In the fifth year of Taihe, the afternoon of October, Zizheng.

Chang'an, Chang'an County, culvert.

Zhang Yijun lifted the fire fold to the top of the culvert, squatted on the side edge of the Fengtai and carefully probed the fire fold inward, but he couldn't see anything except a little masonry structure on the outer edge, like a bottomless black hole.

In order to find out how deep the culvert would extend underground, Zhang Yijun took out the wisteria rope he had just used, picked up an apple from the plate on the side of the Fengtai and tied it to the noose, and slowly lowered the apple into the culvert.

Although it was already winter and the evening was cool, Zhang Yijun only felt that fine sweat had begun to condense on his forehead, for fear that at a certain moment, he would suddenly be pulled under the rope, or suddenly flash the gloomy gaze looking up at him in the deep dark ditch.

It seemed to take a long time for the rope to hit the bottom, during which Zhang Yijun wondered more than once that he had missed the bottom, until he shook the rope a little and confirmed that the apple was still hanging in the air.

After a while, the apple seemed to be at the end, and the wisteria rope was nearly half the length, that is, twenty feet, which is extremely rare for a culvert.

Because the culvert is unclear, Zhang Yijun blew out the fire fold, and then climbed the bamboo ladder into the culvert, although the culvert was a masonry structure at the beginning, but the more down it was mixed with rammed earth and yellow mud, and it had already dried up and cracked, and it looked like a terrifying scar to the touch.

It's more like a mouthful of ...... than a culvert Dry?

After this idea flashed in his mind, Zhang Yijun was suspicious, so he carefully groped the earthen wall in the culvert with his fingers, the wall was cold, although the cracks were all over the place, but in the middle of the cracks, he could clearly feel the layers of ravines, which seemed to be caused by the perennial erosion of the water surface.

When Zhang Yijun finally went down to the end of the bamboo ladder and stepped on the ground again for a long time, the soft and damp ground confirmed his guess. And looking up at the entrance of the culvert from this is indeed no different from being at the bottom of the well.

Unlike the dry well, Zhang Yijun looked behind him, and as far as the eye could see, there was a dark and deep cave, in other words...... This is the real "culvert".

Zhang Yijun shrugged the tip of his nose in disgust, the bottom of this well is probably very old, it is definitely not a new well of the past twenty years, and there seems to be a strong smell of old mildew from the depths of the culvert.

The last time he was in such darkness was when he was in Victoria, but this time Zhang Yijun did not have the uneasiness of that time, but faintly had some subtle excitement. This feeling is mixed with the eagerness to uncover the mystery and the fear of unfathomable darkness.

Zhang Yijun looked at the culvert and stood still for a long time, the silence pressed his ear drums, his palms gradually sweated, he swallowed his saliva involuntarily, and his throat and eyes hurt. Zhang Yijun finally made up his mind, took a deep breath, lit the fire again, and walked into the culvert with his hand on the cold earthen wall.

The culvert here is different from the various culverts that Zhang Yijun is familiar with, the inside is very wide, and there are bamboo rafters to support it every few steps, which is enough to accommodate two people walking side by side, and Zhang Yijun's head is also a few inches away from the culvert, so he can't help but wonder how much manpower it takes to dig such a spacious culvert, and how to avoid the detection of the Jingzhao Mansion defense army during the digging process?

If the culvert is related to the "ghost soldier" case, then what is the purpose of the thieves digging the culvert so aggressively? Who is the man in the shirt who is familiar with "Sanyang" mentioned by Xuanji?

There are too many doubts, and the more Zhang Yijun moves forward, the previous feeling that the mystery is about to be revealed gradually dissipated, replaced by a series of questions, which seems to imply that he is still far from the mystery revealed.

The culvert is straight, with no forks in the middle, and the deeper it goes, the fresher smell of earth fills the air. By the light of the fire fold, Zhang Yijun also noticed that the texture of the earthen walls inside the culvert had changed, and it seemed that the deep culvert was dug on the basis of the original very old culvert.

The fire was about to burn out, and when Zhang Yijun thought that the culvert was going to extend so endlessly, the culvert suddenly opened up, and then just reached the end.

A pair of heavy teak doors stand across the front ......

Zhang Yijun replaced a fire fold, and then carefully observed the lines and hinges on it for a long time, in the damp and dark underground, teak wood is very easy to grow beetles, but this double door leaf is intact, you can basically confirm that this wooden door is newly erected.

Zhang Yijun carefully pushed the door for a moment, even if he increased his strength, there seemed to be a heavy object blocking the teak door, and it didn't move at all. If you look through the gap between the doors, there is only darkness as far as the eye can see.

Zhang Yijun frowned slightly, and couldn't help beating a drum in his heart: Could it be that the clue is going to be broken?

Or is this teak door another mechanism?

When he was at a loss, Zhang Yijun decided to move a little farther away to find the mystery on the teak door, but after taking two steps back, his right foot was hit by a sharp stone, which made him look hideous for a while, and he almost screamed.

The culverts are full of loess, where do the stones come from?

Zhang Yijun moved his feet to look, his face was suspicious, but he found that this was not an ordinary stone, it was glowing green in the faint light of the fire fold, Zhang Yijun's heart trembled, and he hurriedly picked up this "stone".

It's actually a beautifully carved jade!

