inspire-indiana Chapter 422: Fighting in the Temple
Chapter 422: Fighting in the Temple
The rat man shrank his neck and took every step carefully, like a frightened turtle.
Hu Qing shook his head helplessly upon seeing this, but his eyes were involuntarily drawn to the shadow at the end of the passage.
The outline of a building was vaguely visible there, but the dim light made it difficult to make out details.
"I'll go take a look ahead." Hu Qing said as he was about to take a step forward when a muffled "puff" sound suddenly came from behind him.
Gu Yang patted the wall with his palm and raised a ball of black ash, and the dust immediately filled the entire passage.
"Ahem...what the hell..." Gu Yang waved his hands to disperse the dust, and suddenly found that his palms were covered with thick dust.
He clapped his hands in disgust, stirring up a cloud of gray mist.
"Cough cough cough!" The rat man jumped up and down because of choking, and the little purple dragon also sneezed, and its scales exploded.
Hu Qing gathered spiritual power at his fingertips and waved his fingertips gently. A breeze blew by, dispersing all the dust in the sky.
He walked to Gu Yang and asked, "What did you find?"
Gu Yang did not answer, but stared intently at the stone wall he had just wiped.
Hu Qing waved his sleeves, and the white spiritual power turned into a whirlwind that swept away the smoke and dust.
When the vision became clear, a series of dimly colored murals appeared on the mottled stone walls.
He gently stroked the mottled mural with his fingers, and the traces of time's erosion were clearly visible on his fingertips.
He motioned to Gu Yang to go back to the beginning of the passage together, and the two of them and the dragon re-examined these stories buried by time.
In the first mural, the snow-capped mountains are outlined with rough chalk, and the mountainside is dotted with countless small figures painted in cinnabar.
Those little figures have different postures, some are hunting, some are offering sacrifices, and the breath of life is vividly displayed on the wall.
Hu Qing noticed that although the paint had faded, the posture of each little figure was clearly discernible.
They all faced the top of the mountain, with their hands raised high, as if praying for something.
"Is this... a sacrificial scene?" Gu Yang narrowed his eyes, and a little light gathered at his fingertips, illuminating the finer parts of the mural.
The little purple dragon suddenly raised its neck and let out a low humming sound towards the mural.
Hu Qing touched its scales soothingly and continued walking forward.
The second mural made everyone hold their breath involuntarily.
The originally peaceful snow-capped mountains were suddenly covered by violent brushstrokes——
The black paint outlines a distorted hurricane, and the dense white dots look like pouring hail.
The most shocking thing was the little red men falling down one after another. Some of them curled up with their heads in their hands, while others were directly smashed to pieces by the hail.
The painter used sharp brushstrokes to depict the severity of the disaster, and one can even feel the despair of the people in the painting.
"It seems to be recording some kind of natural disaster." Hu Qing whispered.
When they came to the third mural, Xiao Zilong suddenly became excited and his claws unconsciously grabbed Hu Qing's shoulders.
In the center of this huge painting that takes up the entire wall is a figure decorated with gold leaf.
Although time has caused most of the gold foil to fall off, one can still see that it is a majestic figure with arms outstretched.
His outline resembled a human, but he had a protrusion on his head that looked like a dragon's horn, and what unfolded behind him wasn't a cape, but...
"This is... Dragon Wing!" Gu Yang blurted out.
On the broad wings spread out by the figure in the painting, every scale and feather is carefully depicted, and seems to be shining slightly under the light of the spiritual lamp.
Hu Qing gazed at the sheltered little people in the mural.
Different from the tragic scene in the second picture, the red people here all knelt on the ground and kowtowed devoutly to the dragon-shaped figure.
What is even more intriguing is that the blizzard is depicted in the painting as being separated by an invisible barrier, raging outside the protective circle but unable to harm those inside.
"So it was this...dragon man? Who saved them?" The rat man bravely came closer, his shrill voice full of awe.
The most interesting thing is the fourth mural - the entire wall is painted with a huge scale.
The snow-capped mountain is placed on the left tray of the scale, and the majestic figure is placed on the right tray.
What's even more bizarre is that the second half of the mural has merged with the ice wall, and the paint is twisted and deformed under the ice, as if it were still flowing at the moment of being frozen.
The Nezumi suddenly shuddered. "My Lords, why do I feel like... this scale is weighing something?"
