As I was running, the road ahead was blocked by a lake. This lake in the valley was not that big. From a distance, the lake looked strangely dark red.
When Liu Xiu and Ma Yan ran to the lake and looked closely, they almost vomited on the spot.
Why is the lake water dark red? It is completely dyed red by human blood.
The corpses, human hair, and internal organs floating in the lake were clearly visible, and the entire lake exuded a disgusting putrid smell.
What's even more shocking is that the ground on the shore is almost covered with a layer of white bones.
Those were not white bones that had been decayed for a long time, they were all fresh human bones, with bloodshot streaks, flesh and blood and fractures broken by sharp weapons visible on them.
In an instant, both Liu Xiu and Ma Yan understood that there were so many barbarians hiding in Qianyou Mountain, and what had they been eating in the past few days!
No wonder the people of Hanzhong County were often kidnapped by barbarians and their whereabouts were unknown. It turned out that they were all eaten by barbarians.
"Haha...haha..." Ma Yan suddenly laughed like crazy and said: "Brother Liu, it seems that we can't escape this disaster today, so let's take the first step!"
He stopped running, and there was no way to run at this time. He held the long sword, turned around, looked at the barbarians who were chasing after him, and shouted: "You bastards, come on!"
Whizzing--
Several arrows flew towards him. Ma Yan waved his sword to block, and after a few arrows bounced away, with a pop, one arrow hit his calf first.
Ma Yan's body fell to the side. He staggered out for a few steps before regaining his balance. However, within this moment, he was hit by several more arrows. Ma Yan roared and continued to stumble. He ran forward staggeringly.
The arrows nailed his body one after another. After a short time, Ma Yan's body became like a hedgehog.
As the barbarians stopped firing arrows, Ma Yan knelt down and sat on the ground, his head hanging down weakly, and blood flowing down the corners of his mouth and nostrils.
Seeing Ma Yan being killed by barbarian arrows, Liu Xiu no longer felt any sadness or anger in his heart, because he knew that he would soon follow in Ma Yan's footsteps.
Looking at the barbarian soldiers approaching him step by step, Liu Xiu held up his sword and took a few steps back. The soles of his shoes made a squeaking sound as they stepped on the bones.
At this time, even if Liu Xiu wanted to die, it was impossible, because the barbarians would not let go of his body. He would be like the groups of bones here, his internal organs would be dug out and his skin and flesh would be eaten by the barbarians.
Liu Xiu looked around at the wolves and tigers of the barbarians. Although he was still retreating, his steps became more determined. At the same time, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
Even if he died, he would not let himself become a meal for these barbarians.
Seeing the corners of Liu Xiu's mouth rising inexplicably, the barbarians were quite surprised. Before they could react, Liu Xiu suddenly threw his sword. The iron sword swirled in the air and hit a barbarian soldier in the chest. The latter wailed, Falling to the ground slumped.
Liu Xiu did not stop and jumped up. He did not rush towards the enemy like Ma Yan, but jumped directly into the stinking blood lake. With a thud, a layer of blood splashed on the lake.
Seeing this, the barbarians roared and rushed forward, lowering their heads to look into the lake.
However, the lake water had been dyed black and red, and there was a layer of internal organs and corpses floating on it. Liu Xiu could not be seen at all.
The barbarians were so angry that they bent their bows and arrows and shot blindly into the lake.
Some arrows hit the corpses on the lake directly, while some arrows still hit the lake water.
Liu Xiu, who was in the lake, felt a sharp pain in his back shoulder and lower back. He knew in his heart that he must have been hit by two arrows.
Not daring to float to the surface, Liu Xiu could only dive into the depths of the lake to avoid the barbarian arrows.
As he dived deeper and deeper, the arrow reached this point. It had no power and did not pose a threat to him. But he was a human being, not a fish, and he could not remain in the water without breathing.
It didn't take long for Liu Xiu to feel that he was about to suffocate.
At the critical moment of life and death, a person's survival potential will be stimulated to the maximum. This is what Liu Xiu is like now. The oxygen in his lungs is getting thinner and thinner, and he is becoming more and more urgent. He opens his eyes and looks around.
Relatively speaking, the water in the lower lake was not as turbid as the upper lake, but precisely because of this, Liu Xiu saw an extremely horrifying scene.
It turns out that the layer at the bottom of the lake is full of human heads. They are faces that have been whitened, swollen, and blurred by soaking.
Even many years later, Liu Xiu could not forget this scene at this moment.
Just when he was feeling desperate, he suddenly caught a glimpse of two small light spots not far from him. Because the lake water was too turbid, Liu Xiu couldn't see clearly what those two small light spots were.
He instinctively swam towards the light spot.
Here is the mountain wall, located at the bottom of the lake. On the mountain wall, there are two sideways cranes carved, and it is the eyes of the two cranes that shine brightly.
Liu Xiuyou came closer and took a closer look. Each of the eyes of the two cranes was inlaid with a soybean-sized bead. The light was emitted by these two small beads.
