In fact, the Tibetan area was not as lush and green as everyone imagined it to be, especially in the desolate northern part of the areaâIt was not paradise on earth. The brown and steep mountains were like piles of earth and stones, and they looked even more eerie and forlorn under the gloomy sky, as if this was an abandoned corner of the world, filled with unimaginable loneliness.
But in fact, Wei Xun discovered several caves with artificial traces on this steep and winding rock wall! These caves were like honeycombs on the rock walls, and they were completely integrated with the surrounding environment. Wei Xun entered a few caves to check, and he saw that the caves were not big, deep or high, and could only accommodate an adult man. It was impossible to sit, lie down or stand up in the caves.
In some deeper caves, there were still many characters and patterns engraved on the rock walls, which were so blurry that it was difficult to identify what characters they were. Only the maroon âĺâ character was very obvious on the wall.
This should be a âcultivation caveâ of Bon monks in the past. The Bon religion had its own mysterious and unpredictable ways of practice. They advocated integrating into nature and achieving perfection in nature. The more you practiced, the higher the cultivation you could achieve, but the harder it was to practice. The crueler and the more mysterious the place one cultivated was, the closer one could cultivate to Nirvana.
Wei Xun also found that the higher the cave was located, the richer the text and patterns left in the cave would be. When he was about to reach the top of the mountain, he found several rock paintings in several extremely dangerous caves.
Different from the petroglyphs of matchstick humans, these petroglyphs depicted a man wearing a crown of feathers and a group of louvers in great detail. This man stood in front of piles of cattle and sheep bones as if he was holding some kind of ceremony. And behind the bone piles were two vertical and four horizontal red-brown lines, like an abstract drawing. On the top of the âladderâ was a drawing of the gods and buddhas, the sun and the moon.
âThis should be a Bon warlock offering sacrifices to the sun and moon gods,â Wei Xun said to himself.
There was not much space in the cave, so he had to squat down and look up. Not to mention, there was also a snow leopard who wanted to squeeze into the cave with him when it saw that he went into the cave.
But obviously, a snow leopard of this size would definitely not be able to squeeze in even if it was stacked on top of Wei Xun. It would act the same way as it did when Wei Xun entered the cave previouslyââafter finding that the size of the cave was not suitable to fit the two of them, the snow leopard would push its head against Wei Xunâs shoulder, as if it was silently urging Wei Xun.
âWait a minute, Iâll take a look,â Wei Xun said in a perfunctory manner.
Maybe it was because he had been with the snow leopard for a long time, or because of the title of [A Wild Beastâs Psyche], but Wei Xun could understand what the snow leopard meant with increasing frequencyââThe snow leopard felt that he was looking for a suitable place to make a nest.
Snow leopard dens in the wild were indeed generally in rock caves or crevices. They were permanent residences made by a snow leopard and they usually lived in a nest for several years. Therefore, selecting the site for a nest was very important for snow leopards.
Baobao was an experienced snow leopard in the wilderness. It naturally felt that the nest chosen by Wei Xun would not work. None of the caves he had chosen would work. Obviously, Wei Xun had no experience in nesting at all. In the snow leopardâs opinion, he was simply blindly choosing a nest. Therefore, the snow leopard took the trouble to lead Wei Xun away again and again, to take him to the good nests on the sunny slopes, away from the crowd, and safe and suitable for snow leopards.
The main point was that the cave must fit two snow leopards.
Wei Xun was more patient with wild animals than with people. Who could refuse a clean, beautiful, and mighty big cat? Wei Xun liked to raise big cats. The Maine Coon cat at home was also one of the best among cats in his opinion. Xiaoxue perfectly poked this sore spot of his.
âLetâs go.â
Rubbing the snow leopardâs ears in a pampering manner, Wei Xun exited the cave and followed it to the top of the mountain. When they reached the top of the mountain, they suddenly saw beautiful scenery. There were undulating dark brown mountains in the distance, with two towering peaks standing amid the surrounding mountains. Both the peaks were not connected to the surrounding mountains, and their color was closer to bare stone. They stood in bright contrast to the other mountains.
This was Qianzong Mountain. The Ruins of the Xiangxiong Kingdom were on this mountain. When Wei Xun gazed at the ruins from a distance, he could see that there were huge and endless remnants of the earth and stone city walls on the east and west faces of Qianzong Mountain. It was a complex mix of earth-colored buildings.
