"So you caught me?" Li Chonglou asked incredulously.
"How could we!" Lin Ying chuckled, "Do you think we're superheroes? From such a height, only a god could catch you."
"I brought an airbag and a rescue net, and even then, you almost died falling."
Upon hearing this, Li Chonglou finally understood.
Xu Lie and his senior sister had both entered the qi-induction technique of the sheepskin scroll, their strength far surpassing ordinary people.
They had hard-grasped the net and airbag, managing to catch them.
It was an astonishing feat.
A slight misstep, and their fall would have been fatal for themselves, potentially even crushing their senior sister and Xu Lie.
To save him, both had gambled with their lives.
Fortunately, the outcome was joyous for everyone.
"Brother Xu, I knew you were lucky and wouldn't die in the underground river," Li Chonglou said, looking at Xu Lie's scraped face, knowing he must have suffered greatly.
Xu Lie showed a rare smile, "I was too careless."
"I didn't know the power of the underground torrent was so great; I had no strength to struggle and could only watch as you drifted further away from me."
"After passing the rapids, I couldn't find you anymore."
"Su Yinchuan was also knocked unconscious, so I could only take him downstream while searching."
"I didn't expect to see you until we came out."
Although Xu Lie spoke calmly, his words were filled with lingering fear.
The underground torrent was ever-changing.
If Li Chonglou hadn't made it out, he would have been a sinner for life, consumed by guilt.
He had tried multiple times to go back and search, but the torrent blocked his path, making it impossible.
The light was lost, Su Yinchuan was still unconscious, leaving only the option of going with the flow.
Fortunately, Lin Ying arrived in time and rescued Li Chonglou and the other who had been swept into the sky by the waterspout, finally putting his heart at ease.
"This brush with death has yielded quite a harvest!" Li Chonglou saw Xu Lie's self-blame and changed the subject, "Brother Xu, take out what's in my inner shirt pocket."
Xu Lie complied.
He took out a mobile phone with a cracked and damaged screen, a golden medal that was also deformed, and a handful of completely shattered bone fragments.
Seeing these three items, Li Chonglou's expression twitched uncontrollably.
Although he had tried to protect them, the immense impact of the fall from high up and the pressure on his body had damaged these three items.
"What is this?" Lin Ying picked up the golden medal.
Lin Zhendong, lying on the adjacent hospital bed, his gaze fell on the bone fragments, his pupils shrinking, showing a solemn expression.
"This golden medal is used by the Qiang tribe for sacrifices; I intended to give it to Professor Song," Li Chonglou struggled to sit up, pointing to each item, "The phone contains clues about Shi Boqiong."
"As for these bone fragments... they are Shi Boqiong..."
As he said this, everyone's faces showed shock.
Before they could ask, Li Chonglou continued, "It's just made of bone replicas. The real thing wouldn't break so easily."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief collectively.
Especially Lin Zhendong, who was nearly scared to death by the young man.
Shi Boqiong, whom he had searched for half his life, had turned into a pile of dust.
Who could bear that.
His heart hadn't fully recovered, and after exhausting his mental energy to peek at heavenly secrets to help Li Chonglou avoid calamity, he was nearly gone after this scare.
He laughed and admonished, "Next time, don't speak in gasps."
"I'll listen to you, Master," Li Chonglou grinned in reply.
Finally, he felt the warmth of family again.
Compared to the coldness of the underground river and the bone-chilling vortex, this was something to cherish dearly.
"The phone is also waterlogged and broken. Xiao Ying, take it to a shop and have the content copied. Make sure to watch it the entire time and prevent any leaks," Lin Zhendong instructed after smiling.
Lin Ying understood the gravity of the situation. She collected the golden medal and phone, said goodbye, and left the ward.
With Xu Lie guarding, she felt at ease.
Besides, her father was now lying with Li Chonglou, and these two, master and disciple, surely had endless topics to discuss.
After she left.
Li Chonglou's expression turned solemn as he looked at his master and said earnestly, "Master, I have fulfilled my mission this time."
"Liu Zhibo and all his subordinates perished underground."
"I also found clues about Shi Boqiong; I personally infer it should be in Wang Mang's possession."
After speaking, he recounted everything he had seen and heard in the tomb in detail.
Of course, these were only his personal interpretations and might not be comprehensive.
That's why he had taken photos with his phone, hoping they could be recovered successfully.
Perhaps his master could glean useful clues from the photos.
Lin Zhendong's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, "Wang Mang, as a rising emperor, I have naturally visited his tomb."
"But I found no Shi Boqiong, nor any clues about this treasure."
"If your inference is correct, then there might be two possibilities."
"Either Wang Mang or those who buried him were unaware of Shi Boqiong's capabilities and thus could not use the treasure."
"Or Wang Mang never obtained Shi Boqiong at all."
"But regardless, we at least know that Shi Boqiong was passed down by the Qiang people."
"The word 'water' appearing on the base should refer to the West Sea. Wang Mang, comparing himself to the Duke of Zhou, indeed had aspirations for reform, but he was also prone to boastfulness. It was precisely the establishment of the West Sea Commandery that led to increased border conflicts. Hundreds of thousands of troops were perpetually engaged on the frontier, unable to disengage, resulting in continuous warfare and ultimately ending his short reign."
