Chapter 132: Ganzhou

Ganzhou is a geographical term in the Mage World. Like many ancient settlements of mages, there is a separate naming system in the Mage World that often differs from the names on Gaode Maps, and frequently even differs from the ancient place names recorded in human history. Sometimes mages call these "true names," and they are filled with nostalgia. Luo Qi can sometimes understand this sentiment; for instance, the true name Xijindu is indeed much better sounding than Qianjincun, but the true name Damaoling is not necessarily better than its later name.

"When the amount of information is insufficient, any judgment made is likely to be biased," Du Zhengyi said, easily overtaking a freight truck. Luo Qi noticed that he had accidentally pushed the speed to 150 kilometers per hour again. "Let's hope Wen Lin can investigate some useful information, and we'll wait and see where this second clue leads us."

"Perhaps Guan Fashi has her own objectives, and everything is arranged otherwise," Luo Qi said, glancing at Guan Xinyue, feeling that this remark of his was actually a bit sycophantic.

Guan Xinyue ignored him, saying as if to herself, "Ganzhou is only a county-level city today, with a population of 400,000."

She had been looking at an iPad the whole way, swiping back and forth on it; now Luo Qi finally knew she was looking at a map.

"So it's also possible that this isn't the location where the terrorist attack will happen at all; Guan Yushan might have pointed us to the location of the Lotus Burner headquarters," Luo Qi speculated. "But if that were the case, he should have given us a few more names."

"The map shows two very strange place names in this county," Guan Xinyue said, swiping across the map. "Dayinbinggou and Xiaoyinbinggou. I thought the map was wrong, but I switched to another map and it's still called that."

Ma Jiang raised his head, finally becoming interested. "Let me see." After saying this, regardless of whether Guan Xinyue was willing or not, he forcibly snatched the tablet from her hands.

Guan Xinyue had no choice but to take the book from him in exchange for the tablet. She took the book and flipped through it with a rustling sound. "If I use a search engine to check, the encyclopedia for a place roughly equivalent to Ganzhou says it was a place of strategic importance for military strategists. It is said that the terrain is dangerous, and there is a valley that is the only path through the mountains. But in your history books, it isn't even mentioned."

Only then did Luo Qi realize that the book in Ma Jiang's hand was also Guan Xinyue's—the same history book she had been reading for the past few days. It seemed she had really read into it. Luo Qi himself had no interest in the history of mages; the main reason was that mages had no sense of humor and no imagination. The history books were written in a dry, dull manner, and a large portion of them seemed to be considered unnecessary to record.

He turned his head, not caring about his pride, and pitifully and humbly asked Guan Xinyue for guidance. "In that book of yours, what does it say about Ganzhou?"

Guan Xinyue did not look up at him, appearing as if she were talking to the book. "'Qian' stands for Heaven; it is rumored to be a place for offering sacrifices to the heavens. But I have cross-referenced it with human history, and the Ganzhou you speak of is not entirely our Ganzhou, so the theory about sacrificing to the heavens is not reliable. The only thing that can be confirmed is that Ganzhou was also a city-state of mages in the ancient era. I looked through several history books and only found one sentence in a book of notes, saying that the ancestors of mages arrived riding white cranes. What's interesting is that this passage is actually quoting the human perspective, as if you yourselves have lost your memories. The word 'white crane' is also a bit strange; I asked Doctor Ma to translate it, and the book of notes used your ancient characters. So 'white crane' might not necessarily be a white crane, because when humans describe immortals, they will attach them to birds like cranes because it fits the Daoist theory better. If you look into it more carefully, the ancient mage character for 'white' is also very interesting. I discovered that in your ancient texts, 'white' might also refer to 'black'."

Luo Qi was listening intently when Du Zhengyi suddenly said from the side, "In different contexts, black and white change with the context; this is a characteristic of ancient language."

"What the hell?" Luo Qi whispered to Du Zhengyi. "Our ancestors couldn't tell black from white?"

Du Zhengyi did not speak. Guan Xinyue seemed very interested and continued, "If it originally meant black, then it was a black bird. Your ancestors' legend says they landed in Ganzhou riding a black bird. I checked online, and a black bird in our culture is called a Mysterious Bird. Following the Mysterious Bird, I saw another sentence—'The Destined Mysterious Bird descended and gave birth to the Shang.' This is the legend of the origin of the Shang Dynasty. I know mages might have originated earlier than the Shang Dynasty, but don't you think it's a bit strange? Of course, although the Destined Mysterious Bird descended and gave birth to the Shang, it doesn't mean a black bird actually landed, but what if our history actually misunderstood this sentence? This is interesting. Could it be that the people of the Shang Dynasty saw a miracle and attributed it to themselves, so it became the origin of the Shang monarchs? Or is it that your ancestors are actually the remnants of the Shang Dynasty?"

"To be honest, I'm a bit confused," Luo Qi said in a low voice. "Do you mean that Ganzhou has great symbolic significance in the Mage World? Xizhou is the largest settlement for modern mages, and Ganzhou might be the earliest birthplace of mages?"

"Mages don't really like to dig into history," Du Zhengyi interjected. "But an organization like the Lotus Burner, which emphasizes bloodline purity and likes to trace origins, might have studied history much more deeply than the average mage. If they really chose such a place to carry out a purge and massacre, it might have an impact on some potential followers."

Luo Qi began to understand. "So even if the plan might have leaked, the choice of this special location, Ganzhou, might be unchangeable. Is that what you mean?"

Guan Xinyue was flipping through the book again and found the place marked with a Hello Kitty bookmark. "There is one more strange point. I don't know why, but in your books, a mountain near Ganzhou appears repeatedly, and it is called Kongsang Mountain. I compared this history; setting aside the Kongsang Mountain in modern novels, in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, this mountain might be the birthplace of Kongzi. If Kongzi was a person from the State of Lu, shouldn't Kongsang Mountain be in Shandong? In reality, Ganzhou is not in Shandong either, so is Kongsang Mountain just a substitute name? Is it actually taking on another meaning of Kongsang Mountain?"

"Xinyue, Xinyue," Luo Qi couldn't help himself. "Can I take a look at that book of yours?"

Guan Xinyue raised her head, rolled her eyes at him, and handed the book to him.

Luo Qi flipped through the book quickly, found a hand-drawn map by ancient mages, stared at it silently for a long while, then turned to look at Du Zhengyi. "Brother, look at the layout of Ganzhou and Kongsang Mountain; doesn't it look a bit like Qionglin and Gushan?"

"Luo Qi!" Guan Xinyue said in horror. "You're letting the driver read a book?"