After climbing the mountain, it was only 7:45, so there was still a lot of free time before the meeting time at 10:30. Currently, IV-1 was still buying cattle and sheep from the villagers in Wenbunan Village. The benefits of leaving the tour group were very obvious now.
The descendant of the eagle flutist had said that Amala was living in a tent on the hillside of Qianzong Mountain, but Wei Xun was in no hurry to find her. He unfolded the thin human skin thangka map, which corresponded to the Ruins of Xiangxiong Kingdom. Although the descendant of the eagle flutist had said that this was an underground map leading to the Dragon God Waterway from the former Xiangxiong Palace, a lot of information about the Xiangxiong Kingdom was also drawn on the map.
It was just that this map was drawn unusually. It did not have clear indicators like modern maps. Wei Xun only recognized one special marking/indicator, which seemed to be an important temple. The main reason he thought this was because there were nine ĺ characters painted under the templeâs logo, and there were many strange symbols, such as skeletons, strange eyes, human figures lying on their side and egg-like spheres.
However, it was almost impossible for him to match the locations on the thangka map with the ruins in front of him. After all, the ruins in front of him had experienced thousands of years of wind and rain. Several earthquakes had also occurred around Qianzong Mountain, which were almost fatal to the ruins.
âTsk, if only Xu Yang was here.â
After walking to the Xiangxiong Ruins and looking at the ruins that were the same color as the soil, Wei Xun sighed. Suddenly, he lifted the forelegs of the snow leopard beside him and estimated the snow leopardâs weight.
The snow leopard: ??
âI feel like youâre still not heavy enough.â
Wei Xun couldnât pick up the snow leopard. After all, judging from the size of Xiaoxue, its weight definitely surpassed other snow leopards. It was at least 80 kilograms.
But that was not enough.
âIf only I could get a truck in here,â Wei Xun said with regret.
He didnât realize how crazy his words sounded.
âWeâll just press down on the ground to know if thereâs a secret passageway underground.â
Many relics had been discovered in this way, just like when a temple near Gyalrong was rebuilt, the trucks transporting stone and wood were so heavy that they had crushed the ground, revealing a very deep and huge hole, and it was then that the monks had discovered the ruins of an ancient temple beneath the ground! In the 1990s, the largest Buddha statue in Afghanistan had been blown up. As a result, the surrounding ground had been blown up, and many Buddhist scriptures and relics hidden in the underground ruins had been revealed.
Back to Wei Xun. He couldnât drive a truck in, and he didnât have a bomb with him. There were just him and the snow leopard at the Ruins of Xiangxiong Kingdom, and it was unrealistic to hope that they could create a hole in the ground with just the weight of the two of them. It was unrealistic.
However, Wei Xun had his own methods. He carefully avoided the snow leopard, turned around, and then took out the young fox (young mink) and the gold-plated silver-inlaid skull, before saying kindly, âCome, smell it, and go search for the underground ruins.â
One couldnât just let the donkey pull the grindstone without feeding it. Wei Xun added, âIf you find it, I will reward you with a bone.â
He sighed with heartache and emphasized, âOne thatâs from the belly of the fish. Itâs a bone inlaid with gold.â
The young fox: ??
What else could it do? It had accepted Wei Xun as its master, and it had to be a dog for him even if it cried. The mink escaped from Wei Xunâs grasp and it jumped out. It ran quickly and disappeared into the rubble in the blink of an eye, leaving Wei Xun with the snow leopard wandering in the ruins. Wei Xun did not pin all his hopes on the mink. He looked at the thangka map very confidently, and then moved toward the place where the temple was located.
It was just that the ruins were very difficult to walk in. There were earth walls and rocks that had collapsed and had been destroyed by the earthquake. The soil and rocks had grown brittle and crumbled due to the wind and rain. When the snow leopard came to an unfamiliar place, it was extremely vigilant, and took the initiative to walk in front of Wei Xun. It was wary of the surroundings, and chose a solid path specially for Wei Xun.
However, Wei Xun deliberately stepped on those places that were unstable at first sight and had cracks in the ground. The snow leopard, who had failed to lead the way a few times, was helpless, but it couldnât persuade him to leave.
Sure enough, hard work paid off. Perhaps it was because the tourists had come from the International Thriller Travel Services, and the tour itself was the âexplorationâ type. Compared with the archaeological staff who worked hard and searched for clues in various documents and classics, it was easier for tourists to find various historical sites and relics.
