Chapter 81

 Chapter 81: The Heirloom Jade Seal of the Realm [5]

Zhang Qiu frowned while holding the phone, next to him Li Shu asked: “What’s wrong?”

“Yue Qincang and Kai Ming have arrived in Enhe Village, we should tell Uncle Kule—–” As Zhang Qiu was saying this, Li Shu raised his eyebrows and asked: “I don’t know how to say this clearly, but I’ve always thought Uncle Kule was weird.”

Li Shu glanced at Uncle Kule, who was sitting by the fire singing, and didn’t see anything strange.

“Then be careful and keep an eye on him.”

Zhang Qiu nodded, this was the only way. In the past, he thought that the temperature in the snow-capped mountains was too low, animals may survive, but plants wouldn’t. Unexpectedly, Uncle Kule could find all kinds of treasures in the deep snowy mountain, such as finding firewood buried deep in the compacted snow. Peeling off the bark, the inside of the branches were dry and flammable.

Only two seasonings were found in the backpacks, salt and chilli, but despite that, the wild mountain rabbits tenderly coated in oil made people drool. Zhang Qiu lowered his head and opened the zipper of his big pocket. Xiao Fei’s small head was revealed, with his long black hair cascading down his shoulders like a waterfall, just like an angel.

Even if it was his own son, Zhang Qiu was shocked by his good genes once again. He gave birth to such a beautiful son.

How delightful!

Xiao Jiang had a rabbit leg, and his mouth was greasy. Seeing that his Meimei had woken up, he tore off a piece and handed it to him.

Xiao Fei was not disgusted with the crescent shape that Xiao Jiang just gnawed at. There were rows of small glutinous-rice-like teeth neatly arranged in his mouth, causing Xiao Fei to eat slowly.

After eating a full meal, everyone was in high spirits. They packed their luggage and made their way to Broken Mountain, under the leadership of Uncle Kule. They gave way to the road[1]. The piece that collapsed yesterday was too unstable, according to Uncle Kule’s statement. It was possible that even the slightest shock would cause it to collapse again. As they circled around from the left and went straight to the side, they heard a rumble. The path in front of them, which had collapsed yesterday, collapsed again. This time, however, the signs of movement were smaller than yesterday.

There was another recess on the snowy mountain. According to Uncle Kule, people don’t come up in this season, especially after the snowstorm, besides them and Christine’s group.

“Is it that group of people?” asked Zhang Qiu

Li Shu glanced at the area that just collapsed, nodded “Let’s hurry up.”

The smallest of the snowy mountains was the most magnificent. Yesterday the entire top of the mountain collapsed, now the whole mountain seemed to have been gnawed by a dog. Plainly, it was much smaller than before.

Zhang Qiu and the others’ map goal was called Chenghai City. It should be right here, just below their feet, but they do not specifically know where. They must hurry and take the lead before Christine’s group.

“Your Excellency, there is a tunnel entrance here.” Ling Dang’s spirit for adventure had arrived. Ever since he stabbed that blood zongzi into a wasp’s nest last night, Ling Dang had the kind of confidence of ‘Wow, it turns out I can do things and be helpful.’ At this moment, Pei Qing couldn’t hold him even if he wanted to; he turned into a virtual body and wandered nearby.

Pei Qing covered his heavy heart. Usually, his family’s small Ling Dang revolved around him, but when he saw Ling Dang happy and lively, the corners of Pei Qing’s mouth raised.

Several people went in the direction pointed at by Ling Dang, suddenly “Don’t go there!” was shouted from behind.

Zhang Qiu turned around to see Uncle Kule standing behind them with fear in his eyes. He couldn’t help but look at the entrance of the snow tunnel, not saying anything. What did Uncle Kule see?

“Do you know what’s inside?” Zhang Qiu felt that Uncle Kule must’ve been here before.

Uncle Kule was asked, his eyes flashed in confusion and he waved his hands, “I haven’t been here before, but I can’t go inside, it’s dangerous.”

