Hengzhou was the old capital of the former Wei Dynasty. Before Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved capitals, the Wei Dynasty's capital was located here.
Although it was an old capital, it remained as the place that Emperors of a few generations had lived in before. As an old abode of Emperors, the essence of the dragon remained; thus, even though it cannot compare to the adjacent flourishing city of Luoyang, it was still considered a big city on its own.
If one were to travel north, after leaving the city and excluding the main road, flora filled the path and formed forests. During midsummer, an air of elegance warped themselves around leaves as they swayed in the breeze.
At the foot of the mountain next to the main road, there was a teahouse. A few bamboos supported a roof made of hay and a few mats made of cattail, without even a table, it was only meant for passing woodcutters and hunters to stop for a short rest once they entered the mountain.
On usual days it was difficult to even see a few presences, yet right now four people sat there, occupying all the cattail mats. It made the woodcutter at loss of what to do, and he wanted to take a detour around it to pass through but was called after.
"Mister, please stop!"
The Zuoyue guard took a step forward and passed a bowl of hot tea.
Both the hot tea and the bowl were bought along the way from the city. Cui Buqu was determined not to waste money on extravagance, so he had refused to use them on purchasing new bowls. Thus, the money used to purchase them naturally came from Feng Xiao.
The woodcutter accepted the bowl and asked curiously, "Are the few of you intending to enter the mountain?"
He looked at those few people who wore clothing that looked better than others, thus he thought that they were from prestigious families who travelled out for sightseeing, so he conveniently added a warning, "The colour of the sky does not look good. It seems like a windy rain is coming. I suggest the lot of you enter the mountain after some time has passed."
The Zuoyue guard laughed and said, "Many thanks to the warning. We wanted to ask if a Tiannan Mountain exists around this place?"
Originally, the woodcutter nodded his head, but suddenly he said, "There is indeed such a mountain. Us locals usually call it the Ruyi Mountain, but I've heard it has another name—Tian-something. I heard of it from a scholar back in the county, but I do not recall it. Not sure if it's the one you people are talking about."
Zuoyue guard, "Then where is that mountain?"
The woodcutter pointed at the front, "There, it's just over there!"
Everyone turned to look, and certainly, the peak of a mountain stood right ahead after the slant of the peak in front of them. It was much taller than the one before it, like beads of abacuses standing up, its highlands surrounded by mist and clouds as if there were hidden immortals within them.
Feng Xiao looked at Cui Buqu.
The latter shook his head, meaning that even he himself could not be certain for sure.
After the woodcutter finished speaking, he watched the others rising to their feet and bidding him farewell before heading towards the mountain. The woodcutter couldn't help but warned again, "When the wind and rain comes, the road will be slippery, it is not a matter to be taken lightly."
Feng Xiao smiled and said, "So we need to hurry up the mountain before the rain comes, many thanks."
He waved his fan and took the lead, while the two Zuoyue guards stood in front and behind Cui Buqu each, guarding him. It was impossible to drive a horse carriage here. Cui Buqu held a bamboo stick in his hand and followed after Feng Xiao as they walked step by step up the mountain's path, although his footsteps were much slower.
As the woodcutter watched their backs and how they refused to heed his advice, he couldn't help shaking his head and sigh, 'Young people these days', before he carried his axe and basket and left for another mountain.
He didn't know that on the other side, Feng Xiao also asked Cui Buqu.
"Dark clouds gathered at the peak. Are you sure that there won't be any rain today?"
Cui Buqu lifted his eyelids, but too lazy to lift his head, "The rain won't hail here."
It hadn't taken long before he finished when a windstorm arose. Cui Buqu was standing just at the turning. His foothold was unstable and he was practically blown down.
Before the Zuoyue guard could reach out, Feng Xiao already caught Cui Buqu's shoulder and pulled him back to his original standing. He didn't refrain himself from jeering, "From the way I see it, you should wait at the bottom of the mountain. How burdensome!"
