Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 490: Chinese Alchemy
The dark environment of the Silver Mausoleum seemed somewhat eerie. The spotlight in Ling's hand illuminated a passage in the silver-white corridor. There seemed to be a cold wind blowing slowly from the depths of the corridor, causing goose bumps to appear on Lu Mingfei's body even though he was not wearing a shirt.

Perhaps in order to divert his attention and reduce the coldness, Lu Mingfei used the light in Ling's hand to observe the patterns on the wall.

Of course, he couldn't have clairvoyance or resonance with inscriptions, but he could tell what was painted on the murals. They were all prints recording Liu Xiu's heroic feat of slaying the dragon. In this case, these inscriptions were probably texts recording this event.

However, Lu Mingfei immediately noticed something was wrong and turned his head to look at Ling beside him.

In such a dark environment, Ling's skin seemed to be whiter. Her petite body turned a men's top into a dress, which was quite girly, and Lu Mingfei subconsciously thought of the image of a little girl he had seen in Japanese anime.

What is the reason for emptiness...

Lu Mingfei coughed in his heart, and asked Ling as if to divert the random thoughts in his mind.

At this point, Lu Mingfei has of course realized that Ling is not an ordinary girl. She was involved in the world of dragons probably earlier than her paralyzed senior brother or Caesar and the others, and she has a close connection with Jiude Mai.

Although Lu Mingfei didn't know what Ling's other identity was, or what secrets she had, it was like a music box that no one had ever opened. Before you opened it, you could only see its beautiful appearance, but you didn't know what kind of music was hidden inside.

But the only thing he was sure of was that Zero could be trusted without a doubt, no matter what her mysterious identity was, or whether there was a mysterious organization like the Black Organization behind her.

"But I have seen records of the Bronze Palace in the Ice Sea Fragments. It is said that the palace was built on the Nordic ice field and is quite large. There is even a big river inside the palace. The subjects have to take a boat to meet the Dragon King Norton. Is this Silver Mausoleum really that big?"

In fact, he had no idea what was recorded in the Ice Sea Fragments. It was simply because he had entered the Bronze City with Nuonuo before, and the interior space of the Bronze City he saw at that time was much wider than this Silver Mausoleum.

The blue-gray walls extended infinitely up, down, left, and right in the field of vision. It was simply a huge wonder. It looked much larger than any ancient building Lu Mingfei had ever seen, and it was wide and twisted like a maze. The so-called largest pyramid of Khufu might not be better than a side hall in the Bronze City.

If there were no map, humans would never be able to escape from that city.

However, to build a silver tomb outside such a bronze city, and under water a hundred meters deep, seems impossible given the technological level of the ancients.

What's more, the coordinates of the "Eye of Kuimen" and "Bronze City" where he is now are slightly different.

Therefore, Lu Mingfei used "Ice Sea Fragments" as an excuse to express his inner doubts.

Ling shook his head and explained, "With the technology of the ancients, it is impossible to build a silver mausoleum outside the real bronze city. Even if we don't consider the technical difficulty, the silver consumed by this project alone is probably enough to destroy an ancient dynasty. What Yin Lizhen sealed was actually just the gate of the bronze city."

"door?"

Lu Mingfei paused for a moment, and quickly understood what Ling meant: "You mean, Yin Lizhen actually only sealed the entrance and exit of Nibelungen?"

Zero whispered, "Yes."

Of course Lu Mingfei knew that Nibelungen was essentially a fictional space created by alchemy, where the internal space was folded and time stopped.

But this space really exists and is modified based on the real space.

The alchemical matrix connects this space to somewhere in reality. The connection point between the unknown space and reality may be a road or just a crack.

As long as you pass the alchemical matrix and cross the interface, you can enter this space, but the conditions for crossing the interface are extremely harsh. Either you need the certification of the Nibelungen master himself, or you need to meet certain special rules.

Take Xia Mi's Nibelungen as an example. Her Nibelungen is a modified version of the real Imperial Metro Line 1, which is a parallel space-like existence.

The alchemical matrix connecting this parallel space and the entrance to reality is like a locked door.

To pass through this door, one must either be like Lu Mingfei and have the mark of Dragon King certification; or fulfill the rules set by Nibelungen and use the subway card to travel on every subway line in the imperial capital within one day.

Ling said: "Many people think that Baidi City is the city built on Baidi Mountain. In fact, it is not. No one knows the location of the real Baidi City. Only the alchemical matrix under Kuimen connects the two spaces. You can see Norton's Bronze City by crossing the alchemical matrix. Liu Xiu had people seal this alchemical matrix, so that the King of Bronze and Fire could not enter and exit Kuimen directly."

