Alerted by the hint, Xu Mutang followed Chen Chuan's gaze. Before long, he too made a discovery.
Every three to five statues, there was one that was merely a physical mortal husk coated externally in gold lacquer. They varied in size: the largest reached well over ten meters in height, while the smallest were the size of ordinary mortals. Aside from being dressed identically to immortal gods, their facial expressions and postures were remarkably vivid and lifelike.
His expression shifted slightly. "Could it be—?"
Chen Chuan asked, "Has something come to mind, Chief Inspector Xu?"
Xu Mutang said, "I once heard that Emperor Ying's father, Emperor Gao, specially constructed a Dew Receiving Terrace to honor meritorious officials. Statues and temples were erected for any civil or military official who performed great deeds for the new dynasty, allowing them to receive offerings from future generations. At the time, there were roughly thirty-six prominent figures with recorded names. Most of them passed away during Emperor Ying's reign. These people..." He looked around at the surrounding statues. "These are very likely them."
Chen Chuan took a look. Some of them had ordinary human builds, likely the civil officials of that era.
As for the military commanders, most of those worthy of making the terrace were likely the likes of the Generals of State Subjugation. That such people died out within mere decades might seem unbelievable at first glance, but in truth, it was quite normal. The Old Era was different from the New Era; the two worlds converged and diverged in cycles.
If it was during a Period of Cold Silence, these individuals could not sustain themselves at all. Even with relics to preserve them, the best possible outcome was nothing more than a deep slumber; history even recorded instances where they were dug up and dissected to refine medicine.
If it was during a Period of Flux, they usually relocated to the Confluence, rarely remaining in the mortal realm. Moreover, the higher one advanced, the more severe the mutated contamination became. Thus, to preserve their posthumous reputations, some chose to end their own lives ahead of time. After all, the mindsets of that era differed vastly from those of today.
Xu Mutang sighed with emotion. "Though only a heap of dust remains of these people, they built enduring fame and meritorious renown to last through the ages. It was not a wasted trip to this world."
Chen Chuan neither agreed nor disagreed. He said, "Chief Inspector Xu, there is nothing more here. Let us press onward."
Xu Mutang hastily agreed.
The two turned and followed the passage beneath their feet. Emerging from it, they saw an enormous pool of water ahead. Arranged within the water were large vats, one after another, their surfaces painted with depictions of various flood dragons and serpents, each one vivid and lifelike.
The two walked along the path between them, taking a rough count of the massive vats along the way. They found there were easily over a thousand.
Xu Mutang flicked his finger, sending a burst of jin striking against one, producing a solid, muffled thud.
He said, "These should be 'cyan vats,' ground from the bone powder of a unique creature native to the Confluence, blended with certain special minerals. They possess excellent preservation capabilities. Back in the Middle Ancient Era, Generals of State Subjugation often used these to preserve their provisions when marching on campaign.
"Looking at the carvings on them, the ones placed here were likely filled with nutrition paste and medicines used to feed flood dragons and serpents. If I am not mistaken, this was what Emperor Ying's Five Dragons fed upon."
Chen Chuan said, "I once heard that the Five Dragons under Emperor Ying frequently fed on humans?"
Xu Mutang nodded. "That was to preserve their ferocity, for flood dragons were tasked with guarding the imperial household and taking the field when necessary. At times, they also served as mounts. However, those capable of being used as mounts were extraordinarily few. The one we encountered outside was one such creature. That it lived to the present day—aside from ritual preservation—was likely because the imperial household regarded it with special favor."
Chen Chuan gave a slight nod. Earlier, Yuwen Yuanqi had ridden the flood dragon into battle; on a battlefield, that truly would have exerted a considerable effect.
However, that flood dragon had already been feeble, and earlier Chen Chuan had shattered its mutated tissues from head to tail with his jin. It likely could not survive, though it should still hold some research value.
As they were about to exit this area, Xu Mutang suddenly paused. He noticed that the patterns painted on the vats here differed from the previous ones: the flood dragons possessed wings. Light immediately sprang into his eyes. "This is... a flying flood dragon!"
Chen Chuan glanced over and asked, "Is there a difference?"
"Successive dynasties maintained the tradition of breeding flood dragons, and legend has it that all flood dragons in the Ancient Era could fly. By the Middle Ancient Era, that craft was gradually lost. If I am not mistaken, what is stored here should be the original medicines and formulas for rearing flying flood dragons."
Xu Mutang said with excitement, "If this can be thoroughly researched, we can follow this path to engineer more combat and modified organisms, thereby broadening our technological scope and market."
Chen Chuan hummed in acknowledgement. Certain things could only realize their worth in the hands of specific groups. In his own hands, they would at most be used to feed some creature. Just then, he recalled the biological egg he had picked up on his way here, and fell into thought.
After lingering for a moment, the two emerged from the cavern and passed through a corridor into a storeroom for medicines. Around them stood rows upon rows of categorized medicine cabinets.
Each medicine drawer was labeled with the name of the drug. There was even a whole bookshelf of comprehensive catalogues and indexes, along with many precious medicinal recipes and elixir formulas.
A thousand years having passed, it was difficult to say how much efficacy remained in these medicines, but for the present era, those recipes and formulas were undeniably of far greater value.
Present-day technology certainly surpassed that of the Old Era, yet certain concepts and unique medicines from the Old Era were definitely worthy of attention.
