General of the Heavens

Chapter 80 Old Master Chao [Part 1]

"The Nine Dragon Sword! What a fine sword!"

Ning Chen stroked the legendary sword, marveling at its magnificence. The Qianlong tomb was truly magnificent, with numerous treasures buried in the coffin.

Among the most precious items are the court beads around Emperor Qianlong's neck and the Nine-Dragon Sword beside him. This sword is 5 feet long with an exceptionally long hilt, which is carved with 9 golden dragons, symbolizing the return to oneness.

Its scabbard is made of precious sharkskin and is inlaid with rubies, sapphires and diamonds, making it priceless.

More than a hundred years have passed since Emperor Qianlong's death, yet this Nine Dragon Sword still shines with golden light, and when drawn, its blade remains as sharp as a cold glint.

There wasn't a single sign of decay!

Ning Chen stored the Nine Dragons Sword in his system space. There was no more precious treasure in the tomb than it. After completing his final treasure hunt, Ning Chen closed the coffin.

The flame of the windproof candle in the southeast corner remained steady, and Ning Chen then stored as many other burial items from the tomb as possible into his system space.

But it still couldn't fit.

As the rooster crowed and the lamp went out, Ning Chen stopped what he was doing, bowed to the candle in the southeast corner, and then returned the way he came to leave Yuling.

.........

On this day, another major event occurred in the capital.

Some time ago, the tomb of the Tokyo Imperial Concubine was robbed. Yu Peng published a notice in the newspaper saying that the robbery was committed by the notorious bandit Wang Shaoyiqian.

On that same day, Yu Peng unilaterally claimed that it was the Japanese cultural survey team that threatened him to excavate the imperial concubine's tomb without authorization, and that the dozen or so people who died in the Eastern Tombs were members of the Japanese cultural survey team.

Yu Peng fell into Wang Shaoyi's hands, and his fate was naturally not good. If he hadn't promised to help Wang Shaoyi rob the imperial tomb, he would have died long ago.

However, Wang Shaoyi could not tolerate being wronged for no reason, so he had Yu Peng publish another statement in the newspaper, this time directly selling out the local customs and culture survey team.

Sakai Daisuke was lying in the hospital arranged by Yu Peng when he heard the news and almost vomited blood. Their inspection team had no interest in the imperial concubine's tomb at all!

"Idiot! Useless!"

Daisuke Sakai's outburst nearly aggravated his injuries, but before he could even catch his breath, he was dragged away from the hospital by a group of fierce-looking men.

"Who are you! I need to see Yu Peng!"

Sakai Daisuke kept talking, but these people not only kept going but also kept speeding up. If Sakai Daisuke hadn't trained his body regularly, he probably would have fainted long ago from all this torment.

However, when Sakai Daisuke saw Yu Peng again, Yu Peng was already exhausted, and Sakai Daisuke looked at Yu Peng with a sense of sympathy.

"So your name is Sakai Daisuke?"

Wang Shaoyi kicked Yu Peng aside and asked, "Sakai Daisuke's lips are pale. He weakly said, 'I am Sakai Daisuke. Please don't kill me. I am a citizen of the Great Japanese Empire and am protected by law.'"

"Haha, the law? The law is nothing!"

When Wang Shaoyi gets ruthless, he even dares to kidnap Zhang Shaoshuai. He doesn't care about Japanese citizens. If Yu Peng hadn't said he was a professional tomb raider, Wang Shaoyi wouldn't have bothered to talk to him and would have just killed him!

"He said your research team are professional tomb raiders, which is why I invited you here today. Tell me, if I were to excavate an imperial tomb, where should I begin?"

Daisuke Sakai: "..."

At this moment, he felt as if a thousand mythical beasts were stampeding through his mind. This Yu Peng was truly a scoundrel; he sold himself out to save his own life.

"Well... our expedition team isn't involved in tomb raiding... we're just interested in archaeological research, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help with this."

