amaotonovel Chapter 598
Chapter 598
Suddenly, the platinum crystal representing the spirit of "gold" trembled slightly and emitted a sharp buzzing sound.
Within the projected halo, an extremely fine black thread extended from the northwest, and upon touching the edge of the halo, it quickly retracted like a venomous snake.
"The Northwest, a land of desolation and death caused by the metal element of Geng."
Zhang Hao opened his eyes, his gaze sharp:
"The first 'signal' has appeared."
Not in Dunhuang.
He pointed to another location on the map:
Ningxia, Helan Mountain.
Three days later, in the heart of the Helan Mountains.
The group walked along the dried-up ancient riverbed.
The mountains on both sides are steep, and the rock walls are covered with traces of wind and rain erosion, as well as... a large number of ancient rock paintings.
"The style of these rock paintings..."
Yi Sa stopped and used her flashlight to illuminate a rock face:
"It does not belong to any known ancient civilization."
The content of the rock paintings is bizarre:
Twisted human figures worship around a multi-eyed, multifaceted dome;
Stars fell from the sky to the earth;
A crack appeared in the ground, and countless arms emerged from it.
The painting technique is rough yet expressive, exuding an unsettling madness.
"It is a painting by the 'Witness'."
Zhang Qilin lightly touched the edge of the rock painting, his fingertip dabbing out a bit of dark red mineral pigment:
“Drawn with cinnabar mixed with human blood, to record ‘miracles’—or rather, nightmares.”
The fat man shivered.
"Human blood? How many people's blood would that be..."
"The fervor surrounding the worship of ancient gods is beyond imagination."
Xie Xiaohua examined another rock painting, which depicted a bloody ritual:
"They believe that by offering their flesh and blood, they can obtain the blessings of 'God'."
"A gift?"
Wu Tianzhen frowned.
"Immortality, power, knowledge..."
Zhang Hao's voice came from ahead:
"Or, become part of 'God'."
He stood at the bend in the river, in front of him a cave entrance half-hidden by rubble.
The edges of the cave entrance show signs of artificial chiseling, forming a serrated shape, resembling the teeth of some giant beast.
The bronze wind chime, tied around Zhang Hao's waist, was now emitting a rapid, almost warning-like tremor.
"This is it."
Zhang Hao took off the wind chime and held it in his hand.
The light from the five-colored crystals shone through the wind chimes, counteracting the invisible, chilling aura emanating from the cave entrance.
Zhang Qilin drew his black gold ancient sword and was the first to enter the cave.
The others followed suit, turning on their powerful flashlights.
Inside the cave is a downward-sloping passageway with smooth walls, as if it had been washed by water for hundreds of years.
But the air was unusually dry, with no moisture at all.
After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
A huge natural cave appeared before our eyes.
In the center of the grotto stands an altar built of black boulders, which is seven parts similar in style to the altars in the Kunlun Mountains, but much smaller in scale.
On the altar, there was a broken statue.
Only half of the statue remains. The material is neither jade nor stone, and the surface is covered with honeycomb-like holes.
Judging from the remaining skirt and posture, this was once a female deity statue, but the head and arms are missing.
However, what drew everyone's attention was the ground surrounding the altar.
Densely packed "cocoons".
The translucent "cocoons," each the size of an adult, pulsating with a dark red light, were scattered irregularly around the altar, like an eerie flowerbed.
Inside the "cocoon," the outline of a curled-up human figure can be vaguely seen.
“These…these are all…” Huo Xiuxiu covered her mouth.
"container."
Zhang Hao's face turned ashen:
“A container chosen by the ancient god’s ‘seed’ and currently being transformed.”
He approached one of the "cocoons" and gently touched it with the tip of his sword.
The cocoon's walls were soft and elastic; the moment it was touched, the humanoid figure inside twitched violently.
Through the translucent membrane, one could see a young man dressed in modern mountaineering gear, his face contorted, his eyes tightly closed, but his eyeballs beneath his eyelids were moving violently.
Beneath his skin, dark red lines spread like vines, exactly like the man in the Hangzhou teahouse, only more deeply.