"I remember that in China's alchemy system, silver is a metal that is one level higher than bronze?" Lu Mingfei asked.

This is what Lu Mingfei learned in the course "Alchemical Chemistry". This course is also one of the few courses where Lu Mingfei scored relatively high. There is no other reason, it is simply because the teaching assistant of this course is Nuonuo, and Nuonuo always likes to call his name during class.

In the alchemy that was popular in ancient Europe, it was believed that there were only four elements in the world, namely wind, water, fire, and earth. The four elements constitute all matter. In addition to the four elements, there is also a spiritual element, which gives matter "activity". The Philosopher's Stone contains pure spiritual elements.

This is not only the mainstream view in modern times, even Xia Mi, the king of earth and mountains, once told Lu Mingfei that the five elements in alchemy are wind, water, fire, earth and spirit.

However, in the Chinese alchemy system, it is believed that there are five major elements in the world, namely gold, wood, water, fire and earth, which are the so-called five elements.

The constituent elements of the Five Elements also include water, fire, and earth. The difference is that there is no "wind element" in the European alchemy system, but gold and wood instead.

There is a view that the wood in the five elements actually refers to the spiritual element, because plants often have wood attributes, and the word "wood" in Chinese itself contains the meaning of "vitality and vigor".

However, this view was immediately opposed by others because it could not explain the theory of mutual generation and mutual restraint in the five elements. The Philosopher's Stone, which contains pure spiritual elements, has the ability to cut through all elemental fields, and the "wood element" in the five elements is actually restrained by the "gold element".

In short, China's alchemy system is ancient and mysterious, just like the history of this land itself, always shrouded in a hazy veil.

Kassel Academy has always wanted to understand what truth and secrets are hidden beneath the veil of alchemy, but has always lacked a way to understand it.

After all, the inheritance of alchemy itself is quite private. For example, the two major alchemy families, the Valentine family and the Gottingen family, although both are ancient alchemy families in Europe, the alchemy inheritance they master is very different.

It is said that the Valentine family is better at life alchemy and is a medical school in alchemy; while the Gottingen family, which advocates the aesthetics of violence, masters the secrets of forging ancient alchemical weapons.

The same is true for Chinese alchemy. The techniques of alchemy are often only passed down among the direct descendants of a family or within a sect.

"Ah."

Ling nodded: "Chinese alchemy is very old, and the system is unique. In the Chinese alchemy system, the element 'gold' is also considered one of the five elements that make up the world. The Book of Han records that 'there are five colors of gold: yellow is gold, white is silver, red is copper, blue is lead, and black is iron'. Silver is a higher level than copper among the 'five metals'. This should be the reason why Yin Lizhen used silver to cast the tomb to seal the entrance to the Bronze City. Although no one knows whether this is useful or not."

"How do you know so much?" Lu Mingfei asked.

After hearing the question, Ling was stunned for a moment. His cold and indifferent face hesitated for a moment before he spoke: "I learned this in Hawaii..."

"..."

Lu Mingfei's soul of complaining can no longer be suppressed. Okay, okay, you also studied in Hawaii, right?

I thought, your last name is also Edogawa? So we are really half-brothers and half-sisters who have never met each other?
However, regarding Ling's question of "I don't know if this is useful", Lu Mingfei felt that it was probably useful. This seal must have really worked, and it really prevented the King of Bronze and Fire from leaving Bronze City through Kuimen.

Because Lao Tang is a Chinese American who was adopted as an orphan, he has been living in a poor area in Brooklyn, New York since dropping out of high school.

After the "Bronze Project" successfully killed Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire, Ange once speculated that Norton might have awakened from the egg before the construction of the Three Gorges Reservoir, and somehow ended up in the United States, where he was adopted under the alias Ronald Tang.

In fact, the truth of the matter is that the Bronze City originally had more than one entrance and exit, and Kuimen was just one of them. After Norton woke up from the 'egg', he failed to break through the seal of Kuimen, so he left from another entrance of the Bronze City.

Lu Mingfei was silent for a moment, and immediately remembered that a few years later, when Professor Mans and Ye Shengyaji were carrying out the "Kuimen Plan", the entrance to the Bronze City under the Three Gorges was already open.

So was the seal of the Silver Mausoleum finally broken? Could it be that during this exploration mission, Kassel Academy discovered the Silver Mausoleum?

Then, in order to explore the Bronze City, the seal was opened, Kuimen and the Bronze City were reconnected, and the Dragon Servant Samson was released?
Lu Mingfei suddenly hesitated... He subconsciously realized that some crisis might come because of this mission.

