Chapter 17 2
"I'm worried that the airway will be closed after daybreak. It's best to go up now. Please fasten your safety belts. It should be no problem to use the climbing rope to go up."
"I'm not worried about myself, but I'm worried that it will be dangerous for you to go up like this."
"Haha, don't worry, I can climb up a five-story building with my bare hands without any help, so this cliff is nothing to me."
After saying that, Mu Linfeng walked to the edge of the cliff, shone the overhead light upwards to check the climbing route again, then grabbed the protruding rocks with his hands and began to climb up. His body was like a gecko, sticking tightly to the stone wall, and he slowly climbed up by alternating his hands and feet.
The two people below tried their best to use the lamps in their hands to help Mu Linfeng with lighting, and they were all worried about him. The cliff was very steep, and in some places Mu Linfeng's body was even hanging in the air. He could only rely on the strength of his arms to climb.
Five minutes later, Mu Linfeng disappeared into the cave entrance, and reappeared a moment later. Mu Linfeng threw the rope down from above, and Gao Hongjin quickly tied a backpack to the rope. After pulling up all three backpacks, Gao Hongjin and Wen Yinqiu used the climbing rope to climb up the cliff.
Mu Linfeng didn't expect that Wen Yinqiu, who looked weak, could actually climb the cliff very agilely, even faster than Gao Hongjin. After reaching out and pulling her closer to the cave entrance, Mu Linfeng smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to be so skilled at rock climbing. I was worried that you couldn't make it up."
Wen Yinqiu smiled and said, "I was a rock climbing enthusiast when I was in college. Few of my classmates could climb faster than me, but they were far behind you."
Gao Hongjin looked at the two of them curiously from the side, feeling a little puzzled. The titles of the two seemed to have changed, and suddenly the relationship between the two people improved a lot, giving people the feeling that they were lovers for many years.
Mu Linfeng coiled up the rope again, put on his backpack and prepared to go into the cave. Suddenly, he found Gao Hongjin looking at him with strange eyes. He jokingly said, "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me with admiration?"
Gao Hongjin approached Mu Linfeng and whispered, "You are really good. You got Xiaowen so quickly."
"Damn, what nonsense are you talking about? Let's go quickly. Be careful not to close the airway, otherwise all our efforts will be in vain." As he said this, Mu Linfeng quickly took the lead and walked deeper into the cave.
This cave was much narrower than the one at the bottom of the mountain. Some places could only accommodate one person, and the cave was obviously sloping downward. The three people walked into the cave for about a few dozen meters, and suddenly a vertical cave entrance appeared in front of them.
The dark cave entrance seemed unfathomable. A cold air came out of the cave, giving people a spooky feeling. Mu Linfeng knew that the fog formed outside the cave was related to the cold air coming out of this cave.
The cave entrance was oval, more than one meter wide and two meters long, with irregular protrusions around it, and it was obvious that the cave was formed naturally. Mu Linfeng stood at the entrance of the cave, took off the miner's hat on his head, held it in his hand and let the beam shine vertically downward. Then he tilted his body towards the entrance of the cave and looked down.
The light from the flashlight was swallowed up by the darkness after reaching a certain distance downwards. It could not illuminate the bottom at all, let alone see the situation below. Standing at the edge of the bottomless cave, one's heart could not help but rise.
Mu Linfeng took two steps back, turned around and looked at the two of them and said, "I'm sure this cave is the airway of the Heng King's Mausoleum. I can sense the chilly air coming out of the mausoleum with the smell of a tomb. If it's just an ordinary cave below, it won't feel like this."
Looking at the dark cave entrance, which looked like the open mouth of a monster, Gao Hongjin felt his scalp tingling and asked tremblingly: "Lin Feng, is there anything under the cave?"
Mu Linfeng understood what Gao Hongjin was thinking and said jokingly, "Of course there is something down there. If there is nothing, why are we here?"
"Oh, that's not what I meant..." Gao Hongjin said with a sigh.
"I know what you mean." Mu Linfeng said with a smile. He knew that if he relaxed, it would affect the two of them. He said calmly, "Don't worry, I will go down first to find out the situation. If there is nothing wrong, you can go down later."
As he spoke, Mu Linfeng began to organize his equipment. He stuffed the expansion nail with an iron ring into the wall of the cave, tied the climbing rope and pulled it hard. When he felt it was very firm, he threw the climbing rope down from the cave entrance, and then tied the safety belt around himself.
After packing up, Mu Linfeng hung a walkie-talkie on the strap on his shoulder and handed the other one to Wen Yinqiu, saying to her, "You must wait until you hear my call before going down. Do you understand?"
Wen Yinqiu reminded him with concern: "Be sure to pay attention to safety, and come up quickly if you find anything wrong."