Cui Buqu did not pay him any attention, he only raised his head and squinted at him for a long time before pointing at somewhere.
"Let us go there and take a look."
Dark clouds were blown to the adjacent mountain's peak; from the east, the sun rose and from the west, the rain fell. Atop their head was completely sunny.
Feng Xiao didn't know how Cui Buqu managed to cultivate such a skill, being able to identify something simply from standing afar. However, when they were going through untold hardships climbing up the mountain—mainly Cui Buqu enduring the most, for right now his face was pale like paper, and with every step, he needed to stop a while for rest; Feng Xiao even had a feeling that the other would be shattered by the blowing of wind in the next moment—everyone noticed that under the shade of a verdant and luxuriant tree, the entrance of a cave peaked out. It looked deep and dark; even with the glaring sunlight from the outside, it could not even penetrate into the darkness within.
The clue Yuan Sansi gave had been from many years before. The forest surrounding it was denser compared to the one in the picture. No matter how one looked at it, it was difficult to determine whether this place was the treasure stove of the former dynasty that Yuan Sansi had mentioned.
Feng Xiao asked curiously, "How did you recognize it?"
"The contour of the landscape was unique." Cui Buqu tapped the landscape on the picture, before pointing at their feet, "Additionally, did you notice that this mountain was obviously steep, but on our way up, the journey was smooth and we didn't encounter any dangers."
Feng Xiao added, "You almost falling down aside."
Cui Buqu listened but paid it no attention and continued, "On my way up just now, I realized that the tracks of that year were still retained on the stone path. This proved that a path up here once existed in order to make it convenient for the soldiers and craftsmen to transport materials for construction."
He allowed the Zuoyue guards to move the adjacent rock away and cut away a few grass blades in the entrance of the mountain, before reaching out with a leg to wipe away some sand, and truly, some scratches were uncovered.
These scratches were definitely not done by blowing wind or beating rain.
Feng Xiao knelt and used fingers to gloss over it, "The scratches are neat. They should be left behind by dragging something across the ground."
Cui Buqu raised his gaze to study their surroundings, "They must have been looking for very long before they found such a place. This place is situated halfway up the mountain and the landscape around it is flat. All the tools were delivered from the foot of the mountain, inside is fully furnished, and grasses and trees grew aplenty outside, it would not be easily discovered. Even if woodcutters and hunters passed by, they would not enter just out of curiosity, even if they entered—"
He waited for a while, "They most likely wouldn't be coming out."
Feng Xiao raised a brow, "Are you certain entering inside such a small place will lead us to the treasure stove of a former dynasty? Even if it was true, with such a small cave entrance, how would those armours be brought out? Could it be that the Wei Dynasty never thought about this in the first place, and Yuan Sansi was misleading you?"
Cui Buqu shook his head, "Yuan Sansi's background is something I've sent people to investigate for a long time. It is impossible to be mistaken. Something is definitely down there. We should go and take a look first before saying anything."
The Zuoyue guard opened the way. Cui Buqu rolled up his sleeve wanting to go down, yet his wrist was caught by Feng Xiao.
The other man shot him a glance, behind it lurked unknown meanings, "You can just wait outside. For a sickly man like yourself to go in, do you want me to go through all that trouble saving you?"
Cui Buqu sighed, "Did you think I would be willing to add to the trouble going down? There are definitely booby traps below. Although I am not completely familiar, I know a thing or two. Without me, I fear that even if your martial arts are unsurpassed, it would be very difficult to escape completely unharmed."
Feng Xiao very quickly returned to his usual casual and playful façade and edged closer to him, "Master Taoist Cui, are you just being concerned for me?"
Cui Buqu replied blandly, "That is right. After all, Commander Feng is crucial to our safety on the returning journey."
The Zuoyue guards have vanished within the cave, thus he didn't say more but followed and entered.
As soon as he entered, dark and dense energy surrounded them from all eight cardinal directions, as if they've entered another world.