Jie teaches the Immortal Sweeping Heaven’s Cultivation of All Heavens

Liu Tong took out a fire talisman and burned all the insects with a fire, then led everyone to eat grilled fish.

They finally entered the heart of the tomb.

A palace was built here.

The front hall enshrines the statues of the Three Pure Ones, the middle hall contains a statue of Emperor Jiajing himself, and the rear hall houses Emperor Jiajing's coffin.

Qin Yi led his men to open the coffin for Jiajing, while Liu Dong first offered incense to the Three Pure Ones, and then came to the central hall, carefully surveying the surroundings.

His gaze fell on a particular spot on the statue.

Liu Dong reached out and tapped that spot; sure enough, it was hollow.

Liu Dong searched the vicinity and discovered the mechanism.

Inside was a piece of iron, with writing on it that was not in the modern script.

But Liu recognized it as ancient seal script.

Qin Yi walked over and asked, "What does it say?"

Liu Tong: "The story of Dongfang Shuo stealing peaches."

Qin Yi: "Huh? The things that Emperor Jiajing brought into the tomb and hid, could it be just this one story?"

Liu Tong: "Of course not."

He asked, "What did you find in Jiajing's coffin?"

Qin Yi: "There were some precious burial objects, as well as a roll of parchment with a map drawn on it."

Qin Yi took out the map: "I don't know where this map points to."

Liu Dong glanced at the map and said, "It should be on Mount Hua."

Qin Yi: "How did you know?"

Liu Tong pointed at the iron piece in his hand and said, "This iron piece records that Ancestor Chen Tuan was a disciple of Dongfang Shuo."

Qin Yi: "Huh?"

Liu Tong: "The Jiajing Emperor admired Chen Tuan so much because he wanted to obtain the method of immortality from Chen Tuan."

He handed the piece of iron to Qin Yi.

Qin Yi had no knowledge of ancient seal script and only recognized a few characters on it.

Qin Yi: "I don't understand."

Liu Tong: "But you do know the story of Dongfang Shuo stealing peaches, right?"

Qin Yi nodded.

There are several versions of the legend of Dongfang Shuo stealing peaches, but two are the most widely circulated.

Firstly, on the day of Emperor Wu of Han's birthday, the Queen Mother of the West rode a blue phoenix to offer her congratulations. The Queen Mother of the West presented Emperor Wu with immortal peaches and pointed at Dongfang Shuo, saying, "He has stolen my immortal peaches three times."

The Queen Mother of the West claimed that eating a single peach would increase one's lifespan by three thousand years.

Therefore, Dongfang Shuo lived for at least tens of thousands of years.

Therefore, Dongfang Shuo lived for over ten thousand years and was revered as the God of Longevity.

Another version is that on Emperor Wu of Han's birthday, all the ministers presented him with birthday gifts, but Dongfang Shuo arrived empty-handed. The ministers watched to see Dongfang Shuo make a fool of himself.

Dongfang Shuo smiled and told Emperor Wu of Han that he had already decided what gift to give.

He wanted to go to the Queen Mother of the West's Peach Garden to steal peaches as a gift for Emperor Wu of Han.

Then, everyone saw Dongfang Shuo take a rope and throw it into the sky.

The rope hung straight down, one end dangling in front of Dongfang Shuo, the other end obscured by clouds, making it impossible to see where the end was.

Dongfang Su climbed up the rope and disappeared into the clouds.

Seeing this, everyone admitted that Dongfang Shuo was indeed capable.

Everyone hoped that Dongfang Shuo could steal the peaches from the Heavenly Peach Garden, as they all wanted to eat them.

It is said that the peaches of immortality can grant people a lifespan of over a thousand years.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, Dongfang Shuo finally came down, but he was seriously injured. He took out five peaches and presented them to Emperor Wu of Han, explaining that he had been discovered stealing peaches by the immortals guarding the Peach Garden and had been beaten.

Fearing his death was imminent, he requested to resign from his post before Emperor Wu of Han.

After that, Dongfang Shuo left Chang'an.

The peaches he left behind were eaten by Emperor Wu of Han and a group of ministers.

The peaches tasted good, and Emperor Wu of Han felt much better after eating them.

Emperor Wu of Han thus lived to the age of seventy, which was considered long-lived among the emperors of the Han Dynasty.

After Qin Yi finished recounting the legends he knew, Liu Dong said...

"The iron plate records the second legend. But it's not a legend; it's a true story. Dongfang Shuo did indeed steal peaches from the Peach Garden. However, he didn't give the peaches to Emperor Wu of Han; instead, he hid them for himself. The peaches given to Emperor Wu were ones that Dongfang Shuo had prepared beforehand. They contained some spiritual energy that would be beneficial to one's health. Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han did not suspect Dongfang Shuo."

"Dongfang Shuo stole three peaches from the Peach Garden, ate one himself, and kept the other two."

"Later, he took Chen Tuan as his disciple and gave him a peach. That is why Chen Tuan was able to live a long life."

"Chen Tuan recorded this event, and the Jiajing Emperor obtained one of the manuscripts, thus learning of the existence of the peaches of immortality."

"The Jiajing Emperor ordered people to search for clues about Chen Tuan and Dongfang Shuo. However, the Han Dynasty was too far removed from the Ming Dynasty, and there were too few records about Dongfang Shuo. So the Jiajing Emperor ordered people to focus on finding clues about Chen Tuan."

"Jiajing ordered the search of Wudang Mountain and Huashan Mountain, places where Chen Tuan had once stayed, and also sent people to Kunlun Mountain. Finally, a map was found in Kunlun Mountain."

Qin Yi waved the parchment scroll in his hand: "Is this it?"

Liu Tong nodded: "But even with a map, Emperor Jiajing couldn't find Chen Tuan, let alone the remaining peach."

Qin Yi: "Those peaches have been picked for over a thousand years, haven't they gone bad? If we eat them, won't we just go straight to see the King of Hell?"

Liu Dong: "Maybe."

He pointed to the parchment scroll and asked, "Shall we go?"

Qin Yi: "Go."

He wasn't greedy for that peach; he generally wouldn't eat food that wasn't fresh.

Qin Yi just wanted to see if Chen Tuan was still alive.

Angelia and the others had already consciously used their own backpacks to collect the burial items from the palace.

The Jiajing Emperor had many burial items, and it was impossible for a few people to take them all with them.

The group searched for small but valuable burial items and put them into their backpacks.

This trip was incredibly rewarding.

As the one who provided the ancestral blueprints, Wei Ming received a quarter of the burial goods.

Liu Tong and Qin Yi each received a quarter, while the remaining quarter was split equally between Qin Yu, Qin Hui, Angelia, and Ronald.

They didn't return to City A; they sold the goods directly in Beiping.

There are more powerful and wealthy people in Beiping than in City A, so the sale of goods went very smoothly.

The local bullies took advantage of them being outsiders and tried to drive down the price.

Ronald single-handedly defeated that group of people.

The local bully dared not cause any more trouble and obediently completed the transaction.

After doing all this, the group rested in Beiping for two days and bought a lot of local specialties.

On the third day, the group left Beiping by train.

They stayed at the same hotel for the past few days, but the hotel owner had changed.

The upper class in Beiping is in chaos now, and it's believed that for a long time, no one will pursue the so-called immortality anymore.

Back in City A, Liu Dong and Qin Yi rested for a few days before setting off again.

This time, they didn't bring anyone else, just the two of them.

Both of them had a feeling that this expedition would be very dangerous, and that anyone else going would be committing suicide.

Even werewolves might not return alive. (End of Chapter)