Mountains and rivers are waiting for you to return

Chapter 191: Secret Realm Map
On the second day after returning to Chaoyang, the Ju family buried Ju Yan.

After Pei Nai returned from the funeral, Luo Yuanying and Lin Shengtao visited him together.

Lin Shengtao sent the past resumes and interpersonal information of all the generals of Pei’s former army yesterday, and specially marked the abnormal situations of some individuals for Pei Nai’s reference.

Luo Yuanying brought three important pieces of news.

First, the Pei army led by Han Ruize and Shao Liran won successive victories on the front line, and the Wu tribe was driven back two hundred miles west of Chishan and temporarily withdrew.

The first battle was a great victory, and the news of the victory has been spread back to Chaoyang. People are excited and the whole country is celebrating.

Second, the former Prince Qilu plotted treason and usurped the throne, and was executed and deposed.

The second prince, Daxian, was named the new Prince of Qilu, and military and political power were completely transferred.

During the reign of Emperor Qilu, there was first a rebellion in the country, and Qilu was forced to seek help, thus becoming a vassal of Tianyao. Now he is facing the rebellion of the prince, and he is deeply exhausted.

Da Xian's army rescued the imperial city from danger, and later joined the East Border Alliance, and went on an expedition together with Zhubei Spear, Wanyue Blood Whip, Lingyue Mechanical Warlock and others. They won consecutive victories in the Battle of Yunxuan and the Counterattack of the Valley Country, restored the prestige of Qilu, and won the hearts of the people.

Emperor Qilu had always favored his second son, Da Xi'an, and after this incident he intended to abdicate and let others take over.

As soon as the war is over, Daxian will ascend the throne.

Thirdly, the cave mentioned by the monk Jingjue, which is the location indicated by the dark room in the imperial study and the map placed in Pei Hao’s study, has been found by the people sent by Ju Yan.

The cave is located deep in the Tunyue Mountain in Qianzhou.

There wasn't much engraved on the stone wall, but they already knew some details about the Twenty-One Regions and Lin Shangshui.

But the most prominent thing in the cave is a map.

The people who explored it copied it according to the original and sent it back. After studying it, they determined that it was a map of the interior of the secret territory of the State of Lu.

Pei Nai took the miniature map from Luo Yuanying's hand.

They had shrunk the contents to a very small size, but when spread out it was still three people wide and half a person high, and its complexity far exceeded Pei's imagination.

Luo Yuanying pointed it out to her: "The waterfall of Linshangshui is at the deepest part."

Pei Nai took a rough look and understood the main structure of the Lu Kingdom Secret Realm.

The meteorite of the twenty-first region of the Valley Kingdom is buried deep underground, so the entrance is in the underground city. Walk from top to bottom, passing through different levels of barriers.

The secret realm of Lu State was formed by a meteorite falling in the deep mountains.

Its entrance is on a high mountain, and the entire Lu Kingdom secret realm needs to be walked from the outside to the inside.

It's like a ring, winding around and around, but there are still layers of obstacles.

Because the interior of the meteorite is so large, there are dozens of layers marked on the map alone, and most areas are extremely dangerous.

The people who drew the map only marked the valid paths they had taken, leading all the way to the innermost Linshangshui Waterfall, and then pointing to another hidden exit.

Just from this map, it can be seen that the maze of the secret realm of the Lu Kingdom is much larger than the twenty-one regions of the Valley Kingdom, and it will take more than ten days to get out.

The path area of each layer on the map is treated as a small piece of map, which is an average size of a fingernail.

But in this map area as small as a fingernail, there are dozens of densely packed passages, and each small area has the upper or lower entrances and exits clearly written on it, connecting to other small area maps.

There are also some forks with "Do Not Enter" written on them, clearly indicating the deadly dangers within.

There are more than a dozen circles on the entire map, with big ones surrounding smaller ones, like a ring.

Different circles encompass each small area, forming large circular areas from the outside to the inside.

Each circular area is equivalent to one of the twenty-one domains.

The rules of each domain are written in Lu Guoyu at the bottom, and Luo Yuanying and his team have translated it.

