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Chapter 193 The Black-Robed, White-Faced Ghost (Second Update)
The group passed through the corridor and entered a spacious hall, several times larger than the one they had entered before. Illuminated by the firelight, the entire hall radiated a myriad of colorful, precious lights. This was because the walls, pillars, and even the floor of the hall were inlaid with all sorts of jade and gemstones.
Illuminated by the firelight, it emitted a kaleidoscope of colors. For a moment, everyone who entered was stunned.
"Damn it, after working so hard for so long and losing so many brothers, we've finally gained something. Men, arrest them all!"
A group of soldiers immediately stepped forward and began to unearth various gems. Actually, these gems, embedded in the ground and walls, were naturally not of top quality. But there were so many of them, and they were huge. Commander Luo couldn't stop smiling as he watched.
"Good, good, good. Let's all work harder and not fall behind."
Lu Xuan casually picked up a piece of jade and examined it carefully. Then he tossed it to the soldier beside him. The quality was too poor; it had no spiritual energy whatsoever.
This is actually quite normal. You see, this hall was where emperors of past dynasties refined elixirs; it was overflowing with valuable items. However, before they arrived, it had already been looted by the Yuan people more than once. What remained were goods they didn't value. These items might be worth something to people of this era, but to Lu Xuan, they were essentially worthless.
In the main hall, what intrigued him was the figure of an ancient lady in a corner. It was certainly not a living person; Lu Xuan sensed no life force whatsoever. Yet, the figure stood there, lifelike, startling the surrounding soldiers.
Lu Xuan walked slowly over and circled around to the front of the paper figure. The back of the paper figure was lifelike, but its face had no features whatsoever. With a gentle poke, the paper figure instantly turned to ashes.
"Paper crafting? This seems to be the paper crafting technique of paper craftsmen in folk legends. It is said that those paper craftsmen with a lineage can make paper figures that are indistinguishable from real people, and even make them move freely."
Chen Yulou, drawing on his family's scholarly background, immediately gave everyone a brief explanation. He had actually intended to say that all of this was a hoax, but recalling Lu Xuan's divine battle with the Flying Centipede, he wasn't so sure. However, Lu Xuan refuted his claim.
"This is different. This isn't that kind of paper crafting. That stuff is a low-class folk art. Although it can be quite sophisticated if practiced deeply, this is the royal alchemy grounds. You won't find anything like that here. Besides paper craftsmen, there's another type of person who also likes to use this kind of trick. And they have close ties to the royal family. Have you heard of Guan Shan Tai Bao?"
"Guanshan Taibao? The group of people who were in charge of the imperial mausoleums during the Ming Dynasty? I thought that was just a folk legend."
"Most folk tales have a root in something. The Guanshan Taibao was a secret agency of the royal family. On the surface, they used feng shui techniques to assist in the construction of mausoleums, but in reality, they also had an important profession."
Chen Yulou had no problem with his knowledge; after a little thought, he figured out the key point.
"Brother Lu, are you perhaps referring to alchemy?"
Everyone suddenly realized that emperors throughout history were all pretty much the same; which one could resist the temptation of immortality?
A slightly eerie smile appeared on Lu Xuan's lips.
"almost."
He had naturally read the story of the Dragon Ridge Caves. But that was more than two hundred years ago. If it weren't for his recent cultivation, which cleared his mind and broadened his spiritual awareness, he might not have been able to recall these details.
For example, he knew that the so-called tomb of a Yuan Dynasty general was not actually in this underground palace, but on the mountaintop. However, he was never born there. One reason was to avoid suspicion, and the other was that there were things in this underground palace that interested him.
The underground palace was enormous. Commander Luo left a group of men to pry open the jade there, while the rest continued their exploration. They crossed a stone bridge and arrived at another grand hall. Above the hall were the three characters "Wuliang Hall" written in small seal script.
The main hall was locked with a golden lock. However, this posed no challenge for Red Girl; the Moon Gate was adept at such ingenious mechanisms. With a single hair, she easily unlocked the door, and the group proceeded further into the Boundless Hall.
In the center of the main hall was a circular bronze platform. The surrounding area, just like the outside, was covered with various gemstones.
General Luo was excited again. But after a while, he became somewhat disappointed.
"Damn it, is that all? Such a huge palace, and only a few pieces of jade?" He was naturally dissatisfied. For an ordinary tomb raider, these jade pieces would be enough to make a fortune. But for someone like Commander Luo, who maintained an army, this amount of jade probably wouldn't even be enough for half a year's worth of rations, let alone enough to buy European weapons.
"Don't rush, we haven't entered the core area of this hall yet."
"What do you mean? I just sent people to check. There are no more doors around this main hall? Could there be some kind of mechanism?"
Lu Xuan chuckled and walked to the bronze platform in the center of the hall. In fact, if this were the 21st century, this bronze platform alone would be priceless. Carved with dragons and phoenixes, it was clearly a royal symbol. Placed in a museum, it would easily be considered a treasure.
But in this era of chaos, only gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, and jade were considered hard currency.
Lu Xuan exerted force with his feet, and his vital energy connected with the platform's mechanism, causing the entire platform to flip down, and he landed directly on the next level.
As expected, there was another sizable space beneath the Boundless Palace. Around this hidden underground palace were dozens of coffins. And in the center, there was a huge alchemy furnace.
The bluish-gray alchemy furnace was covered in dust. However, through some cracks, a faint luster could still be seen. Clearly, it was completely free of rust.
The runes on it are mostly in the style of the Qin Dynasty. It appears to be an alchemical furnace from the Qin Dynasty. And coincidentally, the Qin Dynasty produced one of the most famous sorcerers in Chinese history. Perhaps there is some connection between the two.
Just then, Chen Yulou and his group found their way down. Upon seeing Lu Xuan, Commander Luo immediately exclaimed, "Oh, my brother Lu! You came down all by yourself without a word, we were so worried!"
As she spoke, she stepped forward to sized up Lu Xuan, clearly afraid that Lu Xuan was hiding a treasure.
"Don't look at me, look at this. It's an alchemy furnace from the Qin Dynasty. It served countless generations of imperial families. It's practically priceless."
The words "priceless treasure" immediately caught Luo Dashuai's eye. He abandoned Lu Xuan and ran to see his treasure.
Chen Yulou also stepped forward to take a look and confirmed what Lu Xuan had said. This made Commander Luo even more excited.
However, he quickly realized a problem: this thing didn't seem to be priceless to those foreigners. They didn't understand Chinese history, so why would they be interested in it?
Lu Xuan ignored his hesitation. Instead, he walked up to the pile of mummies. With a wave of his right hand, more than a dozen mummies flew away, revealing the head of the innermost corpse, who was sitting cross-legged.
He wore a black robe and had a pale face, his belly swollen like a drum, resembling the ghost of death in folk tales.
Seeing that everyone was gathering around, Lu Xuan suddenly asked Chen Yulou and Partridge Whistle a question.
"Throughout history, almost all emperors have pursued immortality, either openly or secretly. They sought out various hermits and masters to refine elixirs for them. But let alone immortality, without exception, none of them met a good end. Why do you think that is?"
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Chapter 194 Ominous Sign (First Update, Please Subscribe)
Before either of them could answer, Commander Luo spoke first.