Mountain and River Festival 182. Treasure?

"Princess, why don't you come over to the front and take a look yourself?"

The tomb was quiet. Ye Li looked over the shoulder of the man in black and glanced at Doctor Lin, who was standing opposite with an obviously tense expression. After a moment of hesitation, he suddenly chuckled and took the initiative to let go of the dagger that was pointing at the man in black and stepped back a few steps. Facing Doctor Lin's somewhat surprised look, Ye Li smiled and said, "It's just a joke. Now we are considered to be people in the same boat. If there is still a quarrel, no one may think of leaving." The man in black straightened himself slightly, lowered his head and laughed softly, and said in a deep voice, "It is said that Princess Ding is very smart, but I didn't believe it at first. But now it seems that she is indeed worthy of her reputation. No wonder Prince Ding is willing to do this for the princess..."

Ye Li's heart tensed up when she heard about Mo Xiuyao. She hadn't heard about him for a long time. She couldn't help but worry about his health and the environment he was in. But at this moment, she would not reveal a single thought to the man in front of her who knew nothing about her. She just looked at the man in black with his back to her calmly and said lightly, "It seems that I really know you. In this case, why don't we meet in person?" The man in black didn't say much and turned around to face Ye Li.

According to Ye Li's understanding, Lin Yuan was in his early thirties, but the man in front of him looked no more than twenty-six or twenty-seven. The black clothes made his figure look even thinner and taller, and also made his originally handsome face look even more sinister and cold. Just one glance gave people a very uncomfortable feeling, and Ye Li frowned slightly. Seeing Ye Li's expression, the man didn't mind. He looked at Ye Li and his eyes stayed on her already large belly for a while, and smiled and said, "I have seen Princess Ding."

Ye Li stared at him for a long while before she calmly called out his name, "Tan, Ji, Zhi."

The man in black looked at Ye Li, and his originally gloomy smile seemed to have a bit more joy. "I didn't expect that the princess would remember a small person like me. I am so lucky. I am Tan Jizhi, and the princess can also call me Lin Yuan." Ye Li snorted and said lightly: "Lord Tan, now doesn't seem to be the time to reminisce. If you don't want to do it anymore...you and I can both rest here forever." Tan Jizhi didn't care about Ye Li's obvious sarcasm, and said calmly: "The princess is right." After saying that, he turned around and looked at the increasingly thick black fog at the door. I can only be thankful that these things seem to like to gather together rather than flying around alone, otherwise they will be in even greater trouble. Tan Jizhi turned around and looked at Ye Li and asked, "Princess, since you know a little about this thing, I wonder if you have any corresponding method." Ye Li also knew that this was not the right time to bargain, so she said calmly, "This thing turns into a worm when it is hot and turns into jade when it is cold. Lady Tan, don't you need me to say more, right?"

Tan Jizhi stroked his chin and said thoughtfully, "Leng... I understand. Princess, wait a moment."

Having said that, Tan Jizhi flew up into the air again and flew to the opposite side, obviously looking for something, accompanied by a continuous stream of hidden weapons and sharp arrows. Fortunately, Tan Jizhi seemed to know this tomb quite well, although some wolves were not injured, and after a few rises and falls, they disappeared into the heavy palaces and jewels on the opposite side.

Ye Li pulled Doctor Lin to retreat further. Doctor Lin looked at her and stopped her, then led the way. The inside of the mausoleum was not as safe as the tomb passage they had walked through before. Many of the mechanisms and traps were not visible to ordinary people.

Doctor Lin stopped walking until he had nowhere to retreat. He turned around and looked at Ye Li and said, "Are you the princess of this generation of Prince Ding?" Ye Li smiled apologetically and said, "That's right. Please don't blame me for hiding it from you, Master. My last name is Ye and my given name is Li." Doctor Lin snorted, "Your name has nothing to do with me. How do you know Lin Yuan?" Ye Li raised her eyebrows and said, "I met Lord Tan once. He is the assistant of the Emperor of Great Chu and his true confidant. Speaking of which... the fact that my disciple is here may have something to do with Lord Tan." Doctor Lin frowned and thought, "Did the Emperor of Great Chu and Prince Ding have a quarrel?"

