Chapter 98 The altar key is actually the little koi's heart's treasure!
It is more magnificent than imagined. Although most of the structure has collapsed and been eroded by time, its majestic momentum still inspires awe.
The group began clearing the fallen leaves and dirt from the platform.
Soon, a complete circular altar paved with megaliths appeared before them.
The surface of the altar was covered with intricate and mysterious cloud and dragon patterns.
At the very center of the altar, there is a recess about the size of a bowl.
The shape of that groove...
Everyone's gaze froze.
It was a small, delicate shape with an elegant curve.
It looks like a teardrop.
Or perhaps it's more like a scale.
Yan Ziche looked at the groove, then looked down at the rubbing in his hand, and muttered to himself.
"The key to the altar..."
The keyhole has been found.
But where is the key?
In the silent valley, only the rustling of the wind through the leaves could be heard.
All eyes were fixed on the scale-shaped groove in the center of the altar.
Found it.
They actually found the legendary Dragon Gate Altar.
But can this dilapidated stone platform really save the fate of the Great Chu?
But what is the key to starting it?
"This shape... is really unique." Xiao Beichen squatted down and curiously stretched out his finger to measure the size of the groove.
"It doesn't look like something that can be opened with a key."
He tried to press the gemstone inlaid on the hilt of his sword into the slot, but naturally, it didn't fit at all.
"Could it be some kind of token?" Yan Ziche pondered as well. "For example, a jade pendant from the previous dynasty's royal family?"
“Impossible.” Chu Chongjin immediately rejected the guess. “If it were a royal token, it would either be destroyed or acquired by the new dynasty when the dynasty changed. It would never be left here for us to discover hundreds of years later.”
As he spoke, he looked at the groove, his eyes deep and thoughtful.
He felt like he had seen this shape somewhere before.
Just when everyone was at a loss, Mu Yu, who was being held in Mu Fang's arms, suddenly stirred restlessly.
Her small hands instinctively covered her chest.
"Father...it's so hot here..."
The little girl's voice carried a hint of confusion.
From the moment they entered the valley, she felt a warm current flowing in her chest.
When she saw the scale-shaped groove, the warmth instantly turned scalding hot, as if a branding iron was pressed against her heart.
It was hot, itchy, and it carried a kind of... very intimate longing.
"Hot?" Mu Fang was startled upon hearing this and quickly looked down to check.
The daughter's face was flushed, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on her forehead.
"Where do you feel unwell? Tell your father." His voice suddenly became tense.
“It’s right here…” Mu Yu pulled open her clothes, revealing her fair and tender chest, and pointed to her heart with her little finger.
"It's jumping, jumping really fast."
"The shape... seems to be the same as the shape of that crater..."
She spoke haltingly, her little face full of confusion.
Upon hearing this, all the adults present were struck dumb, frozen in place.
Chu Chongjin, Yan Ziche, and Xiao Beichen all turned their gazes abruptly from the recessed area to Mu Yu.
An absurd yet seemingly perfectly reasonable idea exploded in their minds at the same time!
Mu Fang's body trembled violently, and his pupils dilated to the extreme in shock.
An image from more than four years ago uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.
On that rainy night, he found his daughter abandoned in a wooden tub by the river.
When they brought her back to the mansion, the midwife who washed her body told him with a look of surprise.
"General, look! The little princess has a beautiful birthmark on her chest, right at the very tip of her heart!"
"It's golden, like a tiny fish scale, and it even glows!"
He thought it was just a common birthmark and didn't pay much attention to it.
As Mu Yu grew older, the scaly birthmark seemed to blend into her skin, becoming less noticeable. Only when she bathed or was emotionally agitated would it faintly glow with a layer of golden light.
He always thought that was a characteristic of his daughter as a lucky koi fish.
But I never imagined...
She never imagined that this scale that had been with her would be connected to the Dragon Gate Altar of the previous dynasty, which was related to the rise and fall of the nation!
"Duke?" Chu Chongjin noticed Mu Fang's loss of composure and tentatively asked.
Mu Fang's lips moved, his throat was terribly dry, and after a long while, he finally spoke the secret in a voice that was almost like a dream.
“Little Yu’er… she was born with a… golden scale on her heart.”
"Exactly the same as that groove."
boom!
It was as if a thunderbolt had struck overhead.
Everything is connected.
A lucky koi fish destined for good fortune!
The key to the altar!
It turns out there was never a key to separate them.
The key is Mu Yu!
As if remembering something, Yan Ziche rushed back to his horse like a madman and took out the rubbing of "Tales of the Former Dynasty" from his baggage again.
With trembling hands, he turned to the page recording the Dragon Gate Altar, his gaze fixed on a line of small characters annotated in cinnabar that he had previously overlooked.
The handwriting was illegible and messy, clearly added by later generations.
"...The key to the altar is neither gold nor jade, but the protective dragon scale shed by the koi carp that brought about the founding of the nation. This scale gathers the koi's lifelong cultivation and auspicious energy, and is connected to the nation's destiny, thus enabling the altar to be activated and the world to be purified."
"However, when a koi sheds its scales, it is like a mortal having their heart ripped out. If a koi is born in the future, its scales will surely merge with its heart and veins, becoming one, inseparable..."
"Indivisible..."
Yan Ziche's voice trembled as he read out the last four words.
The book slipped from his limp hands.
The answer is obvious.
But it was also extremely cruel.
The key to activating the altar is the dragon scale on Mu Yu's chest.
And that dragon scale had become one with her heart, her lifeblood.
Removing the scales would be tantamount to... taking her life.
"No……"
Mu Fang let out a low growl like a wild beast, and hugged Mu Yu tightly in his arms, as if he wanted to use all his strength to protect her.
His eyes were bloodshot and stared intently at the cold stone altar, his gaze as if he wanted to devour it alive.
No! Absolutely not!
"What bullshit about national destiny! What bullshit about altars!"
"Nobody can touch my daughter! Nobody can!"
The roar of the tough guy echoed through the valley, filled with despair and madness.
Xiao Beichen's face also turned pale, and the veins on his hand gripping the knife hilt bulged.
Chu Chongjin's expression turned extremely grim.
He went to great lengths to find this place, hoping to save the country and its people.
But he never imagined that the price of this hope would be the sacrifice of the little girl he cherished and vowed to protect for life.
No.
This was definitely not the answer he wanted.
The atmosphere in the valley plummeted from the peak of ecstasy to a chilling abyss in an instant.
They found the lock.
But they discovered that the unique key was actually their most treasured possession—a beating, vibrant heart.
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