Chapter 160: Nine Dragons and Nine Stars

Fang Nian pulled his thoughts back. Perhaps due to his heightened sixth sense, he felt the abnormal changes in the hunting ground becoming increasingly severe—so much so that the severity likely exceeded his imagination.

Now that everyone was reunited, there was only one goal left: to find the subterranean palace hidden within this city. Although the entire city was a mausoleum, a subterranean palace must undoubtedly be concealed somewhere within it.

After all, just as modern people value being laid to rest in the earth, ancient people felt the same way. No matter how magnificent their tombs were, they would always ultimately adhere to the standard of burial in the earth.

"Boom!"

Just at that moment, Fang Nian and the others heard a deafening roar. Immediately after, the ground violently shook, and deep cracks split across the walls of the houses from the impact.

Jia Xu steadied his footing and looked toward Fang Nian and the others with a suspicious gaze.

"What is this? Is it an earthquake?"

Chen Deng shook his head.

"I don't know, but it doesn't feel like it. If it were an earthquake, it wouldn't end so quickly, and the onslaught was far too fierce."

The few of them exchanged glances, but all shook their heads, indicating they had no idea what was happening.

However, Fang Nian knew very well that this was a tremor caused by the explosion of gunpowder, and such vibrations possessed immense destructive power.

Yet, this was utterly defying reason. As everyone knew, gunpowder referred primarily to a black or brown explosive mechanically mixed from potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur, a chemical agent ignited by sparks or flames.

In military applications, it was mainly used as propellant charges for bullets and artillery shells, as well as driving energy for rockets, missiles, and other propulsion devices, making it an essential component of ammunition.

Most importantly, as one of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China, gunpowder was an outstanding achievement in the history of human civilization. With its lethal force and deterrent power, gunpowder brought humanity the ability to quell wars and ensure security, becoming a crucial invention in human civilization.

Moreover, the earliest Chinese record of gunpowder's origin, the *Taiping Guangji*, contained a story dating back to the early Sui Dynasty.

At that time, a man named Du Chunzi went to visit an elderly alchemist and stayed overnight.

In the middle of the night, Du Chunzi woke up from a dream to see "purple smoke piercing through the roof" from inside the alchemy furnace, and the house instantly caught fire. This was likely a fire caused by alchemists' negligence while compounding flammable medicines.

Yet this was the late Eastern Han Dynasty, several centuries away from the Sui Dynasty—how could gunpowder possibly appear here?

However, Fang Nian immediately thought of Bai Zhe, who was also a modern person. Since he himself could invent waterproof silk, it was not too far-fetched for Bai Zhe to invent gunpowder.

Still, Fang Nian never expected Bai Zhe to use gunpowder here. This was underground, and although there were sturdy rock walls all around, they were fragile nonetheless.

The slightest tremor could cause an entire natural cavern to collapse, let alone such a massive natural karst cave.

"This guy really stops at nothing to win. What a schemer."

Fang Nian did not bother explaining to them; the pressing matter at hand was to find a way to locate the entrance to the tomb.

Jia Xu also realized this. He looked at Fang Nian and Chen Deng and said, "The two of you seem much more experienced than us. Think of a way to find the entrance to the subterranean palace. I suspect those loud noises were caused by the other faction, and we must find the entrance before them."

Fang Nian was momentarily stunned. Hearing Jia Xu put it that way made him feel as though he were some sort of tomb-robbing specialist. But this was hardly the time for explanations. Fang Nian recalled a volume he had read in *Twenty-Four Chapters of Fengshui and Metaphysics*, which detailed how subterranean palaces were concealed within dragon-nurturing veins.

A moment later, Fang Nian said to the crowd, "The person who built this subterranean palace must be a master of geomancy. Based on my observation, although this city seemingly mimics a retro architectural style, it clearly follows the formation of the Nine Dragons and Nine Stars."

Chen Deng was startled. He was deeply studied in military formations, and earlier, it was precisely Fang Nian's *Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation* that had drawn him into this place.

As for the Nine Dragons and Nine Stars, Chen Deng had only ever heard of it and had never actually seen it. He had not expected Fang Nian to understand such lore.

What shocked Chen Deng even more, however, was his next question.

"Can this formation also be applied to geomancy and fengshui?"

Hearing this, Fang Nian nodded.

"Everything in this world is interconnected. Where there is military strategy, there are formations; where there are formations, they connect to metaphysics; and metaphysics is linked to fengshui. These things all generate and sustain one another."

Jia Xu nodded. What Fang Nian said made sense; it was indeed the logical principle of things.

"Then do you understand this Nine Dragons and Nine Stars formation?"

Fang Nian nodded, then shook his head.

"I only understand a little bit, but we can give it a try."

With that, Fang Nian drew a simple diagram on the dirt floor inside the room and pointed at it to explain.

"The Nine Dragons and Nine Stars, simply put, uses the postures of dragons as a metaphor for the shapes of mountains and rivers. There are nine types: returning dragons, ocean-facing dragons, descending dragons, living dragons, flying dragons, crouching dragons, hidden dragons, soaring dragons, and lead-herd dragons."

"The Nine Stars describe the nine shape names of mountains and rivers, categorized as Greedy Wolf, Giant Gate, Lu Cun, Literary 曲 (Qu), Lian Zhen, Martial Curve, Broken Army, Left Assistant, and Right弼 (Bi)."

"The Yin Mountains feature a configuration of a living dragon plus Literary Qu. For a mausoleum to satisfy even a single dragon and star already makes it a blessed land of prime geomancy."

At this point, Fang Nian shifted his tone and pointed toward the structures outside.

"However, some people are simply never satisfied with the status quo and always wish to possess the full array of Nine Dragons and Nine Stars even after death. Throughout history, especially among imperial mausoleums, the absolute best was Wu Zetian's tomb, which achieved a configuration of twin dragons and twin stars."

"Wait."

Cai Wenji suddenly interrupted Fang Nian.

"Who is this Wu Zetian you speak of? Is she also a sovereign? Yet ever since the Yellow Emperor down to the present day, it seems I have never heard of any emperor named Wu Zetian."

Fang Nian was taken aback. Only then did he remember that Wu Zetian was a female emperor of the Tang Dynasty. This was still the late Eastern Han Dynasty—they were not in the same era at all. For a moment, he felt awkward and could only fabricate an explanation on the spot.

"Ah... Wu Zetian was actually the ruler of a tribal nation. I misspoke."

Cai Wenji still looked at Fang Nian suspiciously, opening her mouth to question him further, but she was stopped by Jia Xu.

"Wenji, let him finish speaking."

Seeing that Jia Xu had spoken, Cai Wenji abandoned her intention to pursue the questioning and fell silent.

Two beads of cold sweat rolled down Fang Nian's forehead. He had not expected this young girl Cai Wenji to be so shrewd.

"It seems I need to be more careful with my words from now on."

Disregarding Cai Wenji, Fang Nian continued from his previous point.

"Therefore, theoretically speaking, a tomb of Nine Dragons and Nine Stars does not exist. It is merely the aspiration of emperors and the powerful."

"Consequently, building the symbolism of the Nine Dragons and Nine Stars into their tombs became their lifelong pursuit."