Kuaiwen: I earn a pension by breaking through the game

Chapter 226 The Bride Dedicated to the Mountain God (16)

After adjusting to the light for a while, I could barely see the scene in front of me.

A grand altar stands in the cave, majestic and solemn, like the entrance to a mysterious world.

The altar was built of hard stone, with intricate patterns and mysterious symbols carved on the surface. It was painted with some reflective paint, and it glowed faintly under the faint moonlight.

Directly in front of the altar, there is a huge hollow stained glass window, like the eyes of a cave. Through its gaps, you can see the dark night sky and twinkling stars outside.

On a quiet night, a beam of silver moonlight shines into the cave through the stained glass window, forming a dim beam of light, shrouding the altar in a mysterious and solemn atmosphere.

The cave was empty and silent, with only the occasional chirping of insects in the distance and the sound of a breeze blowing through the cave entrance.

The air around the altar seemed to freeze, and it was so quiet that one could clearly hear one's own heartbeat.

Here, time seems to have lost its meaning, and there is only endless silence.

Everything around was in cold, harsh tones. Jiang Qiuchen's wedding dress and sedan were the only bright colors in the cave, burning like a raging fire in the depths of the cave.

She took a few tentative steps forward, wanting to see it all more clearly, but before she had gone far, she was frozen in place by a snapping sound under her feet.

"What the hell!"

Jiang Qiuchen was startled by the sudden noise and couldn't help but exclaim. At the same time, a terrible idea emerged in his mind.

Could it be...? !

Xiaguang Cave is the final resting place of the brides of mountain gods throughout the ages. Those brides who could not escape eventually died in this cave without seeing the sun.

After death, it is believed that the soul should return to the hometown and be buried in peace. However, for the brides who died in the Xiaguang Cave, obviously no one would come to collect their bodies, so naturally they could only be left here.

Not to mention that before this, the first batch of craftsmen who repaired the Xiaguang Cave were unable to leave this place. Over time, no one knew how many debris had accumulated in this cave.

Jiang Qiuchen lowered his head stiffly and looked at the ground with a fluke mentality, but the moment he saw clearly, he sighed and closed his eyes.

At her feet at this moment, are the skeletons of a mountain god's bride from an unknown generation. Although the wedding dress has long faded, the layers of skirt and the pearl hairpins and jewelry scattered on the ground still make it easy to recognize her identity.

After some mental preparation, Jiang Qiuchen took out the fire starter he had in his arms, blew on it gently, and used the faint flame to illuminate the scene in front of him.

After a long period of baptism, the once beautiful face is no longer there, only a skeleton remains, lying quietly in the depths of the cave.

The beautiful face has long become blurred under the erosion of time, and only the outline of the past can be vaguely seen from the shape of the white bones.

The laughter, joy, sorrow, separation and reunion of the past have all disappeared with the disappearance of the physical body.

The soul of the beautiful woman has long disappeared. Perhaps she has already transcended the earth and ascended to heaven, or perhaps she is still wandering in this cave, looking for her way home.

But no matter what, those souls have become legends and stories on this land.

"The beauty is gone, the body is rotten, the bones are white, and the soul of the beauty is gone."

"The wedding dress faded, the pearl hairpins were covered with dust, and the glory was like a passing cloud."

"I can't take anything away, and I can't leave anything behind..." Jiang Qiuchen muttered softly, as if he was talking about them, or as if he was talking about himself.

As she looked at these bones and relics, she couldn't help but feel an inexplicable emotion in her heart.

These brides may have had their own dreams and pursuits in the past, as well as people or things they loved, but all of them have become nothing under this ancient custom.

Jiang Qiuchen raised the fire starter in his hand and handed it forward, looking at the dark hole in front of him, and stepped forward firmly.

She believed that she would never be trapped and killed here so easily. No matter what, she would try her best and would never give up until the last moment!

Every few steps forward, they would encounter new skeletons of brides. A rough count showed that if they walked in a straight line from the cave entrance to the deepest part, there would be more than a dozen of them.

This does not include those scattered in other dark corners that have not been discovered. A rough calculation shows that this custom has been tacitly followed by the people of Shibi Village at the foot of the mountain for thousands of years.

Jiang Qiuchen's mood went from shock at the beginning to numbness at the end. She was not the first, and would not be the last. As long as this custom was not broken, an innocent woman would suffer every hundred years.

Even if she can escape this time, what about others in the future?

Jiang Qiuchen felt sad and angry. She thought that if she really had the ability to get out, she would not leave the mountain in a hurry. She had to go back to Shibi Village and abolish this custom.

Being able to successfully return alive is also a manifestation of the mountain god in another way, isn't it?

Thinking of this, Jiang Qiuchen looked at the dark passage in front of him, and the fear in his heart dissipated a little.

The entrance to the tunnel was covered by dense vines. These tenacious plants struggled to grow out from the cracks in the stone walls. Not only were there a large number of them, but they also grew unexpectedly well, covering most of the tunnel entrance.

Jiang Qiuchen bent down, picked up a small stone from the ground, tossed it a few times in his hand, and after feeling the weight, threw it into the tunnel.

"Boom-"

Soon, the sound of stones falling was heard from inside, and other than that, there was no other noise.

Jiang Qiuchen breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that there should be no wild beasts in the Xiaguang Cave that could hurt people, so she could move forward with more confidence.

Then Jiang Qiuchen reached out and held onto the wall, moving inward step by step.

As you step into the tunnel, a cool breeze hits you in the face, along with a faint smell of earth and humid air.

The inner wall of the tunnel is paved with bluestone slabs. After years of baptism, the bluestone slabs are covered with mottled moss and mottled marks, which looks quaint and vicissitudes of life.

Jiang Qiuchen squatted down and picked up the moss at the joint. The moist texture wafted through his fingertips, mixed with tiny dewdrops.

Mosses prefer dark and humid environments, and generally grow on exposed rock walls, or in humid forests and swamps.

At the same time, the temperature cannot be too high or too low.

It seems that the temperature and humidity in the Xiaguang Cave are quite suitable and there is no danger of hypothermia. If she looks carefully, she may be able to find a water source to last a little longer.

Jiang Qiuchen threw the moss in his hand back to its original place, stood up, clapped his hands at his side, and cleaned up the debris.

Then he held onto the wall and walked inside.