Zhang Yijun carefully illuminated the ornament on it with a fire fold, and found that it was carved with a blooming autumn chrysanthemum, carved with gold and jade, carved very exquisitely, and some petals were even connected into a piece from the center of the jade, as thin as cicada wings, exquisite.

Who will this be? Zhang Yijun was worried, but he couldn't explain why, so he silently put this jade jue into the cloth bag on the paddle.

However, when Zhang Yijun looked up at the two doors again, he found that there seemed to be a fire shining through the middle of the previously dark door.

Not good!

The extremely ominous premonition was like a poisonous snake in the shadows, which bounced up in an instant and bit Zhang Yijun's heart.

Zhang Yijun's pupils shrank suddenly, his complexion changed sharply, and he hurriedly blew out the fire, but he didn't know where to hide for a while in a panic.

There is a road behind him, is it possible to run all the way back to Xuandu Temple?

But the culvert was almost straight, and as soon as the wooden door was opened, the light of the torch was not as bright as a fire fold, and it was enough to cast a great distance in the culvert, so that he had nowhere to hide.

The firelight on the other side of the teak door seemed to be brighter, and Zhang Yijun could already faintly hear the conversation of the people opposite.

With the light coming through behind the teak door, Zhang Yijun looked at the long culvert behind him, this short breath. Zhang Yijun only felt that his head was buzzing, and he had never been forced into such a desperate situation.

Pregnant!

About ten paces away, there seemed to be a bulge in the earthen wall to the right of the culvert, which might be a place to hide behind for a while.

Behind the teak door came the sound of the key colliding with the lock......

Zhang Yijun seemed to grasp a life-saving straw, and hurriedly ran behind the convex surface, hiding behind it just before the teak door opened.

The light of the torch was projected dozens of paces away in the loess culvert, and thanks to the convex surface in front of Zhang Yijun, he was still in shadow for the time being.

There seemed to be three or four people who came, all speaking with a dark cloud accent, but the light of the torches did not continue after opening the door, as if the people were standing in front of the teak door and stopped to talk, but the sound was distorted and difficult to distinguish in the culvert.

Zhang Yijun held his breath and stared, and his body subconsciously leaned back, but he did not lean against the culvert wall as he thought......

Behind him, there was a narrow, arched corridor that was extremely hidden, but it was not clear where it led.

The few people began to laugh, and from Zhang Yijun's position, it sounded like a ghost's low snort, and then they saw the long shadows of several people shining from the torches slowly approaching Zhang Yijun's side.

Zhang Yijun knew that he had no choice, so he pressed his steps and quietly moved inward with his hand touching the loess wall.

Fortunately, those people seemed to be going to the exit of the culvert, so they did not cast their eyes on the narrow corridor where Zhang Yijun was, Zhang Yijun noticed that these people were all covered in black, and their faces seemed to be covered with something like a mask, and it was no wonder that Zhang Yijun couldn't hear what those people were talking about at all.

Zhang Yijun waited in place for a long time, and then then touched the wall inward, but after walking about ten steps, the wall seemed to disappear.

Zhang Yijun stretched out his hand everywhere, but to no avail, he couldn't touch any solid walls, and all he felt was a void darkness.

When Zhang Yijun lit the fire again and looked up, he realized that he had stepped into an extremely wide underground hall. But when Zhang Yijun stared at the hall, he couldn't help but gasp.

Just because what you see in the hall is full of swords and halberds!

Just as Zhang Yijun was about to take a closer look, a thick but not without mockery voice came from behind him, which was enough to make him breathe.

"Hide and seek...... That's the end of it......"

Before Zhang Yi had time to react, a soaked hand towel tightly covered his mouth and nose.

The beginning of the day.

Chang'an, Wannian County, Sixteen Princes' Residences, Yingwang's Mansion.

In addition to cultivating the Tao, Li Han has rarely sat quietly in the front hall since the beginning of Yin. For a whole hour now, although Li Han has been holding the "Book of Changes" to study, his right thigh is shaking up and down from time to time, and whenever there is any sound outside the palace, his eyes will involuntarily glance in the direction of the mansion door.

Wang sent her husband a hand-blended cold toad soup, but after noticing Li Han's expression, he put the soup aside, silently bowed to King Ying, and was about to retreat from the front hall.

Li Han still clearly remembers every word Zhang Yijun said yesterday when he temporarily borrowed the vassal king's token from him, the water leak in the front hall of the mansion and the drum on the upper floor of the Danfeng Gate of the Daming Palace came to the sound of the rumor, and the beginning of the morning had arrived.

Li Han knew very well that with Zhang Yijun's character, he would never break the contract after handing over the token before promising Yinzheng, unless it was ......

He may have been in distress......

But where Zhang Yijun went, King Ying didn't know, and he regretted that he didn't ask Zhang Yijun where he was going to find clues.

Li Han couldn't hold back the anxiety in his heart anymore, so he hurriedly stopped Wang and said, "Don't go yet!" ”

Wang was also a little surprised in her heart, just because she knew that Li Han's cultivation emphasized purity and inaction, and she didn't pay attention to everything, and she had rarely heard King Ying call herself in such a tone for several years.

"The concubine is in ......"

Li Han completely put the "Book of Changes" on the table this time, although he pretended to be calm, but the uneasiness in his heart had reached the extent that his face could not be hidden, only to see him snort for a long time and then said: "I'm afraid...... I need you to go out of the Sixteen Mansions......"