Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 683 - 683 0437 The Secret of Lines_2

Chapter 683: Chapter 0437 The Secret of Lines_2 Chapter 683: Chapter 0437 The Secret of Lines_2 Qi Tian first examined the jade ornament. He had scrutinized it several times already, and once again examined it carefully. Regardless of how he inspected it with his naked eye, or how many times he scanned it with the Heavenly Dao Engine’s Spirit Qi detection function, the results were the same. Still, somewhat concerned, he called Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin over to consult with them. In the end, the pair of Gold Core cultivators unanimously affirmed that it was merely an ordinary jade ornament. If it was traded in for silver, it might fetch a fair amount, but if it were traded for cultivation resources, it would be in vain.

The jade ornament could essentially be ruled out. Qi Tian did not wish to waste any more time on it and nonchalantly placed it in his Storage Bag. He did not need it, so he would give it to Prince Zhao to convert into riches for the national treasury.

Qi Tian then turned his gaze to the second item, which sat atop the cabinet. He pulled out the cabinet, but there were no mechanisms behind it, nor was the cabinet itself any crucial part of a contraption; it was a simple wardrobe filled with ordinary clothes.

Qi Tian had Gao Jinmei dismantle the wardrobe after seeing the items inside. In the very end, they discovered a secret compartment. However, the contents of the secret compartment were a disappointment for Qi Tian. It did contain some items, but they were all silver notes, gold notes, and the like. The total value, converted into silver, exceeded ten million tales, which was an enormous sum.

Neither Gao Jinmei nor Jin Jin recognized the silver notes, the only one who did was Qi Tian. He picked them up and examined them carefully and found that these silver notes were not new; the oldest could be over five hundred years old, and the newest ones had at least a hundred years of history.

Having so many antique silver notes hidden in a secret compartment in a cabinet didn’t seem like something Fan Tie would do; it looked like the work of the cabinet’s former owner. Qi Tian picked up a piece of wood from the dismantled wardrobe, brought it to his nose, and sniffed. There was a peculiar woody scent.

Qi Tian sighed and shook his head. It seemed that this cabinet was an antique piece made of rare wood. Fan Tie likely obtained it after moving in here and must have had it exchanged by someone. Fan Tie himself probably didn’t even know that the cabinet had a secret compartment.

Qi Tian could only gather the silver and gold notes that he had just collected. He would give them to Prince Zhao later.

With the two special objects out of the way, what remained was the mysterious markings on the floor. Qi Tian followed along these lines and inspected them carefully, but they were incoherent and irregular.

Qi Tian called Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin over to join him in inspecting them.

Gao Jinmei performed a spirit rune and lifted into the air, feet no longer touching the ground. She slowly adjusted her posture. Shortly thereafter, she was hovering parallel to the ground, more than two meters off the floor, peering down at the markings.

Not long after, Gao Jinmei landed back on the floor. She took out paper and pen and reproduced all the markings she saw on the floor: their order, direction, length, width—everything—onto the paper, which she then handed to Qi Tian for examination.

The markings were random and chaotic, looking like nothing more than aimless scratches on the floor, serving no apparent purpose.

Qi Tian frowned as he looked at these lines. His knowledge was extraordinary, and he had seen many arrays and witnessed various peculiar methods of setting up arrays. However, there was no trace of any array in these markings.

Just as Qi Tian was about to toss the paper aside, a characters that he didn’t recognize, suddenly appeared in his sight.

Quickly, Qi Tian caught the paper and examined it again. He didn’t keep his discovery a secret but told Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin, asking both to help him look for more.

All three were no ordinary individuals, and with a clear goal in mind, results came quickly. As it turned out, if some of the criss-crossing lines were erased, the resulting image did resemble a character on the ring—albeit reversed, not in the usual orientation.

Qi Tian had a bold guess in his mind. He felt that these lines might not only form one character but also the second one. Promptly, he started searching with Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin. After their relentless efforts, they indeed managed to find every single character on the ring.

However, what use was finding these characters, whether for Qi Tian, Gao Jinmei, or Jin Jin? They were all puzzled. If these lines were where the secret mechanism was, why couldn’t they sense any fluctuations of Spirit Force on them? They lacked any signs of life, as if someone had carved them onto the ground carelessly as a child would scribble.

Qi Tian looked up at the hole in the roof. He had a feeling that to unlock the secret of these lines, they needed to look at the hole in the roof.

Qi Tian took out the ring and let the light coming through the roof’s hole strike it. However, whether it was due to incorrect light source, intensity, or type, or the ring had nothing to do with the lines on the ground, no matter how Qi Tian manipulated it, the lines on the floor remained still and undisturbed.

Gao Jinmei stepped forward and said, “Master, perhaps the timing is not right. Should we wait here?”

Jin Jin also chimed in, “Yes, Master, let’s just wait here. We have nothing else to do anyway.”

Qi Tian shook his head, “Who said we have nothing to do? If we do not return, what will happen to Prince Zhao? Without me there to intimidate, the forces currently gathered by Prince Zhao are not powerful enough to overthrow the Crown Prince. Even if they managed to overthrow him by sheer luck, there’s a high likelihood that Prince Zhao would become a puppet, manipulated by others.”

Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin both closed their mouths. To this day, they still do not understand why Qi Tian would exhaust so much effort on Prince Zhao. It didn’t quite add up if he was doing all this solely out of revenge, and it was also improbable if it was for the people of the Great Zhao Nation. However, they had no choice. Being Immortal Slaves, their only option was to obey Qi Tian. Even voicing a suggestion had to be done delicately in fear of provoking Qi Tian.

Qi Tian couldn’t be bothered to explain so much to Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin. Many times, even if he did tell them, they could not understand or comprehend. This was mainly because their pursuits were different from Qi Tian’s, and this was something that couldn’t be forced.

Qi Tian looked at the hole in the roof again. He considered Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin’s just now. At first glance, their suggestions seemed right, but upon further consideration, there were many aspects to ponder. After all, the day was divided into day and night, with over a dozen hours in each. The duration of the nighttime was hardly shorter than daytime, and the nighttime was further divided according to the different phases of the moon. Was Qi Tian supposed to guard this place for a whole month?

Moreover, even a month might not be enough. What if the correct time slot was just one unique interval, and during that interval, it happened to be a cloudy day. Wouldn’t a month’s time be wasted then?