"I can't believe it," said Daisuke Sakai, utterly helpless.

Seeing that Sakai Daisuke still dared to refuse him, Wang Shaoyi slapped Yu Peng across the face. "If you weren't a talent, and you were seriously injured, I would have slapped you right now!"

Yu Peng: "..."

Sakai Daisuke remained silent, and Wang Shaoyi was about to make a move when Yu Peng burst into tears: "Deputy Regiment Commander, don't do it! Let me talk to him. Leave it to me!"

Daisuke Sakai shook his head and said, "Forget about it. I will never help you Chinese rob tombs. The samurai of the Empire will never submit!"

Yu Peng spat out a mouthful of phlegm, "Bullshit! You dare say you didn't come to China to rob tombs? You've had people almost draw a complete map of the Eastern Tombs, do you really think I don't know that?"

Daisuke Sakai's eyes darted around: "You know all this, so why don't you report it to your royal family? They won't let us do this."

Yu Peng curled his lip. "So what if I reported it? The imperial family won't give me a single penny. I was actually planning to use this as leverage to blackmail you."

Daisuke Sakai: "..."

This is what it means to be a leopard that can't change its spots. For money, Yu Peng is capable of anything and cares about nothing.

"So you must have something in mind. If I'm not mistaken, it's some imperial tomb, right? If you agree to Wang Shaoyi's request, at least we'll have a chance to survive, right?"

Daisuke Sakai was surprised that Yu Peng's analysis was so accurate. He really was only after one treasure, the Nine Dragon Sword from the Qianlong Emperor's tomb.

They had received information that this Nine Dragons Sword was a sword within a sword, with a hidden compartment within its blade containing a Tang Dynasty short sword!

The Tang sword contained clues to the location of Wu Zetian's Qianling Mausoleum. In the eyes of the Japanese, Qianlong's mausoleum was more than one level higher than the Qing mausoleum!

The Japanese admire Tang Dynasty culture, and some of their fervent followers even believe that the Chinese are not worthy of possessing a peerless ancient tomb like the Qianling Mausoleum, and that only the Japanese are qualified to explore and excavate such a Tang Dynasty tomb.

Lacking methods like geomancy and tomb raiding, the Japanese had to spend years searching for clues in historical documents before finally pinpointing the Nine Dragon Sword.

Once Sakai Daisuke realized he could get clues about the Qianling Mausoleum, he disregarded any sense of Bushido and readily agreed to Wang Shaoyi's request.

……

Ning Chen had just left the Yuling Mausoleum when he had no idea that the ruthless bandit Wang Shaoyi, whom he had impulsively joined, was already preparing to rob the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi.

Police informants were constantly reporting to Ning Chen about news concerning Sun Dianying of the Kuomintang, while Ning Chen was already devising a shocking plan.

He wanted to teach Sun Dianying a lesson in the harsh realities of society. Imagine if Sun Dianying had breached the Yuling Mausoleum and the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi, only to take away countless fakes...

What kind of scene is this?

When it comes to making counterfeits, there is one person who is second to none. He has an extremely famous name – Lao Chaofeng!

Old Chaofeng is the local tyrant of a vast counterfeit empire. He controls the source of countless counterfeit products and is someone the Five Families have long hated.

But no one could have guessed his true identity: the first Old Master was Yao Shenxing, the head of the Xuanmen Yao family and the next successor of the five lineages!

The title of "Old Master" has been held by three people, of whom only Yao Shenxing was kind-hearted. Yao Shenxing became the Old Master in order to protect cultural relics.

The plot hasn't progressed to that point yet; even Yao Shenxing doesn't know that he might become the first Lao Chaofeng in the future.

However, he is, after all, the next successor of the Five Families, and he has many skilled counterfeiters under his command, which is certain.

Ning Chen now needs to leverage Yao Shenxing's connections to prepare a big surprise for the upcoming arrival of Sun Dianying...

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(End of this chapter)