Chapter Thirty-Three: Dotting the Dragon's Eyes Shakes the Mountains and Rivers

If my speculation was correct, "The Dragon Overlooks the World" referred to the location where the coiling dragons on the stone pillars were gazing. But the problem was, how could one know what the dragon heads were looking at?

Furthermore, in the final secret chamber, there were not only the four coiling dragons below; counting the two dragons holding sacred pearls on the platform, there were six in total.

The two dragons on the platform were symmetrical to each other, corresponding left and right, and their heads were not looking at the miniature landscape map below.

From this perspective, my hypothesis did not hold.

Because it was impossible for all six dragons to look at the same place at the same time!

I lowered my head and thought silently for a long time, muttering quietly to myself.

"What method can make all six dragons look at the same place?"

"The dragons are carved from stone and cannot be moved. That means the problem doesn't lie with the dragons themselves; there must be another way," Qiunuo said thoughtfully.

"Another way..." As I thought, I looked around everywhere, and finally, my gaze fell upon the mouths of the two dragons on the platform.

Those two massive pearls were embedded in the dragon mouths. If they were merely for decoration, the effect was not obvious; they could have been directly carved to appear completely natural. Embedding pearls instead seemed out of place. This place concerned the sovereign power and foundation of the Great Ming Empire, and Zhu Yuanzhang would not be so careless as to do things arbitrarily. Every single item should have a reason for existing.

"Lianshan, go down and take a look. Is there anything special about the coiling dragons on the four pillars below?" I asked Xiao Lianshan beside me. "Remember, do not touch anything."

Xiao Lianshan nodded repeatedly, terrified of making another mistake. He went down and used a flashlight to examine the coiling dragons on each of the four pillars. After a long while, he called out loudly from below.

"Brother, they are all carved from stone. Although their postures vary, there's nothing particularly special about them... Oh, if there is one difference, it's the eyes of these four dragons."

"What is different about their eyes?" I asked loudly.

"The eyes aren't made of stone."

"What are they made of?"

"Not entirely sure, looks like some kind of pearls."

I was startled. I raised my head again to look at the two pearl-holding dragons on the platform and asked loudly.

"Are they white, transparent pearls?"

"Yes!"

I remained silent. My guess was indeed correct; the pearls held in the mouths of these two dragons had another purpose. The eyes of the four dragons below should also be inlaid with such pearls, but what use did these pearls serve?

I lowered my head in deep thought, and the moment I raised it, a dazzling beam of light made it impossible to keep my eyes open. Looking over, I realized the light was reflecting off the shield of the golden-armored warrior at the entrance.

At the entrance stood two stone-carved warriors, clad in golden armor and holding swords and shields. Judging by their attire, they were dressed as generals, likely tomb guardians meant to protect this place.

These two stone statues radiated solemn majesty in their full military gear, especially their shields, which were bright and smooth, striking and dazzling under the illumination of the lamps.

"This shield?" I walked over and tapped it with my hand.

"Yanhui, no need to look, it's copper, not gold," Liu Hao said from the side. "When I just walked in, I was wondering if this was made of gold. Such a large golden shield would be worth a fortune, but who knew it was just brass."

The stone statues wore golden armor, yet the shields in their hands were made of brass—this simply did not make sense. I gently touched the shield with my hand and said in surprise.

"It's not flat? The curved surface seems to have been intentionally crafted this way."

"What does it matter if the shield is flat or not, as long as it can block swords and spears?" Yue Leiting said.

"Brass... curved surface?" I frowned, as if something had occurred to me.

Qiunuo's eyes lit up and she said excitedly.

"A convex mirror! Light convergence!"

A sudden realization dawned on me. I chuckled and said with delight.

"No wonder I found it strange that the armor was made of gold while the shield was brass. In ancient times, brass was generally used to make mirrors, and this shield was polished from brass, giving its smooth surface excellent reflective properties. Coupled with its curved shape, it becomes a convex mirror! Qiunuo is right, these two shields are meant to gather light."

As I finished speaking, I gently nudged the shield and discovered that the shield in the stone statue's hand could actually move. I slowly shifted the shield, directing the converged beam of light toward the pearls in the mouths of the two dragons on the platform.

The moment the light shone upon the pearls, the white transparent pearls glowed intensely throughout their bodies, each shooting out two beams of light from top to bottom, pointing straight into the eyes of the coiling dragons on the four pillars below.

Everyone was stunned by the scene before them. After gathering the concentrated light, the four coiling dragons each projected a beam of light toward the exact same spot on the miniature landscape map of rivers and mountains.

The four beams of light converged at a single point on the miniature map.

A faint smile suddenly appeared on my lips, and I said with deep satisfaction.

"The Dragon Overlooks the World! The place these four dragons are gazing at is the Ming Fourteenth Mausoleum! Whoever acquires this peerless treasure trove is practically acquiring the empire; no wonder it's called 'The Dragon Overlooks the World.'"

Everyone stepped down from the platform and gathered at the spot where the four beams of light intersected.

I pointed at the converging point and said happily to Yue Leiting.

"Brother Ting! This is the Ming Fourteenth Mausoleum!"

Yue Leiting burst into hearty laughter and shouted with extraordinary excitement.

