Li Feng, the chief person in charge of the mausoleum construction, used his familiarity with the mechanisms to sneak into the center of the tomb and steal some of the most precious treasures. However, the tomb had already been sealed, and the layers upon layers of buried corpses stretched for thousands of meters, making it impossible to get out. He could only try to find a way out by exploring the natural underground caves within the tomb. Unexpectedly, he actually found a cave leading to an exit, but the exit was also a deep pit thousands of meters deep, making it impossible to get out. Before he could come up with a solution, Li Feng felt himself being poisoned. He didn't know how he was poisoned, but it was very potent. In the end, Li Feng could only write down what had happened on a specially made piece of hemp cloth before dying from the poison.
Hearing this, Zhou Xuan and Lan Gaofeng basically understood that Li Shui was actually poisoned by the miniature coffin and would inevitably die within twelve hours.
Li Jinlong was unaware of this. He only knew that it seemed the legend of the treasure passed down from his ancestors was true, and that it had actually been found.
Zhou Xuan and the Blue High-Ranking officials were pondering the matter. It seemed the extraterrestrial stone incident was indeed true. They had to resolve this completely, otherwise there would be no peace in the future, and it might even lead to major problems and global panic.
After listening to Professor Qin's explanation, Li Jinlong was somewhat taken aback. He asked, "Professor Qin, did those characters mention anything about the architecture of the Nine Turns and Eighteen Caves?"
Professor Qin shook his head and said, "No, that's all."
After a moment of contemplation, the senior executive from the Blue Bureau looked up and said, "Everyone, go back to your rooms and rest. We'll set off for Xiaoyang Mountain early tomorrow morning and go down again."
Seeing everyone stand up, the senior executive from Lan said again, "Everyone, get everything you've prepared ready... Ling Hui, you stay!"
After everyone had left, Ling Hui asked, "Sir, is there anything else you need?"
"Director Wu, have you prepared everything we asked for? Please inform him to arrange for someone to transport it to Xiaoyang Mountain at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."
Ling Hui nodded and replied, "Everything is ready. I'll call back right away and have it transported to Xiaoyang Mountain first thing tomorrow morning to wait for it."
"Okay!" Lan Gaozhang said, then waved his hand. "Ling Hui, you should also go back to your room and get some rest. Get up early tomorrow and get things done. There can't be any mistakes. Also, keep an eye on the police officers guarding Xiaoyang Mountain. Give the outside world a plausible explanation. Our matter must be kept secret."
After Zhou Xuan returned to his room, Fu Ying, Wei Haihong, and Wei Xiaoqing were all there. Needless to say, Fu Ying would definitely go down into the cave with Zhou Xuan.
Wei Haihong smiled and said, "Brother, I've been silent these past two days. Tomorrow, I'll go into the cave with you."
"I'll go down too," Wei Xiaoqing chimed in.
Zhou Xuan immediately said irritably, "You're going down too? Do you think this is child's play? Big sister, it's dangerous inside, this isn't a place to play!"
After a pause, Zhou Xuan added, "Brother Hong, you shouldn't go either. I'll be careful. I don't think there's any major danger. Besides, there are many people in the Mingtian Cave, so we can help each other out."
Wei Haihong shook his head, chuckled, and said, "Brother, you think Fu Ying can go down there, but I can't? Hehe, let's go together. Isn't it said that when brothers are of one mind, their strength can break metal? Besides, I have to keep an eye on you. With me around, the higher-ups at Lan will treat you better. There's no need to discuss this anymore, right? Let's set off together tomorrow morning. Get some rest."
Volume 1, Chapter 101: A Corrosive Toxin One Hundred Times Stronger Than Aqua Regia
Looking at the monthly votes from my brothers, Lao Luo was grateful. Regardless of whether there was any nudity or not, Lao Luo wanted to write something to thank my brothers. It might be a little late, but even if Lao Luo didn't sleep, he would still write it. Thank you, brothers!
Fu Ying knew that Zhou Xuan wouldn't leave her alone in the cave this time, so she went back to her room to sleep with a sweet feeling in her heart. She needed to rest well to have energy and strength.
Zhou Xuan lay alone on the bed, circulating his ice energy throughout his body. He needed to quickly restore the ice energy in his pills. The more critical the situation, the more life-saving his ice energy would be. He had experienced this several times before, so there was no doubt about the power of his special ice energy.
After circulating through his body again and again, Zhou Xuan felt the icy energy in the pill becoming purer and purer, and his whole body felt more and more comfortable. When the icy energy reached its peak and automatically entered his left hand cavity, Zhou Xuan drifted off to sleep.
After waking up in the morning, Zhou Xuan circulated his ice energy and felt completely refreshed, as his ice energy had returned to its optimal state!
But he was also terrified by the deathly aura emanating from that miniature coffin, and that one encounter made him never want to face it again. This time, he vomited so much that he brought up bile, remained unconscious for a night, and it took him several days to fully recover from the chill!
