Great Ming Treasure Ship

The Ghost and God Domain often possesses unpredictable power, but there are also differences in strength. Some Ghost and God Domains can only petrify cultivators in the Golden Core Realm, and cannot petrify those who have reached the Nascent Soul stage.

While other Ghost and God Domains can petrify even great masters in the Body Integration Realm!

Li Jindou was already in the Spirit Transformation Realm, a great master who had cultivated his Primordial Spirit. He never expected to fall victim in this seemingly unremarkable kiln factory; it was truly a case of capsizing in a ditch!

He was extremely anxious and spoke repeatedly to the two people, gesturing and talking, but after being petrified, his vocal cords were no longer flesh and blood but ceramic. The sounds he made were like bird chirps, unintelligible to outsiders.

Seeing this, Chen Shi's heart stirred. He took out paper and brush from his book box and handed them to Li Jindou.

The porcelain doll Li Jindou had become was only slightly taller than the brush. He held the brush and wrote and drew on the paper, and the two finally understood his meaning.

Li Tianqing said quickly, "Little Ten, my Grandpa has been petrified by the Ghost and God Domain. It will take some time to suppress the petrification and restore his true form. The longer we delay, the deeper the petrification will become, and the harder it will be to recover. Let's hurry back to the village!"

Chen Shi's eyes sparkled, and he suggested, "As long as you're willing to pay some money, I can help your Grandpa recover his true form."

Li Tianqing hesitated for a moment and asked Li Jindou.

Li Jindou wrote and drew on the ground again. Li Tianqing said with embarrassment, "My Grandpa doesn't believe you."

Li Jindou's face darkened, and he thought, Although Tianqing is intelligent, he has one flaw: he says everything that comes to mind.

Chen Shi had no choice but to let them be and led the two out of the mountain.

"What happened to Senior Li in the kiln factory?" Chen Shi inquired.

The porcelain doll Li Jindou had become was currently hiding in his book box, peeking out. Upon hearing Chen Shi's question, he wrote and drew inside the box. After a moment, he held up a piece of paper.

The paper contained words like "kiln worker," "kiln cave," "jar," and "origin."

Chen Shi's heart stirred. Li Jindou must have gone to the kiln factory to search for the origin of this Ghost and God Domain, and as a result, he was chased by the kiln workers.

Judging by his writing, it seemed he was captured by the kiln workers and thrown into the kiln cave, but he managed to escape.

"Did Senior Li find the origin of the kiln factory?" Chen Shi asked again.

Li Jindou nodded.

"What is the origin of the kiln factory?"

Li Jindou hesitated for a moment and then drew on the paper. He drew for a long time before finishing.

Chen Shi and Li Tianqing leaned together to look. On the paper was a drawing of a statue with eight arms and four faces. The statue was seated in a meditative posture, with each hand holding a weapon.

The statue's face was full of compassion, giving a sense of pity for the suffering world. However, in the eyes of the two, it felt somehow eerie. Instead of compassion, it made their hair stand on end.

"What is this statue?" Chen Shi asked, confused.

Li Tianqing replied, "Eight-Armed Mother Bodhisattva."

Chen Shi knew nothing about this matter and was about to ask when Li Jindou held up another piece of paper. The paper read "porcelain."

The two understood. The statue of the Eight-Armed Mother Bodhisattva was not a statue but a porcelain artifact.

Li Jindou put away the paper and held it up again. The paper read, "Very tall, very big."

"A very large porcelain Bodhisattva statue is the origin of this Ghost and God Domain?"

As they were pondering, Li Jindou held up another piece of paper, which read, "Mobile."

Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were both stunned. What did "mobile" mean?

Did it mean the Bodhisattva statue was mobile, or the Ghost and God Domain itself was mobile?

"Both," Li Jindou held up the paper.

Chen Shi and Li Tianqing exchanged glances, their expressions becoming solemn.

"This Ghost and God Domain and the Bodhisattva statue are a giant Malevolent Spirit."

Li Tianqing murmured, "If it moves, won't everything living in its path be turned into porcelain?"

Chen Shi couldn't help but shiver. If this malevolent Bodhisattva moved, Huangpo Village would likely be the first to suffer!

"Fortunately, this malevolent Bodhisattva has never moved," he said with a laugh, though he felt utterly uncertain.

Never having moved before did not mean it would never move.

