102: Chapter 102 Ancient Jade Underwater

Beneath the Tomb

After the initial shock wore off, the members of the Archaeological Team quickly regained their composure.

Slowly suppressing the doubts and the turbulent waves in their hearts, they once again focused their attention on this tomb.

In an instant, everyone couldn't help but gasp.

As it turned out, it wasn't just these long-burning Ever-Burning Lamps that made this great hall brightly lit.

High up in the palace, a Night-luminescent Pearl as large as a human head was embedded!

This Night-luminescent Pearl emitted a brilliant light, completely illuminating the entire hall with breathtaking beauty.

The sheer luxury of this hall once again stunned all the experts present.

Stepping into this great hall,

eight stone pillars carved with golden dragons stood tall within the hall; the golden dragons on each pillar were lifelike, as if they might fly off the pillars at any moment.

On both sides were countless hollowed-out walls, upon which many exquisite murals were carved.

The floor of the hall was paved with rosewood, and the main gate faced the deepest part of the hall—a glittering golden Dragon Throne!

The Dragon Throne sat atop high steps, making it seem as if this were a real imperial court.

Seated upon the Dragon Throne, Emperor Jiajing would have been able to look down upon the countless civil and military officials on the floor, holding everyone firmly in his grasp.

However, the most attractive feature was not this Dragon Throne.

It was the hollowed-out murals on the walls surrounding the hall.

The moment they saw these exquisite murals, all the experts were instantly captivated.

They all rushed to the walls and began observing these exquisite hollowed-out murals.

“This... this is simply too beautiful! Lifelike and clear at a glance!”

“Although modern mural techniques have completely surpassed ancient ones, back then, the ancients had to rely solely on their hands for everything. For their mural techniques to reach such a level is truly astonishing!”

“What supernatural craftsmanship! These murals are just too exquisite! This is a treasure of our Great Xia!”

...

The hands of everyone in the Archaeological Team trembled with excitement, and they couldn't stop marveling.

Although Professor Yang was equally excited, he was, after all, someone who had seen much of the world.

He finished viewing all the murals in silence and finally began to interpret them slowly:

“There isn't too much information carved on these murals!”

“Most of them depict Emperor Jiajing's grand ambition for eternal life and becoming an immortal; they all portray scenes of ascending to the heavens.”

Soon, the attention of the Archaeological Team members moved away from the murals.

There wasn't actually anything particularly special inside this great hall.

It was just an ordinary hall; there was nothing else that warranted more attention.

After wandering in the hall for a long time, the Archaeological Team found a passage at the back side of the hall.

It should be a passage leading to other parts of this palace.

Immediately, Old Professor Zhou did not hesitate at all and directly agreed to the Archaeological Team's request to enter.

The passage was different from the hall; it was pitch black.

The Archaeological Team was worried that the high temperature of torches would damage the cultural relics here, so they could only use flashlights for illumination.

After entering the passage, there were still gratings supported by rosewood.

Some patterns were hollow-carved on the window frames, which were extremely exquisite.

This passage was very long, and many candlesticks were embedded in the walls on both sides, but they were not like the Ever-Burning Lamps in the hall; none of them were lit.

The members of the Archaeological Team were very cautious after entering this hall.

They didn't dare to touch anything in the hall, nor did they dare to take it upon themselves to light these candles.

They simply held their flashlights and traversed through this long passage.

The passage was extremely spacious, and the floor was also paved with rosewood.

After walking for a long time, the group finally caught a faint glimpse of a door curtain deep within the passage.

A hint of joy appeared on everyone's faces.

They immediately quickened their pace.

Passing through the first door of the passage, everyone instantly smelled an extremely rich fragrance.

For a moment, the members of the Archaeological Team couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled.

“Such a strong fragrance!”

One of the team members exclaimed.

The other team members also chimed in, having smelled this rich fragrance as well.

The Archaeological Team looked inside again and suddenly discovered a gilded screen, painted with flowers, birds, insects, and fish, which was extremely exquisite.

Walking further ahead,

the Archaeological Team members suddenly discovered that behind the screen seemed to be a shallow pool.

Beside it were some wooden objects resembling clothes racks.

After observing for a while, Professor Yang slowly said:

“This should be an ancient bathroom!”

With that, the Archaeological Team members began to investigate within this bathroom.

There was nothing special in the bathroom; besides the screen, clothes racks, and a shallow pool, there was nothing else.

After investigating for a while, a team member suddenly spoke up in confusion, saying:

“But this fragrance... where exactly is it coming from?”

For a moment, the other team members were equally puzzled.

Because they had smelled an extremely rich fragrance as soon as they entered, but they didn't know where it was coming from.

Even Professor Yang found it a bit difficult to understand how to explain the origin of this fragrance.

The experts present followed the rich fragrance and began searching within the bathroom.

The beams of the flashlights swept across the hall one after another, slowly illuminating the pitch-black space.

But when a beam swept across the shallow pool, it suddenly stopped.

Professor Yang frowned slightly and looked into the shallow pool.

The bottom of the pool was naturally dry, so the scene at the bottom was clear at a glance.

Professor Yang discovered that an antique Green Jade of an extremely peculiar shape was embedded in the bottom of the pool.

In an instant, Professor Yang thought of something and hurriedly called out to those present, saying:

“Quick! Come here!”

This shout drew everyone from the Archaeological Team over.

In no time, everyone gathered around this shallow pool, with beams of flashlights shining on the bottom.

The members of the Archaeological Team also saw this Ancient Jade at the bottom of the pool.

Because the shallow pool was paved with glazed jade, it also held extremely high archaeological value.

Therefore, the members of the Archaeological Team did not rashly step into it, but merely crouched by the side of the shallow pool to examine it.

“This fragrance should be emanating from the bottom of this pool, right?”

One of the team members asked.

Professor Yang nodded slightly upon hearing this and said:

“Correct! It indeed comes from the bottom!”

Saying so, Professor Yang pointed to the Ancient Jade embedded in the bottom and spoke again:

“If I'm not mistaken, this Ancient Jade at the bottom is the source of the fragrance!”

“What?”

For a moment, the members of the Archaeological Team were somewhat stunned.

Ancient Jade?

Emanating fragrance?

These are two completely unrelated concepts!

How could Ancient Jade possibly emit such a rich fragrance?

Thinking this, everyone turned their questioning gazes toward Professor Yang.

...