Chapter 115 Treasure Vault

Behind the bronze door was a treasure vault, everything within imbued with the aura of accumulated time. Antique bookshelves, curio cabinets, and a carpet embroidered with the image of a dark bird totem filled the space.

Bronze statues of palace maids stood respectfully, each holding a crystal and glass goblet in their hands.

Candlelight flickered softly, emitting a gentle, bright halo.

At the end of the carpet, directly facing the entrance to the hall, was a shrine. Hanging above it was an ancient painting depicting a graceful and beautiful goddess, cradling an infant in her arms, with a three-legged bronze furnace standing beside her.

On the altar of the shrine were two crystal and glass lamps, as well as a black wooden box.

On either side of the shrine were niches, each containing chests bound with gold-edged corners.

Along both sides of the carpet were rows of curio cabinets and bookshelves, filled with antiques and books, a dazzling array of objects. Closest to the entrance, neatly arranged, were wooden boxes, each about half a person's height.

The sound of swallowing saliva at the entrance finally subsided after a long moment. Xia Hou Aotian's voice trembled as he said,

"Everyone, don't, don't move. Let, let me appraise them first... Don't snatch, please don't snatch. Everyone should be orderly, no infighting..."

"You're the one who wants to snatch them, right?" Zhang Yuanqing muttered. "I want to too..." Zhao Chenghuang mumbled. "Mmm-hmm," Sun Miaomiao said, her eyes glazed over.

Tianxia Guihuo's hands trembled uncontrollably.

Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and looked at his teammates, noticing the greed in their eyes.

*My expression probably isn't any better than theirs. I really regret inviting them. I provided the key, and I discovered the hidden quest. Why should I share it with them?*

*Calm down, calm down. Don't let the treasure cloud your mind.* Zhang Yuanqing took another breath, took out the Ghost Mirror, and held it in his palm. Instantly, the evil thoughts and greed in his heart receded like the tide, his mind cleared, and his spirit was refreshed.

"Everyone, to ensure we don't start fighting amongst ourselves, please hold this," Zhang Yuanqing said, handing the Ghost Mirror to Sun Miaomiao beside him.

Sun Miaomiao took the Ghost Mirror, and the excitement and greed in her eyes quickly dissipated. "Phew…" she exhaled in relief.

Then, Xia Hou Aotian, Tianxia Guihuo, and Zhao Chenghuang each held the Ghost Mirror, one after the other, experiencing a moment of clarity as reason took over.

The group first opened the large wooden boxes near the entrance. They were filled with ordinary valuables: cloth, knife-shaped coins, jade ornaments, gold cakes, and silver ingots—thirty boxes in all.

"We're rich! Selling these things, not to mention 120 million in debt, even 12 billion in debt would be nothing!" Xia Hou Aotian exclaimed.

*He's always thinking about his debt; this guy clearly loves money,* Sun Miaomiao and the others thought. While they appreciated these items, they weren't consumed by them, and they headed straight for the curio cabinets. Xia Hou Aotian casually opened a jade box and let out a piercing scream:

"Oh, heavens! What do I see? God! Redfire Crystal Sand? A Sovereign-grade material, Redfire Crystal Sand!" Zhang Yuanqing was startled and thought for a moment that the Warden had descended from the void. He leaned over to look. Inside the jade box was a pile of crimson sand, emitting high heat and distorting the air. Tianxia Guihuo's eyebrows twitched, his face filled with excitement:

"Redfire Crystal Sand is a Sovereign-grade material for Fire Manipulators. It can be used as fuel, for refining weapons, for refining elixirs. At the very least, if you throw it at an enemy, it can burn a Saint-level into ashes!" Seeing how excited he was, Zhang Yuanqing silently handed him the Ghost Mirror. Tianxia Guihuo said,

"This stuff is flammable and explosive." Xia Hou Aotian carefully closed the jade lid and put it back in place. Suddenly, Sun Miaomiao screamed:

"Red Jade! Red Jade imbued with the power of the sun!"

The others followed her voice and saw Sun Miaomiao holding up a piece of crimson jade carved with dragons and phoenixes.

At first glance, the jade pendant seemed ordinary, but after staring at it for too long, a stinging sensation would develop in one's eyes, as if scorched by the blazing sun. Tianxia Guihuo silently handed the Ghost Mirror to Sun Miaomiao.

