Sword-Locked Flood Dragon Diagram

"Brother Jian, there won't be anything strange about this tomb, will there?"

Inside the burial chamber, the enormous royal tomb had been built with extravagant luxury. Massive courtyard pillars supported the tomb ceiling overhead.

Rather than an ancient tomb, this place resembled a separate estate built underground.

For an underworld residence to be constructed so lavishly showed just how great this prince's power had been in life.

At that moment, gusts of chilly wind blew from the passage leading to the main chamber ahead, and Zhang Kui's expression became somewhat uneasy.

The sturdy warriors behind him also tightened their grips on their blades and swords, as though only that could give them a sense of security.

"Though there is some Yin Qi, there should be no other ghosts or monsters!"

Zhang Jian could not help but smile.

Although the tomb chamber seemed to contain neither sinister spiritual energy nor Sha Qi, there could still be mechanisms, traps, and poison gas traps. Zhang Kui and the others remained on high alert to avoid needless losses.

Before long, Zhang Jian and Zhang Kui found their party's primary objective.

One of the side chambers beside the main burial chamber was piled full of wooden chests containing gold and silver cast into ingots. From a distance, there appeared to be at least several hundred thousand taels' worth.

Besides that, there were pearls and jadeite, exquisite white jade vessels, as well as antiques and artifacts preserved by special means.

"Only this much?"

Yet after seeing it, both Zhang Jian and Zhang Kui were somewhat surprised.

Not because there was too much, but because there was too little.

Prince Mian had been a feudal prince ruling an entire region, the lord of his own fief. This amount of gold and silver looked considerable, but in truth, it was not much.

Which of the great clans and aristocratic families nowadays did not possess vast estates and many ways of making money?

They might not have halls of white jade and horses of gold, pearls like dirt and gold like iron, but they would not fall far short either.

Several hundred thousand taels of gold and silver was only a little more than what some great clans possessed.

That did not fit the descriptions of Prince Mian in the rumors.

After some thought, Zhang Jian still nodded. "It is not bad. With this sum of gold and silver, we can ease our urgent needs for a while and fill the hole caused by the Zhang family's shortage of funds during its rapid expansion!"

"Fourth Uncle, help me select the valuable jade artifacts and antiques here. Send people to escort them to the commandery city. My maternal grandfather should be very 'pleased'!"

A strange look flickered through Zhang Kui's eyes.

Then he nodded.

Still, gazing at the gold, silver, and goods piled throughout the side chamber, he was greatly invigorated.

If the Zhang family wanted to gain a foothold and accomplish something in these troubled times—or rise another step—financial resources were indispensable.

Then, what they found in the second side chamber immediately made Zhang Jian understand why Prince Mian, this renowned prince of ancient times, had been so "poor"!

It was an enormous pill furnace.

Anything involving the burning of lead and refining of mercury was tantamount to burning money.

It could be called burning money to cultivate!

"This great cauldron looks quite good as well. Have it transported back together with the rest later!"

Zhang Jian could tell that the great cauldron possessed an archaic charm and might be a fine item. With the mindset that it was better to kill the wrong one than let the right one go, he immediately told someone to mark it down and carry it back as well.

Watching this, Zhang Kui's mouth twitched slightly. A cauldron this huge weighed several thousand jin; carrying it back would not be easy and would require tremendous effort. Still, he nodded.

In a side chamber off the main room, the group discovered the second objective of their journey.

"It has all completely decayed!"

At a glance, a look of regret appeared on Zhang Kui's pockmarked face.

The side chamber was filled with bookshelves.

But after a thousand years, many books had already turned to dust. Even many bamboo slips inscribed with writing had been gnawed apart by insects.

Zhang Kui was a martial artist who followed the body-tempering path. Upon hearing that Prince Mian's Tomb had been found, he had held great expectations for this journey.

Prince Mian had loved martial arts in his youth and had been an accomplished martial artist. It was said that he had many extraordinary people under his command and had even maintained a massive army.

Yet many precious texts on the bookshelves before them had already weathered away.

"Fourth Uncle, there is no need to be disappointed. There should still be fish that slipped through the net!"

Zhang Jian pointed toward the stone wall.

