荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

What powerful energy! I can’t believe that such a dreadful energy was hidden beneath the Hyderabad Mountains!

Wang Chong was stunned as he sensed the terrifying ripples of energy. These spatial disturbances made him think back to the scene of Qutaybah cleaving open space with his sword. He sensed that this energy was linked to some mysterious other spacetime. The energy he sensed right now was only an extremely small amount of energy leaking out.

Wang Chong’s mind was in turmoil, countless thoughts flitting through it.

Wang Chong suddenly began to recall memories from long ago. During the onset of the calamity, if he remembered correctly, the otherworldly invaders had entered this world through three areas. Wang Chong clearly recalled that one of these places was Sindhu, near the Hyderabad Mountains.

However, given how much time had passed and that Wang Chong had never been to Sindhu before, he could not verify these things and make a firm judgment. If that rumor was true, then could it be that the spatial gate was actually in the Hyderabad Mountains? But why had this energy appeared beneath the Hyderabad Mountains, and what connection did it have with the otherworldly invaders?

Wang Chong was in a motionless daze for some time, then suddenly, bzzz! Wang Chong took control of the centipede monster and began to guide it toward the concentration of energy down below. Wang Chong could sense that he was extremely close to it now.

“Stop!”

Without any warning, an old and mellow voice erupted in Wang Chong’s mind, suffused with extreme solemnity and caution.

“!!!”

Wang Chong was shocked by this voice.

Who’s there?

This place was more than fifteen hundred meters from the surface, and his surroundings were pitch-black and almost bereft of air. It was impossible for there to be anyone else here.

“Hurry and stop! Young man, that is not something you should touch!” the voice reiterated in its grave and solemn tone.

Buzz!

Wang Chong immediately unleashed his enormous Psychic Energy into his surroundings, and yet to his surprise, his superb Psychic Energy arts were unable to find a single presence in this all-around scan.

“High Priest!” Wang Chong blurted out in realization.

No one had as of yet been able to surpass Wang Chong in the Psychic Energy domain, and yet this person had been able to project his voice into Wang Chong’s mind and still remain undiscovered. In all of Sindhu, the only person Wang Chong could think of that was capable of this feat was the High Priest. There could be no one else.

When Wang Chong blurted out the name, the underground became deathly silent, but the voice quickly spoke once more.

“Young man, hurry and leave this place. That place is not something that anyone can touch!”

Wang Chong thought for a few moments, took one last glance in the direction of the energy ripples, and then immediately began to burrow upward. Although this person had yet to state their identity, that moment of silence had told Wang Chong enough.

Several dozen feet from the bottom of the Hyderabad Mountains’ foundations, Wang Chong stopped. High Priest, this junior, the Young Marquis of the Great Tang of the Central Plains, Wang Chong, seeks an audience! He suffused his Psychic Energy with this thought and unleashed it into the surroundings, attempting to communicate his message.

Although he had failed to find the High Priest himself, Wang Chong’s efforts had not been fruitless. After some analysis, he had determined a rough area where the High Priest was, but he could not identify the exact location.

All was quiet and dark. Deep underground, everything was unknown. Wang Chong stood motionless, awaiting the High Priest’s reply. There were no more energy ripples, and the entire world seemed to have gone still. After what seemed like both a second and like endless epochs, Wang Chong finally heard a long sigh.

“Haaah...”

This long sigh communicated countless meanings, and Wang Chong had never heard such a complex sigh before. For a moment, Wang Chong felt like he had experienced an entire person’s life.

“Come! I know that you have been looking for me!”

The voice immediately vanished, but a few moments later, a ball of energy appeared out of nowhere, a dim ‘candle’ appearing in Wang Chong’s perception. It wasn’t very strong, but it felt like the pulses it gave off would never weaken, no matter how far away one was.

I finally found him!

Wang Chong rejoiced as he compelled the centipede monster to travel toward the ball of energy.

While he was still several dozen feet from the bottom of the Hyderabad Mountains, the High Priest spoke once more. “The crevice on your right-hand side. Enter from there!”

Wang Chong reached out with his senses, and, just as expected, he discovered a crevice wide enough to allow a single man entry.

Wang Chong took in a deep breath, dismounted from the centipede monster, and entered the stone crevice. This crevice appeared narrow from the outside, but its interior was spacious.

It’s a natural underground tunnel! Wang Chong mentally commented. His senses sharpening as he felt success close at hand, he began to nimbly navigate the tunnel like a civet cat.