He realized that this silver tomb might be a curse that could not be touched, just like Pandora's Box in Greek mythology. Once it was opened, it would likely release some unknown horror.

If he wanted to prevent the tragedy on the "Moniah", he should obviously turn around and leave this damn place immediately and explain everything to Professor Mance.

Or better yet, he would say nothing, pretend he hadn't noticed anything, pretend he had just escaped from a diving accident, and then avoid them exploring the cave.

However, Lu Mingfei immediately rejected this idea in his mind... Why are you still thinking about escaping at this time?
Although there is a saying that "escape is shameful but useful", since Old Tang (Norton) has come out now, it means that the Bronze City has more than one entrance under Kuimen.

Even if Kassel Academy gave up this exploration and the seal under Kuimen was preserved, it would take time for a complete Constantine to hatch from the egg, leave from the same exit as Norton and find Old Tang.

What awaits them is not just a complete King of Bronze and Fire, but potentially an unknown tragedy far greater than the "Moniah".

After all, the thought of one of the four monarchs in his complete form ruling over a densely populated area like New York is terrifying enough.

What interrupted Lu Mingfei's distracting thoughts was a faint song floating from the depths of the corridor. It was a very ancient tune that sounded a little familiar. The low humming voice seemed extremely clear in the silent darkness, as if it was whispering in your ear.

……

11 time zones away, at the Kassel College headquarters in Chicago.

It was late at night in the United States, and the ancient campus and the young students had entered sleep time. The mainframe Norma in the ice cellar had also entered a low-energy semi-standby mode. In the quiet campus, one could hear the early spring insects in the bushes chirping in courtship.

However, when most people were resting, there were still some people who were awake. In the quiet corridor on the second floor of the library, there was a subtle sound coming from a closed door. The nameplate on the door read "Central Control Room".

Inside the door, Manstein was curled up sleepily on the sofa, in front of him was a huge three-dimensional projection screen, the kind commonly seen in science fiction movies.

But if you look closely, you will find that the projected image is not some high-end optical globe or building structure diagram, but a black-and-white movie "Zorro".

Using the college's expensive stereo projection equipment to watch movies is a bit too luxurious, but there seems to be nothing else to do if you don't watch movies.

Manstein was on duty in the central control room tonight. Most of the time he had nothing to do on duty, and if he was not allowed to watch a movie, Manstein would probably fall asleep.

In fact, it shouldn’t matter if you fall asleep. After all, Kassel College is not like an assembly line factory. Someone will come to check on you from time to time.

As a professor in charge of discipline at Kassel College, Manstein felt it necessary for him to fulfill this leading role model.

What's more, the reason for implementing the duty system is that there are too many agents in the Executive Department carrying out missions around the world, some of which are difficult tasks.

In order to obtain timely reinforcements when emergencies arise during a mission, the college assigns professors to take turns on duty in the central duty room every day.

Maybe many people think that staying up all night to watch the phone is meaningless, but for the college, it would be meaningful if the central control room played movies all night.

No phones were ringing, which meant no one was in danger.

The movie ended, and the scene remained on the cowboy wearing a cool mask, riding a horse and embracing a beauty while riding away.

Manstein yawned again, stood up, and prepared to eject the disc from the projector and replace it with a new one of Breakfast at Tiffany's. After watching too many Western hero movies, he had to watch a romance movie to change his taste.

He had just pressed the exit button on the projector when the phone rang.

Manstein was stunned and immediately walked quickly to the desk.

Mance's phone call.

Mannstein glanced at the caller ID and picked up the phone.

"This is the central control room, please speak."

"problem occurs."

This was Professor Mans's first sentence.

"I need you to help me dispatch all available water search and rescue resources near the Three Gorges. I will send the coordinates to me as soon as possible. Preferably within five minutes."

Manstein paused. He knew that Mans was currently carrying out a mission in China. The mission was not dangerous, just a simple exploration mission. But Mans' voice sounded a bit forced, as if he had encountered some major crisis.

He took a deep breath and woke up the semi-dormant Norma on the central console while replying:
"Calm down, Mance. It's midnight in the United States, and most of the faculty and staff are asleep. Even the Executive Department needs time to dispatch such a large number of ships. I will do it as quickly as possible. It can't be done in five minutes. What happened to you?"

Mans was silent for a second. "There was an accident during the dive mission. Some students were stranded in the underwater cave and may be suffering from hypoxia."

Manstein was stunned: "Are there students stranded in the underwater cave? Ye Sheng or Aki?"

“Neither…” Mans’ voice sounded very bitter: “It’s Lu Mingfei.”

……

(End of this chapter)