Chapter 774: Chapter 498: The Most Earth-Shattering Discovery of the Century (Part 2)

The team instantly went into high alert, advancing slowly in a fan formation.

Flashlights constantly scanning above the rock walls and every dark corner.

Sure enough, as they went deeper, more similar scales, varying in size, started appearing on the tunnel floor.

The musty scent in the air grew stronger, mixed with an indescribable strange smell.

After a moment, the tunnel changed again, and there was suddenly a pit ahead.

The pit’s diameter was about three to four meters. That indescribable pungent odor seemed to be emanating from this hole!

The group slowly approached the pit, carefully probing its depths with their flashlight beams, but it seemed bottomless, perhaps concealing a vast space.

"Should we go down?" Brother Quan looked up at Qi Yun and asked.

Qi Yun squinted, staring intently into the dark, deep pit.

"Yes!"

Brother Quan wasted no words and immediately commanded, "Da Pao, Old Bai, set up the ropes and establish anchor points!"

Two high-strength climbing ropes were quickly secured to an adjacent protruding rock, with the other ends thrown into the endless darkness.

"I’ll go first."

Brother Quan took the lead, "Once I’m down and confirm it’s safe, you can follow one by one. Old Bai, stay up here for support."

After everything was prepared, Brother Quan took a deep breath, grabbed the rope, turned on his headlamp, and began his descent.

The others watched nervously, tightly strung with anticipation.

After two minutes, Brother Quan shone his light upwards, signaling that he had reached the bottom.

Then there was silence, indicating he was exploring the surroundings below.

As each second ticked by, those above waited anxiously, not daring to rashly inquire.

The dark pit resembled a silent, giant maw.

Finally, the walkie-talkie crackled to life; Brother Quan seemed to have seen something incredible, his voice barely containing his shock: "You all... come down, there’s... something down here..."

Upon hearing this, Qi Yun donned his descent gear and slowly lowered himself down as well.

As he completely entered the deep pit, his headlamp scanned the area, revealing just how massive this space was, perhaps even twice the size of the previous cave.

In awestruck silence, Qi Yun followed the rope slowly to the ground, where Brother Quan stood, seemingly in a daze, not far away.

"What did you find?" Qi Yun moved closer to ask.

Brother Quan didn’t speak, just slowly raised his hand, pointing toward a direction in the darkness.

Qi Yun followed the direction indicated, shining his headlamp’s beam that way.

In the center of the cavern, there was a relatively elevated highland.

On the highland loomed an unimaginably enormous silver-white silhouette!

It looked like a train!

The sinuous body, like a frozen mountain range, lay silently in the darkness, utterly still.

Qi Yun felt his heart pounding in his chest, his blood racing!

This was it! They found it!

Although he had suspected, witnessing this beyond-imagination sight still gripped his entire being.

It wasn’t just the visual impact—it felt like a shuddering awe rooted deep in his veins, leaving him paralyzed, breathless.

The creature seemed like a massive snake, hollowed of flesh and blood, leaving only its outer skin, prone upon the ground.

Its body length was estimated to exceed fifty meters! The thickest trunk section had a diameter nearing two meters. Even collapsed and withered, one could envision its former majesty.

While its trunk resembled a great snake, its head proved otherwise!

For there were two horns!

Those two horns tilted upwards, somewhat like antlers yet distinct, without fully branching.

Its snout was long, resembling a crocodile’s wide mouth, with a pronounced jaw.

The body was covered in tightly interlocking silver-gray scales, encompassing its vast form.

In the flashlight’s beam, the scales revealed intricate patterns identical to the ones on Qi Yun’s scale.

Even more disconcerting was near the abdomen, where the scales were arranged differently, revealing two pairs of empty carapaces, suggesting two pairs of claws might have once grown there...

"Is this... is it a snake?!" came Niu Da’s trembling voice from behind.

"No..." Qin Sizhi swallowed hard, eyes glued to the coiled silhouette, his gaze incandescent with fervor.

He was certain, this was no snake, nor any known existing creature.

"It’s a flood dragon!"

