Chapter 17: Night Exploration of the Treasure Pavilion
Xiyan's movements were extremely fast, like a flying swallow. In the blink of an eye, she flew to the gate of Cangzhen Pavilion.
She took a deep breath, looked around, and seeing that no one noticed, she stretched out her slender hand and gently pushed open the door.
As soon as the door was opened, there were a few "whoosh" sounds, and arrows were fired from inside the door. The arrowheads flashed with cold light and flew towards the face like pear blossoms in a rainstorm.
Xiyan reacted extremely quickly. She tapped the ground with her toes and her body floated back several feet like willow catkins. At the same time, she drew out the dagger from her waist and waved it quickly in the air. The sound of "ding ding dang dang" was endless, and she blocked the arrows shot at her one after another, sparks flying everywhere.
Dodging the rain of arrows, she carefully stepped into the building.
In one corner of the building, there was a perpetually burning lamp. With the dim light, one could see that the surrounding area was filled with various objects. It was indeed a place where rare treasures were stored in the Prince's Mansion, with a dazzling array of items.
However, danger was always around. As soon as she stepped into the door, there was a flap under her feet. With a "creak", the flap flipped over instantly, revealing a row of bamboo sticks with sharp edges facing upwards. If she fell, she would be pierced like a sieve.
Xiyan raised her eyebrows, tapped the edge of the flip board with her toes, and leaped high like a kite flipping over, drawing a graceful arc in the air and narrowly avoiding the bamboo stick array.
After landing, before she could stand firmly, she felt her feet go soft and she thought to herself, "Oh no!" It turned out that she had stepped on a mechanism again.
She did not dare to hesitate for a moment and jumped up again. Her body was agile and her clothes fluttered. In the blink of an eye, she dodged seven traps in a row. Each jump was extremely precise.
At this time, the cold sweat on her body had already soaked her clothes, but she could not retreat at all.
Finally, she stepped on solid ground and temporarily escaped the threat of the mechanism. Xiyan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking around, the first floor is full of valuable tables, chairs and ornaments, which are hazy in the dim light, exuding an ancient atmosphere.
It seems that the first floor is not the place to hide the pearls, we have to go to the second floor to take a look.
Xiyan knew about some traps and ambushes, and knew that the stairs contained secrets, so she only dared to take the odd-numbered steps, one, three, five, seven, and nine, and not the even-numbered ones.
As for the railings, you must not touch them, as they may trigger the mechanism if you are not careful.
She held her breath, counted the odd numbers with her feet, and slowly stepped onto the stairs, taking each step carefully, as if walking on thin ice.
Finally, she successfully reached the second floor.
However, just as she reached the door of the building, she stepped on a mechanism. The secret compartments around the wall suddenly popped out, shooting out several needles with a faint green light, heading straight for her. It was obvious at a glance that they were extremely poisonous.
Xi Yanhua must have a mechanism, so she quickly lay down on the ground. The poison needle brushed past her hair, and several strands of hair were cut off by the needle and floated into the air.
After the rain of needles passed, she flew into the second floor.
The light on the second floor was brighter than that on the first. She looked around and saw that it was filled with precious medicinal materials. The air was filled with the fragrance of medicine. It was not a place to store treasures.
It seems that the South China Sea Pearl can only be on the third floor.
Xiyan knew that time was running out. She was afraid that the commotion just now had alarmed the guards of the Prince's Mansion. They would arrive soon, so she ran straight towards the stairs leading to the third floor.
She still walked in odd numbers instead of even numbers and reached the third floor safely.
The third floor is filled with shelves and boxes filled with jewelry.
Her eyes searched the building anxiously, trying to avoid the numerous traps while carefully searching for Dongzhu's whereabouts. Her whole body seemed like a bowstring stretched to the extreme.
Until she turned sideways around a tall shelf and entered the inner room of the attic.
A dazzling ray of colorful light, as if projected from the distant sky, instantly penetrated the diffuse darkness and entered her eyes.
Xiyan felt her heart pounding as she looked in the direction of the light.
I saw a brocade box placed on the yellow pear wood table behind the shelf. The lid of the box was open, and a round bead was lying quietly inside, emitting a breathtakingly bright light.
The light was like a sliding meteor, jumping and interweaving freely in the air, dyeing everything around it with a myriad of rosy clouds and auspicious colors.
Xiyan was overjoyed, because that was the South China Sea Pearl she had been longing for.
She thought to herself, no wonder Nan Zhao wanted to present this oriental pearl to Emperor Tianqi, it was indeed a rare treasure.
Xiyan knew that the closer they got to their destination, the greater the risks.
She stepped forward cautiously, but just as she stepped onto the platform, she heard a "crash" and a figure flashed out from behind the screen. With swift movements and two big hands outstretched, he pounced towards her viciously.
Xiyan was so frightened that her face turned pale and the dagger in her hand almost fell to the ground. She quickly moved sideways to avoid the man's attack.
After calming down a little, he turned around and took a closer look, and found that it was actually a metal dummy.
The dummy's eyes flashed red, and its arms quickly rose up, attacking her again.
Xiyan took a deep breath, calmed herself down, observed the flaws in the dummy's movements, and quickly stabbed out the dagger in her hand, accurately piercing the dummy's joints.
With a "creak" sound, the dummy's movement stopped abruptly, the mechanism was successfully destroyed, and it fell to the ground.
She continued forward, and after taking a few steps, suddenly, a pungent smoke rose from the ground and filled the surroundings in an instant.
Before entering the building, Xiyan was sure that there must be poisonous smoke inside, so she had already taken the Hundred Herbs Detoxification Pill in advance.
However, she still held her breath and quickly took out a silk handkerchief from her bosom to cover her mouth and nose.
After a while, the poisonous smoke slowly dissipated, and she continued to avoid the endless traps on the ground, such as flip panels, hidden pits, and trip wires, and finally came to the table where the Dongzhu was placed!
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