Just like many people believed the true gods from beyond the heavens were unchanging, yet not too long ago, the sky had darkened fifteen minutes earlier?

Li Jindou had originally intended to search the kiln factory for clues to the True King's Tomb. He hadn't found the whereabouts of the True King's Tomb, but discovering the origin of the kiln factory's Ghost and God Domain was a great gain for Chen Shi.

He had wanted to ask if he had seen other porcelain dolls, but Li Jindou was extremely sparing with his words, so he didn't dare to ask further.

He surmised that these porcelain dolls had been captured by the kiln workers and burned in the kiln caves.

They returned to Huangpo Village. Li Jindou hid in the west wing, using his Primordial Spirit to suppress the petrification and attempt to restore his true form. Li Tianqing went to take care of him but found he couldn't help at all, so he withdrew.

Li Jindou had been petrified for a short time, and his own cultivation was extremely profound. By the time they ate dinner that evening, he had already refined the petrification from his head, restoring his "six yang head" (head).

With his head restored, reversing the petrification became much simpler. However, his small body topped with a normal-sized head looked incredibly comical.

But it was also extremely dangerous. With the slightest carelessness, his neck could snap, and his head could roll off.

He dared not turn his head, nor could he lower it.

By midnight, when the night was deep and quiet, Li Tianqing had also fallen asleep. Only Li Jindou was still diligently working.

Just then, he heard hushed whispers from the courtyard, faintly sounding like Chen Yindu's voice.

"The moonlight is so nice tonight, I really want to eat people!"

"Black Pot, you smell so good! I should eat Black Pot first."

"To raise a grandchild is to prepare for hunger; I should start with Little Ten!"

"No, I can't bask in the moon... but they smell so good, and my neighbors smell so good too! There are guests today, so I shouldn't go out... the guests smell good too."

Li Jindou shivered in fear, his neck almost snapping.

As his mind wandered, his head began to petrify rapidly. He quickly steadied his mind, suppressing the petrification. However, it would likely take much longer to recover his true form this time.

The next day, Li Tianqing woke up to check on him. He saw that Li Jindou was no longer sitting cross-legged but lying in bed. His upper body had returned to flesh and blood, but his lower body was still porcelain.

His upper body was that of an adult, while his lower body was the small, delicate physique of a porcelain doll, making for an indescribably strange sight.

Suddenly, Li Tianqing seemed to remember something and rushed out, shouting, "Little Ten, Little Ten! I might have found a clue to the True King's Tomb!"

He grabbed Chen Shi and ran outside, laughing, "If I find the True King's Tomb, I won't need to arrest you, and I can go back and report!"

Chen Shi followed him, and the two arrived near the kiln factory.

Li Tianqing carefully surveyed their surroundings, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "Found it!"

He strode forward and came to a clearing in front of the kiln factory. There were only sparse weeds here, no trees.

Li Tianqing walked forward along the clearing, very excited. "This is a road, a road leading out from the kiln factory!"

Chen Shi didn't quite understand.

Li Tianqing walked along the rugged mountain path, explaining, "When they built the road back then, they used large stones to compact it, smashing the mountain rocks and pouring in rice gruel. Constant treading has made it difficult for vegetation to grow here even after thousands of years. Look, other places have dense forests, but only here do we have sparse weeds. This proves it's an ancient road!"

Chen Shi looked around and indeed noticed the difference in the area.

However, the road was narrow, and the sides were covered by low bushes. If one didn't look closely, it would be impossible to distinguish it as a mountain path.

Chen Shi asked doubtfully, "Why are you looking for this road?"

Li Tianqing replied, "When the True King was buried, the fired porcelain and pottery were to be sent to the True King's Tomb. This means that as long as we clear the road, we can follow it to find the True King's Tomb!"

Chen Shi was full of admiration and praised, "Tianqing, you know so much."

Li Tianqing laughed, "Whenever I have free time at the Li family, I read. The more I read, the more I know."

Chen Shi observed their surroundings and said, "But this isn't the road to the True King's Tomb. I've been to the True King's Tomb many times; I'm very familiar with it."

"Not the road to the True King's Tomb?"

Li Tianqing was greatly puzzled. "Then where does this road lead?"

Chen Shi looked around, also showing confusion.

He had traveled almost all over Ganyang Mountain with his grandfather, but he had never been here.