Hu Qing did not answer, his eyes fixed on the hands of the protector in the mural—
That gesture was not a defense at all, but some kind of ancient sacrificial ritual!
"No." Hu Qing's voice suddenly turned cold. "These murals are not recording history, but telling a story of a transaction."
They walked past the thick stone wall, and the wall in front of them was completely covered with ice.
The ice walls on both sides of the passage are crystal clear, like huge crystal coffins.
As everyone went deeper, a faint blue light suddenly lit up inside the ice wall, illuminating everything sealed inside in detail.
Gu Yang stopped and was attracted by the scene in the ice wall on the left.
Frozen there was a giant wearing ice crystal armor and a thorn-shaped crown on his head, each spike shining with cold light.
The giant sat on the ice crystal throne, leaning on a giant sword taller than a man in both hands. Although his eyes were closed, he still exuded a suffocating majesty.
The patterns on the armor are incredibly detailed, and even the chains between the armor plates are clearly visible.
"Tsk tsk...what craftsmanship..." Gu Yang unconsciously stretched out his hand to touch the ice wall, but suddenly retracted it when it was about to touch.
"Could it be the same as the ice wall of the snow cave before, with a dark shadow inside?" He looked inside the ice wall with some uncertainty.
At the same time, the little purple dragon let out a soft whimper.
On the right side of the ice wall, a huge blue ice dragon is lying in a prone position, sleeping forever.
Each of its scales seems to be carved from the finest sapphire, emitting a dreamy halo under the dim light.
The dragon's head is lowered, and its whiskers are clearly visible, even the wrinkles on its eyelids are lifelike.
Hu Qing placed his hand on the ice wall and closed his eyes for a moment, "No signs of life, but..."
He opened his eyes, his brow furrowed. "These aren't dead objects. It's more like they've been forcibly frozen in time by some force."
Just as everyone stopped to observe, the rat man suddenly twitched his nose and looked towards the end of the passage with shining eyes:
"Sir! The aura of treasure at the end is so thick that it can't be dissolved!" It was so excited that its beard trembled. "Let me go and explore the way first!"
Without waiting for a response, the rat man scurried out in a grey shadow.
As it ran, its body gradually shrank, and eventually became a gray rat the size of a palm, running nimbly towards the darkness.
"Wait!" Before Hu Qing could finish his warning, the rat man's figure had disappeared at the intersection of light and darkness at the end.
Just as the gray rat was about to reach the end, suddenly, a huge shadow swept across!
"boom--!"
The dragon's tail slammed down like an icicle, and the ratman didn't even have time to scream before he was whipped away, hit the ice wall and slid down, curled up into a ball and shivered.
The ice wall on the right side of the passage suddenly rippled, and the sealed ice dragon opened its scarlet eyes.
The ice surface rippled like the water surface, and its body penetrated unhindered, with the crisp sound of ice crystals breaking as its scales rubbed against each other.
The moment the ice dragon landed, its huge body began to shrink until it was the same size as the passage, but the ferocious aura became even more condensed.
“Intruder…” The ice dragon opened its huge mouth and spewed out a foul-smelling cold air. “Get… out… of here…”
Its voice was hoarse and broken, as if it had not spoken for a long time.
Hu Qing's pupils shrank slightly - although the realm of this ice dragon was unstable, the pressure it exuded was that of an early sixth level, which was comparable to his strength.
What is even more frightening is that there is an ancient and decadent aura surrounding the ice dragon, and it is obvious that its heyday is far beyond this.
The Ice Dragon's gaze passed over everyone and locked onto Xiao Zi on Hu Qing's shoulder, and fighting spirit surged in his scarlet vertical pupils.
Little Zilong was not afraid at all and jumped off Hu Qing's shoulder.
"Roar--!"
As the purple light surged, Xiao Zi's body expanded rapidly, and the purple lines on his scales burst into dazzling light.
In the blink of an eye, a purple dragon similar in size to the ice dragon stood with its head held high, its beard flying and a blazing fighting spirit in its eyes.
The ice dragon let out a hoarse roar and pounced forward suddenly.
The two dragons bit each other in an instant, and the collision of claws and scales produced dazzling sparks.
What was amazing was that as they fought, the surrounding ice walls began to melt, and the originally narrow passage turned into an empty ice field in the blink of an eye!