Chapter 1031
Underground Space and Buddha Statues
Looking at the flat, even somewhat warm, landscape around him, Chen Zilong nodded earnestly.
"Now I believe this is something left to us by our ancestors."
"They're really taking such good care of us; even the air smells fresh."
"But right now I just hope that the last one, the First Generation God Hao Yi, can be a little gentler."
Saito Hajime also kept marveling at the surrounding environment, after all, he had been to many cemeteries.
Such clean, tidy, well-lit ancient tombs are not rare, but rather unique.
Just as they were talking, Li Xiao and Zhao Yingkong, who were at the front, broke through a layer of cool, jelly-like barrier.
Suddenly, my eyes were filled with light. Compared to the milky white stone in front of me, the area around this space had turned into a palm-sized white prismatic crystal.
These crystals are found all over the ceiling and walls of this underground cave.
Below the rock wall was a fairly spacious plaza, but when everyone looked forward again, they discovered that...
This plaza is the final ground level; in front of it lies a dark void.
After confirming that there was no danger, Li Xiao nodded to the person behind him.
One by one, the members of the Zhongzhou team crossed this transparent barrier.
Compared to the others who were there for the first time, Jonathan suddenly stepped to the front of the crowd.
"Damn, that's such a long way!"
As Jonathan spoke, he excitedly ran over, lay down on the broken ground, and reached out to touch it to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but that it was really gone.
The rest of the Zhongzhou team paid no attention to Jonathan, but instead began to survey the enormous, unusual square.
Looking around, the Rock Plaza is about a kilometer long, wide, and high.
The problem is that even if they went all the way down from the entrance of the cave, they couldn't possibly have reached a depth of one thousand meters underground.
Moreover, Saito Hajime quickly noticed the problem when he looked at the rock behind the crystal.
"Reflective material visible to the naked eye, oval pores, clump structure, black and white stripes and textures."
"Such a rock structure is at least 10,000 meters underground."
Hearing this, Chen Zilong looked at Li Xiao and asked, "So we've been transferred to another space?"
"Or is this some kind of paradise, like Shangri-La?"
Chen Zilong, who had just raised his question, then saw Chu Xuan return to the jelly-like barrier he had just seen.
They then took out a bunch of mechanical devices that no one recognized.
A few minutes later.
"There are spatial fluctuations, so the barrier's function is most likely to fold space, shortening the journey the moment you enter."
"The original passage was most likely a downward-sloping section."
Chu Xuan turned the detector's data interface toward the crowd. The complex ripples and coordinate parameters on the screen clearly showed the abnormal peak of the spatial curvature.
"This barrier is not a portal, but rather it compresses a nine-kilometer-long sloping passage into a single step."
Chu Xuan pushed up his glasses: "It's most likely a spatial topological application similar to a Möbius strip, but more sophisticated, and the energy source of this is most likely these crystals."
Saito squatted down and lightly touched a prismatic crystal at the edge of the ground with his fingertips.
Under pressure, the faint light on the crystal spreads along the texture, revealing a blurry pattern like a starry sky.
"These shouldn't be natural minerals... I feel they're some kind of solidified energy, perhaps spiritual energy from cultivation? Or maybe true essence?"
Zhu Wen, who had walked to the center, looked up at the dome of this space.
To be precise, it should be looking at the crystal dome above:
"Whatever it is, don't you think this place is special?"
"At least it looks pretty good."
Li Xiao and Zhao Yingkong also looked up when they heard Saito Ichigen and Zhu Wen's words.
The white crystal, refracting light, seemed to have a sense of perception as well, and its light became even brighter after all the members of the Zhongzhou team entered.
The various refracted beams of light illuminated the entire cave, making it surprisingly clear.
The originally ordinary, even dull-colored rock walls now revealed a certain luster and brightness.
Jonathan looked up at everyone on the Zhongzhou team, stunned, and then, hands on his hips, laughed and said:
"Haha, Miss Zhu has excellent taste. You have no idea how much we were stunned when we first came in and saw it."
"Some soldiers thought this was heaven; the crystal dome that was filled with crystals was truly breathtaking."
"It's such a pity, I've been digging for a month and haven't been able to find a single crystal. It's like it's growing on rock, harder than a bullet. It's driving me crazy!"
Looking at Jonathan Li Xiao, who never seems to talk about money, I suddenly felt that this kind of person was very scary.
They were able to steadfastly maintain their original intentions no matter what the circumstances.
