Li Jindou shivered in fright, his neck nearly breaking.
His distraction caused his head to rapidly start turning to porcelain. He quickly steadied his mind and suppressed the transformation. However, restoring his True Body this time would likely take even longer.
The next day, Li Tianqing came to check on him, only to see Li Jindou no longer sitting cross-legged, but lying in bed. His upper body had returned to flesh and blood, but everything below the chest remained porcelain.
His upper body was that of an adult, while his lower body was the small stature of a porcelain doll, creating an indescribably bizarre sight.
Suddenly, Li Tianqing seemed to remember something, hurriedly rushing outside and shouting, "Xiao Shi, Xiao Shi! I might have found a clue to the True King’s Tomb!"
He grabbed Chen Shi and ran outside, laughing, "Finding the True King’s Tomb means I don’t have to capture you, and I can go back to report!"
Chen Shi followed him, and the two came to an area near a kiln.
Li Tianqing carefully surveyed the surroundings, his eyes suddenly lighting up, "Found it!"
He quickly walked forward, arriving at an empty space outside the kiln where only sparse weeds grew, with no trees.
Li Tianqing walked forward along the clearing, very excited, "This is a path, a path coming out from the kiln!"
Chen Shi didn’t quite understand.
Li Tianqing continued along the rugged mountain path, explaining, "When they built the road, they used large rocks for tamping and smashed the mountain rocks, then poured rice soup over it and constantly trampled it, making it difficult for vegetation to grow for thousands of years. You see how other areas all have dense forests, but this place only has sparse weeds, which proves this is an ancient path!"
Chen Shi looked around and indeed noticed the distinctiveness.
However, the path was narrow, covered on both sides by low shrubs, and without close observation, one could hardly tell it was a mountain road.
Chen Shi wondered, "What do you need this path for?"
Li Tianqing explained, "When the True King was buried, the finished porcelain and pottery had to be delivered to the True King’s Tomb. Meaning, if we clear out this path, we can follow it right to the True King’s Tomb!"
Chen Shi was immensely impressed and praised, "Tianqing, you know so much."
Li Tianqing smiled, "Whenever I had free time at the Li Family, I read books. The more books I read, the more I know."
Chen Shi looked around and said, "But this path isn’t the one going to the True King’s Tomb. I’ve been to the True King’s Tomb quite a few times and know it very well."
"Not the path to the True King’s Tomb?"
Li Tianqing was greatly puzzled, "Then where does this path lead?"
Chen Shi looked around, also puzzled.
He had followed his grandfather nearly everywhere in Qianyang Mountain, but had never been here.
Their adventurous spirits arose, and they followed the path forward. Some parts of the road were blocked or had turned into cliffs, probably caused by earthquakes.
Chen Shi climbed down using green vines, and Li Tianqing, bolstering his courage, followed him. Soon, they reached the base of the cliff and continued along the broken path, seeing the path widen.
Suddenly, a dry riverbed in the valley ahead caught their eyes.
The riverbed had been dry for who knows how many years, but on the riverbed, a large ship rested.
A huge, petrified ship!
Chen Shi was inexplicably shocked. It was his first time coming to such a strange place, unaware that there was such a large river inside Qianyang Mountain.
Though dried up, the width of the riverbed still indicated the scale of the river in its day.
An encounter with such a colossal ship was truly a first for them.
Soon, they arrived at the dried-up riverbed and followed it upstream.
One could discern the river’s original contours—the riverbed was several dozen yards wide and seemed to have dried up very quickly. Astoundingly, some large fish bones, now petrified, still lay at the bottom of the riverbed.
These giant fish were significantly massive, with ferocious, sharp teeth; they could even pass through the gaping mouths of the fish and come out through their throats.
Chen Shi observed these strange, giant fish fossils and suddenly realized, "This river must be the De River!"
Li Tianqing was bewildered, "How do you know this is the De River? The De River should be on the other side of the mountain."
"It’s because this type of fish, named Kun, which devours humans, is unique to the De River. Something must have happened back then that caused the De River to change its course."
He then narrated how Granny Sha used him as bait for fishing, which made Li Tianqing’s eyes widen with excitement, "That sounds fun! Xiao Shi, borrow her fishing hook and try it on me!"
Chen Shi thought for a moment and shook his head, "No, it’s too dangerous and you could easily die."
Li Tianqing had to give up the idea.
The two continued along the riverbed, which housed not only the petrified remains of huge fish but also various types of waterlife fossils, all bizarre and fascinating.
They approached the enormous decked ship and saw that the ship, forty-four yards in length and eighteen yards wide, had its body petrified, yet the wood grain was still visible.
"A petrified wooden ship? How could there be a petrified wooden ship? That’s not logical."
Li Tianqing walked around the large ship, muttering, "This ship was petrified by some unique spell, and if the petrification is undone, it could still sail the high seas, cutting through the winds and waves. Wait, the style of this ship resembles the legendary Treasure Ship from the tales of Great Ming..."
His expression blank, he murmured, "The Great Ming Treasure Ship, so it truly exists in this world! Could this Great Ming Treasure Ship have been left by the True King? Could it possibly contain means to return to the ancestral land?"
Chen Shi, utterly puzzled, inquired, "What is the ancestral land?"
"The ancestral land is Great Ming, it is China!"
Li Tianqing excitedly declared, "It’s where our forefathers came from! Do you know from where our family lineage originates? Do you know why this place is called Xinxiang and West Bull New Continent? Our Li family’s ancient documents recorded this history!"
He suppressed his surging emotions and narrated eloquently.
It was many years ago when a eunuch named Sanbao, under the command of the Great Ming Chengzu Emperor, led a fleet of Treasure Ships comprising twenty-seven thousand people, into the tempestuous and dark sea.
The fleet drifted for seventeen years and floated in the darkness for seventeen years until they finally discovered an unfamiliar continent in the perpetually dark ocean.
A continent that had never been touched by humans.
This land was vast and uninhabited, home to countless rare and mutant beasts.
The twenty-seven thousand soldiers from Great Ming on this strange land cleared forests by the sea to establish a city with docks, named Xinxiang.
Meaning, a new homeland.
Xinxiang was founded and became the first foothold of Great Ming in this territory.
When Sanbao returned and reported to Emperor Cheng Zhu, the emperor was overjoyed and granted this new continent the name West Bull New Continent.
Since then, people from China have continuously migrated to the new continent, expanding its borders, and Great Ming unified West Bull New Continent.
Now everyone here is a descendant of those early settlers.
"We have lost contact with our ancestral land for a long time. Since the True King fell, Emperor Jia Jing, it’s been over six thousand years since a new king was sent to govern West Bull New Continent."
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