Chapter 1702: Gold-Skinned Book

"Remember the Ferry Ghost Mother you mentioned to me before?" Dong Rui said, "It can make human women pregnant and give birth to ghost fetuses, most of which are strange, but occasionally one or two... are very much like humans."

Ferry Ghost Mother, this name really hasn't been heard for a long time. He Lingchuan immediately thought of the flesh-and-blood fortress in the suburbs of Panlongcheng.

At that time, the Ferry Ghost Mother gave birth to an extremely rare ghost cub, a predator. This guy sneaked into the mine in the suburbs and wanted to eat people to develop, but was killed by He Lingchuan's team and General Hong.

He Lingchuan's team had fought with the predator, and this thing could turn into a human form even in the cub stage, and its combat ability was very strong.

"This kind of ghost cub has only minor differences from humans in the structure of the body and brain, but its ability and lifespan are far higher than humans."

He Lingchuan was thoughtful: "Isn't this a perfect human-shaped puppet? Do the Heavenly Gods still need Cao Wendao to do research?"

"The problem is that the possibility of the Ferry Ghost Mother giving birth to this kind of offspring is extremely, extremely small. And the Ferry Ghost Mother is not a high-yielding god; it may take decades to conceive a ghost fetus once. Even if nine ghost cubs are produced at one time, giving birth to offspring that are almost human is a long way off."

"But since Cao Wendao's hand-notes have this record, it shows that the gods have succeeded, but the probability is uncontrollable." He Lingchuan remembered the Demon Nest, where a predator also lived, which was a living Ferry Ghost cub.

What is the consequence of the experiment always being unstable and the success rate always looking at the face of God? It is that it cannot be mass-produced.

As time goes by, it can only be regarded as a failure.

"The Heavenly Gods are a bit anxious, and even forced subordinate gods like the Ferry Ghost Mother to do experiments." He Lingchuan stroked his chin, "Interesting."

A jar of apricot wine was left with only the bottom, Dong Rui drank too fiercely and hiccuped twice.

He wanted to go to sleep to recuperate his energy, but when he reached the door, he turned back, took a paper bag from his arms and handed it to He Lingchuan: "This is an urgent letter sent by Ding Zuodong from the Yangshan Archipelago to Ju City. I came to find you and brought it along."

Urgent letter? He Lingchuan took it and opened it.

Inside was a letter and six or seven ancient books.

The letter was written by Ding Zuodong, saying that these books were fished out from the library of the Bailie Lu family according to He Lingchuan's requirements.

With the resources and financial power of Yangshan today, Bailie had long been infiltrated into a sieve. The food, clothing, housing, and transportation of Bailie commoners could not be separated from the supply of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce, and a large number of Bailie people even worked in Yangshan's industries to earn money.

It's not that the Lu family couldn't see the drawbacks, but they had no way to stop or correct them.

These ancient books on the table were secretly given to Yangshan by Old Wang, who managed the library for the Lu family.

Old Wang's grandson was preparing to marry his beloved girl, but the betrothal gift was not enough, so Old Wang stole the old books from the Lu family library for Yangshan in exchange for a generous reward.

Anyway, the role of these old books was just to press the bottom of the box, and no one had read them for many years? Old Wang himself was a book lover, so he could pick out what Ding Zuodong wanted.

And Ding Zuodong's requirement was only one: collect ancient books related to Heavenly Gods and immortals, the more detailed the content, the better, and less hearsay and eye-catching.

Dong Rui hadn't peeked before, and seeing these ancient books were tattered, with the cover of the top one rotten in half, he leaned over and took a look: "《Dafeng Side Examination》? What is this, a test paper?"

He Lingchuan carefully flipped through these books, fearing that a breath would turn the pages into fragments: "They have all been treated with preservatives, but the pages are still so brittle. The Lu family's library is managed so poorly!"

"I have some mysteries that can only be answered from history. The Bailie Lu family is an ancient immortal descendant that has continued from the end of the ancient times to the present, lasting nearly three thousand years. The materials they have collected and organized over the generations, even if they are just characters, genealogies, and examinations, can reflect the human appearance, world conditions, and folk customs at that time."

These ancient books were things that the Lu family disciples never read, but He Lingchuan got them out.

He flipped through two books, and the content was average.

Until he picked up the 《Dafeng Side Examination》, he found that only the material of the cover of this book was paper, and it had been replaced at least once, because the handwriting on the cover and the inner pages were different.

He flipped directly to the end and saw that the author was Lu Yanhe, and the recording time was about the Dafeng era 1,300 years ago.

The special time point of "1,300 years ago" immediately attracted He Lingchuan's attention.

"I seem to have some impression of the name Lu Yanhe. Lingguang, help me find the Lu family genealogy."

He had too many things, and some that were not usually used were kept in Lingguang's hands.

The jade peach necklace on Lingguang's neck could store things, and when it heard this, it started searching in the storage chain.

Taking advantage of this time, He Lingchuan also introduced to Dong Rui:

"Side examination is not a test paper, but a recording method relative to 'positive records,' examining and inferring from the side, and usually the dissemination range is not large."

