From the moment I heard the muffled voice of the oil bottle until I realized he had disappeared in front of me, no more than five seconds had passed. Even a mouse couldn’t vanish so quickly in this environment, let alone a person.

I immediately felt something was off and instinctively took a step back, wanting to get a clearer look. In a moment of distraction, I saw the oil bottle appear again right in front of me.

The fat guy was right behind me and got startled when I stepped back, asking, “What’s going on?”

I was momentarily at a loss, stammering, “N-nothing.”

The oil bottle seemed unaware of the strange occurrence that had just happened. After a brief pause, he called us and began to crawl forward faster.

This sudden appearance and disappearance felt very real to me, but seeing the scene in front of me suddenly made me lose my confidence. I was very puzzled—could it be the air here was causing me to hallucinate?

I didn’t have time to think too much; the fat guy was pulling on my leg from behind, urging me to move. While I was still confused, I crawled a distance behind him. When we passed the spot where the oil bottle had disappeared, I paid special attention to my surroundings and saw no depressions or anything that could have caused an illusion. A vague sense of unease began to form in my mind.

After crawling for about ten more minutes, the oil bottle suddenly relaxed his posture and leaned forward. I saw the space ahead widen, realizing we were nearing an exit.

At the end of the crevice was a mass of rubble. After crawling out, the oil bottle activated several glow sticks and threw them around, the warm yellow light illuminating the entire area. I turned to look and found that this should be the wider part of the entire mountain crack, about the width of four or five small vans and roughly the length of one and a half basketball courts, with the ground covered in various sizes of rubble, all torn apart when this crack formed.

The fat guy widened the beam of his flashlight to observe the surroundings and said, “Strange, there are even murals here. It seems we’re not the first ones to come here.”

We approached and indeed found large colorful murals on the walls of the crevice, but their condition was quite poor. The colors were dull, and the patterns could barely be discerned as something resembling celestial maidens flying through the sky.

The entrance we came through was blocked by a massive stone slab, and there were murals inside as well. What exactly is this place? I felt puzzled once again.

After walking back and forth among the rubble, we discovered a few small hot springs, all very shallow but steaming, an irresistible temptation. However, we found no traces of other people having been there.

As we ventured further in, the crevice gradually narrowed until it became a small gap just wide enough for two people. We moved deeper into the mountain rock, with hot air blowing out from the crevice from time to time. I went to one side and shined my light inside; it was bottomless, and I had no idea where it led.

We exchanged opinions and agreed that there was no need to go any further; this was already a good place to avoid the snowstorm. The fat guy tested the air and found no major issues, so he lit a wind lamp for long-lasting illumination. The oil bottle then crawled back through the narrow gap to notify the people outside.

Before long, Huaheshang and Ye Cheng came in one after another, and Shunzi was also brought in by Panzi. I immediately went to check on his condition and found that due to the temperature here, his complexion had started to look rosy, but his hands and feet were still icy cold. I wasn’t sure if he would make it through. He had led us all the way up, and if he died, while we wouldn’t be completely stranded, it would certainly make things much more difficult. Besides, I quite liked this person and really didn’t want to see him die so innocently because of us.

Huaheshang checked his heartbeat and pulse, then asked me to step aside. He soaked a towel in the hot spring water, placed it on a stone to cool slightly, and began to wipe Shunzi down. Once his entire body was covered in a reddish hue, he gave him some hot water to drink. Shunzi started to cough violently, and his eyelids twitched.

We breathed a sigh of relief, and Huaheshang said, “Alright, he won’t die now.” The atmosphere eased, and both the Fatty and Ye Cheng took out cigarettes, lit them, and started smoking. At that moment, Chen Pi and Ah Si also helped Panzi in.

After this series of events, we were all exhausted and had no energy to talk, so we each found a comfortable spot to lean back. The snow on our bodies melted into water due to the temperature change, and our clothes and shoes began to feel damp. We took off our clothes and placed them on the dry stones to steam dry. Ye Cheng took out some compressed canned food and tossed it into the hot spring water to heat up for everyone.

While I was eating, I went with Huaheshang to look at the murals we had just discovered. It was evident that they were naturally formed, and the space was narrow. I wondered why murals were painted here. The sudden disappearance of the oil bottle in front of me and the massive stone sealing the cave entrance gave me an unnatural feeling.

Those who deal with antiques are always very interested in murals and reliefs, which carry a wealth of information. As others saw us looking, they gradually gathered around.

However, the murals didn’t convey much information. The murals of heavenly maidens flying are mostly found in luxurious palaces or on ceremonial vessels, merely depicting a beautiful scene of music and dance without any actual significance. Most of the fragments of murals here were like that. Since this was a place where people crawled out of ancient tombs, they had seen enough and quickly lost interest.

I was just about to go back and rub my toes; I had sweated quite a bit during the journey, and my toes were numb and painful from the cold. At that moment, I heard the Fatty make a “tsk” sound, and he stretched out his thumb, starting to scrape at the mural with his hand.

I asked him what was going on. Although this thing had little value, it was still a relic of the past, and you shouldn’t destroy it.

The Fatty replied, “What nonsense are you talking? Are my nails worthless? I wouldn’t scrape at ordinary things. Come and see for yourself; this mural has two layers!”

“Two layers?” I replied, furrowing my brows, wondering what he meant.

Everyone gathered around to see what he was talking about. He showed us his finger, which had red vermilion scraped off it. Looking at the ground in front of him, sure enough, in the corner of the mural, there was a section that clearly had a different composition from the surrounding areas, and the depicted subject was also different. However, this particular section was quite inconspicuous; if it weren’t for the Fatty’s keen eyes, we definitely wouldn’t have noticed it.

It was evident that someone had painted a new layer over an existing mural, thus obscuring the original artwork.

The top layer gradually peeled off due to exposure to the air, revealing the mural underneath, which is a common occurrence in oil paintings. The fat man continued to scrape with his finger, and where he scraped, vibrant colors began to emerge. I also used my finger to scrape the mural and found that this surface layer seemed to have not completed all the processes. Therefore, with a casual scrape, the fat man could easily wipe off the colors. Otherwise, if the complete steps had been followed, a special protective layer would have been applied over the mural, similar to varnish, which would protect the mural and make the colors less prone to fading and peeling.

Chen Pi A Si furrowed his brow tightly. Soon, a large section of the mural, about the size of a basin, was peeled away. Behind this mural appeared a half-drawn cart painted with colorful pigments, clearly floating in the clouds, with several women in Mongolian attire serving on either side of the cart. The owner of the cart was a plump man, whose attire I had never seen before.

This was a narrative mural, and I suddenly felt nervous. It was evident that someone had first painted a narrative mural, but for some reason, it was hurriedly replaced with another one. At that time, the circumstances must have been quite urgent, as the outer mural had not even completed the final steps.

Chen Pi A Si looked at the entire mural and then at the surrounding environment, saying to us, “This… has something to do with the Heavenly Palace. Let’s clear the entire wall and see what the mural depicts.”

I had long wanted to take action, and at that moment, along with the others, I unleashed my nails and began the meticulous task of peeling the mural from the stone wall. Large sections of the mural peeled away, and before long, a colorful and grand painting gradually unfolded before us…