Ye Li shrugged her shoulders and didn't answer. Even if she didn't make a scene, it was probably almost the same. I just don't know how much Tan Jizhi contributed to this. So many civil and military officials in the court were fooled by this man. There were also martial arts masters in the court, but it seemed that everyone regarded this man as a weak scholar. Even Mo Jingqi, who was so suspicious, didn't doubt him at all. It can be seen that this man's methods are really amazing. Doctor Lin looked at Ye Li and asked in surprise, "If that's the case, why don't I see that you are worried about your safety at all?" Ye Li smiled and covered her lips, "Master, please forgive me for being disrespectful. In this ancient tomb... even if Master Tan abandons you, he will not abandon me. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, he will want to take me out alive." The value of a living Princess Ding and the future prince is far from being comparable to a corpse. Or she and the child Tan Jizhi can be used to threaten Mo Xiuyao and the Mo family army, or even negotiate with Mo Xiuyao. If it was just a corpse, Tan Jizhi might not dare to send it to Mo Xiuyao, because that would only completely anger Mo Xiuyao.

Doctor Lin bowed his head and tacitly agreed with Ye Li's words. He had raised Lin Yuan until he was nearly twenty years old, so he naturally understood his thoughts. In Lin Yuan's eyes, his adoptive father might not be as good as Ye Li, the Princess of Dingguo who had value for his use.

While the two were talking, Tan Jizhi had already returned. His Qinggong was obviously quite good, at least he was still able to dodge more than a dozen waves of hidden weapons and arrows with ease. He glanced at Ye Li and the other person standing by the Mercury River in the corner, and without hesitation, he rushed towards the black fog that was about to disappear.

"Huh? What is that?" Ye Li looked at the distance in surprise. A thick layer of white ice crystals wrapped up the black mist. Although she still had some vain attempts to fight, Tan Jizhi kept pouring water on the ice crystals with a bag in his hand, making the white ice crystals thicker and thicker, gradually wrapping the black mist completely inside.

Doctor Lin looked unhappy and said coldly, "Snow Jade Beads."

Ye Li was at a loss. When she was young, she had learned a certain basic knowledge of treasures and antiques under the guidance of Xu and the Xu family. But she had never heard of this snow jade bead. Doctor Lin said coldly: "Another name is corpse-raising bead. As long as it is placed in the mouth of the dead, the dead will soon be wrapped in a layer of ice crystals and will not decay for a hundred years. He moved the remains of the concubines who were buried with him."

Ye Li rubbed her cheeks uncomfortably and said to Doctor Lin with a smile: "Master, we have to make decisions in a hurry..." This mausoleum is at least 500 years old. Taking something out of the mouth of a 500-year-old corpse... Even Ye Li's smile became a little stiff. However, if that is the only way to solve the current situation, Ye Li can only say sorry to the concubines buried with him. After all, no one knows what the black things will become in the end. Just looking at the ever-expanding Mu Mo, Ye Li has no doubt that they will completely corrode most of the tomb in the end, including them who can't escape.

Seeing that the problem seemed to be almost solved, the two walked back. Tan Jizhi looked at the two with a smile and said to Doctor Lin: "Father, the mechanisms in the tomb have all been activated. If we want to get out safely, we can only completely solve the puzzles and treasures left by our ancestors in this hall." Doctor Lin said coldly: "Young Master, I don't deserve to be called father. I don't know what puzzles and treasures. Since you are the owner of this imperial tomb, you can do whatever you want."

Tan Jizhi's face darkened slightly, and he said calmly: "Father, why do you have to be angry with me? I have always been doing what our ancestors wished, right? It would be fine if father didn't support me, but why do you keep making things difficult for me?" Doctor Lin's face twisted, and he turned around and stopped talking. Tan Jizhi didn't care, and smiled at Ye Li on the side: "Princess, this tomb is full of traps. Can I trust that you won't mess up?" Ye Li stroked her belly gently, smiling gently, "Don't worry, Master Tan. Even if I don't want to die, I still have to take care of the baby in my belly." Tan Jizhi nodded with satisfaction and said: "Very good, I don't want to hurt the princess and the young prince, and I don't want to be an enemy of His Royal Highness Prince Ding."

