37: Blind spots of faith

The air was heavy in the modest guesthouse room.

Wang Dalong collapsed onto the bed, the bed frame groaning under the weight. He slammed the camera onto the table and slumped over completely.

"It's over, completely over now." He twisted open a bottle of mineral water and gulped down several mouthfuls. "Brother Feng, did you see how professional those guys were? I bet now it's not just Hailuo Temple; Lingyan Temple and Ziyun Temple, which we marked yesterday, probably have their people staking out the entrances too. The moment we show our faces, it'll be 'Cultural Relics Protection, Entry Forbidden' plastered right in our faces."

He took another drink, his voice full of frustration: "This is outrageous! We worked so hard, researching data and visiting sites, and just when we finally made some progress, they swoop in and steal our credit! Is there any justice left?"

Lin Feng didn't speak. He stood by the window, looking at the small town's night view. The distant mountains were only dark, heavy silhouettes in the night, and the roaring of the Dadu River sounded distant and oppressive through the window.

He was mentally reviewing everything that had happened today.

Li Jianguo's warm smile, the staff's professional movements, the glaring yellow cordon tape, and... his own strange calm.

Why, at Hailuo Temple, had he found no clues, and why hadn't the system reacted at all?

"Mission: Wing King's Legacy"—since it was triggered, this mission had silently hovered in the system panel, with no progress updates or failure notifications. This was highly unusual. If the direction was wrong, the system would usually give a hint or declare the mission failed after a long period of stagnation.

But now, it was like a silent observer.

This meant the general direction was correct: the treasure definitely existed, and the location was indeed near the Dadu River. However, his core deduction about "hiding the treasure in a temple" was flawed.

"That's wrong," Lin Feng muttered to himself.

"What's wrong?" Wang Dalong looked up.

Lin Feng turned around, walked to the table, picked up a pen, and drew a large 'X' over Hailuo Temple, Lingyan Temple, and Ziyun Temple on the map.

"We all thought wrong," Lin Feng said calmly. "Temples were the wrong choice from the very beginning."

"Huh?" Wang Dalong couldn't keep up. "But... but your analysis yesterday sounded so logical! Geomantic treasures, underground chambers—I almost believed you were the reincarnation of a Tomb Raider."

"The logic seemed perfect, but I overlooked the most fundamental factor," Lin Feng said. "I overlooked Taiping Rebellion Leader himself."

He looked at Wang Dalong and asked, "Wang Dalong, do you know what the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom believed in?"

"Believed in what?" Wang Dalong was stumped. His knowledge of history was barely passing grade level. "Wasn't it... the God Worshipping Society? I think they believed in God?"

"Exactly, God." Lin Feng tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop. "Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the second son of God, the younger brother of Jesus. The entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, from top to bottom, took it upon themselves to destroy idols and eradicate superstition. Wherever they went, the first buildings they burned were Buddhist temples and Daoist monasteries. In their eyes, Buddhist statues and Daoist deities were 'idols' that needed to be smashed. Taiping Rebellion Leader, as one of the core generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, had a devout and firm belief."

"Would a devout general who believed in God as the one true deity, when cornered and needing to hide the army's lifeline and capital for resurgence, place his hope in Buddhist temples or Daoist monasteries, which he always viewed as 'demon dens'? Would he trust the monks and priests, whom he saw as followers of 'false gods,' with a treasure vital to the fate of the kingdom?"

"This might make sense logically, but in terms of faith, it is an absolute paradox!"

"He would rather throw the treasure into the Dadu River than hide it beneath a statue of Buddha!"

Lin Feng's words stunned Wang Dalong.

He stood there with his mouth open, taking a while to process the logic. "Holy crap... you're right! Why didn't I think of that? These people believed in the foreign God; they were mortal enemies with monks and priests! Asking them to stash their wealth in a temple is like asking a cat to guard a fish!"

"So, Li Jianguo and his team 'cutting us off' actually did us a huge favor." Lin Feng gave a wry smile. "By sealing off all the ancient temples and monasteries, they seemed to block our path, but they actually verified that our initial deduction was wrong. Otherwise, we might have wasted a lot of time at these incorrect locations."

He picked up the mineral water bottle on the table and took a large gulp. The cold liquid running down his throat helped cool his slightly feverish brain.

Silence fell over the room. Overturning the previous core hypothesis meant starting everything over. The only clues left were the vague phrase, "Facing water and backed by mountains, the treasure lies within," and the general geographical area of Anshunchang on the Dadu River.

Wang Dalong's recently ignited confidence quickly sputtered out. Shoulders slumped, he asked cautiously, "So... what now, Brother Feng? We can't actually just go home and post an update on Bilibili saying, 'Sorry everyone, I failed,' can we? The anti-fans would drown us in their scorn."

"No." Lin Feng shook his head, his tone reflecting the relief of having a burden lifted. "Failure is the process of eliminating wrong answers. Now that we've ruled out the biggest distraction, the remaining possibilities are fewer."

"If it's not a temple and not a monastery, what else could it be?"

Lin Feng didn't answer. He sat back down by the window and closed his eyes. His thoughts once again sank into all the information concerning Taiping Rebellion Leader, the downfall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Western Sichuan region in the mid-19th century.

Taiping Rebellion Leader... defeated army... no time for construction... pre-existing structure... sturdy... hidden... non-religious... one keyword after another was sorted and filtered in his mind.

A word he had overlooked was faintly appearing in his mind.

This word, unrelated to religion or geomancy, what exactly was it?

He opened his eyes.

"Let's go! Let's take care of living essentials first. Don't stream for the next few days. Tell everyone we'll start again once we truly find the right direction."