Pei Nai's heart trembled after just a quick look, "What kind of broken rules are these?! Without the map, who can guess? Are we going to risk our lives to figure it out?" Luo Yuanying didn't have time to respond.

Pei Nai asked again: "Is there anyone leading the way for them? For example, the Jingjue family of monks, the people who guard the holy water?"

Luo Yuanying shook his head and said, "My master asked us to look for it, but there are only a few people in the Jingjue Divine Monk family who can know the way, and they all died in the war when the Kingdom of Lu was destroyed."

The monk Jingjue provided them with a clue through his death.

Unfortunately, the cave was discovered late, and the map of the secret place was never delivered to Gu Jinheng.

"They are in too much danger right now. No wonder Yue Cang's people haven't been able to successfully destroy the Linshang Water. I think many teams have gone in, but none of them have returned." Pei Nai analyzed uneasily.

Luo Yuanying nodded, "It has been more than fifteen days since my master and his men entered the secret territory of Lu State, and there has been no news so far. The map cannot be sent in, and we are also worried."

"Everyone get ready. Chaoyang's matter has been resolved for now. We will set off tomorrow." Pei Nai's intuition told her that she could not wait any longer.

Luo Yuanying frowned and advised: "But Madam, you can't smell this concentration of Linshang water, it will be completely life-threatening."

"This map shows the location of Linshang Waterfall. I will avoid this area when I go. The most important thing now is to send the map in and ensure Gu Jinheng's safety. It's too risky to hand it over to others. I'm worried."

Once Pei Nai makes a decision, he will not be dissuaded.

Luo Yuanying and Lin Shengtao looked at each other. After all, the master had told them not to let their lady take any risks before entering the secret territory of Lu State.

But now the master's life or death is uncertain, the situation is critical, and as his subjects, they have no choice but to disobey orders even at the cost of their lives.

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away and we'll set off tomorrow morning." Luo Yuanying bowed and left with Lin Shengtao.

Pei Nai couldn't sit still at all.

She had to get up early and travel tomorrow, and was afraid of disturbing Tang's father. Besides, it was inconvenient for Gu Jinheng's subordinates to come and communicate at Tang's house.

She began to pack her bags, told Qingzhu and Beiju about what to do, said hello to Tang's father, and rushed to Duke Duan Ding's Mansion with the investigation documents sent by Lin Shengtao.

Butler Li also heard about the loss of contact between Yutu and Gu Jinheng, and was also worried.

After dinner, Pei Nai was practicing shooting, figuring out her own moves to relieve her anxiety.

The Ju Mansion sent someone to deliver the message.

Ju Liancheng already knows about the secret realm of Lu State, and he hopes to go with Pei Nai.

Although Pei Nai didn't know why his personality changed so drastically and why he was willing to take risks and travel far away, Ju Liancheng's special ability to remember things gave him a natural advantage in a maze-filled place like the Lu Kingdom Secret Realm.

Pei Nai needed him as well, so he agreed.

That night Pei Nai did not ask Butler Li to prepare a guest room. Instead, she stayed in Gu Jinheng's room, which was her and Gu Jinheng's former bedroom. She would feel more accustomed to sleeping there.

The maids changed the bedding, but Pei Nai could still smell Gu Jinheng's scent when she fell asleep.

She admitted that this was the first time she missed him like this since her rebirth.

Pei Nai picked up the small painting that Gu Jinheng gave her today.

She stroked her fingers over the picture of them sleeping in each other's arms and looked at the words written by Gu Jinheng. She felt warm in her heart, but she was also uneasy because she didn't know his current situation.

She finally sat up, put on her clothes, asked the servants to prepare paper and pen, and imitated his style to sketch another picture of them sleeping together.

But in this painting, Gu Jinheng was leaning in her arms, the two of them were snuggling tightly together, and Pei Nai was holding him tightly to her chest.

Just like what Pei Nai did when he was occasionally awakened by a nightmare.

She added a small caption at the end: "I stayed at the mansion overnight, and I was worried about you, so I drew this picture, praying for your safety."

(End of this chapter)