Chapter 62: The Heavenly Palace of Jiuding Mountain

  Liu Yi and the other person arrived in Jinan at 9 pm. He accompanied Professor Zhou Tao to visit his teacher's mother, saw Zhou Bingbing standing aside staring at him with a fierce gaze, exchanged a few pleasantries before turning around and leaving quickly.

  He walked quickly out of the ward and was about to take a deep breath at the end of the corridor when he heard a soft shout behind him: "Halt!"

  Liu Yi shrugged and turned around, only to see Zhou Bingbing walking towards him with an unfriendly face. He loudly exclaimed: "I'm telling you, sis, it's just a dinosaur bone! No need to look at me like I'm your arch-nemesis the moment we meet! Otherwise, tomorrow, I'll return the dinosaur skeleton frame to you!"

  He finished speaking and turned around to run away, but didn't expect Zhou Bingbing to burst out laughing after hearing his words.

  Her smile instantly dispelled Liu Yi's idea of running away, thinking: "Has this girl changed her ways? Is the sun in Jinan rising from the west today? Normally cold and icy like a glacier, but now with a smile, it really has a warm and blossoming feeling!"

  Zhou Bingbing walked up and smiled at Liu Yi, saying: "I'll ask you something, you have to tell the truth!"

  Liu Yi said with a serious face: "What's going on? I'll say what should be said and won't say what shouldn't be said!"

  At his words, Zhou Bing's eyebrows furrowed and her face fell.

  It is often said: What you fear comes to you.

  Only then did Zhou Bingbing clasp her hands on her hips, knit her eyebrows and stare straight into Liu Yi's eyes, saying coldly: "Where did you go with my father? Why can't I get through to him on the phone?"

  Liu Yi knew she should be asking this question, but couldn't give an answer: "This shouldn't be said, I won't say it!"

  "You won't say, will you? I'll make you not say?" Zhou Bingbing muttered, and actually took a step forward, hugged Liu Yi's neck with one hand, and wrapped her legs around his waist. The whole person was like a monkey hanging on him, and shouted: "Will you say it or not?"

  Liu Yi, though not a shy person, was tightly hugged by a pretty girl, and with the little nurse running out to watch and pointing fingers, he suddenly became very embarrassed.

  He was as fierce as a big tiger when dealing with the corpse oil mouse, he had a brush, but when dealing with the woman who was as fierce as a big tiger, he was at a loss. So he said in a low voice: "Let me go quickly, I say, isn't it enough?"

  Zhou Bingbing was still worried. Although the body hanging on him had been put down, it was still tightly holding his hand, fearing that he would run away. Liu Yi didn't have a habit of lying, so he simply and briefly told the story of their journey to the Death Valley, omitting the moments when they encountered danger, only mentioning the parts where they were helped by the friends like Cang Yang Xiao Ke, and lightly touching on the final forbidden land.

  Zhou Bingbing looked suspicious, didn't believe Liu Yi's words at all, and had no way to verify them since there was no evidence to prove that what he said was false, so she let him go.

  Liu Yi paid for Zhou Bingbing and took a taxi back to Yingxiongshan Cultural Market.

  At this time, all the shops in the market had already closed their doors, only Wang Dachuan's shop was still lit. He saw from afar that the old man was sitting at the door, looking at the moon in the sky, drinking alone, seemingly lonely, but actually more lively than a living god.

  Wang Dahe stood up from afar and shouted at Liu Yi, "You stinky little brat, where have you been? Can't even do business properly? Luckily I'm not your real father, or I'd beat your butt to a pulp!"

  Liu Yi sat down opposite him, poured himself a cup of wine and took out the map from his pocket, throwing it on the table: "Stop chattering, quickly help me see what information this treasure map contains?"

  Wang Daquan's eyes lit up, and he didn't bother to scold Liu Yi anymore. He grabbed the map in one hand and muttered: "It seems like this is the one you asked me to find! I even got hit on the head for him, damn it!"

  Wang Dachuan was a good friend of Liu Yi's father. In 2008, before Liu Yi's father set out for the last time, he specifically entrusted Wang to take good care of Liu Yi and not let him go astray. I think Liu Yi's father was also confused at that time. This Wang Dachuan himself is a heretic, and it's already a testament to Liu Yi's strong will that he didn't lead him astray.

  According to common sense, Liu Yi should call him uncle, but Wang Dachuan is a man with a strong Jianghu aura, from 90-year-old grandfathers to 6-year-old kids, he calls everyone brother, regardless of age, just because it sounds good. Moreover, this guy is very greedy, compared to Malacca, even his shadow can't catch up. If Wang Dachuan entered the Shibei Temple, I estimate that he would risk his own life to pry down all the jewels embedded on the temple.

  Liu Yi admired him, because this guy was said to have studied under a "Mountain Moving Taoist" in his youth and learned a set of skills. In the strict sense, he should be considered a graduate of the "Tomb Raiding School", with some small achievements in Feng Shui research and mechanism hiding, and occasionally showing off some minor magical techniques, with a reputation that was not small in private.

  After Liu Yi and his team were rescued from Death Valley by the troops and returned to Keke Village, they studied the map found on Ma Jiajun's body. They really didn't expect that this tattered map would have numbers embroidered on it. If it weren't for Liu Yi's sudden inspiration, recalling the string of numbers in the title of his father's "1:00 a.m. email", it would be quite troublesome to piece together.

