I, disguised as a white dragon, was supported by the state.

Luo Yuanwen recalled that he had indeed seen it online.

The research institute is located not far from the Shenlong Kingdom Academy, which is under construction, and has attracted a lot of discussion. Some people even joked that it is a place where spiritual energy is reviving and the country is specially training talents for immortal cultivation. Some people even spent a lot of money to buy materials from there.

Suddenly remembering his father's description of the underground palace's wonders, and the thing around Liu Sheng's neck that could make the token glow, a thought struck him, and he asked, "Are you researching ghosts and monsters?"

Liu Sheng nodded.

"Are there really gods in this world?" Luo Yuanwen asked.

His eyes were bright, contrasting sharply with his dark face.

Liu Sheng immediately understood why this guy had given up his job in the city to come back and investigate that underground palace on his own for so many years.

Finding a cure for his father's illness was probably only one of the reasons; his more important goal was likely to uncover the secrets of the immortals!

How many people can resist such temptation?

"Of course," Liu Sheng smiled.

If Bailong isn't a deity, then what is he?

Luo Yuanwen immediately understood.

The Great Xia Dynasty is vast, with over a billion people. Since my father was able to stumble upon that underground palace by chance, it's possible that others have seen similar things.

Otherwise, where would those bizarre myths and legends come from?

The government must have discovered something, which is why they established the Shenlong Research Institute to investigate these matters.

These people in front of him were not tomb raiders, but investigators like himself, searching for a path to immortality!

Unlike those who fight alone, they have the support of the country behind them.

"Can I join you?" he asked expectantly.

In fact, he had considered relying on the power of the state and had even mentioned it to his old classmate who worked in the public security system. As a result, he was subtly hinted that he should go to the hospital for a check-up.

That guy even told other people that his father went crazy because his family had a hereditary disease!

Liang Shangwu turned to look at Liu Sheng.

“Of course,” Liu Sheng said. “If we can find something, I can introduce you to a very important person.”

Luo Yuanwen assumed the important person he was referring to was a high-ranking official. Although he wasn't particularly interested, the thought of joining the official's team still excited him.

“I will tell you everything I know,” he said, “and do everything I can to help you find it.”

"And your father?" Liang Shangwu asked.

He felt that the old village chief must know something.

“My dad is lucid sometimes, but he’s been lucid less and less these past few years,” Luo Yuanwen said, his expression turning somber. “Since he was able to say those things today, he might have really been lucid then. We can take him with us.”

After discussing the details, the group agreed to depart the following morning, and then Liu Sheng and his party left.

Before leaving, A-Gui apologized to Luo Yuanwen, explaining that it was for work purposes and he did not intend to target him. Finally, he grabbed Luo Yuanwen's hand and punched him twice in the chest before leaving satisfied.

He looks fierce, but he's not stupid at all.

Realizing that this guy could become one of them, or even a great contributor, he was happy to put aside his earlier unpleasantness.

After they left, the excitement and agitation on Luo Yuanwen's face gradually faded.

He found a towel, wiped his father's face, and whispered a few words of comfort.

Seeing that his father remained quiet as always, he finally felt a little relieved.

Ever since my father went mad, he often shouts and screams in front of others, sometimes turning into gods, ghosts, cats, dogs, cows, or sheep. But when people see him, he always calms down.

So much happened today that he was worried his father would be frightened or traumatized, but it seems that it hasn't had much of an impact on him.

Or perhaps he's gone mad, and things couldn't get any worse.

After escorting his father to his bedroom, Luo Yuanwen took out a notebook from the cabinet and began searching for information about the people.

My laptop is quite old; as soon as I turn it on, the fan starts whirring and spinning like a panting old man.

As Luo Yuanwen recalled the information about the others, he typed rapidly on the keyboard.

He had a good memory; he remembered Liang Shangwu's name, Liu Sheng's work ID, and A Gui's number clearly.

He searched for information about each of them online.

Some can be found directly, while others require some methods, but it's not difficult for him.

He looked as dark-skinned as an old farmer, but he never gave up on his profession.

In the past, he made a living by taking on odd jobs.

About half an hour later, Luo Yuanwen put down his computer.

He rubbed his head, looked at his father who had already fallen asleep, and sighed softly: "These people really aren't liars!"

……

“I didn’t mean to lie to you before. I just didn’t know your identities at the time and thought you were tomb raiders,” Luo Yuanwen said.

It was already the afternoon of the following day.

After a long day of travel, they had arrived at the depths of the Kunlun Mountains, more than 100 kilometers away from the village.

This is a canyon.

The ground was long and flat, bare except for some scattered stones and many pale skeletons.

From above, the canyon appears diamond-shaped, but the cliffs on both sides are fifty or sixty meters high and have a very flat surface.

It looks as if someone has poked a hole in the mountain ridge with a giant sword, and the surrounding area is shrouded in mist, making it impossible for ordinary people to find this place.

If you accidentally fall in here, there's no chance of survival.

Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they wouldn't be able to escape.

It is obvious that Luo Yuanwen's earlier claims about the lost sheep and the remote mountain village were all fabrications.

He was clearly prepared.

He had repaired the path up the mountain, and in the jungle on the mountain, he had prepared an electric lift, even a solar power generation device, and carefully prepared a spare set of manual lifting ropes.

By this time, everyone had arrived inside the canyon one by one.

Liu Sheng looked around in surprise.

He looked up at the mist above him.

Under that shrouding fog, even the sun appeared dim and lifeless.

