CH 048 A Strange Treasure Exploration Part 5

While they were speaking, Nie Bufan suddenly let out several grunts.

Si Chenyu and Wang Shichan stopped talking and looked at the source of the sound, only to see him squirming to get up while his eyes remained closed and his face still with a drowsy expression. His hands groped against the wall and he began to move sideways like a crab.

“Um……where is my bed?” He muttered dazedly.

He was obviously not awake yet! Si and Wang thought at the same time.

Wang Shichan walked over to support him, but before he could the other’s footsteps suddenly staggered. With waving hands he knocked against a bronze object from its spot on the shelf. A “boom” echoed and the familiar noise of having activated a mechanism sounded again. The wall that Nie Bufan was leaning against suddenly opened inward, and he fell back unsuspectingly.

“Be careful!”

Wang Shichan and Si Chenyu shot forward together, holding Nie Bufan on both left and right. Under the influence of inertia, the three fell into the secret passageway together.

The door of the secret passageway turned 180 degrees to close back again, and the room suddenly fell into darkness.

It must be said that the mechanisms in this treasure trove were really everywhere, and one could meet them without even having to look for them.

The matches on them were all soaked in water when they first fell into the dark river, and they were no longer usable.

In such an impenetrably dark place, even martial artists like Wang and Si, who had better vision then normal people, couldn’t make out the surrounding environment.

“Find the mechanism.” Si Chenyu, who had been trapped once, was calm and turned around to begin looking for the mechanism.

While Wang Shichan supported Nie Bufan, he fumbled towards the other side.

The two touched a handful of dust, but they still didn’t find the mechanism.

At this moment, there came a rustling sound in the ear, as if some living thing was moving in the wall. That kind of sound was especially clear in the dark and silent chamber, the intermittent scratching sounds causing a chill to reach all the way down to one’s bone marrow.

The two stopped their movements and watched vigilantly for the movement around them, their breathing slowing down.

“What’s the matter?” Nie Bufan’s voice suddenly sounded in the darkness, breaking the solemn silence.

“Hush, be quiet.” Si Chenyu replied, “We fell into a secret passageway.”

“It’s dark, why don’t you light up the lights?” Nie Bufan asked again.

“We would have lighted the lights long ago if there were any usuable matches.” Si Chenyu said irritably.

Nie Bufan fell silent, and then began to explore something on his body. After a while, light appeared before the three people’s eyes and a glowing night pearl appeared in Nie Bufan’s hand, illuminating the surroundings.

“Where did this come from?” Si Chenyu asked in surprise.

Nie Bufan squinted at him and said with disdain: “And you’re a prince? You don’t even know how to take precautions at all. There are so many luminous objects in the treasure room, but you don’t know to take a few for lighting.”

He had clearly kept the two night pearls because of their “beauty”, but Nie Bufan spoke as if he was more prescient, both his tone and expression extremely arrogant.

Si Chenyu was so angry that his gums itched and he wanted nothing more than to pinch this arrogant fellow several times. He had even wanted to compliment him, but now forget it.

“Do you have a headache?” Wang Shichan touched Nie Bufan’s forehead and asked in a low voice.

“Yes!” Nie Bufan furrowed his eyebrows and looked at him, strangely, “Brother Wang Fifth, you are here too? What happened?”

“You were drunk before.” Wang Shichan replied, “When half asleep, you set off the mechanism so we entered this secret passageway.”

“You actually drank wine, where did you get the wine?” Si Chenyu leaned over and sniffed his mouth. As expected, he smelled a scent of wine. For him who was used to drinking fine wine, he knew that the wine Nie Bufan had drank was of excellent quality.

Nie Bufan pushed his face away. His head still felt a little groggy but this did not hinder his calm thinking and sharp use of language: “Alright, isn’t it just a couple of sips of wine? What’s the fuss? Pay attention to our current situation, Lord, Prince, Shi!”

Si Chenyu couldn’t help it this time, reaching out to grab him and teach him a lesson.