After washing up and leaving the room, I realized that Fu Ying and the others had already gotten up early. The hotel manager, Lan, had already instructed the restaurant to prepare breakfast. We had a simple breakfast.
Ling Hui had also prepared two minibuses. The group of more than ten people, carrying their luggage, boarded the two vehicles, left the Luocheng Grand Hotel, and then boarded the Lianhuo Expressway. Twenty minutes eastward, they entered Yanshi territory, and less than ten minutes later, they arrived at Xiaoyang Mountain.
Within a 500-meter radius of Xiaoyang Mountain, plainclothes officers arranged by Director Wu were stationed to keep a close watch.
There were seven or eight policemen guarding the entrance to the cave, including Li Yong and Fang Jianjun. Five or six of them were sent by Director Wu to deliver tools and equipment. The bureau had sent twenty steel wire pulleys this time, which was more than enough. Some were for backup, in case they ran out of supplies when needed, because the entrance to the cave was too narrow to use larger machinery and tools.
Those who went down made their own preparations, and this time there were many more people.
Wei Haihong, Li Yong, Fang Jianjun, Zhou Xuan, Fu Ying, Wei Xiaoqing, Wang Qiang, Wang Sheng, Li Jinlong, Li Quan, Wang Dagui, Professor Qin, Professor Yang, plus senior officials from the Blue Bureau and two special police officers selected by the bureau, totaling sixteen people.
Ling Hui left the message for Lan Gaofeng at the entrance of the cave.
Wei Xiaoqing initially didn't want her to go, but she assured Wei Haihong that she would absolutely obey his orders, so Wei Haihong agreed, thinking it would be good to take her to see for herself. From his perspective, he didn't think there would be any danger, because he hadn't experienced what Zhou Xuan had gone through, so he couldn't imagine any other dangers.
At this point, Zhou Xuan realized that Wei Xiaoqing really wanted to go down as well, and he disagreed, saying to Wei Haihong, "Brother Hong, I think Xiaoqing shouldn't go down. It's not a good thing for a girl to experience these things."
"Why can't I go?" Wei Xiaoqing was a little angry when she heard this, and snorted, "You can refuse to go if you want, but don't you look down on us girls? Just say that Fu Ying isn't going either, then I won't go, so what?"
This is of course not acceptable; how could Fu Ying not go?
Zhou Xuan was speechless for a moment! In fact, Fu Ying wanted to go down for two reasons: first, she would never let Zhou Xuan go into dangerous situations alone again; second, although she was a girl, her skills were far better than those of ordinary men, which Zhou Xuan knew.
Zhou Xuan couldn't describe the unknown dangers at the bottom of the cave. Based on the perils he had encountered in America and the strange crab in the pool yesterday, he could imagine that the journey ahead would be anything but easy.
But these were things he couldn't talk about, including his own ice-based abilities. With a sigh, he had no choice but to give up.
The sixteen people put on their equipment, put on their backpacks, and locked their steel wire safety buckles.
Li Jinlong went first because he had gone down the road yesterday and was familiar with the first part of the route, so he was placed at the front.
The next people went down one by one. Wei Haihong, Wei Xiaoqing, Fu Ying and Zhou Xuan were at the end. Zhou Xuan helped Wei Haihong and Wei Xiaoqing lock their safety buckles. Wei Haihong went down first and Wei Xiaoqing went down behind, slowly leaning down into the cave.
Zhou Xuan followed behind, and the last one was Fu Ying. Fu Ying was also familiar with the situation, and given her already strong skills, this was a piece of cake for her.
Only Wei Haihong and Wei Xiaoqing had never experienced anything like this before, so their movements were naturally slower. Wei Xiaoqing, in particular, was both excited and scared, finding it very thrilling. However, with people all around her, her fear lessened considerably, and her excitement and thrill intensified. After descending two or three hundred meters, her movements became more skillful and faster.
When Fu Ying finally reached the bottom of the cave, it took the sixteen people forty-seven minutes to descend, which wasn't slow.
When all six of them entered the large cave at the entrance of the eighteen small caves, the dozen or so people who came down for the first time couldn't help but look around curiously, marveling at the wonders of nature.
Even their whispered conversations echoed incessantly. If it weren't for the large number of people around, Min Hangshou would have been truly frightened, afraid that the woman from Shizhou was curious.
Fu Ying and Qie Xuan walked hand in hand the whole time, never separating for a single step.
Before deciding which cave entrance to take, Li Jinlong wanted to first bring back his nephew Li Feihu's body and place it in the main cave so that he could take it out when he returned.
Professor Yang Guang wanted to go and see the ancient creature called "Jing" first. After thinking about it, Lan Gaofeng simply told the others to wait there while he, Li Jinlong, Zhou Xuan, Professor Yang, and Wang Dagui went to the pool to collect Li Feihu's remains and bring them back.