All I can say is that Jonathan is truly worthy of the name.
Zero Point leaned closer to examine one of the crystal pieces: "Chu Xuan, is this an energy stone?"
"They seem to have some similarities."
After observing the barrier, Chu Xuan took out a set of instruments and began to study them with Saito.
Chu Xuan answered immediately after the question was asked at midnight:
"Although it looks very similar, it is not. The instruments show that it is a polymer with high radioactivity."
"There is no spiritual power or true essence power inside, and there is no reaction from other attribute energies either."
"But logically speaking, cultivators wouldn't leave meaningless things here. In other words, anything they leave here must have a reason."
"It's not just about providing energy to this space barrier."
Chu Xuan glanced down at the time on his watch as he spoke.
"Ten minutes, take as much as you can within ten minutes, Li Xiao will put it all into the Demon Refining Pot."
Li Xiao nodded upon hearing this, and with a flick of his two fingers, the Dragon Abyss Sword flew out of thin air and arrived at the dome.
With a single swing of the sword, a whooshing sound was heard.
A large amount of white crystals fell immediately, like rain.
Before Li Xiao could even pick up the first crystal, a figure pounced on him.
He hugged me and started licking me.
Li Xiao, seeing the drool on the crystal, tacitly began collecting the other crystals.
The others weren't idle either; not knowing if they would come back, they naturally took as much as they could.
Although using lightsabers is relatively slow, the advantage lies in the number of people.
Even Imhotep took two and started helping with the cleanup.
Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Even with Li Xiao's two flying swords and the help of others, it was still difficult.
Only two or three tenths of the crystal-like stones in this rocky space were collected.
But everyone knew that the important matter was about to begin.
All eyes were drawn to the broken section at the end of the square.
This time, without needing to be asked, Jonathan spoke up.
There used to be a road here.
A road that is clearly going uphill but is actually going downhill...
"Okay, it's a bit strange, but everything I said is true."
"Beyond this road is a floating island, with rooms of those ancient Eastern buildings on it."
"When I first came in, I don't know why, I suddenly got lost and entered one of the rooms. It was in this room that I searched everywhere before I found these five little things."
"At first, I thought it was just an ordinary antique, so I didn't tell Yan Xishan."
"I only realized these things were unusual after I got out, but by the time I tried to go back in, I couldn't." "You'll see what happened later. Because some rooms had open doors and even some open books on the tables and walls, I tricked Alex... cough cough, I called him over."
The translation and analysis began with the exterior of these rooms and the inscriptions on the doorposts and plaques.
Li Xiao nodded: "What about the Buddha statue?"
"What happened this time?"
Jonathan was stunned: "The Buddha statue is right here in this hall. It's very conspicuous as soon as you come in."
Moreover, the Buddha statue was still in good condition at the time; it was almost radiant, if not dazzlingly beautiful. However, it was smashed by the incompetent men Yan Xishan brought over during its transport.
Li Xiao frowned: "Although the Buddha head is precious, once it's broken, it looks like a broken stone compared to the other parts. Why would you still choose the Buddha head?"
Jonathan paused for a moment, holding the crystal.
He had an expression that said, "Yeah, how could I have made that choice?"
Upon seeing this, Li Xiao looked at Zhang Jie.
Finally, the two of them looked at Chu Xuan together.
Without any surprise, the person said, "It seems this is the method of the yellow-skinned cultivators. The Buddha head is most likely the most important part of the Buddha statue, so they used this method to ensure that we can obtain it."
Li Xiao patted Jonathan: "Alright, stop thinking about it. Just tell me what happened with Evelyn and the others."
Jonathan snapped out of his daze: "Ugh!"
"Actually, it's not my fault. Evelyn and O'Connor were the ones who said they wanted to go down!"
"I didn't think much of it after I told them the location of the tomb entrance."
"Then the two of them went."
"On the second or third day, they suddenly disappeared without a trace, and everyone who had entered the ancient tomb vanished one by one."
"Later I found out that he was killed by the Yellow Turban Warriors. That was probably their first resurrection, but I didn't see it."
"Later, when I brought Imhotep into the Qin state, before we even reached Shanxi province, those Yellow Turban warriors appeared. At that time, they were the size of ordinary people."
"And their speed and strength are only slightly better than that of ordinary soldiers, which is not an exaggeration, but the problem is that they are impossible to kill."
"One shot, one eye. I destroyed my machine gun, but the Yellow Turban Warrior was unharmed. The bombs could only shatter half of them."
