Treasure Vault

Beyond the bronze doors lay a treasure vault. Everything inside exuded an aura steeped in the passage of ages: antique bookshelves, curio stands, and a carpet embroidered with a Xuanbird totem. Bronze sculptures of palace maidens stood bowing, holding crystal-glazed lamps in their hands. The candle flames, tiny as beans, cast a soft, bright halo. At the end of the carpet, directly facing the hall doors, stood a shrine. Hanging above it was an ancient painting depicting a graceful, delicate goddess holding an infant in her arms, with a three-legged bronze furnace standing by her side. On the incense table before the shrine sat two crystal-glazed lamps and a black wooden box. Flanking the shrine were alcoves, each housing chests whose four corners were trimmed in gold. Along both sides of the carpet stood rows of curio stands and bookshelves, packed with an array of dazzling antiquities and ancient texts. Nearest to the group—right by the entrance—stood half-man-high wooden chests arranged in neat rows. The sound of people gulping at the entrance went on for a good while before finally stopping. Xiahou Aotian's voice trembled. "D-don't... nobody move. F-first let me appraise them... Don't grab! Whatever you do, don't grab! We need order, people! No infighting..." "You're the one who wants to loot everything," Zhang Yuanqing muttered. "Me too..." Zhao Chenghuang muttered. "Mm-hmm!" Sun Miaomiao's gaze was completely glazed over. Tianxia Guihuo's hands shook uncontrollably. Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and looked around at his teammates, finding their eyes filled with unadulterated greed. *My own expression probably isn't much better than theirs. I really regret inviting them. I provided the key, and I discovered the hidden quest. Why do I have to share with them...* *Calm down, calm down. Can't let treasure bewitch my mind.* Zhang Yuanqing inhaled again, took out the Ghost Mirror, and gripped it in his palm. Instantly, the wicked thoughts and greed receded like the tide. His mind cleared, and his thoughts flowed unobstructed. "Everyone, to ensure we don't turn on each other, please hold this." Zhang Yuanqing handed the Ghost Mirror to Sun Miaomiao beside him. Sun Miaomiao took the Ghost Mirror, and the excitement and greed in her eyes swiftly vanished. "Phew~" She let out a sigh of relief. Next, Xiahou Aotian, Tianxia Guihuo, and Zhao Chenghuang each held the Ghost Mirror in turn, entering sage time as reason reclaimed the high ground. First, they opened the large wooden chests near the entrance. Inside were ordinary valuables: silks, knife coins, jade ware, gold cakes, silver ingots... a full thirty chests of them. "We're rich! If we haul these out and sell them, never mind my 120 million debt—even a 12 billion debt wouldn't be a problem," Xiahou Aotian exclaimed. *Still obsessing over his debt. This guy really loves money,* Sun Miaomiao and the others thought. Though everyone liked these things, none were so enamored as to lose themselves. They walked straight over to the curio stands. Xiahou Aotian casually opened a jade box and let out a shrill scream: "Oh heavens, what am I looking at? God above, Scarlet Fire Crystal Sand?! Dominator-tier Scarlet Fire Crystal Sand?!" Zhang Yuanqing jumped in fright, thinking to himself that for a second, he almost thought the Decurion had descended out of the void. Peering over, he saw that the jade box was filled to the brim with scarlet granules radiating intense heat that warped the air. Tianxia Guihuo's eyebrows twitched, his face flushed with excitement. "Scarlet Fire Crystal Sand is a Dominator-tier material for the Fire Specialist profession! It can be used as fuel, for artifact refining, and for alchemy! At worst, tossing a handful at an enemy could burn a Saint to ashes!" Seeing how agitated he was, Zhang Yuanqing silently passed the Ghost Mirror over. Tianxia Guihuo: "..." "This is flammable and explosive material." Xiahou Aotian carefully closed the jade lid and set it back in its place. Suddenly, Sun Miaomiao shrieked, "Red jade! Red jade containing solar power!!" The others looked over at the sound. Sun Miaomiao was holding up a crimson jade pendant carved with dragons and phoenixes. At first glance, the pendant seemed ordinary, but staring at it for too long caused a stinging sensation in one's eyes, as if burned by a scorching sun. Tianxia Guihuo silently handed the Ghost Mirror to Sun Miaomiao. Sun Miaomiao: "..." Next, led by Xiahou Aotian, the group appraised the objects on the curio stands one by one. —Identifying materials was an essential skill for any Fangshi. They discovered a total of nine Dominator-tier materials, including a fist-sized lump of Living Soil. Of course, there were also non-Spirit-Realm items: pure antique calligraphy