"In fact, it's not just these few days. Since we came to Luoyang, the third grandfather and Uncle Zhou have been a little different from usual. Maybe it's because of the incident decades ago. We haven't experienced it personally, so it's hard to understand their feelings." After saying the words of comforting, Ye Ziqiong earnestly, he patted Shangguan Yi hard: "Senior Brother Shangguan, don't think too much, hurry up and cheer up. My little sister has to rely on you to support her!"

Shangguan Yi was so aroused by her that he immediately threw the loss in his heart behind his head, patted his chest and said, "Junior sister, don't worry, when will I, Shangguan Yi, have you ever been torn down? Just give me instructions if you have any questions!"

...

Under Xu Zhaoyan's urging, each sect quickly launched their own candidates, some of which were known to Xue Chang, such as Qingcheng sect Gai Youren, Emei sect Lingyu, Iron Blood Changhemen Tang Fangzhuo, Feiyu Gang Guo Huaishou, Shaolin Temple Huike, Meishanzhai Jiang Yifeng...

Considering that there are still great risks in the cave, the heads of various sects generally do not take risks in person, but there are very few participating. Most of them are familiar to Xue Chang: Lu Yuan, Taibai Valley, Feng Yanhao, the Yindu Sect, both of them are hurriedly taken over and it is difficult to control the disciples well, so they have to take action to earn prestige. This is understandable. However, Qiu Yunhan of the Tang Sect is different. She has been firmly in the throne of the head of the family for many years, and she has also taken action personally. Even if there may be Xu Zhaoyan's request, the courage she showed cannot but Xue Chang, who has a rift against him, look at him differently.

In the last investigation team formed, Xu Zhaoyan gave 40 places to wandering martial arts people, but there were many people who signed up, and later ten more were the ones. As a result, they were the ones with the most casualties, which caused their enthusiasm to be severely damaged. Therefore, many people retreated this time, resulting in the thirty places not being fully charged.

In addition, although the investigation team was surrounded by Xue Chang, the country-protecting warrior, Xu Zhaoyan was still a little worried and invited Zen Master Wunu and Zhenren Qingsong to join.

Therefore, this team of exploration teams with about 130 people, led by Wang Daosun, the commander of the Gyeonggi Military Affairs Office, was formed.

…………………………………………………………………………

Standing in front of the cave, Xue Chang looked at the entrance of the cave carefully. Its shape was square, with a length of two meters. The cut was smooth and flat, and he couldn't help but wonder: Such a large cave entrance, the Mangshan School did not discover it when it was building the temple?

"According to the leader of Wang, when the Mangshan School moved here, the square was like this now. The stone slabs were all ready-made, and the texture was hard and thick, and it was very deep, so it was difficult to pull it up, so I simply didn't move and used it directly, but I never thought there was such a big secret hidden in it." Wang Daoshun, who was standing aside, explained that the commander of the Gyeonggi Military Affairs Office was ordinary and looked very kind.

"Yes, it has not been discovered for decades. This cave is quite secret. Look at the trace-" Xue Chang pointed to the bottom of the cutout of the cave and sighed: "You can imagine how thick this cave stone is!"

"Master Lu checked the entrance of the cave and said that behind the cave stone there was a cleverly designed and solid mechanism to hold it up to ensure that it fits closely with the surrounding stone slabs and has not fallen down for decades. This time, the sudden appearance of the entrance of the cave was definitely not an accident, but someone opened the mechanism from inside, otherwise it could hold on for another decade-"

"In other words, someone deliberately opened the entrance of the cave and led us over, probably because of some intentions." Xue Chang looked at him and said in a deep voice.

Wang Daoshun did not avoid it and responded frankly: "Mr. Xu and I also think so, but now things are so big, we must thoroughly investigate it!"

Xue Chang turned around and said, "Did you hear it? This is probably a conspiracy. There must be great risks in it. Do you still decide to go on?"

Gu Shijing, who was standing behind him, said with disdain: "If you are afraid, you can go back! I must go down and take a look at such an interesting thing!"

Gu Shijing, Gu Shijing, I don’t know you yet! You were unwilling to attend the martial arts conference before, but now you are so active in a cave. I don’t believe that just because the Taihuang Concubine slapped you, your personality changed!… Xue Chang complained in her heart, but said seriously: “Okay, the people in front have already gone far enough, it’s time for us to go down.”

"I don't want to go with you." Gu Shijing shook her head and said she refused.

Xue Chang said bluntly: "Either we go together or we will go back now!"

"Prince Gu, there are many dangers under the cave, so we require at least two people to go in parallel, so we can take care of each other." Wang Daoshun explained from the side.

Gu Shijing snorted, jumped down from the hole, and landed steadily on the stone steps. Then she seemed to be unintentionally moved a little to the side.

Then Xue Chang fell down and stood beside her.

