Ye Xun looked in the direction of my finger: "What is this?" ”

"It's a seal character. I pointed to the words engraved near the fire trough, "In ancient times, craftsmen also had similar situations to check the quality of work. Craftsmen usually leave their names or marks on the section they are responsible for. This should be the mark left by the craftsman. ”

Ye Xun suddenly came to his senses and said, "Do you mean that the people who slaughtered the Fuxian Lake tribe were not the natives in the vicinity, but some foreign strong enemy, and the other party's civilization has reached a certain height?"

"Yes!" I nodded, "and now we have very few clues at hand, and I can only guess. If my guess is correct, this section of the project should have come from the craftsmen of the ancient Dian Kingdom. ”

I slowly explained: "According to historical records, in 278 BC, that is, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Chu State sent the Chu general Zhuang Qiao to lead a team to the Dianchi region to conquer the local tribes. Later, because the way back was cut off by the Qin State, Zhuang Qiao stayed in the Dianchi area and established the Dian State. ”

"The Dian Kingdom existed in the history of Yunnan for about 500 years, appearing in the early Warring States period and disappearing in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty. Around 109 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent troops to conquer Yunnan, and the King of Dian surrendered to the Han Dynasty. It was not until the Western Han Dynasty that Yunnan was nominally incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty. However, there is no writing in the Dian Kingdom, so the history of the ancient Dian Kingdom has always been a mystery in the historiography. ”

I drew a circle on the rock wall with my hand: "The academic community believes that the Dian region is in the central and eastern part of Yunnan, with the Dianchi Lake area as the center, connecting Yangzonghai, Fuxian Lake, Xingyun Lake, and Qilu Lake. I guess that the ancient city under Fuxian Lake should be an extremely important city, if not the capital of the Dian Kingdom. ”

I went on to explain: "The Han Dynasty had already established a complete system of officials, but there is no record of the sinking of the city in the documents from the Han Dynasty onwards, otherwise the secret of Fuxian Lake would have surfaced a long time ago. So I think that the ancient city should have sunk to the bottom of the lake before the Han Dynasty. ”

I stopped when I said this, but Dong Xiaowei shook his head and said, "I don't think what you said is right." Since you said that the great generals of the Chu State occupied Yunnan, then the ancient Dian State should at least leave traces of the Chu State. At that time, the state of Chu already had writing, wasn't Qu Yuan a native of the state of Chu? Why did the ancient Dian kingdom have no documents to check?"

After all, only a very small number of people in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were qualified to study culture, and many documents were very likely to be lost. ”

Dong Xiaowei questioned again: "Even if what you said is right, then look at the murals on the wall, which obviously have the color of witchcraft." The people of Chu also believe in witchcraft?"

"You're right. I nodded, "Because of the geographical location and other reasons, the witch style has always been prevalent in the Chu country, and even Qu Yuan has been influenced by the witch culture. Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs" and "Conjuring Spirits" all have a strong witch culture color. ”

"During the Spring and Autumn Period, Yunnan did not form a later religious culture, and it was still an era when witchcraft dominated the world. After the establishment of the Dian Kingdom, even for the sake of long-term peace and stability, it should also integrate some of the local witchcraft culture. ”

I pointed to the stone steps and said, "After Zhuang Qiao occupies Fuxian Lake, he should continue to use Gushan as a sacred mountain and establish his own sacrifices. I even think that Zhuang Qiao is the one who really discovered Jianmu, and it was he who sublimated the local Wu culture. ”

Ye Xun suddenly looked at me: "I used to walk around the neighborhood for a long time before you came over. The most common images of snakes and bronze drums appear in the witch culture of the Dian Kingdom. Could the serpentine water god under Fuxian Lake come from the Dian Kingdom?"

"It's hard to say. I shook my head and said, "To uncover this secret, we'll have to go up." ”

"No, no......" Zhang Shu trembled with fear when he heard that I was going to continue to go deep into the secret cave of the Lonely Mountain, "Let's go out! Who knows what else will happen to the mountain......

I looked back at the water that was half-lit by the fire: "I don't want to go into the mountains if I can." But we can't go back by water, unless you're ready to die in the lake. ”

Zhang Shu said: "Don't you have two people? You protect Dong Xiaowei and Ye Xun...... Ye Xun protects me, I will definitely be able to go out. ”

Before I could speak, Dong Xiaowei had already refuted in a cold voice: "What about the others?"

This time, there were a total of ten people who were caught by the water god in the cave, including me and Ye Xun, according to Zhang Shu, we went out, and the other six people had to be thrown here. Who knows what will happen next?

As soon as Zhang Shu's words were finished, someone shouted: "What should we do? Why don't you say let Wang Huan take us out and leave you behind?"

Zhang Shu shouted: "At least I didn't push Wang Huan into the water at that time!"