Wang Shichan guarded Nie Bufan and said mildly: “Prince, pay attention to your demeanor.”

Demeanor? Si Chenyu’s face was black, speaking of demeanor in front of Nie Bufan was no different than tormenting himself!

But this was really not a good time to teach people a lesson. Si Chenyu took a few deep breaths, glared at Nie Bufan, and then began to look around.

This was a small secret passageway of no more than 50 square meters, with walls on all sides. A stone platform stood in the center with a square box placed on it. Three large boxes were placed on either sides of the stone platform. The metal on the outside of the box was rusty, and a heavy metal lock was also on each of the boxes.

The three of them walked over and carefully observed whether there were any mechanisms hidden around them. After confirming that there was nothing out of place, Si Chenyu took the lead in picking up the small square box on the stone platform. Despite its size it was rather weighty.

There was a peculiarly shaped lock hole on the lid, which obviously required a special key to open it.

It seemed that the only way to get it unlocked was to find a locksmith after going out. Si Chenyu thought so.

“The key? This one?” Nie Bufan took out an odd-shaped strip from somewhere and handed it to Si Chenyu.

“Where did this come from?” Si Chenyu was surprised again. Could this guy stop being so unexpected all the time? It’s not as if he was a treasure chest containing anything one could want?

Nie Bufan glanced at him contemptuously first, then pointed to the right side of the stone platform and said: “Did you not see that there are thirty-six keys here?”

Si Chenyu and Wang Shichan bent down to look at it at the same time, and saw a complex pattern carved on the sides of the stone platform. At first they thought it was decoration. So it turned out the inlaid objects could be removed?

“With so many keys, how can you be sure that this key will open this box?” Si Chenyu asked again.

“The color.” Nie Bufan knocked on the box with the key, and said with confidence, “Don’t you see the color of the keyhole of the box and the key is the same?”

“How could it be so simple?” Si Chenyu took the key and said while inserting it into the keyhole, “Duobao Sage is a master of mechanisms, and it is absolutely impossible to set up such a simple obstacle……”

Before he could finish speaking, they heard a “click” and the box opened.

Si Chenyu was silent and suddenly felt that his IQ had dropped inexplicably.

Seeing him standing still, Nie Bufan took the box and opened it.

“Hey, this is……” He took out a jade square seal from the box. On the top of the jade seal was carved with an ancient beast. The carving was exquisite and meticulous. Archaic characters were also engraved under the seal, which Nie Bufan didn’t recognize.

When Si Chenyu saw it, his complexion changed, and he quickly grabbed it saying in surprise: “It’s actually the imperial seal!”

“Imperial seal?” Wang Shichan’s gaze also fell on the square seal, but his expression did not fluctuate much.

“‘To receive the Mandate of Heaven’.” Si Chenyu read out the lettering on the jade seal, and said solemnly, “The jade body is carved with the sacred animal Mo Luo and with the sacred animal Zhi Ya carved on another imperial seal they are known as the two great guardians of auspiciousness of our country.”

“The words engraved on the other imep5rial seal is not ‘Enable the common people’s longevity and the nation’s everlasting prosperity’, right?” Nie Bufan asked hesitantly.

“Of course.” Si Chenyu gave him a strange look that conveyed ‘did you even need to ask.’

So it really was. Nie Bufan was speechless. He didn’t expect that in this world “To receive the Mandate of Heaven, enable the common people’s longevity and the nation’s everlasting prosperity” would be divided into two imperial seals.

“Since it is the imperial seal, shouldn’t it be in the hands of the emperor?” Nie Bufan asked again.

“Three hundred years ago, one of the imperial seals went missing and there had been no news since then. Successive emperors have been responsible for searching for the imperial seal, but unexpectedly it turned out to appear here.” A trace of surprise flashed in Si Chenyu’s eyes.

“Oh.” Nie Bufan replied witu disinterest, and his eyes moved to the other large boxes.

