Chapter 430: Unveiling the Authentic Nine Zhou Dings! Scarily Massive! (2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At the crack of dawn, around five or six.
The crew had already carved out a pit of considerable depth.
Still, Luo Feng persisted undeterred.
Unless the treasure marker surfaced, Luo Feng rarely admitted defeat.
“I believe there’s something here!”
“Allow me to continue digging!”
Luo Feng’s eyes gleamed with sudden anticipation.
He peered into the abyss of the pit.
Then, with renewed resolve, resumed his excavation. A solitary chime echoed.
[ Ding! You have unearthed a Nine Zhou Ding! ]
[ Dynasty: Xia Dynasty! ]
[ Value: ????? ]
Success, at last.
The sought-after relic had finally been discovered.
The effort had been herculean.
They had toiled through the entire night, and ultimately, their endeavor bore fruit.
Luo Feng, nerves frayed from the marathon of digging, found himself awash with exhilaration.
Observing the ambiguous value represented by question marks, Luo Feng was certain that this artifact was, indeed, an authentic Nine Zhou Ding. Adrenaline surged through him, his body a tableau of victory.
His face was alight with a triumphant grin.
The others gazed on, baffled.
“Host, what did you unearth? You seem ecstatic?”
“From the sound of it, could it be some kind of stone?”
“Ugh, another rock? We’ve come across a ton of those today. Has Old Luo lost it? He’s started laughing like a madman!”
“I agree. Old Luo’s grin seems more like a grimace of despair!”
Luo Feng, scanning these comments, was rendered speechless. Who said this was a grimace of despair? I’m overjoyed!
“Little Luo, what have you unearthed? You’re wearing such a broad smile!” Old Master Li, peering over the pit’s edge, inquired with curiosity.
“I’m not sure yet!”
Luo Feng held back, since the artifact had not been completely unburied and only a system prompt had been received. To reveal it now would seem too astonishing.
So he persisted in his task.
He gently brushed away some of the surrounding earth.
Soon enough, one corner of what seemed to be a bronze ding came into view.
“What could this be?” “I can’t quite tell!”
“Is it a bronze cauldron?”
“I said I can’t tell, who knows what it is!”
The sight of an emerging artifact quickened everyone’s pulse.
Regardless of its nature.
It had been discovered several meters deep.
So, their initial exclusion was modern equipment.
After all, modern individuals seldom bury objects so deeply.
Given the profound depth, it was hard for anyone to resist speculating that it might be an invaluable treasure from ancient times.
However, when Luo Feng had cleared a half-meter radius, his perception shifted.
The Nine Zhou Ding was now level with the soil, but the hue of the bronze ding’s rim contrasted starkly with the earth.
The rim of the bronze ding, as broad as a palm, was etched with sharp lines.
The area that had been cleaned unveiled the ding’s vast scale.
Tremendously large.
So massive that it seemed inconceivable.
Legend has it that Yu the Great amassed gold from across the globe to cast the Nine Zhou Dings. One could only speculate about its colossal size.
He scrutinized the edge meticulously.
At first, he assumed it was a square ding.
But there appeared to be a round opening.
Still, he couldn’t be sure.
Given the ding’s enormity, and such a modest curve, it was too faint to detect.
The segment was not at all brief, extending a full thirty centimeters.
From the currently visible corner, Luo Feng estimated the diameter of this bronze ding to be no less than five meters.
“Incredible!”
Contemplating this, Luo Feng could not help but exclaim inwardly.
A bronze ding of about five meters in diameter.
How tall could it be?
Surely seven or eight meters, correct?
This was genuinely a colossal object.
If it truly spanned this magnitude, then there could only be one Nine Zhou Ding, correct?
Could the so-called Nine Zhou Dings actually refer to a single one?
Upon reflection, it seemed plausible. If power was to be centralized, wouldn’t one bronze ding suffice?
Was the creation of nine intended to demarcate the nine provinces?
“Master Li!” Luo Feng called out from the pit. “Yes, Little Luo!” Master Li responded with curiosity.
