The two of them crouched on the ground and gasped around, except for the sound of the wind blowing the leaves, and the occasional birdsong, it was quiet, a boundless silence.

"Great official, this ...... What's the matter? Can't go back? Jin Facai swallowed.

"What are you going to do when you go back, that secret passage is probably a ...... It's just a ......" I couldn't think of specific adjectives for a while, and I even thought of the cartoons I watched as a kid that had something like a time tunnel, but I didn't think it was that simple.

"Great official, where is your feng shui plate, take it out and test it again? Maybe it helps? Kim pointed to the backpack behind my back.

I opened the tarp and took out the crystal compass, although I knew that this thing had not been used much since it entered the mountains, but now I can only be a dead horse as a live horse doctor.

Flattened the compass, recited the sacrificial text, and then watched the two black and white hands turn up rapidly, but they didn't stop.

"Look, I said, it's useless, the magnetic field in this place is very chaotic, and I can't tell the direction at all." Discouraged, I put it on the grass, sat down, took off my shoes, and poured the water inside.

The two of them are like chickens in soup, but fortunately, although it is cloudy here, the temperature is the same as in the mountains, and the clothes and pants can be dried in half an hour.

Jin Facai pointed at the old banyan tree: "Big official, let's go over and pee to keep a souvenir first." As soon as he said that, I did feel a little anxious to urinate, and then I went around to the other side of the tree and put it away.

The main stem of this old banyan tree is very thick, and it seems that even if a dozen or so adults hug it, it may not be able to surround it, and every old root on the ground, the thinnest is as thick as my thigh.

"Great official! Great officials! Come and see! Blonde roared on the other end, and I quickly pulled up my crotch and ran.

I saw that he was staring at the trunk of the tree, and when he saw me coming, he pointed to it: "Look, there are words!" ”

I went up and saw a few newly carved handwritings, the bark had just been cut, and I touched it, and some of the juice was not yet dry.

A few words were engraved on it: "Official, fat, follow the mark." "An arrow is drawn in the direction of the back.

"What Li Youwu left, the official refers to your big official, the fat is me, and this arrow is the mark, what he means is, let's follow this mark, and we can catch up with them, right?" Jin Facai looked in the direction of the arrow: "But there are so many tree trunks here, we can't walk in a straight line, this little cub doesn't wait for us to go on the road together, hurry up!" ”

I was relieved to say that at least they had left the cave and were not lost in the tunnel, and why were they in a hurry......

I looked down in contemplation, and suddenly I noticed that there was a large patch of trampled weeds on the ground beneath the inscription.

"Fatty! This is what you stepped on? I pointed to a large patch of crooked flowers and plants at my feet.

"Huh?" He took a step forward and looked at it: "Even if I stepped on it, it's not that big, you see......" He pointed to a large piece of urine that was still smoking at the bottom of the tree trunk next to him: "I was standing there peeing, and I only saw these words when I turned my head, and it only took two or three steps to walk over, and I couldn't step on so much...... Oh!! I know! It was they who stepped on it, little plums and their footprints! ”

We followed the collapsed flowers and plants and followed the direction of the arrow, and sure enough, we could find the traces of them stepping on the weeds.

"Big officials, there are only seven or eight of them, you look at the area that has been stepped on, it seems to be ......" Jin Facai looked down at the ground left and right as he walked.

As soon as he said it, I also found that this footprint is a bit strange, one in the east and one in the west, and each one is two or three meters wide, it seems that there should be other people, I remembered that Tie Dan said before, before he fell unconscious underwater, he saw the images of the lost soldiers and some other people, could it be them?

"Well, it does seem that there are a lot of people, it may be a lost army, judging from Li Youwu's handwriting, it is very neatly written, it doesn't look like there is danger, let's follow the footprints and chase it faster! Walk! ”

After the two of them packed up the package, they chased forward according to the footprints left by the mottled flowers and plants on the ground, this forest is not big, after trotting all the way in a hurry, it took about more than ten minutes to go to the end of the forest, in front of them is a very old ancient city wall, the whole wall is made of stones and glutinous rice lime mortar grouts, as if surrounding a small city, the city wall winds towards both ends, and the edge is not visible.

