Chapter 834: Route Map

“What’s this thing about people lighting candles and ghosts blowing lights out? Sounds impressive!” After being taken outside, the empress still didn’t really understand it.

“It’s a legend. It’s just a lack of oxygen inside.” Ren Baqian laughed as he sat on the ground.

“Oxygen? I seem to have heard of this before!” The empress looked pensive. She waved her hand and got Qing Yuan and Hong Luan to bring two chairs over.

“There are actually different components that make up air, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, ozone, oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and various inert gases. Among them, oxygen is needed for living things to survive. Without oxygen, they will suffocate and die.” Ren Baqian put his arm on the chair and continued sitting on the ground as he felt too lazy to get up.

In fact, the ground beneath the shade was slightly more cooling.

In addition, some of the components of the air in this world were different from those on Earth. This was the conclusion that the research institute had obtained from some microorganisms. However, since Ren Baqian didn’t bring back a bottle of air for them to test, they naturally hadn’t been able to verify this.

The empress sat on the chair, waved her hand, and ordered, “Bring me some wine!”

At the same time, she listened to him talking about science.

“There’s no telling how long that chamber has been sealed. Some of the microbes that are invisible to the naked eye will consume oxygen. After a long time, there will be a lack of oxygen inside. An average person would die in a few minutes after they go in there! There may be other gases trapped inside as well, and they are probably harmful to the body. As such, it is necessary to ventilate the place before entering,” Ren Baqian explained to the empress.

Tong Zhenye and some of the officials from the Ministry of Works found this interesting and asked, “Why was the torch extinguished?”

They knew what happened, but simply didn’t understand why.

“This is also because of oxygen. Apart from living things, fire also needs oxygen to burn. If the oxygen isn’t sufficient, the flame will go out,” Ren Baqian said.

They found this even more interesting after hearing what he said. This so-called oxygen seemed to play many roles.

“According to normal conditions, it needs to be ventilated for at least half a day before we can go in,” said one of the officials from the Ministry of Works.

“It’s easy to speed up the process. Just get someone to strike forcefully toward the direction of the door. It will drive the air flow and speed up the exchange of air, shortening the amount of time.”

“Xin Zhe!” the empress called out gently.

“I’ll see to it, Your Majesty!” Xin Zhe had always been very responsive to matters of work and immediately understood what to do.

Very soon, wind piercing sounds produced from striking the air could be heard from the large pit. It sounded a little like moving a large object, but slightly different.

This was more efficient than using a fan!

“Sir Tong, when do you think this thing was left behind?” Ren Baqian asked.

Tong Zhenye shook his head and responded, “I don’t know much about this.”

A thought arose in Ren Baqian’s mind. This tunnel could have been left behind by the humans when they were chased here in the past or probably around that period of time.

The winged snake… Even though it wasn’t as powerful as a kirin or dragon, it was still relatively strong. It was also one of the legendary creatures.

It was most likely to have existed during that period of time.

If that was the case, there must be something here that someone wanted to leave behind.

If that was the case, Ren Baqian had an idea about the mural on the wall.

“Your Majesty, what do you think those drawings on the wall look like?” He stretched his hand across the empress’s knee, and she put a piece of fruit in his hand.

This action was very natural and flowing. There wasn’t the slightest hesitation at all. Tong Zhenye immediately raised his eyebrows when he saw this.

He was suddenly reminded of that girl from back then.

“What do you think?” the empress asked.

“Your Majesty, you must be guessing something, right?” Ren Baqian devoured the entire fruit in a few mouthfuls.

“I feel that it might be a route map,” he said bluntly.

“It’s a route map of the Sixty Thousand Mountains. The place we saw at the beginning was the Forest Pillar Barriers. When we reached the door, it was the depths of the mountains,” the empress added.

“You can actually decipher drawings at this standard, Your Majesty!” Ren Baqian was impressed.

It was a type of strength to be able to decipher drawings that were at such a poor level.

However, the empress’s words had confirmed his thoughts.

“Why would there be a route map of the Sixty Thousand Mountains here?” Tong Zhenye was stunned.

“Have you forgotten what I said? Still, this is just my speculation. We have to see a comparison to confirm it.” The empress turned to Hong Luan and said, “Go to Qingxin Palace Hall. There is a map left behind by the Hao Nation that shows the area surrounding the Forest Pillar Barriers. Go get it.”

“This map was painted back when the Hao Nation attacked the villages.” She sighed lightly.

After Hong Luan left, Tong Zhenye still had an uncertain look on his face. He recalled what the empress previously said.

Humans were chased here from a distant place. There were less than 100,000 of them, and those who stayed behind to defend in the Sixty Thousand Mountains became the aboriginals. The rest who came to the plains started to establish the nations.

There were many races in the mountains. There were more than 10,000 other races that resided at the other end of the mountains.

The entire imperial court had been shocked when the empress previously explained this to them.

This matter was simply too unimaginable. Besides, there wasn’t any other news about it, so everyone gradually placed this information in the back of their minds.

This underground tunnel wasn’t simple. The white jade floor alone wasn’t something that could be created by ordinary people. If the mural on the wall was really a route map of the Sixty Thousand Mountains, then together with the things that the empress mentioned, they could very likely have been left behind by people from that era.

Ren Baqian took a look at the map when Hong Luan brought it over. It showed a greater resemblance to the actual site. He could at least tell that it was a map.

After looking at it for some time, he couldn’t figure anything out and decided to give up.

An hour later, they felt that it was about time and went down into the tunnel again. They moved slowly and stopped at the beginning of the mural to compare it to the map. It was now much easier for them to spot the difference.

“It is the Forest Pillar Barriers. Its location is roughly the same as that on the map. Yes, it’s indeed there.” Ren Baqian pointed to the holes on the wall. Each hole represented one mountain peak.

“This is Mount Yushan, this is the Black Peak, this is Mount Pingliang…” Tong Zhenye compared them one by one.

“Your Majesty, that’s all that is shown on the map. It only shows the region that is within a two week journey of the Forest Pillar Barriers.” He pointed at the map as he explained.

However, this only took up about one meter of the wall.

There were more than 40 meters of mural on the wall…

If what Tong Zhenye said was correct, it would take at least two years to cover the entire route as shown in the mural.

“This is Kunlong Cliff! They have been there before!” The empress calculated as she walked along the wall before pointing at one spot.

This spot was marked by a strange symbol. After hearing what the empress said, Tong Zhenye examined it carefully and was barely able to make out the shape of a dragon’s head.

The drawing of this symbol was simply too quirky!

Ren Baqian felt that it looked more like two rods stuck in a pile of sh*t…

It would take at least six weeks by land to travel from Ya City, cross through the Forest Pillar Barriers, and arrive at Kunlong Cliff. Furthermore, this was the speed when riding on a mount.

This was only three meters of the drawing on the wall.

Everyone winced when they looked at the dozens of meters of mural behind them.

At present, everyone finally had an idea of how big the Sixty Thousand Mountains were.

By estimating the length of the journey on foot to the length of this drawing, it would take at least two years before one could walk out of the mountains.

There was a line that snaked from the beginning to the end of the mural, which was probably the route that those people took back then.

“Get someone to copy down the entire drawing. This mural is extremely valuable, so nothing is allowed to go wrong. I’ll go and take a look inside. I’m getting more and more curious about what is in there,” the empress ordered as soon as she confirmed that the drawing on the wall was what she expected it to be. She then turned around and started walking further inward.

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