The stone steps were slanted downward, and the slope was not low. Even if the military inspectors inserted torches every ten meters above the stone wall, illuminating the downward passage clearly, Xue Chang could not see the bottom of the stone steps at a glance, which shows how deep the cave was.

The two of them walked side by side, carefully walking down, and the sound of "da da" footsteps echoed in the passage, particularly clear.

"Ah!" Gu Shijing suddenly screamed, her whole body staggered for a moment, and fell forward.

Xue Chang's eyes were quick and quick, and reached out to grab it, and said teasingly: "If you really want to leave alone, you will fall."

Gu Shijing did not refute, but turned her head and looked behind her.

It turned out that the stone steps should have been hewn directly on the rock, with uneven concave and many edges. Gu Shijing's long skirt almost hugged the floor, but she was hooked by her.

Gu Shijing pulled her a few times but couldn't get her away.

Xue Chang had to bend down to untie her, and reminded her: "The conditions in this cave are bad, and you may encounter such a situation from time to time when wearing a long skirt."

Gu Shijing hesitated for a moment, then picked up the corner of the skirt with one hand, pulled out the sword with the other, and swung her wrist. In a blink of an eye, she cut off a piece of long skirt, revealing her well-proportioned, lotus-white calves.

Her decisive and straightforward approach made Xue Chang look at him differently.

The two finally finished the stone steps and turned their heads to look back, but they could not see the entrance of the cave.

Below the stone steps is a narrow corridor, which can only be accessed by one person. Xue Chang took the initiative to walk in front, and Gu Shijing did not object to this.

It was precisely because the corridor was narrow and there were no torches on the cave wall that this section of the road became pitch black. Fortunately, Xue Chang brought the torch at Wang Daoshun's reminder in advance and lit it before walking the stone steps. He held the torch and walked forward. Gu Shijing followed closely behind, and in some places where the road was narrower and the light was darker, the two even put their backs on their chests. Gu Shijing exhaled like orchids and poured into Xue Chang's neck. Such a beautiful scene made Xue Chang feel inappropriate, but he considered that Gu Shijing was a woman and might be a little scared in this narrow and dark cave, so he did not give any reminders to avoid hurting his self-esteem.

Fortunately, although this passage is winding, it is not very long. Not long after, the two of them walked out of the narrow passage and stood in a wide underground passage: it was three meters wide and more than two meters high. The ground was paved with flat blue bricks, with stone walls painted with cloud patterns on both sides, and night pearls on the top, emitting faint fluorescence...

Xue Chang looked around and couldn't help but say, "Master Gu, have you noticed that the stone steps before were extremely rough, while this passage seemed simple and elegant, completely incompatible, but was forcibly put together..."

Before Gu Shijing responded, Wang Daoshun's voice came from behind: "Huayang Hou's judgment is correct. We have also analyzed it before. It is believed that the Tianzun Sect probably discovered the underground bedroom of an ancient prince while digging a tunnel, so it took it for itself."

"It makes sense." Xue Chang nodded and waved his hand and said, "Commander Wang, Zen Master Wunu, the road here is spacious, there is no need for you to drag it behind."

"Huayang Hou didn't know that last time our formation was too dense. When the dense poisonous arrows were shot or huge rocks were rolling in, everyone was injured because they couldn't dodge them too late. So this time, this time, such a request was made so that when there was danger, everyone had time to dodge or rescue them." Wang Daoshun explained.

Xue Chang thought it makes sense.

At this time, Guo Huaishou's voice came from the front: "Sect Master Xue, don't stop, please follow us quickly. With you behind us, we will feel much more at ease."

"Let's go." Xue Chang said to Gu Shijing.

Under the reflection of the fire, Gu Shijing's delicate cheeks were a little rosy. She didn't say anything, but just nodded gently.

The two of them walked forward on the solid ground and walked for a long time. Seeing the path ahead still unable to see the end, Xue Chang couldn't help asking, "Commander Wang, do you know where this road leads?"

"According to our marks over the past few days, it is generally far away from Luoshui and heads towards the northwest..."

Xue Chang thought for a while: "In other words, this road leads to the depths of Mangshan?"

"It can be said that although the specific location of the underground palace has not been discovered yet, it must have exceeded the scope of the mountain where the Mangshan School is located. Lord Xu has asked the troops of the Northern Camp of the Capital to search carefully in the northwest of the mountain, and strive to discover the exit of the underground palace earlier to prevent the murderer from escaping."

Xue Chang said in contemplation: "There are mountains and rivers here, and it may not be easy to find an exit in a short period of time."

"Yes, but unfortunately the emperor gave Lord Xu the authority that he could only mobilize such soldiers." Wang Daoshun said in a deep voice: "So we have to speed up the search of the underground palace and try to capture these murderers in one fell swoop."
Chapter completed!