Si Chenyu put the imperial seal back in the box and put it away properly, joy on his face.

Nie Bufan squatted down and began to try out the keys to the locks on the boxes. This time he couldn’t match them by color so he could only try them out one at a time.

“Kacha”, one box was opened.

Nie Bufan lifted the lid enthusiastically, and instantly a golden glow appeared in front of him, and when he looked closer it turned out to be piles of gold coins.

Their country did not use gold coins. Obviously, this was a box of foreign gold coins.

Si Chenyu and Wang Shichan were both attracted, squatting next to Nie Bufan to pick up a gold coin to examine.

The gold coin had a person’s head carved on one side and a crown on the other with words engraved on the edges. Nie Bufan couldn’t even recognize the language ​​of this country, let alone foreign languages. If it was still his original world, then at least he had good English and French skills. But the text on these gold coins were more like “runes” and outside of several major languages.

“This should be the currency of the Alor kingdom.” Si Chenyu recognized it however. As a prince, he would often have contact with some foreign envoys, and his knowledge was quite extraordinary.

“Alor kingdom?” Wang Shichan said, “it had been destroyed about seventy years ago.”

Si Chenyu nodded: “Yes, so this box of gold coins must not have been easily come by. Alor is tens of thousands of miles away from our country. After the kingdom was destroyed, all the original coins were recast, and there are fewer and fewer gold and silver Alor coins left in the world. The emperor only has about ten in his collection. This country’s coin making technology is very superb. It would be great if this technology could be introduced into our own country.”

At this time, Nie Bufan flipped out a stack of scrolls that seemed to be made of animal skins from the inside of the box, and asked, “Could this be the technology you want?”

He handed the roll of animal skin to Si Chenyu.

Si Chenyu took a closer look, and exclaimed in surprise: “Yes, this is exactly the process of coin construction! Duobao Sage is indeed no ordinary human, to be able to go to this extent!”

Then, the three opened the five other boxes one after another, which all contained foreign goods and corresponding manufacturing processes, including advanced technologies such as shipbuilding, construction engineering, and glass smelting. Each item could create huge wealth and accelerate national development.

However, Si Chenyu’s expression gradually changed from the initial delight to solemnity.

Nie Bufan looked at him strangely and asked, “What’s wrong with you? Shouldn’t you be happy to find so many good things?”

“The things are really good, not just good but too good.” Si Chenyu said with a calm face.

Nie Bufan’s eyes swiveled and they flashed a little bit with understanding. He said with a smile: “Are you worried that you won’t be able to explain it to the emperor?”

Si Chenyu startled and looked at Nie Bufan abruptly.

“Don’t worry, you can give me all of the thorny treasures and put them in Chicken Nest Village. I guarantee that it will be perfectly safe.” Nie Bufan patted his chest generously.

“Don’t make trouble for yourself.” Wang Shichan pulled him over and said with a stern tone, “What are you doing getting involved in the royal affairs?”

He sometimes really worried that this guy’s playing around would lead to his own death. He had a clever and perceptive mind. Although he usually spoke arrogantly and acted without rules, he was actually very soft-hearted. He always expressed concern for people around him in his own way, even if that kind of concern could sometimes drive people crazy.

But this time they couldn’t let him mess around. The complicated power struggles and political calculations were definitely not suitable for him.

Let’s just be an honest chicken farmer!

Si Chenyu also said: “It’s okay, I will take care of it.”

Nie Bufan shrugged and said, “Alright, then you can figure it out by yourself.”

Si and Wang did not dare to be careless. They were deeply suspicious of Nie Bufan’s character and warned him repeatedly.

Nie Bufan felt that he had been discriminated against. He pointed his finger at the both of them and said angrily: “Is there anyone in this world who is more honest than me?”

You are wrong. You should ask if there is a more honest chicken in this world than you. Don’t compare yourself with your fellow humans……

Both Wang and Si wisely kept silent and did not provoke him any more.

TN: bonus chapters coming up!