In the dark night of Damascus, the lights are dimly shining like stars, but if you listen carefully, you can still vaguely hear the cries of vendors and the conversations of citizens.
The intricate paths in the city are as dense as a spider web.
Zhou Jun followed Hua Yue through countless alleys and finally came to a cemetery.
The cemetery is located in a remote part of the city. Looking not far away, you can vaguely see the outline of the city wall.
Most of the mausoleums in the garden are pavilion-style structures, with Arabic stone carvings on the door foreheads.
Ever since Hua Yue entered the cemetery, she was in a state of disbelief. She moved her feet unconsciously, left the group, and walked toward a corner of the cemetery.
Seeing this, Zhou Jun looked at Mu Sheikh, who said, "One of her close relatives is buried here."
After hearing this, Zhou Jun followed Hua Yue to a quiet place in the cemetery.
A tomb pavilion was built here with granite, and a tombstone stood quietly in it. It looked no different from other cemeteries.
Huayue stood in front of the tombstone, slowly knelt on the ground, gently rubbed the words on the tombstone with her hands, and whispered: "The Supreme Allah has said that all living beings must taste death..."
Zhou Jun: "This is...?"
Huayue whispered: "The person in the tomb is my mother."
Zhou Jun was stunned.
Huayue: "My mother passed away in Khorasan. At first, I never understood why my father went to all the trouble to transport her to Damascus for burial. Now I finally understand."
Zhou Jun: "It was actually the order of the Umayyad Caliph to transport her here for burial?"
Hua Yue nodded and added: "He despised her origin, worried about rumors, and even sent his daughter to a distant province... When she died, he ordered her to be brought back to the capital, but he did not dare to bring her back to the capital.
She was placed in the royal cemetery..."
At this point, Huayue said softly in Dashi dialect: "What a hypocritical and cowardly king..."
"That one has his own difficulties. Some things are not as you imagine." A time-honored voice sounded in the cemetery.
When Huayue heard this voice, her body trembled, she stood up and looked behind her in disbelief.
"Father!"
Huayue yelled first, and then there was wind at her feet, and she ran towards a middle-aged man in gray robe and hugged the latter tightly.
The middle-aged man looked at Huayue in his arms, and his voice trembled: "Originally, I always thought I had lost you... God favors you, you are still alive."
Zhou Jun couldn't understand the Dashi language, but looking at the middle-aged man and listening to the tone of their conversation, he guessed that this man should be Hua Yue's father, Neser, the former governor of the Khorasan Province.
Huayue sobbed for a while, stood up straight, looked at Zhou Jun, and said to her father: "That man is the Tang Dynasty I mentioned in my letter. He is the governor of Anxi and also my master."
Nessel looked Zhou Jun up and down, and said with a calm expression: "Come in and talk, it's not safe outside."
After listening to Huayue's translation, Zhou Jun nodded and followed Nessel into a dark and gloomy courtyard at the end of the cemetery.
The open coffin, the shovel digging the earth, the half-carved tombstone, this small courtyard is the residence of the tombkeeper.
Nessel walked to the dark room where the coffin was parked in the small courtyard, put down the coffin leaning against the wall, and pressed down on a raised stone.
A space suddenly sank into the wall, and a downward-sloping step appeared.
Everyone passed through the hole in the wall, walked down the steps, and came to a secret monastery built underground.
Mu Sheikh said to Zhou Jun: "This was originally built by the Romans."
Zhou Jun: "What is this place used for?"
Mu Sheikh: "During the great plague of Sargon, countless dying citizens were escorted and thrown here. The soldiers locked the place and no one was allowed to enter or exit. After the plague slowly subsided, some believers came forward and wanted to
We had to clean up this monastery, but during the cleaning process, we had to seal it off again because it was haunted. Hundreds of years later, this place was slowly forgotten by the world, and few people know about it anymore."
Zhou Jun nodded, and just as he was about to speak, he found that Hua Yue was sticking to his side at some point.
Zhou Jun looked down, Hua Yue closed her eyes tightly, her body trembled and said, "I don't like this place."
The group did not go very far.
Walking along the gloomy corridor and entering a room with burning torches, Zhou Jun saw many people waiting here early.
Nessel walked into the room, beckoned Huayue to come forward, and said to everyone in the room: "She's here."
A tall old man wearing armor looked at Huayue, nodded and said, "It is indeed quite similar to those princesses from the royal family."
Neisser said to Huayue: "He is Romuska, the commander of the Egyptian Legion. When he was young, he served as a guard coach in the palace. You should have met him."
Huayue nodded and said, "Yes."
A muscular man with dark skin and tattoos all over his body asked Nesser: "You say she is the illegitimate daughter of the Caliph, but I don't think so."
Nessel: "Uji! You have already read the royal books, the caliph's seal and the secret tokens. At this time, do you still have any questions about the princess's identity?!"
Wuji looked at the painted moon carefully and said disdainfully: "The Umayyad royal family has deceived the Papal people more than once. The person standing in front of you might just be the child of a humble slave girl..."
Before he finished speaking, a short sword appeared in Hua Yue's hand.
I saw a flash of sword light, and a small piece of eyebrow fell off Wuji's forehead, but the skin was not damaged at all.
Huayue caught the fallen eyebrow with the blade of the sword, blew it gently, and said coldly to Wuji: "If you say even one word that insults my mother again, I promise to stop on my sword next time.
Yes, it will be your tongue!"
Hearing Huayue's threat, Wuji couldn't help but not be afraid at all. Instead, he laughed and said: "Yes, that's it! Now I feel that she looks a bit like the princess of Umayyad!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Nessel said helplessly to Huayue: "Wuji is the leader of the Papar tribe alliance and a warrior with outstanding abilities, but he is a bit reckless in his words and actions."
At this moment, a white-haired, trembling old woman Papar walked out from behind Uji. She was holding an oak cane decorated with feathers, and wore a bird bone pierced around her neck.
necklace, his face was covered with ravines, his eyes were cloudy and white, and he could no longer see anything.
The old woman said a few strange words. Upon hearing the words, Wuji quickly bowed and carefully supported the latter before coming to Hua Yue.
The old woman stretched out her hand, gently touched Huayue's face, and in a hoarse voice, said a big foodie word: "Prophecy."
Just when Huayue was confused, the old woman suddenly said a name that surprised her.
"Zhou Jun."
The pronunciation of these two words was not standard, but Hua Yue understood them.
She turned around and looked at Zhou Jun in astonishment.
The latter was also surprised and didn't understand why the old woman suddenly called out his name.
Zhou Jun looked at the old woman, raised his hands and said, "I dare to ask..."
Hearing this, the old woman ignored the others and walked up to Zhou Jun. She stretched out her hand and touched the latter's face, and then smiled and said a few words in difficult to understand language.
Wuji heard these words, walked up to the old woman, and argued loudly.
The old woman stamped the ground with her cane and said something quickly.
Wu Ji shook his head while listening, but his voice gradually became lower, and finally he closed his mouth, with reluctance written on his face.
Zhou Jun listened from beginning to end to the conversation between the two Papars, but he couldn't understand it at all.
During the conversation, there was only one name that was mentioned repeatedly, which caught his attention.
Zapata.
Zhou Jun vaguely remembered that it was the name of Master Tuoba Huaisu, a Zoroastrian saint.