Empress Of The Lost Kingdom

The entire excavation team gawked stupidly at Li Juan with their eyes widened and mouth agape.

How is that even possible? All of them were looking for a lock for half an hour, how come the door got open with Li Juan's touch? 

"How did you find it?" Cheng Tao asked, his eyes brimming in surprise. 

"I have seen it someone doing it." Li Juan replied casually, 

"Who?"

"Someone in my dream,"

Hearing her answer Su Wu and rest of their team member's expressions changed, how can someone actually dream about such things? Is that a joke?

"Really?" Bai Yu asked to confirm.

"Grandpa," Li Juan mouthed,

In reality, Su Wu was quite disappointed. How can he forget that their ancestors worshipped nature and applied the five elemental theory everywhere? 

Glancing at his gloomy face Li Juan couldn't help but smile a little.

"You were right, professor Su. These doors open only from inside...but for some reasons, they did a mechanism to open it from outside." She explained.

"But how did you do it?"

"The sun." Li Juan raised her gaze towards the sky.

"The palace faces South in order to honour the Sun. As per the theory, the five elements are divided into sixty life orders. The Sun comes under the fire life order,"

"And earth?"

"The Tu mountains. After Sun, the one who receives respect by the Yu clan is the greatest Tu mountain ranges which act as the protector of their home." 

Every palace in the mainland faces South in order to honour the Sun.

What she said was a common knowledge which everyone knew, but to use that knowledge and crack the mystery behind the giant entrance of Yu palace, only Li Juan's brain cells worked that way in the critical moment.

While everyone glanced at Li Juan with incredulous disbelief, Han Guang's lips curled up with a proud smile.

Of course, when it comes to cracking codes, there is no one better than Li Juan. She herself solved the route map, this simple lock is just a cakewalk for her. 

"Try opening it new," Li Juan suggested and moved away,

After wearing protective masks the workers pushed the slightly ajar stone door.

Once the door was open, they were immediately attacked by the musty smell of closed rooms.

The door opened into a long corridor, the warm sun rays pouring light over the lifelike murals carved on the stones walls all around, the exquisite and heavenly techniques making the characters depicted seemingly come alive. 

Han Guang and Su Wu, the team leaders of both teams stepped inside the palace and others followed them with immense excitement.

Li Juan and other excavation experts peered to see what was depicted upon the stone walls under the bright light. 

The entire stretch of the wall from the beginning to the end was covered with the murals. Instead of saying they were murals, it might be said that they were more like the history of the Yu clan and the geography of Yu kingdom.

The renowned Heaven on earth, the abode of the Jade emperor and other divinities, the Goddess mother nature and her children, every single story about Yu kingdom's creation was engraved on the walls.

One mural which piqued Li Juan's interest was the one where a group of ten people standing on three rows and bowing down before the Queen.

She gently touched the carvings with admiration.

The ten individuals symbolise the ten tribes of the Yu clan and the three rows represent their role in the clan, based on their skills.

The creators, the nurturers and the protectors.

The team walked for an entire half hour and they had just reached the end of one corridor before they found themselves looking down another endless pathway. Under that dim light, the pathway looked as if it stretched to no end, pillars and beams at regular intervals. 

"How enormous is this palace?" Mei Lin couldn't hide her bewilderment. When she heard that Ning Jing was going for an archaeological expedition, she could only think of some ruins of an old city.

But this was far beyond what she actually expected.

After walking for a fairly long time, they all finally came before a gigantic door made from jade.

The door was just enormous, bigger than any of the other doors they had seen, even bigger than the entrance.

The door was made up of two panels, made from a single gigantic block of jade. If they did not see it with their own eyes, no one could have imagined that such a single block of jade existed under the Heavens.

The jade door was inlaid with gold that formed a golden emblem, with five different coloured precious gems in the size of a chicken's egg set within, looking highly lavish and magnificent.

The five gemstones which are connected in a circle- the symbol of the Yu clan.

Remembering Li Juan's previous actions, Su Wu pressed the red and black gemstones in the circle, with a loud rumbling sound the door opened into pitch darkness.

Meng Yu, who was the excavation supervisor of Yun city team, who was familiar with the architectural style of the Yu clan, placed the door in a particular angle.

The sun rays came from the corridor got reflected on the gemstones and scattered all-around, illuminating the entire place with white light.

Compared to the pillared corridor, they had passed before, this one before their eyes was much brighter and cleaner and from the walls to the floor slabs, they were all formed up with white bricks. 

"It's Jade!!!!!" Cheng Tao said in a bemused voice. The Jade, which is considered as the most valuable gemstone in the mainland, it was used as bricks to make the walls in the palace.

"Take a look at the stones in the wall," Someone cried out and turned everyone's attention to the shiny stones which brought light into the giant hall.

It was diamonds and other precious gemstones which reflected lights.

"This is insane," Cheng Tao was the only one who shamelessly let out the thoughts in his mind. Others in the excavation team couldn't even believe whether they are dreaming or what.