He’d never been here before, but knew it was dangerous. Li Shu narrowed his eyes. “You can stay here, we must go in.”

“Don’t, don’t——” Uncle Kule saw these people marching in, not listening at all, hesitation written on his face, and gritting his teeth, he followed in. He himself didn’t know why he was afraid of this place, or why he had the idea in his heart to yield and enter.

Obviously it is an ice cave, but the temperature inside is warmer than outside. After walking for tens of metres, there was a fork in the road. Several people stood there and looked at Zhang Qiu. Zhang Qiu knew what they meant. He waved his hands and said: “I am unlucky, I’m definitely not choosing.”

Li Shu’s lips curled up, “Do you not want to be my god of luck?”

“Okay, let’s set this straight, Li Shu you are getting more and more sappy.” Zhang Qiu said that as he was grinning from ear to ear. Next to him, Qi Xi clicked his tongue, “You are both really sappy, both roads are the same, Xiao Rongrong, which one do you choose?”

“I can’t see.” Qi Zhirong’s voice was cold.

Zhang Qiu’s heart thumped, thinking about Qi Xi’s big mouth hitting a soft spot. Who knew that Qi Xi grinned and leaned over to Qi Zhirong’s face and said: “I’m your eyes.”

He said his family’s Xiao Shushu was sappy, this is fucking sappy!

Qi Zhirong’s face was still cold, but Zhang Qiu felt that this person was a little happy. These two have met their match[2].

“This, here.” Behind him Uncle Kule pointed to a slightly smaller path on the left.

It didn’t matter whether or not Zhang Qiu wanted to go, but suddenly thinking about Yue Qincang’s words of caution, he couldn’t help but be cautious, looking at Li Shu, Li Shu took the lead to the right.

“(You) cannot go, cannot go.” Uncle Kule shouted in horror.

Zhang Qiu felt weak when he heard this, Uncle Kule is not a bad person, he has been helping them the whole way, and now it seems that they are forcing him.

“What exactly do you know?”

Uncle Kule’s eyes flashed in confusion, “What?”

Now everyone could see that there was something wrong with Uncle Kule, regardless of him preventing a few people from going to the right side of the tunnel. It was deep and narrow inside. Zhang Qiu took the flashlight out of his backpack, shone it into the distance and he could vaguely see the silhouette of a person.

“There seems to be someone.”

After Zhang Qiu finished speaking, several people were on guard, all taking out self-defence tools. Ling Dang reached out and pulled Pei Qing behind him. With a small face, he said solemnly: “Gege, hide behind me, I will protect you.”

Pei Qing wanted to laugh as soon as he saw his little Ling Dang’s white, tender and lovely face pretending to be manly. He managed to hold back, “Okay.” In fact, when he walked forward, his body blocked Ling Dang.

Xiao Jiang was not afraid at all. Jumping on the road, the bells on his wrist jingled, causing Zhang Qiu to pull him back and say solemnly: “Dad is a little scared, don’t go too far”

Wanting to protect his father’s righteous heart, Xiao Jiang nodded his little head, dressed like a bear, his small body standing in front of Zhang Qiu and said: “Don’t worry Dad.”

A wisp of red fog surrounded Zhang Qiu, and Xiao Fei looked at him with his small arms clinging to the pocket, obviously with the intention to protect his dad.

“You see, our two sons are so considerate, just like a little padded jacket.” Zhang Qiu showed off to Li Shu arrogantly.

This interruption made the atmosphere slightly amusing (despite the situation). Beside him, Qi Xi rolled his eyes and said: “You can make a joke in any adventure environment, Xiao Qiuqiu!” Turning around and grabbing Qi Zhirong’s waist, “Xiao Rongrong, I will carry you.”

“No need.” Qi Zhirong reached out his hand to block Qi Xi’s hand with a cold expression.

Why are you suddenly angry? Qi Xi thought, shamelessly wrapping around, “I’m scared, you have to protect me.”

