144: The star map is the key; the west points to Jinshan.

[Confirm consumption of 300,000 reputation points to purchase "Basic Ancient Astronomical Knowledge"?]

The cold system prompt echoed in Lin Feng's mind.

"Confirm."

Lin Feng's intent did not waver for a moment.

reputation points could be earned back, but this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity must not be missed!

The moment he confirmed, a vast and sophisticated torrent of information surged into his brain!

In an instant, Lin Feng's entire world changed!

An incomparably magnificent star chart slowly unfolded in the depths of his consciousness.

The Heavenly Market Enclosure, the Supreme Palace Enclosure, and the Purple Forbidden Enclosure! The Three Enclosures were like palaces, guarding the center of the sky.

The Seven Mansions of the Azure Dragon in the East: Jiao, Kang, Di, Fang, Xin, Wei, and Ji!

The Seven Mansions of the Black Tortoise in the North: Dou, Niu, Nü, Xu, Wei, Shi, and Bi!

The Seven Mansions of the White Tiger in the West: Kui, Lou, Wei, Mao, Bi, Zui, and Shen!

The Seven Mansions of the Vermilion Bird in the South: Jing, Gui, Liu, Xing, Zhang, Yi, and Zhen!

The twenty-eight mansions surrounded the celestial sphere, each with its own duty.

The names of the star officials, the meanings of the stars, the territories of the Nine Provinces corresponding to the celestial divisions... The more than 1,400 stars in the Song of the Sky Pacers were no longer rigid symbols.

They came alive!

In his mind, they constructed a complete, rigorous, and constantly operating model of the universe!

With his eyes closed, Lin Feng felt as if he had become that Astronomical Official from a fallen nation seven hundred years ago.

He stood on the high stargazing platform, looking up at the vast starry sky he had spent his life in awe of.

This was a legacy, a resonance of knowledge spanning across time and space!

When Lin Feng opened his eyes again, the entire world in his vision seemed to have an invisible "astrological filter."

He looked down again at the Bronze Scroll on the table.

Buzz!

The astrolabe in his mind spun rapidly.

Those cryptic, heavenly script-like characters, at this moment, saw the mist dissipate!

Every word and every symbol became clear and easy to understand!

"'The dragon rises from Taibai, lurking in the lou mansion...'"

Lin Feng whispered the phrase again, his voice filled with the confidence of someone who understood everything.

His brain, like a precision instrument that had been silent for many years, was instantly activated and began to run frantically.

"Taibai is the ancient name for Venus, corresponding to the West in the Five Elements. The lou mansion is the second mansion of the White Tiger of the West. This sentence means that the starting point of the dragon vein is within the territory corresponding to the lou mansion in the West!"

"Brother Feng! You've got it!"

Wang Dalong had been staring intently at Lin Feng. He was so excited he almost jumped up, but fearing he might disturb him, he could only keep his voice low.

Lin Feng ignored him, his finger sliding across the Bronze Scroll as his eyes locked onto the next line.

"'On the day of Gengshen, where the canis major points, the bi star serves as the guide...'"

"The Gengshen day is the time of burial. The canis major is a star official within the Shen Mansion; its direction is the orientation! The bi star is the main star of Taurus and is also one of the Seven Mansions of the White Tiger of the West. Here, it serves as the most important positioning reference!"

Lin Feng's fingers slid rapidly across the mottled star charts on the Bronze Scroll.

The spinning astrolabe in his mind quickly overlapped, compared, and deduced with the patterns before his eyes!

Coordinate parameters were constantly generated in his mind, and then constantly excluded.

Wang Dalong watched from the side, dazzled, not even daring to breathe loudly.

He only felt that at this moment, Lin Feng exuded the radiance of a wise man.

Finally, Lin Feng's finger stopped.

His gaze fell on the final prophetic line.

"...falling on the sunny side of the Jin Mountains, returning to the source of the Black Water."

As he interpreted this sentence word by word, his finger also pressed heavily on the end of the Bronze Scroll.

A place name that had been hidden for more than seven hundred years exploded clearly in his mind like a clap of thunder!

"Altay Mountains."

Lin Feng looked up and uttered those two words.

"What's that?" Wang Dalong suddenly leaned in, his face full of question marks. "Altay Mountains? The one in Xinjiang?"

"Yes!" Lin Feng's eyes were sharp. "Jin Mountains is the ancient name for the Altay Mountains! It was commonly used by the Yuan Dynasty officials! 'The sunny side of the Jin Mountains' refers to the southern foothills of the Altay Mountains!"

"Then... what about the Black Water?" Wang Dalong pressed. "Isn't it the Heilongjiang River?"

