Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 624: Terracotta Warriors

"Well, Yingzi, Zhao Shan and I will follow at the end, and you will lead the way in front. If there is any danger, we will run away immediately. This place is dangerous, and with limited manpower, it would be inappropriate if we separate rashly." They had just reunited, and Jiang Shangxian did not want to separate from Cui Bianxu at the moment.

Her considerations were not without reason. Cui Bianxu thought about it and decided that it would be safer to keep the person by his side. "Be very careful. If there is any danger, just run away by yourself. Don't worry about others."

"Yes." Jiang Shangxian nodded heavily.

Qiqige was tired of watching them discuss and hesitate endlessly, and he strode in impatiently: "It's just a house where a dead person lives, what's there to be afraid of?"

In her opinion, what danger could there be with the Gu God around?

Moreover, the things in here gave her a strange yet familiar feeling. She had a premonition that the thing that Layao wanted the Gu Po of the Xiou tribe to take was in there!

Seeing this, Cui Bianxu no longer hesitated and followed in with his men. Jiang Shangxian and the other two were at the end, holding the lanterns in their hands carefully.

As they entered together, the scene inside began to become clearer.

The limited range they could see became wider as the crowd formed a long line with their holding lanterns. Jiang Shangxian looked up at the top, but could only see a dark area. She estimated that this must be a very large space, so large that it was beyond everyone's imagination.

At the beginning, it was just like the empty tomb before, with nothing there. The change occurred about twenty meters away from the tomb door. A shadowy black figure stood quietly. Seeing this suddenly made her heart skip a beat and she forgot to breathe.

The weak trio stopped at the same time.

At this moment, Qiqige's voice came from the front: "What is this? A dummy? It looks like the real thing."

Cui Bian said: "This is a pottery figurine. The practice of human sacrifice began to fade during the Qin and Han dynasties. This type of human-shaped pottery figurine was often used in the tombs of nobles and dignitaries as a replacement."

Hearing this, Jiang Shangxian felt relieved and took another step. Just as he carefully passed the first terracotta warrior, he heard Zhao Shan say from behind, "They must all be painted with pigments made from fine minerals. They are extremely finely crafted. The clothes are the same, but the appearances are different. There are also subtle differences in the hair accessories. Perhaps they are made to imitate the ladies who served Zhao Tuo in the past. The craftsman's craftsmanship is truly superb. It's a pity that such fine craftsmanship is wasted..."

According to Zhao Tuo's temperament, the craftsmen who made these terracotta warriors were probably already buried with the dead, perhaps in the burial pit they had passed by before.

Jiang Shangxian looked at the exquisite pottery figurines that passed by him one by one, and his astonishment was beyond words: "This is too much..."

This group of terracotta figurines is made entirely according to real people. The tripods and horn hairpins worn on the maids' heads seem to be made of some kind of metal, but after hundreds of years, they have long been oxidized into black. Upon closer inspection, you can see that there are very small openings at the joints with the terracotta figurines' heads, which are tightly embedded with these jewelry.

All the terracotta warriors moved in unison - they knelt with their hands clasped in front of their backs to the tomb door, their heads slightly lowered to reveal their smooth foreheads, and a faint smile hung on the corners of their mouths, making them look sinister and eerie, making one's hair stand on end in the dim light.

Jiang Shangxian was terrified, and suddenly a bold guess came to his mind: "Do you think Zhao Tuo would seal someone alive in here?"

It is not difficult to see from Zhao Tuo's previous actions that he does not seem to be someone who would take human life seriously.

If these ladies had really served him in the past, it is possible that after his death, they would remain in this tomb and serve him forever.

Therefore, she walked very carefully, fearing that something might happen if she accidentally bumped into something.

Zhao Shan and Yingzi were instantly frightened by what she said. Yingzi leaned against Zhao Shan's thigh in fear and said, "Auntie, no, if there was a dead body in here, the stink would have come out long ago. How come I don't smell anything?"

"Yingzi's words make sense!"

Although Confucius does not talk about strange and supernatural things, this place always makes him want to throw away everything he has learned in his life. How could he hear such horrifying words?

"Auntie Jiang, you must have been frightened by those bugs just now. Don't say there aren't any. Even if there were, hundreds of years have passed and the people would have rotted away, leaving only bones and scraps. They absolutely cannot come out to harm people!"

His words were powerful, but his actions were honest—he moved timidly and closer to Jiang Shangxian.

Jiang Shangxian had no choice but to constantly pray to the Buddha and the gods in his mind, just like when he encountered questions he couldn't answer during every major exam.

Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned, and there are always stupid teammates who try to take her life.

Perhaps there were too many figurines of ladies, and the crowds made people feel uneasy. Qi Qi Ge, who was standing at the front, accidentally tripped and let out a cry of surprise.

Cui Bianxu, a role model of male virtue, took decisive action at the first moment and held up the terracotta warrior she touched.

Qi Qige turned around and stood firm, but his elbow hit another terracotta figurine, which fell to the ground with a dull sound. Everyone was shocked by this and stopped, holding their breath and looking at the terracotta figurine that shattered after falling to the ground.

At this moment, Jiang Shangxian seemed to hear the increasingly louder and more intense heartbeats. The three of them were at the end, keeping a distance from the people in front. They only heard the noises and didn't know what had happened. They just felt that the sudden stop of the team and the silence were heart-wrenching.

At the very front, the terracotta figurine that had fallen to the ground had a crack that was gradually widening from the top of the lady's head down to her knees. A strange dark red liquid was slowly flowing out of the crack, and an incomparable stench was slowly spreading around as the liquid flowed.

The male Gu on Qiqige's head opened its eyes as if it had sensed something.

"In here..." Cui Bianxu's mind kept echoing what Jiang Shangxian had just said. Could there really be a living person inside this terracotta warrior?

Jiang Shangxian smelled a strong stench of decay the first time, like a biological weapon made by putting pickled puffins and canned herring together and then fermenting them again. It was so pungent that it made his eyes tear up unconsciously.

At the same time, everyone was stimulated by this unique experience, blinking uncontrollably, crying, feeling nauseous, and retching.

The attack power of the terracotta warriors is obviously not limited to this. Along with the liquid and the stench, a bright red insect also appeared. It looked like a centipede with thousands of legs and joints, but its body size was much larger than that of ordinary centipedes. Although it had not yet crawled out completely, the visible part was already as long as an arm.

This centipede has lived for at least a few hundred years. It has large claws like tortoise shells growing on the sides of its head. They flash a sharp cold light under the dim light, making people's hair stand on end at the first sight.

"Retreat!" Cui Bianxu forced himself to shout, grabbed the back of the neck of Qi Qige who had caused the trouble and pulled him back quickly.