Half an hour later, the young fox brought good news back. It seemed that it had discovered a secret passageway. Wei Xun was walking through the ruins of a short city wall made of earth and stone. He noticed the cracks at the roots of the ruins extending outward, then deliberately walked along there, almost stumbling.
However, this time was different from the previous ones. The ground and stone under his feet suddenly shattered, and there was a large hole below. Almost half of Wei Xunâs body fell in, but fortunately he stabilized his balance. Before he could observe his surroundings, the snow leopard walking in front noticed that Wei Xun was in distress and hurriedly stepped on the gravel, jumping in to find Wei Xun. It didnât expect that the jump would cause the ground under its claws to collapse. It was so frightened that it leapt up with an âawooâ in shock.
âThis is definitely a great development!â Wei Xun first comforted the snow leopard, and then exclaimed happily.
What the young fox had found was a secret passageway hidden under the rocks of the mountain at the higher part of the Ruins of Xiangxiong Kingdom. Utilizing the young foxâs line of sight, Wei Xun saw that the secret passageway seemed to be densely packed with mummified corpses that appeared like dry tree trunks. All those mummified corpses had their heads cut off, and their gray-brown dry limbs looked terrifying. On the walls of the dark passageway, large and impactful murals were painted in bright colors.
He observed the cracks on the ground where the snow leopard had stepped, but saw that the underground hole only revealed a small part of the passageway, and the passageway was not connected to the rear of the underground city. Wei Xun felt that the room beneath the hole used to be an underground secret room behind the imperial city. Yet, it had been shockingly revealed to the public eye in this way. Looking down from above, this cave was pitch black. Only a weird double-sided Buddha statue with three golden eyes could be discerned!
The shape of the Buddha statue was completely different from a Buddhist Buddha statue, and it exuded a gloomy and eerie aura. There seemed to be a dark and huge abyss behind it, and it was difficult to see what was beyond that.
âYouâre really awesome.â
Wei Xun was not stingy with his praise. He fed the snow leopard a few pieces of yak jerky that he had prepared before departing as a reward. Then he happily brought the snow leopard to the place where he had stumbled.
Wei Xun thought that the Great Bon religionâs temple from the map was not too far away from them. The surrounding earth and stone walls were more like the old walls of the temple, and there were artificially excavated stone on them, which seemed to block the temple.
After observing the places that the snow leopard and the young fox had found, Wei Xun noticed that they didnât actually look like temple ruins. He had a hunch in his heart. He waited for the stale aura to completely dissipate before approaching, looking forward in anticipation to see what he would discover.
Wei Xun saw a large number of brightly colored murals. The murals werenât depicting religious sacrifices or people worshiping the mountain and lake. Instead, there were men and women entangled together while wearing no clothes or shoes. To Wei Xunâs bewilderment, there were even humans entangling with the aquatic reptile and bizarre beasts.
This was actually a mural depicting multiple people gathering together to dual cultivate!
The author has something to say:
Report: the young fox found a tunnel full of mummies!
Wei Xunâs evaluation of this situation: not serious
Report: the snow leopard found a secret room with a strange Buddha statue!
Wei Xunâs evaluation: unreliable
Wei Xun (full of confidence): Look at what Iâll do!
Report: Wei Xun found a mysterious space with dual cultivation murals!
Wei Xun: ???
Puppeteer: Youâre no better than III-9, and you canât find III-250. You can kill that newcomer, the tourist Wei Xun.
II-49 (full of confidence before departing to complete the task): This time I will definitely be able to do it!
âLater I found out that I couldnât even handle Wei Xun.â II-49 (doubting life): Am I really trash??
Iâll update more tomorrow, mua, mua!
Itâs easier for me to pace my updates better when I update an extra chapter every other day. Because I am actually checking various materials, watching documentaries, and sorting out the outline while writing qwq. Thank you little angels for your understanding. This novel is long, so the extra updates will definitely be uploaded!
Reference materials come from the documentary <<Tibetâs Tibet>>, <<Exploring the Secrets of the Lake District in Northern Tibet: Tangra Yumco>> and so on.
In fact, Iâve read a lot of materials, refined and summarized all kinds of materials. Sometimes Iâve mixed up which sentence is referring to materials qaq. Iâll list all the materials once I finish writing this book!