"Brother Jian, could there be anything strange about this tomb?"
Inside the tomb chamber, the grand tomb built for the vassal king is exceedingly luxurious, with massive columns supporting the ceiling of the tomb.
This place doesn't resemble an ancient tomb; instead, it seems more like a separate mansion built underground.
The opulence of this underground residence reveals the power and influence the vassal king wielded when alive.
At this moment, gusts of cold wind blew in from the front of the main chamber, and Zhang Kui's face showed a bit of unease.
Behind him, the robust warriors gripped their swords and knives tighter, as if they could only find a sense of security in doing so.
"Although there is some Yin Qi, there shouldn't be any other ghosts!"
Zhang Jian chuckled slightly.
Although the tomb chamber appeared devoid of eerie spiritual mechanisms or Evil Qi, there were still mechanical traps and poison gas traps. Zhang Kui and the others remained vigilant to avoid unnecessary harm.
Soon, Zhang Jian and Zhang Kui discovered the main target of their group.
In a side chamber next to the main tomb chamber, there were piles of gold and silver ingots, packed in wooden boxes; from a distance, there seemed to be at least hundreds of thousands of taels.
Besides this, there were pearls, jade, exquisite objects made of white jade, and antique utensils preserved through special methods.
"Is this all there is?"
However, upon seeing it, Zhang Jian and Zhang Kui both felt a bit surprised.
It's not that there's a lot, but rather that there's so little.
The Prince Mian was a distinguished vassal king of his domain, a ruler of a fief, and this amount of gold and silver seems substantial but isn't actually that much.
In modern times, which of the great families isn't vast and wealthy, with many sources of income under their control?
Not to say that white jade is used for walls and gold for floors, with pearls and gold as common as dirt and iron, but it shouldn't be lacking.
Hundreds of thousands of taels of gold and silver are only slightly better than some great families.
This doesn't align with the rumors about the Prince Mian.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Jian nodded and said, "It's not bad. With this amount of gold and silver, we can temporarily relieve the urgent needs and fill the financial gap caused by the rapid expansion of the Zhang Family!"
"Fourth Uncle, please help me select some valuable jade artifacts and antiques from this, have someone accompany them to the Command City, my grandfather there should be very 'pleased'!"
Zhang Kui's gaze was a bit odd.
He then nodded.
Nevertheless, looking at the pile of gold and silver goods in the side chamber, he was quite thrilled.
If the Zhang Family wants to gain a foothold and achieve greatness in chaotic times, or even advance further, financial resources are indispensable.
And the discovery in the second side chamber soon made Zhang Jian understand why the renowned ancient vassal king Prince Mian appeared so 'poor'!
It was a gigantic pill furnace.
Anything related to smelting lead and refining mercury is akin to burning money.
You could say it's burning money to cultivate!
"This large cauldron also looks decent; let's take it back later!"
Zhang Jian could see that the large cauldron had an ancient style and might be something good, so he decided to take it back, adhering to the philosophy of better safe than sorry.
Zhang Kui watched this scene, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly. Hauling this massive cauldron weighing thousands of pounds back would not be easy and would require considerable effort, but he still nodded.
In the side room next to the main chamber, the group found the second target of their trip.
"These have completely decayed!"
With just a glance, the face of Zhang Kui, covered in pockmarks, showed a look of regret.
The side chamber was filled with bookshelves.
However, after a thousand years, many books had turned to dust, and even the bamboo slips had been gnawed by insects.
Zhang Kui, a martial artist on a body-forging path, had high hopes for this trip after hearing about the location of the Prince Mian's tomb.
The Prince Mian, in his youth, was fond of martial arts and was a cultivated martial artist himself, reputed to have had many extraordinary people under his command and a large army.
Yet, many precious classics on the bookshelves before him had been weathered away.
"Fourth Uncle, don't be discouraged; there should still be some that escaped destruction!"
Zhang Jian pointed to the stone wall being tested.
Although there were signs of weathering on the stone wall, some secret texts remained relatively intact.
