He Chunhua added, "I've read ancient records mentioning that the Chipa Plateau is a double-stepped plateau—meaning two tiers of plains stacked together. The second tier rises higher than the first. The soil of that second tier, where Panlong Ancient City lies, is fertile, and it catches meltwater from the high mountains. With its dense network of waterways, it was a rare highland water town amidst the entire Panlong Wasteland!"
Naturally. Without an abundant, year-round water supply, Panlong City could never have held out for so long.
"Which way do we go now?" Nian Songyu asked the National Preceptor. "It's almost dark."
In two quarters of an hour at most, the sun would sink below the distant mountains. The light inside the ancient city was dimming rapidly.
"First, establish a base camp and set up a defensive talisman array," Sun Fuping replied, having planned this out well in advance. "Disperse and find a suitable location."
"Disperse?" He Lingchuan hurriedly called out, "Wait a moment! In ruins this vast, the risks haven't even been cleared yet!"
"No need." Sun Fuping spoke with calm confidence. "At least the city's outer perimeter is relatively safe. You don't honestly think we're the first people to enter Panlong City in over a century, do you?"
That was indeed what he had thought—had he been naive? He Lingchuan chuckled. "So there have long been pioneers before us. Pity they all returned empty-handed."
If anyone else had found the treasure, why would they have bothered coming to Panlong City?
"Not necessarily. They didn't necessarily come for the Dafang Pot; ruins like these frequently draw treasure hunters. They also recorded what they saw and heard here, which provides reference material for us." The mutated creatures and Three Corpse Worms in the Panlong Desert were terrifying, but frankly, so long as one did one's homework in advance, none were unsolvable problems.
Thus, the Panlong Ruins had seen visitors long before this, each harboring their own hidden motives.
Just like this expedition.
The two hundred-odd people searched for a brief while before finding an open clearing to settle down.
This place appeared to have been Panlong City's marketplace. Facing the canal were two full rows of buildings packed closely together like fish scales, the tallest no more than two stories high.
Naturally, the facades of most buildings were ruined, and at least a third had clearly suffered fires, yet a few still bore hanging plaques, the most intact among them showing blurred lettering.
The script differed somewhat from modern writing, and it took He Lingchuan some effort to barely make out two characters: "Frost... Wine."
Likely a tavern.
The buildings here were low and squatted close together, well-suited for a temporary campsite. Once the party made camp, Sun Fuping ordered everyone to rest in place for two shichen. Zeng Feixiong hurried off to assign quarters. The leaders claimed the tavern, which offered the best vantage point and windbreak, and began deliberating their long-term plans.
After two days of relentless travel, everyone finally had a chance to wash their faces and refresh themselves.
In the heart of a desert where every drop of water was precious, this was a privilege reserved for the leaders. He Lingchuan raised his waterskin, drank several hearty mouthfuls, and splashed the rest over his face. "Damned place—sweltering hot by day, freezing cold by night!"
A desert's typical climate featured extreme temperature swings between day and night; a place reaching over forty degrees at midday would frost over come nightfall. The sun had already set, and the temperature plummeted. Throwing on padded coats wasn't enough; everyone had to pry off wooden fittings from around the ruins to build fires and stave off the cold.
He shook his head like a dog shaking off water. Nian Songyu frowned, sidestepping the flying droplets, and said:
"Time is precious; we can't afford to waste the night either. But these ruins are immense. Even if we split up our forces, it would take several days at least to search it. Does the National Preceptor have any ideas?"
They weren't here on an outing. The food and water the party carried were limited, so every minute had better be put to good use.
After brushing away the yellow sand and straightening his appearance, Sun Fuping regained his dignified bearing as National Preceptor and spoke with calm assurance.
"Rummaging through every chest and digging three feet into the earth—the allied forces of Baling and Xianyou, as well as the treasure hunters who came after, have already done all that. We couldn't possibly do a more thorough job than they did. Therefore, these houses and buildings in the city hold little value for searching."
Back then, after Panlong City fell, its entire population was massacred—people and livestock slaughtered to the last, possessions looted clean. The enemy nations had spent over thirty years to bring it down and hated this thorn in their side to the marrow of their bones; they could never vent that bitter spite without thorough, unrestrained pillaging.
What's more, they had ample time, and they must have scraped the very ground clean. Yet the Dafang Pot remained unfound. Thus, neither grand mansions nor common dwellings could be its hiding place.
Hearing this, He Lingchuan breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good." Otherwise, with so few hands and a city so vast, searching would be looking for a needle in a haystack. "Which means the National Preceptor already knows where the pot is?"
Predecessors had all returned empty-handed. If Sun Fuping didn't have absolute confidence, why would he travel thousands of li just to eat sand here?
"I do not know its exact location, but I can narrow down the scope," Sun Fuping said after a moment's contemplation. "I once visited Grandmaster Zhu Gen of Baling Kingdom. He visited Panlong City four times—the earliest sixty years ago, and the latest forty years ago. One could say that after the allied forces, his faction conducted perhaps the most exhaustive search of the Panlong Ruins."
"'Faction'?" He Chunhua caught onto the key word.
"In my view, Baling Kingdom has always harbored lingering suspicions regarding the Panlong Ruins. Grandmaster Zhu Gen himself was utterly fascinated by them. During his final expedition here, he was already seventy-five years old, stayed the longest—a full fifteen days from start to finish—and brought the most people, said to be over a thousand."
The more people and the longer the stay, the more meticulous the search of Panlong City would be. It must have been a feat just to secure their logistical supplies.
Evidently, excavations on such a massive scale required the backing of the government and military.
Everyone understood now: the allied army and Grandmaster Zhu Gen had already done the groundwork and cleared the mines for them. A carpet search was no longer necessary.
"Nearly a thousand people, all safe and sound without running into any mishaps?" He Lingchuan chimed in. "That in itself is abnormal."
He Chunhua suddenly said, "It is already dark, yet I haven't seen a single Three Corpse Worm."
Right now, he could still see the three flames on others, so the effects of the Soul-Shielding Powder clearly hadn't faded yet. This state was akin to having an 'opened heavenly eye,' allowing him to see the Three Corpse Worms as well.
Yet from stepping onto the bridge to entering the city, he hadn't spotted a single Three Corpse Worm.
Wasn't that bizarre in itself?
"Indeed. Not only are there no Three Corpse Worms in the city, there are no other evil entities either. This is the consensus among earlier treasure hunters. Thus, so long as we don't stir up any monumental disturbance, we are largely safe here." Sun Fuping produced a march flatbread and toasted it over the fire.
The march flatbread was made of unleavened dough, the size of a human face. Dropping it on the ground would produce a solid clatter, tough as could be. Its sole virtue was being filling and slow to spoil. Even toasted soft, He Lingchuan found the flatbread coarse and astringent, scraping his throat as he forced it down. He could only eat it soaked in hot water, yet Sun Fuping casually broke it into small pieces and chewed without batting an eye.
This National Preceptor was remarkably grounded; he could live amidst brocades and delicacies, yet was just as content with coarse tea and hardtack flatbread.
"Much of the information I gathered came from Zhu Gen. After researching it for half his life, he told me personally that the reason the Dafang Pot was never found is very likely because everyone went at the wrong time."
Chapter 33