Qi Zhirong didn’t even give Qi Xi any emotion.

Getting closer and closer, a man wearing a jacket had his hands tightly clasped against the wall. They weren’t speaking quietly, but this person didn’t look back at them. The whole figure was strange, his hands were frozen to the wall, and his legs were stretched out, as if trying to escape.

“Hello?” Zhang Qiu greeted him and heard Qi Xi chuckle. He had a terrible headache, turned his head and seriously said to Li Shu, “I don’t know this guy with a hole in his brain.”

Qi Xi was about to explode. Hearing Qi Zhirong snort softly next to him, he didn’t know why, but he could sense that Qi Zhirong was not happy, so he immediately stopped talking.

The person lying in front of the ice wall did not look back.

“Dead.” Li Shu took two steps forward and warned, “There is a problem with the wall here.”

Zhang Qiu suddenly understood and nodded, otherwise why would this person want to run away, only to get trapped and unable to escape. Watching Li Shu draw his dagger and swishing twice, the hands of the person leaning against the wall were separated from the icy surface. The whole corpse fell hard on the ground, with a thin layer of black dots on the ice.

“They are worm eggs, human body temperature will wake the bugs up immediately.” Li Shu said and looked at Uncle Kule who was standing at the back.

The corpse was turned over and the only bones left in the palms were gnawed. Zhang Qiu was shocked when he saw the corpse’s face.

“Uncle Kule!”

Xiao Jiang opened his mouth, “How come there are two Grandpas?”

He finally knew what was wrong. Uncle Kule’s house in Enhe Village was dusty, there was no food at all, and the quilt had a musty smell. At that time, he thought the single father and son did not live normally, so he didn’t think much of it. There was also Uncle Kule’s hip flask. He saw him drinking all the way up, but when he used it last night, it was empty. When Uncle Kule woke up, he was drinking again.

The jug, when in the hands of Uncle Kule, seemed as if it could never be finished. He lent it to Er-Ge, who had used it to rub himself, and a group of them had drunk from it.

“The alcohol?” Zhang Qiu felt his scalp tingling when he thought of what might be messed up inside.

Zhang Yushui said: “It was real alcohol.”

“How is that possible?” Zhang Qiu was really dumbfounded. He heard Uncle Kule scream. He covered his face and fell backwards, looked at the corpse in front of him in disbelief and muttered: “I’m dead. I’m dead. Yes, I’m looking for my Amur…….”

“The obsession was too deep.” Zhang Yushui frowned. Even if the obsession was too deep, he is just like Xiao Lin, but Uncle Kule can be like an ordinary person during the daytime. None of them noticed anything strange, besides the wine—–“Did you encounter something here, or discover something?”

Only by chance was it like this today.

Uncle Kule already remembered everything. Pei Qing helped him up. Uncle Kule’s trembling hands took a mouthful of Burning Knife, the expression on his face was horrified, as if returning to the past, he said: “Last winter, my wife was very ill, Amur heard people say that there was a treasure in the smallest mountain that could cure all illnesses, so he entered the mountain. At that time, I had just returned from the hospital with medicine, my wife was afraid Amur would be in danger, so she told me to go out and look for him. I asked people from the village to look after my wife and took the hunting dog into the mountain.

“At the time, the wind and snow were so strong that people could not see clearly. I walked for more than five days and found this cave when I was exhausted. I originally wanted to come in and avoid it, but I didn’t expect……..”

Uncle Kule chose the wrong way, and accidentally touched the ice wall with his hands, which caused the worm eggs to come to life and eat him.

“I don’t know how I came back. I escaped this way. Amur still hasn’t been found. My wife is still waiting for us to return. I can’t die here…….” Uncle Kule aggressively took a sip of alcohol “I don’t know how, I entered the crystal palace, it was warm and shiny. There were precious treasures everywhere, and there were many Jiangshi in armour. I, I was so scared, I accidentally bumped into a box, and a square or white jade fell out. Then the group of Jiangshi chased me and I ran out quickly.

