Chapter 83: Seeing Qilin in the Deep Underground Palace

Chapter 83: Seeing Qilin in the Deep Underground Palace

Chapter 83: Seeing Qilin in the Deep Underground Palace

"Xinzhan, please tell us what you found out. We have heard about it roughly, but we don't know the details."

Feng Jihu said.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded, and then explained the reason for coming here and the whole story, and then said, "Now we have to go to the source to see what went wrong, whether it was a natural disaster or a man-made disaster."

Everyone found a stone to sit on, and Ji Hu said, "Jian Mo, tell us about Zhongdu."

Zhu Jianmo nodded, cleared his throat, and said,
“Zhongdu was built after Taizu conquered the country and entered Nanjing. The scale of the whole city was designed to be that of an imperial capital. At that time, it was said that the capital would be moved to Fengyang after it was completed.

"At that time, many civil officials, military generals, and nobles of the royal family were puzzled and advised that if they wanted to stabilize the south, they should make the capital in Jinling, and if they wanted to guard against the north, they should make the capital in Yanzhao. There was no need to focus on Qingzhou and Fengyang. However, Taizu did not listen to the advice and personally ordered the prime minister to supervise the process.

"At that time, Zhongdu was occupied by 5,000 mu of land and 1 million laborers. Six years after the construction began, the foundation was completed and the city walls were erected. Taizu personally visited Zhongdu to review the work and reward the labor. After an inspection, he returned to Jinling and ordered the construction to be stopped on the same day, citing labor costs. Everyone was puzzled, and Zhongdu was never built again during the Hongwu reign.

"Later, Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Yanzhao, which was 18,000 miles away from Fengyang. Moving the capital to Fengyang was even more impossible. However, Emperor Yongle did not want to waste the foundation that had been built by millions of people using countless materials and countless efforts over six years, so he ordered that construction continue on the original basis, but on the scale of a county government. After the big city was built, it could also be used to guard the imperial mausoleum.

"After hundreds of years, Zhongdu City expanded and expanded, including the imperial mausoleum. However, the emperors, empresses and royal family members were buried in Jinling and Yanzhao, so this place was left unattended and became what it is now."

Zhu Jianmo finished speaking.

Everyone frowned, truly confused.

"The capital city, mobilizing millions of people, building it when he wants, and not building it when he wants. It doesn't sound like the legendary Ming Taizu who loved his people like his own children."

Wang Miaoyuan said.

"What mountain is that?"

Xu Jishen pointed to a mountain behind the city and asked.

"Wansui Mountain, also called Dragon Mountain."

Zhu Jianmo said.

"What about that one?"

"Phoenix Mountain, also called Fengshan."

"Guarded by dragons and phoenixes, and with the Purple Star as its center, this is truly the palace of an emperor!"

Xu Ji sighed deeply.

Cheng Xinzhan looked at the city from afar, but could not see anything, so he asked Zhu Jianmo,
"Are there any initial construction drawings for Zhongdu and the Imperial Mausoleum?"

"Have."

Zhu Jianmo responded and took out a blueprint, which was the original planning blueprint.

He took the blueprint and faced the capital. He looked at the capital, then at the blueprint, his brows furrowed more and more.

Seeing that he seemed to have discovered something, everyone dared not disturb him.

After about half an hour, Cheng Xinzhan put the drawings on the ground, and everyone gathered around.

He took out the talisman pen that was still stained with red ink and began to circle the drawing.

"This is the imperial tomb, and it is also the head."

He fenced off the imperial tomb.

"This is Fenghuangzui, which is the neck connecting the imperial mausoleum. The bell tower and drum tower are the two protruding front limbs. This is Fenghuang Mountain and Wansui Mountain, which are the two crouching hind limbs. This is Jinshui River, which is the auspicious cloud ribbon. And this is the outline of the capital's foundation, which is also the body. Look, what do they look like when put together?"

He outlined a shape on the paper with a red pen.

"White tiger? Or Qilin?"

Xu Jishen asked.