Along the city wall is a city wall about ten meters wide, and on this side of the city is a stone road, if you want to find the city gate, you must follow one direction of this road.

The previous trail was broken when we walked to this road, but fortunately, at the junction of the forest and the stone road, we found an arrow left by Li Youwu on the air root, and followed the direction indicated, and then looked for it along the stone road.

The road is also only five or six meters wide, with a forest on one side and a moat on the other. The city wall is about seven or eight meters high, and there are many wind erosions and damage to the female wall of the battlements above, but there are no obvious traces of war, and there are no people walking back and forth on it.

The water of the moat was not alarming, as thick and green as stagnant water, Jin Facai picked up a big stone and threw it into the city, listening to the sound of the water was several meters deep, I remembered for a moment, grabbed a few blades of grass on the side of the road and threw it, and in an instant it sank and disappeared.

The two looked at each other and stuck out their tongues, knowing that the power of this green water was no less than that of Rainbow Lake.

The two walked all the way and watched, did not speak, the sky above their heads was still gray without a trace of clouds, the city wall faintly heard the sound of cows, horses, chickens and dogs barking, and the occasional sound of gongs and shouting, but only with the breeze faintly drifting, not really listening. Although it is a dog climate, I don't feel stuffy and hot, I haven't sweated a drop all the way, and my clothes, pants, shoes and socks are dry.

"Great official, what kind of place do you see this is, why do I feel a little cautious, do you think it looks like it is in ancient times?"

In fact, I also had this illusion of traveling to ancient times, but I think it is not so simple, from the perspective of the architectural style of the city wall, mixed with the craftsmanship of various dynasties, along the way, some places on the wall are stones, some are bluestone bricks, and some have left large pieces of rammed earth, which should have been repaired several times.

From the point of view of appearance, there is no impression of this city wall in the records of the ancient city wall that I know of in China today, whether it is text, pictures or surviving objects. If you have to find a close look, the ancient city wall left in Dali, Yunnan is quite similar. But this city wall is arc-shaped, as far as the eye can see, there is no corner tower.

The two of them walked all the way in this strange atmosphere, and walked for more than half an hour, and finally saw a raised city tower on the city wall in front, the building is divided into three layers, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, the four corners of the cornice, each hanging a copper bell, there is an arch bridge in front of the city gate downstairs, built across the Hao, connecting the entrance and our stone road.

The two of them galloped all the way, and when they reached the bridge, they slowed down their pace, and watched around for a week before stepping onto the stone bridge. This bridge is just a single-hole arch bridge, half-moon round hole, the bridge body is plain and elegant, there is no carved texture, just a piece of stone is piled up, the bridge body is seven or eight meters wide, all are stone steps, to the top of the bridge, you can see the city gate.

This city gate does not set up a checkpoint, nor does it see a guard, not even a door panel, only a vaulted gate hole, the width and depth of the door, are up and down seven or eight meters, the city gate is directly facing a street inside, the buildings on both sides are a bit like the style of the old town of Lijiang, the wine shops and inns are lined up, and the lanterns are lit in front of the door. The flow of people on the road is sparse, and the dress is a local ethnic characteristic.

Looking up at the city gate, there are two rows of characters, the upper row is the font of a certain ethnic group that cannot be understood, and the lower row of small characters is clearly engraved with four words in the ancient official script - "Yunnan Yue Hades Capital".

