The steps were quite long and went deep down. Jiang Xiu estimated that it must have crossed over 100 m and the visibility inside was quite bad, so they climbed down quite slowly. After 10 minutes, they reached the underground.
It was very spacious down there and entirely different from the underground tombs commonly known. The darkness seemed limitless, and except for the pathway under their feet, it appeared as if there was nothing on either side. They looked like overhanging cliffs with an unknown depth. It wasn't possible to view the bottom with the naked eye.
"Have we reached it?"
"This is the ancient city?"
The view before their eyes was exactly the same as that on the data they possessed, but seeing it with their own eyes shocked them even more than when viewing the images. No one could've imagined that such an ancient underground city existed in the depths of the desert. Moreover, this old city had been here for 400 years.
"Look for a water source first!"
Professor Xu and a few others were already at their limits due to the thirst, their throats had gone dry.
As the ancient city was a place where humans lived once, there was no doubt a water source existed here. They could already feel the humidity in the air after reaching this place as it was higher than that of the desert outside.
The party passed through the ancient path and entered the city. The scene inside the city left them in utter shock. They saw houses as well as streets. There were broken sculptures of divinities everywhere, and each place exuded an ancient, mysterious aura.
"Aaaah!" Qiu Yinru suddenly screamed.
Everyone got spooked due to her scream.
"What happened?"
Qiu Yinru stood there rigidly, trembling all over. She stuttered while replying, "T-There's a skeleton."
Only then did they notice that there was a skeleton under Qiu Yinru's feet. From its shape, it appeared to be a human skeleton.
Professor Xu coaxed her, "Don't worry, it's nothing to worry about…"
"It's nothing new for an underground tomb to have corpses."
However, as they made their way inside, the no. of bodies kept increasing. Jiang Xiu took note of the sadness revealed on Xie Ting's face. She acted with utmost care so that she didn't step on any of them.
Jiang Xiu quietly asked her, "Lady Xie, do you know who they are?"
Xie Ting shook her head, "I-I don't know…"
Since she was the later generation of the ancient city, it was possible that the bodies here were of her ancestors from several hundred years back. It made sense that she couldn't bear to step on them.
Jiang Xiu crouched down beside a body. This body laid back at the wall, and he noticed that its throat, as well as some of the other places like the chest, had all blackened.
"Looks like they were poisoned."
Xie Ting remained silent.
At a distance, Professor Xu added, "Student Xiu, you aren't entirely correct. We also checked the bodies. They were first positioned then killed."
"It's said that the Ming Dynasty's army had come here 400 years ago and obtained their help, it's a pity…"
They had deduced that it was possible the path they were walking on right now was a street back then. Bodies laid on both sides. By making deductions based on the vestiges, it appeared as if they had encountered an invading force and thus massacred. It seemed that the natives of the city were slaughtered. They hadn't moved elsewhere or went into seclusion due to climatic changes in the desert.
As they passed by the first street, they saw several kinds of dead bodies. Some of them only had heads, and it seemed there were even 6-year-old children among them. They too were first poisoned then killed.
"So cruel!" Qiu Yinru stated in a low voice.
Xie Ting lowered her head and stayed silent.
These bodies still had jewelry on them. There were pearls, agates, diamonds and they seemed to be pretty ancient so their price would be pretty high. One set would no doubt sell for millions or maybe even tens of millions, and they also had a pretty high archaeological value as some of them included equipment used in daily life.
Jiang Xiu swept his gaze past all of them and noticed someone was planning to take those things, "I advise you not to move those things. I removed the curse for you using a trick so that the curser would think you are already dead. If you take things from here, the curser will sense that you are still alive. I believe there's no need for me to explain what would happen then."
After hearing those words, Chen Dewen quickly placed the pearl necklace back.
"Aaaaahhhhhhhh…"
A heart-wrenching scream resounded within the calm city all of sudden. They looked a person flame up and then turn into ashes in the blink of an eye. It was Sang Bao.
