Chapter 324 The Underground Giant Cauldron
Chen Yang was indeed very puzzled. For the longest time, he had believed that Liu Chuanmu's purpose here was to find a tomb, a very precious ancient tomb.
However, hearing the patrolmen now say that what these people had blown open seemed to be some kind of dragon脉 (dragon vein).
Chen Yang harbored doubts about dragon veins.
As the Hall Master of the Tianyi Hall, he had considerable exposure to such knowledge. The concept of destiny and fortune was profound and unfathomable; one could believe it or not.
Chen Yang's stance had always been thus.
He only partially believed in dragon veins, but to say that dragon veins could influence the foundation of a nation, or affect the life and death of a prominent family, Chen Yang felt it was an exaggeration.
In the unseen realm, destiny had its own arrangements. Whether a dragon vein existed or was destroyed, it all had its predetermined course.
Chen Yang asked the patrol team members, "Did these people destroy the dragon vein, and that's all?"
The middle-aged man shook his head, gripping Chen Yang's arm tightly. "This... this dragon vein is real. I heard them say there might be a treasure buried beneath that is related to the national destiny of our Huaxia. In any case, you must call for help, call for help immediately, hurry!"
As he spoke, three people rushed out from within. These three were incredibly fast, clearly not ordinary individuals.
They wore curved sabers at their waists and had sinister appearances. Not only were they not ordinary people, but they were also not ordinary Huaxia people; they were ninjas from the Black Dragon Pavilion.
The three ninjas frowned upon seeing Chen Yang, then immediately lunged towards him.
Chen Yang saw no point in further conversation. He directly stepped forward to meet the three ninjas. His silk threads shot out with a "swish, swish, swish," silently piercing the heads of the three ninjas, who fell to the ground.
Chen Yang didn't bother to inquire further, assuming the patrolman knew little and only understood that the thing below was extremely important.
Chen Yang glanced in the direction the three ninjas had come from. It was a dark, gaping hole in the rock, likely dug out recently. The fact that they could emerge from it indicated that the poisonous gas chamber inside had been cleared.
Chen Yang picked up a searchlight from a ninja's head and walked inside. The passage at the entrance was dark, only about half a meter high. One had to bend very low to walk, almost crawling.
The cave slanted downwards for about a hundred meters. Suddenly, the passage widened, and the surrounding stones changed. Previously, there were clear signs of human workmanship, but this subsequent stone passage seemed to have been preserved from ancient times.
Chen Yang shone his searchlight onto the surrounding cave walls, occasionally spotting some manually carved patterns.
The carving style was undeniably very ancient. The content was jumbled, mostly depicting scenes of conflict between various clans.
However, the battles depicted on the murals looked rather comical.
They seemed to be able to control tigers and wolves, leading fierce beasts and giant elephants. The surrounding wild animals were depicted as large and ferocious, serving as their pets, resembling primitive people fighting in an animated cartoon.
Further ahead, a large, flowing mural appeared. This mural depicted vast floods that nearly engulfed the entire land.
In the midst of the flood, a man stood on a stone, holding a cauldron. Following this, the flood receded, and many people were shown with the man, reclaiming land, cultivating fields, and reinforcing waterways. Chen Yang observed this and realized it was likely the story of Yu the Great controlling the floods.
He didn't pay it much mind.
At this moment, a few hushed exclamations came from ahead, followed by a loud shout, "Quick, quick, the thing is inside! Everyone climb up quickly, use the ropes to ascend this way."
The voices sounded chaotic and excited.
Hearing these sounds, Chen Yang no longer hesitated. With a "swish," his figure accelerated, rushing out of the passage.
The next moment, even Chen Yang was stunned. The space before him had suddenly become immensely vast, a colossal underground area.
At this moment, hundreds of powerful searchlights had been installed in the underground space.
The immense cavern was illuminated, and within it stood a colossal three-legged bronze cauldron.
This cauldron was made of bronze and had a peculiar design, identical to the bronze cauldron held by Yu the Great in the mural.
But this was not the oddest part. The peculiar aspect was that the bronze cauldron was incredibly enormous.
The cauldron before him was over two hundred meters tall, occupying an area of three football fields. It stood like an object from another world amidst the earth, its three legs deeply embedded in the rock. Above these legs was an immense space, large enough to house a skyscraper.
The surface of the bronze cauldron was carved with dense, strange runes. It was impossible to discern whether they were text or pictograms, but they appeared like the "ghost scribbles" of Taoism.
Chen Yang swallowed hard. Even he was momentarily dumbfounded, staring blankly upwards at this miracle before him.
This could indeed only be called a miracle, as even in modern times, constructing such a colossal bronze cauldron would be immensely difficult.
Let alone in ancient antiquity.
Chen Yang swallowed again. At this moment, he heard voices in his ear, "Continue, continue, climb up quickly! Once you get the thing, leave immediately."
"This thing is too magnificent!"
"This cauldron should have belonged to our Black Dragon Pavilion. Today, it returns to its rightful owner."
"With the cauldron taken, the national destiny of Huaxia will completely wither, and we can then trample upon them at will."
Those people were still laughing wildly. Chen Yang came to his senses and dashed towards the base of the cauldron. He noticed that thirteen people were using various ropes and equipment to climb up towards the top.
Chen Yang found it peculiar for a moment. Such a massive cauldron, even with thirty thousand people, couldn't be moved. Were these people fools?
However, seeing them continuously climbing up the cauldron, Chen Yang guessed that the object they truly needed was inside the cauldron.
With this thought, Chen Yang didn't hesitate further. He quickly reached the base of one of the cauldron's legs.
A Black Dragon Pavilion ninja was greedily caressing the cauldron's leg with his hand, wondering if he could acquire some good stuff to take back.
Chen Yang gave him no time to react. Flicking his finger, his "suspension-thread diagnosis" silver thread shot out with a "swish," instantly piercing the ninja's forehead.
The underground space was too vast. After Chen Yang killed one ninja, the other twelve had not even reacted.
Chen Yang said nothing more. Seeing the other twelve people struggling to climb upwards, he raised his hand slightly and with a "swish," an invisible suspension-thread diagnosis silver thread shot towards the top of the bronze cauldron.