Chapter 361: Rock Art

The three formed a triangular formation and advanced along the tunnel.

The further they went, the fewer signs of human construction appeared, and the tunnel began to twist and wind like a natural cave.

"How long have we been walking?"

Sikong Lan was slightly out of breath; since last night, none of them had taken a drop of water or a grain of food, and even with a martial artist's physique, it was becoming unbearable.

"About two hours."

Zhang Fuluang reached out to brace himself against the wall, steadying his slightly disordered breath, while circulating his inner energy to produce saliva and alleviate the intensifying thirst.

"Chew, chew."

From the dim distance came the sound of chewing; Zhang Fuluang and Sikong Lan were startled at first, then saw Li Cheng holding a large pancake in his left hand and a water bag in his right, eating and drinking simultaneously.

Sikong Lan looked pained. "Master Pi Fu, where did you even get this food?"

"I've always carried it on me."

Li Cheng said as if it were obvious: "When you sneak out in night robes to steal things, don't you bring food? What if you faint from low blood sugar halfway and wake up tied to a chair by a fair-skinned, beautiful rich young lady?"

What a load of nonsense.

Sikong Lan covered his face in silence; he had just been genuinely afraid this tunnel had no end, and even wondered whether, back in the stone chamber, he should have followed Li Cheng's advice and amplified his foot sweat and skin flakes to obtain food.

Zhang Fuluang swallowed hard. "Brother Pi Fu, do you have any more food?"

"I do."

Li Cheng reached into his robe, quietly activated his three-dimensional storage, pulled out two large pancakes, and tossed them to the two, adding casually: "Ah, back when I was imprisoned in the army and nearly starved to death, it was my wife who secretly slipped me these pancakes. Later, they became known as 'wife cakes.'"

???

So you're Zhu Chongba, are you?

Your nine clans seem a bit too numerous. jpg

Sikong Lan buried his face in his pancake and pretended not to hear Li Cheng's "loyal? Not loyal at all" remark, while Zhang Fuluang sensed something odd, bit into his pancake, and hurried forward.

The tunnel ahead suddenly opened into a broad, elliptical space, its walls stretching outward like a square, with a single, naturally formed stone pillar rising from the floor to the cavern's ceiling.

"This is…"

Zhang Fuluang raised the luminous pearl high; on both walls, colorful paintings depicted humans, animals, and tools. He exclaimed in surprise: "Huashan Rock Art?"

The Ming Dynasty's "Record of Strange Tales" notes: "In Taiping Prefecture, Guangxi, cliffs several li long display figures holding swords and staffs, some headless."

Huashan Rock Art lies on the eastern bank of the Ming River in Huashan Village, Tuolong Township, Ningming County, Chongzuo City, Guangxi—a series of murals painted two thousand years ago by the ancestors of the Luoyue Kingdom on inward-sloping cliff faces, officially listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016.

Huashan Rock Art used red ochre powder from hematite as pigment, mostly red. Its style is ancient and crude: figures show only heads, necks, torsos, and limbs, depicting scenes of ancient sacrificial rituals.

But here, red hematite pigment makes up only about fifty percent; the painting technique is far more refined, with figures possessing distinct outlines.

Li Cheng squinted closely at the murals, then pried at the surface with his fingers. "The commonality is that both used animal fat as a binder and medium."

"This is not Luoyue Kingdom rock art at its core, but it shares countless subtle connections with it."

Li Cheng did not need to activate his Information Synthesis Goggles to recite this information.

As for why he knew…

Uh, mainly because Huiyu—she, an alien, claimed to be Heaven's Chosen Han, unilaterally acquired Chinese citizenship, and constantly spoke of "Han and Tang grandeur" and "I've been Han for ages."

To prepare for her future ID card, she actually binge-watched countless short videos covering ancient and modern Chinese history, clothing, literature, cuisine, customs…

And incidentally served as background noise for Li Cheng while he tightened screws.

Sikong Lan looked stunned, murmuring: "Luoyue Kingdom… could the rumors be true?"

Li Cheng and Zhang Fuluang turned to him; Sikong Lan explained: "You two know the Tu family claims descent from the Dan people, right? The Dan mostly live along southern coasts, scattered across the sea, their ancestors traceable to the Baiyue."

The Baiyue, also called Yue or ancient Yue people, was a collective term for ancient ethnic groups in southeastern China during the pre-Qin era, covering a vast area including Wu Yue, Yang Yue, Nan Yue, Xi Ou, and Luoyue branches, which once formed ancient states like Fulu and Luoyue.

Huashan Rock Art is a relic of the Luoyue Kingdom.

"One of the biggest rules of the Brocade Uniform Guard is to ask fewer questions about what you shouldn't know, but I've heard fragments from my superior."

Sikong Lan spoke solemnly: "Rumors say the Tu family's ancestors first amassed wealth by selling jewels not from southern sea pearls or sunken ancient ships, but from relics of the ancient Cangze Kingdom, sunk beneath the sea."

"Their strange customs—building mansions on islands rather than shore, marrying out but never marrying in—stem from their belief that they are descendants of the ancient Cangze Kingdom among the Dan, not subjects of Great Ming."

Zhang Fuluang had never heard the name "Cangze Kingdom" before; he immediately frowned and asked: "And then?"

"And that's it."

Sikong Lan scratched his head. "My captain told me only this—that the Tu family defies imperial rule, hoards wealth, secretly practices illicit and lewd worship, and shows signs of rebellion. This mission is to find evidence."

You might as well have said nothing.

Zhang Fuluang's eye twitched; he silently stepped back several paces and studied the murals closely.

The entire elliptical chamber's walls were covered in murals, narrating a complete "Prince's Revenge" story in clockwise sequence.

The story begins: the king of a kingdom (wearing feather adornments and a wooden mask, possibly serving as both king and high priest in ancient times) was murdered and usurped by his minister.

The traitor killed the king's entire family and took the prince to a cliffside altar, chopped his body into pieces, and cast them into the sea—human sacrifice was not uncommon in that era. In ancient cosmology, the higher the status and greater the value of the human offering, the more it pleased heaven, earth, ancestors, and spirits.

The Shang people even invented a host of characters—fa, xi, mao, sui, jiao, zu, er—all describing methods of human sacrifice.

In short, the dismembered prince sank into the sea, his severed head staring open-eyed, carried by ocean currents to the deepest abyss, where he encountered a three-legged, frog-shaped stone fused with the shapes of snakes, fish, salamanders, and newts.

The Baiyue branches widely revered frogs, originating from primal fertility beliefs, sharing roots with snake worship. This was not surprising—but what followed was baffling.

The prince's severed head spoke, pleading his injustice to the stone. The stone's eyes wept blood; marine creatures in the surrounding waters spontaneously gathered the prince's severed limbs and assembled them into a human outline.

But after corrosion by seawater and gnawing by shrimp and crabs, his torso was severely damaged. The prince's head pleaded again; the stone wept blood a second time, granting him fish gills, whale tendons, seahorse belly, pearl eyes, and a frog's tongue, allowing him to be reborn and return to shore.

(End of Chapter)