Please, everyone, stop urging for updates. I'm putting aside drafts to observe the Mid-Autumn Festival.

After all, the author is only human, not some transcendent immortal, and always has family obligations. It’s just for this middle period, and it will pass quickly.

Please support me with monthly votes. Little Fatty Pang Yue had already confirmed there was nothing valuable in the ruined temple.

Yet, people possess this mindset: even when they know a situation is hopeless, they won't easily give up the notion, insisting on checking it out themselves before finally abandoning the "what if" thought. "I'll go take a look." Just like that, Yu Feibai dropped the words and strode into the dilapidated temple.

On his way in, he had already put on thick cloth gloves and started the back-breaking work of moving bricks. Of course, one shouldn't expect a rich, handsome man to move bricks for long.

After stubbornly persisting for about five or six minutes, Yu Feibai gave up, returning with a helpless shrug, "As expected, there's nothing here." "Then forget about it." Wang Guan nodded gently. While Yu Feibai was moving bricks, Wang Guan had also quietly activated his special ability, meticulously scanning the temple and its surroundings, inside and out, several times before ceasing.

Wang Guan felt a degree of disappointment with the result. But it was understandable; just as Pang Yue had said, the archaeological team had dug here for over a month.

They weren't novices, and they were meticulous, caring little for the value of the items. Even a small pottery shard would be carefully bagged and taken back for serious study.

During times of chaos, a few proverbs circulated among the common people: thieves come like a comb, soldiers come like a rake, and officials come like a razor. Thinking about it carefully, this saying seemed entirely applicable to the archaeological team.

Once the archaeological team has been through a site, they surely strip it cleaner than any tomb robber, leaving no chance for others to pick up any overlooked treasure. Thinking this, Wang Guan pondered: if the Chixiao Sword was indeed hidden in the ruined temple, might the archaeological team have found it and taken it away?

He’d have to ask Elder Hou about it when he had time. If that were the case, he should simply give up that hope.

After all, for a famous sword like the Chixiao, once it fell into the hands of the state, there would be absolutely no reason to hand it over to an outsider. "I was hoping to dig up a mansion or something," At this moment, Yu Feibai sighed in disappointment.

"I didn't expect this place to be an abandoned village. Actually, this area isn't bad.

It has mountains and water, and the terrain at the foot of the mountain is relatively flat; they should have been able to develop farmland. Why did they move away for no apparent reason?" "Earthquakes, landslides." Pang Yue knew the reason and explained with a soft sigh beside them.

"This area isn't far from Shu, so it was affected by the tremors and naturally suffered." "For everyone's safety, the government relocated the villagers. Furthermore, this ruined temple only emerged with one corner showing due to the earthquake and subsequent mudslides, which drew everyone's attention and led to the arrival of the archaeological team." As he spoke, Pang Yue's tone was filled with envy.

"I heard they excavated many things. Items from the Three Kingdoms period to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, all incredibly precious and rare." "So that's how it was," Wang Guan said thoughtfully, suddenly asking, "By the way, do you know where the villagers were relocated?" "Why are you asking about that?" Pang Yue seemed surprised.

"I didn't really pay attention..." "If they were to move, it would be a collective relocation, probably not very far," Yu Feibai remarked casually. "It might be nearby.

We can search around later. Ah, what a pity.

If only we had been here when they were moving." "That makes sense." Pang Yue wholeheartedly agreed. Anyone who has experienced moving house knows that during the process of packing and unpacking boxes, there are often unexpected surprises—finding items one has long searched for but never located.

There's also the marvel of discovering, 'Wow, I actually owned something like this!' This is true even when one person moves house; imagine moving an entire village. For dozens of households, it wouldn't be strange for each to possess one or two antiques.

If an antique dealer were nearby to purchase them opportunely, the villagers would likely be happy to sell. It lightens their burden and brings in a small profit—why not?

"By the time I learned about this, they had already finished moving," Pang Yue deeply regretted. Speaking of which, the man was quite forward.

Despite this being their first meeting, he acted as if they had known each other for many years, showing no restraint whatsoever. And he managed this balance perfectly: not too eager to raise suspicion or annoyance, but rather like spring rain nourishing things silently, never causing offense.

Of course, not being offended didn't mean he wasn't wary. The principle of only speaking three parts of what one knows is an old cliché.

But why has it endured? The reason is simple: words may become outdated, but truth never does.

Therefore, Yu Feibai couldn't fully trust Pang Yue and didn't engage with the conversation. Instead, he looked at Wang Guan and frowned, "Things didn't go as expected.

Let's search the immediate vicinity first. If there’s no harvest, we’ll head back." "Agreed," Wang Guan nodded in affirmation.

At the same time, Pang Yue became anxious, asking with eager eyes, "Wait, sirs... sirs...

could you possibly take me along too?" "Is your car really broken?" Yu Feibai sounded somewhat skeptical. "Broken, truly broken," Pang Yue nodded hastily.

