I just wrote a love poem, how did that make me so powerful?

But what was written on the envelope was...

"To those who come after, this is the last words of Dan Tusheng, a dying man."

Xiao Mingyuan stood far away at the door, not coming in, but peeked out and asked a question.

"What does it say on it?"

Xu Qing didn't rush to answer. She carefully opened the seal and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

The edges of the paper were brittle, and some crumbs fell off with the slightest touch.

He slowly unfolded it, and by the faint light streaming in from the cave entrance, he read the words on it:

The letter writer identified himself as Dantu Sheng, a descendant of immigrants from the previous dynasty.

When he was young, he obtained a treasure map, which said that at the end of the previous dynasty, someone sank a batch of valuables to the bottom of a river and marked its location.

He carried the map and searched along the river for decades, from upstream to downstream, for a hundred or two miles, but he never found the place marked on the map.

He devoted his entire life to treasure hunting, never marrying or having children.

At the age of fifty-eight, he took on a disciple, intending to entrust him with the unfinished business.

However, that apprentice was wicked. He had only been in the sect for two and a half years when he developed selfish intentions and took advantage of his unpreparedness to steal the treasure map.

During the fight, he was pushed down the stone steps and broke his leg.

The treasure map was also torn in two. The apprentice ran away with one half and kept the other half in his hand.

He crawled back to this place using his other good leg, and then it took him another six months.

During his investigation of the river, he rescued an injured baby monkey and intended to release it once it recovered.

Unexpectedly, the monkey was very clever. It learned to open doors to find things and to hide food near the well. Later, it simply stayed and served him tea and water, caring for him until his death.

Furthermore, under his tutelage, she learned some movement techniques.

At the end of the letter, the handwriting became noticeably sloppy and lighter, and the strokes were not even as regular.

"I have wasted my life, but I have no regrets in dying, except for one thing. The treasure map has been torn in two, and I only have the upper half. If anyone in the future happens to find this place, please remember to treat the old monkey well. In my last few years, it was more human than anyone else."

Xu Qing folded the letter neatly, put it back in the envelope, and carefully tucked it into her bosom.

He scrolled down further and sure enough, he found a treasure map torn in half.

The monkey, like Xiao Mingyuan, squatted at the doorway, its two front paws neatly placed on its knees, quietly watching him, as if it knew what he was reading.

Xu Qing squatted down to be at eye level with the monkey and gently stroked its head.

"Don't worry, I know where you come from after reading this letter. From now on, you'll come with us. Your mission here is complete."

The monkey sat quietly without moving, only blinking slowly.

It was as if he had heard something very important, but didn't know what to say.

Xiao Mingyuan finally couldn't resist squeezing in, leaning close to Xu Qing, and asked in a low voice:

"What treasure map?"

Xu Qing reached out and handed him the treasure map directly.

After Xiao Mingyuan took it, he let out a sigh.

"Ouch, this perfectly good thing has been torn in two! Where's the other half?"

Xu Qing shook his head. "Dantu Sheng didn't write it down, so he probably doesn't know either."

He stood up and took out the remaining booklets from the wooden box and flipped through them.

It's just some daily records, and some that could be considered martial arts manuals, but there are no further clues about the other half of the treasure map.

The group left the room and returned to the small underground plaza.

Xu Qing took out the letter from Dan Tusheng, and the three of them looked at it for a while.

Xiao Mingyuan spoke first, "That old man has been searching for decades without finding it. Does this treasure even exist? It can't just be a legend, can it?"

Su Man shook her head.

"It shouldn't just be a legend. I've heard of the story of the sunken silver in Jiangkou. It's said that at the end of the previous dynasty, someone sank a large amount of silver at the bottom of a river to mark its location."

But over the years, many people have believed in it, and many have searched for it, but none have actually found it. I know several merchants in the prefectural city who spent a lot of money to salvage it years ago, but they didn't find anything either.

Xiao Mingyuan slapped his thigh.

"That's right, that old man Dan Tusheng also said he was deceived by the legend his whole life, and he never found it before he died, it was just a..."

Xu Qing raised her hand to stop him from speaking.

"Don't jump to conclusions."

He pointed to a passage in Dantu Sheng's letter.

"Look here, he wrote that he had searched along the river for decades, never giving up..."

He wasn't the kind of person to easily believe rumors. Someone capable of writing such a letter must be meticulous and logically sound. His willingness to dedicate decades to something suggests he possesses something more substantial than mere legend.

Su Man's gaze fell on the monkey's neck.

The gemstone pendant peeked out from between the fur, still gleaming with a warm luster even in the dim light.

"If Dan Tusheng is just a poor treasure hunter, how could he have a gem of this quality? If this gem were taken to a pawnshop, it would be worth at least several hundred taels of silver."

Xiao Mingyuan slapped his forehead, leaned over to take a look, and nodded.

"Right, right, I almost forgot about that. That old man definitely has something else in his possession, not just that broken map."

Xu Qing folded the letter and put it away, then stood up.

"Then let's go again and search the stone chamber where Dantusheng lived more carefully. The letter didn't mention anything else, so maybe he's still in the stone chamber."

So they went back to the room, with the monkey leading the way.

When Xu Qing arrived at the entrance of the stone chamber, he did not rush in. He stood at the entrance for a while, his gaze sweeping from the stone platform to the corner of the wall, and then from the corner of the wall to the area above the entrance.

Su Man raised her doubts.

"If Senior Dantu Sheng died here, why haven't we seen his remains? Ask the monkey if he knows anything about it?"

Xu Qing picked up the conversation, turning to ask the monkey, "Where is Senior Dantu Sheng buried?"

The monkey scratched its head, looking somewhat puzzled.

Xu Qing looked around but didn't see anything.

He turned to look at the monkey again and asked the question once more.

"Where did Senior Dantu Sheng live in the end? Where did he sleep?"

The monkey tilted its head and thought for a moment, then turned and took a few steps toward the side of the stone chamber, pointing with its paw to a dark corner further inside.

Su Man said upon seeing this.

"Young Master Xiao, you lead them to search here, while Young Master Xu and I will go check over there."

As Su Man spoke, she pulled her follower along and caught up with Xu Qing and the monkey.

Xu Qing walked over and saw that it was a more secluded space, much narrower than the main room, about ten feet square, with several piles of rubble in the corner, which looked like it had been cleared.

At the innermost part of the ground, there is a low, round mound made of rubble.

Its outline was small, about half a person's width, and its edges were already mixed with the dust on the ground, so it was easy to miss if you didn't look closely.

Xu Qing squatted down, examined the arrangement of the rubble, and frowned...