Cheng Xinzhan replied, "The white tiger rides on the wind, and the unicorn steps on the auspicious clouds. This is the unicorn, and the imperial tomb, which is the head of the unicorn, is square and located in the west. The word huang is also pronounced as yellow, which belongs to the element of gold. This is a formation of "unicorn swallowing gold"!"

He murmured to himself, "'Qilin Looking at the Moon' points to the way back, and the ground vein ends at 'Qilin Swallowing Gold', is there really a Qilin buried underground?"

After thinking for a while, he asked again, "What is the virtue of Mingguo?"

Zhu Jianmo replied: "The former Yuan Dynasty was of the metal virtue, and the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Yuan Dynasty and inherited the fire virtue."

"I see."

Cheng Xinzhan nodded. This made sense a little bit. But it was still a little wrong. The Qilin swallowed the gold virtue of the previous Yuan Dynasty and gathered here. It was both the lingering charm of the previous country and the murderous aura. It was not suitable for people to live in. How could it be used to build a capital?
Could it be that such a big show was just to set up a formation? Was it called off after the formation was set up?
It's still not right. Later, Emperor Yongle changed the capital into a prefectural city, where so many mortals lived. Logically speaking, these people were suppressed by the golden evil spirit, so it was impossible for them to multiply for hundreds of years and the city expanded again and again.

Moreover, using the imperial mausoleum as an entrance to swallow gold, wasn't Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty afraid that his ancestors would not sleep well?

Cheng Xinzhan seemed to have some thoughts. He pointed at the imperial mausoleum and asked Duoyu, "Before Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty became emperor, has the tomb of our ancestors always been here?"

Zhu Jianmo shook his head and said, "It wasn't here originally. When Grandpa Taizu became a general, he returned home with glory and moved the graves of his parents, brothers and sisters-in-law here. It was expanded many times afterwards.

Cheng Xinzhan's eyes lit up and he asked, "Weren't the imperial mausoleum and the capital built at the same time?"

Zhu Jianmo replied, "Of course. When Taizu started his rebellion against the Yuan Dynasty, he began to repair the mausoleum as soon as he had some momentum. He expanded it three times before he ascended the throne, and expanded it again and again after he ascended the throne. In the second year of Hongwu, the imperial mausoleum had basically taken shape, and then he began to build Zhongdu."

Cheng Xinzhan looked at the map again after hearing this. He seemed to understand something and said, "So that's it."

Hearing this, everyone asked what they had discovered.

Cheng Xinzhan said, "If we look at the imperial mausoleum and the capital separately, the situation will be different.

"The overall look is still of 'Qilin swallowing gold', absorbing the gold energy from all over the world and gathering it into the imperial mausoleum.

“But if we remove the imperial mausoleum and only look at the capital, we can still use the bell tower, drum tower, Phoenix Mountain and Wansui Mountain as the limbs, but make the Phoenix Mouth facing the imperial mausoleum not a unicorn neck, but a big mouth. In this way, the capital is not a unicorn body, but a big-bellied fire pig!
"So, the imperial mausoleum absorbs the golden energy and becomes a golden bead, but this golden bead is continuously absorbed by this big-bellied fire pig, strengthening the capital and the Zhu Ming dragon vein. I dare to conclude that the imperial mausoleum is a cover, and the people buried inside are definitely not the ancestors of the Zhu family."

Everyone nodded, but only Xu Jishen and Sun Miaoshu showed expressions of thought, surprise and approval, while the others only had expressions of approval.

"Then logically speaking, the dragon vein of this capital city absorbs the old primordial metal nature, and uses fire to overcome metal, so it should be thriving. How can it breed evil things?"

Xu Jishen asked.

Cheng Xinzhan heard this and said,

“I’m not sure about this yet. It could be that something went wrong with the dragon vein of the capital city, or it could be that something unexpected happened under the imperial mausoleum, and this unexpected event was swallowed up by the fire pig.

"Let's wait until sunset. When the dark energy gradually rises, and the afterglow of the sun turns into golden light sweeping across the earth, we should be able to see some clues."

No one had any objection and they just waited where they were.

Fortunately, the weather was fine, with clear blue skies. At sunset, golden light shone from the west, illuminating half the sky.

