The canyon is so deep that the sunlight at the bottom does not shine in, and the red mist that envelops the valley floor makes the haze at the bottom of the valley hazy, burning the already red walls and Buddhist caves into blood.

Although there is no need to use a flashlight to illuminate it, the dark red light under the canyon still makes everything strange and hazy.

The air at the bottom of the valley was a little dry, and there was an indescribable smell in the air, a little pungent, like the feeling of burning mosquito coils.

After a long time, people's nose and eyes are a little dry and hot.

The people of the Sakura family walked in front, and Xue Pu, Zhou Yunfeng and others followed.

Xue Pu unconsciously rubbed the bridge of his nose and rested for a while.

This kind of action was very noticed by the attentive little fox, and she asked urgently from behind: "Your eye is sick!?" Her anxious brows furrowed tightly, and her little hand gently grabbed Xue Pu's palm.

"Don't worry, the eye disease has been cured soon." Xue Pu replied gently.

The little fox said softly with a worried face: "If you feel uncomfortable, close your eyes and I will hold you..."

The meticulous care made Xue Pu's face look suspicious, three years ago he was extremely ill and almost blind, and later... Then I lost track of some things.

And now his eye disease has long been cured, and he is better than ordinary people. But the question is how the little fox will know that he has an eye disease, the two have only known each other for a few months now, and they can't help asking: "How do you know, girl, I once suffered from eye disease..."

“... Look at your eyes are uncomfortable, guess ~ hum! A day when a stinky man is suspicious. The little fox has a delicate look and a cute but charming mouth.

But when Xue Pu turned his head, the little fox's face showed worry again, and he gently grabbed Xue Pu's arm while Sakura was not paying attention.

On the ground under everyone's feet, there is a layer of blackened ash, and walking on it will inevitably be full of dust.

The sand dust and haze, and the difference in climate, made the pharyngitis of Zhou Yunfeng, an old smoker, almost offended, and he coughed for a while: "Da Lao Tie, tell me what kind of place this is!" Temples are not like temples, and streets are not like streets. The courtyard is full of Buddha statues, who lives here must not be scared! ”

Xue Pu shook his head, he didn't know much about the culture of the Western Regions, he looked at the path formed by countless Buddha caves and said, "I don't know, but I suspect that this is an altar..."

"Altar?" Everyone asked.

Professor Jia also nodded frequently: "Comrade Xiao Xue's analysis is reasonable, the road in this canyon is straight, and the Buddhist shrines are mixed and orderly, but it is like a road leading to some altars, temples and other religious places. ”

Lu Jiayi on the side also nodded frequently.

Due to the foggy darkness, the expedition team has unknowingly entered the underground cave from the canyon.

They turned on their flashlights and saw that there was a huge space underneath this place, knowing that the ruins of this place were well preserved due to their isolation from the world.

In fact, in terms of the scale of towns and the level of city building, the Hu people in the Western Regions are far inferior to the Han people in the Central Plains.

However, due to the dense population and developed socio-economic and cultural development of the Han region, the demographic change and social change were greater, and many new buildings and new towns replaced the old buildings and old towns, so the buildings of some important towns were not preserved.

Many of the ancient kingdoms of the Western Regions were sparsely populated and isolated in the desert, and once the city-states declined, they were completely abandoned.

So these city-state ruins are easy to preserve, and once found, they are like archaeological fossils.

This is also the reason why Tocharian Luowen, a popular language in the Western Regions for a while, can cause extremely high popularity in China.

As they walked, they observed the Buddha statues, and without exception, many blood-red Maitreya statues were melted by the flames.

The molten red rock on the statue smiled strangely as if it was dripping blood, which made Zhou Yunfeng shudder.

I think that the fire that scorched the Molten City also burned here.

As the cave deepened, Xue Pu gradually discovered that the statues of these Buddhas began to become diverse, from the original Maitreya, to the statues of Sakyamuni, Manjushri and so on.

And there are many, the shadow of Han Buddhism.

However, these statues are not very well preserved, and many of the Buddhas have traces of sword and soldier chisel, and the construction time is also earlier than the previous Maitreya statue of Western Regions Buddhism.

All this seems to tell that their kingdom has undergone a great religious transformation.

And this religious revolution was accompanied by bloodshed and civil strife.

Eventually, the city-state was transformed from a polytheistic Buddhist belief into a symbolic belief in Maitreya.

Thinking of this, Xue Pu's heart began to calculate, the bright sun flame represented by Maitreya is also admired and pursued by Zoroastrianism.

In Buddhist allusions, the ancient Buddha represents the past, the Buddha represents the present, and the Maitreya Buddha represents the future and hope.

The ancient kingdom of Qiuzi believed in Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, which also believed in Maitreya, was also introduced to the Central Plains.

Fire, fire again, Xue Pu has insight into the key to the problem, from Fengsui Village, to Huda's Fire Hell, to Melting City.

All of this is closely related to "fire".

He and Professor Jia, who accompanied him, asked, "Professor Jia, I heard that the sacred flame of Zoroastrianism has a tradition of not being extinguished. How they burn. ”

Jia Wenwen shook his head and said, "This is not a study, since the Zoroastrian worship life is not extinguished, there must be some people who are responsible for adding fuel to the holy fire." ”

Xue Pu nodded, thoughtful.

Soon, by the light and shadow of the flashlight, a huge floor tile and rows of huge stone pillars appeared.

There are no inscriptions on the gray stone pillars, and in terms of style, they are somewhat similar to the temple pillars of ancient Greece.

These stone pillars rise from the ground and are several stories high, towering into the sky, which is truly eye-popping.

These stone pillars and floor tiles also have traces of high-temperature burning.

On the floor tiles, there are also carved fire-like lines, from which it can be concluded that the scientific expedition team has now come to a Zoroastrian city-state in the ancient Qiuzi region.

The road to explore the ruins went deeper and deeper, and behind the stone pillar square, a huge stone gate appeared underground.

Behind the stone gate leads to a huge palace dug into the ground.

Zhou Yunfeng couldn't help complaining: "I said Da Lao Tie, it's very interesting!" Do you say that this Zoroastrian cult doesn't believe in any light, how can they build their temples underground? How troublesome their gods must be! ”

"Because they practice sky burial!" Lu Jiayi, who was behind him, said suddenly.

"Sky burial? Is it the custom of abandoning the dead in the wild and letting the wolves and birds eat them? Sounds weird and scary! Zhou Yunfeng asked.

"Yes, it is this custom that the Zoroastrian religion worships the light, and they put the dead on a hill in the wilderness, where birds and beasts can peck at them. It is prayed that the soul of the deceased will reach the sky with the birds, and the remaining bones will be buried in the underground temple to be worshipped. Zoroastrianism places temples underground, and it also has the meaning of praying for light to illuminate the darkness. Lu Jiayi said.

Zhou Yunfeng thought thoughtfully: "Soga, it seems to make some sense. ”

Hearing what Lu Jiayi said, Professor Jia Wenwen also nodded frequently: "Not bad, not bad!" Although there is no direct evidence for this, it is clear that the practice of sky burial in some parts of Tibet may have been influenced by Zoroastrianism. ”

Speaking of this, Zhou Yunfeng's expression perked up, and he remembered the scene where the strange girl from the Tibetan border drew a thangka on him in the original "Brain Corpse Gu" case, and his heart was apprehensive.

The little fox on the side covered his mouth and snickered: "Hahaha, it seems that what we entered this time may not only be a temple, but also a big tomb." ”