When the palace door opened, a golden light hit my face. I instinctively retreated and used my Dao energy to protect my body.
After confirming that I wasn't hurt, I took two steps forward and lifted my head to look inside the palace.
The scene inside the palace was naturally different from the outside. Although the furnishings were only a few square wooden boxes, there were a few vermilion pillars in the palace, and each pillar was engraved with a three-toed golden dragon with its head held high.
I didn't need to explain the symbolic meaning of the dragon. From the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Yuan Dynasty, the dragon's claws were usually three-toed.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the dragon's claws represented different social classes. The number of claws of a dragon was divided into five: Monarchs, four: Dukes, and three: Officials.
Looking at the decorations inside the palace, it wasn't very magnificent. From the table, it seemed that this palace should be a relatively old building.
In addition, we came from the Dragon Viewing Terrace, and the Langya Terrace was built under the orders of Emperor Qin. So, this palace might have been built during that period.
The evil sacrificial spirit and I exchanged looks. We didn't talk to each other and entered the palace. While walking toward the table, I remained vigilant.
I stood in front of the table and didn't hurry to open the wooden box. Instead, I looked around the palace. After confirming that there was nothing strange, I slowly reached my hand to pick up the wooden box.
However, when my hand touched the wooden box, I heard a faint dragon roar coming from within. Following the dragon roar, the dragon aura that I had previously absorbed into my body started to become active, causing my Heaven Meridians to become slightly unstable.
Fortunately, the dragon roar only lasted for a few seconds before it quieted down. The dragon energy in my body also calmed down.
I was curious about the item inside the wooden box. From the dragon roar, I guessed there was a dragon's vein inside. Or, the dragon's vein was sealed inside something.
I paused and slowly opened the wooden box. The item inside made my eyes light up.
Inside the wooden box was a four-cun wide seal with five dragons engraved on it.
I carefully held the seal in my hand and observed its structure.
Except for the five dragons, there was nothing special about the seal. However, there were eight small seal characters carved at the bottom. I had to study them for a long time before I could recognize them. "Receive the Mandate of the Heavens, Live Forever."
At this point, my heart thumped. Seal, trust, authority.
Since ancient times, seals had been the symbol of power and status, the embodiment of responsibility and credibility, and it was also the beloved object of scholars and refined scholars.
Usually, high officials and nobles would have their own seals.
However, this seal that was engraved with the words "Receive the mandate of the heavens, live forever and prosper" was not something that an ordinary noble could possess.
According to historical records, the person who carved these words on the seal was Li Si of the Qin Dynasty.
The owner of this seal was none other than the "Ancestral Dragon", Qin Shihuang. This seal was also known as the Imperial Seal.
The Imperial Seal of the Empire was passed down from generation to generation of emperors in China. It was engraved under the orders of Qin Shi Huang.
It was regarded as the symbol of the dynasty's legitimacy.
It had a circumference of four cun, the top button was crossed with five dragons, and the front was engraved with eight seal characters written by Li Si: "Receive the mandate of the Heavens, live forever and prosper". It was used as a token of "Divine Imperial Power, Legitimate and Legitimate".
From then on, the emperors of the past would treat this seal as a symbol and treat it as a rare treasure. It was an important tool of the country.
If it was obtained, it symbolized that the emperor was "Receive the mandate of the Heavens", and if it was lost, it meant that the emperor's fate had come to an end.
Those who ascended the throne without this seal were ridiculed as "White Emperor", showing that they lacked confidence and were looked down upon by the people.
Because of this, those who wanted the treasure fought with each other, causing the Imperial Seal of the Empire to change owners many times. It was passed around Chi County in China for more than two thousand years, appearing and disappearing, and finally disappeared without a trace.
Although the Imperial Seal of the Empire had been missing for a long time, the seal in my hand matched the one in the ancient book. I couldn't tell if it was real or fake, but I still found it hard to believe.
However, there was another saying. It was said that in 219 BC, when Qin Shi Huang was patrolling south to Dongting Lake, the waves suddenly rose and the boat he was on was about to sink.
Qin Shi Huang threw the Imperial Seal into the lake and prayed to the gods to suppress the waves.
Eight years later, when he was on his way to Huayin's Peaceful and Soothing Path, someone was standing in the middle of the path with a jade seal in his hand. The person said to Qin Shi Huang's attendant, "Please return this jade seal to the Ancestral Dragon (Qin Shi Huang)."
Then, the Imperial Seal returned to Qin.
If the Imperial Seal of the Empire had been replaced by the Huayin Pingshu Road, it made sense. Otherwise, the Qin Dynasty wouldn't have lasted for only fifteen years. However, I didn't know how it ended up here.
As for the Imperial Heirloom Seal in my hand, I could clearly feel a dragon's breath within it. This confirmed my previous thoughts.