Such wealth.

Even one brick or a diamond from the wall could make a person, billionaire in a short time. 

Gold and silver in this place would no longer be deemed as precious as the more highly prized gemstones and rare jewels could be seen everywhere, used to decorate the interior.

"No wonder, it was hidden from outsiders." Han Guang muttered under his breath. If anyone came to know about such a treasure trove, people would have lost their minds.

Even people from Yu clan was amused with the sight of precious items in the room. They were aware of the wealth held by the current Yu palace, but this was fifty times more of that.

If this was the state of one single room, then what about the rest of the palace?

The wealth the Yu palace held, was not something an average person could even begin to imagine.

"Who is going to own all this?" A sudden thought emerged on Lee Tae Min's mind as he examined the perplexed expressions plastered on the people in the room.

"There is no proper evidence regarding the descendants of the Yu clan. If anyone exists, a huge portion will be given to them." Han Guang said flatly, "In the absence of true owners, all these will be transferred to the government vaults. Since we are the one's who discovered it, we might get 10-25 per cent,"

"Professor, it makes really wonder whether things explained in the history books are true," Lee Tae Min was indeed curious to know about the truth about Yu palace. 

"Hmm?" Han Guang raised his brows in query.

"In the historical records, it was written that Guan empire which had countless gold fields and metal deposits are the richest in the mainland. Why no one mentioned about this place?"

"Even though Yu kingdom is filled with treasures, it had no value for the people who lived there." Meng Yu who silently stood beside took an initiative to answer that question.

Lee Tae Min who got puzzled by the ambiguity of the statement stared at Meng Yu with dubiety.

"They didn't believe in any material things, for them, family, happiness and peace were the biggest treasures one could own."

"So nobody owned these treasures?"

"Well, if you ask like that, then every single living being, the plants, the rivers, every single pebble in this land belonged to one person," Meng Yu paused and took a look at the throne in the hall,

"The Queen, the mother of Yu clan and protector of Yu kingdom."

While everyone was busy checking at the marvels in the room, two people appeared out of the picture.

One was Li Juan, whose eyes were fixed on the emerald green throne at the end of the hall. The other one was Liang, who got eyes only for the woman who appeared more bedazzling than the countless jewels in the room.

Li Juan walked towards the throne in steady steps, for her the whole hall room felt oddly familiarly.

In her mind, the images of a beautiful woman flashed continuously.

For a moment, she felt that she saw a woman adorned in "phoenix gown" seated on the emerald green Jade Throne. On the top of her head, a crown embellished with five coloured gemstones and phoenix rested majestically,

"Do you wish to sit there, princess?" Liang gently nudged her shoulders and whispered in her ears.

"It's yours..."

Li Juan woke up from her trance-like state and smiled at the man who stood next to her with affectionate eyes.

"It's like a déjà vu. I feel like I've already been here." Her big black eyes glittered in happiness. 

Since everyone was going crazy over the valuables and wasting their precious time Su Wu decided to move on to other places.

"Supervisor Meng," Su Wu called out in a loud voice, "Let's split into two groups and explore the palace."

-------------------------

The two teams were divided into four groups and explored the rest of the palace complex.

Instead of separate buildings for palace officials, entire palace complex was interconnected with each other like a giant maze.

Even though Li Juan was excited to see the palace complex, she wished to visit the southern wing of the palace, where the chambers of princess situated,

The chamber which opens to the dragon river and the waterfall.

Li Juan along with her team finally reached the princess chambers and she couldn't hide the trembling of her heart.

It was the place where Bai Yu Yue used to live.

"This is the princess's room," She told Liang in an elated tone,

"The last king had two daughters and this is where the second daughter used to live."

Li Juan opened the window and she could see the waterfall and gently flowing river which originated from the mountains.

While she was immersed in the scenic view outside the room, the rest of the excavation team reached the room.

"Let's go to the other side," Upon the sight of Tang Wei Sheng's darkened face, Liang suggested.

"Wait," Li Juan stopped him and walked towards a corner of the wall. 

There was an arrangement of five elemental symbols in the stones in the wall.

If her memory was clear, there is a secret passage behind this wall. She tried to check her luck. 

She carefully pressed the five symbols. 

With a growling sound, the stone next to the symbol got opened and a secret passage is revealed.

"How many mysteries are hidden in this place?" Su Wu asked in a surprised voice.

Li Juan took her torch and stepped into it. 

"I will go first." Liang stopped her and suggested."It is an age an old passageway. What if there is a danger?" His eyes were filled with concern, 

Li Juan nodded in agreement and allowed him to lead the way. 

Every single member of the Yun city team followed them one by one.

"Professor should we check the rest of the palace or," Tae Min asked in doubt.

"What are we waiting for Professor? Let's follow them.What if they find the treasure?" Cheng Tao commented.

"Let's go," Han Guang followed them into the passageway.