C38

In the darkness of the broken temple, only the light from the bonfire could be seen. The light from the bonfire illuminated the stone platform behind the deity statue. There, a figure was squatting and staring at me without blinking.

F * ck me!

At that moment, I was so shocked that I nearly fainted. Taking a few steps back, I subconsciously grab the shotgun placed against the wall. The fear in my heart immediately spreads to the very top.

I've already seen the environment in the temple before, it's completely empty, when did this f * cking person appear out of nowhere?

And when did he reach the stone platform?

Did I hear the sound of gunfire after I fired?

Or did I sneak in half an hour after I fell asleep?

Holding the hunting rifle, I tiptoed and touched Zhu Yingqiong, then asked the shadow: "Who?"

Although Zhu Yingqiong's body was weak, she was not dead from sleep. She woke up when she was touched by me, and when she saw me staring at the God Sculpting Stone Stage behind me as if I was facing a great enemy, she immediately turned around.

I hastily went forward to protect her behind me. I swallowed my saliva before continuing to ask the figure, "Who are you?"

As the light was too dim, his face could not be clearly seen. He could only vaguely see his body. After hearing my question, his body moved but he didn't make a sound.

I felt a little strange, as if the scene was familiar. I hastily took out the flashlight from my pocket and shone it at the figure. Immediately, I saw a figure in Japanese military uniform curled up on the stone platform with her knees in her arms, her eyes blank and unfocused.

"Ji Xiang!"

I cried out in alarm, a little excited and at a loss of what to do, I never thought that Ji Xiang would appear here!

Hearing my shout, Ji Xiang blankly raised her head, and then immediately retreated like a kitten, appearing to be very timid.

"Why is she here?"

Zhu Yingqiong asked in surprise. I shook my head, thinking that I want to ask others too, who knows why Ji Xiang was here, for a crazy person to be chased by Hu Guangzu, it is already not easy for him to escape, I have more secrets in my head that need Ji Xiang to answer, but Ji Xiang has already become like this, I am unable to ask.

Ji Xiang timidly accepted it, and after confirming that I had no ill intentions towards her, she started to wolf it down. I continuously gave her a lot of food, and she seemed to know that we were not a threat to her, so she became a lot bolder. In the end, Zhu Yingqiong even brought her to the bonfire.

Only now did I notice that Ji Xiang's clothes were messy and thin, and many places were cut by thorns, revealing her snow-white skin. It was obvious that this pitiful woman had received a lot of injuries on the mountain, if I could find Hu Guangzu, I would definitely ask about it.

Ji Xiang could feel the warmth of the bonfire, and fell asleep very quickly. I lifted my hunting rifle and looked outside the door, afraid that Hu Guangzu would follow him, but I didn't see anyone. The miasma also hadn't dispersed, so I believe that it shouldn't be dangerous.

But what puzzled me was how Ji Xiang was not harmed by the miasma.

She must have heard the gunshots that I made to come here, but the outside was filled with miasma. How did Ji Xiang manage to pass through the miasma unscathed?

After experiencing Ji Xiang's disturbance, Zhu Yingqiong was unable to sleep at all. Her body had recovered a lot, and she started to walk around the broken temple, trying to recover her limbs. Seeing that she was not sleepy, Zhu Yingqiong simply fell on the ground and snored, since she had not rested for the past two days, and her body could not support any further.

When I woke up again, I found that the bonfire had already been extinguished. Ji Xiang shone her light on the broken god statue, while Zhu Yingqiong was still studying it closely. I looked at my watch and was surprised to find that it was already 2 PM.

I casually wiped my face, shot two more times towards the door, then packed up my belongings as I prepared to leave and search for the Fourth Uncle. However, Zhu Yingqiong suddenly turned her head and shouted, "Chen San, come over here for a bit!"

I was startled, but I didn't know why Zhu Yingqiong was calling me. I could only walk over, but seeing that she was still studying the collapsed deity statue, I asked: "What's wrong?"

Zhu Yingqiong pointed to the deity statue that was lying on the ground and asked, "What is this?"

I yawned lazily and replied, "It should be a deity statue that is being worshipped."

Zhu Yingqiong's face became even more doubtful, and asked me: "Have you ever seen this kind of god statue before?"

I thought to myself, what kind of research is this, the deity statue worshiping is either Daoist Sanqing or Buddhist Bodhisattva, it is a very common thing in Chinese temples, does Zhu Yingqiong think that worshiping is Jesus with a cross? That is a f * cking religious question, there's no use asking me that!