Mu Linfeng deliberately said lightly: "There is a tomb below, not a dangerous place, it's nothing serious..." Mu Linfeng put the buckle of the safety belt on the climbing rope, then turned his back to the cave entrance, grabbed the rope with both hands, and started to walk down the cave wall. Soon his figure disappeared from the cave entrance...
After going down vertically for thirty or forty meters in the dark cave, the cave suddenly became tilted and narrower. Mu Linfeng could only bend over and slowly slide down. He didn't know how far he had gone down. Mu Linfeng guessed that the rope was about to end. If he still hadn't reached the underground palace, he would need to use another rope.
Wen Yinqiu's voice could be heard from the intercom from time to time: "Lin Feng, what's the situation down there?"
"Fortunately..." Mu Linfeng hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly felt his feet stepping on empty air and his body suddenly fell down. "Ah--" Mu Linfeng couldn't help but screamed and instinctively fastened his seat belt to stop his body from falling. He felt as if his whole body was suspended in mid-air.
The two people above heard Mu Linfeng's scream through the intercom, and Wen Yinqiu immediately asked anxiously: "Lin Feng, what happened?"
Mu Linfeng didn't have time to answer Wen Yinqiu's question. He suddenly found that there were many round luminous bodies around his body. In the darkness, they were like the twinkling stars in the night sky. He felt as if he was in a starry universe.
After recovering from his shock, Mu Linfeng looked carefully at the surroundings and finally saw clearly that the glowing objects around him turned out to be night pearls hanging in the air. Dozens of night pearls the size of eggs looked like stars in the dark sky and were extremely beautiful.
Mu Linfeng's body was suspended above a huge cave, and below him seemed to be an empty auditorium. The grand momentum was shocking.
Mu Linfeng slowly slid down to the ground. Opposite him was a magnificent palace-style building. In front of the building were several huge vats, each with a burning wick, so the scenery in the entire space could be vaguely seen. Mu Linfeng was stunned by the scene in front of him. Everything here was completely different from what he had imagined. He knew that he had come to the Hengwang Mausoleum that he had longed for.
The two people above the cave did not hear Mu Linfeng's answer and thought something unexpected had happened below. Gao Hongjin anxiously snatched the intercom from Wen Yinqiu and called out loudly: "Lin Feng, what happened? Lin Feng, answer quickly..."
"I came to the underground palace of the Hengwang Mausoleum." Mu Linfeng said word by word, "It's so shocking... It's simply unimaginable..."
When they heard Mu Linfeng say that they had reached the underground palace, Gao Hongjin and Wen Yinqiu looked at each other and smiled knowingly at the same time. Wen Yinqiu said impatiently: "I'll go down first, you call my brother and tell him about the situation..." As he spoke, Wen Yinqiu grabbed the rope and began to walk down.
"Okay, you must be careful." After saying that, Gao Hongjin took out his cell phone.
After Wen Yinqiu and Gao Hongjin went down to the underground palace, they were both stunned by the scene before them. They had never imagined that the underground palace of King Heng's Mausoleum would be so majestic. The area of this cave was at least thousands of square meters, and there were dozens of steps to the palace opposite.
The light from the more than ten eternal lamps in front of the palace was almost swallowed up by the huge space, making the hall look eerie and terrifying, as if it was the Yama Palace in the underworld.
Gao Hongjin exclaimed in astonishment: "Wow, this scene is almost as grand as the Forbidden City. I never thought that the underground palace of Prince Heng would be so magnificent."
Mu Linfeng suddenly said: "I don't think this is the Hengwang Underground Palace. Underground palaces shouldn't be built like this."
"It's not King Heng's underground palace! Then what is this place?" Wen Yinqiu asked in surprise.
Mu Linfeng pointed to the hall opposite and said, "This should be the Palace of Pluto. Let's go up and take a look first." After that, Mu Linfeng took the lead and walked towards the hall.
The shape of the main hall is very similar to that of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. It is also built on a three-story base, but it is slightly smaller in scale.
Gao Hongjin looked up at the huge night-shining pearl above his head as he walked, and couldn't help but mutter to himself: "Oh my god, one of these night-shining pearls is enough to feed me for a lifetime, this is really making a fortune..."
Mu Linfeng had just stepped onto the steps when he suddenly stopped and turned back to look at Gao Hongjin, saying seriously, "Before I came here, I told you that you are not allowed to take anything out of the Hengwang Mausoleum, otherwise don't blame me for turning my back on you."
"Why are you so fierce? Can't you just talk?" Gao Hongjin said while shaking his head, "Hey, I've never seen anyone as stupid as you..."
Mu Linfeng ignored Gao Hongjin and turned to walk up to the main hall. The steps were all made of granite, and there were white marble carved fences on both sides.
Just after walking a few steps up, Wen Yinqiu suddenly exclaimed: "Look over there, there are two people lying on the ground..."
There were two bodies on the first-floor pedestal corridor on the right side of the stairs. One was lying on the ground and the other was sitting with his back against the railing. Because of the white marble railing, the two people could not be seen from below.
