Chapter 53: The Cause of the Incident

  The remaining six people knew that things had been exposed after the spell was lifted, and this treasure country teacher could not be kept down. However, they were all narrow-minded and unwilling to give their own treasures to others, so the alliance soon disintegrated.

  They also understood that if they killed each other, no one would benefit, so they each took their own treasure and escaped to hide.

  When Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei learned that the divine object was lost, he regretted it so much that he almost cut his throat with a knife. He sent out heavy troops to search for the whole country, but those seven people seemed to have evaporated completely, leaving no trace at all.

  Tuoba Gui searched for many years but still had no clues, his temperament underwent a huge change, he no longer cared about state affairs, his temper became very violent, and every day was just drinking and having fun, resulting in the collapse of the imperial court. Finally, Tuoba Gui died at the age of 39 after being assassinated in a palace coup...

  Zhou Huan said up to here, turned his head to look at my reaction, I reckon this time oneself definitely is crooked mouth, a child listening to adult tell story's expression.

  "How can you look like you don't believe it at all?"

  "Sister! This is not a matter of whether I believe it or not, what you're saying is completely a story! However, I must admit that it's quite colorful. I still have some lingering feelings about it."

  Zhou Huan shrugged and said, "Same here, when I first knew this story, my feeling was about the same as yours."

  "After talking for half a day, does the story you're telling have any historical basis?"

  "There are still many descriptions of Tuoba Gui in history, but as for the content of this story, there has never been any record, it should be a deleted piece of history."

  I heard her say that and felt even more that something was off, so I asked: "But isn't that still without basis? How did you know? You didn't make it up, did you?"

  Zhou Huan didn't mind me asking and smiled, saying: "As for how I knew, it all started with your painting 'Xian Shan Fu Hu Tu'."

  "What does it mean? Is this story written on that painting?"

  "What you said is correct, the story is indeed written on that painting, only it's written on the back of the painting, the handwriting is very blurry and sloppy, and it's even in Sanskrit. Even if an ordinary person finds it, they won't notice." Zhou Huan replied very confidently.

  It wasn't until I heard her say this that it suddenly dawned on me, and I remembered that the back of the painting indeed had some messy symbols that looked very blurry. I had never paid attention to them before. Could it be true that they recorded the content that sounded like a legend, just as Zhou Huan said?

  I immediately felt that something was wrong again, and asked Zhou Huan: "You also saw this painting for the first time at the auction, didn't you? How could you understand what's known as Sanskrit?"

  "This issue is a bit strange, although your painting is an original and unique work of art, before you auction it off, our company had already received printed copies of it. It's probably not just us, I think many organizations including Zhang Zhuang's have also seen those prints."

  I'm getting more and more confused as I listen, so I continued to ask Zhou Huan what was going on, and she explained the situation about this painting to me again.

  It happened at the beginning of this year, when he was an executive member of their company and entered a very ordinary ancient tomb. However, this member soon discovered that the tomb had obviously been looted before, with nothing valuable left behind except for this printed painting scroll.

  The team member didn't think much of it at the time and brought the fake painting back with him, thinking that a thief wouldn't leave empty-handed.

  After returning to the company, it was soon discovered that the back of the painting seemed to be a kind of text. After finding a professional translator, an astonishing story was obtained. Moreover, experienced people also found that the front of the painting was a map. Strangely, when viewed from different angles, six different mountainous landforms could be seen, clearly marking out six locations.

  After discovering these circumstances, the high-level officials of Zhou Huan's company attached great importance to it and sent teams to investigate 'Zhēng má lǐng' many times, but none were successful.

  The last time was when Zhou Huan and Hei Lian led the team, they accidentally met me, as for why I appeared there she didn't know, it was only later that I discovered I could miraculously open the stone gate, Zhou Huan then made an effort to bring me out.

  Later, they got the news that I was going to auction off the ancient painting, so they rushed to the auction site. Unexpectedly, there were many forces also vying for this painting. As for what happened later, I knew that Zhou Huan used saving me as a condition and pulled me into the water.

  After comparing the original with the printed version, Zhou Huan found that except for the white fox on the original painting that seemed to be 'crying', there was no other difference. After some thought, Zhou Huan felt that things were more complicated than they seemed, and it appeared that this was not an accident, but rather someone had deliberately arranged it. Although he didn't know the true purpose, with the appearance of this painting, many powerful organizations in today's society have been implicated, and the flower shirt and its owners are a prime example.

  Zhou Huan said here, looked at me with a profound meaning and said: "As for why you are also involved, you have to ask yourself?"

  "Hmm..."

  "Ask me, I didn't know anything at all, if it wasn't for you pulling me in, I'd be sitting in a big city now, drinking beer and chatting nonsense." I said excitedly.

  After listening to Zhou Huan's account, I was almost shocked to death. Originally, it was just a story, but now all the events are starting to match up, making me have no choice but to believe this fact.

