Is this a luminous pearl? But it has been sleeping in the darkness of the stone coffin for thousands of years without dying. How could a luminous pearl possibly emit light? Then it occurred to me that this must be because Wang Dagui had used the lamp to shine it on it for a while earlier!
Not being able to see the whole thing, Li Jinlong waved his hand excitedly and said, "Everyone's trip was worthwhile. Let's do it again and open the entire coffin lid."
The lid of the stone coffin was already partially open, and it would be easier to open it further. With a little more effort, the group lifted the lid to the side and then slid it down the stone coffin to the ground.
Except for Zhou Xuan, everyone else brought their own high-powered spotlights and shone them into the coffin. The dazzling display of jewels dazzled everyone's eyes. Li Jinlong, Wang Dagui, Wang Qiang, and even Li Yong and Fang Jianjun were all speechless with astonishment!
Even a blind man could figure out the value of this coffin!
Seeing these people caressing the treasures beside the coffin, their faces filled with ecstasy, Zhou Xuan couldn't help but sigh. He thought to himself, "No matter how much treasure you have, can you even get out of here? If you don't live to enjoy it, what good is it? Can it even feed you here?"
When the topic turned to eating it, Zhou Xuan was startled again and immediately realized, "Oh no!"
Many backpacks and belongings had fallen into the stone chamber below. Less than half of them remained above. What if they ran out of food and water? They needed to find another exit before then. If they had to go back the way they came, probably no one would survive the onslaught of those ferocious corpse worms. No one could escape. Even with his icy aura protecting him and transforming it, he could only stay among the worms for a few more minutes. Once his icy aura was exhausted, he too would be devoured by the worms and reduced to a skeleton!
Seeing that these people were obsessed with the jewels and wealth, Zhou Xuan glanced into the stone coffin and noticed several pieces of hemp cloth that looked like the ones left behind by Li Jinlong's ancestor, Li Ben. A thought struck him, and he immediately reached out and took them out. He examined them and found they were covered in unfamiliar characters.
The Blue High-Ranking official also noticed the pieces of linen that Zhou Xuan had taken out. He understood that no matter how much wealth one had, it was all for naught if one couldn't get out. He turned around when he saw Zhou Xuan pick up the pieces of linen.
Zhou Xuan handed him the piece of burlap. The Blue High-Ranking official, naturally, didn't recognize it either, and immediately called out to Professor Qin, who was still examining the utensils on the stone table: "Professor Qin, take a look at this!" (For more chapters, please visit Old Things. Support the author and read the original version!)
Volume One: The First Budding Buds, Chapter 108: Rare Treasures
Xin Zheng retrieved the few pieces of hemp cloth from the upper floor of the building, and upon seeing the characters on them, his eyes lit up. His interest immediately shifted to this.
Zhou Xuan ignored these matters and glanced at Fu Ying. She was staring blankly at him. Thinking back to when he was in the stone chamber below, Fu Ying's pitiful state—if the people above hadn't held her back, she probably would have jumped!
He walked over, took Fu Ying's hand, shook it gently, and whispered, "Yingying, I'm sorry!"
Fu Ying's eyes reddened, and she said, "Do you still care about me? I don't blame you for pushing me up first. But why did you leave yourself at the back? Everyone is selfish, and they become even more selfish in the most dangerous situations. Look, everyone else knew to rush to the top, but you insisted on putting yourself at the very back. When I called you just now, my heart was broken, you know that?"
As Fu Ying spoke, tears finally streamed down her face.
Zhou Xuan felt both pity and love. He sighed, gently pulled Fu Ying into his arms, and patted her shoulder. He whispered, "Okay, okay. I promise, it won't happen again."
Fu Ying could no longer hold back and hugged Zhou Xuan, sobbing uncontrollably. Her tears soaked a large area of Zhou Xuan's shoulder. Zhou Xuan had never seen Fu Ying so distraught in front of so many people; she was truly heartbroken and devastated!
He sighed again. He thought to himself that he truly had wronged Fu Ying. She had come all the way from Guanzhong to see him, so devoted to him, disregarding everything else. Not only had he not given her a peaceful life, but he had also dragged her into this dangerous situation. How could he be at peace? He thought for a moment, and was about to speak to comfort Fu Ying when he noticed Wei Xiaoqing staring at him with her beautiful eyes. The words he wanted to say immediately died in his throat!
If I told Xiaqing, she'd probably call me cheesy again!
However, Wei Xiaoqing sat on her backpack, holding the test eggs in her hands, staring blankly at him with a strange look in her eyes. Gone was her former willfulness and liveliness. Before, if she saw Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying like this, she would definitely have said something sarcastic, but now she just stared at them quietly without saying a word. Her eyes, instead, were a little moist.
Fu Ying sobbed for a while, then said, "You promised. What's the use of promising now? Anyway, no one expects to get out. With those man-eating bugs around, who can get out?"
Zhou Xuan smiled, released Fu Ying, wiped away her tears with his fingers, and said calmly, "They say there's always a way out. We might not be able to get out of here. We still have time. Let's look for a way out; maybe we'll find it!"
On the other side, apart from the Blue High-Ranking officials waiting for Qin Zeng to decipher the words on the cloth pieces to see if they could find an exit, everyone else, including the old Professor Yang Guang, stood by the stone coffin, examining the treasures inside with beaming faces.