Perhaps the Imperial Seal in my hand was the one that belonged to Qin Shi Huang, and there was a dragon's vein sealed inside.
The evil sacrificial spirit saw that I was dumbfounded and was puzzled. "What's the matter?" I told him what I was thinking. After listening to me, he didn't sigh with emotion like I did.
He was a man from the Barbarian World, so he didn't know what the item in my hand meant.
Then, I put the Imperial Seal back into the wooden box. However, I saw a white silk-like item at the bottom of the box.
My attention was focused on the Imperial Seal, so I didn't notice that there was something else inside.
Then, I took it out.
It felt silky and smooth, and it reminded me of the silk manuscripts from the Warring States Period that I had read in the history books. These silk manuscripts were also called silk manuscripts, and they were written with white silk.
Since they were made of a special and precious material, they were often used to write important messages.
I hurried to unfold it. However, besides a faint seal, there were no words on the two-foot-long silk manuscripts.
I held the Imperial Seal in one hand and opened the silk manuscripts with the other. Looking at the seal on the manuscripts, an idea popped into my head.
He immediately pressed the Heirloom Seal into the position of the seal.
However, there was no reaction after a few tries.
This puzzled me. If the silk manuscripts were placed together with the Imperial Seal, there should be a connection between them. Why didn't it react?
Did I have to use some special method?
After thinking about it, I tried to channel my Dao energy into the Imperial Seal. Finally, there was a reaction. However, it wasn't the silk scroll that reacted. Instead, it was the Imperial Seal that emitted a dragon's roar. It then emitted a faint golden light.
I suppressed the fluctuations in my body and didn't dare to relax. While I was channeling more energy into the Imperial Seal, I stared at the changes in the Imperial Seal.
Gradually, the golden light around the Imperial Seal became stronger, and I didn't dare to look at it directly.
Half of the energy in my body had been drained, and the scene in front of me was completely covered by the golden light.
I heard the dragon roar again. This time, it was deafening, as if a giant dragon was roaring in my ears.
After a while, the dragon roar stopped, and the golden light around me dispersed.
When I opened my eyes, I saw rows of small golden characters in the air. They were written in the Xiaozhuan script, so I couldn't read them all. I could only vaguely understand them.
It seemed to be describing Xu Fu's journey to the East. I didn't pay attention to some of the scattered details, but focused on the time and route he took, and what happened along the way. At the end of the description, there was a name of a place, which was "LiuBo Hill"!
Seeing this, I couldn't help but feel happy. But at this moment, the small words in the air suddenly dissipated, disappearing in an instant.
Right after that, there was another cracking sound. The Imperial Seal in my hand also broke. A sudden gust of wind came from outside the palace, heading towards us.
The gust seemed to have an unstoppable force, and it swept us into the air. As we were sucked in, my consciousness slowly became blurry.
I was woken up by the evil sacrificial spirit. When I woke up, I found that we were standing in front of the Dragon Viewing Platform. I looked at the evil sacrificial spirit and wanted to ask him what was going on. However, he looked normal and shook his head at me.
Everything that had happened just now was too strange. It felt like I had entered the old man's dream on Mount Lao.
Fortunately, I had gotten the answer I wanted. As I was about to leave, I found that the stone in front of me had many cracks.
I paused for a moment, then placed the Dao energy and my hand on the stone.
The scene from before didn't appear on the stone again. It seemed that everything here had turned into ruins along with the disappearance of the small characters. It was a pity that the Imperial Seal was gone.
The dragon roar that resounded across the heaven and earth had probably alerted the people from the Metaphysics Association. I couldn't stay here for long.
Thinking about this, I brought the evil sacrificial spirit back to the guesthouse.
As I laid on the bed, I kept thinking about what the small characters had described.
From it, I found out that Xu Fu's first voyage was on the 19th of the tenth month of the lunar calendar. It didn't have much value as it was just an ordinary auspicious day.
The place where they set off was indeed the Langya Platform as recorded in the history books.
However, they had sailed on the sea for a few months. It wasn't as recorded in the ancient books as they had found nothing.
They had indeed found a celestial mountain. However, the celestial mountain wasn't the 'Three Sacred Mountains' that they had expected. It was the Billows Mountain that I had been urgently searching for.
Even though we had found the Billows Mountain, Xu Fu was a necromancer, which was the so-called Daoist priest. He cultivated Dao Qi.
The Billows Mountain seemed to have a barrier that prevented ordinary people or people who cultivated Dao Qi from reaching it.
After loitering around for a few days, Xu Fu could only return empty-handed.
The only noteworthy thing in the entire passage was that before the Billows Mountain appeared, there was a didong on the sea.
The didong was in the east, and nobody dared to point it.
This didong was referring to the rainbow.
From the passage, I found out that after passing through the didong, the entrance to the Billows Mountain would appear.