"How did you find this place?" Liang Shangwu asked.

Looking at the bones on the ground, Luo Yuanwen said, "Do you know why my father demolished the mountain god temple?"

"Why?" Liu Sheng asked.

He suddenly began to wonder if there really was something unusual about the mountain god temple.

Perhaps some kind of monster lives inside, or perhaps a treasure map or something is being suppressed beneath the temple.

"Because that temple keeper encouraged the old man to commit suicide!" Luo Yuanwen said in a deep voice.

"What happened?" Liang Shangwu asked in surprise.

Ah Gui and the others also looked over.

“A few years before I was born, there was a famine here, and people ate all the tree roots,” Luo Yuanwen said. “The temple keeper came out and spread rumors, saying that everyone was not offering enough to the mountain god, and the mountain god was angry and sent down a drought…”

"Actually, the mountain god's offerings were all for him?" Liu Sheng guessed.

Luo Yuanwen nodded: "Everyone was starving, so who cared about any gods? If someone hadn't stopped them, everyone would have wanted to tear down the mountain god temple."

"Later, the temple keeper, seeing that he had angered the crowd, probably tried to change the subject by saying that we should carry on the tradition and that the elderly should leave the food for the younger generation..."

Liang Shangwu interrupted, "What tradition?"

Luo Yuanwen looked at him and asked, "Have you heard of Abandoned Old Mountain?"

Liang Shangwu suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

“In the past, resources were scarce and life was difficult. In order to ensure the continuation of their lineage, many clans had this practice,” Liu Sheng said frankly. “In my hometown, there are similar places where people live in temporary burial sites.”

“This is it,” Luo Yuanwen said, pointing to the ground beneath their feet.

Looking at the scattered skeletons in his field of vision, Liang Shangwu seemed to see a group of lonely and helpless old people.

He inexplicably felt that the wind around him had gotten colder.

Luo Yuanwen's expression was much calmer: "This is the tradition the temple keeper mentioned, but now that it's the new Great Xia, everyone can't stand it and they all scolded him, but my great-grandfather listened to him."

“He was over seventy years old at the time, and still in relatively good health. He left a letter saying that he was going to make a living on his own. He left home late at night after his family had fallen asleep. It was only after someone saw him go up the mountain that my father and the others realized what had happened, and then they saw his coat that he had taken off on the cliff.”

"He chose to end his own life."

"Perhaps he felt it would be a waste for the coat to go with him, so he hung it on the tree."

Everyone's mood became heavy.

Looking at the white bones on the ground, Liang Shangwu suddenly felt that they were not so scary after all.

“Several people followed my great-grandfather’s example,” Luo Yuanwen continued, “Although everyone is civilized now and wouldn’t abandon the elderly, the elderly love children and don’t want to cause trouble… But without that temple keeper’s encouragement, how would they have thought of this dead end?”

"As the representative of the mountain god, instead of thinking about solving everyone's predicament, he encourages people to die. What use is such a god?" Luo Yuanwen looked at the group.

Liu Sheng stared at the dazed old man.

From the moment they started climbing the mountain, the other person remained silent and stopped playing the role of Sun Wukong.

Luo Yuanwen got to the point: "My father always missed his grandfather. After the mountain god temple was demolished, he thought about building a tomb for his great-grandfather. Later, he found an opportunity to come here, hoping to find his great-grandfather's remains based on the clothing."

"And then?" Liang Shangwu asked.

"Then he discovered the palace," Luo Yuanwen said.

"No white shadow?" Liu Sheng asked.

Luo Yuanwen admitted, "I made up the white shadow."

"Even when it rains, right?" Liang Shangwu said.

Luo Yuanwen nodded: "I don't know exactly how to trigger the entrance here. I asked him when he was lucid before, but he refused to tell me no matter what."

"So you tried digging down?" Liu Sheng looked into the distance.

There was a very obvious pit there, and a lot of soil piled up next to it.

"Grandpa, do you know how to get to the underground palace?" Liang Shangwu approached the old village chief.

"White Bone Demon! You monster!" The old village chief suddenly shouted and threw a punch, startling Liang Shangwu so much that he staggered back two steps.

A-Gui and the others suppressed their laughter.

"Dad!" Luo Yuanwen quickly stopped his father, who was going crazy.

When he shouted that, the old village chief indeed quieted down, but his eyes were looking around, as if he had been frightened.

Seeing that Liu Sheng had taken out the dragon scales and token and was looking at him, Luo Yuanwen nodded.

As Liu Sheng brought the two closer, the token indeed emitted a faint light, just as it had the day before.

The previously anxious village chief suddenly calmed down.

His gaze shifted to the token, and his previously wandering eyes gradually calmed down.

"Grandpa, can you take us to the underground palace?" Liu Sheng asked softly.

"An underground palace? Yes, an underground palace!" the old village chief murmured to himself, his cloudy eyes gradually brightening.

However, when he noticed his son beside him, his eyes filled with panic: "No, it's dangerous, you can't go!"

“Dad, I’m not going. You take them.” Luo Yuanwen said immediately.

“Yes, sir, we’ll go with you,” Liang Shangwu said.

All eyes were on the old village chief. After waiting for a good ten seconds, they finally heard him say "Okay".

Liu Sheng clenched his fist excitedly and asked, "Grandpa, how do we get there?"

"Isn't that the door?" the old village chief pointed ahead.

The group followed his gaze and saw that apart from some scattered stones and bones, there was nothing there.