322 Secret Room
The cave was as tall as an adult man and was wide enough for about three to four people. It extended all the way into the mountain.
There were obvious signs of man-made excavation on the walls of the cave. It was dark inside, and there was no end to it. From afar, it looked like a huge abyss that could swallow someone at any moment.
Shen Yijia held a matchstick in her hand and let Song Jingchen pull her along. At first, the two of them walked carefully, afraid that there were some hidden mechanisms inside.
However, after walking for half an hour, nothing unexpected happened.
In front of the two of them was a stone door. There were candlesticks on both sides of the stone door. The candlesticks were covered in a thick layer of dust. It was obvious that no one had been here for a long time.
It took Shen Yijia a while to light the candles on it, and the surroundings lit up.
Shen Yijia searched for a long time but could not find a keyhole. “How do I open this?”
Song Jingchen fumbled with the stone door and finally fixed his gaze on the candlestick.
He placed his hand on the candlestick on the left and paused. “Stand behind me.”
Shen Yijia did not understand, but she still obediently took a few steps behind Song Jingchen.
Only then did Song Jingchen turn the candlestick hard.
There was a click.
Immediately after.
Whoosh!
A dense hole suddenly appeared in the stone door, and several sharp arrows shot out with a whoosh.
Shen Yijia’s pupils constricted. Just as she was about to move, Song Jingchen had already grabbed her waist with one hand and rushed back. He pulled out the sword at his waist with the other to block the arrows.
After a few seconds, the arrows stopped. There were already many sharp arrows stuck near their feet.
“This is too sinister,” Shen Yijia complained.
The first part of the journey made them lower their guard. The sudden attack at the door was definitely sinister.
Song Jingchen said, “It’s for catching people off guard.”
Shen Yijia thought to herself, “You’re good-looking. Anything you say is right.”
The arrow hole in the stone door closed and disappeared after the arrows stopped. Shen Yijia saw Song Jingchen looking at the candlestick on the right.
She beat him to it. “I’ll do it.”
With that, she flashed over and turned the candlestick. Song Jingchen couldn’t stop her even if he wanted to.
Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened this time, because Shen Yijia broke off the candlestick.
She broke it off.
Shen Yijia was a little stunned as she held the candlestick. She swore that she had only turned it gently.
Song Jingchen was also a little surprised. He walked over and checked the fracture. He wanted to laugh, but when he saw Shen Yijia’s helpless expression, he held it in.
He cleared his throat. “This isn’t a mechanism.”
Therefore, if she couldn’t move it, Shen Yijia would twist it off.
Shen Yijia blushed. She might as well not explain.
In order to prevent Shen Yijia from feeling even more awkward, Song Jingchen didn’t continue this topic. Instead, he looked at the candlestick on the left again.
He pursed his lips and reached out to turn it again, only this time it was in the opposite direction.
He finally realized that the person who designed these things had a characteristic. He liked to catch people off guard. Ordinary people would not dare to touch this candlestick again even if they weren’t killed by the arrows.
He refused to act the way the creator wanted.
The clicking sound came again.
Shen Yijia stood beside Song Jingchen solemnly and stared at the stone door with a tense expression. She was waiting for an accident to happen before retreating with Song Jingchen.
However, she was disappointed again.
This time, a hole appeared in the stone door, but no hidden weapons flew out.
“This is a keyhole, right?” Shen Yijia was numb. She felt that she was useless.
“Yes.” Song Jingchen took out the key and handed it to Shen Yijia. If he didn’t give her a chance to show off, she would probably explode.
Shen Yijia remained silent.
She took the key and inserted it into the hole. The stone door slowly opened.
As the stone door opened, a gentle light shone out, revealing the situation behind the stone door to the two of them.
Looking at the stone room the size of a palace in front of her, Shen Yijia’s mouth fell open in shock. How much labor did it take to dig such a huge stone room in the mountain?
Of course, what surprised her the most was not how big the stone room was, but the glowing beads embedded in the stone walls inside.
She had seen this in the book. It was called a night pearl.
One pearl was already priceless. There should be at least ten to twenty of them here, right? How many cities were they worth? They were actually placed here just to illuminate the place?
Shen Yijia’s eyes lit up. She imagined that she had already reached the peak of her life. Not to mention raising a beautiful husband, she wouldn’t be short of money even if she raised eight or ten of him.
Unlike Shen Yijia’s money-grubber look, Song Jingchen’s attention was not attracted by the night pearls.
Song Jingchen stared fixedly at one of the portraits hanging in the middle of the stone wall.
Shen Yijia took a few steps before realizing that Song Jingchen was motionless. She followed his gaze.
There were two portraits hanging there, a man and a woman. When she saw the woman’s portrait, her pupils constricted and she muttered, “Is that… me?”
Song Jingchen was pulled back from his thoughts and tried his best to suppress the shock in his heart. He walked forward and held Shen Yijia’s hand. He said softly, “No, it just looks similar.”
The woman in the portrait had a flower bud identical to Shen Yijia’s. Actually, he almost missed the difference at first glance.
Shen Yijia blinked and let him pull her into the stone room.
The two sides of the stone room were filled with mahogany boxes. The middle was empty. There was a stone platform in the middle of the stone wall, and the portrait was hanging above the stone platform.
When she got closer, Shen Yijia realized that it was indeed as Song Jingchen had said. The woman in the portrait was not exactly the same as her. At most, she could see some of her own reflection in the woman’s face.
The woman was dressed in white, and her black hair flowed down like clouds. She had an elegant and otherworldly aura, and there was no expression on her face. The woman in the portrait gave off a cold aura.
“What does it say?” Shen Yijia pointed at a line of small words on the portrait.
It was different from what she had learned in her previous life and what Song Jingchen had taught her.
Song Jingchen pursed his lips. “The first Valley Master of the Valley of Heavenly Secrets, Ji Ruyue.”
“What about this?” Shen Yijia was referring to the man’s portrait.
The man was dressed in a black robe. His sharp facial features were abnormally handsome, but Shen Yijia felt that his starry eyes emitted a deep sadness.
“The first high priest of the Valley of Heavenly Secrets, Si Nan.”
Shen Yijia blinked. Was there anything her beautiful husband didn’t understand?
Without waiting for her to ask, Song Jingchen explained, “These are the words of the previous dynasty.”
Divination tactics were popular in the previous dynasty. Warlocks were once highly respected, and the emperor even conferred the title of Imperial Preceptor on the best of them.
The most ridiculous thing was that some people even had divine in advance when they went out, wore clothes, and had sex.
Because of the blind admiration of the commoners, the imperial preceptor’s words were sometimes even more useful than an imperial edict.
When things reached an extreme, they would definitely rebel. No emperor would be willing to have someone above him.
The emperor held a grudge against the imperial preceptor and began to suppress the warlocks.
Most of the Imperial Preceptors of the previous dynasty came to the Valley of Heavenly Secrets.
It was rumored that the people in the Valley of Heavenly Secrets only assisted the emperor and the generals.
However, as the previous dynasty was destroyed, the Valley of Heavenly Secrets also disappeared.
There were very few records about the Valley of Heavenly Secrets, so Song Jingchen didn’t know much about it.