  Was my first treasure hunt really arranged by someone? I said why did I encounter so many strange and bizarre things on the way, couldn't find the people I should have found, and instead encountered some kind of fox demon, snake group, Mao Shan Taoist... Wait a minute... Mao Shan Taoist!

  I quickly asked Zhou Huan: "What was the name of the Taoist priest you mentioned in Baopu Guoshi?"

  "Your surname is Xu, and your name is Yi, what's up?" Zhou Huan replied inexplicably.

  I'm speechless... This is a complete coincidence, the Taoist priest we met twice also has the surname Xu, if I remember correctly his name should be Xu Xin, no way, why? Is his appearance also pre-arranged?

  But I really can't understand why this whole thing has to involve us ordinary people, it's completely illogical, is the person who planned this event just randomly picking people or what?

  Zhou Huan saw me staring with various expressions and asked what was wrong?

  I told Zhou Huan about what happened with Xu Xin, and she also looked incredulous after hearing it.

  She anxiously asked: "Are you sure his surname is Xu and he also knows Mao Shan's magic?"

  "A thousand truths and ten thousand certainties, guaranteed not wrong, he has saved my life twice, how could I possibly remember wrongly."

  Zhou Huan saw me so determined, and said with a bitter smile: "It seems that my guess was indeed correct. This whole thing is absolutely not a coincidence, but rather someone's careful plan. I think your appearance must also be intentional, there must be some reason for you to intervene."

  I suddenly remembered some things, why can only I open the cave with ancient paintings and the stone gate in the underground passage? And why does it seem that my blood can drive away those spiders? Also, I have a different physique than others, which can resist the sulfur-like substance emitted by those insects.

  The more anxious I am, the more I don't understand. Suddenly, so many question marks appeared, and I felt like I was about to suffocate. I lit my last cigarette and took a big drag.

  Zhou Huan saw that I was a bit agitated, patted my shoulder and said: "You don't have to be too anxious either. Although the high-level executives in our company obviously want to get those Lingyu, I also want to know the truth of the matter just like you. But we have no other choice now, we can only continue step by step, one day the truth will come out."

  I smiled gratefully at her, calmed down for a moment, and continued to ask: "Your previous story hasn't finished yet. Who painted this painting? Are there any records of the final whereabouts of those treasure-protecting national masters?"

  Zhou Huan rearranged his thoughts and said, "This is exactly what I wanted to continue saying. This painting and the text were created by Xu Yidao himself, and it's estimated that he wanted to warn future generations of something."

  Zhou Huan continued with the story from where she left off...

  After Xu Yidao escaped with serious injuries and hid in the deep mountains, he still felt that the remaining Lingyu was a disaster. It wasn't until after Tuoba Jia was assassinated that he decided to go find the other six people.

  But the world is so big that it's extremely difficult to find, and Xu Yidao spent many years searching in vain before slowly finding some clues.

  After the six people parted ways, they were very afraid of being pursued and initially hid their names and identities. After Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei died, they became afraid of being killed by Emperor Taiwu and, having great ambition and greed, began to seek refuge and build their own forces.

  These people each found a small nation or an unknown and secluded country, made the leader or king into a puppet, and thought that after slowly expanding their own power, they would go on to plunder the treasures in other people's hands, ultimately seeking eternal life.

  However, these six people all have their own military strength and national protection of different intensities, so no one dares to take action easily, and finally a situation of mutual restraint is formed, which also makes it difficult for Xu Yidao to eliminate them.

  Without being able to obtain the seven pieces of Lingyu combined together, others cannot achieve longevity, and Daoists themselves pursue the cultivation of longevity techniques, so Xu Yidao's lifespan is longer than that of several others.

  It wasn't until Xu Yidao was old that he gradually learned that five of the six people had died one after another, and only the sole woman 'Hu Meiniang' remained in this world.

  At this time, Xu Yidao knew that there was no more time to wait, so he went alone to kill the fox girl on Zhēng má lǐng, determined to risk his life to avenge her and eliminate future troubles.

  When he saw the "Fox Spirit Maiden" again, he was greatly shocked. At this time, he was already nearly sixty years old and had a head full of silver hair. However, the Fox Spirit Maiden looked like she had aged somewhat but was still as beautiful as ever, only with a hint of melancholy in her eyes.

  Xu Yidao was now convinced that the legend of the Lingyu being able to make people regain their youth was true, because she learned from Hu Meiniang's mouth that every night she slept with the jade pillow, although it couldn't be immortal, but still could slow down aging.

  Huli Jing saw Xuyi Daochang and knew she couldn't live, so she begged Xuyi to leave her a whole body because she loved beauty all her life.

  Xu Yidao finally agreed to her request and ended her life with a poisonous pill, from then on the secret of "The Seven Spirits Return to the Soul" was known only to him.

  After Xu Yidao left, he was filled with emotion and eventually painted the "Xianshan Fu Hu Tu" and wrote the truth of the matter in Sanskrit on the back, giving it to his only closed disciple before passing away with a smile.

  Who would have thought that after more than 1,600 years, this painting reappeared in the world, and the waves rose again...