"Is this underground the real grave?" Guo Ran couldn't help but ask.
What Guo Ran thought of a sky burial was just a patch of land enclosed by the Heavenly Dao, but unexpectedly, like a normal tomb, it was buried underground.
"Sky burial is what the Heavenly Dao wants to bury. Legend has it that only in the year of the Great Mourning does a sky burial occur.
The Heavenly Dao regards all living beings in heaven and earth as its own children. When too many beings perish at once, it grieves and ultimately buries these beings together. Mo Nian said.
"Not necessarily. At least, I've never felt the Heavenly Dao's kindness toward me." Long Chen curled his lips and said.
"Or maybe you're an outsider, not welcomed." Mo Nian smiled. He knew Long Chen's luck was extremely poor, and the heavenly tribulation had turned into heavenly punishment. He had never figured out why the Heavenly Dao treated Long Chen this way.
When they reached the cave entrance, they found that the cave, made of endless piles of bones, looked rather strange. The skeletons on both sides of the entrance had odd shapes, symmetrical left and right, not natural but like a man-made altar.
Mo Nian walked around the cave entrance for a long time, drawing nonstop with paper and pen. Soon, a pattern appeared on the paper. When everyone saw the design, they couldn't help but gasp.
The pattern was actually a giant demon head, and the opening was the demon's mouth, looking rather frightening.
Everyone stood at the entrance of the cave, unable to see its full form, but after Mo Nian drew it, it sent chills down their spines.
"This is trouble, this is the Death Gate." Mo Nian's expression changed.
"What do you mean?" Long Chen asked.
"Tombs have gates of life and death. The two gates of life and death are key to keeping the tomb active. To put it plainly, the tomb is alive and needs to be breathed in and out to keep the tomb functioning intact.
The Life Gate is the air inlet, and all that enters is the vital energy of life. This vital energy can nourish the corpse, preventing it from decaying. If someone continues to worship the dead, the power of faith can make the spirits of the deceased immortal.
As long as the heroic spirits of the strong are not destroyed, they can suppress the fortune of future generations. At the same time, the tomb contains magical artifacts and precious treasures that suppress fortune... Ahem, you don't need to look at me like that. I, Mo Nian, am not someone greedy for wealth. I am archaeological to pursue historical truth! At this point, Mo Nian saw the enlightened expressions on Long Chen's and Guo Ran's faces, and couldn't help but say awkwardly, but Long Chen and the others still looked unconvinced.
To cover up the embarrassment, Mo Nian continued, "The so-called Gate of Death is where the energy of death is expelled. After the life energy is absorbed by the corpse, part of the death energy inside the body is expelled, and within this death energy lies the deceased's resentment, hatred, unwillingness, anger, fear, and other negative emotions."
Such emotions are mixed with the aura of death, and when exited through the Gate of Death, the place is bound to be barren, with not a blade of grass growing.
For any tomb with descendants, the gate of death is considered even more important than the gate of life. Do you know why? Mo Nian looked at everyone and said.
But after waiting a long time with no one saying anything, Mo Nian suddenly felt awkward: "At least start a conversation?" "
Oh?" Why? Xia Chen could only pretend to be very curious and asked.
"Because the Gate of Death must be regularly cleaned by people, because if the death aura isn't expelled and stays in the tomb, it will nurture terrifying evil corpses.
Even if they didn't nourish the evil corpse, some small beasts and insects would be infected by death energy if they entered. Some would die immediately, while others would survive and mutate.
I often encounter mutated corpse worms whose teeth can bite through steel armor and armor, and their teeth are highly poisonous. Once bitten, it's almost certain death.
And this is the land of Sky Burial—no one has come to clean the Death Gate. Look, we haven't seen any bones lately. I'm afraid ...," Mo Nian said gravely.
Everyone's hearts skipped a beat: "Are you afraid these bones have already turned into evil corpses and entered the tomb?" "
That's possible. If I guess correctly, once we go in, we'll probably have to face the Ancient Evil Corpse. With our current cultivation, it's probably no different from throwing ourselves to our deaths." Mo Nian said in a deep voice.
"That won't do, let's go to the Life Sect!" Hearing about the Ancient Evil Corpse, Guo Ran felt his scalp tingle. He definitely didn't want to run into an ancient-level monster.
"Impossible. The Gate of Life is on the other side of the skyline; we simply can't get through." Mo Nian shook her head and handed the map to Guo Ran. Sure enough, the entire Sky Burial Land was split in two by the skyline.
Mo Nian had just remapped the map according to the location of the Life Gate. The Gate of Life was located at the other end of the skyline, facing the Gate of Death from afar.
"So what should we do? Why don't we continue searching the outer areas? After all, the outer area is also very large and enough for us to explore. Guo Ran suggested.
Long Chen shook his head, looked at the hairpin in his hand, and said, "This senior's beloved wife is right in the tomb, entrusted by others, serving a loyal deed."
Besides, since we've come this far, whether it's the Gate of Life or the Gate, we have to go in and see for ourselves. Otherwise, how could we be satisfied?
I said, Mo Nian, can you stop keeping us in suspense? We all know that tomb raiding is the expert among experts. You don't need to be mysterious. Hurry up and tell us, what should we do? At
the end, Long Chen looked at Mo Nian, who still wore a serious expression, which made Long Chen feel a bit disdainful.
He didn't believe Mo Nian, who had been raiding tombs for years. There was no other way—this guy was deliberately creating such a tense atmosphere just to show off his skills.
Exposed by Long Chen, Mo Nian couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed and said, "Ahem, I do have a way, but I need to warn everyone first not to let our guard down."
After all, I've never been to the Sky Burial Land before. This is my first time, so we absolutely can't afford to be careless. "
Careless my ass, you scared me so much I almost wet myself. Tell me, Mo Ge, Mo Grandpa, can you stop hyping up the atmosphere like this? This place is already scary enough." Guo Ran said with a mix of amusement and helplessness.
Since coming in, Mo Nian had been stirring up the atmosphere. Guo Ran was extremely nervous, feeling like his soul was about to burst out of his wits.
"Since everyone is aware of the danger, come on, everyone put them on." As she spoke, Mo Nian began distributing clothes to everyone.
He even wore a hood on his clothes. When everyone put them on, each of them looked like they were a monster, startling themselves.
"Mo Nian, you're not trying to scare away the evil corpse with this outfit, are you?" Guo Ran couldn't help but ask.
"What are you trying to scare me for? There's a special aura on my clothes. If the evil corpse sees us, they'll think we're evil corpses too and won't attack us." Mo Nian said irritably.
As they spoke, everyone finished dressing and slowly walked toward the huge cave. As they approached, gusts of cold wind blew out from within, and in that instant, everyone's hair stood on end.
Even someone as bold as Long Chen couldn't help but grip the hilt of the Minghong Blade, grabbing Yue Xiaoqian's jade hand with his right hand, afraid she might encounter any danger.
Following the cave inside, it was pitch black. After walking more than ten zhang, Guo Ran behind them suddenly let out a startled cry, and everyone's hearts leapt into their throats.