Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Dark Willow and Bright Flowers Again

Translator: 549690339

In the thirteenth year of the anchor, ancient books such as “The Book of Documents”, “The Book of Poetry”, and the “Book of Etiquette” were published, and scholars became increasingly interested in the lost history.

In the fifteenth year of the anchor, the emperor fell seriously ill. In an attempt to prolong his life with an elixir, he sent an army of over a hundred thousand to excavate ancient tombs in search of traces of these elixirs.

While the court officials hesitated to oppose this, no substantial objections were raised.

Unfortunately, finding elixirs turned out to be no easy task. Even after excavating hundreds of ancient tombs, no traces were found.

By the end of the year, the emperor passed away in regret. Before his death, he passed his throne to King Langya.

Thus, Li Fan once again controlled the world in secret.

Under his influence, the trend of exploring ancient tombs intensified.

In the seventeenth year of the anchor, a hunter found an ancient tomb in the mountains and was made a noble by the Duke, fueling an even more intense craze for tomb exploration. Teams of tomb-seekers could be seen in even the most remote forests.

Time moved on, and the twenty-third anchor year arrived.

Li Fan stood in Grand Master Mansion, viewing the collection of clues found by the official and civilian tomb explorers over the years.

Before this, history only recorded three thousand years, encompassing a total of twenty-three dynasties.

However, as more and more ancient tombs were unearthed, the lost history began to take shape.

Before these twenty-three dynasties, there were sixteen more, dating back around six to seven thousand years.

The earliest dynasty found was named the Qi Dynasty.

“Six to seven thousand years, this almost coincides with the Great Migration Era.” Li Fan thought to himself.

Soon, he ordered his subordinates to focus on excavating the tombs of the Qi Dynasty.

He even offered a reward – anyone who found a tomb from the Qi Dynasty would be named a lord. Word spread, and people from all over rushed to join the hunt.

Hundreds of young people set off on the road to explore ancient tombs. Even history buried in the deepest dust was unable to resist such fervent discovery and exploration.

In the twenty-fifth year of the anchor, archaeologists finally found the tomb of the first emperor of the Qi Dynasty, Yi Xing.

Upon hearing the news, Li Fan led his closest allies to the site, sealing off the surrounding area.

Over the past decade, the Da Xuan Dynasty’s tomb excavation technology had advanced at a rapid pace, culminating in an extremely effective tomb-opening plan.

Despite the grand scale of the tomb and its myriad mechanisms, the team of excavators managed to drill a passage to the main burial chamber in just over a month.

With all obstacles cleared away, Li Fan entered the interior of the ancient tomb, surrounded by the crowd.

The main passage of the tomb stretched for hundreds of meters, with both sides of the wall covered in vivid murals. Despite their age, the images remained clear.

Li Fan walked slowly, taking in every inch of the murals.

The wall paintings were divided into several sections.

In the first part, the main character of the painting, who was the first emperor of the Qi Dynasty, Yi Xing, sat atop a mountain. Above the clouds, the shadows of several immortals seemed to be saying something to him.

The second part depicted a dark era, represented by shadows covering the earth, and blood staining the land. Led by Yi Xing, the surviving people boarded large ships, crossing the vast Cloud Sea and finally arriving at a broad plain, settling down and starting a new life.

The third part depicted Yi Xing establishing the Qi Dynasty and becoming the emperor with popular support.

The fourth part depicted various matters that took place during Yi Xing’s reign.

…

Upon finishing the murals, Li Fan finally arrived in the main burial chamber.

The chamber was forty to fifty meters in height and several thousand meters in both length and width. The roof of the tomb appeared to replicate the night sky, embedded with countless bright pearls.

The interior of the tomb was arranged in the layout of a mountain gate, with numerous mountain peaks submerged in a sea of clouds.

Interestingly, this sea of clouds seemed to only exist within the tomb, not moving at all. Even after thousands of years, it remained intact.

Unseen paths linked the mountaintops. Everyone who journeyed there marveled at the wonder and voiced their admiration incessantly.

“Truly a work of immortals.” Li Fan mused to himself.

At the highest peak rested a humble grass hut, its surrounding farmland long since abandoned.

Upon entering, they realized that the hut was surprisingly woven together with countless thin golden threads.

Clearly, this grass hut served as the coffin for Yi Xing.

At Li Fan’s signal, everyone moved to open the hut’s door.

To everyone’s surprise, Yi Xing’s remains were not inside.

Instead, a wooden tablet silently stood there.

Engraved on the tablet in large golden characters were the words: “Tomb of Yi Xing, Outer Sect Disciple of the Taiyan Sect”.

Beyond that, there was nothing else.

“It seems this man did join the Taiyan Sect, but he remained an outer sect disciple and never ascended the Immortal Path. The immortals exiled him here in the end.”

“On his deathbed, he was still obsessed with his sect, identifying not as an emperor but as an outer sect disciple of the Taiyan Sect.”

“However, according to Kou Hong’s previous statement, all sects should have vanished during the Great Calamity before the Great Migration Era. Evidently, there’s more to the story.”

Li Fan pondered deeply.

“Yi Xing must have been entrusted by the immortals of the Taiyan Sect with the task of overseeing the Great Migration. I wonder if we can find the Flying Boat used during the migration.”

After finding nothing in the main burial chamber, Li Fan ordered the Antique Seeking Camp to excavate the surrounding areas, trying to find clues from the auxiliary tombs.

A few days later, bad news arrived, leaving Li Fan brimming with anger and frustration.

Apparently, members of the Antique Seeking Camp had found a reference to a Flying Boat among the contents of an auxiliary burial chamber. Regrettably, the chamber had been looted long ago.

From the signs of destruction, it seemed the looting took place over a thousand years ago.

“Not again, not again! Each glimmer of hope is but an unreachable mirage!”

Li Fan rarely erupted in anger, but now he violently smashed several objects in his vicinity.

The people around him immediately fell into a fearful silence.

After a while, Li Fan finally managed to calm his turbulent emotions.

He continued to order the Antique Seeking Camp to excavate ancient tombs in the search for traces of the Immortal Boat. However, he returned to Xuanjing City, no longer harboring much hope of success.

Ten years passed, and by the 35th year of Anchor, a glimmer of hope finally emerged.

One day, Li Fan received an urgent report.

“An immortal’s tomb was discovered?” Li Fan was surprised, then overjoyed. He started to ask for more details.

Over the years, although Li Fan’s interest had waned, the general public’s enthusiasm for ancient tomb exploration had not. Countless ancient tombs were unearthed across the Da Xuan land.

As the larger tombs were exhausted, people turned their attention to the smaller and previously overlooked ones.

A few days before, a group of young people had been mysteriously injured while excavating an inconspicuous tomb, resulting in heavy casualties.

The survivors immediately reported this to the authorities.

It should be noted that during the decades of tomb exploration in Da Xuan, although there had been casualties, they were generally caused by traps. Such strange occurrences even before the tomb was opened were unheard of.

The Antique Seeking Camp rushed to investigate overnight.

Despite their top tier excavators and fully armed soldiers working hand in hand, they could not budge the small tomb in the slightest.

They were both amazed and excited and hurriedly reported this to Li Fan.

Upon hearing the news, Li Fan rushed to the scene. After using the Immortal-Ordinary Miasma, he finally broke the unknown force surrounding the tomb.

Upon entering the tomb, among the numerous burial artifacts, a small wooden boat stood out from the rest.