Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“Ahem, what are you all just standing there for? Hurry up and find a way out.”

I coughed dryly and put away the command token.

Inside the circle, several injured, elderly, and weak people lay on the ground, surrounded by the younger ones. Faced with the terrifying Man-eating Snakes, everyone had set aside their differences and cooperated for a brief moment.

Now that Jiang Haoyan and I were back, and having witnessed my methods just now, the others didn’t dare harbor even a hint of resistance. They obediently followed along to search for an exit.

I walked over to the edge of the circular pit from earlier and leaned over to look down. Only then did I realize the pit wasn’t as deep as I had imagined.

Before, it had been hard to tell because it was carpeted in snakes, but now that they were all gone, sunlight streamed down from above. The pit was about ten odd meters deep. On the surrounding walls, there were actually arched openings that made the place look like a Roman Colosseum, as if a giant beast were hidden behind every archway.

Complex snake patterns were carved around the entrances. Zhu Tanjian, limping on one leg, took one look down and couldn’t tear his eyes away.

“This style is completely unheard of in the history of ancient architecture. We have to go down and take a look.”

The people from the Program Team nodded in agreement one after another, but Tong Wei’s men all shook their heads in refusal, their faces full of resistance.

“Who knows what else is hiding in there? If you want to go down, go ahead, but we’re not doing it.”

Zhu Tanjian looked at me pleadingly.

“Qiao Moyu, my leg is injured. Could I trouble you to go down and check it out?”

Fine. I’d still need him to help break the curse once we got back, so I could only brace myself and agree.

I grabbed the snake skin that had been used as a vine earlier and slid down into the deep pit. Jiang Haoyan started to follow, but I glared at him.

“Don’t come down. I’ll tie this snake skin around myself; if things look wrong, just pull me up.”

Once I reached the bottom of the pit, I was even more surprised.

There were actually murals painted on the surrounding walls. I turned on my flashlight and walked around the bottom of the pit, the shock in my heart beyond words.

According to the content of the murals, this really was Chiyou’s tribe.

After Chiyou died, a Great Shaman brought one of his ox horns here and performed many sacrificial rituals. There were nine arched gates around these walls, and behind each one was a Mass Grave.

The Mass Graves were filled with mountains of bones and rivers of blood. It was unknown which generation of Great Shaman it had reached, but Chiyou’s horn actually came to life.

That horn transformed into a giant python and devoured the entire tribe, except for the Great Shaman.

I couldn’t understand the mural that followed.

The giant python coiled around the Great Shaman. Later, the Great Shaman became pregnant; the drawing showed a high, bulging belly, and then one Man-eating Snake after another crawled out from between her legs.

The Great Shaman grabbed a snake and bit off its Snake Crown, exactly like the scene I had witnessed deep within the main hall.

I was mesmerized, walking slowly along the murals. The final painting, however, wasn’t on the outer wall. Instead, it left behind only a few lines that led deep into a massive archway. It was likely painted on the passage walls behind that gate.

I raised my flashlight and stepped into the archway.