Chapter 111 Family's Secret Warehouse
A bronze-colored door made of metal, approximately three meters high and no more than two meters wide. The jewels inlaid on it let off brilliant rays of light inside the passage while the bronze-colored door itself shone with a cold and desolate radiance. Thick, cold and emotionless, these were the impressions that the door gave.
The surface of the door was carved with a fierce tiger roaring at the sky. Anyone who understood a little about Black Tiger Family would know that it was the family's insignia. Evidently, behind the door was one of the genuine core places of the Black Tiger Family. Lin Qi held his breath while blankly looking at the door as his heart felt a little scared and anxious.
Blackbeard looked at the door, smiled proudly and said, "What do you think, this door is very firm, it was forged from a kind of metal that can no longer be made today. Oh, This door's history is awfully long, it had experienced at least the entire Rebirth Age and Darkness Age, it was said to be passed down since Destruction Age."
Lin Qi was momentarily speechless. Rebirth Age was more that 1,000 years long, but how long was Darkness Age? No one knew how long Darkness Age actually lasted because constant wars and terrifying natural disasters destroyed the records dozens of times. But one thing was certain, the only definite written record of the later period of Darkness Age lasted for 500 years.
There was no need to mention Destruction Age; it was only a myth. Everything about Destruction Age and the time before it was only a legend. Such an ancient time, who knew what happened then? A metal door passed down since the Destruction Age? Lin Qi was a little skeptical towards the statement.
But, it was after all a statement passed down by the family's forefathers, so Lin Qi kept his own opinion and refrained from commenting.
Blackbeard laughed drily. He rubbed his nose and softly murmured, "I also feel that those old fellows were just flattering the ancestors. Although the material of this door is a bit strange, but seeing as it is so bright and clean without even a little rust, I think it can't be more than 500 years old!"
Coughing drily, Blackbeard walked up to the door before softly pressing the area around tiger's mouth several times with his hand. Lin Qi saw that Blackbeard pressed the several teeth inside the tiger's mouth. Yet the door had no response. Then Blackbeard retreated several steps while pulling Lin Qi along, then he pressed a certain conspicuous yet small magic array on the wall, inserting a hint of black tiger qi into the array.
The thirteen small gems on the magic formation lit up. Blackbeard bit his own index finger and smeared a drop of blood on the core of the formation. A bizarre light lit up within the formation, instantly evaporating the blood. A faint bloody mist spread out, enveloping the entire magic formation before the bronze door noiselessly opened upward. Blackbeard hastily walked in while pulling Lin Qi along.
"Remember the steps of opening the door just now." Only after entering through the door did Blackbeard solemnly said to Lin Qi, "If you made a mistake, the passage, even including the entire Black Beech Hill would collapse with a bang! Underneath this place is a huge self-destructive magic formation, sufficient to destroy half of Dunerk, you must not make a mistake."
Lin Qi's forehead broke in cold sweat. A magic formation sufficient to destroy half of Dunerk? Black Tiger Family's ancestral residence had always been located above such a terrifying thing? If the formation suddenly went out of control, wouldn't everyone in Dunerk be buried along with Black Tiger Family?
Grinning, Lin Qi exhaled deeply. He earnestly said, "I won't forget."
Blackbeard looked at Lin Qi in a serious manner. He nodded and said, "Remember the family's first ancestral teaching, a man of Black Tiger Family can only marry a woman of pure eastern bloodline. You have to remember, if you and a woman of West Continent gave birth to a child, you absolutely couldn't let him enter this passage."
Lin Qi looked at Blackbeard in shock. The first ancestral teaching of Black Tiger Family was that all men of Black Tiger Family could only marry a woman of the same pure eastern bloodline, the teaching had already been carried out for countless years. But the teaching apparently exist because of the passage?
"Why?" Lin Qi curiously asked Blackbeard.
Blackbeard wrinkled his brows, clearly he also had a head full of fog. He muttered to himself for a while before shaking his head and said, "I'm also not very clear of the reason, but if our family mixed with the people of West Continent, the blood of the mixed bloodline is incapable of activating the magic formation, in turn, this door also won't open. Not only this door, the family's eighteen secret passages, all of them used this kind of blood authentication magic formation."