Though part of the stone wall bore signs of weathering, a portion of the secret manuals had indeed remained relatively intact.

Furthermore, atop the central platform were two jade tablets engraved with texts, as well as three enormous iron scrolls made of black iron.

Zhang Jian stepped forward, took a glance, and tossed them to Zhang Kui.

Zhang Kui took only one look before treating them as priceless treasures. Overjoyed, he could not help saying,

"With this inheritance, my Zhang family will excel in both letters and martial arts! We will surely achieve a leap in status!"

Zhang Jian smiled and nodded at this.

For the Zhang family to achieve a leap in status had been the dream of generations of Zhang family descendants. Beginning with the old master, they had dreamed of crossing that threshold in status rather than remaining merely a simple local great household.

Zhang Kui was beside himself with excitement and became immersed in those few superior body-tempering secret arts, while Zhang Jian strolled toward the most important main burial chamber.

The main burial chamber was even more luxurious.

The grand and immense tomb chamber held elegant, towering immortal cranes, soaring golden pillars coiled with dragons, and an enormous golden coffin suspended in midair by iron chains.

Zhang Jian merely glanced at these extravagant objects. He did not immediately inspect the golden coffin.

At that moment, he noticed an exceptionally unusual mural on the dragon-patterned stone wall behind the suspended coffin.

The first thing he saw was several large characters, sharp as iron strokes and silver hooks: Sword-Locked Flood Dragon Diagram!

It was a unique relief mural.

It depicted the courses of waterways beyond Fengyang Commandery. Zhang Jian studied it with great interest.

The force of those waterways was as fierce as a flood dragon, yet they had been restrained by four great dams, like a sharp sword plunged into its heart.

Though Prince Mian had grown muddle-headed in his later years, he had not lacked wise and heroic deeds in his youth. One of them had been building four great dams along the gorge to intercept the Whitewater River beyond Fengyang Commandery.

This had, to a great extent, prevented the Whitewater River from flooding while ensuring irrigation for the fertile fields on both banks.

Fengyang Commandery's present scale owed no small part to Prince Mian's achievements.

Unfortunately, several centuries ago, the earth dragon had turned over beyond Fengyang Commandery, and the river's change of course had rendered half of those four dams useless. They had yet to be successfully repaired.

Still, the magnificent sight of that surging waterway being severed left Zhang Jian deeply moved.

Afterward, Zhang Jian turned his gaze to the suspended golden coffin. He circulated the Wind-Walking Technique and drifted onto the iron chains. With a casual motion, he opened the suspended coffin. Inside lay only a decayed skeleton, though there were many gold, silver, jade, and burial objects within. Yet Zhang Jian's gaze fell upon the skeleton's palm, where its five bony fingers tightly gripped a golden pearl.

Zhang Jian gave the golden pearl a curious look.

He noticed faint ripples of spiritual energy on its surface.

It appeared to be a rare magical artifact.

Zhang Jian casually picked it up and put it away. As for the other burial goods, he did not touch them further, leaving everything to Zhang Kui and the others.

Almost at the exact moment Zhang Jian removed that golden treasure pearl, an invisible ripple stirred deep beneath the enormous Whitewater River at the center of Fengyang Commandery. The river's eye churned, and a terrifying colossal creature began to rage.

"Dragon pearl, the dragon pearl has finally emerged! Yu Qing, you faithless, treacherous wretch! This king said it before—you cannot trap this king!"

Frost covered the white scales beneath it, and the churning river's eye roiled without rest.

It was a terrifying exotic beast.

It had a long body, twin horns upon its head, and sharp claws beneath its belly that hung in the air. Yet it had the tail of a serpent. It was an enormous white flood dragon!

As it struggled, the clattering sound of metal striking metal rang out.

Countless dense golden runes emerged upon the cold iron bars overhead. The golden runes awakened, as though thunder had revived within them. With a slight tremor, they immediately shocked the white flood dragon stiff from head to tail.

The white flood dragon gradually settled down, but its eyes still flashed with a defiance as vast as mountains and seas.

It glared fiercely at those cold iron bars. This colossal creature could only lower itself and lie prone.

In the distance, after seeing that all the waters had calmed, a shadow quietly swam over to the white flood dragon's side. A crisp voice rang out.

"Father King!"