As I thought about this, I looked at the deity statue that had collapsed. I was stunned, but then I frowned and switched on the flashlight. I took a closer look and found that the deity statue was not from the two buddhist sects, but rather a clay figurine of a baby.

This baby's carving was vivid and lifelike, but when I looked at his face, I felt an inexplicable discomfort. It was a very strange feeling.

This was because the baby statue's mouth was open all the way to its ears, making it look sinister and terrifying. It was extremely evil!

"Damn, which deity is being worshipped?" I've never seen such a person, Nezha? No, not three heads and six arms, Red? Even more impossible, could it be the People of White Kingdom's totem? "

Ji Xiang laughed foolishly while holding the flashlight. However, Zhu Yingqiong frowned: "It's not a totem, the totem of an ancient Nanzhao nation is a woman with a snake body, even if their White Kingdom and Nanzhao do not work together, they still belong to the people of the Nanzhao. The totem is a faith that we definitely do not dare to tamper."

I frowned. Suddenly, I saw Ji Xiang's flashlight shine on a broken wall of the temple. It flashed by, but I suddenly noticed that there seemed to be carvings on the wall.

"There's something on the wall!"

I shouted and simply pulled open the door. Light shot in and immediately illuminated the wall. When I turned my head, I saw that there were many people's murals engraved on the wall. It looked like a comic book that had been drawn on top of the wall.

Zhu Yingqiong first took a look at it, then said excitedly: "This is the White Kingdom's narrative mural, the pictures on it are definitely the things from back then."

I was very surprised, I didn't think that only after hiding here for two days did I discover the narration frescoes. If it wasn't for Zhu Yingqiong researching on the idols, I probably wouldn't have seen it.

Immediately, Zhu Yingqiong and I walked over to the wall and started to carefully examine it, but after looking at it for a long time, we realized that it was drawn in a mess. The first picture was filled with many small figures that stood at the edge of a cliff holding torches and shouting, and at the bottom of the cliff hung a few objects that resembled ropes or snakes, which couldn't be seen clearly.

The second painting depicted a person wearing a crown sleeping on a sea, and around the sea, many small figures kneeled and worshipped. Although the painting was very abstract, it could be seen that the clothes these people wore were all from an ancient nation of Nanzhao.

Zhu Yingqiong said in a shocked voice, "I understand, these are people from the White Kingdom, and the one with the crown is Loong Liaan!"

"Loong Liaan?"

I was stunned at first, but then my eyes widened. Could it be that this was the resurrection ceremony of death, and that the people from White Kingdom were reviving Loong Liaan?

But that's not right, the Loong Liaan painted on it was sleeping on the sea, but there was no sea in the Wild Mountain, could it be that this sea was referring to the Salvin River of Wild Mountain?

Zhu Yingqiong shook her head with a serious expression: "It is definitely not the Sale River, if you look carefully at the map, the place where these little people from White Kingdom are kneeling behind is a pitch black void, and this might not be a sea either, but rather a lake or a pond, if I guessed correctly, it should be underground!"

We turned to the third picture, and found that the figure was even more blurred, and that so many of the carvings had fallen off that we could not see them clearly at all, that we had to give up and turn to the fourth, and the scene changed, and we saw that there were many small figures in confrontation, and that there was a river in the middle of them.

I hastily said, "This is definitely the White Kingdom murals of the Tang Army that focused their attacks on Wild Mountain. The two armies were separated by the Sale River, forming a confrontation!"

Zhu Yingqiong nodded. "It's not just a confrontation, look carefully, what else is on the river?"

Looking closer, I saw that there was a black dot on the river, it looked like a bamboo raft, and on the bamboo raft stood a disheveled figure, holding a paper fan. I was shocked: "Heavens, could this be Chen Jun, he is currently crossing the river to negotiate with Loong Liaan?"

Zhu Yingqiong didn't say anything and looked at the next painting, but I realized that the next painting had a long span of space. On top of the next painting, there was only a single person climbing up a cliff with very vulgar movements, and on top of the cliff, there were a few people from White Kingdom pointing arrows at him.

Zhu Yingqiong asked curiously: "And who is that person?"

I'm also confused, could it be Chen Jun?

No, that's not right, Chen Jun disappeared along with the White Kingdom, there's no way someone from the White Kingdom would aim their bow and arrows at him, so who would that person be?

I thought about it carefully and a name popped up in my mind, Wu Zhong!

For his own benefit, Fourth Uncle once told me about Wu Zhong sneaking up the mountain alone but escaping with a slim chance of survival. From the frescoes, it seems to be Wu Zhong.

Zhu Yingqiong did not know about Wu Zhong's situation, so I told him about Fourth Uncle and she finally came to a realization.

