Chapter 503 - 503: Ming Dynasty Pavilion! Thunder God Pillar! Dragon Carvings! Treasonous Behavior! (2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
However, Luo Feng had an inkling that the situation was not as straightforward as it appeared. He believed that those who did not want him to find the tomb of Sima Yi were trying to intimidate him. Such a ruse, he felt, was somewhat immature.
“Among the myriad peaks of Cuiji Mountain, from east to west, one faces nine towering peaks, the treasure lies beneath the fifth!” This sentence was from the treasure map of Zhuge Liang. Luo Feng had deliberately checked it yesterday.
The so-called thousand mountains had 999 peaks, split into three parts. Where had this idea of thousand mountains come from? It seemed that the ancients enjoyed rounding up numbers. Or perhaps they simply had not counted properly.
“Begin a level three scan!” After walking for approximately half an hour, and having ascended about three to five kilometers up the mountain, Luo Feng promptly initiated the scan.
“Is there really a treasure in a mountain this close?” The scan completed, showing a circular array of treasure points about 800 meters to the south. Seeing that those following him were getting closer, Luo Feng quickly found a deserted area.
He had An Peng don his clothes and impersonate him, heading towards an area without any indicated treasure. With a mask on and similar body shape to Luo Feng’s, An Peng successfully misled the crowd.
Meanwhile, Luo Feng set off after them, heading towards the golden spot.
“Haha, there’s actually no one following us!”
“It seems they’ve caught on!”
“Even if they’ve caught on, it’s no use. We’re already over here!” Qin Rubing walked beside Luo Feng, laughing joyfully.
She was thoroughly amused by Luo Feng’s successful distraction strategy.
“This place gathers wind and energy. It has great Feng Shui!” Luo Feng couldn’t help but exaggerate upon viewing the landscape.
It was a place where three mountains converged. If there were dragon veins within the mountains, then this would be the nexus of those veins.
“This is good Feng Shui? How could I not have noticed?” Li Shishi asked in confusion.
Luo Feng did not reply. He shot Li Shi Shi a glance and began to dig with a pickaxe. After all, it was pointless to explain to an oblivious person.
The distribution of the gold light did not resemble that of a traditional tomb. It was scattered irregularly, with a treasure point here and another there.
“Damn! Old Luo is on the south side!” “Yeah, we were fooled, it’s An Peng disguised!” “Damn! Old Luo has become cunning!” “What do we do, do we go there now?”
“If we go now, won’t it be too late?”
“Even if it’s too late, we still have to go. Who knows, we might find something left behind by Old Luo.”
Over on Luo Feng’s end, he had been digging for approximately ten minutes. Less than half a meter deep, there was a clang. The object was shallower than he had anticipated.
[ Ding, you’ve dug up a Thunder God Pillar! ]
[ Dynasty: Ming. Value: 300,000! ]
Luo Feng’s excitement quickly faded. After all, this confirmed it was not a tomb. But considering the price, the column was no cheap find. A wooden pillar from the Ming Dynasty that had managed to remain intact was definitely not made from ordinary wood.
He continued to dig and quickly saw a cylindrical column. It had a diameter of over a meter. Upon inspection, it appeared to be made of red cedar, which was a fairly precious type of wood.
“Luo Feng, what type of wood is this? I don’t think I’ve seen it before,” one of them questioned.
“Could it be a coffin plank?” another speculated.
“You fool, since when are coffin planks cylindrical? This seems more like a pillar! ” Qin Ru Bing chided the individual who had suggested the coffin plank.
That individual was, of course, Li Shishi. Ever since the two of them began following Luo Feng the day before, their relationship seemed to have grown somewhat stronger. They started to tease each other like good friends, exchanging friendly barbs. This improved camaraderie also made Luo Feng happy as it meant that the three of them would likely have more opportunities to spend time together in the future.
Luo Feng remembered how they had worked together the previous day, and a contented smile spread across his face. After digging for a while longer, they uncovered a four-meter long object.
“This is a Thunder God Pillar!” Luo Feng declared.
“Thunder God Pillar? What’s that?” someone asked.
“It’s used to build pavilions!” Luo Feng pointed at the groove on top of it, “This is a groove used to connect other pillars.”
“So it’s for building a pavilion? Definitely not a coffin plank then,” one of them affirmed.
“So, it definitely isn’t an ancient tomb?” another queried.
Luo Feng instructed his team to slowly lift the Thunder God Pillar. They noticed intricate dragon carvings on its surface. A single dragon extended from the top to the bottom, seeming almost lifelike. No wonder it was worth three hundred thousand; the wood and the craftsmanship were both superb.
However, Luo Feng couldn’t understand why anyone would construct a pavilion in such a remote place.
“Luo Feng, this bas-relief is quite beautiful. I think it should be worth some money!”
“The wood is red cedar! The bas-relief is pretty good too. It should be worth several hundred thousand, depending on the era it’s from!” Qin Rubing estimated.
Luo Feng nodded, agreeing with the value of several hundred thousand, and then continued to dig. After about ten minutes, they found other pieces of wood. They all seemed to be from the pavilion, but apart from the Thunder God Pillar, the rest were either rotten or shattered.
Among the wooden debris, Luo Feng saw a broken beam inscribed with the words: “Constructed in the 23rd year of Hongwu era by the Office of Clear History of the Capital Waterways.”
“Was this pavilion constructed during the Ming Dynasty?”
“The Hongwu era?”
“What does ‘Office of Clear History of the Capital Waterways’ mean?
“It must be a title of some official position,” Luo Feng guessed, astonished that this pavilion could have been built by officials.
The presence of dragon carvings on a mere pavilion during the Ming Dynasty was indeed baffling. Could this place have been used by the emperor for summer retreats? But such a small pavilion wouldn’t have served much of a purpose. Places built specifically for emperors to escape the summer heat were usually entire manors.
Regardless, Luo Feng decided to transport the Thunder God Pillar back first and then investigate further.
“Start a level three scan!”
As he directed his people to handle the transportation, Luo Feng continued on with his rich followers. They walked for a bit and initiated another scan. Nothing meaningful was discovered. They took a break at noon and set out again in the afternoon, initiating a third level scan. After the scan completed, they found a dense cluster of treasure points about a kilometer away.
“The Feng Shui of this place doesn’t seem too bad either,” Luo Feng commented with a chuckle, and quickly made his way towards that location to begin excavation.
Soon enough, a loud clunk sounded, and an alert rang out.
[ You’ve discovered a Thunder God Pillar from the Ming Dynasty, worth
200,000! ]
Why were there so many Thunder God Pillars? Did the Ming Dynasty have too much free time, constructing so many pavilions in such a place? What was their purpose?
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