Sun Miaomiao took it, and under Xia Hou Aotian's guidance, the group appraised the items on the curio cabinets one by one. Identifying materials was a necessary skill for a Conjuror.

They discovered a total of nine Sovereign-grade materials, including fist-sized pieces of Xirang (breathing earth). Of course, there were also non-Lingjing (spirit realm) materials, pure antique calligraphy and paintings.

Some of them were relatively pure but still priceless.

One piece could be sold at auction for tens of millions. More valuable than Sovereign-grade materials because of their historical value rather than the materials themselves. After looking at the items on the curio cabinets, Zhang Yuanqing suggested that they take turns holding the Ghost Mirror to enter a state of clarity.

Next, they went to the bookshelves on the other side.

The ancient books on the bookshelves were all cultivation manuals.

Not the breathing techniques considered the foundation by ancient cultivators, but spells, similar to secret methods like the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record.

They covered the eight orthodox professions and the three evil professions.

There was the *Crimson Flame Leaving Fire Blade*, which Tianxia Guihuo couldn't keep his composure over, and the *Refining Weapon Chapters* and *Cloud Sea Elixir Recipes*, which Xia Hou Aotian found hard to resist.

As well as the *Starry Sky Eight Arts*, which made the three Star Lords envious.

"These spells are skills created by ancient cultivators, and they are what they relied on to surpass Lingjing Xingzhe," Zhang Yuanqing said.

Under the influence of the Ghost Mirror, they didn't get lost in the spells and walked towards the shrine and the niches on either side with excitement.

Clearly, anything that could be enshrined there, in the boxes, was no ordinary object.

Zhang Yuanqing strode to the shrine, reached out, and picked up the wooden box on the altar, opening it in front of everyone. Inside the box, lined with yellow silk, lay a palm-sized round jade.

The jade was intricately carved with two lifelike dragons, their heads vying for a red gemstone in the center. Zhang Yuanqing took out the round jade, held it in his palm, and after a few seconds, the item information appeared:

【Name: Double Dragon Jade】

【Type: Jade Artifact】

【Function: Mountain Jade, a jade pendant crafted by artisans. It is said that the divine blood in the jade is transformed from the heart blood of Nuwa Huang in the ancient era.】

【Introduction: The First Emperor collected jade from Mount Shou and ordered artisans to craft it.】

【Note: From ancient times to the present, no one has understood its secrets. The First Emperor was the closest to the truth.】

*Transformed from Nuwa Huang's heart blood. As expected, as expected it's Nuwa Huang. As expected, she's here.* Zhang Yuanqing felt an unspeakable excitement in his heart. Fu Qingyang and his guess had been confirmed.

Back then, the First Emperor understood its secret through the divine blood, learning that treasures left by Nuwa Huang were hidden in Takamagahara. Therefore, he sent Xu Fu overseas under the pretext of seeking the elixir of immortality. Xu Fu lived up to the Emperor's expectations and found Takamagahara, but he wanted to swallow the treasures in Takamagahara alone. So he returned to the Central Plains, trying to trick the divine blood from the First Emperor.

The process during this period is unknown and can no longer be verified. The result was definitely not successful. The final result was that the First Emperor built this underground palace, using the Takamagahara jade plate as a key, and set up a ban.

*Xu Fu may not have failed, he probably successfully fooled the First Emperor, but from the looks of the subsequent result, Xu Fu likely also didn't expect the Qin Empire to fall so quickly.*

"I want this item," Zhang Yuanqing said, not even giving his teammates a chance to check the item's attributes, putting it into his inventory, looked around at everyone, and said,

"I have three priority picks."

Tianxia Guihuo opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang remained silent.

Xia Hou Aotian was the most clueless: "At least let me see the attributes." Zhang Yuanqing refused him without any hesitation: "No."

He then turned his gaze to the painting hanging on the wall, carefully observing it. His pupils constricted slightly, and a huge wave of shock surged in his heart.

He didn't recognize the goddess in the painting, guessing that she might be the so-called Nuwa Huang. But what really made his heart flutter was the infant and the three-legged bronze furnace.

The infant was very similar to the Xie family's Holy Infant, almost exactly the same. And he had seen the three-legged bronze furnace before—Lian San Yue's Hundred Refinements Furnace.