“I’ve discovered the Nine Zhou Ding!” “Oh? You’ve truly found it? Are you certain?”
“I’m absolutely certain!”
“Well, stay right there, I’ll come down at once, wait, how do I even get down there!”
Master Li found himself staring into a deep pit, more than ten meters deep, that the team had excavated. Above it, a rudimentary soil-transporting basket hung, poised ominously. Was he truly expected to descend into the abyss with such a primitive device?
His mind was a whirlwind. They were potentially standing before the Nine Zhou Ding – a treasure coveted by archaeologists worldwide. Anticipation hung heavily in the air. If this was indeed the Nine Zhou Ding, discovered through Luo Feng’s translation of the oracle bone script, it would lend significant weight to Luo’s claims about the recorded history of the Xia Dynasty.
Those naysayers, both domestically and abroad, who denied the existence of the Xia Dynasty, would be silenced in the most gratifying way.
“Could this be the Nine Zhou Ding?”
“Host, I recommend caution. This chunk of bronze – are you certain it’s the
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“Why not wait until the entirety is unearthed before declaring victory? What if it turns out to be worthless junk, and your words come back to haunt you?”
In response, Luo Feng retorted, “What you see is just the rim of the bronze ding, the proverbial tip of the iceberg. This bronze’s deceptive intricacies make it impossible to determine if it’s a square or round ding, let alone its true size. But consider this – if the tip of the iceberg is this large, how massive might the whole bronze ding be?”
Determined, Luo Feng dialed a helicopter service. With the artifact discovered, further digging was redundant.
They had spent a grueling night excavating over ten meters down and were understandably fatigued. Luo Feng might be tireless, but his team was not. An artifact of this scale needed heavy-duty equipment to dislodge it from its millennia-old resting place.
It seemed prudent to rest and wait for the machinery to arrive the next day.
After all, the villagers in their thousands could keep a vigilant watch over the Nine Zhou Ding.
“Arrange for a helicopter that can transport an excavator promptly. I need an excavator and a crane capable of lifting at least 50 tons!”
Indeed, Luo Feng required both an excavator and a crane. The artifact’s enormity rendered manual extraction a near-impossible task. The excavator would expedite the process significantly.
After concluding his call, Luo Feng proceeded to unearth more of the artifact, revealing an increasingly prominent curve on the surface.
Touching it, the bronze ding felt cold and impressively solid, imbued with a palpable aura of antiquity. This was a bronze ding that had endured over four thousand years, standing witness to history from the Xia Dynasty to the unified Han Dynasty, the conclusion of the Qing Dynasty, all the way to the present day.
The Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties viewed the Nine Zhou Ding as a symbol of legitimate authority, a tradition the Qin Dynasty would continue with the imperial jade seal. Historically, both artifacts stood as emblems of imperial authority.
“It’s remarkably solid! Let’s call it a day. Everyone, rest up. We will resume the excavation when the machinery arrives!” Luo Feng climbed out of the pit, issuing the order.
“Little Luo, how do you plan on extracting this ding? Considering we’ve only glimpsed the ‘tip of the iceberg’, this is a significant undertaking!” Master Li queried.
“Do not fret; I’ve already arranged for an excavator and a crane,” Luo Feng replied confidently.
“An excavator? No, that’s unacceptable! What if the artifact gets damaged? Using an excavator in archaeological work is unheard of. If we proceed in such a manner, our archaeology team might as well be a construction crew,” Teacher Li objected.
“I assure you, the ground beneath is simply mud. There won’t be any treasures at risk of damage!” Luo Feng defended.
“That’s still unacceptable!” Unmoved, Master Li dialed a number. “We’ve discovered the Nine Zhou Ding. Little Luo has unearthed it. Each of you, bring a hundred people here immediately.”
“What? You’ve located the Nine Zhou Ding? Are you jesting?”
“Do you think I’d engage in such tomfoolery so early in the morning? Hurry and join us,” Master Li retorted with gravity in his voice.
“Could it… Truly be the Nine Zhou Ding?”
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