“Amur has not been found yet, my wife is going to be angry.” Uncle Kule said with vacant eyes.

It has been a year, and the chance of Amur being alive is very small. They went to Enhe Village and did not see Uncle Kule’s wife. The son, wife and Uncle Kule may have all died, but no one said anything at this moment.

Uncle Kule may have realised it too, he rubbed his thin face, the pair of eyes were firm and tenacious, “No matter what, I want to take Amur back.” Even if it is a corpse.

Many people didn’t know what to say. Obviously, Uncle Kule didn’t need their comfort. He just wanted to take Amur back, as he had promised his wife.

After taking Uncle Kule’s corpse out of the cave, Zhang Yushui chose a place with good Feng Shui and he asked Uncle Kule how he wanted to be buried. It was already afternoon when everything was set up, the sky was getting darker. Several people discussed whether to stay in the cave for another night.

“Don’t stay here, you guys follow me.” Uncle Kule said.

Zhang Qiu and several people followed. The place chosen by Uncle Kule was not far from the cave. It was only a few hundred metres away, but it was very hidden. The surrounding terrain clocked the view and was very sheltered from the cold. Uncle Kule smiled and said, “I used to avoid those Jiangshi here.”

After setting up the tent and cooking the food, Uncle Kule handed him the Burning Knife. Zhang Qiu dared not drink it now. Uncle Kule laughed. Zhang Qiu found that this old man was quite resilient. He had experienced such a big thing and was now coming to terms with it.

While eating, a few people were talking, and were no longer avoiding Uncle Kule.

“That crystal palace should be what we are looking for, or more specifically, it is the square of white jade that Uncle Kule touched.” Zhang Yushui said.

“Chuan Kingdom’s Jade Seal[3].” Zhang Qiu also thought, “Also, during the time of Zhongshan， someone offered a piece of jade to Gongzi[4] Huan, is that it?”

During the Zhongshan period, the Qin State had not yet been unified[5]. The predecessor of the Chuan Kingdom’s jade seal was the Heshibi. None of them had seen the Heshibi[6], but according to Qi Zhirong, the people who provided the jade were praised for their accomplishment. The nation was prosperous, they were immortal. It looked exactly like Heshibi. 

“We must now get the Jade Seal one step in advance and catch that woman.” Zhang Qiu said: “With more chips in our hands, we can gain the initiative, and get out of the current situation.”

Several people nodded. Uncle Kule gnawed on frozen beef jerky, the condition of his teeth was really good. At any rate, Zhang Qiu couldn’t eat. Listening to them speak, after gathering, Uncle Kule made a ‘hei’ sound, so everyone looked over.

“I just thought of something, you see me, I keep forgetting.” Uncle Kule gnawed on the jerky, lost in thought.

Zhang Qiu: ……..

After dinner, Pei Qing planned to gather some firewood. Zhang Yushui smiled and said, “I will go with A-Yan.”

Uncle Kule had taught everyone how to tell if there is any firewood under the snow. Qi Xi smiled and leaned over to Qi Zhirong, “Should we go too?”

“No.”

Qi Xi shrugged his shoulders, and put his sticky head on Qi Zhirong’s shoulder, whispering and smiling.

Zhang Qiu really admires Qi Zhirong for not killing Qi Xi. This is true love.

Before long, Zhang Yushui and Pixian Hui Wang, who were out looking for firewood, came back. They both looked serious. Zhang Yushui said: “That woman took her people into the cave.”

Zhang Qiu sat up, “What are you waiting for, let’s go quickly.”

Can’t be one-upped by Christine.

The tents were not taken down, everyone put on their backpacks, intending to follow in. Honestly, it was near impossible to grab them, but seeing Christine’s undaunted look yesterday, they were worried that she still had the final card in her hand.

“I remember!”

While everyone was busy, Uncle Kule sat in a trance. When they were ready to go, Uncle Kule patted his thigh and spoke, Zhang Qiu subconsciously asked, “What do you remember?”

