193: Chapter 193 The Secret Treasure, Discovered

The entire passageway was not long, covering a distance of about a few dozen meters.

Chen Ran followed Jiang Mengli to the end, where several boxes were placed. The surfaces of the boxes were covered by a layer of black cloth, making it impossible to see what was inside.

"Is this what you brought out from the secret treasury?"

Chen Ran walked up to one of the boxes and examined it closely.

In his perception, there seemed to be an invisible membrane on the box that blocked his Mental Energy; it seemed the outer shell was forged from special Materials.

Jiang Mengli gave a light cough, put her hands together, and True Qi flowed out from within her body, finally drifting onto the box.

"This is a Mysterious Mechanism Box unique to the imperial family. Only someone with the imperial Bloodline can trigger the unlock by using True Qi."

Accompanying her words, the box in front of Chen Ran let out a click.

The black cloth slid to both sides, revealing a square box with a hollow center.

After the box sensed the True Qi, a humming sound came from within.

Chen Ran watched as the box expanded and deformed, finally arching upward to form a platform.

Only after all this had occurred did Chen Ran mutter to himself:

"Mechanism arts?"

"Yes, that is correct. This is the mechanism art. Back then, to prevent future accidents, our imperial family specifically recruited the most famous mechanism masters in the world at that time to jointly forge many items."

"This Mysterious Mechanism Box is one of them. It does not require formation patterns to operate and can automatically detect the user's aura."

When Jiang Mengli spoke of this, her tone grew much weaker, likely recalling the fallen Great Zhou Dynasty.

Chen Ran walked up to a platform, where an exquisite jade box was placed. The inside of the jade box was transparent like glazed glass, and one could vaguely see a medicinal herb inside.

Because the medicinal herb was well-preserved, even after being stored until now, its medicinal power had not diminished much.

Just judging from the aura vaguely emanating from it, it was at least a century-old potent herb.

Chen Ran cast his gaze toward the other platforms and discovered quite a few similar jade boxes.

"These are all things from the secret treasury, but I think you shouldn't be particularly interested in these medicinal herbs."

The corners of Jiang Mengli's mouth curved into an arc, like a crescent moon, and her voice drifted slowly to his ears.

"I think you should be interested in this thing."

Chen Ran looked in the direction of the voice and saw that beside Jiang Mengli, on a flat surface made of pitch-black rock, lay a bamboo scroll glowing with a pale golden light.

Chen Ran walked closer to observe it carefully; a few lines of text were engraved on the bamboo scroll.

"Before Cultivating, one must burn incense and bathe, relax the Divine Thought, and sink the Qi into the Dantian..."

He read the text above softly, his tone gradually becoming somewhat strange.

"This is... a Cultivation Technique?"

Just by looking at it for a few moments, it was clearly engraved with the cultivation steps of a Cultivation Technique.

"What Cultivation Technique is this?"

Chen Ran turned his head to look at the woman in the red dress not far beside him.

However, he saw Jiang Mengli shake her head, and the silver bells on her waist swayed slightly, emitting a tinkling sound.

"This Saintess does not know the content recorded in this Cultivation Technique, but I can guarantee that it is one of the most precious items in the secret treasury."

Even if she didn't say everything about this point, Chen Ran could see it.

Whether it was the platform where this bamboo scroll was placed or the apparatus used to store it, the quality was much higher than usual.

Chen Ran swept his gaze over the other platforms and found that most of them were also Medicinal Pills, weapons, or armor.

Although their grades were rare treasures in the outside world, they were of no use to him right now.

The only item that could attract his attention was this bamboo scroll; finally, Chen Ran nodded slightly, "I'll take this one."

A few quarter-hours later.

After Jiang Mengli copied the content onto a scroll, she tossed the bamboo scroll to Chen Ran and said coldly: "Since you have chosen this, our transaction is considered complete."

What she referred to was naturally the content of the transaction between the two of them previously.

Chen Ran was responsible for attracting the attention of the opposing side, while she took the opportunity to open the secret treasury. Once the rewards from the secret treasury were brought out, she would allow the other party to choose one.

Chen Ran caught the bamboo scroll in mid-air and tied it to the inner pocket at his waist, saying indifferently: "Why, do you want to just leave like this?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the scene quieted for a moment.

Jiang Mengli's expression changed slightly, and she took a few steps back. "What are you doing?"

"I am actually curious, what is the difference between this imperial Bloodline and ordinary people?"

Chen Ran stepped forward a few paces, closing the distance between them.

Jiang Mengli's originally calm expression instantly became flustered.

She raised her hand and swung out a blood-red arc of power; True Qi curved into a crescent blade shape in mid-air, cutting through the air with a whistling sound.

Bang! Before the crescent blade could get close, it was casually severed by the young man not far away.

The Move she unleashed with all her might was surprisingly so fragile when facing this person.

Jiang Mengli retreated several steps, but her path was blocked by the stone wall behind her; where else could she run?

In the end, she could only watch helplessly as Chen Ran drew closer and closer.

"I warn you, an Elder of my sect is nearby, don't you dare mess around... Mmph."

Before she could finish speaking, Chen Ran pinched Jiang Mengli's face with one hand.

A flush of red instantly dyed Jiang Mengli's snow-white cheeks.

"Oh, your Elder is nearby?"

Chen Ran chuckled and pinched her soft, tender cheeks again with one hand.

"How come I don't know about that?"

Chen Ran opened his perception fully, and his Mental Energy passed through the [Sky Net], automatically transforming into an invisible giant net, expanding toward the surroundings.

In the blink of an eye, it enveloped the entire stone grotto and everything within a hundred zhang of the outside world.

"Let... let me go!"

Jiang Mengli's hands pressed against Chen Ran's wrist, wanting to Move that palm away.

But she discovered that the man in front of her had a body as hard as steel; even using all her strength, she could not Move it a single bit.

Because her face was pinched, her voice became intermittent, which instead added a bit of...

Chen Ran stared at the Demonic Sect Saintess, who was like a bristling kitten, without speaking, instead examining her closely through the Sky Net.

Finally, he felt a faint, mysterious aura within her body.

Chen Ran whispered in his heart: "Sure enough, my previous feeling was not wrong."

From the moment he first met Jiang Mengli, he had vaguely felt that a change had occurred in her.

However, this change was extremely minute; even with his current perception, he hadn't been able to tell for a while.

It was only through the perception of the Blood Seed that he noticed the specific change in Jiang Mengli.

"Was it because of that earthquake a few days ago? What did she obtain in the secret treasury?"

Chen Ran fell into deep thought.

As for Jiang Mengli, things were not so good; after her struggle was fruitless, she could only watch as the young man in front of her stared at her with a strange gaze.

"What on earth does he want to do? Could it be that he wants to...?"

Jiang Mengli's thoughts were colliding like a panicked deer, and for a moment, she couldn't tell what she was thinking.

But before she could finish her thoughts, she discovered that the young man in front of her had suddenly disappeared.

The next moment, a sharp pain came from her neck.