Moreover, on the central platform, there were two jade plates carved with classics and three large iron scrolls made of Black Iron.
Zhang Jian stepped forward, took a glance, and tossed them to Zhang Kui.
With just a glance, Zhang Kui was as if he had obtained a treasure, overjoyed, and couldn't help but express.
"With this legacy, our Zhang Family can achieve literary and martial excellence! Surely, we can achieve a transition in status!"
Zhang Jian witnessed this and nodded with a smile.
Realizing a transition in status was the dream of every generation of the Zhang Family, from the old patriarch onward, dreaming of crossing the threshold, not just being a simple prominent local household.
Zhang Kui was exceptionally excited, immersed in the several top-notch Body Refining Secret Techniques, while Zhang Jian casually strolled into the most important main tomb chamber.
The main tomb chamber was even more luxurious.
Magnificent, expansive tomb chamber, elegantly posed large Great Immortals cranes, standing Coiling Dragon golden pillars, and a massive golden coffin suspended, held in mid-air by iron chains.
Zhang Jian merely glanced at these luxurious items, not going to examine the golden coffin immediately.
At this moment, he noticed another incredibly special mural on the dragon patterned stone wall behind the suspended coffin.
He first saw several large characters in silver hook and iron brush—Sword-Locked Flood Dragon Painting!
It was a special relief mural.
It depicted the water vein pattern outside Fengyang County, with its momentum fierce like a Flood Dragon, yet locked by four great dams, akin to a sharp sword piercing the heart.
Although Prince Mian was addled in his later years, he wasn't short of brilliant martial feats when young, one of which included building four large dams along the gorge to intercept the Bai Shui River outside Fengyang County.
This greatly prevented the Bai Shui River from flooding and ensured the irrigation of fertile fields on both banks.
Fengyang County owes much of its current scale to Prince Mian.
Unfortunately, a few hundred years ago, the Earth Dragon turned over outside of Fengyang County, causing the river to change course, rendering half of these four dams useless, yet they have not been repaired successfully to this day.
However, the grand scene of the turbulent water vein being cut off still left Zhang Jian in awe.
Then Zhang Jian focused on the golden hanging coffin, using his Wind Walking Technique to float onto the chain, opened the coffin casually, and saw inside only a decaying skeleton, though accompanied with quite a few gold and jade articles. Zhang Jian's eyes, however, were fixed on the palm of the skeleton, where a golden pearl was tightly grasped in the white bone fingers.
Zhang Jian gazed at the golden pearl with a peculiar look.
He noticed wisps of spiritual mechanism fluctuations emanating from this golden pearl.
It appears to be a rare magical artifact.
Zhang Jian casually picked it up and put it away; as for the other burial items, he left them for Zhang Kui and the others to handle.
...
Almost as Zhang Jian retrieved that golden treasure pearl, in the heart of Fengyang County, deep within the colossal Bai Shui River, an invisible ripple shook in response, with water eyes tumbling, and a terrifying massive entity was in uproar.
"The Dragon Pearl, the Dragon Pearl has finally emerged! Yu Qing, you treacherous scoundrel, I told you, you cannot hold me!"
Beneath the white scales was frost everywhere, with the restless water eyes swirling.
It was a terrifying exotic beast.
With an elongated body, twin horns atop its head, sharp claws below its belly soaring skyward, yet a snake's tail, this was a massive White Flood Dragon!
Amidst its struggles, the sound of clashing black iron echoed noisily.
One could see numerous dense golden runes emerging on the various cold iron bars above, awakening like thunder within, vibrating slightly, causing the entire White Flood Dragon to stiffen.
The White Flood Dragon gradually calmed down, though its eyes glittered with a rebellious spirit as vast as mountains and seas.
It cast a fierce glance at those cold iron bars, and this colossal creature could only crouch down.
In the distance, upon seeing the water flow calm down, a shadow quietly swam over, coming to the White Flood Dragon's side, a crisp voice sounded.
"Father!"