“How I got out of the crystal palace.” Uncle Kule stood up, patted his knees and hurried to the back.

Zhang Qiu glanced at Li Shu, could it be that there is another entrance.

“Let’s go have a look.” Li Shu said.

They were in a gap in the south-west of the Broken Mountain. The mountain had collapsed, but according to Uncle Kule, this place was the same as a year ago, unchanged. Several people hurriedly followed Uncle Kule and went into the back entrance of the cave. Perhaps, at the time, because he had died there, Uncle Kule chose to stay away.

After walking for more than ten minutes, sounds of a gurgling stream flowed by their ears.

The corners of Uncle Kule’s eyes wrinkled as he smiled, “It’s the front.”

They stood on a high place, and under their feet was a zig-zagging stream, flowing down the mountain before finally disappearing in the moonlight.

“Where did I come from? The water here is not cold, it’s warm.” Uncle Kule said, a little nostalgic. 

The stream was wide, the widest point being about three metres at the mouth of the mountain cave. After descending, they were unsure whether or not it was influenced by Uncle Kule. Zhang Qiu really felt that the water was steaming, and when he reached out and touched it, it really was warm.

“It’s strange.”

“Regardless of whether or not it is strange, how do we get down?” Qi Xi said, rolling up his sleeves, wishing to jump down and kill that woman.

Everyone looked at Uncle Kule and he laughed twice, “I haven’t said it, it’s there.”

The water source was at the very top. At this point, Pei Qing’s significance was revealed. Everyone looked at him and Pei Qing shrugged, “It’s too small here, I will try my best.” After speaking, he began to take off his pants. Beside him, Ling Dang obediently hugged Pei Qing’s clothes. Naturally, Li Shu blocked Zhang Qiu’s sight.

Zhang Qiu’s heart was full of vinegar, but his face was smiling.

Because Pei Qing’s dragon form was too big, his upper body remained human while his lower body transformed into a dragon tail, which was more convenient. In only one go, the water overflowed with a thump. The dragon tail swung and the water spontaneously parted, revealing the smooth stone underneath.

The backpack was filled with water, Lu Feng had so carefully prepared them. Zhang Qiu gave Xiao Jiang his coat and rubbed his son’s arms, “Is it cold?”

“It’s not cold at all Dad.” Xiao Jiang was indifferent.

Zhang Qiu took off his coat and his teeth chattered. He put his clothes into plastic bags and tied them. He was now carrying a backpack and plastic bags of clothes. Li Shu took the plastic bags, as did the others, quickly getting into the water. Although Pei Qing parted the water, as he had said, the place was too small and there was still some water that wet the clothes.

The entrance of the stream was quite low, they couldn’t bend down, they had to crawl in on their stomachs. If you raised your head slightly, you would bump it. Pei Qing’s dragon tail was too brawny, there was no other way but to transform back into a human. Doing that, the water that had just been released was surging up.

Zhang Qiu got a mouthful of water and burst out. Fortunately, he had quick-wittedly put his clothes away.

However, the water is really warm and comfortable. Several climbed in next to each other, Uncle Kule took the lead. When Zhang Qiu’s waist was about to break, he heard Uncle Kule speak in front of him.

Zhang Qiu moved quickly as if he had been injected with chicken blood. Li Shu stared at the protruding behind of the man in front of him.

The long trousers were wet with water and clung tightly. Li Shu’s eyes darkened a bit.

Listening to the sound of the water, Er-Ge, at the front, pulled Er-Sao ashore, and Er-Sao went up with Xiao Jiang. Zhang Qiu followed out of the water, suddenly shivering, knowing that it was the biting cold as a result of getting out of the water.

Everyone quickly wrung the water out of their clothes. Whether they were wet or not, they put on their coats. They could first only gather like this. At this time, Zhang Qiu was very jealous of Ling Dang, Uncle Kule and his family’s Xiao Fei, who was hiding in his backpack.

