While talking and walking, we had passed through most of the ruins, and we could already see the rock wall of this huge volcanic cave in front of us.
Professor Tang pointed to a certain direction under the rock wall and said: "The volcano tunnel I just mentioned is right under that rock wall."
I nodded and replied: "Professor Tang, the Gu worm you just mentioned is not the kind of Gu worm we encountered before, right?"
"Yes." Professor Tang said, "Although that kind of man-eating Gu worm is very close to the Dian King's dream of immortality, it was eventually abandoned by the Dian King because of its side effects. But the one who cultivated the man-eating Gu worm
The priest still received a heavy reward for this, and was entrusted with the work of cultivating new Gu insects. And this time, what the priest cultivated is the kind of deformed Gu insect we just encountered..."
"Deformation Gu insect..." I repeated in a low voice.
Professor Tang said: "The shape-shifting Gu worm was originally just a product accidentally obtained by the priest when he was cultivating a Gu worm that could make people immortal. This kind of Gu worm has no fixed shape and can transform into any creature it is close to.
The appearance and even the size can be exactly the same. When the priest discovered this kind of Gu insect, he originally thought that it was of no use. However, as the Dian Kingdom failed again and again in cultivating Gu insects, the King of Dian became interested in it.
The idea of immortality has also changed. The shape-changing Gu insect that was thought to be useless unexpectedly has a new role."
"As I said before, the Dian Kingdom originally focused on the art of cultivating voodoo insects, hoping to cultivate voodoo insects that could make people immortal. However, the most successful product they cultivated was far from true immortality.
The elixir was still some way off. At this time, seeing that the King of Dian was getting older and older, he knew that his time was running out, but the research on the art of immortality seemed to take a long time, which made the King of Dian very worried.
He was furious and began to vent his anger on the Dian people who cultivated voodoo insects. Overnight, thousands of people cultivating voodoos were killed under the orders of the King of Dian."
"The high priest was lucky enough to escape because of his previous achievements, but he was afraid that if he continued, the King of Dian would kill him sooner or later. So, the high priest thought of a method, and it was this method.
The whole country of Dian was moved to this extinct volcano, and the whole country finally perished here..."
When I heard this, I didn't dare to say anything because I knew that the answer to this incident would be revealed soon.
Professor Tang continued: "The method that the high priest thought of was not to research the elixir of life, but to use other situations to allow the already aging King of Dian to survive longer until the elixir of life was produced.
That day. And this method is soul transfer."
I still couldn't hold it back and exclaimed: "Soul transfer?"
Fortunately, Professor Tang was not disturbed by me, but continued: "In addition to the art of cultivating poisonous insects, there are two other major evil arts in Dian Kingdom, one is called lowering the head, and the other is called the art of killing.
Unlike the art of cultivating gu, these two evil arts involve more areas related to the soul. The method that the priest came up with was to let the Dian King use these two evil spirits before his body died.
Technique to remove his soul from the body and transfer it to a new body!"
The new body... I suddenly reacted, "Transforming Gu worm!"
"That's right, let's not talk about whether the soul can really be transferred. There is actually a big problem with the method that the priest came up with. That is, if it is just transferred to the body of an ordinary person, the King of Dian will naturally not be able to agree easily.
, but at this time, there was something that made King Dian very excited about the method that the sacrifice came up with.
Such a thing is a shape-changing Gu worm! As long as there are shape-shifting Gu worms, you can continue to cultivate a body that is exactly the same as the King of Dian, but younger, and supplemented by the soul transfer technique, although it cannot be called true immortality
Not old, but it is enough to make the Dian King's soul immortal and immortal, so that he can wait until the moment when the real elixir of age is born.
The sacrifice method was quickly approved by the King of Dian. In order to cultivate as many deformed Gu insects as possible, a suitable place was needed. Because the deformed Gu insects like high temperatures and hate bright light,
Only in the belly of this extinct volcano is the best place to cultivate and breed them. So, a huge project began. The King of Dian mobilized the people of the country to build a giant in the belly of this extinct volcano.
This city, and the whole family moved to this place."