There was a hole between the two cranes. The hole was very small, not much bigger than a dog hole. Liu Xiu, whose lungs were about to explode, had no time to think about it anymore. He stretched out his hand and dug hard.
The pearl in the crane's eye.
Perhaps due to the passage of time, the beads were no longer inlaid firmly, or perhaps driven by the desire to survive, Liu Xiu's body burst out with unimaginable potential. In short, he did not expend too much effort to put the two shiny beads together.
The little beads were hard to snap off.
Then he held the small beads in his hands and swam into the dark hole.
Outside the cave, there was still some light in the lake. When you swam into the small cave, it immediately became pitch black with no light. If Liu Xiu hadn't pulled down these two small luminous beads to illuminate them, he would have lost everything.
can not see clearly.
The cave was on an upward slope, and Liu Xiu used these two small beads to swim upstream.
I don't know how long it took, but he finally emerged from the water. At that moment, Liu Xiu felt as if he had crawled out of purgatory. He opened his mouth wide and made a quick hissing sound from his mouth.
After a long while, Liu Xiucai finally recovered his breath. At this time, the two arrow wounds on his back were already so painful that they felt like they were on fire.
The water in the lake was full of dirty blood and rotten flesh. It had already become rancid after being trapped for too long. It would be strange for the wound to heal after being immersed in such sewage.
Liu Xiu first pulled out the arrow from his back shoulder, and then pulled out the arrow from his waist.
Fortunately, the resistance of the lake water meant that the force of the two arrows was not very strong. They only hurt his skin and flesh, not his bones, nor his internal organs. But even so, the feeling was not pleasant.
He endured the pain, raised the two small beads in his hand, and looked around.
At this time, he was still in the cave, but compared with the entrance of the cave, the place was much larger. Looking forward, there were stairs in front of him, which led all the way down to the lake, but he didn't know where it led up.
Liu Xiu's heart moved, and he hurriedly swam over. When he got close, his feet could already step on the steps immersed in the lake water. He stood still and climbed up the steps using both hands and feet.
He didn't know where this place was, let alone who dug such a cave here, but for him now, this place was really like a life-saving straw.
Liu Xiu climbed out of the lake along the steps. Because of the humidity, no one had walked on the steps for a long time, and there was no sunlight. They were covered with moss, wet and slippery.
He continued to climb up carefully along the steps. He felt that he had climbed about ten feet, and the steps finally reached the end.
This is a small cave, not big. There is nothing in the cave, but there are a few words carved on the cave wall on the side.
Liu Xiu stepped forward, held the cave wall with his hand, illuminated it with small beads, and looked carefully. After looking for a long time, he could not understand. The words on the cave wall may be from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the words have not yet been written.
Those left over from the time of unification may have been left over from an earlier period, but they were ancient texts that Liu Xiu couldn't understand.
He used small beads to look around, and found that there was an entrance at the end of the cave. At this time, Liu Xiu's mind was getting more and more dizzy. He held the cave wall with his hands and walked forward with difficulty step by step.
When you walk out of this small cave, you will see a long and narrow tunnel.
The slope of the tunnel's terrain is obvious, going straight up.
Liu Xiu swallowed, took a few breaths, and continued to walk forward laboriously.
This tunnel was not straight. There were many turns in the middle. After walking for an unknown amount of time, Liu Xiu gradually saw a bright light in front of him. He was shocked and involuntarily quickened his pace.
When he finally walked out of the tunnel, his eyes suddenly opened up. This was a huge cave, and there was an entrance in front of it. The entrance was not big, and the outside was covered with grass and vines. The sunlight shone in through the gaps in the grass and vines.
It took Liu Xiu a while to adapt, and then his eyes gradually saw everything in the cave clearly. It was obvious that someone had lived here before. There were not only stone beds in the cave, but also stone tables, stone benches and other items.
What surprised Liu Xiu was that there was a bamboo slip on the stone table, and a small, crystal clear jade vase was placed next to the bamboo slip.
He stepped forward and picked up the bamboo slips. As soon as he grabbed it with his hand, the bamboo slips fell apart. It was too old and the ropes woven into the bamboo slips had long since rotted.
He picked up the bamboo piece that recorded the title of the book and read the text on it. Although the text was blurred, he could still make it out, but it was the same as the text carved on the cave wall just now, and Liu Xiu didn't recognize a single word.
He put down the piece of bamboo in his hand and looked at the small jade bottle beside him.
The jade is the finest mutton-fat jade. Although it is bright, its brightness is soft and not overbearing. The small jade bottle is about the size of a child's palm and is very beautiful.
Liu Xiu carefully picked up the jade bottle. It was heavier than he expected. He shook it slightly and could feel liquid flowing inside.
He swallowed, took off the bottle, and subconsciously lowered his head and smelled it.
It stands to reason that these objects are so old that even the text cannot be understood by Liu Xiu. Even if the jade bottle contains pure water, it would already smell bad. But the strange thing is that Liu Xiu not only did not smell it