History is like a mirror; every glimpse reveals lament.
They say Wang Mang was like a time traveler, implementing various new policies such as land reform, the five equalizations and six standard weights system, currency reform, and a new commandery system, but he repeatedly encountered natural disasters.
Not only did he fail to alleviate the social contradictions of the time, but he also exacerbated the turmoil in the land, ultimately dying at the hands of rebels.
"I am more inclined to believe that Wang Mang did not use Shi Boqiong; he simply couldn't activate it," Li Chonglou nodded in agreement, "If he could have been reborn, with his talent and prescience, perhaps the history we see would be different."
He himself felt this most deeply.
Destiny could be changed; at least since his rebirth, the destinies of countless people had been altered as a result.
Perhaps, it was like the parallel universe theory in Western science fiction.
But who cared; the space they inhabited was the main space.
Why overthink it.
Wang Mang, too, if he could have activated Shi Boqiong, would have avoided the radical mistakes he made before and proceeded gradually.
Furthermore, as his master had said before, without the Li bloodline, Shi Boqiong could not be activated.
Therefore, it was likely that he obtained it but couldn't use it, thus treating it as a useless toy.
He might have even mistaken it for the superstitious sorcery of the Qiang people.
As for whether the King of Qiang could use Shi Boqiong, there was no definitive statement.
But Li Chonglou knew that a branch of the Qiang in Shu was named Li.
This branch of the Li family were descendants of the Tuoba clan, a branch of the Tangut people.
Perhaps, there was even a blood relation to himself.
In any case, concerning genetic inheritance, it was impossible to say after so many years; the number of people with the same genes as himself was uncountable.
Therefore, delving deeper was meaningless.
Both fell into silence.
Xu Lie sat on a chair, drowsy.
He had no interest in the conversation between Li Chonglou and Lin Zhendong, nor could he understand it; it was like listening to celestial scripture.
He could only cultivate his own.
Meanwhile, Li Chonglou's head was spinning.
Since his master had visited Wang Mang's tomb and found no Shi Boqiong, were the clues thus dead-ended?
Could it be that someone else took it after Wang Mang's death?
Li Chonglou pondered deeply, letting his imagination run wild.
To be honest, as someone who had spent his life doing research, his imagination was not particularly rich.
The connections he could make were limited.
After about half an hour.
Master and disciple simultaneously turned their heads and looked at each other.
In unison, they said, "Du Wu!"
"You say it first, see if we thought of the same thing," Lin Zhendong's eyes flashed with intense light, suppressing his excitement.
Li Chonglou's heart surged, and he said without hesitation, "'Book of Han: Biography of Wang Mang' records that on the third day, Geng Xu... Mang went to Jiantai... the merchant Du Wu killed Mang and took his sash."
"In the fourth year of Di Huang, which was 23 AD, the Green Forest Army attacked Chang'an City. Wang Mang, under the protection of Wang Yi and others, fled to Jiantai."
"The high officials, ministers, eunuchs, and attendants, over a thousand people, having no escape, could only lead the charge to their deaths."
"However, in the ensuing chaos, he was killed by Du Wu of Shang County. His head was then severed by the commander Gong Bin and displayed in the Wan Market, while his body was dismembered."
"At that time, when Gong Bin asked Du Wu where Wang Mang's body was, he replied, 'In the northwest corner of the chamber.'"
"Therefore, I have a conjecture."
Lin Zhendong's eyes shone even more intensely, "Continue."
"For someone like Wang Mang, even if he was defeated and outnumbered, the probability of being killed by a mere soldier in the chaos, especially unseen in a room, is not high."
"This person named Du Wu had ample time to obtain Wang Mang's personal belongings."
"And looking through historical records, after Du Wu killed Wang Mang, he completely disappeared from history, with no further news."
"I suspect he was a重生者 (reborn person)."
"And the key to his rebirth was Shi Boqiong!"
This matter was a bit convoluted, but Li Chonglou was confident that his direction was correct.
He could activate Shi Boqiong due to his Li family genes, but these genes were not exclusive to those surnamed Li.
This Du Wu might have come into contact with Shi Boqiong for some reason in a previous life and then reborn into the era of Wang Mang, allowing him to precisely target and kill the hidden Wang Mang in the chaos.
Coincidence always has a reason, though not absolute.
This was merely speculation.
"My thoughts are largely the same as yours," Lin Zhendong sighed after listening, "The student surpasses the master. Chonglou, you have made me look at you with new eyes."
Although he already knew Li Chonglou was reborn, people cannot ignore appearances.
Li Chonglou looked too young and immature.
However, this trip to the former site of Xihai Commandery had completely put his mind at ease.
If the two of them, master and disciple, could not find Shi Boqiong, then no one else in the world could find it in a short period.
It would take at least another fifty years for it to surface on its own.
He could not wait that long.
"When Xiao Ying brings back the information, I'll study it again. You can't use your true qi anyway, and although I can cultivate again, it will take time to recover to my peak," Lin Zhendong said, "Let's return to Qin Prefecture first to investigate the information on this Du Wu. As soon as your true qi recovers, we'll set off immediately!"