These people hadn't considered the problems that would follow. Zhou Xuan snorted, dragged all the backpacks to his feet, and took out the food and water, laying them out together. Only fourteen bottles of mineral water, seven bags of compressed biscuits, and four cans of meat remained; the rest had been lost in the stone chamber below. What was left was only enough for one day, and even then, it had to be used sparingly. If they went hungry, they could only survive for a maximum of three days, because there was no water. With water, a person could go hungry for over a week. But without water, three days would be enough to kill someone from dehydration. Of course, at such a depth underground, without sunlight, they might be able to last a couple more days. But if they were half-dead from hunger, how could they possibly have the strength to leave this hellish place?
Li Jinlong and Wang Qiang were the most knowledgeable. They understood the value of the treasures in the stone coffin perfectly. These treasures existed 3,600 years ago, and how many years before that was unknown. The pearls were perfectly round, as large as ping-pong balls. Nowadays, pearls are rare due to three factors: fewer old pearls and smaller sizes; large-scale artificial cultivation; and severe depletion of the wild pearl habitat. Large, natural pearls are already scarce, let alone large, ancient ones, though such stories have existed since ancient times. Perfectly round pearls are called "walking pearls." Pearls, along with agate, crystal, and jade, are considered one of the "Four Treasures" of ancient my country.
Look at these pearls in the stone coffin, so large! They're incredibly old; they'd be priceless treasures anywhere else. And the coral is a deep red, gem-quality coral, though it's a bit strange. In such ancient times, coral wasn't very popular in Asia. And look at those dozen or so egg-sized, glowing pearls!
Li Jinlong's eyes almost popped out!
Pearls are hard to find, and luminous pearls are even rarer. They've always been legendary treasures. There are also piles of jade and agate, each piece incredibly precious, unlike vegetables in a market. While plentiful, they're not worth much. Any single item from this stone coffin would be enough for an ordinary person to live a comfortable life, let alone such a large coffin!
After Zhou Xuan arranged the food and water, Li Jinlong and his group were still reveling by the stone coffin. Qin Zeng, however, took out paper and pen from his backpack and began writing on the words on the pieces of cloth.
Lan Gaofeng and Wei Haihong searched the entire stone palace together, looking for anything...
Xi Jinping's "heart"
The palace was about fifteen meters high, and Zhou Xuan planned to use his ice energy to scan the area around the entrance. However, the top was too high, and he could no longer see above his head. Since they were in the lower stone chambers and couldn't see above them, they almost all became corpse worms.
Zhou Xuan handed two bottles of water to Fu Ying and Wei Xiaoqing, and another to Li Quan, who was injured and unable to move. He said, "Keep this water safe; it might save your lives!"
After Zhou Xuan finished speaking, he told Wei Xiaoqing to stay with Fu Ying. Fu Ying could take care of her if anything happened. Then he started to probe along the stone wall step by step to see if there was a way out.
Wei Haihong and Lan Gaofeng split up and carefully examined the Great Stone Palace, finding virtually no flaws. Returning to their original spot, Qin Zeng stretched and said, "We finally got this thing done!"
The Blue executive immediately called out, "Stop looking, everyone come over here and let's have a meeting to discuss this."
Li Jinlong and his group looked at each other. They came over empty-handed.
Zhou Xuan also came back, and he was also very interested in the things on the burlap piece.
The basketball executive said in a calm voice, "Do you think you've struck it rich? Let me tell you, even if this entire stone palace is full of treasures, it's all for nothing if you can't get out. See?" He pointed to the pile of food and water that Zhou Xuan had laid out.
"There's only so much food and water. I think you all know that. How long can that last? Hmph," the Blue executive snorted coldly twice, then added, "Listen to the text on those burlap slabs that Professor Qin has deciphered. Everyone listen carefully and see if there are any clues."
Mu coughed, then took the piece of white paper that Ze had handed him, looked at it, and said, "Ahem, this..." Because there was no information available, I could only roughly piece together the gist from memory. There were many things I couldn't confirm; I just pieced it together based on the meaning of the sentences above and below.
Qin Zeng explained the gist of his theory. It said that 3,600 years ago, General Qiu Yun of King Zi Tang, in order to present treasures to King Zi Tang on his birthday, collected countless rare and precious items, including a strange gemstone that had fallen from the sky. However, this treasure turned into a great disaster, causing the death of the entire city. King Zi Tang believed it was a divine calamity and consulted the eccentric divination master Tianjizi. Tianjizi said that the root of all the disaster was that strange stone. He then offered thousand-year-old tortoise shell glue and black stone powder from outer space, mixed with other exotic materials to create a miniature coffin. By placing the celestial stone inside the miniature coffin and sealing it, the harm could be contained within three meters. Furthermore, by burying it deep underground, thousands of feet below the surface, a nationwide catastrophe could be averted!
When Qin Zeng said this, Lan Gaofeng, Zhou Xuan, and Wei Haihong looked at each other in bewilderment!
The legend was indeed true, but the most dangerous thing was actually that miniature coffin. However, Tianjizi used the miniature coffin to block the radiation, keeping it within three meters. Thinking about it now, Tianjizi was truly an extraordinary person, having a way to control radiation thousands of years ago.
The danger had been removed, but they had needlessly ventured into the abyss and were now in mortal danger again.
Li Jinlong and his gang, along with the Wang brothers, were naturally unaware of the radiation issue; all they could think about was the treasure. They had indeed found it, and once they got out, they would be rolling in money.
The reason why King Zitang ordered all these treasures to be buried deep underground was because that strange stone had caused a terrible disaster, and he dared not keep it!
Tianjizi sensed the danger emanating from the strange stone, but not his own. King Zitang, fearing it would cause nationwide panic, buried Tianjizi, who knew the truth, alive in the abyss. In his dying moments, Tianjizi wrote these slips of cloth, not caring whether anyone would see them.