Yao Yuzhong’s face flushed with excitement, "To be exact... this is the remains of a flood dragon, or rather, its molted skin."

"I’ve seen a mural in a Tang Dynasty tomb depicting just this..."

"The flood dragon’s form is like a snake, its head resembles a tiger, with lengths reaching several yards... It sounds like a cow’s bellow, dwelling in deep marshes and rivers, storing water and concealing clouds..." Qin Sizhi muttered, "This is actually real!"

Everyone was rooted to the spot by this astounding scene, their eyes unable to tear away from the massive body.

After quite a while, Qi Yun gradually regained his senses.

In his mind, he couldn’t help but recall an incident not long before.

At that time, Brother Quan had brought out that scale from Kunlun, and Qi Yun sent a photo to Ignacio, asking for his help in researching it.

Ignacio pored over numerous ancient texts about Kunlun and finally found some fitting descriptions in Buddhist scriptures.

It was a creature unverified and only existing in Buddhist texts—Mahoraga.

The Sanskrit "Saddharma Pundarika Sutra" records that long ago, deep within Kunlun, there existed a space where a certain creature lived.

It resembled a giant flood dragon, its body covered in scaled armor, capable of easily splitting mountains and cracking stones. It was the Guardian Beast of Vandana Dragon King, one of the eight great dragon kings in Buddhism.

At the time, Ignacio was also uncertain about this answer, but now it seems that perhaps it’s all true...

Qi Yun took out his phone from his pocket, wanting to record this most breathtaking discovery of the century.

The others, however, refrained from doing so; even without Qi Yun specifically instructing them, they knew very well this matter required absolute secrecy.

Just then, An Zai, who had circled to the back of the molted skin, suddenly exclaimed, "Look, what is this?!"

Upon hearing the call, everyone hurriedly gathered around.

Behind the high platform, there was a large pit with a diameter of five or six meters, and at the bottom lay many scattered, dim gray-white fragments of varying sizes.

They looked... like eggshells?

Seeing the pit was not deep, An Zai, upon receiving permission, slid directly into it.

As he bent down to pick up a piece, a slight force of his fingers caused the fragment to crumble entirely, turning to powder.

"Huh~"

An Zai, puzzled, squatted and picked a fragment as large as his palm, carefully cradled it in both hands, and handed it to Niu Da, who passed it to the others.

Under the strong light, they discerned more detail on the fragment.

The surface was covered with cobweb-like cracks, one side had numerous tiny holes, while the other was relatively smooth, albeit with some dried remains that looked like a membrane.

The residues were not evenly distributed but presented a peculiar pattern, like a network of blood vessels...

"I have a bold guess... Do you think..." An Zai had climbed out of the pit and whispered as he approached.

Everyone turned to look at him, their faces grave though they didn’t speak.

"Retreat!" Qi Yun decided instantly.

An Zai’s guess was wild, yet reality had a strong probability of aligning with his thoughts.

Now that their long-sought answer was confirmed, there was no need for further delay.

Jin Bao initially wanted to touch the molted skin but was pulled back by Qin Sizhi.

With a stern expression, Qin warned, "Don’t touch it!"

Jin Bao reluctantly drew back his hand and curbed his curiosity.

Without a moment’s delay, everyone used tools to ascend along the rope.

Qi Yun took one last look at the silver-white behemoth, still coiled silently, like an unspoken history.

They gradually returned to the passageway above, quickly collected the ropes, and retraced their path back.

Entering the massive rock cave where the scorpion tide had once been, everyone’s nerves were tense, flashlight beams warily sweeping over the floor and crevices of the rock walls.

Perhaps they were overly cautious, as they encountered no anomalies until they emerged from the passage.

Outside, the sky was completely dark, with Old Bai still stationed at the entrance.

"Any issues?" Brother Quan asked.

Old Bai shook his head, "Everything’s normal."

Brother Quan glanced back at the passage, saying no more.

Though it was inadvisable to travel at night, Qi Yun felt uneasy and decided to leave the gorge overnight.

No one objected, making their way back along the path.

The Qinling mountains, shrouded in night, appeared even more foreboding than during the day.

The wind whispered through the woods, like a mournful wail.