Tomb Raider: Evolution of the Red Dragon, Starting from the Ancient City of Jingjue

Jiang Hua slowly approached the tree and began to examine it. He found a hole in the trunk, pitch black inside, making it impossible to see anything clearly. Jiang Hua went inside and found that it wasn't very deep, only about a few tens of centimeters deep.

Jiang Hua carefully extended her palm and touched the space inside.

My palm suddenly felt incredibly heavy, as if it had been pressed against a stone. It was extremely uncomfortable and piercing, as if something had bitten my palm.

"Ouch! That hurts!"

Jiang Hua immediately pulled her hand back, her face contorted in pain, and she frowned involuntarily…
"what happened?"

Qin Feng and Chen Le quickly ran to Jiang Hua's side and asked.

"I think I touched something inside the tree," Jiang Hua said, pointing to his hand.

"What?" Chen Le exclaimed in surprise. "How could this be? What's in your palm?"

“It’s a hole inside the tree. It’s empty; there’s nothing inside,” Jiang Hua said, shaking his head.

"What? Then why were you in so much pain just now?" Qin Feng was also very surprised. What happened?
"I don't know either. It felt like something bit my arm just now. It was very painful, but thankfully, I was able to pull my arm out quickly and I'm fine."

"Oh." The two nodded, indicating that they understood.

Jiang Hua withdrew his hand and continued to explore. He felt that this tree hole was not simple, so he decided to go inside and investigate.

Jiang Hua stretched out his palm again and reached into the tree hole. The tree hole was not big, only about three meters wide, but the space inside was extremely spacious. The light inside was very dim, but still very clear.

Jiang Hua looked around and saw that there was no danger.

"Alright, you can go in now," Qin Feng reminded him.

Jiang Hua responded and slowly stepped into the tree hole.

The tree hollow was very eerie, the air inside was damp, and the light was very dim. However, these were all normal phenomena, because the tree hollow was a huge hole dug in the ground by an ancient tree that was hundreds of years old.

Jiang Hua walked along the cave, which was very large. It took him a full half hour to reach the end of the tree hollow.

When Jiang Hua saw the end, he was stunned for a moment. It turned out that this was a cave. This cave was not a straight road, but a winding mountain wall. Moreover, there were many runes carved on the mountain wall. These runes were of various colors, shapes and sizes.

Moreover, these runes emitted a faint metallic glow, as if they were suppressing something terrifying.

Jiang Hua went inside and observed carefully. He found that the runes were very intricate and densely arranged into neat rows of symbols.

Seeing this, Jiang Hua frowned. He didn't understand what these symbols meant.
What do these runes mean?
"It seems to be runes combined using some kind of array, but it's incomplete. Moreover, this symbol seems to be combining these runes in a peculiar way, but they are not completely pieced together," Jiang Hua thought to himself.

Knowing that Chen Le was knowledgeable about these things, he climbed out of the tree hole and called the two of them in to take a look.

Jiang Hua's shout immediately attracted Qin Feng and Chen Le, who quickly came out of the tree hole and followed Jiang Hua inside.

Jiang Hua led the two to the place with runes and talisman paper. Jiang Hua squatted down, reached out and gently touched the ground. He felt a bump, then put his palm into the groove and pressed it. The bump on the ground immediately sank in.

"Splash...."

The floorboards were suddenly lifted up, revealing a passageway.

"this.….."

Seeing this, Qin Feng and Chen Le were dumbfounded. They never expected that it was a passage, and a passage leading to an unknown space.

"Jiang Hua, what is this passage for? How did you find it?" Chen Le asked in surprise.

"I discovered this passage when I pressed my palm inside the tree hole. I felt that the rune was like it had a life of its own, very mysterious. So, out of curiosity, I pressed it with my palm, and I didn't expect it to open so easily."

"So that's how it is. No wonder it opened so easily. So that's how it is."

Chen Le nodded in sudden realization.

"Then let's hurry down," Qin Feng urged, eager to go inside and take a look.

"Okay." Jiang Hua nodded, and then the three of them crawled into the cave.

Upon entering the cave, the three of them were immediately startled.

Inside was a huge cave, very spacious and long, hundreds of meters wide and deep, with no end in sight. The ground was black and very hard, like black iron, and it exuded a faint chill, very cold, and was made of huge rocks.

The three of them carefully moved through it.

"What exactly is this place?" Jiang Hua couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know either. I've never seen this before. This is the first time I've encountered this situation."

Qin Feng shook his head, indicating that he didn't know where he was, let alone the specifics of the place. However, he could guess that it was inside a mountain, because the ground was made of black rocks.

"Jiang Hua, this place is so deep! We've been walking for so long and we still haven't reached the end," Qin Feng said with a frustrated expression. He felt like he was going in circles.

"Don't worry, let's walk around some more."

Jiang Hua smiled and offered words of comfort.

Qin Feng: "..."

"Whoosh..."

At that moment, a whooshing sound suddenly came from ahead, growing louder, stronger, and more intense.

Upon hearing the whistling wind, Jiang Hua's eyes lit up, and then an excited expression appeared on his face, because he had finally found the source of the sound.

"There!" Jiang Hua quickly pointed ahead.

Qin Feng and Chen Le immediately looked over, and sure enough, the direction Jiang Hua was pointing to was a very narrow place, a path that could only accommodate one person at a time.

"Is this just a small path?" Qin Feng asked doubtfully.

"Yes, it's this path. This cave was built inside the mountain. And I guess what this cave is used for. The runes here are used to suppress something," Jiang Hua said with certainty.

"Let's go take a look. This cave is very deep; I don't know if we can get through," Qin Feng said quickly.

“Okay.” Jiang Hua nodded, and the four of them quickly walked along the path.

At first, they walked very slowly, but after a few minutes, the cave became more and more spacious, and the runes became more and more complex and the patterns became more and more obvious.

Finally, Jiang Hua and the others reached the end. (End of Chapter)