, and camels, but others had strange appearances and their species could not be identified.

Zu'an was initially worried that these statues might be peculiar, but after a careful inspection, he found no sign of life on them.

Pei Mianman was still uneasy and even deliberately used her black flame to burn the statues. As expected, there was no reaction at all.

Only then did the two feel relieved. Zu'an said, "These must be ancient stone guardians. Then this is clearly a large tomb. However, the outer gate and the surrounding environment don't look like a tomb; they're more like a palace."

"Whether it's a tomb or a palace, we can ponder that later," Pei Mianman said. "Let's first go in and find a place to hide." She still felt lingering fear towards the Taotie and really didn't want to deal with them.

"Okay," Zu'an agreed, knowing this was not the time to dwell on such matters.

The two continued forward and soon arrived before three bridges, with a small river meandering beneath them.

Pei Mianman exclaimed, "There's actually water in this river!"

This place appeared to be very ancient. Some large rivers could change course or even dry up over hundreds of years, let alone a small river like this; for it to still have water now was nothing short of a miracle.

Zu'an ran to the riverbank and tested the water with his hand, finding it ice-cold to the touch. "It's definitely water," he said, "very much like the water that flows out of limestone caves in karst landscapes."

"Karst landscape?" Pei Mianman was puzzled, clearly not understanding the term.

"It's when limestone is eroded by groundwater, forming cavities... You must have seen some caves with stalactites," Zu'an explained, pondering as he spoke. "Given how cold this water is, we must be underground. Did that stone tablet teleport us into this underground space...?"

"Watch out!" Pei Mianman quickly warned him from beside him.

Zu'an had watched so many nature documentaries; how could he not be prepared when approaching the water?

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark shadow lunging, and he immediately pinned it to the water's edge with a single sword thrust.

This time, he clearly saw its appearance: an alligator, far smaller than a Nile crocodile, more resembling a caiman.

"Are you alright?" Pei Mianman quickly came to his side, warily watching the water's surface. She wondered if Zu'an's swift move had deterred its companions, as the water was now perfectly calm with no other alligators in sight.

"I'm fine," Zu'an replied, retracting his sword. He squatted beside the alligator, examining it. "It looks like just an ordinary alligator; its eyes even seem to have degenerated. This is strange. How can there be so many carnivores in this place? What do they eat?"

This place was truly bizarre everywhere, but he didn't have time to ponder these things now. He simply stored the alligator's corpse inside the Glazed Pearl.

Pei Mianman was surprised. "Why did you put it in there?"

"To eat, of course," Zu'an replied matter-of-factly. "We don't know how long we'll be trapped here; sooner or later, we'll need to eat."

Practitioners' strength and speed far exceeded those of ordinary people, and similarly, their energy requirements were also incomparable. Simply put, they needed to eat more. After the series of battles just now, Zu'an was already hungry. If time had allowed, he might have grilled and eaten the alligator right then.

In his previous life, many tourist attractions in various countries sold grilled alligator, but he had never tried it.

"Eat it? No, thank you," Pei Mianman said with a strange expression. Clearly, as a woman, she instinctively recoiled from such an ugly creature, even the thought of eating it.

Zu'an chuckled and didn't insist. Anyway, he figured when she got hungry enough, it would probably smell delicious. He recalled how he had once claimed he wouldn't eat "charity food" when he first came to this world, but he ended up eating quite happily later on.

Next, the two crossed the bridges and entered an area of buildings. As they moved further from the outer stone gate, the surroundings became very dim. Once inside the buildings, it was completely dark, so dark they couldn't see their own hands.

The two had previously suffered greatly due to the thick fog outside; being unable to see their surroundings had caused them to accidentally fall into traps, and they really didn't want to repeat that experience.

Zu'an recalled the items he had on him and instinctively thought of taking out his magical flashlight for illumination. But he quickly realized the flashlight's quirk: it wouldn't illuminate without existing light.

How frustrating!

Just as Zu'an was feeling frustrated, a bright light suddenly flashed beside him. He saw black flames swirling around Pei Mianman; they not only illuminated the surroundings but also made her appear even more beautiful.

Zu'an couldn't help but go and hug her. "My great Mianman," he said, "you are truly beautiful."

Pei Mianman was startled and quickly reined in her flames, worried about hurting him. But then she remembered she had given him a pendant to protect him from her black flames, and only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh, you!" Pei Mianman said, blushing as she pushed him away. "I think I just saw some flame symbols on the walls overhead. Let me see if I can light them."

She waved her hand, and a wisp of black flame, like a dancing fire serpent, glided across the walls, burning towards the places she remembered.

Soon, clusters of flames ignited. Clearly, the spots with flame symbols were indeed lamp holders, and it was surprising that the oil inside could still ignite after so long.

The light from the flames quickly illuminated the distance. The two looked around, discovering they had entered magnificent palaces.

Under the illumination of the flames, the distance shimmered with golden light, and the two felt as if they had arrived in a golden capital.

"Is this gold?" Pei Mianman was dumbfounded. So many massive golden bricks and pillars—if they could take them all back, they would immediately become as rich as a nation.

"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you," Zu'an said. He had already gone to the nearest wall to examine it, pinching the golden bricks, and finally shook his head. "Gold is a soft metal, but these are much harder. They're probably brass. If you don't believe me, look around those lamps. The surface turned black after being burned by fire, which wouldn't happen with real gold."

Metallurgy in the Shang Dynasty was highly developed, primarily evident in its bronze casting techniques. It's important to know that bronze artifacts were golden-yellow when first made; it was only after long periods, oxidized by water and oxygen, that they turned greenish-blue, becoming the familiar bronze ware we know.

Hearing that these were not gold, Pei Mianman couldn't help but be greatly disappointed. "You made me happy for nothing! Oh, what's that?"

Zu'an had to admire this woman's incredibly lucky nature; she always seemed to discover many clues in advance.

They walked a bit further and found many exquisite murals carved on the walls on both sides. However, the style of these murals was quite abstract and bizarre, and they couldn't understand their meaning right away.

There were also many characters written around the murals. Pei Mianman looked at him with expectation. "What do these characters say?"

After all, these characters looked very similar to the strange oracle bone script from before. Zu'an had just deciphered the text on the stone tablet and the gate, so she thought he should also recognize these.

Zu'an thought to himself, "I'm not an archaeologist. It was already sheer luck that I happened to recognize those few simple oracle bone characters. How could I possibly know these as well?"

However, looking at her beautiful and expectant eyes, Zu'an couldn't resist showing off. "Perhaps an alien laid an egg in a young girl's mouth," he mused, "then the larva hatched inside her body and finally burst out..."

The mural depicted a strange beast, a young girl with what appeared to be an egg-shaped object in her mouth, followed by her belly growing larger...

He then fabricated a story based on the "Alien" movies he had seen in his previous life. The more he spoke, the more he felt it matched the content of the mural, as if it were exactly as he described.

"What a load of nonsense!" a cold voice suddenly rang out.