"It won't start at all; maybe the clutch is shot." "Oh, is that so?" Yu Feibai glanced at Wang Guan, leaving the decision to him. Truthfully, if he were alone here, he wouldn't bother with whether the little fatty's car was genuinely broken or not; he’d likely drive off immediately.

Wang Guan considered it. Since they had met, it felt wrong to completely abandon him, but he still hesitated slightly.

"You heard the situation. We still need to circle the area before heading back to the county town..." "No problem, no problem," Pang Yue caught the unspoken reservation and quickly chuckled, "I’m quite familiar with this area; I can guide you.

Wait for me; I'll go push the car out." As he spoke, as if afraid the two might change their minds, Pang Yue hurried back into the village. "So kind of you," Seeing this, Yu Feibai offered a casual warning, "Take it easy later; don't fall into a trap." It wasn't that Yu Feibai was overly suspicious or assuming the worst of the man; it was just that human nature is unpredictable, and one must guard against it.

Although most people in the world are fundamentally kind, there are always a few black sheep. Due to various reasons, they vent their dissatisfaction onto innocent people, acting with utter madness.

Though the little fatty didn't look like that kind of person, one can know a person's face but not their heart. Having a bit of caution is never harmful.

Caution keeps one safe for ten thousand years—that is also a universal truth, a lesson learned from the accumulated experiences of the world. "I know," Wang Guan understood the reasoning and didn't feel Yu Feibai's reminder was superfluous.

However, seeing Pang Yue struggling to push the car, Wang Guan felt a pang of sympathy. He called out to Yu Feibai and slowly drove the car into the village, intending to lend a hand.

"Knowing doesn't mean you listen..." Yu Feibai muttered under his breath and followed after them. The mountain village was filled with crumbled walls and ruins blocking some paths.

So they inevitably had to take detours, which felt slower than walking. Moreover, don't let the fact that the mountain village only had thirty or forty households fool you into thinking the village was small; that's an illusion.

After all, a village is not a city where one house equals one household. For mountain villagers, a home wasn't just the house; it included the surrounding land— perhaps a small orchard for fruit trees, or a cleared patch for drying things.

In any case, front, back, left, and right, there needed to be some open space as an extension of the dwelling. Thus, even if some of the few dozen households were close together, many others were spaced far apart.

This situation naturally expanded the overall footprint of the mountain village considerably. After navigating through the village a few times, Yu Feibai seemed to spot something and urgently called out, "Wang Guan, look over there..." "What is it?" Wang Guan drove slowly.

He turned back and saw in the direction Yu Feibai was pointing: a building constructed of blue bricks and black tiles, appearing solemn and grand. "Oh," Glancing at it, Wang Guan was surprised.

"It looks like an ancestral hall." "Very likely," Yu Feibai said with great interest. "Should we go take a look?" "It's someone else's ancestral hall, and they’ve surely moved all the ancestral tablets out by now.

What's there to see?" "You can't say that. Perhaps there's a clue..." Seeing that Yu Feibai was already heading toward the ancestral hall, Wang Guan didn't argue further and naturally followed.

As for little Fatty Pang Yue... well, he was pushing his car, so let him keep pushing.

A moment later, the two arrived at the ancestral hall. One look confirmed it was indeed empty; even the main doors had been dismantled and taken away.

The entire spacious hall was left with only dust, fallen leaves, and scattered bricks, though the roof tiles remained intact. "There's a stele here," Yu Feibai's gaze swept the area, and he immediately walked near the entrance to examine a green stone monument.

The inscriptions on the stele had become very faint, but the largest characters were still barely discernible. "Celing Village...

Liu Family Ancestral Hall... Liu Family..." In that instant, Yu Feibai's face lit up with joy.

"Wang Guan, look! This is the Liu Family Ancestral Hall." "I see it," Wang Guan smiled, but reminded him, "However, you must realize that after the Han Dynasty, Liu became a major surname spread across the entire country.

It wouldn't be strange for a village here to be founded by them..." "Stop playing dumb," Yu Feibai scorned. "Don't forget our purpose for coming here.

Discovering this is the Liu Family Ancestral Hall—you must be thrilled inside. At least it confirms your judgment was correct; perhaps the Chixiao Sword really is here." Of course, Yu Feibai uttered that last sentence very softly, mindful of Pang Yue, who was walking toward them.

Simultaneously, Yu Feibai moved into the ancestral hall, constantly craning his neck to examine the roof beams overhead. Seeing this, Wang Guan felt a bit curious.

"What are you looking at up there? Aren't you afraid of getting dust in your eyes?" "You don't even know that?" At this, Yu Feibai explained proudly, "Think about it—ancient people loved hiding things in the roof beams.

Maybe there’s something hidden up there too..." "Hmm?" Pang Yue, who had just reached the vicinity of the ancestral hall entrance, paused upon hearing this. His face immediately shifted to one of deep regret, inwardly cursing himself for his foolishness in forgetting this common ancient habit.

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