After getting Ye Li's promise, Tan Jizhi no longer cared about other things. He walked forward and leaned over to check the gate in front of the palace. The black insect fog had caused considerable damage to the white jade gate. The originally snow-white gate was now covered with black spots and holes. Ye Li glanced at the spherical ice crystal that rolled to the side. There was also a black jade-like object clearly visible inside. The original puzzle game on the door was still there, and under the strange black jade was another layer of jasper. This time, Tan Jizhi obviously learned from Doctor Lin's previous lesson and did not touch the surface of the jasper with his fingers. Instead, he took out a dagger and slowly moved the blocks of words on it. The eight-character puzzle was not difficult to solve, and Tan Jizhi finished it in a short while. With two clicks, the jade fell to the ground in two halves. A strange keyhole was revealed. There was no lock on the white jade door, just a round keyhole. Tan Jizhi looked back at Doctor Lin and said, "Father, please give me the key."

Doctor Lin looked at him calmly and indifferently, "There is no key."

Tan Jizhi frowned, his sinister face clearly showing displeasure. He certainly would not believe that Dr. Lin did not have the key. If he were to ask who in the world knew the most about this mausoleum besides himself, it would undoubtedly be his adoptive father who raised him since he was a child. Because everything he knew was told to him bit by bit since he was a child.

"Maybe I can give it a try?" Seeing Tan Jizhi's increasingly gloomy face, Ye Li suddenly spoke.

The two men who were confronting each other were both stunned, and they all looked at Ye Li. Tan Jizhi's eyes were full of surprise and suspicion, while Doctor Lin's eyes were full of doubt and worry. Ye Li walked forward, lowered her head to observe the keyhole on the door for a while, and chuckled. Lock picking... was also a necessary skill in the past. Not to mention the previous one... Ye Li suddenly became curious about the founding emperor of the previous dynasty. Reaching up and taking out a simple copper hairpin from her hair, Ye Li fiddled with it in the keyhole nonchalantly. The two men behind her looked at the woman in front of them with some strange expressions. If it is nothing that Princess Ding is good at both literature and martial arts, then it is very strange that she can also lock pick. Seeing how she drove with ease, Tan Jizhi felt that no matter how many thieves there were in the world, they might not be as good as the woman in front of him. At least in order to enter this mausoleum, he had specially studied a lot of mechanisms and locks, but the one in front of him obviously made him a little confused.

It took about a quarter of an hour, and then there was a clicking sound inside. Ye Li pulled out the copper hairpin and took a step back.

The white jade gate creaked, and after a moment, it slowly moved to the sides under the gaze of the three people, revealing the most central location of the entire imperial mausoleum before their eyes.

Inside was a grand hall, which was obviously built in imitation of the main hall of the palace at that time. The long-burning lamp in the hall was still burning quietly. The grand hall was magnificent and splendid, making people feel as if they were really in a royal palace instead of a gloomy ancient tomb. He looked around the hall, but did not see the coffin of the former emperor Gaozu, which he originally thought should be in the hall. There was only a sandalwood box on the table in the hall, and a portrait in imperial court clothes was hung in front of it. It was obviously the emperor Gaozu of the previous dynasty. Tan Jizhi was stunned for a moment, and he knelt down in front of the portrait without looking up, and kowtowed respectfully several times. Ye Li raised his eyebrows and looked at Doctor Lin, who was frowning. He obviously had no intention of kneeling down to worship the emperor of the previous dynasty.

After kneeling down to pay respect to the ancestors, Tan Jizhi stood up and looked at Ye Li and said, "Princess Ding, this is my ancestor, the founding emperor of the previous dynasty." His words were full of admiration and yearning for his ancestors. There was also a bit of boasting and complacency in his tone towards Ye Li. Ye Li nodded politely and said with a smile, "Congratulations, I have heard a lot about you." Tan Jizhi obviously didn't care about her perfunctory attitude. He walked quickly into the hall and stared at the big red sandalwood box on the table in a daze, holding his breath carefully. Obviously, that was the treasure he had been looking for. Ye Li stared at the sandalwood box with interest. She was indeed curious about what kind of treasure could be comparable to the mountains of gold, silver, jewelry and jade antiques outside.

