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The warm and comfortable armchair covered with snow fox fur dispelled the chill deep within the study.
The eye-protecting bronze lamp in the corner emitted a soft glow, illuminating the yellowed pages of "A Brief Study of the Remains of the Ancient Nanfeng Kingdom" with crystal clarity.
Gu Jinghong was completely absorbed in it.
This research is surprisingly detailed. It not only records the customs and legends of the ancient Nanfeng Kingdom, but also devotes two whole chapters to discussing several mechanical techniques that were famous throughout the world but were almost lost with the fall of the kingdom, including the "Nine Stars Linked Mechanism", "Xuanji Technique" and "Linglong Technique".
Gu Jinghong turned to the chapter on "Exquisite Techniques". The core configurations, common triggering mechanisms, and iconic "loop lock" structure described in the book corresponded one by one with the patterns and textures on the South Wind Secret Box in her hand!
Her eyes gleamed with focused excitement as her fingers once again touched the cold surface of the box, slowly moving along the intricate and strange patterns, her fingertips feeling the extremely subtle bumps, depressions, and turns.
In my mind, the diagrams in the book and the tactile sensation of the box kept overlapping and confirming each other.
"The Qi follows the handle of the Big Dipper, the stars shift seven degrees, following the changes of the celestial sphere in both forward and reverse directions..."
Her mind was completely absorbed in the intricate and mysterious patterns on the surface of the box, her gaze fixed on a winding, dark pattern hidden beneath several intersecting lines of death. According to star charts and ancient fragments, this pattern, though seemingly a dead end, might be the only way out to the outer "Tianxuan Qi Aperture".
"Buzz..."
A very faint murmur, as if resonating from distant stars, came from the depths of the sealed box.
Immediately following was a barely audible "click," like stars returning to their places, as a tiny but crucial mechanism completed its engagement.
The first step is done!
"Grand Secretary!" A deliberately lowered female voice, filled with urgency and panic, rang out very close behind her like a ghost.
Gu Jinghong was startled, and the hairs on her body stood on end instantly.
She turned around abruptly, her hand almost instinctively reaching for a hidden weapon!
Qingwu was already standing at the window. After glancing around for a moment, she leaped from the window into the study and came to Gu Jinghong's side.
Gu Jinghong recognized the person who had arrived, but her tense nerves did not relax. She lowered her voice to a low warning: "Qingwu, this is the Prince's study. What will happen if the guards find out?!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than someone asked, "Who is it?"
Qingwu leaped into the study and hid under Gu Jinghong's desk.
Gu Jinghong coughed twice to cover for Qingwu, and the guard left with a forced smile after recognizing Gu Jinghong.
"Your Excellency, please forgive me!" After the guard left, Qingwu knelt on one knee, her voice quick and urgent, her eyes fixed on the secret box in Gu Jinghong's hand.
"Your subordinate has come at the risk of his life, on the urgent orders of the Lord! The Lord summons you back immediately, and this box must not be touched again!"
Gu Jinghong's eyes narrowed: "The Lord summoned me? What is the matter that is so urgent? This box..." Her fingers unconsciously traced the location where she had just found the unlocking path.
"It's precisely because of this box!" Qingwu looked up, her eyes filled with earnestness and anxiety. "Minister, have you forgotten? The order given by the Pavilion Master was—'Take the box and bring it back unopened.' You must not open it without authorization!"
Gu Jinghong's heart sank.
She was the chief intelligence officer, personally trained by the lord. The rule of Zhuoyue Tower was that once intelligence was obtained, the chief intelligence officer had the right to assess the situation and, if necessary, even act expediently. The lord himself often said that the value of intelligence lay in its timely and effective use.
Why issue such an unusual prohibition specifically on this secret box from the southwest? Is it merely out of fear that she might damage it due to her lack of mechanical skills? That reason is far too weak.
Is the object in the box auspicious or inauspicious? Is it a sharp blade or a trap? This unusual prohibition itself is a strong signal.
Seeing her silence, Qingwu's tone became even more anxious: "Minister, please reconsider! You know the rules of Zhuoyue Tower. Unauthorized prying into mission documents, especially those personally ordered by the Tower Master, is a serious crime! According to the law, the lightest punishment is fifty strokes of the cane as a warning to others. You are still seriously injured. If you are beaten fifty times, even if you are lucky enough to survive, your foundation will be severely damaged, and it may take several years to recover!"
She paused, her voice lower and colder: "If you... choose to disobey orders and flee, then you will be betraying the entire Zhuoyue Tower! Quanzuoge's kill order will immediately spread throughout the martial world! Minister Xie hates you to the bone now, and with the added grudge of being mute, if he gains the authority to hunt you down, Minister Xie, do you think he will deal with you?!"
The last sentence directly points to the irreconcilable feud between Gu Jinghong and Xie Yan, each word like an icicle.
“Qingwu,” Gu Jinghong’s voice was unusually calm, yet carried an undeniable power, “I understand the rules, punishments, and consequences you mentioned, as well as Xie Yan’s threats. I also dare not forget the Lord’s orders.”
Her gaze, sharp as a cold star, fixed on Qingwu: "But precisely because I am the Secretary of the Secretariat and know the importance of intelligence, I cannot ignore this unusual prohibition. The Lord's order to keep it 'untouched' proves that this box contains something he does not want me to know in advance, or something that needs to be kept absolutely secret."
