Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 164 The Church in the Mountain
At the beginning, the whole valley was almost the same as the surrounding valleys, but after they walked forward for five or six minutes, they found something different:

What appeared in front of the three people was a slightly smooth stone surface, but there were a large number of carved patterns on the stone surface, which seemed to be used for anti-slip.

Obviously, this is a trace of human excavation, and it also shows that the flow of people in this place was not small, so it took so much energy to carry out this type of work.

Because of this discovery, Liang En and the three of them immediately became excited.After all, the roads walked by ordinary mountain people obviously do not need to be processed in this way, that is to say, there is likely to be an important historical relic in front.

Mountain roads not only require frequent detours.At the same time, it is much more difficult for you to walk on the plains, especially when these roads are in disrepair.

Therefore, the straight-line distance is only about 5km, and the ravens can fly back and forth in 15 minutes.But Liang En and the others spent a full six hours and walked nearly 12 kilometers before finally arriving at the previous destination.

This destination is another valley, but compared with the valley just now, this valley looks only as big as a basketball court, and is surrounded by nearly 90-degree mountain walls.

"Sit in a well and look at the sky from this perspective." Looking up at the blue sky surrounded by cliffs, Fan Meng suddenly said something.

"It seems that we should be able to find good things in this adventure." As soon as Fan Meng finished speaking, Liang En immediately continued. "Don't forget that it is the toad who sits on the well and looks at the sky, and the toad can eat swan meat."

The reason why Liang En made this joke is also very simple, that is, he found a square cave on the cliff facing him, and such a cave was obviously dug out by hand.

More importantly, Liang En could feel that the specific location of the place he had just discovered through the card should be in this cave.

"But this cave is so high, how do we get in?" Pierce walked down the cliff.Then he looked at the cave with a thoughtful expression.

Because this cave is about seven or eight meters high from the ground, it can be seen from the row of small holes on the edge of the cave that reach the ground that an escalator should have been fixed, but there is nothing here now.

"Or I'll just climb up." Fan Meng looked at the row of small holes and said, "These holes in the rock don't look too small, enough for me to put my hands and feet in."

"I'll add another layer of insurance for you." Liang En stopped Fan Meng who was eager to try, then took off his bow and arrow from his back, took out an arrow and tied a rope to the tail, and then aimed at the arrow at the entrance of the cave. A crack in the stone shot out the arrow in his hand.

I saw that the arrow quickly flew over the distance of more than ten meters, pierced deeply into the crack in the stone, and got stuck there firmly.

Then Fan Meng climbed up with the help of this rope and the small hole in the stone wall, and then let down another thick rope that was fixed at one end for Liang En and the others to climb up too.

After everyone entered the cave, Liang En lit up the headlamp and observed the cave.

This is a three-meter-high and two-meter-wide cave. It slopes all the way up and goes deep into the mountain. Even with strong lights shining on it, it is impossible to tell how deep it goes.

"What do you think this place will be?" Fan Meng frowned as he looked at the tunnel, which was obviously made by man. "Refuge, fortress, or something else."

"I guess it might have something to do with religion." After looking at the surrounding environment, Liang En said. "You know, there is a habit in archaeology, that is, to talk about religion when you don't understand the reason."

"This place obviously cannot be a refuge or a fortress, because the core of the refuge must be concealed, and the roads just now will obviously attract the enemy." After making a joke, Liang En told Fan Meng explained.

"Similarly, the fortress should be built in the core of the settlement area, or near some important traffic arteries. Building a fortress in such a deep mountain and old forest is completely worthless."

"And there is basically no water source nearby. I guess there may be a reservoir here, but it is obviously impossible to collect rainwater to meet the water needs of the fortress guards."

"And if it's a religious occasion, then everything would make sense." Liang En turned on another flashlight and said according to the traces left by the oil lamp holding the torch on the wall.

"The ruler and the people have different beliefs, so the people naturally need a relatively hidden religious place. But if it is just a religious place, the water storage tank alone can meet the water needs of the left-behind priests."

"What you said makes sense." Pierce nodded seriously, "So we have to go down this road, I think only in this way can we confirm that what you said is true."

The three turned on their headlights, held their weapons tightly and walked up the tunnel for more than ten meters, when a room appeared in front of them.

This room seemed to be only about ten square meters. Whether it was the floor, walls or ceiling, it looked extremely rough. It seemed that the builders of the year just carved out a space hastily.

But after entering the room, they found that there was a passage on the left, right and front of the room, leading to three other places respectively.

"Where should we go next?" Fan Meng asked after looking at the three passages after marking the entrance with a pen he carried with him.

"Go forward." Liang En let the light of the headlamp shine on a small stone wall above the entrance of the tunnel directly opposite, and then pointed to the place illuminated by the light.

On the stone wall that was illuminated by his headlamp, there was a bas-relief sculpture that looked obviously rough, but could clearly distinguish the pattern of a cross.

Guided by the sign, Liang En and the others naturally walked towards the marked tunnel, but after walking seven or eight meters forward and turning a corner, a shocking scene appeared in front of the three of them.

This is a huge space in the mountain. Some stones that were originally inside the mountain were carved into stone pillars, leading straight to the top of the hole that was used as the ceiling.

The surrounding walls and ceiling are all well-preserved murals. Except for a few parts that have fallen off due to a long time, the original appearance of the murals can be seen as a whole.

Windows, flowers, and some beautiful decorations are painted on the walls, making this hall deep into the mountain look like a surface building.On the ceiling, there are pictures of icons and angels.

Although these images look distorted in proportion and are obviously in the hands of some ordinary people, the paint that still looks bright today shows that the painters of the year paid a lot of money.

Because in ancient times, these bright pigments were very expensive, because many of the raw materials came from minerals imported from overseas. For example, the top blue color needs to be ground into powder with lapis lazuli imported from Central Asia.

It's just that this Byzantine-style church is now empty, except for the stone altars and crosses that cannot be moved, almost everything that can be moved has disappeared.

(End of this chapter)