Chapter 24**

  Daniu nodded. Zheng Sen tugged on the rope to make sure it was still sturdy, then climbed up the dder. Daniu followed behind. The passage led to a hidden chamber carved into the mountain wall. Using a fshlight, they could see that the space was about five to six square meters, with a height of less than 1.5 meters. It was supported by steel frames, and inside were seven wooden boxes.

  Daniu carefully examined the entrance. The cover was made of nanmu wood, and the other side was sealed with some kind of adhesive, making it blend seamlessly with the surrounding rocks. The cover had four locks, and unless all four were opened, the cover wouldn't budge.

  Other than that, there were no other mechanisms.

  As if sensing her confusion, Zheng Sen expined, "This was designed according to my grandfather's wishes. He believed that the more complex a mechanism is, the easier it is to crack. People always enjoy solving puzzles. This one looks simple, but the key is to make it undetectable. As long as no one finds the entrance, it can't be opened."

  Da Niu nodded. "That makes sense."

  Zheng Sen walked over and carefully pulled out two of the boxes. They were made of camphorwood and had a faint fragrance.

  The wooden boxes weren't locked. Zheng Sen opened the lid to reveal a leather-covered wooden box inside, the kind of old-fashioned box with leather on the outside and wood on the inside. The box wasn't heavy, and Zheng Sen lifted it out. Inside were several smaller boxes. He opened one and pulled out a dish-shaped object wrapped in wood shavings.

  "This is a Ru kiln cedon-gzed sunflower dish," Zheng Sen said, shining a fshlight on it. The light seemed to pass through the ceramic, revealing a beautiful cedon hue.

  Daniu blinked. So, this wasn't just a dish—it was a Ru kiln antique. It must be worth a fortune.

  "My grandfather bought this for three rge gold bars. It's a rare masterpiece. As soon as he acquired it, people came to buy it, but he refused to sell. Those people who came to our house back then were also looking for these items," Zheng Sen expined as he carefully set the sunflower dish down. He then opened the other box, which also contained antiques. Although Daniu didn't know much about antiques, she could tell these were high-quality pieces.

  After a quick look, Zheng Sen closed the boxes. Another also contained antiques, but he didn't open it. Tong Jingyao had a particur fondness for collecting porcein, and these two boxes contained some of the finest pieces. Any one of them would fetch an astronomical price.

  Zheng Sen then opened the boxes stacked against the wall. Two of them contained raw jade stones. Except for two uncut pieces, the rest were polished jade. Even though Daniu wasn't an expert, she knew the value of these stones. Two of them appeared to be mutton-fat white jade, while the rest were high-quality jadeite.

  "The Tong family owned gold shops and also dealt in jade. These are some of the finest materials accumuted over the years," Zheng Sen expined as he closed the boxes. He then opened another box. "These are the best pieces of jewelry from the Tong family's shops back in the day. Whenever they crafted an exceptional piece, they would only release a portion of it. My grandfather said that with these items, the Tong family could rise again in the future. But who would have thought that once they left, they would never return?"

  The remaining two boxes didn't need much expnation—they were filled with rge gold bars. There were over two hundred bars in total. At the current gold price of 7.68 yuan per gram, and with each bar weighing 312.5 grams, one bar was worth about 2,400 yuan. These gold bars alone were worth nearly 500,000 yuan.

  Daniu frowned and looked at Zheng Sen. "You could have come here by yourself. You didn't need me to guide you. And you don't have to give me half. Why?"

  She wanted to ask why Zheng Sen wanted to split the treasure with her. It was strange, wasn't it? They weren't close.

  Zheng Sen smiled and looked at Da Niu. "I didn't know the situation here before I came. Besides, these things may look valuable, but they can't see the light of day right now. They're not as important to me as your family's yellow rice balls." After saying this, he opened the st box, which was also filled with gold bars. However, in one corner of the box was a small package. He took it out and unwrapped it, revealing an envelope. Inside the envelope was a jade pendant. Seeing the pendant, he breathed a sigh of relief, put it around his neck, and then took out twenty gold bars before closing the box.

  Daniu was still puzzled.

  "You saved my life st time. My life is worth a lot," Zheng Sen said with a smile.

  Daniu felt something was off, but she said, "I can't take these things. I didn't know there would be so much." Although she was willing to earn some small money, these items were too valuable.

  Zheng Sen thought for a moment and smiled. "Let's talk about it after we get out. There are some reasons, but we can discuss them ter."

  Daniu thought for a moment and asked, "How do you pn to take these things back?"

  "Let's leave them here for now. No one else knows about them," Zheng Sen said as he pced the boxes back in order. He then climbed down the rope dder, and Da Niu followed. She watched as he used a stick to push the dder back into pce, then pressed a stone in the middle of the ceiling. With a few soft clicks, the door locked again. It was a simple yet secure mechanism.

  Da Niu thought, _Am I not considered 'someone else'? How can he be so careless?_

  Zheng Sen smiled. The girl's expressions were too easy to read. "Let's leave them here. Taking these things out would only bring trouble."