  But when they pieced together the entire embroidered map, they were suddenly stunned. On the map was embroidered a tree with nine branches, and in the center of the branches was placed a white coffin. The coffin was surrounded by red decorations, as if blood had been splattered on it. Finally, the entire pattern was enclosed within the outline of a huge palace.

  Apart from this, there is also a line of small Chinese characters on the coffin - Jiuding Mountain Tian Gong.

  This map, judging by its newness, was embroidered in recent years and is not an ancient map. It should have been drawn by someone found by Liu Yi's father. At that time, Liu Yi and others discussed this map for half a day without getting any results. Just that one line of small characters made their minds fly to the sky.

  Malacca said with a big smile: "The meaning is very clear, this place must be a heavenly palace, and you can climb up through a tree that pierces the sky. I reckon this tree should be like the one we saw in the underground Xiangyang Jade Palace."

  In fact, his interpretation of the painting basically described the surface meaning of the picture, but everyone disagreed with him. In this world, what heavenly palace is there? If it really exists, then the first one should be the Moon Palace. If that's the case, Chang'e would have given birth to three babies by now.

  Professor Zhou Tao speculated that the map should refer to a certain tree burial site on Jiuding Mountain in Sichuan.

  Why is he so certain that the Jiuding Mountain on the map is the Jiuding Mountain in Sichuan? This is mainly because this map is related to the ancient Qiang people, and now the Qiang people are mainly distributed in the Sichuan area. Therefore, they believe that the Jiuding Mountain mentioned on the map must be the Jiuding Mountain in Sichuan, rather than the Jiuding Mountain in other places.

  They reached a consensus on this point, but as for the two words "Tiangong", they argued endlessly, some said it was in heaven, some said it was underground, some said it was on trees, and some said it was inside mountains. Anyway, everyone had their own theory.

  Everyone was too tired to care, and they all fell asleep. Afterwards, they were busy checking their bodies, buying mobile phones and topping up their SIM cards, studying the crystal sheep's life and death eyes, and didn't have time to study this map. Another purpose of Liu Yi escorting Professor Zhou Tao back to Jinan was to find Wang Daquan and ask him to help figure out what this map was pointing to.

  ……

  Wang Dahe glanced at the map and said calmly, "Isn't it obvious? It's just a tree burial!", his excitement from when he first saw the map completely gone.

  His expression made Liu Yi feel strange, this guy would normally get excited when he saw a broken treasure map, but now that he's seen the complete map, he doesn't seem to care. So he asked: "You've seen so much, yet you don't even know what the Nine-Peak Mountain Tian Gong is?"

  Wang Dahe took a sip of wine, put down his cup and said: "Just one tree and one coffin, it's not even a map, it's harder to find than climbing to the sky. And looking at the blood on the outside of the coffin, I estimate that the owner inside was hacked to death with a knife while still alive, so there is fresh blood seeping out. This kind of death is extremely resentful. With your little bit of skill, you won't be able to find the treasure, and you'll probably lose your life too. I advise you to give up!"

  This made Liu Yi even more suspicious. Had Wang Dachuan really changed his ways and given up tomb raiding to sell cute and funny things?

  Liu Yi was a bit angry, and he downed a cup of wine in one gulp. He slammed the cup on the table and stood up abruptly, saying: "I'm telling you, Wang Dakuan, are you kidding me?! Even a blind person knows this is a tree and a coffin! What's the point of me flying all the way back from Qinghai to discuss something with you?! You've got that nonchalant look on your face, but I know you must have some idea what this place is. If you don't tell me, I'll cut ties with you!"

  Wang Dachuan looked at Liu Yi's excited appearance, sighed, and hesitated for a long time before saying: "Do you really want to know? Do you really want to go?"

  "That goes without saying! You want me to tell you that I'll give this shop to you?" Liu Yi said generously, pointing to his own shop.

  After all, this clue was left by Liu Yi's father, even if it means losing everything, even if it means going through thick and thin, it is worth it.

  Wang Daquan saw his determined expression, and with a sneer, said: "Don't play those useless tricks. With your little family background, I really don't think much of you? If I told you, even if you died there, you wouldn't regret it?"

  Liu Yi stared into his eyes and said, "Why don't you just come with me? Didn't my father ask you to take care of me?" Looking at the situation, he had made up his mind to cling to Wang Daquan.

  "You..." Wang Dachuan suddenly became choked with rage.

  "You're not afraid, are you?"

  "Don't provoke me, I'm telling you, I really don't dare go, I don't want to throw this old body of mine there!"

  Liu Wei said: "Oh, you don't dare go either? That's really a treacherous place!"

  "But since you, Liu Yi, have invited me, an old man, I must put aside my age and take up this challenge!"

  Liu Yi saw him agree and a look of joy appeared on his face. If this guy could follow himself to the mysterious Jiuding Mountain Tian Gong, it would be a great help.

  Wang Daichuan looked at him and struck him, saying: "You little brat, don't be so smug. If it weren't for your father's prior instructions, I wouldn't have taken you in!"

  "What? What did you say?" Liu Yi was shocked after hearing this, his body which had just sat down suddenly stood up again, pointing at Wang Daichuan excitedly: "You...you scoundrel, how many more things have you hidden from me? I treated you like an older brother for nothing!"