Chapter 330: The Final Answer, Transforming the Body into a Dragon Vein

After passing through the beast-headed, human-bodied sculptures, the space ahead suddenly opened up.

It was a massive platform.

This platform looked far more exquisite than the passage they had just traversed.

Ning Fei swept his light over the area, revealing a massive pattern drawn across the stone. It resembled a Bagua formation, yet with subtle differences.

"This is the Early Heaven Bagua!"

"Fuxi created the Bagua. He drew up the original sketches based on the myriad manifestations of heaven and earth. Those initial, simple sketches are known as the Early Heaven Bagua."

"Only later did King Wen of Zhou expand and deduce them further into the Later Heaven Bagua diagram."

"This is quite interesting. A Zhou Dynasty tomb didn't use King Wen of Zhou's Later Heaven Bagua, but rather the Early Heaven Bagua created by Fuxi."

Ning Fei looked across the platform. Ahead lay another upward-sloping tomb passage, flanked by a pair of sculptures.

"More sculptures!"

"What kind of animal is it this time?"

"This tomb is way too eerie!"

The viewers remained completely on edge.

Ning Fei walked up to the sculptures. Both were human figures. The one on the left was a young woman wearing earrings and a necklace, while the one on the right was a military general, looking extraordinarily heroic.

A line of text was carved into each sculpture.

"Based on unearthed artifacts from the Zhou Dynasty, their writing consisted of oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions, so I can recognize some of it."

"The text on this young woman should mean 'Immortal Venerable Huichuan Liuli'."

"Huichuan, Huichuan... I feel like I've heard this name somewhere before."

Ning Fei muttered to himself as he stared at the sculpture before him.

The statue stood about three meters tall, apparently scaled up proportionately from a real human figure.

Hearing Ning Fei's explanation, the viewers couldn't wait to ask:

"Temple Master Ning, which immortal is this? We've never heard of an Immortal Venerable Huichuan before."

"Yeah, I've read plenty of prehistoric and cultivation novels, but I've never heard of Immortal Venerable Huichuan either."

Amidst everyone's confusion, Ning Fei's eyes suddenly widened as a smile touched his lips.

"I remember now!"

"I know who the master of this tomb is!"

"So it was him all along!"

At his words, the viewers immediately chimed in:

"Temple Master Ning, stop keeping us in suspense! Tell us, who exactly is the tomb master?"

Feeling a sense of clarity, Ning Fei chuckled and explained:

"Very few people have heard this name. Looking through ancient texts, only one prominent figure ever mentioned it in passing."

"Huichuan had an older brother named Huiwen. There aren't many historical records about this Huiwen, but according to some miscellaneous notes, he was once the attendant of a great figure."

"And that great figure was Jiang Ziya."

"Simply put, this is highly likely the tomb of Jiang Ziya's close personal attendant, Huiwen."

"Huiwen?" The viewers were taken aback.

"Aren't Jiang Ziya's disciples Wu Ji, Longxuhu, and Wulu Shen?"

"Did Jiang Ziya really exist? Isn't he a mythological figure from the Investiture of the Gods?"

Many people didn't have a deep understanding of history, but practically everyone knew the name Jiang Ziya.

Ning Fei continued his explanation:

"Of course Jiang Ziya existed. He was an outstanding military strategist and politician of the Zhou Dynasty, and he was also extremely skilled in Daoist arts and magical arts."

"This Huiwen was a clever youth who always followed Jiang Ziya to study Daoist arts. After Jiang Ziya's death, he became a high-ranking minister of the Zhou Dynasty."

"His fiefdom was right here in the Qinshan region."

"By following Jiang Ziya, he naturally learned quite a few secret arts."

"However, judging by that tomb-nourishing array from earlier, his intentions were anything but merciful."

"Of course, the Zhou Dynasty was still a slave society. In his eyes, the lives of commoners held no value."

The viewers felt increasingly shocked after hearing Ning Fei's explanation.

