After thinking for a moment, Cheng Ruyi folded the secret letter and map back into their original places. She didn't intend to deal with the body of the Western Jin spy, leaving it lying there. She only took the token away.
Although the fight was thrilling and intense, it actually lasted less than fifteen minutes and didn't take up too much time. However, she didn't rest. After taking a "moisturizing energy candy" and drinking a few sips of chicken soup, she officially began searching the warehouse.
She wanted to see what was hidden inside!
After entering the storeroom, she first took out a tinderbox and lit the torches on the wall, only to discover that it was a hidden world inside, not just a simple room.
The entire warehouse is shaped like the Chinese character "回" (hui). Upon entering, there is a passageway that can be circled around the center. Along the passageway are small rooms, each containing different items.
The first room on the west side contained medicinal herbs. Nanyang County has many mountains and forests, and she had indeed heard that it was rich in medicinal herbs. However, it was a pity that the population was also large and bandits were rampant, so the medicinal herbs were not very old. There were only a few hundred-year-old ginseng and lingzhi mushrooms, and the others were of average value. In addition, the Qiankun bag had limited capacity, so she only took the medicinal herbs that were over a hundred years old.
Upon entering the second room, Cheng Ruyi was startled, for it was filled with the pelts and specimens of various ferocious beasts. In the center stood a perfectly intact tiger skin, with the tiger's head still attached. On either side were various animal pelts and skull specimens, including bear, wolf, and wild boar skins. The most valuable items were several flawless white ferret pelts and two fiery red fox pelts. These pelts had been meticulously processed and were no less valuable than the medicinal herbs nearby. Without hesitation, Ruyi took all the most precious items.
After searching the rooms on the west side, it was time to search the rooms on the north side. The two rooms there contained weapons and several martial arts manuals.
Most of these martial arts manuals were about swordsmanship and spear techniques, likely learned by the Imperial Guards of the previous dynasty. There was also a book whose packaging was clearly different from the others; judging from the title, it seemed to be a scripture. She casually flipped through a few pages and found the words inside to be extremely profound. At her level, she naturally couldn't understand them, but that didn't stop her from taking all the manuals into her possession!
As for weapons, she didn't know much about them and was afraid that their origins were unknown, so she didn't dare to take too many. In the end, she only picked out a few exquisite and small items, including a hairpin that could easily reveal a thin, cicada-wing-like knife hidden inside with a gentle turn. It was also very convenient. There was a weapon that looked like a belt but actually concealed a soft sword, which was also very practical. However, what pleased her the most were the two leather wrist guards, each containing eighteen silver needles. Although the range was not far, if used properly, they could definitely be a life-saving weapon!
Cheng Ruyi looked at the wristband in her hand and suddenly had a burst of inspiration!
Or she could design some hidden weapons herself after she gets back. Not just the wrist guards, but there are plenty of places on her body where she could conceal them. Imagine, the enemy thinks they've dodged one, but they don't realize you have several more on you—it's practically impossible to defend against! Perfect for someone like her with low offensive power.
Not only did she obtain several satisfactory hidden weapons, but she also gained inspiration from them. Satisfied, Ruyi left the north room and walked a few steps to the door of the east room.
As expected, one of the two rooms contained various gold and silver jewelry, and the other contained antiques and calligraphy. All of these items were marked with their origins and could be traced back to their source. Moreover, she didn't know where the bandits had robbed them from, so she dared not take them directly. However, there were several items inside that contained spiritual energy, so Cheng Ruyi simply exchanged them with the system for spiritual energy points. She obtained them effortlessly and smoothly acquired twenty-eight spiritual energy points.
Current spiritual power level: 85
Looking at the numbers displayed by the system, Ruyi felt a surge of satisfaction. She had never had such a high spiritual energy value before. With this, she should be able to buy this year's annual gift package!
Moreover, although she couldn't take the gold and silver jewelry inside, the silver notes were different. She unceremoniously put all the silver notes issued by Wantong Money Shop into her Qiankun Bag, and roughly counted them; they amounted to at least ten thousand taels.
Wantong Money Shop was the largest money shop in the capital, issuing countless silver notes every year. The vast majority of the money she earned came from Wantong Money Shop, with only a small portion coming from Risheng Silver Shop, owned by the Qionglin Gu family in Fucheng. With current technology, it would be impossible to trace the source of the silver notes.
Judging from what she got from the warehouse alone, she had already made a profit on this trip, so she wasn't greedy. It wouldn't matter if she couldn't find the so-called lost treasure of the former Qi Kingdom royal family. After all, the more you know, the sooner you die. She wanted to live a few more years!
Now the entire warehouse appears to have been thoroughly searched by her, but Ruyi knows there must be a secret room inside.
She carefully walked around the passageway, and then, considering the shape of the building, realized that there was only one place left that hadn't been searched: the incongruous wall in the middle.
Logically speaking, at least ten square meters of space in the middle was forcibly partitioned off by the walls, seemingly dividing the warehouse into several rooms, but in reality, it was completely unnecessary.
Cheng Ruyi circled the wall and finally found a clue on one of the blue bricks at the very top of the north wall. She lightly jumped up and pressed the brick down hard. The wall made a "crack!" sound, and a faint green light instantly shone through the crack in the wall. The originally dark warehouse was suddenly shrouded in green light, making it look mysterious and eerie.
This... could it be radiation?