Past this area, the two arrived at an armory of mutated weapons. Over a hundred weapons of various sorts were displayed inside, and all of them were pristine, having never been used.
Chen Chuan gave them a brief glance and paid them no further heed. These were undeniably fine weapons, yet weapons that had never been wielded and bore no heritage were greatly diminished in his eyes, warranting no special attention.
Pausing here only briefly, the two stepped out and continued forward to the next vault. There, they encountered two large trees shimmering with radiant silver light. Their trunks were exceptionally slender, their branches spreading with an artistic grace, as if sculpted and polished by the hands of a master artisan.
Hanging from the branches were brocade pouches embroidered with patterns in gold thread, seemingly containing items within.
Upon seeing them, Xu Mutang's breathing quickened slightly, and he murmured, "This is... Lianshan branches!"
Hearing this name, Chen Chuan immediately recalled it.
Lianshan branches were said to be precious trees from the Ancient Era. By the Middle Ancient Era, they were already rarely seen, with only scattered mentions in records. Nowadays, they were likely completely extinct, not even found in the Confluence.
This thing possessed a unique property: so long as living matter was hung from its branches, its vitality would remain preserved exactly as it was the moment it was harvested.
However, its branches and foliage were slender and could bear very few items. Thus, anything hung upon them was bound to be extraordinarily rare and precious. The items contained within the brocade pouches before their eyes were therefore certain to be of immense value.
Approaching closer, he could see various names embroidered on the brocade pouches, finding that every single one was a rare mutated tissue or medicinal elixir pellet.
Upon seeing these, Xu Mutang was not quite as excited as when he had first spotted the Lianshan branches. Precious though the hanging items were, using them could at most benefit one or two people; the plant itself, on the other hand, held tremendous research value.
Chen Chuan swept his gaze across them. Barring the unexpected, these had likely been prepared by Emperor Ying for himself. At least half could only be used by practitioners treading the Visage of the Divine; the rest could be used by those of both the Visage of the Human and the Visage of the Aberrant, and were exceptionally effective in aiding cultivation.
Having examined this area, they walked through more than ten further vaults. The items stored within included various ancient texts and tomes, ancestral temple sacrificial vessels, edicts and proclamations, tax records spanning years, land survey registers, maps of mountain passes, rivers, and terrain across the world, and even a room specifically set aside for storing esoteric ritual materials and Xuan Cult texts.
Aside from the Xuan Cult texts, most of these things—once of paramount importance to an imperial dynasty—could now serve only as material for historical research, so neither of them examined them closely.
Moving further ahead, they reached the end of the passage. Before them appeared a massive greenish-brown wall, something between plant and animal. As though sensing their arrival, several eyes suddenly split open across its surface. They glanced at the two of them, lingered on Chen Chuan for a moment, and then emitted rasping, squawking sounds. The eyeballs rolled upward, and the thick wall tore open a fissure, through which an extraordinarily dazzling light shone from the other side.
Chen Chuan was very familiar with this; one look told him it was the light from a fissure. Without question, this was a path leading into a fissure.
Xu Mutang looked at the radiance and remarked with sighing emotion, "A fissure. If I am not mistaken, this was likely an escape route the imperial household left for itself back then."
Chen Chuan turned the thought over in his mind, feeling it was not so simple. Although they had seen a great deal along the way, fitting the general idea of a secret hoard, he could not shake the feeling that something was missing.
Connecting the vessel previously bestowed upon him by that unknown figure with the fissure before him, it suddenly occurred to him: could there be some connection between the two?
He looked toward the light beyond the fissure. In any case, no one knew which region it led to or what they might encounter, so he would not venture in heedlessly.
Xu Mutang looked cautiously at the fissure and said, "It seems this is all there is here. Section Chief Chen, why don't we head back first?"
Chen Chuan nodded and retraced their steps. As they drew further away, they could hear the eye-covered entity behind them give a few hoarse cries, and the torn fissure sealed shut once more.
This time, they did not walk leisurely, quickening their pace as they headed back up.
Once back on the surface, Chen Chuan said, "Chief Inspector Xu, there are quite a lot of things inside. As for how to divide them, I think you can discuss it with your Government Affairs Department first, and then we can talk."
Taken aback, Xu Mutang said, "Section Chief Chen..." He had originally thought Chen Chuan, having seen all this, would directly dictate the division. He had not expected Chen Chuan to actually let him go back to consult.
Chen Chuan said earnestly, "In the battle just now, if you had not created that fleeting opportunity from the side, Chief Inspector Xu, the outcome would have been difficult to predict. You contributed as well, so you rightfully have a say in the division."
There was no such thing as an absolute certainty of victory in battle; between two evenly matched combatants, deciding the victor was extraordinarily difficult. Therefore, strictly regarding this battle, Xu Mutang had definitely created an opening and played a substantial role. Furthermore, Xu Mutang belonged to a faction that could be won over, so Chen Chuan was willing to share.
Nor was this without benefit to Chen Chuan. There were simply too many things, many of which held no personal meaning for him. Even if he could take them all for himself, he could not guard them alone and might face endless trouble because of it. But with the official endorsement of Longyou Dao, all that could be avoided.
Moreover, he believed that as long as one became strong enough, such things would naturally gravitate toward oneself in the future. There was no need to be weighed down by them; that would only shackle oneself instead.
Chapter 967