"However, not long after the Dian Kingdom moved here, disaster happened..."
When Professor Tang said this, he suddenly closed his mouth. I was about to ask him what happened next, but I noticed that we had already arrived at our destination.
Not far in front of us is the end of this volcanic cave. At the bottom of the rock wall, there is a cave that is as tall as a person. The cave is pitch black and the end cannot be seen at a glance. It must be what Professor Tang said
The volcano said.
However, we did not find Officer Hu or the others around the cave.
Approaching the entrance of the volcano tunnel, Professor Tang glanced at the ground near the cave with a flashlight, his expression suddenly changed slightly and he said: "Oh no, they seem to have already entered."
I also scanned with a flashlight, and sure enough, I found a series of footprints on the ground leading to the interior of the volcano tunnel. Those footprints looked very new, and their number was completely consistent with the number of the ancient police officers and others.
Seeing these footprints, Professor Tang did not hesitate and said to me: "We must go in and find them quickly. If time passes, it will be too late." Then he led me into the cave.
There is only one corridor in the cave, and the farther I go, the hotter and hotter I feel. But after only walking for a few minutes, my body is already covered with sweat.
I wiped it with my clothes and asked Professor Tang: "Professor, where is the place in front of here? Why is it so hot?"
Professor Tang replied to me: "Although this is an extinct volcano, there is still magma activity underneath. There is a cave at the end of this tunnel, and there is a hot spring heated by the magma. Although the hot spring is not big,
, but the heat coming out of the water filled the entire cave. What we feel now is a little bit of heat flowing out of the cave. Because the environment in the cave is extremely suitable for the cultivation of deformed Gu worms, the ancient Dian Kingdom reinforced it
The tunnel we are walking on now treats the cave as a nest for cultivating Gu insects."
"What? That's their nest there?" After I heard this, I was not startled, but my heart was already in doubt. I kept scanning the surroundings with a flashlight to be more vigilant, fearing that something might happen soon.
There's that kind of bug that pops up out of nowhere.
However, Professor Tang comforted me and said: "You can rest assured for the time being. If those Gu insects do not deform, they will not be able to leave the cave in front, because in their original state, as soon as the surrounding temperature drops, they will lose their ability to move.
"
Hearing what Professor Tang said, my uneasiness eased a little. In order to divert my fear, I suggested that Professor Tang continue the topic he just talked about. What did the disaster he just said mean?
Professor Tang said as he walked: "Just wait a moment, we'll be there right ahead."
I didn't understand what Professor Tang just said. I was about to ask, but I saw a group of murals carved on the wall suddenly appeared on the edge of the passage not far ahead!
The characters in these murals have simple and lifelike appearances. Although there are no textual annotations, their characteristics are very distinct. Even a layman like me in archeology can get an intuitive feeling through the murals and roughly understand the meaning of each mural.
Combining the events and characters depicted with Professor Tang's explanations to me, I basically understood the meaning of these murals after just a few glances.
Basically, the content of these murals is what Professor Tang told me before about the reasons why the ancient Dian Kingdom moved here, from the King of Dian's pursuit of immortality to the sacrifice that cultivated man-eating poisonous insects, and from cannibalism to
The side effects of the Gu worm tells the story of a priest introducing the King of Dian to a body transformed by a deformed Gu worm.
I walked and looked at it, and when I got to the last few murals, I stopped. Because I suddenly discovered that the last few murals had been scratched off by someone who didn't know who!
I looked back at the murals that were still well preserved. The last one showed the King of Dian ordering a massive construction project to build a city in the volcano. The mural that told the following story had been completely destroyed.
, the original appearance of the mural cannot be seen at all.
I turned around and asked Professor Tang: "Professor, are these...?"
Professor Tang was also looking up at the destroyed murals at this moment, and couldn't help but sigh: "I can't believe, I can't believe that those guys tore up my notes in order to hide their identity, and even destroyed these murals."
Those guys...
"Professor, you said the person who destroyed these murals was..."
"It's them! Those shape-shifting Gu insects that have turned into humanoid forms. If not for them, who would destroy these priceless murals like this!"