Mountain Looting: Targeted by a Leopard at the Start
Chapter 168 - 167: Do You Want to Hear What You Are Saying?

Chapter 168: Chapter 167: Do You Want to Hear What You Are Saying?

The live stream started.

The mountains were a blanket of red, every layer of the forest dyed.

This season’s forest was not just about yellowing leaves, but mostly consisted of withered yellow leaves, with some beginning to turn red.

Suddenly seeing it this way felt quite shocking.

That’s the nature of scenery.

For instance, mountain views, grassland landscapes, snow scenes—if you see them every day, you soon become indifferent, even a bit weary.

But if you haven’t seen them for a long while, and suddenly do, you immerse yourself in the beauty.

Xu Yang was in the mountains, surrounded by trees, and no longer very sensitive to the scenery, but breathing the slightly cool air in the forest made him feel refreshed and delighted.

The audience, however, was extremely excited.

[The scenery here is so beautiful!]

[Wow, the trees look like they’ve been dyed with warm tones, feels so gentle!]

[Like a painting!]

[This landscape is really nice, what place is this?]

[Judging from the age of these trees, they are all at least a hundred years old; he must be deep in the mountains!]

[This is definitely deep mountains!]

Some people seemed to know their stuff, able to judge the condition of the forest.

In fact, no judgment was needed, because as Xu Yang walked on, he saw a group of foolish roe deer run by not far away.

And if he walked further inside, there would be other animals.

Seeing animals meant he was definitely deep in the ancient forest.

Xu Yang planned to go to one or several new places today, use the Treasure Compass to search and see what good things he could find.

The items located by the Compass system could roughly determine the crop growth conditions in an area.

"I need to hurry deeper inside."

"Ahead there’s a large mountain range, that area belongs to a Northeast Tiger I know."

"It’s the one I recognize."

"It’s in its prime, so probably no animals dare provoke it."

"It’s relatively safer inside that mountain."

"Otherwise, if I encounter other Northeast Tigers..."

"Hard to say."

As Xu Yang made his way, he mentioned this to his online friends.

Hard to say?

Everyone was slightly astonished.

[Old Xu, what’s there to hesitate about? Isn’t it just over for you?]

[If you encounter another Northeast Tiger, just stare at it; at least you’d die a glorious death!]

[Better be careful though!]

Many people responded.

After walking for a while, Xu Yang soon reached a rather desolate area.

The place was sparse with trees, the terrain undulating and irregular.

Thinking to check the situation first, Xu Yang decided to use the Treasure Compass.

The invisible compass scanned around.

Soon, the compass tagged the located spot.

Having not used the Treasure Compass to hunt for treasures in a long time, Xu Yang felt somewhat expectant.

He made his way toward the marked treasure location.

He hoped it would be valuable items like musk or ginseng, or perhaps perennial Polygonum multiflorum, or any other precious herbs.

But upon arriving at the target, Xu Yang was somewhat taken aback.

This place was mostly just some sparse weeds, with most of the area being flat land with no crops.

"Huh?"

Xu Yang felt puzzled.

If there were any herbs or plants, Xu Yang could have determined what the Treasure Compass had located based on the types of plants.

But now, this area was bare, scattered with rocks, and didn’t seem to contain anything valuable.

The item located by the Treasure Compass was 1 meter deep.

This depth might not seem much if one were looking upwards, but for digging downwards, it was extremely deep.

"What’s going on, what’s down there?"

"This deep?"

Xu Yang thought to himself, but did not show his confusion.

He made his way to the treasure area, stood on the bare ground, and observed for a while but couldn’t make out any signs.

Then, he decided to start digging.

However, he turned the drone camera around first.

One meter deep is indeed very deep, and for any mountain runner, finding mountain goods at such a depth was absolutely fantastical.

Even crops that grow in the ground don’t reach that deep.

Xu Yang took out a small shovel and began digging directly.

There was no excavator, otherwise it would have been a matter of a couple of scoops.

The camera filmed the distance.

Xu Yang thought the digging would take a long time, and it wasn’t feasible to keep filming like this. He told the online friends that the signal wasn’t good and might need to disconnect for a while.

He would continue the live stream half an hour later.

Then, Xu Yang temporarily closed the live stream.

He continued digging in the deep forests.

This was a very deep mountain.

Entering took a long time.

Xu Yang didn’t know what was hidden underneath this empty land.

"Might be a meteorite, with so many years passing, meteorites must have fallen on the mountain and then got buried deeper due to tectonic movements."

"There are many rocks underground that have been buried for who knows how many years, so having one or two meteorites is also normal."

Xu Yang made a rough guess.

He was quite experienced.

Luckily, the soil of this land was not too hard, not too compacted, making it easy to dig.

As Xu Yang kept digging down, he quickly dug deeper and deeper.

"This land is nice, the soil is quite soft, suitable for planting something."

"Plants would easily take root."

"However, being distant from water sources makes it relatively difficult, and there are no trees around to retain moisture, so survival can only be ensured by rainfall."

Xu Yang was, after all, a professional at cultivating land.

Even while digging, he didn’t forget to analyze whether the land was suitable for cultivation.