Zhang Qiu took Xiao Fei out and put him into his pocket, touching his son’s soft fog.

“From here, you can get there using the very small opening.” Uncle Kule gestured.

The cave was below, and the entrance was less than one metre or so according to Uncle Kule’s gesture. Zhang Qiu is now half an Earth Master, and when he saw the size, he immediately thought of thieves.

“Is someone one step ahead of us?”

“Unless someone has been here this year, but the chances are low.” Zhang Yushui said: “Uncle Kule said that he found it a year ago. The entrance of the cave is there, and there are treasures in it, Earth Masters wouldn’t leave empty-handed without a reason.”

Having said this, Uncle Kule found a hole hidden in a corner. The hole in the corner was a semicircle, surrounded by stones and weeds, blocking it from view. The temperature inside is higher than outside and there were a lot of weeds.

If Uncle Kule hadn’t led the way, it would’ve been very difficult for Zhang Qiu and the others to find that place. The first entrance was more obvious.

Zhang Yushui touched the soil at the cave entrance and said: “Its old, not new. It’s probably the escape route that the artisans who built this place originally dug out.

This, Zhang Qiu had also heard of, that the ancient emperors built mausoleums, which were huge projects, with many treasures inside. In order to prevent the artisans from leaking the location once it was built, they first cut their tongues, and then they were all treated as funerary objects. Some artisans secretly dug a path in a hidden place, waiting for the front entrance of the tomb to be sealed before they escaped.

“This hole is much safer than the previous one.” Zhang Yushui said with a smile. They were lucky this time.

Zhang Qiu thought that too, the front may be full of mechanisms, and artisans would naturally avoid these if they dig.

Thinking of that group of people avoiding the mechanisms at the front, they took the Imperial Jade Seal from the back. When the people killed the Jiangshi and saw the empty box, they were still not angry.  

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The Author has something to say:

“Let me just say, in fact, Qi Zhirong and Qi Xi didn’t ‘do it’. They were in the tent with the gourd baby, because I didn’t think about the position.

The original idea was that the indifferent uncle would top the demon playboy, but then it was written and I felt that the unrestrained, unruly and bewitching demon being restrained by the indifferent and proud uncle was too good.

I first decided not to write about them, hum, let me think about it before deciding.

Good night, little fairy~”

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Translator notes:

I really hope you all enjoyed that, I tried my best! This is my first time translating anything so there may be a few mistakes, I hope it doesn’t bother anyone too much. I am working on cleaning up the translation for the next chapter, and then it will be edited, once that is done, then I will upload it. It shouldn’t be too far away! Please bear with me! 

If you have any questions, then please don’t hesitate to ask. 

~ Jia

Edit:

Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, I had forgotten to include the Author’s Note. I have also fixed up this chapter with some better phrasing and whatnot, but I am still so new to using a website that I hope things like this don’t happen in the future.

Thank you for your understanding >_<

~ Jia

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[1] I’m pretty sure it just means that they are treading lightly, the original is ‘他们是饶了路’

[2] The original is ‘物降一物’ which is an idiom that means ‘everything has its vanquisher’ or ‘there is always one thing to conquer another’. A friend of mine helped me come up with the translation, which I think works well

[3] It is an ancient artifact, brief description: “The Jade Seal of the Chuan Kingdom: Abbreviated as “The Seal of the Kingdom of Chuan”, it was engraved with Blue Field jade by Li Si, the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty, on the order of the first emperor. It was a testimony to the orthodox emperors of the past dynasties of China.”

[4] Gongzi means ‘son of a high-ranking official or prince’, I just felt it sounded nicer when left in its pinyin. Gongzi Huan (428BC-353BC) was the third monarch of Zhongshan, during the Warring States period

[5] Zhongshan Kingdom (414BC-296BC) was a country founded by Bai Di and named as such because there were mountains in the city (Zhongshan City)

[6] A sacred piece of jade, a world-renowned treasure

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