We looked at the next set of frescoes, and discovered that a Ancient Warship had arrived at the Wild Mountain, there was a man wearing a crown on his head standing on top of it.

This ship should be the Emperor Jianwen's warship, and the person on board is the Emperor Jianwen!

When I saw this, I suddenly thought of something. Back then, in order to revive Zhu Biao, who brought Ancient Warship to the Wild Mountain, and prepared to invade the White Kingdom that lived underground. But in the end, when it failed, where did the Emperor Jianwen go?

Had he lost his Wild Mountain in battle?

Or perhaps he escaped. If the Emperor Jianwen escaped, then where did he go in the end?

I asked Zhu Yingqiong, she also didn't know, but I secretly felt that it was a pity that the Fourth Uncle wasn't here, otherwise this old fox would definitely have my own guesses.

I sighed and looked at the next painting, this time I was even more confused, this was the last mural, and there were still two armies confronting each other. One side was clearly an army of the Ming Dynasty, and the other side was a White Kingdom, but right in front of the white National Army, there was actually another person who was tied up and kneeling on the ground.

This figure was dressed in a dragon robe and wore a crown on his head. His face was painted very vividly, giving off a decadent feeling, while the People of White Kingdom behind him was laughing maniacally.

On the other side, the Ming Dynasty's army rode on big horses and horse carriages. The flag was written with words, and the one leading them was a man dressed in plain clothes. The face that he saw was actually extremely similar to Wu Zhong's fresco!

Looking at this mural, I was a little confused. I didn't understand what was going on, could it be that after the Emperor Jianwen invaded White Kingdom, another war took place?

But that's not right, only the Emperor Jianwen and Wu Zhong knew about the Wild Mountain, why did the Ming Dynasty's army invade the Wild Mountain after the Emperor Jianwen? And it was even led by Wu Zhong, could it be …

I was shocked and thought of an unbelievable answer. Could it be that the Ming dynasty army was the work of the Emperor Yongle and the person who was tied up and kneeling on the ground was the Emperor Jianwen?!

Oh my god, I only feel my heart tremble, Emperor Jianwen's invasion of White Kingdom has failed, and I myself have become a captive of White Kingdom, so Emperor Yongle sent troops to attack Wild Mountain again?

I told Zhu Yingqiong my conjecture. She frowned first, then shook her head: "The first half should be like this, but the second half isn't right. Zhu Di and Emperor Jianwen are sworn enemies, how could she send troops to save Emperor Jianwen?"

She paused for a moment, then pointed at Wu Zhong who was on the mural: "Could it be related to Wu Zhong?"

I took a deep breath and asked, "What do you mean?"

Zhu Yingqiong said: Let us deduce, the reason why the Emperor Jianwen waged a war against the Wild Mountain back then was to revive Crown Prince Zhu Biao, but he failed, so he was captured by the White Kingdom, but because Emperor Jianwen did not die, he became a huge threat to the Emperor Yongle, and because of that, we knew that the Emperor Jianwen was in the Wild Mountain, Zhu Di sent troops to attack the White Kingdom, and the White Kingdom had been in the underground for a long time, so we did not know anything about it, so we tied up the Emperor Jianwen to threaten Zhu Di!

I asked, "What about Wu Zhong? How could he be in Zhu Di's army? "

Zhu Yingqiong guessed: It's very likely that Wu Zhong came to the Wild Mountain to resurrect from the dead, but due to the obstruction of the White Kingdom, he did not succeed. In order to complete his own goal, he used Zhu Di once again, if he wanted to use Zhu Di, he had to leave the Emperor Jianwen.

After hearing it, I was a little dumbstruck, and upon careful thought, I realised that Zhu Yingqiong's reasoning was very reasonable, and that was the only way that I could explain the contents of the frescoes. Although I do not know what the final result of the battle was, I am sure that after this battle, the White Kingdom would be destroyed.

Furthermore, Zhu Di's army definitely did not take advantage of the situation. The final victor was Wu Zhong, a person who used three emperors!

Our reasoning was actually very confusing, because all of this was based on the content of the murals, and we still need to further verify whether it was true or not, but I think that the true content should be about the same. In the end, with the destruction of the White Kingdom, Wu Zhong became the biggest winner!

I suddenly thought of a very fatal question. If Wu Zhong succeeded, then he would know the secret of reviving from the dead. After so many years, would his mother's Wu Zhong still be alive from Wild Mountain?

I said this thought, and Zhu Yingqiong's expression became unsettled upon hearing it. I can't imagine, what it would be like if we were to meet Wu Zhong underground in a few hundred years!