After I left Old Ma's house, I had Xue Haihua drive me to the airport. On the way, I called Song Laosan: "How's the situation on your end?"

"not good."

Song Laosan sighed on the other end of the phone: "My shamanic altar is located in the mountains. I spent the whole day here and only arrived an hour ago. I've already checked it, and it's just an ordinary statue! You called to ask me if things aren't going well on your end either?"

"At least you saw something over there, but I didn't even get a glimpse of the altar. It was demolished decades ago."

I leaned back in the car seat, looking exhausted, and said, "The monkey's side is even more outrageous. It's not a statue at all, but a relief on the mountain. I don't know how the Wei family got their information; it's so unreliable!"

"Your side was also completely wiped out?"

When Song Laosan heard what I said, he clicked his tongue in worry: "It seems that our only hope now lies with Qu Ruilin! He just arrived in Jilin today and is planning to go there to investigate first thing tomorrow morning. If he also finds nothing there, we can only pin our hopes on foreign countries."

"I feel that Qu Ruilin's trip was mostly a waste of time."

I told Song Laosan frankly, "Tonight, I dug up some information. What we're looking for isn't the Duokuohuo statue, but the Hongshan Goddess statue. This statue is currently on Jile Mountain in the Greater Khingan Mountains."

"Is Jile Mountain the same as Yaoquan Mountain in the southern part of the Wudalianchi volcanic group in Heihe?"

Song Laosan asked in confusion, "The Hongshan Goddess Statue? Shouldn't it be in the Chaoyang area of ​​Liaoning and Chifeng area of ​​Inner Mongolia? How come it's in Heihe?"

"Is tomb raiding all you can think about?"

I was speechless: "This thing wasn't in the tomb, but was unearthed a long time ago. I don't know which dynasty it was from, but it fell into the hands of a prince during the Qing Dynasty."

"The Hongshan Culture is a Neolithic civilization, so the quality of the statues must not be very high. If it weren't a treasure, why would a prince of an imperial dynasty want it?"

Old Song continued, his mind racing: "The Greater Khingan Mountains are the dragon vein of the Qing Dynasty. No one but royalty would be buried there! Mount Jile is one of the main mountains on this dragon vein. There might be a large tomb there. Do you think this statue was taken there as a burial object?"

I rolled my eyes: "Are you kidding me? Mount Bliss is a volcano. Who would build a tomb in a place like that?"

Old Song speculated wildly, "What if someone surprises us? During the Qing Dynasty, technology was already developing very quickly. What if a highly talented student who had studied abroad used a volcano to build tombs for people from the East and West?"

"Volcanoes are fiery and purely yang in nature. Building a tomb in such a place is like waiting for one's fate to be forever ruined. Why would a prince choose a volcano to build his tomb? There are so many places out there!"

I refuted Song Laosan's guess and changed the subject, saying, "This news came from an elder of the Hu family, a family of shamans in the Northeast. She knew the exact location of the statue but didn't tell me. In exchange, she asked me to participate in the Five Immortals' Succession Struggle and do something for the Hu family."

What is "The Five Immortals' Struggle for the Throne"?

"You can think of it as a competition among the various ethnic groups, including the Hu, Huang, Bai, Liu, and Hui people, and this kind of competition can involve outside help."

"You agreed?"

"I had no choice."

I sighed: "Wei Shengnan's condition is critical, and we don't have much time left. I'm on my way to the airport now, preparing to rush to Heihe tonight. You'd better set off as soon as possible."

"Xiao Duan, are you really sure about this? Just listening to a fortune teller's nonsense and transferring all of us to Heihe is playing with Wei Shengnan's life."

Song Laosan was clearly skeptical of my choice: "I suggest we wait for news from Qu Ruilin before making any decisions. What if they discover something?"

“Everyone is on standby right now. You can’t possibly fly to Jilin overnight to meet Qu Ruilin, can you? Since you’re going to be waiting no matter where you are, you might as well rest on the plane.”

I said to Song Laosan very seriously, "I don't know the specifics of the so-called Five Immortals' struggle for the throne, but it's too difficult for me to accomplish this on my own. I need your help! If Qu Ruilin makes a discovery, the Wei family will definitely send Wei Shengnan there immediately. We will become secondary!"

But if Qu Ruilin's attempt also fails, it means my intelligence is likely accurate. This would allow us to enter the mountains in the shortest possible time, which is better than just waiting around, right?

When Song Laosan heard what I said, he hesitated for a moment, but finally chose to compromise: "Alright, I'll talk to Wei Xiao about this and ask him to help us apply for the flight route as soon as possible."

After I ended the call with Song Laosan, I contacted Monkey again.

Although I didn't know Old Ma before, for some reason, this old lady gave me the feeling that she was a very reliable person.

At this moment, I was 80% certain that Qu Ruilin's attempt would most likely also be fruitless.

I'm just not sure if the statue Old Ma mentioned is the same thing as the Origin Stone Miao Xiaoxian talked about.

Just as I arrived at the airport and was about to board the plane, Wei Xiao called me: "Xiao Duan, are you planning to take Song Laosan and Monkey's entire team to Heihe?"

"Uncle Wei, I'm planning to go to Wudalianchi."

I told Wei Xiao about Old Ma's affair again, and said to him, "I have a feeling that the old woman didn't lie to me. We're sure to find something when we go to Jile Mountain. Let's try to verify the truth of this news as soon as possible."

"You're still working so late, thank you for your hard work."

Although Wei Xiao was anxious, he still expressed his respect for me: "I will continue to send more people to Heihe. Since the Hu family's demand is to take down the Five Immortals and fight for the throne, I will help them cut the Gordian knot."

"Uncle Wei, you can't get involved in this."

I quickly stopped Wei Xiao: "In this matter, we are just external support for the Hu family. The key matters still need to be handled by them. Our role is to add icing on the cake, not to steal their thunder. If you enter the scene using the identity of Changwei Group, it will backfire!"

Wei Xiao was silent for a moment, then asked, "So what do you want to do?"

"Let's proceed according to the Hu family's wishes and cooperate as much as possible, but we can't put all our eggs in one basket with them. We still need to continue investigating the clues for the other three statues."

I thought for a moment and added, "Let's not let Qu Ruilin come to Heihe. Let him investigate other clues so that we don't put all our eggs in one basket."