The middle-aged man held a small wooden tablet and ran away happily. Another person ran over and bowed to the Earth Lord. Soon, he got a small wooden tablet with a map engraved on it.
“This Earth Lord sure is magical!” Li Xuan’s eyes widened when he saw this.
Wang Lu said with a smile, “Although Earth Lord doesn’t have a high status among immortals, he is quite capable. He knows everything about the land under his jurisdiction. He knows all the good things buried underground too. He also knows where there’s danger and the things not to be done. It can be said that he’s omniscient in a particular region. In ancient times, Earth Lord had a name-Kitchen God. That was a real god and he enjoyed a very high status.”
The trio wasn’t in a rush. After everyone was done paying their respects, Li Xuan walked to the statue of Earth Lord and plopped to his knees before kowtowing.
Indeed, Li Xuan also received a small wooden token.
“Sir and madam, how about that? Are you regretting not being born in Luoyang?” Li Xuan flaunted the wooden tablet to the duo.
“Earth Lord is most merciful. If I beg him, he might give me a map too?” Wang Lu walked to the statue of Earth Lord and bowed to the statue before saying, “Earth Lord, how benevolent are thee. Please give me a map too.”
“If begging works, what’s the point of having a household register? Besides, you aren’t being sincere. You didn’t even kowtow. All you did was bow. What’s the use of... Ah...” Li Xuan curled his lips. However, just as he finished speaking, he saw a small wooden tablet grow out of the ground. Instantly, his mouth dropped agape as he was at a loss for words.
Wang Lu happily took the wooden tablet and said to Zhou Wen, “Why don’t you try too? Perhaps Earth Lord might show his benevolence and give you a map too?”
Zhou Wen thought that it made sense. After all, Guide City, where he was born, wasn’t too far from Luoyang. Perhaps this Earth Lord had a greater area under his jurisdiction, so was Guide City also under his management?
He didn’t really suffer any losses bowing even if he wasn’t given a map.
Zhou Wen mimicked Wang Lu and stood in front of the Earth Lord statue. He pressed his palms together and bowed slightly at the statue.
“I can ignore Wang Lu’s good luck, but I just don’t believe that you can get a map like that,” Li Xuan said.
When Zhou Wen bowed, he suddenly heard the sound of rocks grinding. He saw the statue of the Earth Lord drift horizontally three feet away.
“What’s happening?” Li Xuan’s eyes widened as Wang Lu wore a look of surprise.
Zhou Wen didn’t know what was happening either, but when he saw a wooden plaque grow out of the ground, he reached out to pick it up.
“It looks like Earth Lord is quite a swell guy. He gave me a map too.” Zhou Wen took the wooden tablet and said to Li Xuan with a smile, “It looks like your Luoyang’s registration isn’t of much use.”
“Absurd.” Li Xuan looked at the Earth Lord statue that had moved three feet to the side, feeling extremely alarmed and puzzled.
Regardless of how one looked at it, it appeared as though the Earth Lord statue didn’t dare receive Zhou Wen’s bow. That was why it had moved away.
Wang Lu also sized up the Earth Lord statue and Zhou Wen in puzzlement.
The three of them walked out of the temple and were about to head to the main temple hall when they saw a group of soldiers enter the Town God’s Temple. The soldiers informed them that the area had been sealed by the military and ordered them to leave in an orderly fashion.
The trio had no choice but to leave Town God’s Temple. Li Xuan looked at the wooden token in his hand and saw that the map on it was very vague. It had the general terrain of rivers and mountains. Then, there was a red dot which labeled the treasure location.
If it wasn’t for a Luoyang native who was well-versed with the Luoyang terrain, it wouldn’t be easy finding the location on the map.
“You definitely won’t be able to tell where the map is pointing to. I’ll help you take a look,” Li Xuan said to Zhou Wen and Wang Lu.
Zhou Wen and Wang Lu handed their wooden tablets to him. Li Xuan was quite an expert in identifying the local terrain. He quickly helped them find the location. Furthermore, he marked it on the phone’s map app, making it convenient for them to seek out the treasure.
“Are we going to dig for treasures together or do we do it individually?” Li Xuan asked.
“Let’s go together. These places all require us to exit the city. It’ll be safer for us to be together,” Zhou Wen said.
“Alright. Mine is the nearest, so let’s dig mine first,” Li Xuan said as he summoned his Companion Beast mount.
Zhou Wen only had the White Shadow of Poison to ride on, but it was a little odd seeing it in broad daylight. Li Xuan’s ox-type mount was rather large so there was room for Zhou Wen.
Wang Lu summoned her tiger, sat on it, and followed behind.
The three of them passed through the city and attracted the envy of many ordinary citizens.
After leaving the city, Li Xuan dug for quite a while in a small forest in the suburbs. Li Xuan dug a hole that was four to five meters deep and finally found something.
It was a ceramic container that looked rather ancient. “Could there be gold hidden inside by the ancients?” Li Xuan said in excitement as he held the jar.
“It’s possible. Who knows, there might even be jewelry. Quick, open it and take a look.” Zhou Wen was somewhat curious as he urged Li Xuan to open it.
Li Xuan didn’t hesitate to open the jar. He saw that it was filled with copper coins that were in a badly rusted state. He took out one and pinched it, instantly shattering it from the decay.
“How did this happen?” Li Xuan was extremely depressed.
“Don’t ruin it. Those copper coins are likely to be antiques, right?” Zhou Wen said.
“Antiques might be valuable in a peaceful era, but in this era, who would spend money to buy antiques? With money, one would buy dimensional crystals and Companion Eggs. Besides, these copper coins are way too inferior in quality. They are almost deformed,” Li Xuan said.
However, he had gained something after all. Li Xuan still kept the jar in his bag. It wasn’t big and fitted his backpack perfectly.
Following that, they dug for Wang Lu’s treasure. Her treasure wasn’t too far from Li Xuan’s treasure. So with Li Xuan as an experienced local guiding them, they quickly arrived at the location.
It was by a small stream. Wang Lu flipped through the area a few times and when she flipped open a cobblestone, she immediately discovered a gem the size of a longan. It was crystal clear, like a cat’s eye.
“How beautiful.” Wang Lu was very fond of it. She washed it in the stream and played with it in her hand.
Zhou Wen’s map pointed to a forest beside the mountainous area. The trio traveled more than five kilometers before they reached the spot. Due to the dimensional zones nearby, the trio walked very carefully and deliberately circled and made a detour to avoid a dimensional zone.
“This is it,” Li Xuan said as he looked at the map and pointed to a bush.
Zhou Wen saw that there were only some weeds and nothing else. He planned on digging to see what he could dig out.
To their surprise, just as Zhou Wen approached, white smoke suddenly spewed out from the bush. It frightened the trio and they couldn’t help but retreat as they cautiously stared at the spot where the white smoke was emitting