Chapter 49

"At this moment, Chen Pi Ah Si wondered if someone had struck first and placed an Arhat statue here to scare him."

"The more Chen Pi Ah Si thought about it, the more terrified he became, but he was already nearing sixty, so his experience and courage were naturally not something a young person could compare to!"

"After his initial fear, he steadied his mind and cursed the Arhat statue a few times in his heart."

"Then, with lightning speed, he pulled out a few iron pellets, used his feet to steady his body, and with two 'paps', fired them directly at the white-faced Arhat statue!"

"I told you all before, Chen Pi Ah Si's skill with iron pellets is more accurate than a gun!"

"The two iron pellets were fired with full force, and with two muffled thuds, they struck the white-faced Arhat statue right in the eyes."

"The impact cracked both eye sockets of the Arhat statue, and the iron pellets flew out and fell to the bottom of the Mirror Palace!"

"Everyone, think about it: if this were a person, they would have been blinded for real; you can see how ruthless Chen Pi Ah Si's technique is!"

"After the Arhat statue's eyes were blinded, the empty sockets actually looked less terrifying than before."

"Chen Pi Ah Si breathed a sigh of relief, and the fear in his heart receded along with it."

"Afterward, he took a gecko claw from his bosom, hooked one end onto the curved wooden palace ceiling above, and tied the other end to his ankle with a single-strand rope made of walrus hide."

"He let himself down, releasing the rope to its limit, but there was still a long distance to the palace floor!"

"However, looking down from there, he could already see the outlines of things below."

"The base of the palace floor below seemed to be made of white marble, and due to years of earthquakes and natural erosion, there were many unknown fragments on it."

"In the center of the palace floor sat a miniature white pagoda, whether of jade or ivory, covered by a translucent gauze canopy, so it looked hazy and white."

"Chen Pi Ah Si hadn't read many books, so seeing this, he naturally didn't know what was inside."

"But if it were me, I should have already understood what was placed inside!"

Zhang Lin's words made some listeners frown.

Many people who came to listen to the storytelling for the first time felt that Chen Pi Ah Si was an expert based on his style.

How could Zhang Lin be convincing when he said such an expert hadn't read books and didn't recognize treasures?

Moreover, Chen Pi Ah Si was an old tomb raider.

Even he couldn't see what was below, yet Zhang Lin knew?

Seeing that the crowd had objections to his words, Zhang Lin smiled and then said: "Actually, let alone Chen Pi Ah Si, how much do you all here know about Buddhist pagodas and stupas?"

"There are very few Buddhist pagodas in the Xia Kingdom that are well-preserved and still have underground palaces."

"The most famous Giant Wild Goose Pagoda is said to have an underground palace according to surveys."

"But current conditions don't allow it, so the underground palace hasn't been opened."

"Current archaeological conditions mean that even those of you here who have been in many ancient tombs cannot know much about pagoda underground palaces."

"Am I right or not?"

This statement left the crowd with no way to refute.

Among those who came to listen to the storytelling, there were quite a few private archaeologists who had been in many ancient tombs.

But these people's research on pagodas was also very limited.

Even now that they heard Zhang Lin say this, they couldn't figure out what should be in the underground palace!

Seeing this, Zhang Lin didn't continue to show off.

Instead, he said to the crowd: "Actually, you don't know, but I can tell you all about it."

"There is an old saying that I guess none of you have heard, which is: 'A Marquis of Ten Thousand Households is not as good as a Stupa'."

"It means that the things in a stupa's underground palace are often even more luxurious than those in a Marquis's tomb!"

"Underneath the miniature pagoda, there should be the Eight-Fold Treasure Casket that holds the Buddha's bone relics!"

"That is, eight boxes nested one inside the other."

"This thing is for Buddhist use only, and combined with the relics inside, it represents the concept of the Three Thousand Worlds and the Six Paths of Reincarnation."

"Let's not worry for now whether what's pressed underneath is a real Buddha bone or a jade replica; that Eight-Fold Treasure Casket alone is something of incalculable value!"

"Buddhist treasures have always been rare in archaeology, let alone well-preserved Buddha bone relics and Eight-Fold Treasure Caskets!"

"Any one of these things, if taken out, would be a national treasure-level artifact!"

Hearing this, the listeners below felt tears of greed flowing from the corners of their mouths.

No other reason, it was just too tempting!

Who in archaeology and tomb raiding doesn't hope to handle a national treasure-level artifact?

Although this national treasure, once found, wouldn't be theirs.

But the state would provide very generous rewards, and honor!

It's on par with the honor of a soldier receiving a First-Class Merit.

The situation Chen Pi Ah Si encountered now is what every archaeologist dreams of.

At this moment, almost everyone started to get nervous.

Although Chen Pi Ah Si's character was very poor, everyone didn't want him to miss out on such a national treasure-level item.

Even if everyone could only hear about the discovery of a national treasure in a story, they would feel honored to be part of it!

As Zhang Lin said this, Young Master Zhao, who had always presented himself as a playboy, suddenly frowned.

Everyone in the world knows that Young Master Zhao is a playboy.

But in reality, the Zhao family also started out in archaeology and tomb raiding.

So Young Master Zhao had been influenced by this since he was a child and was very interested in tomb raiding and archaeology.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to listen to Zhang Lin's storytelling for several days in a row.

And been willing to be a sucker and spend one million to buy a compass.

When he heard this, he already vaguely felt that this Eight-Fold Treasure Casket sounded familiar.

Therefore, he immediately took out his phone and searched through the Zhao family's internal database.

Hard work pays off; relying on his vague memory.

Young Master Zhao found an old newspaper from back then!