"A descendant of mixed bloodline means losing the right of inheriting the core places of the family!" Blackbeard earnestly said to Lin Qi, "To play around and have fun is okay, but you can't give birth to a child with those women of West Continent. Only a child born from a woman with pure eastern bloodline was qualified to inherit Black Tiger Family. Those mixed breed would only turn the family into a mess; this is a lesson of blood, you have to remember!"
Lin Qi recalled two extremely terrifying internal conflicts in the history of the family that Blackbeard told him when he was young. Black Tiger Family that originally had a flourishing number of people was ruined because of the two internal conflicts. As a result, today, because of the damage from the century-long Land Island War, only two directly-related male descendants remained in Black Tiger Family!
At that time, Blackbeard didn't explain the cause of the internal conflicts to Lin Qi. Now, it seemed they were conflicts between the descendants of the mixed breed and pure bloodline. Lin Qi solemnly nodded. He lowered his voice and said, "I understand, but to find a woman of pure eastern bloodline in West Continent…."
Lin Qi was suddenly extremely worried about his future marriage.
Blackbeard thoughtfully rubbed his chin. He said in a low voice, "If your luck is good, you can be like me, snatching one at sea; if your luck is bad, you can be like that uncle of yours who died at war. Right, aha, you can pay a huge price to buy some from the east."
Laughing drily, Blackbeard helplessly said, "Naturally, the women you bought, their appearance, character, upbringing and knowledge wouldn't be very good. After all, of the big eastern families, who would marry their own daughter off to the west that is thousands of miles away? Boy, this will depend on your luck in the future, hehe, didn't you get to know that Long Cheng?"
Lin Qi's eyes suddenly brightened. He grinned and said, "Right, that guy apparently is a nobility!"
Rubbing Long Cheng's imperial order tablet tied around his wrist, Lin Qi suddenly had confidence in his heart. Lin Qi wasn't very fond of women; he liked dazzling gold better. But in order to pass on the family's bloodline, he would have to think of a way to bring dozens of beauties back from the east in the future.
Blackbeard patted Lin Qi's shoulder and sincerely said, "The family's growth in number shall completely be on your shoulder. Your old man won't do. I've promised your mother, after she died, I won't look for a stepmother so she could bully you, so your old man can't do anything about it!"
While Lin Qi felt slightly moved, Blackbeard already laughed heartily.
"Look, this is the family's most important secret warehouse. Go choose some things, as long as it's helpful for you, pick a few more good stuff."
Chapter 112 Priceless Hidden Treasure
Following Blackbeard's words, the originally pitch-black world inside the door suddenly brightened. An enormous light magic formation was embedded on the ceiling. A soft white light shone, illuminating the large room below.
The underground room was nearly 100 meters in height and more than 200 meters in length and width. Lin Qi looked around in astonishment. The room was extremely huge, way more spacious that the largest church hall he had ever seen. It was hard to imagine what kind of force was needed to open up such a huge space underground. Lin Qi curiously looked at Blackbeard.
"So big, so magnificent!" Blackbeard rubbed his nose and earnestly said with wrinkled brows. "I also have no idea how our forefathers managed to create such a huge place, perhaps this place was originally an underground cavern. Oh, this place is nothing, this place is nothing, it is only our family's largest secret warehouse, there are still three other passages that lead to three smaller yet more important places."
Strongly patting Lin Qi's shoulder, Blackbeard said with a smile, "Look around, see what you need. You're eighteen already, you should contribute to the family, but your old man can't let you go bare-handed to pioneer a new territory, see what you need."
Lin Qi smacked his lips, greedily looking at the huge room ahead.
Numerous metal racks were neatly arranged, with various kinds of odd things piled up on them. There were gold bricks, gold bars, silver ingots, and a mountain of golden and silver jewels that glistened brilliantly, making Lin Qi's heart twitch. Such a huge secret warehouse, no less that half of the room was piled up with gold and silver. Among them, gold took up ten percent, silver took up seventy percent, while the rest was piled up with some sacks as big as a human head that were filled with all kinds of gems.
In the other half of the secret warehouse, some strange things were laid out, such as swords, armors, crossbows and arrows, also several huge ornate things that didn't seem to be worth much. For example, the three large black coffins, their materials were like crystal, yet their surfaces were inlaid with countless gold and silver threads. The threads outlined a complicated magic formation, while the eye of the formation was densely packed with numerous blood-colored gems.