The secret box concerns the Southwest, and is crucial to the Qianyuan Pavilion's plans in the Southwest. If it truly contains a conspiracy capable of overthrowing the Southwest, or even jeopardizing the Zhuoyue Tower itself, and I, due to hesitation and fear, miss the opportunity to warn them… then, not only will my position as Pavilion Minister be lost, but even my very foundation will be destroyed!
Gu Jinghong pressed his fingertips precisely on the trigger point he had just found, his tone carrying the resolute determination of a do-or-die officer and the confidence of a top intelligence officer, "Even if it is the Southern Wind Secret Technique, lost for a thousand years, now that I have glimpsed its essence, I, Gu Jinghong... may not necessarily be unable to give it a try! Rules are rigid, but people are flexible. Today, I am determined to open this box!"
Qingwu gasped, her eyes filled with disbelief and horror, "Grand Secretary! You..."
"No need to persuade me anymore!" Gu Jinghong interrupted her decisively. "Now that you know my decision, leave this place immediately! Remember, you are only here to deliver a message. You have never seen me try to open the box, nor do you know anything about what's inside. Leave now, go back out the way you came through the back window, and stand guard outside to keep watch for me!"
"Grand Secretary!" Qingwu's eyes were filled with tears.
Gu Jinghong said decisively, "This is an order! The less you know, the safer you are. Let's go!"
Qingwu's lips twitched a few times, but she finally gritted her teeth and whispered, "Take care, Grand Secretary."
Then, like a cat, it silently glided towards the back window and quickly disappeared into the shadows outside.
Gu Jinghong was the only one left in the study.
Without further hesitation, she abandoned all distractions and focused all her attention once again on the secret box before her.
With a light touch of her fingertips to the star's eye, a faint yet resilient suction force came from within. She held her breath and focused her mind, her inner energy flowing like a gentle stream, carefully channeling it into the star's power, following the guidance in the book: "Turn left to draw in the power of the three palaces of stars, turn right to absorb the essence of the four elements."
Every rotation, pause, and change of direction of internal energy must precisely correspond to the trajectory of the stars deduced in the mind.
Finally, as Gu Jinghong's fingertips completed the final, extremely complex "Exquisite Technique" rune calculation, and his inner force was precisely injected into an almost invisible indentation at the bottom of the box—
A "click" sound, much clearer than before, rang out.
It's done?
Gu Jinghong felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the "unmoved" secret box. Instead of feeling joy, he became even more vigilant.
Based on her current understanding of the Linglong Technique, the sound response just now must have been the activation of some important mechanism, but who knows what awaits in the next step.
She held her breath and carefully used a special tool to pry open a crack in the box lid. Her body was already tense, ready to deal with any traps or mechanisms.
Just as the lid popped open a tiny crack—
"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"
Three needles, as thin as cow's hair and gleaming with a cold, eerie blue light, shot out without warning, like venomous snakes that had been lying in wait for a long time. Their speed was astonishing, and they were aimed straight at Gu Jinghong's face and throat.
On the brink of life and death, Gu Jinghong's pupils suddenly contracted.
Her still-healing injuries severely limited her reflexes. In a split second, her body jerked backward at an incredible angle, and at the same time, her left hand swiftly grabbed the cold, heavy white jade paperweight from the table and held it in front of her throat.
This extreme backward lean instantly tore open the wound on her left rib, and the excruciating pain made her vision go black.
"Clang! Clang!" Two crisp sounds rang out as two poisoned needles were firmly embedded in the white jade paperweight, their ends trembling violently!
The third poisoned needle grazed her cheek, creating a chilling gust of wind as it flew towards the pillar in the study.
Cold sweat instantly soaked through Gu Jinghong's inner shirt.
She steadied herself, ignoring the stinging pain in her cheek, and quickly tossed aside the white jade paperweight along with the poisoned needle. She looked at the box opening, which had been pried open and was still maintained by a thin crack.
Through the crack, she saw that the interior was not the final space, but an ingenious interlayer—this was only the first outer shell—there was a secret box within a secret box!
The first layer of the sealed box was not very spacious, lined with bright yellow velvet, and three items lay quietly inside.
A pill the size of a longan, perfectly round, and strangely dark red.
The pills seemed to have fine spiral patterns naturally formed on their surface, emitting a faint, yet subtly unsettling, sweet-smelling odor.
A meticulously drawn sheepskin map depicting a section of the southwestern border region.
The map highlights several seemingly inconspicuous passes, post stations, and a winding path leading deep into the wild mountains. The locations of several post stations are marked with a prominent circle in vermilion.
A folded, yellowed sheet of paper.
Gu Jinghong held her breath and carefully unfolded the paper. On it were dozens of names and code names written in extremely fine ink, but about a third of the names and code names were crossed out with vermilion ink, and the vermilion ink was written with different pressure and color, obviously in several strokes.
This list, stained with ink, exudes an intense aura of killing and destruction. In the lower right corner of the list, there is a faint, crescent-shaped mark.
Gu Jinghong's gaze swept quickly over the names that hadn't been crossed out.
Suddenly, her gaze fixed on the upper middle part of the list, and her pupils contracted sharply!
It was clearly written there: Xie Yan, acting as Grand Secretary.
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