But cultivation wasn’t feasible in the mountains, at most one could scatter some ginseng seeds and come back after twenty or thirty years to see if any ginseng had grown.

Xu Yang continued to dig deeper.

The task was very physically demanding.

But having pinpointed the treasure, he felt uneasy not digging; he couldn’t just let the treasure remain buried.

As he shoveled the dirt, time passed, and Xu Yang was finally about to reach the treasure.

He deliberately slowed his digging pace, becoming cautious.

To prevent any damage.

Eventually, he even started digging with his hands.

When his fingers cautiously sifted through the soil and touched a hard object, Xu Yang was also surprised.

It was a belt that had almost entirely rotted away, except for a jade pendant carved with a dragon in the middle of the belt.

The frame that housed the jade pendant seemed to be made of copper, but it had almost completely corroded, leaving only a rough outline.

"What the?"

"What is this?"

Xu Yang was a bit stunned.

The mountain really had everything! A belt buried one meter underground?

Xu Yang carefully picked up the belt; it had completely broken apart and was not intact except for the jade pendant in the middle.

Jade, being a type of stone and the essence of stone, was well-preserved.

It looked even more beautiful against the copper frame.

"This can’t be from the East Xia, an artifact from eight hundred years ago."

"I remember a few years ago, there was news that a tomb from the Dong Xia Dynasty was discovered in Changbai Mountain."

"Though not as famous as Qinling, this area is also considered a geomantically treasured site, so there are some tombs in the mountains."

Xu Yang felt somewhat shocked.

There were tombs in the mountains.

Not the kind of tomb filled with mechanisms as described in ’Tomb Raider Notes,’ but a legitimate tomb buried with human remains and funerary objects.

A few years ago, archaeologists discovered a major tomb in Changbai Mountain, it’s a pity that the tomb had long been looted.

It was said to be the tomb of the King of Ten Thousand Slaves, and they even called the author of ’Tomb Raider Notes’ for a chat, but they just questioned him and then let him go.

With that said, if there are tombs in the mountains, there definitely could be relics from the East Xia era.

Which corresponds to the Liao and Jin period.

"Right now, it seems only Qing Dynasty antiques are freely tradable, Ming Dynasty items are already restricted."

"Going further back, trading is not allowed, finding such items is considered a serious crime."

"That means, I either keep it or hand it in, and those appraisers would suggest the same for any Liao and Jin artifacts."

Xu Yang picked up the waist belt jade, carefully wrapped it in a bag, and then placed it in the inner mesh compartment of his backpack.

To have a piece of jade at the center of a belt, it definitely belonged to nobility.

Perhaps even the royal family.

Antiques, the more valuable they were in the past, the more valuable they will be in the future.

Those that weren’t valuable in the past, even after a thousand years, are still not valuable, worth maybe just a couple thousand.

This piece of waist belt jade clearly belonged to the former category.

This item could only be kept as a collectible, Xu Yang had no immediate plans to sell it and would see about that later.

However, if it were genuine, this item’s value could possibly be several million or more.

More expensive than all his assets combined.

A genuine antique is just this lucratively valuable.

"I should just keep steady for now, can’t trade it, even if I find a way to sell it, a sudden large unexplained sum of money would be noticed."

Nowadays, with the rule of law society, supervision is strict.

Having a few million or tens of millions unexpectedly appear in your account could likely lead to investigation.

Then next, it would be jail time and tears behind bars.

"However, it’s always good to keep it."

"No matter what, this is a treasure."

Xu Yang began to refill the dirt with his shovel.

He had to restore the land to its original state, burying the hole to avoid leaving traces.

This piece of waist belt jade wasn’t even in a tomb, it was just lying alone in the soil, its past unknown.

Perhaps it was left by tomb raiders; perhaps it was discarded by the royalty of East Xia themselves.

History cannot be replayed, but the items are genuinely real.

In a strict sense, this item should be turned in, but turning it in would just mean giving it to someone else, so it might as well be kept for oneself.

Not trading it means no trouble; nobody would know how it came to be.

"After returning, I must store it well; this is yet another heirloom, perhaps useful in the future."

Xu Yang thought to himself.

No matter what, entering the mountain today was a promising start.

Initially planning to use the Treasure Compass for a casual search, the result turned out to be a treasure indeed.

One could only say that the mountain is full of surprises.

About ten minutes later, Xu Yang felt it was about time, and he turned the live stream back on.

"Sorry, the signal was poor, the stream was interrupted."

"Now, continuing the live stream," Xu Yang told his audience.

The viewers didn’t mind, and nobody knew what had actually happened during the offline period.

They only saw that the scenery was still beautiful, with the late autumn solitude and the age-old feel of the deep mountains rushing towards them.

Xu Yang walking alone in the woods, appeared even more dashing.

"The area I am currently in is a tiger’s territory."

"Tigers have large territories and like to scout them; the probability of encountering one is very low."

"I am relatively safe moving around in this area."

At this moment, Xu Yang commented again.

The online viewers didn’t quite know what to say anymore.

A tiger’s territory, relatively safe.

Do you hear what you’re saying?