Chapter 326 Kyushu's Fortune
The cave began to shake even more violently. Chen Yang climbed upwards quickly, using the silver thread from his pulse diagnosis to reach the top of the cauldron. He realized then that the cave was almost completely split open.
A massive chasm had appeared beneath the cauldron, and black water was still surging from its depths.
Chen Yang swallowed nervously, not daring to hesitate. With a whoosh, he slid down the cauldron and onto the ground. He then ran for his life towards the cave entrance.
The entire cave trembled violently, and Chen Yang silently prayed that he wouldn't be trapped inside, for that would be the end of him.
In just a minute, Chen Yang tumbled out of the narrow cave. He breathed a sigh of relief and checked on the three surviving patrol members. Without further delay, he reached them and "snap, snap" cut their ropes.
Chen Yang slung two over his shoulders and carried one in each hand, then swiftly carried all four towards his car.
He shoved the four men into the back seat, jumped into the driver's seat, and with a roar of the engine, sped up the mountainside.
The patrol members were severely injured, one had already died, and the other three were barely able to move, only managing to lie on the seats and breathe.
The middle-aged man, who had the least severe injuries, asked Chen Yang, "Young man, what exactly happened in there? Was the dragon vein destroyed?"
As the middle-aged man finished speaking, with a deafening boom, the entire valley instantly cracked open with a series of "crack, crack, crack" sounds. Black groundwater surged upwards, churning and emitting a foul odor.
Chen Yang drove the car up the mountainside and replied, "I don't know if it was the dragon vein, but I know there was a huge space at the bottom of the mountain, and a very, very large bronze cauldron. Those people inside were surrounding the cauldron, I don't know what they were trying to do, but it looked like they were planning to drag it away."
"Just then, the earthquake started, so I ran out first. Don't talk for now, just try to hold on. I'll get you to a hospital outside."
At this moment, with a loud "boom," the ground of the mountain peak, which was originally more than ten meters high, completely caved in and collapsed, instantly becoming a huge pit hundreds of meters deep.
The pit was completely submerged in black water. However, this was a mountainous region with high terrain, so the black water could only rise for a period before it was unable to ascend further and churned back down.
The entire valley transformed into a black lake, immense in size, as large as Taihu Lake, and its depth was unfathomable.
There wasn't much water in the Qinling Mountains originally, but now, a black lake had appeared without any warning, and the massive bronze cauldron had already sunk into it.
Chen Yang glanced back, his expression filled with shock. Even he couldn't immediately comprehend what had happened.
The patrol members in the back sighed heavily and said, "It's over, the dragon vein is gone. The resurgence of the flood must mean that the water-suppressing cauldron left by our ancestor Yu the Great has been destroyed."
Hearing this, Chen Yang's heart stirred. He drove and asked the patrol members, "Yu the Great? The Yu the Great who controlled the floods?"
The patrol members nodded and said, "Of course. Back then, it rained heavily, and the entire region was flooded. It was our ancestor Yu the Great who led the people to control the floods."
"After his success, he forged nine cauldrons and placed them in nine different locations to suppress the floods and ensure eternal peace. This is why our country China is called the Nine Provinces."
"Each cauldron suppressed the fortune of its surrounding region, and now that this cauldron has been destroyed, you see the floodwaters have risen, haven't they?"
Chen Yang shook his head helplessly. He could only believe half of what they said; Yu the Great had been deified, and his deeds could not be treated as historical facts.
However, the bronze cauldron below was indeed extraordinary, and the small bronze cauldron in his backpack was even more so.
Chen Yang suppressed his curiosity and accelerated, returning along the way he came.
When he arrived at the resting place of Professor Wang, Huo Ling, and the others, he saw the three of them supporting each other, preparing to leave.
Chen Yang stopped the car and told the three of them to get in.
When Professor Wang got into the car and saw that one patrol member was dead and the other three were on the verge of death, he became filled with grief and anger.
Chen Yang said, "Squeeze in, everyone. Those who are not injured can squat in the trunk. I'm going to accelerate, and it will be bumpy."
Professor Wang nodded and said, "Thank you, thank you, young man, thank you. The entire Qinling Mountains were shaking just now, what happened?"
Chen Yang explained the scene as he drove. He said, "That place has now become a black lake. I don't know if the black water is poisonous. Also, the giant bronze cauldron I saw inside should have sunk into the lake by now."
Professor Wang's mouth fell open, and then he trembled, "So... so it was all true! The cauldron of Yu the Great was actually hidden in the Qinling Mountains, and this cauldron is the mother cauldron in the center, and it has eight child cauldrons."
"Legend has it that after Yu the Great controlled the floods, he distributed these nine cauldrons to nine different locations. The nine cauldrons sealed the primordial power of Yu the Great's ancestors. It turns out it was all true."
Huo Ling sat aside, looking enviously at Chen Yang and muttering, "Brother Chen, I really envy you. You actually had the chance to see that bronze cauldron. I think it would be worth dying if I had the chance to see it."
"I never imagined that a bronze cauldron could be so huge, as large as a football field."
Chen Yang shook his head and said, "It's not as big as a football field, it's three football fields large! Over two hundred meters tall, something that humans could never have forged."
"However, it's not like those tomb robbers managed to steal the cauldron, and they're probably all trapped in the lake now, surely drowned."
"When technology becomes more advanced in the future, you can still salvage the bronze cauldron from the lake! That one cauldron is estimated to weigh hundreds of thousands of tons, it's terrifying just thinking about it. So much bronze is equivalent to a copper smelting plant!"
Professor Wang sighed and said, "Yes, yes, there is still hope. As long as there is a chance for the bronze cauldron to reappear, the history of our country will be completely rewritten."
"Now that the tomb robbers have found this cauldron, it seems the remaining eight cauldrons are not safe either. If the other party has other information, they might be able to deduce the locations of the other eight cauldrons based on the position of this mother cauldron. If that's the case, the trouble will be immense."
Chen Yang's heart moved upon hearing this. It seemed he needed to strengthen his investigation into this matter as well.