Chapter 36: There Were Pioneers Long Ago

That goes without saying; without an abundant water source that never ceased year-round, Panlong City could never have held out.

"How do we proceed now?" Nian Songyu asked the State Preceptor. "It's almost dark."

In two quarters of an hour at most, the sun would sink below the distant mountains. The light within the ancient city was fading rapidly.

"Establish the base camp first and set up defensive talisman arrays," Sun Fuping said, having planned this long ago. "Dismissed. Everyone, go find suitable locations."

"Dismissed?" He Lingchuan immediately said, "Wait a moment. Such a massive ruin, and the risks haven't even been cleared!"

"No need," Sun Fuping said, confident in his plan. "At least the outer perimeter of the city is relatively safe. You don't think we are the first group to enter Panlong City in over a hundred years, do you?"

That was exactly what he had thought—was he being naive? He Lingchuan chuckled: "So there were pioneers after all, though it's a pity they all returned empty-handed."

If they had found the treasure, why would they be coming to Panlong City?

"Not necessarily. They weren't necessarily here for the Great Square Pot; such ruins often attract treasure hunters. They also recorded their observations here, which can serve as a reference for us." Although the mutated creatures and Three-Corpse Insects in the Panlong Desert were terrifying, to be honest, as long as one did their homework beforehand, they were not unsolvable problems.

So the Panlong ruins had long had visitors, all arriving with their own ulterior motives.

Just like this team.

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After searching for a while, the two hundred-plus people found an open space to settle down.

This seemed to be the market of Panlong City. Along the river path were two full rows of buildings, standing side by side like fish scales, the tallest being no more than two stories.

Of course, the facades of most houses had been destroyed, and at least a third had clearly suffered from fire, but a few still had plaques hanging, the most intact of which had blurred handwriting.

The script was somewhat different from the current one; He Lingchuan took some effort to barely recognize two characters: "Frost... Wine."

It was likely a tavern.

The houses here were low and short, and all huddled together, making them very suitable for a temporary camp. The team settled in, and Sun Fuping ordered a two-hour rest on the spot. Zeng Feixiong hurried off to assign the houses. Several leaders occupied the tavern with the best view and the best wind protection, and began to discuss long-term plans.

After two days of rushing about, everyone finally had time to wash their faces and refresh themselves.

In the heart of a desert where every drop of water was precious, this was a privilege reserved for the leaders. He Lingchuan lifted his waterskin and took a few hearty gulps, pouring the rest over his face: "Damn place, hot enough to kill you by day, cold enough to freeze you by night!"

The typical climate of desert regions was a massive temperature difference between day and night; a place that reached over forty degrees at noon would be covered in frost by nightfall. The sun had already set, and the temperature plummeted. Putting on cotton-padded jackets wasn't enough for everyone; they still had to tear apart wooden fixtures everywhere to build fires for warmth.

He shook his head like a dog shaking off water. Nian Songyu frowned and dodged the splashing droplets: "Time is precious, and we cannot waste the night. But this ruin is too large; even if we split up our manpower, it would take at least several days to search. Does the State Preceptor have any ideas?"

They were not here for an outing; the food and water the team brought were limited, and every minute was best put to use.

After brushing off the yellow sand and tidying his appearance, Sun Fuping regained the bearing of a State Preceptor and spoke eloquently.

"Things like turning the place upside down or digging three feet deep have already been done by the Baling Immortal Alliance of those years and the treasure hunters who came later. We cannot possibly do better than them. Therefore, these buildings and houses in the city have little value in being searched."

After Panlong City was breached in the past, it suffered a massacre; people and livestock were killed, and wealth was looted clean. The enemy nation spent over thirty years to topple it and had long held a deep-seated hatred for this thorn in their side; if they hadn't looted it to their heart's content, they wouldn't have been able to vent their rage.

Furthermore, they had plenty of time and likely scraped the place down to the bare earth, yet the Great Square Pot was still not found. Thus, from grand mansions to common dwellings, none were its hiding place.

Upon hearing this, He Lingchuan breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good." Otherwise, with their limited manpower and the vastness of Panlong City, searching would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. "In other words, the State Preceptor already knows where the pot is?"

If those before them had returned in failure, why would Sun Fuping have traveled thousands of miles to eat sand here if he didn't have absolute certainty?

"I don't know the exact location, but I can narrow the scope," Sun Fuping mused for a moment. "I visited the Baling Kingdom's Ancestor Zhu Gen, who visited Panlong City four times. His first visit was sixty years ago, and his last was forty years ago. It can be said that he was perhaps the force that searched the Panlong ruins most thoroughly after the Alliance."

"Force?" He Chunhua caught the keyword.

"In my view, the Baling Kingdom always had some misgivings about the Panlong ruins. Ancestor Zhu Gen himself was also quite obsessed with it. His final inspection here was when he was seventy-five, and he stayed the longest—a full fifteen days—and brought the most people, said to be over a thousand."

The more people and the longer the stay, the more meticulous the search of Panlong City would be. It was just hard to imagine how they secured their logistical supplies.

Indeed, such large-scale excavations required the support of the government and the military.

Everyone also understood that the Alliance and Ancestor Zhu Gen had already done the homework and cleared the mines for them; a carpet-style search was no longer necessary.

"Nearly a thousand people were perfectly fine and didn't encounter any accidents?" He Lingchuan interjected. "That in itself is very abnormal."

He Chunhua suddenly said: "It's already dark, and I haven't seen any Three-Corpse Insects."

He could still see the three fires on others' bodies, so clearly the effect of the Soul-Dissolving Powder had not yet worn off. This state was similar to what was commonly known as "opening the Heavenly Eye," which could also reveal Three-Corpse Insects.

But from crossing the bridge to entering the city, he hadn't discovered a single Three-Corpse Insect.

That in itself was very strange, right? "Indeed. Not only are there no Three-Corpse Insects in the city, but there are no other evil spirits either. This is the consensus of the treasure hunters who came before, so as long as we don't stir up any massive commotion here, we are mostly safe." Sun Fuping took out a marching naan bread and began to roast it over the fire.

The marching naan was made of unleavened dough and was as large as a human face; if it dropped on the ground, it would make a "clink" sound—it was that sturdy. Its only advantage was that it kept one full and didn't spoil easily. Even when roasted soft, He Lingchuan felt the naan was coarse and astringent, and it scratched his throat when he tried to swallow it hard. He could only soak it in hot water to eat it, but Sun Fuping broke it into small pieces and chewed it without changing his expression.

This State Preceptor was down-to-earth; he could live a life of luxury, but he could also handle coarse tea and naan.

"Much of the data I collected was obtained from Zhu Gen. After studying it for half his life, he told me personally that the Great Square Pot was never found by anyone, and it is very likely that everyone went at the wrong time."

(End of chapter)