The Unreliable Internet

Still, Xu Chen felt Grandpa Yang had treated him well. This internship group assignment in particular had made his path through college and into employment much smoother.

All he had to do was look up the name Taihao. Maybe Grandpa Yang thought he had made considerable progress in the history department and wanted to learn something himself, but didn't think it was worth troubling his old colleagues over.

Of course, it was also possible that Grandpa Yang had offended his colleagues in the history department over Xu Chen's change of major.

Thinking about it that way, Xu Chen really did feel deeply guilty. He had to do the work for Grandpa Yang, and not only that, he had to do it well.

He immediately opened a browser and started searching.

After all, Taihao had only one meaning. It was just one name, so there was no way a search could go wrong.

Then Xu Chen discovered... he hadn't found a damn thing.

Xu Chen immediately blew up.

People might have found the name Taihao familiar without knowing exactly who he was, but use another name—Fuxi—and every Huaxia person should know him. He was the cultural progenitor of the Huaxia people, one of the Three Sovereigns, and the creator of the Eight Trigrams and Taiji.

The Great Treatise, Part Two, of the Book of Changes said: "In ancient times, when Fuxi ruled all under heaven, he looked up and observed the signs in the sky, and looked down and observed the patterns on earth. He observed the markings of birds and beasts and what was suited to the land. Nearby, he drew upon his own body; far away, he drew upon all things. Thus he first created the Eight Trigrams."

In plain language, the ancient Fuxi ruled all under heaven. He looked up to observe the heavens and bent down to study the terrain. He observed the markings of birds and beasts and the plants on the ground. Nearby, he drew upon the body; farther away, he drew upon all things, and thus began to create the Eight Trigrams.

It described how he created the Eight Trigrams.

He also created the dragon, Huaxia's totem, giving rise to the descendants of the dragon.

He also created writing to replace the practice of keeping records by knotting cords.

He created the institutions of marriage and surnames, taught fishing, hunting, and domestication, and invented the qin, se, and clay xun.

It could be said that without Taihao, the Huaxia people would have had a hard time coming into being. If they didn't acknowledge Taihao, the Huaxia people wouldn't be the Huaxia people. If they forgot Taihao, what meaning would there be to the Huaxia people's existence?

Unwilling to accept it, Xu Chen tried other keywords, such as Fuxi and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, but still found nothing. After a round of searches, he discovered that this was even an unresolved mystery in modern history.

Who exactly were the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors?

Xu Chen had truly seen it all. He had studied this planet's modern history, and its cultural relics had been preserved far better than in his previous life. There was no way this could have been an oversight.

Because this cultural relic was in far worse condition than in his previous life. If it really had been overlooked, it would have been gone for good.

Still, even if the cultural relics were unreliable, surely some old people knew the stories of the past? Had no one even recorded those? Xu Chen suddenly felt that perhaps those history people really hadn't been wronged.

At the very least, their predecessors had been unreliable in their work.

Although a direct search turned up nothing, Xu Chen had found a direction: he would search for historical memorial ceremonies and the mausoleum. If he remembered correctly, Taihao's mausoleum was in Huaiyang, Henan. He just had to find the corresponding place on a map.

Xu Chen looked over the map, relying on his memory to find the place. Then he discovered that not only was there no Taihao Mausoleum, there wasn't even any urban development there. It was nothing but a barren mountain.

He looked for historical documents and found them riddled with serious errors and omissions. There was nothing worth looking at.

He was fucking dumbfounded.

Xu Chen searched for the creators of the Eight Trigrams and Taiji. On the chaotic internet, all kinds of absurd answers were missing, and some even claimed they had come from Korea. That made Xu Chen see red.

That was ridiculous.

The more Xu Chen searched, the angrier he got, and the angrier he got, the more he searched. He was so furious that Song Tian couldn't help turning down the sound of his game considerably.

Then Xu Chen sprang to his feet, made a call, and summoned some help.

"You old geezer, lend me a couple of people. Yeah, any two students from the archaeology department will do. Have them bring their tools. You can do me that favor, can't you?"

"Yeah, yeah. Why do you need to know so much? Just tell me whether you'll lend them to me."

"All right, I'll tell you. I saw it in an ancient document—a mausoleum."

"All right, all right. We'll talk later."

With that, Xu Chen hung up, his face expressionless.

He looked at the historical accounts he had found on the screen of grand ceremonies held throughout the dynasties to honor the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Although the accounts were severely incomplete, they were enough to infer the existence of the Taihao Mausoleum.

And what he intended to confirm was its location.

He wanted to see whether the Taihao Mausoleum could somehow have been moved to another location too.

It had to be said that the history department really did move fast. Before long, they had picked Xu Chen up in a battered Wuling van. Inside were not only two senior students dressed like construction workers and fully equipped, but also an old professor.

The old professor was also dressed like a construction worker. Put him out in a field and he would have looked every bit an old farmer. All of them had actually worked in the fields.

"You're Xu Chen, right? I'm Ding Xiangdong, a professor of archaeology. These two are my students. The tall one with glasses is Ma Yuelong, and the shorter one is Li Ze."

Both senior students greeted Xu Chen warmly.

"Hello."

"All right, then. Old Qi and the others asked me to come with you to dig something up. These two students of mine are my protégés. I specifically called them out to assist you," Professor Ding told Xu Chen with a smile.

"I spent time in the history department too. The people above you won't let you handle the big jobs, and you look down on the small ones. You archaeologists are bored to death these days, practically out of work. The moment you catch wind of anything, you rush over to compete for it," Xu Chen said disdainfully.

Professor Ding's smile immediately turned bitter. "Sigh, things aren't easy for us in the archaeology department. But we haven't neglected our archaeological skills. We've kept practicing, and we're certainly no worse than the people at other colleges."

Ma Yuelong, who was in the driver's seat, also grew nervous and silently watched Xu Chen.

"All right, it's not like I'm refusing to let you do the work. I'm a member of our college too, after all. I feel more comfortable working with our own people."

Only then did Professor Ding and his students breathe a sigh of relief. "So you haven't told anyone else?"

"No, just you. I'm only going to see whether that mausoleum actually exists anyway. That's what the documents say, but nothing's certain yet." Xu Chen looked back at the rear of the van. The back seats had been removed specifically to carry all kinds of tools, and because frequently used tools had been stored there, bits of dirt were scattered across the back.

They really did practice often and hadn't neglected their skills.

"Mind if I look at your equipment?"

Professor Ding hesitated only briefly before nodding. "Go ahead."

Xu Chen opened a bag and searched through it, looking for something in particular. Suddenly, he picked up a shovel with its head rolled into the shape of a cylinder and held it up.

"What's this?"

Professor Ding rubbed his eyes and took a look. "That? That's a Luoyang Shovel. It's used to dig up soil from deep underground."

That was exactly what Xu Chen was looking for. It wasn't as though he didn't recognize a Luoyang Shovel. "Then let me ask you, what does Luoyang in Luoyang Shovel mean?"

Professor Ding shook his head.

"Maybe it's some kind of metaphor? Like a shovel used when the sun goes down? Grave robbing was a serious crime in ancient times. They didn't dare rob graves during the day, so they could only do it at night."

A fucking shovel used when the sun goes down? Xu Chen was so angry he nearly laughed, while also vaguely sensing that something was wrong.

For now, though, the priority was to visit the Taihao Mausoleum. He put the Luoyang Shovel back where it belonged, then opened his phone and shared the location.