"Fire God's curse…"
"It's the Fire God's curse…"
He had burnt to death the same as the others before.
"Why did this happen?"
Professor Xu, Qiu Yinru as well as the others looked at their wrists. Their expressions morphed once they did as the flame pattern which had disappeared had reappeared.
Jiang Xiu furrowed his brows, "What did he do just now?"
No one replied.
Xie Ting's ice-cold voice came through at this moment, "He must've coveted the treasures here and taken one of them."
Professor Xu asked with worry, "Jiang Xiu, what should we do now? The curse is back again. How about you try what you did before again?" The other students all looked at Jiang Xiu with a pleading gaze.
"The ascension method was just a trick. It can only be used once."
"Ah?"
They were all flustered.
"What should we do then?"
Jiang Xiu looked at his own wrist as well. The flame pattern had appeared on his wrist too. He furrowed his brows. The method he had used affected all of them, and if anyone one of them messed up, all of them would be affected.
Xie Ting's dispirited sounded at everyone's ears, "Mr. Jiang, It's appeared on my hand as well."
Li Chengzhi asked him, "Mr. Jiang, is there anything else we can do?"
"I don't have any methods left…" He naturally had a way to remove it, but it was impossible for them to do it. It was to use power to overcome power. The curse could be destroyed by using a power which was several times larger than the curse's power, but Jiang Xiu was only a Demigod right now, and this was a God's curse, so he too was powerless. He muttered to himself, "Since this curse was placed due to this ancient city, there should be some methods here to remove to curse."
Archaeologists naturally researched curses as well. It did make sense that the means to remove the curse would be in the city as cause and effect were interlinked.
Professor Xu said, "Let's look in the town quickly then."
All of them were anxious right now, so they hurried inside.
Yin-Yang Fire God's fury, crawl towards the Hell on the other shore; at another world, you shall rest forever.
"Everyone, look here."
"Hmm, doesn't it look like a school?"
Their attention fell on the walls as there was writing here. Moreover, there were many dead bodies on the ground of varying sizes. From the appearance, it seemed like they were all children.
They too were first poisoned then killed.
"What language is this?"
The writing on the walls hadn't vanished, so Jiang Xiu went over to take a look. He too couldn't make sense of these characters and deduced that this must've been created by the natives of the ancient city. By looking at the style, he found that it resembled the writing on the Longevity Stone a bit.
"Huh? Something is moving inside this child's waist pouch?" A student noticed that something was moving inside the waist pouch of a dead body on the ground.
"DON'T OPEN IT!" Xie Ting screamed in alarm.
But it was already too late. That student had already opened the pouch, releasing several firefly-like winged insects outside.
"Quickly run!"
Xie Ting shouted and then took the lead to run in a hurry.
No one could react in time. They only heard a mosquito-like buzzing sound as the firefly-like insects surged out from within the pouch and surrounded the person who had opened the bag. He screamed in pain as the insects covered all his body. Those who looked at him could only see a red monster which gave them goosebumps.
"What are those?"
Xie Ting said while running "Gu raised by the girl of the ancient city to protect herself…"
Xie Ting had already realized that it was a Gu Pouch when she saw it and knew there were Gu inside it. As they were moving, it meant they were still alive. As 400 years had passed, there was no doubt they would have multiplied crazily.
She turned back to look at that cluster of red lights packed together accompanied by a buzzing sound. They seemed like they would keep pursuing them.
"Run faster! They are chasing us!"
It wasn't like they could fly so they couldn't keep running fast as they were already tired. They clenched their jaws tightly and ran with all their might. Someone shouted at this moment, "There's a palace hall over here, let's go inside."
The group rushed inside and then closed the door.
"Aaaaahhhh!"
Screams full of alarm came through from inside. After entering the palace hall, only deep abysmal darkness laid there, and since they had seized the chance to escape the calamity, they hadn't paid much attention to the floor. Thus they fell down into the abyss.