*I remember the item description on the Hundred Refinements Furnace said: The Hundred Refinements Furnace is a cauldron exclusively for great powers, and countless familiar props come from it.* Combining the cauldron's attribute description, Zhang Yuanqing had a guess in his mind.

*The Hundred Refinements Furnace and the Holy Infant are props of this Nuwa Huang from the ancient era.* He retracted his gaze.

Xia Hou Aotian knowingly asked, "Who is in the painting?"

Xia Hou Aotian began to analyze it like an expert.

"The Qin dynasty worshipped God and ancestors, using divine power to consolidate power and ancestors to symbolize bloodline. The woman in the painting should be a god."

"Did they have God back then?" Sun Miaomiao asked. Xia Hou Aotian scoffed:

"It's obvious you don't have any culture. The God I'm talking about refers to Haotian, which is the Old Lord of Heaven. The God of that religion is a translated name, which is not the same as the God understood by our ancient people. You can also understand it as name theft."

After a pause, he continued:

"But I don't remember the Qin dynasty worshipping that goddess. If I had to pull one out, it would probably be Nüwa?" Tianxia Guihuo said:

"Maybe it's Nüwa. Look, she's holding a baby. Legend has it that humans were made by Nüwa with mud. Remember the Lingjing history class? The Dean said that the only character in myths and legends that can be confirmed to have actually existed is called Nuwa Huang."

"Are you saying that Nuwa Huang is Nüwa?" Sun Miaomiao frowned. Before Tianxia Guihuo could speak, Xia Hou Aotian nodded:

"Yes, most likely Nuwa Huang is Nüwa, and that bronze furnace is the evidence. Also…"

He looked at Tianxia Guihuo: "Is your brain working so fast? You don't seem like a Fire Manipulator at all. Red Rooster Bro was right, you really are a disgrace to Fire Manipulators."

"Can you shut up?" Zhang Yuanqing timely interrupted the possible infighting and asked, "What do you mean?"

Xia Hou Aotian was never one to be outdone when it came to showing off his knowledge. He stood with his hands behind his back:

"In the concept of Lingjing Xingzhe, cauldrons and weapon-refining furnaces are symbols of Scholars. And in myths and legends, Nüwa also has another identity - a highly skilled weapon refiner."

"The most familiar example is her refining stones to mend the sky."

"Nüwa, Nuwa Huang, Lingjing Xingzhe, combined with the cauldron and the infant in the painting, we can infer that Nuwa Huang cultivated Musician and Scholar."

"Reasonable and well-founded," Zhang Yuanqing complimented, and then said, "Let's look at the things in the shrine." The group left the shrine and walked to the niches, each choosing a chest to open.

The chests were hung with bronze beast-head locks. Zhang Yuanqing held the lock, exerted force in his palm, and easily twisted it off.

He opened the chest. Inside was a pure black lotus cape, that is, a cloak, embroidered with golden cloud patterns, gorgeous and beautiful.

The touch was smooth and extremely textured, perfect for showing off when going out. Zhang Yuanqing unfolded the cloak, and the item information appeared:

【Name: Court Swordsman's Cloak】

【Type: Armor】

【Function: Amplification】

【Introduction: The First Emperor made the cloak for the best swordsman in the Qin Kingdom. It took three years to complete. However, when the cloak was completed, the swordsman had already betrayed the Qin Kingdom. The First Emperor was very sorry and locked it in the treasure house. In addition, focus is a necessary quality for swordsmen.】

【Note: All skills of Recons, Swordsmen, and Machinists are amplified by 40%.】

Recon exclusive, Sovereign-grade supreme prop. Zhang Yuanqing was stunned.

Amplifying all skills by 40%? What kind of concept is this? This is the concept of fighting beyond levels, invincible at the same level. With a 40% increase in ability, a Recon with this cloak is directly comparable to a peak profession. And this amplification is still useful at the Sovereign stage.

The best of the best.

*Unfortunately, it's Recon exclusive. According to the remarks, it's worthless to other professions. It's perfect to give to Fu Qingyang,* Zhang Yuanqing thought.

*Even Young Master Qian wouldn't have a Sovereign-grade supreme prop, right? After all, he has only just been promoted to Sovereign. Even if he does, this cloak is still a hard to refuse temptation for him.*

Because this is a Recon exclusive prop.