Cheng Xinzhan saw clearly with the Qi-Observing Technique that there was no longer any golden Qi shining with the sunlight in the imperial mausoleum. Instead, there was a Yin Qi rising from the imperial mausoleum and being absorbed by the capital city.

"It's the imperial tomb."

Cheng Xinzhan and Xu Jishen said this at the same time.

Xu Jishen glanced at Cheng Xinzhan. He knew the method of observing qi, but he had never thought of using the afterglow of sunset to observe the golden qi and the yin qi. It was also not written in the books.

"Then we have to go to the imperial mausoleum."

Cheng Xinzhan said.

"Just go, otherwise we've come here for nothing."

Sun Miaoshu said with a smile.

Although the imperial mausoleum is now surrounded by scattered houses, there is still no one inside. Taking advantage of the night, everyone rode the clouds up to the sky and then landed inside.

Trapped in the world of mortals, everyone felt a little strange, but they couldn't tell what was wrong. It felt like they were inexplicably irritated, but for no reason.

After several people landed, Zhu Jianmo took the lead and walked in front. The entrance to the imperial mausoleum was clearly marked on the construction map.

Several people walked along the wide and straight sacred road. The stone men and stone horses on both sides seemed a little eerie, but they were all cultivators, so they naturally didn't care about this. They walked all the way to the end of the sacred road, and down was the entrance to the underground palace. However, there was a thousand-pound dragon-breaking stone at the entrance of the underground palace.

But again, they were all cultivators, so they naturally wouldn't bother looking for any traps. Sun Miaoshu made a spell with his hands and chanted, "Fude Zhengshen, split the stone and the earth, and escape!"

A flash of light passed by, and the six people disappeared on the spot, leaving only the land beside them flowing like water.

Soon, everyone's feet were on solid ground again. The eternal lamps every ten steps underground were still lit, presenting a magnificent underground palace before everyone's eyes. Looking around, it was even bigger than the one on the ground.

After everyone came in, they also sensed a bit of evil aura, but they were probably little ghosts formed from the residual souls of the people who built the tomb or those who were buried alive in the ground for hundreds of years. They were not some big evil spirits that could pollute the earth's veins.

"The Supreme Lord has decreed that your lonely soul be liberated, and all ghosts and spirits be blessed..."

The six people recited the "Great Taoist Sutra on Resolving Grievances and Eliminating Sins and Leading to Rebirth" together. After reciting it four or five times, the little ghosts underground turned into clear light and disappeared.

"Xinzhan, take another look. Where is the source of this sinisterness?"

Cheng Xinzhan couldn't figure it out, so he said, "Let's go to the main coffin first to get some evidence."

Naturally, everyone had no objection.

Zhu Jianmo released a dozen puppet spiders to walk in front. These spiders crawled on the four walls of the corridor to explore the way, but nothing happened. The few of them arrived at the main tomb smoothly.

"In the past, the golden energy here was so strong that a mortal who stayed here for too long would cough up blood and die, so there should be no need for any mechanical poison."

Cheng Xinzhan said something.

Zhu Jianmo came to the main tomb, said "Don't blame your ancestors", and then opened the coffins of Ming Taizu's parents.

Sure enough, there was nothing inside. There was neither a corpse nor any mechanism in the coffin.

Cheng Xinzhan thought for a moment, stepped on the ground, and asked Sun Miaoshu,

"Brother Miaoshu, how far can your escape technique go?"

"Forty miles. If it's a round trip, it's twenty miles."

"Shall we continue to look down?"

Cheng Xinzhan felt that there should be nothing in this underground palace. If there was any evil that could disrupt the earth's veins, they would have sensed it long ago.

Sun Miaoshu looked at Xu Jishen.

Xu Jishen understood and took out a straw, holding it in each hand. Cheng Xinzhan watched him transfer the straw from his left hand to his right hand, then from his right hand to his left hand, and then he held it between his fingers, but he didn't understand what he was doing.

"That's yarrow. Ji Shen is calculating the hexagrams."

