It was a lovely day with a blue sky. It seemed that nothing had been influenced by the dramatic martial art contests held in the capital of North Di the other day.
In a classical courtyard in the capital, the overhang eaves with style in Central Plains were built by gray tiles, which had the characteristics of regions south of the River. Under the eaves, a young lady was speaking with fervor and assurance.
“Now news from the Royal Palace shows that the Grand Khan of North Di had been dissatisfied with the excess Grand Prince’s aids and staff. He ordered that Grand Prince should dismiss his aids and staff in his mansion with half a year. In consequence, grumpy Grand Prince got out of control for the first time, which made Grand Khan more disgruntled. Now the Grand Khan had ordered the Grand Prince should be under house arrest and could not leave the mansion of Grand Prince for three months. Now it is the best time for us.”
Opposite Qin Yunuan, there was Leng Changxi, the god of war in Qi, and Wanyan Su, the prince of North Di. These two men who both had higher positions and were competitive now were listening to the analysis of Qin Yunuan. They nodded at times. And then a maidservant came with tea. Qin Yunuan turned back naturally when she heard the voice. But Yaqi, who served tea, shuddered, and the tea water was poured down without any noise. Luckily, Qin Yunuan moved agilely and avoided the water.
Her move astonished Wanyan Su. He opened his mouth widely and pointed at Qin Yunuan, “Madam Tuoba, your eyes…”
Leng Changxi sipped the tea calmly, “Just distinguish things by listening. I taught her.”
Qin Yunuan smiled at Wanyan Su. She was thirsty due to the long speech just now. She drunk half of the cup of tea, and then turned back to Wanyan Su and said, “Your Highness, can you finish what I said?”
Wanyan Su was hesitant for a while and then said seriously, “It’s OK to dispatch people to enter Yeren Valley when my elder brother is in weak power. But Yeren Valley is the trigger point of my father. If I do so, are you afraid that my father alienates me?”
Leng Changxi humphed, “The Grand Khan has alienated you already. He can’t alienate you more.”
The face of Wanyan Su was stiff, and then Qin Yunuan said slowly, “Grand Khan can’t agree under the common situation. But don’t you remember Song Lian beside Wanyan Ba?”
“The man from Qi?” Wanyan Su thought for a while and then said, “You guys want to bribe him? But my elder brother saved him before. You guys from Qi always think highly of the kindness of saving a life. So that’s why he was willing to serve my elder brother even if my elder brother abused him and mocked his identity.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Qin Yunuan smiled, “I heard that Song Lian not only knew much about war strategy and also could speak languages of all countries, even the ancient Qidan language. He is exactly our opportunity.”
Qidan had once been the largest power ruling the whole continent. Its territory reached West Xia to the west, East Qin to the east, North Di to the north and south of five ridges of Qi to the south. However, this powerful empire collapsed quickly due to the unknown internal dissension, which left many unsolved mysteries. And the legendary infinite treasure of this empire in its golden age was hidden in the history.
North Di had occupied the land, which was once the most important economic center and political center of Qidan. The Grand Khan of North Di had earlier searched for the treasure of Qidan at his young age but found nothing. He even did not figure out what the treasure exactly was.
The dominator had an endless desire for power and fortune. In this old age, the Grand Khan would dream for the treasure of Qidan at silent night. For instance, tonight.
The morning breeze blew with the fragrance of Sweet Olive, which was the perfume prepared by the imperial maidservants for calming the nerves of Grand Khan of North Di. He did not get up and heard some noises outside. He was too old to have a deep sleep and was woken up by those noises.
“Who is there?” Grand Khan of North Di was discontented, “Who dared to bother me in the morning?”
An imperial maidservant opened the door and entered quickly. She put a gown with silver-mouse patterns on him and answered, “It’s the ritual official. He said a big event happened in the north of the capital. It was said that a stone tablet was dug out when a family was laying the foundation of the house. There seemed to be ancient characters on the stone tablet. They believed that could prove the god’s will.”
The Grand Khan of North Di put on the gown and sat up at once. He said suddenly, “Ancient characters? Is there a scholar in the mansion of Grand Prince who knows many languages? Has the Grand Prince disbanded him away? Summon him into the imperial palace.”
The imperial maidservant curtseyed and quit at once. After a while, the news that an intelligent stone tablet with the god’s will was found in the capital spread all over the country. Compared with people of Qi who believed in Buddhism, people in North Di had their own beliefs. They believed in the god of the sun who granted their grassland, and the god of heaven who dominated the unseen world. For them, the god of heaven was the paramount immortal, and even the khan of the tribe and the Grand Khan of North Di were only his inferior official.
The news was spread more overwhelmingly. Numerous people had believed that that stone tablet was the will of the god of heaven, as the discussion about this issue became more passionate.