Looking at the green light peeking through the crack in the door, she felt a pang of unease. She knew that many people in ancient times didn't understand what radiation was, so they would pick up glowing stones as if they were treasures, only to have their entire families contaminated by radiation and die suddenly!
That's why her first reaction upon seeing the eerie green light was radiation; after all, it's always better to be safe than sorry.
But thinking about it carefully, Yin Xiangtian has been with this treasure for thirty years and doesn't seem to have developed any strange illness. She even claimed that the treasure helped her martial arts improve. Besides, it's been in the storeroom for so long; if it really were a source of radiation, she would have been infected long ago...
Sigh, well, since she's already here, she might as well make the best of it. She should at least take a look inside and find out what it is. If something seems off, she should leave immediately!
After making ample mental preparations, she carefully pulled open the wall, peeked inside, and her eyes lit up immediately. What she saw inside was not a radioactive meteorite, but a jadeite boulder as tall as an adult!
This enormous jadeite rough is oval in shape, narrow at the top and bottom and wide in the middle, and its patterns and shapes are quite unique, at first glance it looks like a giant heart.
The reason why the jadeite rough stone emits a green light is because there is a luminous pearl larger than a human head placed around the four sides of the secret room. The soft yet brilliant halo of the luminous pearl shines on the green jadeite, which makes it glow with a soft green light.
For a moment, she couldn't tell which one was the secret treasure of the previous dynasty...
However, upon closer reflection, while jade and luminous pearls are indeed precious, they are just ordinary gemstones. Even if they contain spiritual energy, ordinary mortals have no need for them. They don't seem so precious that the Western Jin Dynasty would specifically send spies to steal them. Besides, doesn't the Western Regions itself also produce abundant gemstones?
There must be something fishy going on here!
Cheng Ruyi boldly walked into the secret room, intending to observe the two treasures up close. However, after she went in, she discovered that there was a jade box on the platform where the jadeite was placed, and inside the jade box was an exquisite book decorated with gold and silver threads and pearls.
The cover bears the four powerful characters "天佑大启" (Heaven Blesses the Great Opening).
After reading the book, which was only a few pages long, she learned that the jadeite rough was called "Heart of the Earth," and it was said to represent the national fortune of the Qi Kingdom. As long as it was bathed in the light of the four luminous pearls day and night, the radiant light inside would not dissipate, and the national fortune of the Qi Kingdom would continue indefinitely.
National destiny? What kind of vague and unrealistic thing is that? And people actually believe in it?
Moreover, the previous dynasty had been extinct for thirty years. If this so-called national fortune were really useful, Qi would have been restored long ago. How could he have allowed his sons to divide the country into so many pieces and allowed the current incompetent Emperor of Dayue to continue to rule?
It's all just a self-deceiving joke.
Ruyi focused her attention and carefully observed the huge jadeite rough stone, discovering that it contained only one kind of spiritual energy, namely the metal spiritual energy of the ore, and nothing else.
So... Yin Xiangtian must have actually been practicing the internal energy cultivation manual he found in the weapons room, which is why his martial arts skills improved so rapidly, right? After all, there was no spiritual energy fluctuation on his body, so he was obviously just an ordinary mortal and couldn't possibly absorb spiritual energy from the jadeite rough for cultivation!
That said, how did he manage to take such a large jadeite rough stone with him? He was already running for his life, so why did he carry such a useless burden with him?
Just as she was racking her brains trying to figure it out, she suddenly noticed that there seemed to be some words engraved on the jade. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that it was the famous saying: "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?"
Judging from the handwriting, it seemed that Yin Xiangtian had carved it himself. Instantly, Ruyi understood this man's thoughts. Sure enough, he was ambitious beyond measure. He probably thought that as long as he possessed this so-called "national destiny jade," he would one day be able to sit on the dragon throne and become the emperor...
So, did the Western Jin Dynasty share the same idea? For a moment, she didn't know whether to call these people naive or superstitious.
In any case, since this jadeite rough is just ordinary jadeite, she won't hold back. This piece is quite large, so its spiritual energy value should be quite considerable!
"Ding-dong, a jadeite rough containing a small amount of spiritual energy has been detected. Would you like to redeem it?"
"Exchange! Exchange now!"
This enormous jadeite rough stone only contains a small amount of spiritual energy?
Cheng Ruyi was somewhat surprised, so she glanced at the system's exchange interface. The semi-transparent screen displayed the available spiritual energy value for exchange...
Three hundred points.
Ruyi rubbed her eyes and looked at the system interface again. She found that it still showed three hundred points. She couldn't help but count on her fingers one... ten... hundred... before she finally confirmed that it was indeed three hundred points without a doubt!
Three hundred points! A full three hundred points! And you call that a small amount? System, your measurement method is simply unbelievable!
Current spiritual power: 385
Cheng Ruyi almost burst into tears when she saw the number. Based on her previous experience, it would take at least fifty taels of silver to exchange for one point of spiritual power. Three hundred points would be about twenty thousand taels of silver!
Of course, if she were to actually sell the Heart of the Earth, which represents the fate of the Qi Kingdom, she believed the price would be ten or even a hundred times higher. But the question was, would she dare to do it?
Not to mention that the jade is too huge for her to fit in her storage bag, even if she could, she wouldn't have any way to sell it. If she were to leak even the slightest hint of it, she would be torn to pieces.
So it's better to just exchange it with the system directly. As the saying goes, "The wind blows the eggshell away, wealth disappears, but peace remains."
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