He carefully turned the page, feeling its material, "Positive records are like official history, always painted and changed by the winners at will; 'side examinations' are generally private records, rarely known, and even if there are some exaggerations and absurd components, some side profiles can preserve the real historical facts better."

The material of the pages themselves was slightly transparent, feeling a bit grainy and soft. He Lingchuan found a blank page, tried to pull it gently, drink, it didn't break, and it was elastic.

"An antique book of 1,300 years can still be elastic, amazing."

The Lu family's library, now the management and preservation are not very attentive, just look at Old Wang being able to steal from the library, you know, the library is usually empty. So this book can be well preserved, relying on itself.

The Ghost Ape also wanted to reach out and touch it, but Dong Rui slapped it away: "Owe!"

Can an old book withstand its hairy hands? He Lingchuan had a count in his heart, pinched the pages again, shone it against the light, and found that the yellowing of the pages was not because it was old, but its original color, slightly showing a copper luster.

Convinced, "This is not paper, this is gold skin."

"Gold?" Dong Rui scratched his head, and the Ghost Ape followed suit, and even bared its teeth. Is this guy bullying the monkey for not being literate?

Zhu Xiuer was dozing off on the side, and whenever a book was mentioned, she would get sleepy.

"In the medieval period, jade slips that could originally store text began to withdraw from the stage of history, and practitioners had to find other ways to preserve text for a long time." He Lingchuan pointed to the pages, "This is one of the ways, gold-skinned books."

"Predecessors planted gold-dot grass in gold mines. This kind of grass absorbs copper elements, is stiff, and has very thick fibers. After mixing with other raw materials and special production processes, this kind of rot-proof and indestructible gold-skinned paper can be made. Even if it is placed in a damp and dark place, as long as it is not directly soaked in water, it will not rot."

Why does He Lingchuan know? A batch of gold-skinned books is preserved in the Shumin Academy of Panlongcheng, and ordinary faculty members are not qualified to borrow them. Master Sun occasionally borrows a few books home to read and tells him many allusions and unpopular knowledge.

Dong Rui actually only heard the two words "gold mine," no way, he is just so vulgar: "It sounds expensive."

Can those who can plant and raise plants by the gold mine be ordinary people? He Lingchuan smiled: "Yes, to make qualified gold-skinned paper, it must be gold-dot grass that has grown for more than five years. To make such a thin booklet, the cost cannot be taken down without fifty taels. So, the content inside is worth looking forward to."

What content would Lu Yanhe write in a gold-skinned book worth 50,000 coins?

The text inside is the language of ancient immortals.

"More than 1,300 years ago was the standard medieval period, immortals had not disappeared, and Beijia had not appeared." He Lingchuan said sternly, "I have always wanted to know what the world was like before Beijia, and what immortals and Heavenly Gods were doing at that time."

But this idea is not easy to realize. Let alone the medieval period, in this chaotic and noisy world, historical materials from two hundred years ago are snow mud and wild geese, rarely seen.

As for ancient times, ancient times only left legends.

Even the Heavenly Demons who invaded this world and killed countless people eventually became the Heavenly Gods worshipped by all people. It is extremely difficult for this world to inherit anything.

At this time, Lingguang finally flipped out three thick booklets and slapped them on the table.

"Found it! Lu family genealogy."

The Lu family has lasted for three thousand years, from the ancient immortal-demon war to the present, the bloodline is endless, and the genealogy is of course very thick.

"Medieval period, um, it should be in this bound volume." He Lingchuan took out a Lu family genealogy and flipped through dozens of pages, without having to look hard, the Soul-Gathering Mirror in his arms shouted, "Stop, stop, found it! Yes, on this page!"

Flipped to it.

According to the genealogy, Bailie was still a proper nation at that time, located within the territory of Beijia today.

Lu Yanhe was the younger brother of the Bailie monarch at that time, in today's terms, a prince. Bailie at that time was strong, and its territory was larger than the Shanyu Nation, a vassal demon nation of Beijia, and there were several medium-sized strong nations around it, which it did not fear at all.

Seeing this, He Lingchuan actually felt some emotion.

If the helmsmen of the Lu family in history were all like Lu Zhenxian, even with Lingshan as a backer, the Lu family would have long since died out. Fortunately, every few generations, there would always be opportunities and talents for rejuvenation, allowing the Lu family to be glorious for another hundred years.

Although the Lu family has always had the legend of the so-called "child of fortune," isn't this phenomenon just "talents appear in every generation" in layman's terms? This Lu Yanhe was rebellious by nature and had no interest in government affairs. After he became an adult at eighteen, he went out to study. After returning, his temperament became unrestrained. He didn't live a good life of fine clothes and food, but went out to travel, returning only after seven or eight months, or two or three years. The monarch advised him to stay home more, but he turned a deaf ear and went his own way until he was 185 years old, dying without illness.

The Lu family has a three-thousand-year history, with descendants like clouds, and there are more talented people who can be written about, so the genealogy and family history don't have much to say about Lu Yanhe.

But He Lingchuan noticed that Lu Yanhe's status was the monarch's younger brother, a prince. Being too diligent and too eager to progress in such a position is not good, and it is easy to arouse the monarch's suspicion. ===== CHAPTER 1703 =====