The tunnel was winding yet wide. Following along it, Wang Chong quickly started to climb upward.

Around ten minutes later, Wang Chong had climbed seven to eight hundred meters, causing Wang Chong to murmur in shock at the height and depth of this crevice. Just when Wang Chong was wondering how much longer this crevice went on, the High Priest spoke once more.

“You’ve arrived. Enter!”

Wang Chong raised his head and saw an enormous metal gate above him. A huge pearl had been embedded atop the gate, exuding a dim light.

Wang Chong was just about to push open the gate and enter when he spotted several strange carvings on top of the door, which caused him to stop.

These are... words!

Wang Chong carefully examined these words under the dim light of the pearl and discovered that these words were different from the language of any other country. This language seemed to be extremely old.

“Congratulations to user for discovering the language of the more-than-three-thousand-year-old ancient Harappa1! User has been rewarded with 100 points of Destiny Energy!”

Wang Chong suddenly heard the Stone of Destiny’s voice in his mind.

Ancient Harappa?

Wang Chong’s body shivered in shock. He had never imagined that the inconspicuous words on this steel gate belonged to such an ancient language.

“Stone of Destiny, attempt to use the Riddle of Destiny to translate the words on this gate,” Wang Chong immediately ordered.

“Request denied! User is not at a high enough level and does not have enough information. Translation is impossible!” The Stone of Destiny’s reply was almost immediate.

Still not enough?

Wang Chong sighed and put the matter aside.

Thump! Wang Chong pushed open the gate and entered.

Wang Chong had imagined many ways in which his meeting with the Sindhu High Priest would take place, and he had also imagined what he would see behind this gate. But he had never imagined that it would be a dead end!

Behind the steel gate was a pitch-black and filthy cave, the ground rough and uneven. Other than Wang Chong, there was nothing else in the room.

There wasn’t even a table or chair. This appeared to be some sort of trap.

“High Priest?!” Wang Chong probed.

All remained quiet, and the High Priest remained silent. Wang Chong called out several times, and then he immediately sensed that something was wrong.

When leaving the centipede monster, he had taken a lungful of air, but after climbing up and also speaking several times, he had almost used up all the air available to him.

And without enough air, not even a Great General like Wang Chong could survive seven to eight hundred feet underground. Wang Chong’s breathing became hurried and his entire body verged on suffocation.

Just as Wang Chong was about to reach his limits and turn to leave, a voice spoke once more.

“Endure for a little longer!”

Wang Chong was flabbergasted, not understanding what the Sindhu High Priest was saying. A moment later, the stones overhead began to crumble, and then countless pieces of stone began to rain down. At this moment, the entire mountain trembled, and then, whoosh! A stream of air blew in from overhead.

Upon sensing this fresh air, Wang Chong immediately took in a deep breath, but inside, he was as stunned as could be.

He was deep underground, and without the burrowing centipede monster, not even a Great General would have been able to reach this place. That the Sindhu High Priest was able to reach through space to instantly guide a stream of air through the crevices in the mountains was a sign of his terrifying abilities.

“Many thanks!”

Even at his slowest, Wang Chong understood that this was the High Priest’s work. If the High Priest had wanted to kill him, he clearly wouldn’t have gone to such trouble.

“You should not have come here!”

The cave was empty, but Wang Chong could clearly sense the voice of the High Priest in his mind.

“Is High Priest referring to the underground energy source or the question I asked the substitute High Priest?” Wang Chong calmly said.

There was nothing but the hardy stone of the Hyderabad Mountains around him. If the High Priest was not willing, Wang Chong would find it very hard to force him out.

“Both!”

The Sindhu High Priest sighed, his voice extremely old.

“You have read the Book of Paimon. You should already know that the more you understand, the more danger your life is in!”

Wang Chong remained calm, but his eyes twitched. Just as he had speculated, although the High Priest was deep underground, nothing could escape his eyes.

“There are some things that are inevitable. The sun will rise and the moon will fall. These things are also inescapable.”

Rather than running and running, he might as well seek out the truth. At the very least, he would not panic when the calamity fell.

Since he was here, he might as well make himself comfortable, so with a sweep of his sleeve, Wang Chong seated himself cross-legged on the floor of the cave.

______________

1. The Harappan civilization lasted from 3300 – 1300 BCE and flourished on the shores of the Indus River. Its two most famous cities are Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. At some point, a lack of water caused the civilization to decline and abandon its cities, bringing about an end to the Harappan civilization.↩