"Fuck you!" The man who spoke, his eyes were red, and he stared at Zhang Shu and approached step by step, "You say it again, Lao Tzu will throw you into the water now!"

"What are you doing?" Dong Xiaowei stood in front of Zhang Shu, "Give me back!"

"Stop!" I said angrily, "When are you still fighting in the nest?

Dong Xiaowei was so anxious that tears rolled in his eyes: "Wang Huan, you don't have to say a few words!"

I stood in the distance with a strong breath of anger, and Dong Xiaowei said cautiously: "Wang Huan, why don't you and Ye Xun go out by water, and we will wait here, and after you go out, go to the police and ask them to bring the boat over to save us?"

"That's a way......" I couldn't help but be moved.

If Ye Xun and I had been faster, maybe we would have been able to rush out. Anyway, we are at the foot of the lonely mountain, as long as we can climb the rocks, maybe we can climb the lonely mountain, there is a tourist area, you can contact the police.

I was thinking about whether I should take the plunge and try it out, when someone suddenly said, "Who knows if he's going to call the police?"

"Who said that?" Dong Xiaowei said angrily, "Wang Huan is not that kind of person!

I know who said that, but I'm too lazy to bother with him now.

Ye Xun said at this time: "I don't approve of taking the waterway. In the water, we are no match for the god of water. We don't know how many water gods there are, and we don't know if they are guarding the outside. As long as there are more than four water gods guarding us, we will surely die if we go out without diving equipment. ”

Ye Xun is right, we don't have the flexibility of the water gods in the water, as long as they block the entrance of the cave, we can't even get out of the tunnel under the lake, how can we escape?

I looked at the stairs in the cave: "Go up, maybe there is a way to live." ”

Zhang Shu said in a trembling voice: "Do you really want to go up?"

I ignored the other party, pulled out the long knife from my body, and said as I walked: "I'll go ahead, you follow, Ye Xun will break back." ”

I don't know exactly how high that staircase is, but I take every step carefully.

Although I deduced the origin of the mysterious cave of the lonely mountain, the origin of the water god made me puzzled. What exactly is the god of water and how can it appear in Fuxian Lake has always been a mystery in my heart.

What I am sure of is that when the Lonely Mountain was occupied, there was no appearance of the water god, which appeared after the Chu army killed and swept away the tribe. Are those water gods the original inhabitants of the tribe, or are they the products of the sacrifice of the Dian king?

I've always had a terrible conjecture in my mind, but until the end, I can't be sure if it's right or wrong.

I walked up the stairs step by step, and saw a closed bronze gate in the distance, and the two open gates were exactly the same as the stone gates I saw in the secret cave under the Boundary Fish Stone, or rather, the four stone doors were the depiction of this bronze door.

My heart sank.

The stone door of the secret cave was opened when the god of water worshipped, but what about this bronze door?

I took two steps before a platform appeared above the stairs. On the left side of the platform is a wellhead made of stones, on the right is a dark tunnel with cold air rolling down the bottomless road, and in the middle of the platform is the bronze gate with a keyhole.

When I stopped on the platform, Dong Xiaowei, who was following me, grabbed the corner of my clothes tightly and said, "Wang Huan, what kind of place is this? The things on those murals are so scary." ”

On the left side of the gate, a series of murals depicting the sacrifice of a sorcerer, four soldiers in armor are carrying a man under the guidance of the sorcerer and throwing it towards the mouth of the well, and the bronze gate opens.

On the right side of the gate, on the contrary, there are no wizards in the mural, only three warriors in armor and armed with long swords. The warrior resolutely walked to the bottomless corridor, retrieved a key from there, and opened the bronze gate.

Ye Xun said in a low voice: "Wang Huan, do you understand what the mural means?"

I said in a calm voice, "There are two ways to open the bronze gate, one is to sacrifice a living person, and the other is to go to the abyss to find the key. However, if you look at the painting on the right, there are three warriors who go down, but only one person comes back, which means that it is extremely dangerous under the abyss, and after going down, it is nine deaths. And ......"

I paused and said, "The warrior who came up last doesn't look like a living person, don't you see that his feet don't touch the ground?"

Ye Xun didn't speak with his hands behind his back, he was waiting for my decision.

Those classmates of mine, except for Dong Xiaowei, all subconsciously dodged a few steps, none of them wanted to become sacrificial objects.

I patted Dong Xiaowei on the shoulder: "Ye Xun and I will go down and take a look, you guys are waiting above." Rest assured, we'll be fine. ”

I took advantage of the time to speak, blocked the sight of others with my body, and quietly stuffed the dagger into Dong Xiaowei's hand.

A day ago, I might not have believed that my classmates would have done a human sacrifice, but now I can't guarantee that it won't happen.