Chapter 15: Treasure_1

After observing the hall's surroundings, everyone's attention converged on the four brocade boxes on the table and the flat box on the long table. Everyone knew well that the contents inside were the focus of this mission, and the treasures of this secret land.

However, some doubts lingered in everyone's minds. Coincidentally, four forces were present, having four brocade boxes on the table. If one faction were to be lost in the secret forest or only three forces were present, would there be one fewer box on the table? Such thoughts were just conjectures as these boxes had been around for over 300 years - how could they suddenly disappear or appear?

Yanming Hermit remained cautious in his approach, walking to the square table without hastily picking up a box. Instead, he observed the surroundings meticulously and tapped the chair with his dagger. He even knocked down the cushions to the ground, and then shifted the brocade boxes with the dagger without finding anything unusual. Still not reassured, he walked to the wall on his right, lifted three paintings, and saw no hidden mechanism. Only then did he walk to the table and ask, "It seems that there aren't any hidden mechanisms here, what do you think?"

Since entering the secret land, everyone had been following Yanming Hermit. They were even more cautious after entering the hall, not daring to move. Rivers and Gardens had always contained tales of formations, but by their time, such formations had become legends. Occasionally, some formation experts surfaced but only verbally, and no one had heard of an expert who used bamboo sticks or stones to lay out a formation, trapping someone within it, let alone a large formation created by an entire Sour Date Grove. Everyone had been in awe, following Master's instructions, and letting Yanming Hermit take the lead. Now that he sought advice, everyone nodded in agreement without any objections.

Yanming Hermit was quite satisfied with their attitudes and said with a smile, "Rivers and Gardens are unpredictable places. It's better to be cautious. You should also take a look around to see if there are any other mechanisms in the hall. If you find anything, you'll benefit."

Everyone exchanged glances and dispersed to examine different parts of the hall. They all harbored suspicions- was Yanming Hermit up to something? Swapping the brocade boxes? Nevertheless, everyone had a clear view of any movements in the hall; there was nothing he could hide. Perhaps the Senior really cared about the well-being of his Juniors. Anyway, looking around wouldn't harm anyone.

Indeed, less than a quarter of an hour later, everyone had finished their searches and found nothing unusual. It seemed that the treasures in the hall were limited to these few boxes.

Yanming Hermit cleared his throat and said, "According to our previous agreement, each of the four factions can pick a brocade box. Although Gang Master Situ is from the Evil Tiger Group, he should be considered as part of Ma Xiangyang's faction, not a separate one. Does Gang Master Situ have any objections?"

Situ Ping calmly replied, "I have no objections."

Of course, she dared not raise any objections since her life had just been saved by others.

Yanming Hermit continued, "Then, following the sequence dictated by the possession of the brocade boxes and relevant map, we'll take a box according to the order from left to right and from top to bottom. Whatever the box contains will be left to our fate." After that, he stood by the table.

Following this sequence, Wen Wenhai from Piaomiao Sect should be the first to take a box. He walked forward, carefully studying the four identical brocade boxes on the table, each covered in a layer of dust, indicating they had been there for a long time. Wen Wenhai pondered for a moment before choosing the second box from the left. As he was about to open the box to see its contents, Yanming Hermit stopped him, saying, "The treasures must be inside the boxes. Each of the four boxes contains something different, but if we know what's inside each other's boxes, it could arouse greed. Why not keep their contents a mystery here and decide what to do after we leave this place?"

Everyone nodded in agreement as Wen Wenhai kept the brocade box in his bosom and returned to his original position.

Next in line were Sword Peak Ma Xiangyang, Yanming Hermit, and Tan Wu, who each came forward to pick up their brocade boxes, storing them in their bosom without looking inside.

After distributing the items, all eyes turned to the flat box at the far end of the long table.

Yanming Hermit walked to the far end, picked up the box, and noticed that it felt heavy in his hands. Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a stone box intricately carved with intricate designs. The box seemed designed to hold treasures. However, no one knew why it was not placed on the table but thrown to the other end of the long table.

Yanming Hermit carried the box to the table, allowing everyone to see it, before placing it on the table. He gazed at everyone and said, "This is the only box left in this room, and it can't be divided equally. What if we determine its ownership as we discussed earlier, with a round of rock-paper-scissors?"

As everyone looked at each other, they could not escape the absurdity of deciding such a critical matter through a children's game. But without this gentle method, who would hold back when faced with such an enticing treasure? In the end, the winner might not even be one of them.

Thus, everyone remained silent. At this moment, Ma Xiangyang spoke up: "Senior, I have a suggestion."

Yanming Hermit, with an unsurprised expression, replied, "Please go ahead, young Ma."Ma Xiangyang said: "Regardless of the outcome of the rock-paper-scissors game, I have one small request. I hope that whoever gets the box will open it and let us all see what's inside. What does everyone think?"