and paintings. Yet every single piece was priceless. According to Xiahou Aotian's appraisal, any one of them auctioned off could easily fetch hundreds of millions. In purely monetary terms, those non-Spirit-Realm antiques were worth even more than the Spirit Realm materials. The difference lay in historical value rather than spiritual power. After finishing with the curio stands, without Zhang Yuanqing even having to suggest it, everyone silently took turns holding the Ghost Mirror to enter sage time. Then, they moved over to the bookshelves on the opposite side. The ancient volumes on the shelves were entirely cultivation manuals. Not the breathing techniques that ancient practitioners treated as their foundation, but spells and secret arts comparable to the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record. They spanned the eight Lawful professions and the three Evil professions. There was the *Blazing Flame Separation Fire Saber*, which almost shattered Tianxia Guihuo's composure; the *Treatise on Artifact Refining* and *Cloud Sea Pill Recipes*, which left Xiahou Aotian trembling with excitement; and the *Eight Arts of the Constellations*, which made the three Star Officials drool with envy. "These arts are techniques created by ancient practitioners, and the very foundation of their superiority over Spirit Realm walkers," Zhang Yuanqing said. Under the Ghost Mirror's calming influence, they did not lose themselves in the manuals, moving on with pounding hearts toward the central shrine and the alcoves flanking it. Obviously, anything enshrined there in boxes and chests would be extraordinary. Zhang Yuanqing strode over to the shrine, picked up the wooden box from the incense table, and opened it before everyone. Inside, resting on yellow silk, lay a palm-sized circular piece of jade. Carved in openwork were two lifelike dragons, their heads contending over a red gem in the center. Zhang Yuanqing took out the circular jade and held it in his palm. After a few seconds, the item information surfaced: [Name: Twin Dragon Jade] [Type: Jade Ware] [Function: ???] [Description: A jade pendant crafted by artisans on the order of the First Emperor, using jade from Mount Shou. It is said that the divine blood within the jade was formed from the essence blood of Empress Wa from the primordial era.] [Remarks: From ancient times to the present, no one has deciphered its secrets. The First Emperor came closest to the truth.] *Formed from Empress Wa's essence blood... It really is Empress Wa. She really was here...* Zhang Yuanqing felt an indescribable thrill surge within him. His and Fu Qingyang's deduction had been verified. Back then, the First Emperor had used the divine blood to decipher its secrets and learned that Takamagahara hid treasures left behind by Empress Wa. He then dispatched Xu Fu across the sea under the guise of seeking the elixir of immortality. Xu Fu did not disappoint the emperor and found Takamagahara, but he wanted the treasures of Takamagahara for himself. So he returned to the Central Plains, attempting to swindle the divine blood from the First Emperor. What transpired during that period was unknown and impossible to verify, but the end result was clear: he had failed. In the end, the First Emperor constructed this underground palace and used the Takamagahara jade plate as the key to establish the seal. *Well, looking at this outcome, Xu Fu might not have entirely failed. He probably succeeded in duping the First Emperor, but subsequent events unfolded rapidly—the Qin fell in its second reign, followed by the Chu-Han Contention.* *Xu Fu was left to die in regret at Takamagahara.* *Presumably, even Xu Fu never imagined the Qin Empire would collapse so swiftly.* "I'm taking this item." Zhang Yuanqing put it straight into his inventory without even giving his teammates a chance to view its properties. Glancing around at everyone, he said, "I have three first-pick privileges." Tianxia Guihuo opened his mouth, but said nothing in the end. Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang remained silent. Xiahou Aotian, having the least self-awareness, protested, "At least let me see the stats!" Toward him, Zhang Yuanqing felt zero guilt in refusing: "No." He then turned his gaze to the painting hanging on the wall. After studying it closely, his pupils contracted slightly, and a massive wave of shock welled within him. He didn't recognize the goddess in the portrait, guessing she might be Empress Wa. What truly made his heart race, however, were the infant and the three-legged bronze furnace. The infant looked uncannily similar to the Xie family's Holy Infant—practically an exact likeness—and as for the three-legged bronze furnace, he had seen it before. —Lian Sanyue's Hundred Refining Furnace. *I remember the Hundred Refining Furnace's item description stating that it was an ancient artifact-refining furnace handed down from antiquity, an alchemical furnace used exclusively by great figures, and the birthplace of countless renowned items...