Jin Facai saw me standing on the bridge and didn't move, so he pulled me: "Big official, why don't you leave?" ”

"Wait......" I kept searching for fragments of memory in my mind at this time, trying to remember the record of this Yunnan and Yue Netherworld, but after thinking for a long time, only there was a record in the "Historical Records": "...... However, I heard that there is a country of elephants in the west of it, called "Yunnan Yue ......", which was when Ah Zi's uncle talked to us before, I had already mentioned that the Mengmao Kingdom was also called the Yunnan Yue Elephant Kingdom, so this "Yunnan Yue" should be the other "Yunnan Yue", but this "underworld capital" made people shudder.

Hades, the Netherworld, the realm of the underworld, isn't this Hades ...... I looked up at the sky, although it was gloomy, but it was not dark, and it did not match the appearance of the underworld that I had learned. Or is it just for the sake of bluffing?

I told Jin Facai about my worries, and he was stunned for a moment, and then said as if comforting and bold: "I don't think this place is like the underworld, the sky here is so bright." What's more, the two of us are not dead, how can we run into the underworld, there is a place in Sichuan called 'Ghost Town', I have been to play. It's not just a place name, I think it's pretty much the same! ”

Listening to his explanation, it made sense, so he straightened his back and prepared to enter the city.

Jin Facai dragged me again, widened his eyes and asked, "I said that the big official...... Let's ...... I guess I'm not dead yet, right? ”

I was made to laugh and cry by his bold 180-degree turn, and laughed: "Dead, dead can you still spill hot urine?" ”

"Huh? Don't dead people pee? He touched the golden retriever on the top of his head: "Ouch mom, this is the first time I've heard that ghosts who dare to love the dead won't pee?" ”

I didn't bother to pay attention to him, so I strode towards the city, I pointed to the big characters on the head of the city and said: "Even if it is really a ghost town inside, we are the descendants of our ancestors, the body of the ancestral spirit, and they can't help us, don't forget, we are ghost-inviolable." Beware of the living, but don't be afraid of the dead. ”

The blonde followed me closely, and the two of them walked towards the city gate.

That being said, for this kind of unfamiliar place, and the strange encounters between the two of them along the way, I naturally feel a little apprehensive. I took out the folding fan from my bag and squeezed it in my hand, pretending to shake the fan and slowly descending the bridge, pretending to be relaxed, but it was just to give myself courage.

Walked to the city gate, the two paused again, the vault of the city gate is seven or eight meters high, the left and right sides of the door hole are made of bluestone bricks to the top, the stone bricks have been weathered for a long time, mottled and visible, the walls on both sides are pasted with some yellow and white papers such as Anmin notices, but they are all incomprehensible national languages, so they will no longer stay longer.

The two of them walked through the doorway, looking left and right, they were all slightly narrow paths, the residential buildings that could not see the end extended along the city wall to both sides, the straight road in front of them was wider, and the lights in front of the houses on both sides of the street were bright, we looked at each other and walked straight forward, I was going to go to the front to find a roadside stall to inquire about the news first.

Jin Facai looked left and right, and said: "This place is quite like an ancient town tourist attraction, you smell it, there is still the smell of wine and meat in the air, hehe, let's meet with Xiao Li Zi and Ah Zi later, first find a place to have a good meal of local food." ”

Although I also smelled the aroma of wine and meat to stimulate my cravings, I always felt that something was wrong, but I couldn't say why, and the pedestrians on the left and right were not strange except for the different clothes from us, and then I looked at the figures cast by the lights on the ground, and it was clear that they were not the appearance of a wandering spirit at all.

Wait a minute! I suddenly remembered something, the lights! Figure!

"Strange!" Jin Facai also muttered easily in my ear: "It's still daytime in front of this, why is it suddenly dark!?" ”

Indeed, before entering the city, it was still a gray and white cloudy sky, how could it be that as soon as you entered the city gate, it was night? I looked up at the sky, and it was already dark night, and it was dark with no moon or stars, not even a thin cloud.

The two of them suddenly looked at each other, as if they had thought of something, turned to look, and gasped.

Yes, the gates have disappeared again.