Feng Jihu explained in a low voice.

Not long after, Xu Jishen put away the yarrow and said,

"The hexagram says that there will be no danger and we will return safely."

Sun Miaoshu agreed, and then he used his escape technique and continued to move forward with a few people.

"what?"

In the darkness, a light exclamation was heard from Sun Miaoshu.

"what happened?"

Everyone was in the dark and didn't know what was happening.

"After going down five or six miles, we were blocked by a ban."

Sun Miaoshu replied.

"Walk sideways and see."

Wang Miaoyuan reminded.

"Which direction?"

"Any direction will do. This restriction is definitely to protect or seal the things underneath. But this restriction can't be inserted out of thin air. There must be a hole somewhere for us to stand on. We just have to try our luck."

"it is good."

The group was lucky enough, and soon they saw a bright light before their eyes, and they bumped into a deeper underground palace. However, this underground palace was very narrow, with only a long corridor. There were some strange animals placed in the niches on the side walls of the corridor. There were no eternal lamps here, and the lighting was provided by fluorite and night pearls.

Cheng Xinzhan took a look and found that the few people were right at the entrance of the corridor. There were steps carved out here, which seemed to lead directly to somewhere in the underground palace above.

"It's so cold!"

However, what is different here from the second floor is that as soon as they came in, they felt a bone-chilling chill, as if they had fallen into an ice cellar. It seemed that the chill reached into their bones and froze their thoughts.

"Zhao!"

Cheng Xinzhan chanted a spell.

He cast a paper talisman, on which burned a transparent flame with a slightly warm turmeric color. The light from the flame dispelled the darkness and some of the coldness.

Everyone felt better then.

"The gold energy seems to be a lot stronger." Zhu Jianmo said.

Everyone felt it and it was indeed true.

"This is Chenxiang Baibu Pill, which benefits the liver and spleen and is good for alleviating the invasion of Yin Qi and Metal Qi into the body."

Feng Jihu took out a pill bottle and asked everyone to take one.

The pill bottle was passed around among everyone. After everyone took the pill, they felt a warmth flowing through their body, making them feel much more comfortable.

Zhu Jianmo still walked in front and released a group of puppets to lead the way.

After walking for about half a quarter of an hour, Cheng Xinzhan saw a sudden light coming from the front of the corridor, as if it had reached the end.

Zhu Jianmo also slowed down his pace, and everyone approached cautiously. Looking from afar, there seemed to be a huge cave at the end.

Cheng Xinzhan didn't know what was under the cave. It was emitting an inexplicable light, with dark gold mixed with bright green and a black aura, making the cave look a little eerie.

When he approached the cave entrance, Zhu Jianmo slowed down his pace a lot. He walked slowly closer and slowly stretched his head out to look.

At just one glance, everyone saw Zhu Jianmo retract his head like a frightened rabbit, with an extremely complicated, extremely frightened, even dull expression on his face.

He put his finger tightly against his lips, signaling everyone not to make any noise, and pointed outside, asking everyone to go and see for themselves.

Sun Miaoshu followed closely behind Zhu Jianmo and also slowly leaned forward to look.

But after waiting for several breaths, everyone saw him turn his head back, his face full of confusion. He shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he saw nothing.

Seeing this, Zhu Jianmo was even more confused than him and motioned for the rest of the people to go and see.

So the rest of the people slowly came forward.

Cheng Xinzhan was among them. He slowly leaned forward and looked down, and saw:
The strange dark gold and bright green light became thicker as it went down, and black smoke was mixed in it, rising up with a strong smell of death.

Not far from the bottom of the corridor, he saw a fiery red net, and dark gold and bright green light was emitted through the mesh.

Under the fire net, the dark gold and bright green light almost condensed into substance, like water.

His eyes moved downward, and his pupils contracted sharply, but the things beneath the surging light and water were clearly reflected in his pupils.

The source of the light was actually a green-scaled, golden-horned Qilin lying on its side, as huge as a mountain!

　I wrote this during a business trip. My head hurts so much.

　　Please support with monthly tickets and recommendations. Comments and messages are welcome!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)