Chapter 92 | Ink East

Your Highness

Lin Shan was stunned. She rubbed her eyes and closely examined the Heaven stone. After being soaked in the salty cabbages, the four words actually appeared like a map!

Could there be a secret chamber? The two of them exchanged glances. Lin Shan was the first to speak: “In order to prevent them from doing bad deeds, we should first go and check out the place before giving it to Ji Bai Yu. What do you think?”

Xiao Lu muttered on the side: “Miss. You clearly just want to find the treasures for yourself. What a hypocrite….”

Lin Shan: “…..”

Since Lin Shan was so stubborn, Lian Feng ultimately decided to check out the place first. It wasn’t that he was greedy, but since the map was the late Emperor’s remnant, it was most likely a very expensive or prized possession. If Ji Hong Lin was going to use it to do harm, both of them would feel terrible.

Therefore, the two of them followed the map and quickly arrived at the Eastern forest of the Imperial city.

Lin Shan was familiar with this forest. Last time, she was here during the Equestrian competition. This was where she fell into a hole with Du Hao and almost lost her life. She never expected to be back again. Although she looked the same, she was no longer the Song Luo from before. Lin Shan felt a bit moved as she stepped back into the forest.

The map she was holding was what she had copied down last night from the Heaven stone. Perhaps because it had already been decades, a lot of the area already looked nothing alike. It took the two of them a very long time before they were able to somewhat figure out where they were. By then, it was almost noon.

From her bundle, Lin Shan took out a snack to nibble on as she analyzed the landscape around them. At this moment, her elementary countryside emergency knowledge finally came to use. If the leaves and branches were dense, that was the south side. If the leaves and branches were sparse, that was the north side*.

She was mumbling north and south and didn’t realized Lian Feng had came up next to her.

“What are you looking at?” He asked.

I’m trying to figured out the direction.” said Lin Shan, “Look at the trees. The dense part facing the Sun is south. That means, east is that way. We can’t go wrong if we head east!”

“Let me see.” Lian Feng took the map from her and instantly his brows started to furrow.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Shan pressed forward.

“This. Something is wrong.” Lian Feng pointed at a spot on the map, “Look. Logically, we should be able to see a highland if we are facing east. But there’s nothing right now.”

“Let me see?” Lin Shan was curious. She looked at the map and the area around her. Indeed, it was not the same.

“That’s so strange….” She was confused. They should be on the right track. Could they have missed something earlier? Just as Lin Shan was doubting herself, Lian Feng interrupted and said: “Regardless, we have already gone so far. We might as well keep heading east. Maybe we’ll discover something.”

“Okay!” Lin Shan agreed and they continued to head east.

They went further and further into the Eastern forest. But the deeper they went, the denser the plants became. It was extremely difficult to walk through. The two of them continued for a very long time but still didn’t see the highland that was indicated on the map.

By now, the sky was starting to turn dim. It looked like a huge storm was approaching. Lin Shan looked up at the sky and started to worry: “It’s going to rain soon. Do you think we went the wrong way? Perhaps we should come back tomorrow?”

Lian Feng was also not as confident as he was before. He thought about it and nodded: “Okay. Let’s go back to analyze the Heaven stone again. Perhaps we missed something. We can return tomorrow.”

Lin Shan nodded as well: “It’s definitely better we leave now. When this place gets dark, you can’t see anything. If you’re not careful, you’ll fall into a hole. Last time….ah!” Before she could finish speaking, Lin Shan slipped and lost balance. Lian Feng tried to stop her fall but they both ended up losing balance and fell into a hole.

After the sky spun, Lin Shan opened her eyes. She realized Lian Feng had tightly embraced her from harm. Despite falling from such a high height, she wasn’t hurt at all. Unfortunately, there was a light cut on Lian Feng’s face.

“Are you ok?” Lin Shan rushed to help him wipe his face, but Lian Feng stopped her. His eyes swept around the area. “This is….”

Lin Shan took a look around her surroundings and suddenly exclaimed: “This…this is the hole that I fell into last time. Even the rock looks the same!” She wasn’t afraid at all. Instead, she went down her memory lane. She contently remembered the rock that smashed against Du Hao’s face.

“Aiiii. Last time it was even darker when we fell in. I could barely see anything. Now that we’re here, the rock actually looks pretty damn good. Look at this! It even has a decorative design….” As she murmured, three lines appeared on Lian Feng’s forehead. He reached out and struck the design with the palm of his hand.

They heard a “hua” sound and suddenly another hole opened up beneath their feet and they slid down.

Lin Shan’s mouth was filled with mud. When she got up, her entire body was dusty and grey. It was pitch black. Fortunately, Lian Feng had something on him and were able to light up something. When she could finally see what was in front of her, her mouth was wide opened like an O shape.

There was actually a huge rock chamber here? It was clearly man made. There was also a rusty old smell in here. Lin Shan couldn’t help but shiver. She quickly grabbed onto Lian Feng’s arm.

Lian Feng patted her hand to comfort her as he took his lit object and inspected and felt the walls. When he found the lamp, he lit it and Lin Shan realized how big the entire chamber was. In the centre of the room was a small red satin case.

Lin Shan suddenly had a realization. The highland indicated on the map was actually not a highland but this chamber! What they were looking for must be in here. It was probably in that case!

Lin Shan’s eyes gleamed. She wasn’t terrified any longer as she excitedly opened the case.

Oh my goodness. Whenever this woman finds something valuable, it’s as if she had been injected with chicken blood. Lian Feng couldn’t even stop her. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any secret traps in here.

But after Lin Shan took a look at the object, her face looked very troubled.

“What is it?” Lian Feng came closer.

“This…” Lin Shan pointed to the case and appeared depressed, “Now I know the most painful thing is not getting something invaluable. But instead, getting something that is very valuable but cannot be sold.”

That’s right. There was actually a Ruler’s seal in the case. Beside the Ruler’s seal was a note that was written on sheep skin. There were a couple hundred characters that indicated the cause and effect of this seal.

During the early years of the current dynasty, there was a lot of upheaval and epidemic diseases. The people were suffering tremendously. After inquiring around, the late Emperor finally hired a fortune teller to calculate the country’s fate. Apparently, the man was well acquainted with feng shui** and could predict the end of the dynasty. It was something that could not be changed

However, since the people were suffering so much, the fortune teller decided he couldn’t just sit and watch. After having a private discussion with the previous Emperor, he created this Ruler’s seal and buried it on the Eastern side to save the country.

This was the seal that was created.

Lin Shan didn’t believe in feng shui but when she saw the description on the note, she was shocked. Luckily she was being a treasure hunter (like her usual self) and came here to take a look. If Ji Hong Lin had found the Ruler’s seal, the results would have been inconceivable!

She wasn’t sure if the feng shui thing would really destroy the country, but the Ruler’s seal represents Imperial power. If someone evil were to use it, it could destroy the world.

“We can’t let Ji Hong Lin find this. Let’s leave!” Lin Shan stated.

Lian Feng remained where he was and didn’t move.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Lin Shan urged.

“If we don’t give this to Ji Hong Ling. How are we going to get rid of your poison?” Lian Feng blurted.

*How accurate is this? I have no idea if the author is just making things up.

** Feng shui is ” (in Chinese thought) a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (qi), and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when designing buildings.” (basically, some superstition stuff)

Previous Chapter Next Chapter