Chapter 52: The National Treasure of the Protector Country

  After our vision became blurry, we could only turn on the flashlight, but the fog still existed and the light of the flashlight couldn't shine very far.

  I took a look at my watch, it was already past six in the evening. Judging by intuition, we should have been circling around this mountain all afternoon and now I've completely lost my sense of direction. I reckon we're almost at the summit.

  I remember an old man of the Xian tribe said that from the top of this mountain, you can see three countries at a glance. I don't know if it's true or not. I thought to myself: when I reach the top of the mountain, I must verify it personally.

  As the sky got darker, I felt that continuing to walk might be dangerous, so I said to Zhou Huan: "Why don't we stop and rest for tonight? There's no guardrail on this road, if you're not careful, it's easy to fall off."

  "Hmm, let's walk a bit further, if we still don't find anything, we'll stop and rest for the night." Zhou Huan replied.

  It wasn't until the sky was completely dark that I suddenly found the flashlight's light becoming clearer, and upon closer inspection, the highway had slowly entered into the mountain, and before my eyes was a pitch-black tunnel.

  There is no fog in this tunnel, and the flashlight can shine on the walls around it. At a glance, you can tell that it was artificially excavated, with a rough surface and uneven mudstone corners everywhere.

  I held up the flashlight and shone it inside, finding that the light could penetrate very far in. I vaguely felt that the end of the light beam began to turn towards the interior of the mountain, after which it was still pitch black.

  I was really shocked at this time, the highway that had been going on for so long finally went deep into the mountain, and such a huge project was abandoned in the end. It's really hard to guess what the purpose of building it here was at that time, but obviously it won't be that simple. We can only keep walking inside to know the result.

  If we go in now, I really don't have any confidence. So I turned around and said to Zhou Huan: "Let's spend the night at the tunnel entrance and enter when it gets light tomorrow."

  "Hmm, I think so too, let's rest at this cave entrance and talk about it again after tonight!"

  Lost the black-faced pioneer, Zhou Huan was more cautious. Although I clearly knew that even if I went in during the day, it would still be pitch dark, but my heart would feel a little comforted.

  So everyone stopped at the entrance of the tunnel, and although they had been walking on flat roads all afternoon, they were still exhausted, leaning against the wall of the tunnel to rest.

  I opened my backpack and took a look. There was still plenty of food, but the water bottles were almost all empty because we had consumed more during the mountain climb.

  No water is absolutely impossible, they say that as high as the mountain is, so is the water. It seems like tomorrow we need to dig into the ground to find water.

  After resting for a while, we simply started eating dinner. I found that except for Liangzi, others seemed to have no appetite. The compressed biscuits had been eaten for a long time and were really hard to swallow.

  I stood up with a handful of biscuits, turned on the flashlight and continued to shine it into the depths of the tunnel. It was just like before, nothing out of the ordinary, but I still had a bad premonition, probably just psychological!

  "Alright, stop looking around, are you trying to hitch a ride with the wind or what?" Liang Zi said teasingly while chewing on beef jerky.

  I also think I'm a bit oversensitive, so I just smiled and replied: "Let me see, if there's a beautiful female driver, I might really consider it."

  "Cut it out, there's no female driver, but a female ghost is possible."

  As soon as I heard the word 'ghost', I became very sensitive and scolded him for a couple of sentences before ignoring him.

  Yesterday evening we spent the night in the forest, so we couldn't start a fire. Today, facing such a large and eerie tunnel, I was afraid that some animal would come out of it. Since our flashlights can't be kept on all night, we decided to build a fire.

  I asked Huan about it next week, and she didn't have any opinion, so I went with Liangzi to the mountain slope outside the cave to pick up dry firewood. We went back and forth several times, and estimated that we could burn for a night. Only then did we come back and sit down to rest.

  Zhou Huan thought it was unsafe for one person to keep watch at night, so she decided to divide into two groups. I would take the first half of the night with Liang Zi, and she would take the second half with Hei Lian.

  I also think this is more reliable, but I didn't expect Liangzi to disagree.

  He might have felt that he was a bit lazy last night and didn't want to bear the second half of the night, so he volunteered to take over the second half of the night, and under the pretext of creating opportunities for me, he wanted to reassign tasks, letting me and Zhou Huan guard the first half of the night, while he and Hei Lian guarded the second half.

  Zhou Huan thought about it and since they were all sitting together, there shouldn't be any problem, so she instructed Liangzi a few more times before agreeing.

  With a beauty by my side, I had no objection, of course. I took out the lighter to light it up. After the bonfire was lit, the entire entrance was illuminated in red, and the walls were filled with dancing shadows.

  Liang Zi had to get up in the middle of the night for his watch, so he went to bed early. Hei Mian was tightly pressed against him, it was unclear whether he was asleep or just staring blankly.

  I sat with Zhou Huan beside the bonfire, staring at the last two cigarettes in the pack and considering whether to light one up when I heard Zhou Huan say: "You've always wanted to know what I'm looking for, right? Well, I'll tell you everything I know."

  As soon as I heard this topic, I became very interested and quickly lit a cigarette and leaned in towards her.

  Zhou Huan slightly adjusted his thoughts and said, "Actually, I'm just a member who executes tasks, and I don't know much either. Do you still remember the 'Taokui' I told you about last time?"

  Huan turned to me this week and saw that I was shaking my head fiercely, so he sighed and said: "It seems that your history is not good. The name 'Tuogu' is just a nickname for him. His real name is Tuoba Gui, the founding emperor of Northern Wei."