The three men hurried over, and Gao Hongjin was the first to exclaim, "It's the Japanese devils!"
The two bodies were wearing the familiar uniforms of Japanese soldiers, and beside them were two rusty Type 38 rifles. In addition, there were some gold jewelry and jade articles scattered around.
Seeing the two Japanese soldiers who had become skeletons, Mu Linfeng's first reaction was that they were brought here by his great-grandfather. Gao Hongjin seemed to realize this and whispered to Mu Linfeng, "It seems that the story that your great-grandfather imprisoned the Japanese devils in the Hengwang Mausoleum is true."
Wen Yinqiu bent down and picked up an exquisite bracelet inlaid with gemstones at her feet. After taking a look, she said to Mu Linfeng, "These things must be burial objects in the Hengwang Mausoleum, but these guys failed to take them out..."
Gao Hongjin noticed that the pocket of the soldier sitting on the ground seemed to be bulging. He reached out and touched it. The seemingly good clothes were torn and shattered, revealing a string of black and bright Buddhist beads, which were obviously priceless treasures. Gao Hongjin's eyes suddenly widened and revealed a greedy look. He couldn't help but grab the Buddhist beads in his hand and couldn't help but sigh in amazement.
Gao Hongjin suddenly remembered what Mu Linfeng had just said, and hurriedly said, "Linfeng, this string of Buddhist beads was taken back from the little devils, so it shouldn't be considered something from the Heng King's Mausoleum, right?"
"Listen to me and leave everything where it is. Otherwise, we may not be able to get out..."
Upon hearing this, Gao Hongjin quickly put the Buddhist beads on the ground, and then asked nervously: "Lin Feng, you are not trying to scare people, right? If you say so, no one will dare to rob the tomb."
"Those are other tombs. I am definitely not trying to scare you. No one should think of taking anything out of the Hengwang Mausoleum, or else they will end up like these two Japanese soldiers."
Wen Yinqiu also quickly put the jeweled bracelet back on the ground without saying a word. Mu Linfeng didn't say anything. He looked at both sides of the passage. This corridor was circular, circling the hall, and the other three sides were invisible. Mu Linfeng decided to go to the hall first, so he waved to Gao Hongjin and Wen Yinqiu and turned back.
The main door of the hall was open. The three people walked into the hall and saw a long and tall table opposite them. There was a row of tablets on it. There was also an offering table in front of the table. Apart from that, there was nothing else. It turned out that this was the place where the tablets of the Hengwang family were enshrined.
Mu Linfeng took a quick look at the tablets in the hall. There were about fifty or sixty of them. These tablets were only for males in the family, and female tablets could not be placed here. This meant that at least hundreds of people from the Hengwang Mansion were buried in this underground mausoleum complex. Where were the coffins of these people? Mu Linfeng turned around and walked out of the hall with doubts.
Gao Hongjin followed behind Mu Linfeng and asked in confusion: "Why is there only a spirit tablet but no coffin here? Where is the coffin of King Heng?"
"Remember when we were outside I said there might be a dark city here? This hall should be the gate tower of the entire underground dark city, so the coffin of King Heng is not here. I have a feeling that the discoveries later will be more and more shocking..."
Wen Yinqiu asked hurriedly, "You mean we haven't entered the Hengwang Mausoleum yet?"
Mu Linfeng stood on the steps outside the main hall and scanned the empty cave in front of him. Then he said, "We came down from the airway at the top, so there must be entrances and exits around this cave. Let's look for them carefully first."
"Lin Feng, I have just checked the space in front of the hall. There is no hole. Should we go to the back of the hall to check?"
Mu Linfeng glanced at Wen Yinqiu, thinking that women are always careful, and nodded: "Okay, let's go."
The three men walked along the corridor outside the hall and around to the back of the hall. Like the front, there were also wide steps leading down to the back of the hall. There was indeed a large hole on the wall opposite the steps. The distance between the hole and the hall was more than 20 meters, and there was a four or five meter wide corridor connecting them. On both sides of the corridor stood several stone horses and stone men.
Mu Linfeng came down the steps without saying a word, and then walked quickly towards the cave entrance in front. The shape of the cave entrance was similar to that of a city gate, with obvious signs of artificial excavation, and a width of more than three meters.
What surprised Mu Linfeng was that there was no door at the entrance of the cave, and it was tilted downward at nearly 30 degrees. Because of the large tilt angle, the middle part of the downward passage was flat, and the two sides close to the cave wall were steps, and the width of the steps on both sides was about half a meter. The three people felt a little strange about this strange structure in the passage.
Mu Linfeng walked down the stairs. After walking for a distance, the passage unexpectedly turned a nearly 90-degree bend. After turning the bend, Mu Linfeng found that the exit of the passage was more than 20 meters away. There seemed to be a faint light outside the exit. He walked over quickly...