  Da Niu nodded and helped Zheng Sen erase any traces of their presence in the cave. The two of them didn't pn to stay long and began to head out. However, as soon as they reached the cave entrance, they realized something was wrong.

  Outside the cave, everything was shrouded in a thick fog.

  Both of them looked serious. "Be careful," Daniu said to Zheng Sen as they tied the rope around themselves again.

  They stepped out.

  As soon as they nded on the ground, Daniu covered her nose. "Be careful; the fog is toxic."

  Zheng Sen used his sleeve to shield himself from the fog, while Daniu took out two mask-like cloths from her bag. The masks had several yers of gauze over the nose and mouth. Putting them on felt a bit stifling, but they filtered out a lot of the toxins.

  Perhaps because she had inhaled some of the toxic gas earlier, Da Niu felt a bit dizzy. At the same time, her brain started racing, as if it had become overly active.

  Zheng Sen was in slightly better shape. He felt as if he had drunk a few shots of liquor.

  The two of them tried to retrace their steps, but soon their bodies were enveloped in the fog. Suddenly, they felt shadows moving around them, and the thick fog made it impossible to tell direction. Da Niu felt as if she was hallucinating, her body moving forward on its own. Zheng Sen, on the other hand, was walking in another direction. The rope between them tightened, pulling painfully at their waists.

  Daniu felt like an observer, watching her own hands reach out to untie the rope. Zheng Sen was also moving strangely. Suddenly, a wave of coolness washed over her mind, like a stream of icy water pouring down, bringing crity. She regained control of herself and put her fingers in her mouth, continuously swallowing the spiritual water. After a while, the negative effects on her body disappeared.

  Zheng Sen had untied the rope and was walking deeper into the Immortal Gully. Daniu quickly caught up and grabbed him. Zheng Sen's eyes were dazed, and he struggled uncontrolbly. Daniu opened his mask and put her hand in his mouth, letting the spiritual water flow into him. After a while, Zheng Sen seemed to regain consciousness. Daniu quickly pulled her hand away and opened her water bottle, shoving it into Zheng Sen's mouth.

  Cough, cough—Zheng Sen choked and suddenly woke up. "What happened?"

  Da Niu said, "The fog is toxic. We were both affected. For some reason, it was leading us deeper into the gully."

  Zheng Sen saw a shadow rushing out of the fog. "Be careful!"

  Before he could finish speaking, Da Niu lifted her foot and kicked out with precision. With a loud thud, a strange scream echoed, and the shadow flew back at an even faster speed. Then, more shadows rushed forward. Daniu's legs moved like a blur, kicking each shadow back one by one.

  Zheng Sen finally saw clearly. "They're weasels."

  Da Niu turned around and pulled Zheng Sen hard, kicking away two weasels that were lunging at him. "It seems we've stumbled into their ir."

  Zheng Sen stared at Daniu in awe. The girl was too impressive—she had kicked those weasels away with just a few moves. For some reason, his heart started pounding.

  "Let's get out of here. As long as we leave the Immortal Gully, we'll be fine," Daniu said, pulling Zheng Sen along. By now, she was fine. Although the fog made it hard to see the direction, she could still make out the ground. As long as she could see the ground, she knew how to navigate.

  By this point, the weasels were no longer hiding. The fog had thinned slightly, and they could see several weasels surrounding them. Da Niu noticed a rge white weasel perched on a rock by the cliff, its eyes fixed on her. Da Niu didn't avoid its gaze and stared back. The surrounding weasels didn't move, as if waiting for a command.

  Daniu blinked and looked at the weasel.

  The two of them stared at each other for a while. After a moment, Daniu thought for a bit and pced her water bottle on the ground.

  Zheng Sen looked at Da Niu with confusion, unsure of what she was doing.

  Da Niu didn't expin. She opened the lid of the water bottle and then stepped back. After a while, the weasel jumped out, sniffed the bottle, and seemed to detect something. It let out a couple of cries, then looked at Daniu and sat down on the ground.

  Daniu led Zheng Sen away.

  This time, there was no interception. Since she remembered the way, it was easier to navigate.

  They walked out of the Immortal Gully without any further incidents, but Daniu frowned. She wasn't sure if she had done the right thing. She could tell that the weasels had only wanted to confuse her and Zheng Sen, leading them deeper into the gully's caves. What they would have done once inside, she didn't know. She remembered that people who had entered the gully in the past would forget what they had done inside, as if they had been wandering around in a daze. Back then, some said there were weasels in the area, but there had never been any real conflict. Today, however, the weasels had actually attacked.

  When she had locked eyes with the white weasel, she had sensed its desire. It wanted the spiritual water.

  Da Niu didn't want to cause trouble, so she left the water bottle behind. The spiritual water inside had weakened in potency. She hoped nothing bad would come of it.

  Zheng Sen thought about it but didn't ask her what had just happened. However, recalling the earlier scene, he felt a twinge of fear. If he had come alone, he might have fallen into their trap.