Fatty Wang knew Gu Cheng better than anyone else there.
He knew perfectly well that Gu Cheng never came back empty-handed when there was treasure to be had.
So the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit in his hand immediately sparked boundless curiosity.
"Young Master Gu, what treasure have you found this time?!"
Gu Cheng said, "It's called the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit."
"Golden Cup Longevity Fruit?!"
All three looked puzzled.
"What does it do?"
"Don't tell me eating it makes you immortal?"
Fatty Wang spoke teasingly.
Gu Cheng glanced at him. "You're almost right."
Fatty Wang's eyes instantly widened.
"What?!"
Hu Bayi and Yingzi looked equally incredulous.
Gu Cheng smiled and said, "Easy. Let me explain."
"I once read a story in a collection of unofficial histories and miscellaneous accounts!"
"It said that Empress Dowager Xiao of Great Liao served as regent for over forty years, bringing the Liao Dynasty to its height. In her later years, she lamented how short life was and sought a way to live forever. She issued a proclamation throughout the realm, promising the position of State Preceptor to anyone who could offer her a method of attaining immortality."
"But where in the world could anyone find such a method? Even though Empress Dowager Xiao repeatedly increased the reward, no one came forward with anything."
"As Empress Dowager Xiao grew older, her temper became increasingly vicious, and she frequently slaughtered officials and commoners."
"One day, a mystic claimed to possess a means of attaining immortality."
"Overjoyed, Empress Dowager Xiao immediately summoned him."
"The mystic said that the Queen Mother of the West lived on Kunlun Mountain, and that she possessed a means of attaining immortality."
"So Empress Dowager Xiao appointed the mystic as her envoy and sent him to Kunlun Mountain with vast quantities of gold, silver, and jewels to seek it."
"From then on, Empress Dowager Xiao had something to look forward to. Her temper improved considerably, and she stopped her cruel killings."
"Several years later, the mystic returned and presented green fruits the size of soybeans. He said they were called Golden Cup Longevity Fruits, and that eating one could extend a person's life by a hundred years."
"But by then, Empress Dowager Xiao was gravely ill. She died before she could eat one."
"Her son, Emperor Shengzong, Yelu Longxu, was extremely devoted to her. When she was laid to rest, he buried the Golden Cup Longevity Fruits with her."
After hearing the story, all three wore expressions of disbelief.
"Young Master Gu, you're fooling me again! That story is complete nonsense!"
Fatty Wang scoffed. "Eating one fruit could extend your life by a hundred years?"
"If that were true, there's no way that emperor, whatever his name was, would have buried them with his mother."
"No matter how devoted he was!"
"So you can tell right away that your story is bullshit."
Hu Bayi and Yingzi looked just as unconvinced.
Hu Bayi said, "I've heard of this Yelu Longxu too. They say he took the throne at ten. Since he was so young, his birth mother, Empress Dowager Xiao, ran the government. But even after Yelu Longxu came of age, she didn't hand power back to him."
"She only returned power to Yelu Longxu when her health began to fail."
"Yelu Longxu was already thirty-seven by then."
"Not long after she relinquished power, Empress Dowager Xiao died of illness while traveling."
"There are rumors that Yelu Longxu had her killed. In fact, the two of them had spent years fighting for control, both openly and behind the scenes."
"Tsk, tsk!"
Fatty Wang shook his head as he listened. "That just goes to show how terrifying power is. It can make even a mother and her own son hate each other that much."
Yingzi nodded in complete agreement.
Gu Cheng chuckled. "Unofficial histories and miscellaneous accounts can only serve as references. You can't take them as fact."
Actually, Gu Cheng had not made the story up.
It was real.
The original owner of his body had been naturally intelligent and widely learned, and had read countless books.
Now Gu Cheng had inherited all that knowledge.
The original owner really had read the story of the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit in a collection of unofficial histories and miscellaneous accounts.
Earlier, while Hu Bayi was carrying him on his back as they fled for their lives,
he had happened to recall it.
He had deliberately brought up the story
mainly to divert their attention. Otherwise, they would certainly have pressed him about why he had gone into the water.
Then another thought had suddenly struck him.
What if the story was true?
What if Golden Cup Longevity Fruits really had been among Empress Dowager Xiao's burial goods when she died?
Perhaps Yelu Longxu had tried the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit and found that it did not extend his life. Thinking it was another fraud, he had buried it in his mother's tomb.
If the tomb of the Great Liao empress dowager on Oxheart Mountain
was Empress Dowager Xiao's Tomb,
then wouldn't that explain why the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit had appeared in the lake?
The villagers had said that all the antique jars in their homes had been picked up from the river.
The river originated at the waterfall on Oxheart Mountain.
Something must have happened inside the tomb, causing the burial goods to wash out. They had then drifted downstream to the vicinity of the village, where the villagers had found them.
The Golden Cup Longevity Fruits had washed out along with those burial goods.
Then one of them had landed on that slope and, through a lucky coincidence, taken root, sprouted, and borne fruit.
If that's really what happened, then even if there's nothing else worth going for, the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit alone makes Empress Dowager Xiao's Tomb worth exploring.
That was what Gu Cheng thought.
He lowered his head and looked at the Golden Cup Longevity Fruits clutched tightly in his hand.
Despite all that frantic movement earlier, he had not lost a single fruit.
All seven were still there.
Gu Cheng was a little surprised.
He had thought he would have lost a few during all that violent movement.