Chapter 23 The Dragon in the Depths

Previously, in another tomb passage, we also saw this deep cave. At that time, I tried to look down, but because the headlamp's illumination distance was too short, I couldn't see the bottom of the cave.

However, considering that the slope of this tomb passage is steeper than the other one, and the distance is longer, it means that going down from here will likely reach the bottom of the cave.

If that weren't the case, I don't think Xiao Wu would have dared to go down rashly.

Mei Shu, Hong Jie, and I stood at the back of the group. We couldn't see the specifics from so far away, but we saw Xiao Wu hang up the rope ladder and climb down, using both hands and feet.

Mei Shu took out a cigarette during a lull and smoked it slowly. By the time he had smoked it down to the butt, Xiao Wu still didn't seem to have reached the bottom.

Shopkeeper Wang was a little anxious and asked nervously, "Xiao Wu, what's the situation down there?"

After a moment, Xiao Wu's faint voice came up from the cave: "Shopkeeper, almost there!"

A minute or two later, I heard the surrounding "rats" cheering. Hearing this sound, I knew that Xiao Wu had successfully reached the bottom.

Sure enough, Xiao Wu's shout soon came: "Reached the bottom! It's quite spacious down here. Shopkeeper, come down, there's no danger!"

Mei Shu couldn't help but mutter, "So this cave isn't that deep. I thought it was a bottomless abyss. It seems the main tomb chamber is hidden in the cave."

"Yes." I nodded gently and said, "We should find the main tomb chamber soon. I wonder if the White-Clad Fairy is nearby."

At the mention of the White-Clad Fairy, Mei Shu immediately tensed up. That person's identity was a mystery, and more importantly, she had unerring flying knife skills, just like Li Xunhuan in wuxia novels, which was truly frightening.

But if we wanted to avenge Mei Shu's wife and find Little Mei, my father and I had to catch this fairy.

At this moment, I heard Shopkeeper Wang calling out in front: "Go down the rope ladder, don't be afraid. Xiao Wu has scouted the way for us, there's no danger, just go down!"

Hong Jie turned her head and said to us, "Don't just stand there, come down too. The main tomb chamber must be below, we're about to see the big treasure!"

I nodded, but thought to myself, "What big treasure? I think there's a large zombie covered in black scales lying in this main tomb chamber. Then we can witness the Xiangxi corpse driver's skills—Mr. Liao versus the black-scaled zombie. This could be made into a horror movie, I've already thought of the name."

In the blink of an eye, Shopkeeper Wang and the others hung two more rope ladders at the end of the tomb passage. Counting the one Xiao Wu used earlier, there were a total of three rope ladders for people to descend.

The "rats" scrambled to show off in front of Shopkeeper Wang, climbing down one after another. Mei Shu and I were not in a hurry to compete with them. We waited until there were fewer people before calmly climbing down the rope ladder.

We reached the edge of the tomb passage and saw the bottom of the cave. The cave wasn't very deep, but it wasn't shallow either. Mei Shu and I, two able-bodied people, put our strength into climbing down, and it took us a full cigarette's worth of time to reach the ground.

After getting off the rope ladder, I looked around blankly. The cave was indeed much wider than the tomb passage. There were no echoes when speaking, and standing here, I could faintly hear the sound of water, and the humidity in the air was quite high.

"Is there underground water here?" I asked subconsciously.

Hong Jie said with a smile, "Rongsheng, you are indeed a corpse fisherman. You think of water wherever you go. The location of this ancient tomb is below the Yazi River, so there must be underground water."

As she spoke, several "rats" took out strong flashlights from their backpacks and placed them on the stone platform to act as lighting. As more and more strong flashlights were turned on, the scene in the cave became clearer.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Fuck! Look!"

Then, "Fuck" sounded one after another, endlessly. I couldn't help but think of an ancient poem—"What can this old man do without culture? Just one 'fuck' will take you through life."

I was curious and quickly looked in the direction of everyone's gaze. Unexpectedly, when I saw it, I couldn't help but shout, "Fuck!"

In the depths of the cave was an underground river, and in the center of this underground river was a towering and thick ancient tree!

This tree was at least twenty meters high, with thick branches and a trunk that was estimated to be more than three meters in diameter. It would probably take several adults to surround it!

However, because it had been in the dark underground for many years without sunlight, this old tree had long since withered, but its trunk and branches had not rotted, but had been stained with a deep, dark color.

As soon as I saw this tall tree, I couldn't help but think of the bronze tree I had seen in the tomb chamber before, and the tree on the stone coffin relief.

Could it be that the tree depicted in those works of art is the one in front of me?

But what really made us exclaim "Fuck" was not just this tree. If it was just this ancient tree, it would not be enough to make everyone shout out in surprise.

What really shocked us was that on the trunk of this tree, there was a giant dragon with its head raised high!

To be precise, it was the remains of a giant dragon!

A dragon skeleton, with only bones left, was tightly wrapped around this ancient tree. The huge dragon head was placed grotesquely on the branches of the tree, and the two empty holes in the eyes stared blankly at us, as if examining us, a group of uninvited tomb raiders.

Some of the "rats" were frightened by the dragon skeleton, and some of them collapsed on the ground.

Hong Jie pointed at the skeleton in a daze and said to me in a trembling voice, "Rongsheng! Look! Look! It's a dragon!"

Although Mei Shu and I were also shocked by the scene in front of us, we were calmer than the others, because we had seen the same dragon skeleton in the Tuojiang Ancient Shu tomb. We all knew that it was not a real dragon skeleton, but just a bronze replica.

However, at this time, we were far away, so everyone could not tell the authenticity of the dragon skeleton.

At this time, Shopkeeper Wang, who had also been to the Tuojiang Ancient Shu tomb, smiled calmly and said loudly, "Don't make a fuss, this dragon is fake!"

"What? Fake?" Hong Jie couldn't believe it and asked, pointing to the dragon skeleton on the tree, "Shopkeeper, how can this dragon be fake?"

Shopkeeper Wang said with a smile, "This is a dragon skeleton cast in bronze by the ancient Shu people. There was one like this in the Tuojiang tomb before, but the ancient Shu people were really powerful, they were able to create such a big guy, which is admirable!"

Hong Jie, who learned the truth, could not hide her disappointment and said dejectedly, "It's actually fake. I thought there were really dragons in this world. Really, it made me excited for nothing!"

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Shopkeeper Wang said, "Although this dragon skeleton is fake, it cannot deny that there are really dragons in this world. Little Hong, don't be discouraged. Maybe one day, you will see a real dragon with your own eyes."

"What?" Hong Jie immediately rekindled her hope when she heard this and asked, "Shopkeeper, are there really dragons in this world? You've confused me. Are there dragons or not?"