"There must be a secret chamber here." Su Rong had also heard talk of ancient texts in the Buddha Temple, and thought there might be some truth to the rumors, otherwise the Arhat array would never have been assigned to guard the Book Pavilion.
Though the three floors boasted a total of more than ten thousand precious books, they wouldn’t necessitate being protected so vehemently by the monks of the temple.
Fen Ling shared her sentiment, "Sister, let’s split up. You start from this end, and I’ll start from that one."
Su Rong nodded. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
Thus, they each followed a wall, searching diligently for a hidden chamber. After approximately two burn-time of incense, they found nothing.
Fen Ling was about to search again when Su Rong stopped him, "Let’s search downstairs. Perhaps we’re stuck in biased thinking. The higher the floor doesn’t necessarily mean more valuable things are kept there. Who knows, they might be on the first floor."
Fen Ling blinked, "Let’s go."
So, they went downstairs, checking the second floor even though Su Rong speculated the secret to be on the first. After thoroughly searching the second floor, they went down to the first floor.
After meticulously going through the first floor, they found a mechanism on the wall near the front door’s left corner. The mechanism was hidden within the wall lamp. Upon careful inspection, they discovered a golden string running through it, leading up to the roof where a golden bell and a bronze bell were hung. If the mechanism were to be triggered, the golden bell would ring, followed by the clattering of the bronze one, loud enough to be heard throughout the Buddha Temple.
Fen Ling and Su Rong exchanged a glance, neither of them daring to touch the mechanism right away. Instead, they studied it for a long moment before Fen Ling rubbed his hands and said, "Master, this is not a job for one person. We need to do it together. I’ll hold this golden string still, and you trigger the mechanism. Look inside."
After he spoke, he added, "You need to be quick; I don’t know how long I can hold the golden string steady."
Su Rong nodded, "We have no other choice!"
If they had come alone, the mechanism would indeed have been impossible to surmount. Its purpose was not to release hidden weapons and kill intruders, but rather to immobilize and intimidate them. The slightest movement would trigger the bells to ring, alerting the guard monks outside the Book Pavilion and drawing the entire temple population to the scene. An intruder would stand no chance of escape.
So, the two of them prepared to act. Fen Ling held the golden string while Su Rong pushed the mechanism. The golden string jolted violently, but Fen Ling held it firm. A narrow door appeared in the wall. Su Rong slipped inside with a night pearl, leaving Fen Ling, steadfast as a stone statue, pressing the golden string down.
The secret chamber was small and had several hidden compartments, each locked. Fortunately, Su Rong knew how to pick locks from a young age. She probed each lock with a hairpin, opened the compartments, and found six books in total. Scooping them up, she quickly left the chamber.
After placing the six-scrolls on the ground, she touched the mechanism again and whispered to Fen Ling, "Try to let go."
Fen Ling cautiously released the string; as the secret door closed, the golden string slowly settled back into place without any further movement.
Fen Ling finally freed his hands, his eyes gleaming, "Sister, what did you find?"
"Everything you mentioned." Su Rong gestured for him to pick up the scrolls, "Let’s take a look at these on the third floor. The bookshelves there are tightly packed; it will be easier for us to hide."
Fen Ling nodded, picked up the six scrolls, and the two headed back to the third floor.
In a secluded corner, Su Rong took out the night pearl. Fen Ling spread the six scrolls on the floor, and they both sat down. The covers respectively read ’Medical Skills’, ’Herbal Medicine’, ’Swordplay’, ’Chess’, ’Sacred Weapons’, and ’Deadly Weapons’.
The first four were self-explanatory: medical skills, herbal medicine, swordplay, and chess strategy. As for the last two, Fen Ling opened and instantly exclaimed, "Sister, these are military strategies and hidden weapon blueprints."
Su Rong nodded.
Fen Ling took the night pearl from her, urging her, "Illuminate for me, I want to take a closer look."
Anxiously, his gaze was drawn towards the book of swordplay.
Su Rong glanced at him, "Place it in the middle, let’s read together."
Although the light was not evenly distributed this way, it was enough to read the texts clearly.
Obediently, Fen Ling placed the night pearl between them, giggling before eagerly picking up the book of swordplay and diving into it.
Su Rong, on the other hand, didn’t pick and choose any specific scroll. She started with the medical skills, merely skimming over the details. Despite her limited mastery of the subject, she was not completely unfamiliar. Much of the medical knowledge reflected on the pages were things she had heard before from the elder doctor at Huichun Hall.
She then went on to the book of herbal medicine. As she regularly foraged for herbs on the mountain and had spent a long time distinguishing various herbs in the Huichun Hall, she didn’t find it too troublesome. The text detailed various medicinal formulas, some of which produced costly, rare elixirs. Among these records, Su Rong was startled to find the recipe for the lost "Solid Jelly Jade Ointment". She carefully memorized it twice over, ensuring no mistakes.
Next was the chess strategy. Had she found this a few days earlier, she probably would have been indifferent. However, after playing an intense game of chess with Ye Guixue on the streets near the Buddha Temple and not being able to beat him, she was compelled to pay close attention this time.
Both the military strategies and the hidden weapon blueprints would be of interest to Zhou Gu. Given the impending war with Dawei, both types of texts were invaluable, so she took her time studying them.
An hour or so later, only the book of swordplay remained unread, still held in Fen Ling’s hands.
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