"And I don't know why this Yellow Turban Warrior specifically targeted me."
"It was only at this point that one thing became clear: all the soldiers who had entered the ancient tomb from the outside were dead!"
Jonathan sighed as he spoke.
However, Li Xiao and the others could only look at this person with admiration.
The first escape from the mummy army was by chance, and the second escape from the Scorpion King was an accident.
It was lucky that I dodged the golden-masked monster for the third time.
So now they've escaped from the Yellow Turban Warriors for the fourth time, holding out until they arrive.
What is this if not a miracle?
Chen Zilong leaned closer and whispered to Li Xiao, "I feel like this Jonathan also has a protagonist's halo, but this halo only works when he's escaping."
The group of people who heard this nodded in agreement.
Chu Xuan interrupted their conversation and asked directly, "Where was the Buddha statue placed back then?"
"A general location is fine."
Jonathan looked around and randomly pointed to a spot, then walked over and looked at a slightly raised area of land.
"This is probably the place, yes, this is it, because I remember it seems to be a bit higher."
Jonathan nodded affirmatively.
Saito walked over upon hearing this, glanced down, and was immediately taken aback.
He then quickly squatted down.
Needless to say, everyone else looked over as well.
Let alone Saito, anyone with eyes can see it.
This raised area is not a mound at all, but a severely weathered lotus pedestal.
Saito gasped, "Tsk tsk tsk, Jonathan, you found this so easily?!"
Seeing Jonathan nod, Li Xiao and the others didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Saito Hajime lay on top of it with a magnifying glass in hand.
“The runes on this are very similar to those on the Buddha statue, and the recessed area on this stone lotus platform should be where the Buddha’s feet are.”
Perhaps it was because they were afraid others wouldn't understand.
Saito Hajime added, "Some Buddha statues in temples are seated on lotus pedestals."
"And this is where you stand. If I'm not mistaken, we just need to place the complete Buddha statue on it and we should be able to make a discovery."
"I think that's why the mission must require us to collect all the Buddha statues."
As he spoke, Chu Xuan had already removed all the parts of the Buddha statue and began to remove the metal plates that were used to separate them one by one.
Li Xiao and Zhang Jie were both on high alert when they saw this, fearing that something unexpected might happen.
Chu Xuan moved very quickly, and with Saito's help, the Buddha statue, which was the height of a normal person, was quickly assembled.
Just as Chu Xuan had said, those disconnected interfaces all concealed mechanisms.
Once each fragment is joined together, there is no visible gap.
The final stone Buddha statue was only about 1.7 meters tall, not very tall.
While there were some changes throughout the process, it wasn't what Zhang Jie and the others had imagined.
The only anomaly is that after the Buddha statue was restored to its original state, the Buddha head, which was originally crudely carved and dull in color, turned into a substance that was the same as the body, neither gold nor jade.
However, when the two placed the complete Buddha statue on the lotus platform on the ground, there was no reaction at all.
Chu Xuan seemed unsurprised by what he saw, and continued to observe the entire lotus platform with Saito Hajime.
To be honest, if Saito Hajime hadn't exchanged for a Buddhist-related enhancement, and hadn't recently condensed the lotus flower phenomenon, he would have been much better off.
You wouldn't even realize that this protrusion is actually a building.
However, over a long period of time, the lotus stone platform has become severely corroded and weathered.
With a serious expression, Saito carefully explored the lotus-shaped stone platform that was almost connected to the ground, and after a long time, he found some unusual features.
“This groove…”
Before Saito Hajime could finish speaking, he saw Chu Xuan take out an energy stone.
After taking it out, before Chu Xuan could even put it down, he felt a force of attraction.
Chu Xuan decisively let go.
The energy stone was immediately absorbed and embedded into a groove.
As the first energy stone returned to its place, countless fine lines of light appeared on the surface of the Buddha statue.
Upon witnessing this scene, Chu Xuan inexplicably uttered a sentence:
"really………"
Chu Xuan then explored the entire lotus stone platform and retrieved enough energy stones.
As the energy stones automatically returned to their positions.
The lotus-shaped stone platform, which had been weathered and eroded, has become exquisite again, as if a stone has been given life again.
It regrowth and eventually returned to its original form.
When the exquisitely crafted lotus stone platform revealed its true form.
The surface began to shimmer with a water-like light, which converged and merged towards the location of the Buddha statue.
Immediately afterwards, a stream of light began to spread and scatter across the ground. (End of Chapter)