The three coffins were laid on a corner of the secret warehouse, emitting a piercing cold air. Lin Qi merely glanced at them, yet he felt his blood nearly congealing.
Blackbeard hastily pulled Lin Qi's ear, making him shift his sight from the three black coffins. Blackbeard seriously said, "Don't draw their attention, they're the guardians of the secret warehouse, don't you draw their attention. If someone didn't trigger the self-destructive magic formation outside and trespass here, if they didn't have the family's bloodline, these guardians will tear them to pieces."
Lin Qi looked at Blackbeard in shock,"How can anyone trespass here?"
Blackbeard shrugged his shoulders, "It happened once before, a core member of the family was captured outside. His blood was drawn out, his memory extracted by some wicked magic. Two months afterward the person who killed him infiltrated this place."
Laughing grimly, Blackbeard shook his head and said, "But that person didn't expect that this place also had three guardians, he was torn to pieces before being consumed."
Pointing at the three coffins with an exceptionally solemn expression, Blackbeard said in a low voice, "Don't agitate them, they have already defended this place for the family for many years. Since the secret warehouse was established, they had been guarding this place. Anyone without the family's bloodline who enters this place will be torn to pieces."
Lin Qi glanced at those coffins in shock. Fine, the things Blackbeard had told him tonight were already sufficient to make him feel astonished, yet what shocked him the most was still the existence of the three guardians. What kind of creature could survive in such a hidden place underground for so many years? Death spirit creatures of legend? Or an even more sinister existence? Why would they protect the secret warehouse for Black Tiger Family?
Looking at Blackbeard's expression, it seemed he also had no idea on the details. Lin Qi could only shake his head and direct his attention to another place.
The forefathers of Black Tiger Family were clearly very attentive towards the secret warehouse. The treasures set on the racks were individually accompanied with an engraved plate, clearly indicating their origin and usage.
For instance, the set of full-bodied golden armor in front of Lin Qi that was carved with an elegant decorative design using an unknown blue metal. Although it was already a bit broken, the plate inscribed that the set of armor belong to a certain commander of the most famous, most vicious, most bloodthirsty 'Regiment of Disciplinary Knights' from the Church. It was one of the most important and well-known disciplinary knight armor in the Church.
"No, Lin Qi, this thing can't see the light!" Blackbeard quickly dispelled Lin Qi's certain bad intentions. He gritted his teeth and said, "You don't want to be chased around the continent to be killed by the people of the Church right? Then you mustn't take out this armor. Of course, this set of armor has an extremely powerful defensive abilities, but the method our ancestors obtain it then wasn't particularly above-board, they took action when the other party was down. Taking advantage of when the disciplinary knight regiment commander and a huge demon were on a stalemate, they were killed."
Strongly shaking his head, Blackbeard gravely said, "You absolutely can't let this thing see the light, go choose another one."
The saber of Gaul Empire's founding emperor, an incomparably sharp magic weapon that could release lightning magic to attack the enemy. Blackbeard once again dispelled Lin Qi's urge to take this thing out to show off. The blade was called 'Thunder God's Fury', Gaul Empire had always been tracing its whereabout. If Lin Qi dare to bring it to Borali and walk on the street, the imperial military department would immediately maneuver its army to surround and annihilate him.
Vias Business Union and the various tribes of Five Dalian Islands had a secret trade agreement during the century-long Land Island War. Lin Qi had no interest towards the thing while Blackbeard was very happy that Lin Qi wouldn't take the thing out. It was a fatal evidence against Vias Business Union, so Blackbeard intended to keep it for when it was necessary to blackmail them.
The imperial seal of a certain king or queen, Lin Qi also had no interest in this thing while Blackbeard similarly wouldn't let it see the light of day.
Personal pearl undergarment of a certain princess, Lin Qi was very flabbergasted on how the thing fell into the hands of Black Tiger Family, but although it wasn't worth much, it seemed it also couldn't see the light of day.
Certain royal family, certain imperial household, certain major character, Lin Qi wandered around the secret warehouse and suddenly discovered that there were some problems with the origin of these family collections. It seemed there was nothing here that he could overtly take out to use.
"Old man, did you bring me here intentionally to annoy me?" Lin Qi couldn't help but glance at the three strange black coffins in the corner.
Blackbeard laughed heartily. He pulled Lin Qi to the three passages at one corner of the secret warehouse and chose the leftmost one to walk into.