Chapter 388: The Web Reels! The Enigmatic Seven Slaughters Stele! Zhang Xianzhong l s Hidden Fortune Discovered! (3)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Luo Feng gently brushed away the dust with his tool, revealing a dark silver ingot in his grasp.
Flipping it over, he discovered the engraving of “Da Xi” on the underside.
“Da Xi?” Qin Ru Bing furrowed her brows before realization dawned on her. “Isn’t that the name of Zhang Xianzhong’s kingdom?”
“Could this site be Zhang Xianzhong’s hidden treasury?” Li Shishi chimed in, having joined the group in the mountains after recovering from her morning fatigue in Luo Feng’s quarters. Yet she was aware that this guise of feigned recovery could only be employed a handful of times before arousing suspicion.
She contemplated the prospect of losing the warm comfort she experienced nestled up against Luo Feng until dawn during their future expeditions. This thought filled her with a tinge of nostalgia.
“Isn’t Zhang Xianzhong’s treasure rumored to be in the Yangtze River?” A viewer exclaimed in disbelief. “How can it possibly be here?”
Their discovery left the viewers confounded. They had previously unearthed copper coins and a stone tiger from the Yangtze River. So, why had Luo Feng discovered a chest brimming with silver on Qingcheng Mountain?
While the viewers grappled with their confusion, Jiang Biehe, watching Luo Feng’s livestream from a distance, was equally perplexed. He had been leading the search efforts in the mountains, yet Luo Feng had seemingly found a treasure trove high up the terrain. Had they been wrong to search underwater all these years?
With renewed vigor, Luo Feng and the wealthy youngsters rapidly excavated the site, hoping to unearth and secure all the treasures before day’s end. Such a chest could certainly be handled by the group as any damage to it would not harm the treasures inside.
No longer needing to keep their discovery secret, Luo Feng began explaining his line of thought. “This must seem odd to all of you. But let’s consider the facts thoroughly. Recall the stone tiger we discovered, its head pointed towards Qingcheng Mountain. The stone tiger corresponds to the stone dragon, implying that the treasure might be located opposite to these two sites.”
Luo Feng had indeed investigated the sites of the stone dragon and the stone tiger, but found no treasure. So the opposite point seemed the logical deduction for anyone with the proper tools and insight.
“But how do we locate something like the stone dragon? Without additional clues, our best option is to search in the direction the stone tiger is facing. However, just suspecting that it’s on Qingcheng Mountain isn’t enough. What really convinced me was Puzhao Temple!”
“This temple was initially razed by Zhang Xianzhong. Mysteriously, during the Qing Dynasty, it underwent significant reconstruction over a century, transforming it into a vast temple complex. The real question isn’t the temple’s growth, but where the funds for its expansion came from?”
He explained further, “A clear inscription on the temple stele reads ‘No solicitation of donations! No fraudulent aid.’ This implies no fundraising. To finance such a large expansion, tens of thousands of gold pieces would’ve been needed. Neither the government nor the temple would have had such funds, so where did the money come from?”
“My theory is that Zhang Xianzhong, after destroying Puzhao Temple, hid his treasure underneath it. After his death, the monks stumbled upon the hidden riches while rebuilding the temple.”
“Of course, this is speculation. We still need to continue our digging. Initially, I was desperate because we could excavate Qingcheng Mountain, but not the temple. However, hope rekindled when I concluded that there must be multiple locations for the treasure.”
Eventually, Luo Feng reached Chang Dao Guan, where he discovered the stone dragon. Basing on the phrase ‘stone tiger faces stone dragon,’ he was able to pinpoint the general location of the treasure.
The group, including the flabbergasted Jiang Biehe, listened to Luo Feng’s explanation in stunned silence. His reasoning was extraordinary, yet everything he said made sense.
Unfazed, Luo Feng continued to dig. Soon, he felt his hoe scrape against stone. After ten more minutes of diligent work, a stone stele standing two meters high and a meter wide was unearthed.
Adorned with dragon script, the tablet featured the inscription “Imperial Edict” and bore three lines of large characters: “Heaven created all things for man, man has nothing for Heaven, but to slaughter slaughter slaughter…”
The repeated characters for “slaughter” left Luo Feng taken aback.. Could this be the legendary Seven Slaughters Stele noted in historical records?
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