In the imperial court, Song Lian dressed like a scholar. He touched the blurry the raised characters through a piece of silk, which was so weird and could hardly understand by people.
After a long time, Song Lian raised his head and said to the Grand Khan of North Di, “If I am correct, the characters on the stone tablet must be the ancient Qidan language. Different from the stone tablet in North Di where the characters are sunken, characters in the stone tablet in Qidan are raised. From this difference, it can be concluded that the stone tablet is not from the present North Di.”
Everybody was cheered up when hearing that stone tablet was from ancient Qidan.
And somebody strove to ask, “What’s that on the stone tablet? What is god’s will?”
“Many characters are blurry,” Song Lian shook his head, “Only two words are clear. One is the treasure, and the other one is a place name called Snake Valley.”
Officials in the imperial court got more aroused. Is that the legendary treasure of Qidan? The Grand Khan had dispatched many people to search it but found nothing. Now is it the god’s willing that came and helped North Di?
“Snake Valley?” Prince Regent frowned, “There is no one valley called Snake Valley among the valleys in North Di, so, is the treasure in West Xia or Qi?”
“Uncle, you are wrong,” Wanyan Su said lightly, “Do you remember that my father has once been to a valley where there were so many poisonous snakes and miasma in high concentration, so he named the valley as Snake Valley.”
“Yes,” the Grand Khan nodded. He remembered that the Fourth Prince Wanyan Su in front of him was about seven to eight years old when he fought here and there. The little boy was the first one to come back when he heard that snakes bit his father in the Snake Valley. He sucked the poison out without any hesitation. He was too young, so he fainted just after he sucked the wound for a while. But that time, Wanyan Su felt a kind of warmth of family. He had not felt that warmth for so many years. The Great Khan looked at Wanyan Su affectionately with the eyes full of father’s love, “In that time, the Snake Valley I passed now is called Yeren Valley.”
The officials present suddenly were in an uproar. Though the treasure was so valuable, they also heard that the Yeren Valley was such an extremely dangerous place. And then all turned silent. The Grand Khan glanced at the people coldly, and then said suddenly, “What? You guys said you would search for the treasure for North Di to make our country more prosperous. Why do you guys become so silent?”
It would be dead for everyone to enter Yeren Valley. Everybody preferred to be cowards rather than heroes who would put them and their followers into danger.
Prince Regent pondered for a while and persuaded, “Brother, Yeren Valley is a tough terrain with few people. Everybody would die if they took the risk to enter the place. Even if they found the treasure of ancient Qidan, would the cost be worthy? I think…”
“Worthy!” A powerful male voice resounded in the court. Everybody looked for the voice and then found that it was from Wanyan Su, who stepped forward and stood at the front.
Wanyan Su was serious and was a little bit like the Grand Khan at his young age. He curtseyed, and half knelt, “I would like to go there.”
The Grand Khan of North Di widened his eyes, “Are you serious?”
Wanyan Su nodded solemnly. The eyes of the Grand Khan expressed a kind of delight. But all officials in the court got so surprised, and some of them even gloated. They seemed to wait for the tragic end of the rash Fourth Prince.
The news that the Grand Prince would replace the Grand Khan of North Di to go to Yeren Valley to search for the lost treasure of ancient Qidan quickly reached the mansion of the Fourth Prince. Qin Yunuan and Leng Changxi were the first couple to know the news. As they expected, the result was good.
Their initial plan was that since everybody feared Yeren Valley due to the gossip, a more attractive gossip was needed to make the Grand Khan became more expectation in Yeren Valley. The characters of ancient Qidan were easy. Though the ancestors of Lu Wuyi had been working as doctors in Qi, they had another forgotten identity. The surname of Lu came from ancient Qidan. It was so easy for Lu Wuyi to write the characters of ancient Qidan. As for the stone tablet, it was so effortless for Leng Changxi to put it into the foundation of that house.
The well-off plan was interrupted by the cry of a woman when Wanyan Su just entered the mansion.
With the fitful sob, a woman in bright red hugged Wanyan Su and stroked his chest.
“You are such a bastard. You are so heartless. Why do you want to go to that bloody place? You will die. Why are you so heartless to dump me?”
“Yasu.” Wanyan Su supported the woman. Yasu wailed, which made him so sad.
“Side Concubine, the Fourth Prince is to fight for the future. You should consider the situation for him.” Qin Yunuan suddenly appeared behind Wanyan Su and Yasu. Yasu turned angry immediately when she saw Qin Yunuan, “You don’t know how dangerous that place is. The Fourth Prince will die if he goes there. You can go there by yourself, and then you will find how hard it is.”
Qin Yunuan smiled, “Concubine, you are right. My husband and I will go there together with the Fourth Prince.”