Yanming Hermit pondered for a moment, nodded in agreement, and the others all had the same idea. They naturally wanted to know the contents of the box since their own treasures were already taken back. So, they believed it was necessary to see what was inside this box.

Then, Yanming Hermit arranged the rock-paper-scissors game order, which was based on the order of obtaining the embroidered boxes from before. The Piaomiao Sect and Sword Peak were in one group, Yanming Hermit and Tan's Family were in another group.

Wen Wenhai and Xue Qing from the Piaomiao Sect looked at each other. Wen Wenhai nodded at Xue Qing, encouraging her with a smile, but with an embarrassing expression on his face at the same time. Only Xue Qing knew why her Senior Brother had such an embarrassed look. Anyone who played this game since childhood and lost countless times would feel embarrassed when it came to playing again.

Since Ma Xiangyang was the only one from Sword Peak's side, naturally, he couldn't trust Situ Ping to come forward. In fact, even if he trusted Situ Ping to play rock-paper-scissors, Gang Master Situ would not dare to do so.

Seeing the two stepping forward, Yanming Hermit said: "The rules of rock-paper-scissors are: rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. Before we start, we'll blindfold each participant with a silk scarf. When I count one, two, three, everyone will simultaneously throw their hand. Then, we take off the scarfs and we'll see who wins and loses."

In the first round between Xue Qing and Ma Xiangyang, both chose scissors. In the second round, Xue Qing still chose scissors, but Ma Xiangyang chose paper. When he removed the scarf for the second time, he regretted retreating.

Surprisingly, Yanming Hermit won against Tan Wen with just one round. Yanming Hermit chose rock, while Tan Wen chose scissors.

The final round was the crucial round. Yanming Hermit contemplated for a moment, signaling Situ Ping to blindfold himself and Xue Qing. After Ma Xiangyang counted to three, both Yanming Hermit and Xue Qing chose scissors. After removing their blindfolds, they repeated the process again, both thinking for a moment before making their selections. This time, Yanming Hermit chose paper, while Heroine Xue still chose scissors without any changes. As Yanming Hermit removed the scarf, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart; it would have been better if they just had a martial arts competition.

Leaving aside Xue Qing's excitement, Wen Wenhai took the box and was about to open it when Yanming Hermit stopped him, saying, "Hold on! Put it on the table and use a sword to pry it open from a distance, in case there is any mechanism." Wen Wenhai followed the instructions, using the sword tip to poke at the box a few times but couldn't find the lid. He then picked up the box and examined it carefully, only to realize that it was tightly sealed. He tried hard to open it but couldn't. The others also tried unsuccessfully. Yanming Hermit picked up a dagger and tried to pry it open, but to no avail. In the end, he disregarded Wen Wenhai's eyes, using the dagger to slash at the box, but it didn't leave any marks.

That's when he understood why the box had been thrown to the other end of the long table.

He handed it back to Wen Wenhai, who carefully put the box away in his pocket.

Seeing that there was nothing left in the hall, everyone's thoughts flew to the Medicine field. Yanming Hermit led everyone to the medicinal field, and said, "It seems that we are not well-prepared, and I don't know if we can take more medicinal materials. I suggest that we take some mature, preservable medicinal materials this time. We'll take four shares of each - one for each sect. The matter of transplanting seeds can be discussed between our four sects later. What does everyone think?"

No one had any objection, and they began collecting medicinal materials under Yanming Hermit's guidance. They picked four portions of each mature piece of medicine and made them into four bundles, one for each sect.

Finally, Yanming Hermit said, "As everyone had no chance to obtain any medicine, we can only console ourselves here in the medicine field. What we just collected will be given to our respective sects, but now, each person can only pick three mature medicines for themselves."

After that, Yanming Hermit led them around each medicine field and each person picked herbs according to their own needs. Most of the herbs they could recognize were several hundred-year-old Ginseng, He Shou Wu, Panax Notoginseng, and Mountain Spirit among others.

By the time they had finished their tasks, the secret chamber was dimming. They estimated that it should be past noon outside, so they recalled leaving the chamber. Considering the amount of time this took, wouldn't it be night by the time they returned? Yanming Hermit reassured them with a smile, "To get out, just choose a random path and walk straight. As long as we walk straight, we'll get out. But looking at the sky, it's time for us to leave. Let's go."

After everyone picked up their bundles, they followed Yanming Hermit straight to the two sour date trees in the middle of the grove and left.

Little did they know, as soon as they set foot into the sour date grove, a snake-like creature emerged from the burning hot lake, gazing at the spot where the group had walked for a moment before retracting back into the water, leaving only ripples on the lake's surface.