"Can it be rotting animal carca.s.ses inside… or a pile of corpses… or a pile of bones… the kind of place that's filled with resentment? Maybe even a ma.s.s grave?" Qiao Mei muttered to herself.
Qiao Mei did not dare to take another step forward. She took out a few vine seeds from an inner pocket inside her clothes and scattered them on the ground. She would use the vines to check and see what kind of strange things there were in the cave.
There was a faint light inside. In the depths of the cave, Qiao Mei could really see many bones. The ground here was littered with bones. She could see both human and animal skeletal remains. From the way they were arranged on the ground, these humans and animals must have struggled in pain before they died.
In her other life, she handled criminal cases and would occasionally have to read forensic examination reports. She had ama.s.sed some knowledge along the way.
Further in, Qiao Mei saw a huge door. The door was very exquisite-looking and was carved out of a huge rock. There were patterns of dragons and phoenixes carved on it and it was something very rare. Could this be some kind of ancient tomb?
Feeling curious now, Qiao Mei used the vines to continue exploring inside. As she went past the door, it was as if it was daytime inside. A luminous pearl in the center of the cave emitted a dazzling light. Looking at the quality, this luminous pearl was definitely not an ordinary item. The people who had died outside the door must have been robbers who had fallen victim to the mechanism in the door.
The foul air which Qiao Mei spotted by the river was being produced by this luminous pearl.
"This is clearly a treasure item, so how can this be?" Qiao Mei was very puzzled. Could it be that such a rare treasure was really a jinxed item?
She could see murals on the stone wall which described the origins of this luminous pearl. This luminous pearl was once the beloved item of a young lady from a rich family. Her father had spent a lot of money to buy it for her as a birthday gift.
However, before the girl could even reach adulthood, an enemy of her family sent people to slaughter the entire family just to obtain that luminous pearl. The blood of the young lady dyed the luminous pearl red and caused it to be sealed up with all the resentment of those people who were murdered.
Qiao Mei wrapped the luminous pearl tightly with the vines and slowly dragged it out of the cave. She had read enough books about how such a door mechanism worked. She even found a round structure of about the same size as the pearl and placed it at the original position to prevent the mechanism in the cave from being activated.
The moment the luminous pearl appeared in front of her, Qiao Mei was stunned. Even the sun seemed dim in front of it. However, she did not dare to touch such a treasure in an offhand manner. She could see that the foul air around it was getting denser and denser.
Although Qiao Mei had X-ray vision, she needed to touch an object to be able to see inside it. After thinking for a while, she decided to take out one 10,000-year-old ginseng seed from her pocket and plant it into the ground. After continuous rounds of energy exchange, Qiao Mei managed to extract a few drops of pure 10,000-year-old ginseng juice.
Qiao Mei slowly dripped the 10,000-year-old ginseng juice on the luminous pearl. The foul air around it seemed to dissipate a little. It looked like this solution worked!
She immediately found some big leaves and smeared 10,000-year-old ginseng juice on them. She used the vines to place the luminous pearl on the leaves and then wrapped it tightly with the vines to prevent it from being exposed.
"Qiao Mei! Qiao Mei, we're going home! Qiao Mei, where are you!" Xia He's voice came from afar.
Qiao Mei was about to pick up the luminous pearl, but she was worried that it might emit radiation. She was pregnant now and it would not be good if the baby was affected.
After pondering for a long time, Qiao Mei thought of a way which was the best of both worlds! She buried the luminous pearl under a tree and marked the spot. She could just ask Yao Nian to come and get it at a later time!
Yao Nian suddenly sneezed violently at home. He looked at the sky outside the window and muttered to himself, "Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?"
Qiao Mei followed Xia He and Xia Wen home. Xia Zhe had already packed their things so that they could return to the courtyard house to stay for a few days. Qiao Qiang had been worried about them at home for a long time.
Qiao Qiang was afraid that there would be intruders again, so he had brought back two big black dogs and was raising them in the courtyard. He made them sit on each side of the main door like two "door guardians".
"Oh, so these are the black dogs that Grandfather bought at the dog market. They really looked quite scary," Qiao Mei said as she held back her laughter.
These were not big black dogs! These were clearly two black little puppies! They were not even properly weaned yet and yet they were already sent out to stand guard. She wondered how Qiao Qiang could even do such a thing.
"The Old Master said that dogs will feel closer to an owner who raised them from young. That's why he bought puppies," Feng Hua explained.