Tan Jizhi looked at her and said with a smile, "Princess, are you interested too? Why don't you come up and uncover the secret of this treasure with me?"

Facing Tan Jizhi's expression that seemed like a gift of favor, Ye Li pulled the corners of her lips and smiled, "No need, Master Tan, please do as you please."

Ye Li's refusal made him a little disappointed, but the feeling of the treasure in front of him made him decide to ignore this little displeasure. Walking to the dragon chair behind the case and sitting down, Tan Jizhi looked down at His Highness Ye Li and Doctor Lin with satisfaction, and then slowly reached out to open the box. Fortunately, there was nothing troublesome on the box this time, and Tan Jizhi opened the box easily. Carefully he took out a jade seal from it. Ye Li raised her eyebrows slightly. This should be the imperial seal made by the first emperor a thousand years ago. It was engraved with eight large characters: "Received the Mandate from Heaven, Live Long and Prosper". It is said that the former emperor Gaozu did get the jade seal, but none of the emperors since then have ever taken out the jade seal. After Emperor Taizu of the Great Chu came to power, he turned the old palace of the previous dynasty upside down but could not find it. Therefore, later history books generally believed that the previous dynasty's Gaozu's acquisition of the imperial seal was just a legend. It only existed in general unofficial history.

Tan Jizhi held the imperial seal in his hands with great joy, and his expression was even more dazed. He looked so high and mighty, as if he could now control the power of life and death and unify the world.

When he was finally intoxicated enough, he began to carefully feel the jade seal in his hand. Gradually... his expression began to become a little stiff, and then slowly revealed a look of fear, "How... How could this happen?!"

Ye Li was puzzled. He turned the seal over and over for a long time. Finally, he stood up suddenly and swept all the things on the table to the ground. Then he threw the seal down with regret. "How could this happen?!" Ye Li blinked and dodged the things falling from above. He looked at the seal that rolled at his feet. He leaned over carefully and picked it up. It was indeed a rare and good jade with a coiled dragon engraved on it. There were also the eight characters in the legend. No matter the size or the appearance, it was exactly the same as the one recorded in the history books. But... why was there such a big word "imitation" in the lower right corner of the seal?

Doctor Lin beside him also picked up the red sandalwood box that Tan Jizhi had swept down. There was a piece of cloth in the box. Ye Li glanced to the side and saw two lines of words written on it in an extremely arrogant manner: "You unworthy descendants who dare to disturb my mausoleum, I will tell you where the real imperial seal and treasure are." There were three more arrogant words at the end - Ha! Ha! Ha!

Ye Li finally couldn't help but twitch her lips. If he still didn't understand the origin of this founding emperor after seeing this, she would be dead. However... others are cheating their fathers, but this Emperor Gaozu is cheating his descendants.

Tan Jizhi above naturally saw the cloth in Doctor Lin's hand, and quickly jumped down the steps to snatch the cloth from Doctor Lin's hand. But his expression afterwards made Ye Li reluctant to look at him. This hopeful descendant of the former royal family was really betrayed by his ancestors.

The cloth fell to the ground in Tan Ji's hand. Ye Li watched helplessly as he walked out in despair. She turned her head and said to Doctor Lin, "Master, will he be okay if he goes out like this? His psychological endurance is too poor."

Doctor Lin sighed and followed. Ye Li gritted her teeth, lowered her head with some pain, picked up the piece of cloth and looked at it, a faint smile appeared on her lips, and put it into her sleeve pocket. She looked back at the portrait in the hall wearing the imperial court costume, turned around and followed him out. If those two people went out, she would not be able to go out alone. However... if Tan Jizhi had not been driven crazy by his unreliable ancestor, he would not have abandoned her.