  Zhou Huan saw that I was still clueless, so she told me a story...

  Since ancient times, emperors have pursued immortality. Emperor Tuoba Gui was no exception. After ascending to the throne, he dispatched a large number of officials everywhere in search of it, and finally found a "divine instrument"......

  This divine artifact is composed of seven spiritual jade and is called "Seven Souls Return to Life".

  It is said that on the night of a full moon, placing these seven pieces of spiritual jade in specific parts of the human body and absorbing the essence of the moonlight can restore youth and also have the effect of reviving the dead.

  Tuoba Gui obtained this divine instrument as if he had gained a treasure, but it also made him anxious and unable to eat or sleep well, because this treasure was too precious, and losing or damaging any part of it would render it ineffective.

  Tuoba Jiao then came up with a plan, he sent people to find seven extraordinary talents in the folk, appointed them as guardians of the national treasure, and handed over the seven pieces of spiritual jade to each of them for safekeeping, ordering them to carry it with them at all times, including when they were sleeping, not allowing any mistakes.

  These seven people did not participate in any political affairs, but at that time they had extremely high status and identity. Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei built a mansion for each of them as strong as a fortress and also dispatched heavy troops to guard them.

  These seven national masters are composed of six men and one woman, all with extraordinary skills, either possessing the courage of a thousand men or having supernatural abilities.

  First and foremost, there is a Taoist from Maoshan, called 'Xu Yidaochang'. This person has a kind heart, profound magical powers, and unparalleled martial arts skills. He is in charge of protecting the largest piece of the seven spiritual jade pieces, which is used to cover the chest area.

  Ranked second is the only woman, this beauty is stunning, known as 'Fox Charm', she knows the art of seducing people's hearts, legend has it that if you look into her eyes for a while, it's like losing your soul and being at her mercy, she is in charge of protecting the Lingyu on the back of the neck.

  The third person is called 'Wan Chong Shou', able to command and control various insects, especially skilled in the art of insect manipulation. He can summon insects like ants at will, using them as weapons to attack others. His body is infested with insects that can be used as hidden weapons to harm people at any time. He is responsible for protecting a spiritual jade bracelet.

  This fourth person was extremely ugly in appearance, but he was a monk, known as the 'Ghost-faced Buddha'. He had an exceptionally large build and his skin was incredibly hard, with a body that was indestructible like diamond. Although he was a Buddhist, he was ferocious and cruel by nature. The object he was responsible for protecting was a spiritual jade waistband linked together with golden threads.

  It is said that the fifth person comes from the snowy mountains, called 'White Robed Immortal', always wearing a white robe. This person has excellent lightness skills, with the ability to tread on snow without leaving any footprints and walk on walls and roofs. When running, he is as fast as the wind, even the precious horse Sweating Blood cannot catch up. He guards a circular ring made of spiritual jade, used to be worn on the bare feet of a person.

  The sixth one is even more mysterious, said to be from the depths of the desert, called the 'Black Majesty King'. This person has dark skin and large hands and feet, with the ability to summon wind and rain. Even if he doesn't eat or drink for ten days, his body won't be affected. However, this Black Majesty King loves to eat live animals, whether it's chickens, ducks, geese, or dogs, he'll grab them and devour them on the spot, laughing loudly with a mouth full of blood, looking extremely terrifying, making people dare not look directly at him. The Black Majesty King is guarding a mask made of spiritual jade.

  The last one is called 'No Shadow Man'. It is said that this person has no shadow, understands the art of yin and yang, wears a black robe to cover his body, and his face cannot be seen clearly. He can move freely between the world of humans and ghosts, and has the ability to drive away evil spirits as his dark soldiers. What he protects is a pearl made of spiritual jade, used for people to hold in their mouths.

  Although the legend may have exaggerated the seven national treasure masters as mythical, they are indeed real and truly exist.

  After Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei entrusted the treasure to them for safekeeping, he finally felt at ease, but unexpectedly, this decision completely ruined his life.

  Among these seven people, except for Xu Yidao, the other six are all somewhat inhuman and ghostly. At first, they only thought that the Lingyu they were protecting was a national treasure, but they didn't take it to heart, spending their days eating, drinking, and having fun, living extremely carefree lives.

  Later, when they learned that these seven treasures could make people return to their youth when placed together, due to human greed, they slowly began to harbor evil intentions and wanted to occupy the treasures for themselves.

  That Na Yuandao was different, he didn't quite believe in the whole returning to youth thing, but still felt that this 'divine artifact' shouldn't exist in the mortal world, so he went to see Tuoba Jia multiple times, wanting him to destroy this so-called divine artifact.

  However, Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei was reluctant to give up on him. As an emperor, longevity would be his most desired thing. For a while, Emperor Daowu could not find anyone to replace Xu Yidaolong either, and every time he saw him, he tactfully put it off, thinking that once he found the right person to replace him, he would drive Xu Yidaolong away.

  But the hearts of men are treacherous, and slowly the remaining six national masters reached a consensus. They formed an alliance, preparing to attack Xu Yidao Chang, and after obtaining his treasure, they would escape quickly.

  So on a dark and windy night, they killed the guarding soldiers, broke into Xu Yidao's mansion, and a fierce battle for treasure began.

  Xu Yidao Chang, despite his exceptional martial arts skills and desperate attempts to protect the treasure, was outnumbered by the six villains. However, he refused to give up and managed to temporarily immobilize them with a few magical symbols before escaping with severe injuries.