"Damn it, I never expected I'd really find the Ming Fourteenth Mausoleum. Hahaha, looks like I won't have to worry about the rest of my life, haha."

After staring at the spot for a long time, Xiao Lianshan suddenly pointed at the intersection and asked with a serious expression.

"What place is this?"

All the excitement slowly subsided after this single sentence.

Just as Xiao Lianshan asked, what place exactly was this converging point?

The intersecting point fell upon one of the peaks among the rolling mountain ranges of the Qinling Mountains. It only indicated that the Ming Fourteenth Mausoleum was in the Qinling Mountains, but it went without saying just how vast the Qinling Mountains were. Stretching across the entire map from east to west and dividing the north from the south, they spanned fifteen hundred kilometers, containing countless mountains and peaks of all sizes.

Without any specific markers, it was simply impossible to find.

At this thought, everyone felt somewhat discouraged. Yue Leiting said listlessly.

"We can't possibly search peak by peak, can we? Besides, the peaks of the Qinling Mountains are notoriously perilous; searching just one mountain would take over a year, and by the time we found it, I don't know how many years I'd have been dead."

Gu Anqi thought for a moment and murmured to herself.

"If this miniature landscape map is a treasure map, a treasure map should have geographical locations and markers. Now we have the location, but there are no markers. Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't possibly leave behind a treasure map without markers."

While speaking, I raised my head, looked at the stone dragons with glowing eyes, and muttered to myself.

"It seems we've missed a step; there must be something else we've overlooked."

Hearing my words, everyone looked around, hoping for a new discovery. Yue Leiting had been walking on eggshells ever since entering the underground palace, and now that the clues had broken off once again, he sat tiredly on the ground leaning against a stone pillar. He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and as he raised his head to exhale the smoke, his eyes happened to land upon the coiling dragons overhead.

Amidst the wispy smoke, the coiling dragons above possessed vigorous physiques and powerful claws, appearing as though they were surging through clouds, mists, and billowy waves.

Yue Leiting watched for a moment, slowly furrowed his brows, and asked with a puzzled expression.

"How many feet do you guys say a dragon has?"

"Dragons grow four claws! Of course they have four feet," Yue Qianling said indifferently while searching around.

"Liu Hao, come over here and help me check. Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is there something wrong with this dragon? Why does the dragon above my head have five feet?!" Yue Leiting beckoned Liu Hao over.

Looking quite astonished, Liu Hao walked over, took a look, and said in disbelief.

"Heh, this dragon is actually a deformed dragon, it really does have an extra foot. Who knows what the craftsman back then was thinking; if Zhu Yuanzhang had discovered this, it would have cost him his head."

I quickly walked over as well. Given how vital this place was to Zhu Yuanzhang, how could he possibly allow any flaws? Yet the stone dragon before my eyes indeed possessed five claws, and unlike the other three, the extra foot clearly extended outward.

The dragon claw pointed upward, positioned right between the dragon's eyes, and was slightly clenched. Examining the shape of the dragon claw closely, it seemed the claw ought to be holding something.

I circled the stone pillar several times. Judging from the gap left in the dragon claw, whatever was meant to be placed there should be very thin, but I still couldn't figure out what exactly belonged there.

Even knowing that the Ming Fourteenth Mausoleum was situated on a peak in the Qinling Mountains, without precise markers, this result was as good as nothing. It was obvious that Zhu Yuanzhang had kept an ace up his sleeve even at this stage, separating the geographical location from the exact markers. Unless one obtained both, finding the Ming Fourteenth Mausoleum remained impossible.

Now we had found the miniature landscape map, but we were missing the other treasure map that recorded the markers.

Suddenly, I froze in place, my jaw slowly dropping as an excited expression washed over me.

"The clue we obtained inside the Golden Dragon Turtle—the first sentence was 'The dragon's eyes dot the pupils, and the mountains and rivers stir.' We've never used this line... The dragon's eyes dot the pupils..."

Everyone stared at me, their gazes filled with anticipation, as they watched me slowly pull a yellowed sheet of paper from my bag.

"The Mystic Strategy of Luoxuan!" Seeing the yellowed paper, Yue Qianling immediately remembered. "After combining the two volumes of The Mystic Strategy of Luoxuan, we found many strangely distributed locations within the book. At the time, we didn't know what they were for. Could they be... the markers right here?!"

I slowly placed the yellowed paper into the gap of the dragon's claw, and it fit just right.

The light shining through the dragon's eyes pierced right through the paper and projected downward. The text on the paper miraculously mapped itself onto the miniature landscape of rivers and mountains.

The Qinling Mountains, the Eight Hundred Li Qinling River Valley, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and so on—once these characters and the miniature landscape map overlapped perfectly, a massive three-dimensional map unfolded before everyone's eyes, making everything crystal clear.

I carefully walked to the point where the light converged, slowly turned my head, and said excitedly.

"Daye Lake!"

Hearing these three names, even the usually calm Qiunuo was somewhat stirred, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke.

"Daye Lake! That is the Heavenly Pool on Mount Taibai, the main peak of the Qinling Mountains... The Ming Fourteenth Mausoleum is on Mount Taibai!"