Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 682 - 682 0437 The Secret of the Lines

Chapter 682: Chapter 0437: The Secret of the Lines Chapter 682: Chapter 0437: The Secret of the Lines Chapter 0437: The Secret of the Lines

Qi Tian stepped up to the door and once again used the perception of Spirit Qi function of the Heavenly Dao engine to scan the house and its surroundings, but there were no valuable findings. He opened the door and looked into the room.

It was still early morning, and the sky was not yet fully lit, so the room was somewhat dim. However, as a cultivator, Qi Tian could clearly see everything in the room as long as there was light. Nevertheless, to avoid missing anything, he took out a lamp and lit up the room.

Qi Tian’s gaze first fell on the wall where a painting hung. It depicted high mountains and flowing water. Qi Tian didn’t recognize the specific scenery and couldn’t tell whether it represented the landscape of Great Zhao or nearby countries. But when he saw the text on the painting, his eyes lit up. The characters were very similar in shape and style to those on the token and ring he had found, clearly coming from the same cultural system.

This could very well be the most valuable room in the County Master Mansion. Qi Tian began to search meticulously. The room was full of everyday items commonly used by cultivators such as beds, incense tables, etc., making it hard to distinguish from other rooms.

After a round of searching, he didn’t find anything valuable, which made Qi Tian somewhat puzzled. Had he been wrong?

Just then, Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin arrived almost simultaneously, and reported to Qi Tian.

They had both finished questioning the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators in their custody and even resorted to search techniques. Unfortunately, besides confirming that this room was frequently used by Fan Tie, they didn’t find too much valuable information.

According to their findings, although the County Master Mansion of Baoding Prefecture was vast, Fan Tie seldom went anywhere else. He spent most of his time in this room and barely visited other areas of the mansion.

Qi Tian’s eyes lit up. He pointed at the room and said to Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin, “You two, search with me. Let’s see if we can find something valuable.”

Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin responded, and immediately set to work. To be honest, even if they were paid to do so, they might not have been interested in exploring the residence of any other Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. The probability of finding cultivation resources useful to them was very low. However, this time Qi Tian had ordered them, so they didn’t dare to disobey. Moreover, they were curious about Fan Tie’s background. Gao Jinmei, who came from Wanjie City, found it hard to believe that there could be a more formidable cultivating place than Wanjie City, and Jin Jin was also curious about the so-called Three Gods City. This curiosity gave them the motivation to search.

Qi Tian had already scanned the room once before, so he did not make any movements when Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin started to search. Instead, he decided to reflect carefully on whether he might have overlooked something. From the door of the room, he observed every part of the room. Before long, he surveyed the floor and walls and then the furnishings, finding nothing unusual.

Just as Qi Tian was about to shift his gaze, an idea popped into his mind. He looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling looked pretty ordinary: a triangular roof with beams, braces, and tiles covering the top.

Everything appeared normal with no anomalies. However, Qi Tian soon noticed that one area differed slightly from the others. The roof tiles weren’t directly covered on the rafters but on layers of reed mats, tarpaulin, and other materials. Still, one part seemed subtly different.

Qi Tian jumped up, landing on a beam, and gently touched that distinctive area. It moved at his touch. With a little more effort, he managed to move it. His fingers worked quickly, soon moving aside the roof tile, allowing a beam of light to shoot down from the roof into the room.

Qi Tian felt a slight stir in his heart. He looked outside through the hole in the roof and found himself wearing a faint smile. He hopped down from the beam, exited the room, leaped onto the roof, and peered into the room through the hole.

Due to obstructions by the beams and other structures, the full interior view of the room was difficult to see even with a hole in the roof. About half of it was hidden. Qi Tian carefully observed the remaining half. With a specific goal in mind, he soon identified three items: these were what he believed to be the last possible points of concern.

Qi Tian returned to the room. The first item he checked was a jade ornament on a table, an exquisite carving of people and animals. The second was a cabinet. Qi Tian had noticed it earlier. He had opened and inspected it several times without finding anything amiss. However, when he was on the roof, he found the cabinet to be slightly thicker than what he had seen from the ground. The third item was the floor tiles. When he was on the ground earlier, he had suspected that something might be wrong with them. After knocking on each tile and finding no valuable clues, he dismissed the idea. However, when he was on the roof, he noticed some peculiar patterns on the tiles, which might be worth further investigation.