The two, feeling adventurous, proceeded along the road. The path was not smooth; in some places, it was broken and turned into cliffs, likely due to earthquakes.

Chen Shi climbed down along the green vines, and Li Tianqing boldly followed him. After a while, they reached the bottom of the cliff and continued along the broken path. They saw that the road was becoming wider and wider.

Suddenly, a dry riverbed came into view in the valley ahead.

The riverbed had been dry for who knows how many years, but on the riverbed, a large ship was resting.

A colossal ship.

A petrified multi-story ship!

Chen Shi was astonished. This was his first time in this strange place, and he didn't know there was such a large river in Ganyang Mountain.

Even though it was dry, the width of the riverbed still indicated the scale of the river in its prime.

He had never seen such a massive ship before.

After a while, they entered the dry riverbed and walked upstream.

The riverbed clearly showed its past outline; the river was dozens of zhang wide. The water seemed to have dried up quickly. At the bottom of the riverbed, there were even some large fish bones, also petrified.

The fish were enormous, with rows of ferocious teeth. They could even pass through the mouth of a large fish and emerge from its throat.

Looking at these peculiar, giant fossilized fish bones, Chen Shi suddenly realized, "This great river is the Dejiang River!"

Li Tianqing was quite puzzled. "How do you know this great river is the Dejiang? The Dejiang should be on the other side of the mountain."

"Because these fish are unique to the Dejiang River. They are called Gu, and they like to eat people. Something must have happened that caused the Dejiang River to change its course."

He recounted how Granny Sha used him as bait to fish, which made Li Tianqing's eyes widen in excitement. "This is fun! Little Ten, borrow Granny's fishing hook and hang it on me to try!"

Chen Shi thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, it's too dangerous. I might die."

Li Tianqing had to give up.

The two continued to advance along the riverbed. Not only were there fossilized remains of large fish in the river, but also fossils of various other aquatic creatures, all sorts of strange and wonderful things.

They arrived in front of the colossal楼船. The ship was forty-four zhang long and eighteen zhang wide. The hull was petrified, but the texture of the wood was visible.

"A petrified wooden ship? How can there be a petrified wooden ship? This defies logic."

Li Tianqing walked around the ship, muttering, "This ship was petrified by some strange magic. If the petrification were undone, it could sail across the ocean, riding the waves. Wait a minute, the style of this ship resembles the legendary Great Ming Treasure Ship..."

His expression was vacant as he muttered, "Great Ming Treasure Ship, so Great Ming Treasure Ships really exist in this world! Was this Great Ming Treasure Ship left by the True King? Could it be that there's a way to return to the ancestral land on this ship?"

Chen Shi was greatly puzzled and asked, "What is the ancestral land?"

"The ancestral land is Great Ming, it's the Divine Continent!"

Li Tianqing said excitedly, "It's where our ancestors came from! Do you know where our ancestral home is? Do you know why this place is called Xinxiang, called the Western Ox Continent? My Li family's ancient texts record this history!"

He suppressed his excitement and began to narrate.

It was countless years ago, an eunuch named Sanbao, under the command of Great Ming's Emperor Chengzu, led a fleet composed of Great Ming Treasure Ships and twenty-seven thousand people into the dark sea with high winds and rough waves.

After seventeen years of drifting, the fleet wandered in the darkness for seventeen years before finally finding a strange continent in the sunless ocean.

A continent no one had ever set foot on.

The terrain was vast and sparsely populated, inhabited by countless rare and exotic beasts.

Twenty-seven thousand Great Ming soldiers felled trees and cleared forests by the sea of this strange continent, building cities and docks, calling it Xinxiang.

Meaning, new homeland.

Xinxiang was opened as a port and city, becoming Great Ming's first foothold here.

Eunuch Sanbao returned and reported to Emperor Chengzu. Emperor Chengzu was greatly pleased and bestowed the name Western Ox Continent upon this new continent.

From then on, Chinese people migrated to the New Continent in endless streams, expanding the territory, and Great Ming unified the Western Ox Continent.

Everyone here now is a descendant of those early immigrants.

"We have been out of touch with our ancestral land for a very long time. Since the True King's fall, Emperor Jiajing has not sent a new king to rule the Western Ox Continent for over six thousand years."

--The book will be put on shelves at midnight tonight. It's the first day the new book is on shelves, and I urgently need everyone's support! There might be a slight delay in the VIP first chapter's review.