With three superpowers at his fingertips, he could dominate the 1970s.

The next morning, Jiang Zhiyu told the Song family the truth about her mission.

In fact, the Song family had already guessed it when she cooked yesterday. Especially Song Yanzhou, who felt that too many forces were watching his wife lately, and it would be good for her to go away and avoid the situation. Although he didn't say it, he knew in his heart that what she was doing was much bigger than he could imagine.

After bidding farewell to the Song family, Jiang Zhiyu showed no favoritism and went to Zhuge Yunhe's courtyard.

There were guards and other people in the yard, so she couldn't just take things out of her space directly. Instead, she transferred the seafood from her space to baskets in the trunk of the jeep and carried them into the yard one by one.

Ma Fangli's eyes lit up when she saw these ingredients. She was a good cook, so Jiang Zhiyu just handed her the ingredients and didn't have to worry about it anymore.

Zhuge Yunhe watched her moving things in and out, then squinted and asked, "Are you going out?"

"Yes, with Wang Zhaixing and the others."

"That's fine, it saves you from having eyes everywhere, and it's inconvenient for you too."

……

Jiang Zhiyu arrived at the Second Administration Bureau as promised.

When Wang Zhaixing saw her push the door open and come in, he jumped up from his chair, his eyes shining, looking just like an old hunter who had finally waited for his prey to fall into the trap.

"Hey! You've sorted it out, girl? When are you leaving?"

"Once you've planned the route, we'll leave tomorrow." Jiang Zhiyu sat down in a chair, her gaze sweeping over the large map spread out on the table, densely marked with various symbols and directional lines. "Tell me, where exactly are the eight directions you two have been researching recently?"

Wang Zhaixing slapped his thigh, his voice rising eight octaves: "You've come to the right person!"

He turned to Li Mancang, unusually refraining from speaking first: "Come on, Mancang, you speak. Let Deputy Director Jiang hear about our achievements these past few days."

Li Mancang rubbed his hands together, stood up, and walked to the map. His finger landed on Gansu Province.

"Deputy Director Jiang, it's like this—based on the recent data, we believe the spot we dug last time is the core of the formation."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word he uttered was delivered with force.

"It possesses the most abundant energy and is the core hub of ancient sacrificial rituals. It is equivalent to the heart of the entire dragon vein of China and the backbone of this formation. The three bronze artifacts stand there like three anchors to stabilize the sea."

Jiang Zhiyu nodded.

Li Mancang's eyes lit up, and he drew a line from Gansu Province to the northeast along the map.

"The first stop—Northeast China, Changbai Mountain."

His voice gradually gained strength.

"Changbai Mountain is the sacred mountain of the Manchu people, the place where the dragon rose. Tianchi Lake in Changbai Mountain, called 'Hekou' in ancient texts, is said to be the last unblocked passage between heaven and earth. In shamanistic culture, the northeast is the gate of life, the origin of all things, where spiritual energy is most abundant beneath the ice and snow. Our speculation is—a 'receiver' was placed there."

"Receiver?" Jiang Zhiyu raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Yes. It's not sending signals outwards, it's receiving signals. When the ancients performed sacrifices, they didn't just shout to the sky; they needed to hear a response. Below Tianchi Lake in Changbai Mountain..." Li Mancang lowered his voice, "there's very likely a response device."

Jiang Zhiyu glanced at him, a smile curving her lips: "Not bad, Li Mancang. It's only been a few days, and you've already produced a receiver for me."

Li Mancang grinned and scratched his head sheepishly.

Wang Zhaixing stood to the side with his arms crossed, saying nothing but his eyes full of pride—this was someone he had trained.

"The second one," Li Mancang pointed eastward, "is Mount Tai."

His voice lowered.

"The foremost of the Five Sacred Mountains, the site of imperial sacrifices throughout history. But Deputy Director Jiang, after consulting numerous ancient texts, we discovered that the Fengshan ceremony wasn't so simple—it wasn't just a simple ritual to worship Heaven. When those emperors knelt atop Mount Tai, burning incense and bowing to the heavens, they weren't worshipping an ordinary Heaven."

"It's a door."

He said those two words very softly and slowly.

"We speculate that Mount Tai is the keyhole. It's just that for thousands of years, no key has ever actually opened that door."

Jiang Zhiyu was silent for two seconds, then clapped twice lightly.

"good."

It was just one word, but Li Mancang's shoulders visibly straightened a bit.

"The third—southeast, Mount Kuaiji." Li Mancang spoke with increasing fluency, tracing an arc on the map with his finger. "The burial place of Yu the Great. Yu the Great's flood control wasn't just about controlling the floods; he demarcated the nine provinces and measured the mountains and rivers, essentially laying out a network of geological veins covering the entire land of China. We speculate—that beneath Mount Kuaiji lie three measuring rulers, engraved with maps of the nine provinces' water systems. But those water systems… should not be entirely the same as reality."

Jiang Zhiyu couldn't help but click her tongue softly this time: "Li Mancang, did you memorize the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' while you were in prison?"

Li Mancang chuckled: "Old Wang led me in this investigation. I didn't know anything about these things; Old Wang taught me everything step by step."