"No!" Lin Feng denied it categorically. "In ancient northwestern dialects and Turkic languages, 'Hara' or 'Kara' means black! Look at the map again. There is an important tributary that originates from the southern foothills of the Altay Mountains and eventually flows into the Irtysh River. What is it called?"

Wang Dalong was stunned by the question.

Lin Feng directly announced the answer.

"Kuergan River! Its ancient name was the 'Kara-Irtysh River'! Translated, it means the 'Black Irtysh River'!"

The sunny side of the Jin Mountains! The source of the Black Water!

All the clues were completely unlocked at this moment by a key named "Astronomical Knowledge"!

They were linked into a complete chain of evidence!

"The Kherlen River and the Kuergan River. Heh, the ancient texts probably confused these two places. Two rivers with similar pronunciations caused such a huge misunderstanding."

The final coordinates of all this are—

Northern Xinjiang, Altay Mountains, Kuergan River basin!

"Holy crap!!"

Wang Dalong was completely dumbfounded. After reacting, he slapped his thigh in excitement, grimacing in pain but unable to stop himself from laughing wildly.

"So! The real Mausoleum of Genghis Khan, that 'Qinian Valley,' isn't in Mongolia at all, nor is it in the Liupan Mountains. Damn it, it's in Altay, Xinjiang!"

He hurriedly pulled out his phone, his fingers trembling as he opened the map to find the distance from the Liupan Mountains to the Altay Mountains.

"Brother Feng! Look!" Wang Dalong shoved his phone in front of Lin Feng, his voice trembling. "From Guyuan, Ningxia to Altay, Xinjiang, the straight-line distance is over two thousand kilometers! If you factor in those crappy ancient roads, taking two or three months is perfectly reasonable!"

"Doesn't this perfectly match the records in the Compendium of Chronicles written by the Persian historian? 'It took nearly three months'! It all matches up!"

Lin Feng nodded heavily.

The mist of history was finally blown away at this moment.

The Southern Song Dynasty envoy received incomplete information, only knowing that the party had traveled for "three days," so he thought it was the destination.

But the chronicler far away in Persia received news of the entire journey back north from the Liupan Mountains! From Ningxia to the distant Altay Jin Mountains, it took nearly three months!

The blood-and-tears last words of a Han Astronomical Official and the constellation code on a Bronze Scroll had perfectly unified these two contradictory records that had been debated for hundreds of years!

"Kublai Khan... was truly a ruthless man." Lin Feng's tone was filled with complex emotions.

"He ostentatiously established a fake mausoleum in Ordos and set up the 'Eight White Yurts,' attracting the world's attention for seven hundred years!"

"This was a world-shaking open scheme!"

"Yet the real mausoleum was encrypted with the knowledge of a Han captive and silently hidden deep in the Altay Jin Mountains, over two thousand kilometers away!"

"An open scheme and a hidden hand, double insurance! Brilliant! Truly brilliant!"

Wang Dalong's heart was racing as he listened.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" He grabbed his backpack and started stuffing things inside. "Book the tickets! Let's go to Xinjiang!"

Lin Feng was equally unable to suppress this impulse.

He immediately picked up his phone to check for flights to Altay.

The two of them quickly packed their things, wrapped the Bronze Scroll in layers, and stuffed it into the most hidden compartment of the backpack.

After checking repeatedly and confirming everything was correct, they checked out of their room and walked toward the elevator pulling their suitcases.

In the elevator, the two looked at each other, both seeing the irrepressible excitement in the other's eyes.

Ding—

With a soft sound, the elevator doors slowly slid open to both sides.

The bright, soft light of the lobby flooded in instantly.

Lin Feng and Wang Dalong pulled their suitcases and were about to step out.

However, their feet stopped simultaneously just a step away from the elevator entrance, as if they had been hit by a freezing spell.

Their bodies froze instantly.

In the sofa area directly facing the elevator entrance in the lobby, a tall woman wearing a cream-white slim-fit suit was holding a cup of coffee, quietly looking out the window.

She seemed to hear the elevator chime and slowly turned her head.

A pair of clear and bright eyes, as if they could see through people's hearts, met the gazes of Lin Feng and Wang Dalong precisely across a few meters.

Jiang Wanqing!

Why was she here?!

Seeing them, a hint of well-timed surprise flashed across Jiang Wanqing's face, which then turned into a knowing smile.

She gracefully put down her coffee cup, stood up, and walked straight toward the two frozen at the elevator entrance with her long legs.

Her high heels clicked on the marble floor, making a crisp "tap, tap, tap" sound. Each step seemed to beat against Lin Feng and Wang Dalong's hearts.

"Mr. Lin, Mr. Wang."

Jiang Wanqing walked up to them and stopped, a flawless business smile on her face.

"What a coincidence. Looking at you two, are you planning to... leave?"