A strategist absent from official historical records, an attendant of Jiang Ziya who was equally proficient in Daoist arts and ancient secret techniques.

It sounded utterly incredible.

Ning Fei merely smiled at this and said softly, "I just shared my thoughts upon seeing the name, so it might not be entirely accurate. Experts will definitely explore this place later, and the relevant information will be made public."

"Take whatever the authorities say as the final word."

Ning Fei then turned to the other statue, which bore the inscription 'Immortal Venerable Feihe Zhanwu'.

"It seems the tomb master built this place as an immortal terrace."

"At the very bottom were the animals he raised, meant to ascend to immortality with him. These two sculptures should represent the people closest to him."

"And inside should be the man himself!"

With that, Ning Fei proceeded through the passage, wanting to see what lay ahead.

"Daring to compare himself to a deity and build an immortal terrace... I'd like to see exactly what's hidden in the deepest part!"

Submarine Type A hovered in the air, quietly following behind him.

The path ahead grew increasingly eerie.

The viewers couldn't help but marvel at Ning Fei's immense courage and skill, seeing how he wasn't the least bit afraid in such an environment.

The passage wasn't long. When Ning Fei used the Glow Stick to illuminate the stone chamber at the end, everyone was stunned.

The viewers' pupils dilated involuntarily.

Even Ning Fei revealed a look of surprise.

Going by Ning Fei's assumptions, the most likely thing to find at the end of the passage was a massive sculpture—the sculpture of the tomb master.

However, that was not the case.

This place was a massive stone chamber. The ceiling, formed from solid bedrock, stood about seven or eight meters high.

The surrounding space was incredibly vast as well.

And in the center of the stone chamber rested a gigantic, spherical stone sculpture.

"What is this thing?"

"What's going on? There's a sphere inside the mountain?"

"What was the tomb master thinking?"

"Is this the final result?"

Everyone felt somewhat disappointed upon seeing the spherical stone sculpture inside the chamber.

Ning Fei, however, chuckled and exclaimed in awe:

"This man was far from simple. I thought he would place his own sculpture or coffin here to seek immortality after death."

"Only now do I understand—the immortality he sought involved directly merging himself into Qinshan's dragon vein!"

"Look closely at this stone sculpture, everyone. This is clearly a heart!"

"He likened the Qinshan dragon vein to a human body, using the 'stomach' to nourish the 'heart.' And the person this dragon vein transformed into... was himself."

"This person's Dao is fascinating. He actually wanted to fuse with the dragon vein to prove his Dao."

Following Ning Fei's explanation, the viewers felt entirely different when they looked at the spherical stone sculpture again.

Upon closer inspection, they realized that the sculpture's shape was exactly like a human heart, just scaled up proportionately.

Deep within the body of a massive mountain lay a stone heart.

The sight was genuinely eerie.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

At that moment, quite a few viewers suddenly heard the sound of a heartbeat. They were startled, thinking the stone heart was actually beating. After checking themselves, they realized it was just their own hearts pounding heavily from extreme tension.

"So this is the final answer."

"Transforming himself into the Qinshan dragon vein to achieve immortality and eternal life."

"Interesting. These ancients were truly fascinating."

Ning Fei gazed at the stone heart.

There was still one thing he hadn't said.

And that was his belief that Huiwen's corpse was likely sealed directly inside the stone heart.

He already knew the answer. Forcibly breaking open the stone heart to check wasn't his style, so he chose not to tell the viewers.

Ning Fei took another lap around the stone heart.

Everyone had a different method for seeking longevity.

In his view, Huiwen's method was a relatively reliable attempt during an era when science was undeveloped and theology flourished.

At the very least, he took matters into his own hands, unlike those emperors who only knew how to order others to refine elixirs.

The ground was covered in intricate and complex patterns, seemingly an array used by the tomb master for sacrifices.

There were also a few symbols on the walls.

After examining them, Ning Fei nodded in admiration and left with a carefree stride.

"They call it a tomb, but it's more like a massive array."

"Not bad. At the very least, it's far more interesting than typical dead tombs."