Wang Zhaixing finally couldn't hold back any longer and snorted, "Alright, alright, stop praising me, hurry up and tell me the fourth one."

"The fourth one—south, Mount Jiuyi." Li Mancang was getting into the swing of things. "Emperor Shun toured the south, died in the wilderness of Cangwu, and was buried in Jiuyi. That land is the foundation of the Chu shamans—Qu Yuan wrote 'Nine Songs' and 'Summoning the Soul' not out of thin air; that place has been spiritually connected since ancient times."

He paused, as if considering his words.

"We speculate that there should have been three bronze statues of shamans there. They weren't for sacrificial offerings—they were 'invitations.' The Chu shamans' summoning of souls wasn't just about summoning the spirits of the dead. They were invoking…something higher."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Jiang Zhiyu's gaze fell on the location of Mount Jiuyi on the map, where towering mountains and dark green shadows seemed to swallow up all sounds.

"continue."

Li Mancang nodded and continued swiping his finger.

"The fifth—the southwest, the area around Qingcheng Mountain and Min Mountain." His voice regained its composure. "One of the birthplaces of Taoism, and also an extension of the Kunlun Mountains. Many scholars believe that the Kunlun Hill mentioned in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* refers to the Min Mountains. It's a blessed land, but the term 'blessed land'... might not be a metaphor."

Jiang Zhiyu tapped her fingers lightly on the table.

"continue"

"The sixth one—west, the Qilian Mountains, Jiuquan." Li Mancang's finger traced the westernmost point of the Hexi Corridor. "In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Queen Mother of the West resides west of the Weak Water, and there is a spring beneath Jiuquan City whose water tastes like wine. This area is the throat leading to the Western Regions, and also the entrance to the mythical Western Paradise."

He glanced at Jiang Zhiyu, lowering his voice even further: "The Queen Mother of the West's elixir of immortality... might not be an elixir of eternal life. It might be something that allows one to transcend physical limits in a very short time—a kind of energy infusion. The winged people are the totem of 'flyers,' recording the scene of the ancients departing."

Jiang Zhiyu's lips twitched slightly, but she didn't speak. However, her eyes said it all—she was listening attentively and was very interested.

Li Mancang became even bolder.

"The seventh—north, Yinshan Mountains. The sacred mountain of the Xiongnu, the place where the northern nomadic peoples worshipped heaven."

Jiang Zhiyu let out a soft breath.

"The last one," Li Mancang's finger landed on the northwest corner of the map, "Dunhuang, Mingsha Mountain."

He glanced at Jiang Zhiyu.

"A vital passage on the Silk Road, a crossroads of cultures. The Singing Sand Dunes—where the sands murmur like drums, a fact recorded multiple times in ancient texts. Crescent Lake, a pool of clear water in the desert that has never dried up, a phenomenon that seems to persist for millennia. We suspect... there's some kind of continuously functioning ancient device beneath it."

The meeting room remained quiet for a long time.

After Li Mancang finished speaking, he let out a long breath. He grabbed the water glass on the table and gulped down half of it. Water spilled from the corner of his mouth, and he wiped it off haphazardly.

"Deputy Director Jiang," he put down his cup, his eyes sparkling, "these eight points—we only need to confirm one of them is correct, and the other seven will all hold true. It's a complete formation; changing one part affects the whole."

Wang Zhaixing finally spoke up, his voice brimming with undisguised pride: "Mancang has read through the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, *Huainanzi*, and *Commentary on the Waterways Classic* three times over these past few days, and compared the geomagnetic data round after round. These eight points weren't just guessed—they were calculated based on solid evidence."

He looked at Jiang Zhiyu intently: "How is it, little girl?"

Jiang Zhiyu remained silent for a few seconds.

Then she slowly nodded, her voice not loud, but every word carried weight.

"Old Wang, Mancang—you two have done a great service."

She stood up, walked to the map, and began to scan the eight directions one by one, starting from the core array point of Gansu Province.

She turned around and looked at the old man and the young man in front of her.

"The ancients set up such a massive formation, it feels like they were trying to escape from something, but in the end they failed? Is that right?"

Wang Zhaixing nodded heavily.

Li Mancang's eyes were a little red, and he pursed his lips tightly to keep himself from getting too excited.

Jiang Zhiyu looked at the two of them and suddenly smiled.

"Once this is done—Mancang, I'll take away your nickname 'Li the Bald-Head.' From now on, you'll be the chief consultant of Xunyou."

Li Mancang was taken aback, then grinned and smiled like a child.

"Old Wang," Jiang Zhiyu said, turning to Wang Zhaixing, "you've mentored him for so long; when it comes time to reward those who have contributed, I won't just remember his name."

Wang Zhaixing waved his hand, but couldn't suppress the urge to smile: "Alright, alright, stop with the empty promises—I'll take the pie, but you have to show me the pot."

Jiang Zhiyu chuckled and sat down again.

"Okay. First confirmation point—we're going to Changbai Mountain."

She looked at the northeast mark on the map, a hint of tenderness in her eyes.

That's the place where she went to work in the countryside when she first came to this world.

She hadn't been back to Kaoshantun for a long time. If she went, she could also visit the village chief and the others.

"Okay," she patted the table, "We're leaving tomorrow, to Changbai Mountain."