* Connecting the furnace's description with what he saw, Zhang Yuanqing formed a hypothesis. The Hundred Refining Furnace and the Holy Infant were items belonging to Empress Wa back in the primordial era. He pulled his gaze away, looked at Xiahou Aotian, and asked, deliberately feigning ignorance, "Who is depicted in the painting?" Xiahou Aotian instinctively began analyzing: "The Qin dynasty revered God and ancestors, consolidating political power through divine authority and using ancestry to symbolize lineage. The woman in the painting should be a deity." "Did they have God back then?" Sun Miaomiao chimed in. Xiahou Aotian scoffed. "One look and I can tell you lack culture. The 'God' I'm referring to is Haotian—the Lord of Heaven. That God from whatever religion is just a translated name, completely different from what our ancients understood by the term. You can think of it as name appropriation." Pausing, he continued: "Still, I don't recall the Qin dynasty worshiping any goddess. If I had to force a connection, it'd probably be... Nüwa?" Tianxia Guihuo spoke up: "It might very well be Nüwa. Look, she's holding an infant. Legend says that humanity was molded from clay by Nüwa. Remember the Spirit Realm history class? The Dean said that in mythology and legends, the only figure confirmed to have truly existed was Empress Wa." "You mean Empress Wa is Nüwa?" Sun Miaomiao frowned. Before Tianxia Guihuo could answer, Xiahou Aotian nodded. "Right. Barring any surprises, Empress Wa is Nüwa. That bronze furnace is proof. Furthermore..." He looked at Tianxia Guihuo. "Your mind works pretty fast, doesn't it? Not like a Fire Specialist at all. Brother Red Chicken was right—you really are a disgrace to Fire Specialists." *Can you shut your mouth!* Zhang Yuanqing intervened before infighting could erupt, asking, "How so?" When it came to showing off knowledge, Xiahou Aotian never backed down. Hands behind his back, he proclaimed: "In the terminology of Spirit Realm walkers, pill furnaces and artifact furnaces are symbols of Scholars. And in myth and legend, Nüwa has another identity—a master artifact refiner. "The most famous example is her smelting stones to mend the heavens. "Nüwa, Empress Wa, Spirit Realm walker... Combining all that with the furnace and infant in the painting, we can deduce that Empress Wa cultivated the Musician and Scholar paths." "Well reasoned!" Zhang Yuanqing offered some praise before saying, "Let's check out the items in the alcoves." Leaving the central shrine, the group walked over to the alcoves, each selecting a box to open. The chests were secured with bronze beast-head padlocks. Zhang Yuanqing gripped one, applied force with his palm, and twisted it off with ease. Opening the chest, he found a pure black cloak embroidered with golden cloud patterns, magnificent and ornate. It felt silky yet substantial to the touch—the kind of cloak tailor-made for showing off. Zhang Yuanqing shook it open, and the item information surfaced: [Name: Imperial Swordsman Cloak] [Type: Armor] [Function: Enhancement] [Description: A cloak crafted by the First Emperor for the Qin Empire's foremost swordsman. It took three years to complete. However, by the time the cloak was finished, that swordsman had already betrayed Qin. Deeply regretful, the First Emperor sealed it away in this treasure vault. Additionally, focus is an essential discipline for a swordsman.] [Remarks: Amplifies all skills of Scouts, Swordsmen, and Puppeteers by 40%.] *A Scout-exclusive, peak Dominator-tier item...* Zhang Yuanqing stared blankly. A 40% amplification across all skills—what did that even mean? It meant punching above one's weight class and standing invincible among peers! Amplifying one's innate abilities by forty percent would allow any Scout equipped with this cloak to stand toe-to-toe with peak professions! And such an amplification would remain effective even at the Dominator stage. A peerless treasure among peerless treasures. Unfortunately, it was exclusive to Scouts. Judging from the remarks, it held no value for other professions. *This is perfect to gift to Fu Qingyang,* Zhang Yuanqing thought. Even Money Prince couldn't possibly possess such a top-tier Dominator item, could he? After all, he had only recently advanced to Dominator. Even if he did, this cloak would still be an irresistible temptation for him. Because it was tailored specifically for Scouts. Just then, he heard Zhao Chenghuang speak up: "Azure Emperor Jade Belt, Heaven-Worship Set? Yuanshi, this is part of the set for the Houtu Boots."