Wang Yue pressed her ear against the stone wall and after a moment said, "The sound seemed to come from inside the wall. Listen."
At her words, we all quickly pressed our ears against it too.
Soon, we heard the familiar sound again. It was very irregular, sometimes loud, sometimes soft.
"This sounds like Sanskrit..." Wang Yue said. "It's reciting... the 'Vajra Sutra'."
"Vajra Sutra?"
Wang Yue nodded at me. "Yes, that's the Vajra Sutra."
I was taken aback, feeling even more uncertain. Even if this wall could transmit sound as an echo wall, who would come here to recite scriptures?
The more I thought about it, the stranger it felt.
"The sound seems to be coming from ahead!" Wang Yue exclaimed. "Let's go ahead and take a look."
With that, she took the lead and walked forward.
This woman truly fears nothing!
Had she not considered who would be reciting scriptures here?
And in Sanskrit, no less...
Seeing her already several meters ahead, I quickly urged Fatty to follow.
Emerging from the passage, we saw rows of stone pillars standing before us.
The pillars were about as thick as my thigh, packed closely together, forming what looked like a labyrinth.
Each stone pillar was carved with tadpole script, which clearly looked like scriptures.
Wang Yue stared intently at the stone pillars, seemingly forgetting about the scripture reciting from within the wall.
"This place is incredibly valuable!" she exclaimed. "More valuable than that Yuan Dynasty tomb! Judging by the scriptures on them, this should be an ancient site from when Buddhism first entered China."
"Buddhism?" Fatty asked, confused.
I said, "It's Mahayana Buddhism. When it first entered China, it was called Futuism."
"So this place is very old then?"
I nodded. "If this is indeed a relic left by Futuism, it proves these things should date back to the Han Mingdi period."
"Then it must be very valuable?" Fatty asked.
"More than valuable, it's practically priceless," Wang Yue said excitedly. "I never expected such a significant discovery on this trip!"
As she spoke, she became somewhat lost in her own world, reaching out to touch and examine the stone pillars.
Watching her, I didn't know what to say.
I wanted to remind her that the priority was to find people, not to study these pillars.
But judging by her demeanor, even if I said something, she would likely remain captivated by the pillars.
"You know, I've always wanted to write a paper on Buddhism, but I could never find any valuable reference materials. Now, this is more than enough for me to write my paper!" Wang Yue said excitedly.
Fatty, meanwhile, scrunched his brow and leaned closer to ask me, "Master Xiang, are all researchers like this?"
I replied, "Probably..."
"So what do we do now?"
"Let's look around first to see if we find anything, and then we'll decide," I said.
Fatty nodded.
Since Fatty and I couldn't understand the script on the pillars, we could only glance at them superficially.
Just then, the scripture reciting voice sounded again. Almost instantly, I turned towards the direction of the sound.
Looking at the stone pillar in front of me, I quickly pressed my ear to it and found that the sound was indeed coming from within.
I tapped it with my hand and discovered that the pillar was hollow! 138 Reading Net
I quickly shared this discovery with Fatty. He tapped the pillar next to him. "Master Xiang, mine is hollow too."
If these pillars were all hollow, it would explain how sound could be transmitted.
But even with transmission, there had to be a source for the sound.
It couldn't just appear out of thin air, could it?
Fatty tapped a pillar with his entrenching tool. "Master Xiang, this thing seems quite brittle. Should we break it open and see?"
Before I could speak, Wang Yue interjected, "No! You absolutely cannot damage these pillars. They are cultural relics!"
"Teacher Wang, don't get agitated. I was just saying," Fatty chuckled.
"I am not joking. Damaging cultural relics is illegal!" Wang Yue stated righteously.
"Alright, alright, I promise I won't damage them," Fatty winked at me.
I knew what Fatty was thinking and quickly told him, "Don't do anything reckless. They're an archaeological team. If they really arrest you and put you in jail, I can't save you."
Fatty said, "I'm just curious. Think about it, if it's hollow inside, there must be something in there..."
"What could be in there? Don't forget, you already have a night-luminescent pearl in your bag. Don't be too greedy."
Being reminded by me, Fatty finally settled down.
After circling around the pillars, I soon found a particularly thick one. Fatty and I might not even be able to embrace it.
That wasn't all; what was more significant was that there was a sound coming from inside this pillar!
"Thump, thump, thump..."
Hearing this sound, I was startled. Fatty tapped it with his entrenching tool, and soon the "thump, thump, thump" sound echoed from within the pillar again.
Fatty and I exchanged a glance. He said, "Master Xiang, there's something inside."
Isn't that obvious? I knew there was something inside too.
I retorted impatiently, "Did I need you to tell me that?"
"What could be inside? And why is it alive?"
I shook my head and glanced at Wang Yue, who was still examining the pillars. I called her over.
When she came over and heard the sound from within, her brow furrowed. She then looked at the scriptures on the pillar and gently pressed a spot with her hand.
Instantly, an opening appeared in the thick, sturdy pillar!
What surprised us even more was that Bai Hanyan emerged from the pillar.
The moment I saw her, I froze. She was also stunned when she saw us.
"How did you get here?"
"How did you get here?"
We asked the question almost in unison.
Bai Hanyan said, "I... I don't know how to explain it to you."
"Where are Miss Guan and the others?" I asked.
"They're trapped."
"Trapped?" I asked, confused.
Bai Hanyan explained, "This place is a labyrinth. Ma Xuejin said it was arranged according to the three major sutras. To break through this labyrinth, one must..."
Before she could finish, Fatty blurted out, "You said this place is what? A labyrinth?"
Bai Hanyan nodded.
Fatty laughed, "Are you kidding me? We just came in from over there..."
When he turned to look back at the way we came, he was stunned. I also turned back and realized that the entrance, which was clearly visible just moments ago, had disappeared.
We hadn't walked that far. How could the entrance be gone?
We had only walked about seven or eight meters at most. How could the entrance vanish?
This was too baffling!