Divine Eye Appraisal: Starting with a Lucky Pickup of a Beautiful CEO's Family Heirloom

Wen Zhaoye folded the letter, stuffed it into his inner pocket, and stuck it to the jade pendant.

He clutched the jade pendant and turned to look at Gu Qinghan. Gu Qinghan was still leaning against the doorframe, her hand on her short sword, her gaze wandering across the wall. After studying the ancient characters for a while, she suddenly spoke: "The Nine Locks Seal... your father was its guardian." Wen Zhaoye was taken aback: "Huh?"

Gu Qinghan didn't turn around, but pointed to the wall with her finger: "What's engraved here is the origin and history of the Nine Locks Seal. Three thousand years ago, the Zhou royal family declined, the Nine Tripods shattered, and the dragon vein's energy was almost completely dissipated. Your Wen family ancestor was a bronze caster who, under the king's orders, cast a set of sealing instruments called the Nine Locks."

She paused, then turned to look at him: "Your father is the current successor of the Wen family."

Wen Zhaoye gripped the jade pendant in his hand even tighter. He walked to the wall, looked up at the densely engraved characters, and couldn't understand a single one, but a strange feeling welled up inside him.

"Bloodline as the guide." Gu Qinghan pointed to the four characters on the wall, "This means that only the essence of the Wen family bloodline can open the seal."

Wen Zhaoye stared at those four words, his mind a jumble. He remembered the letter his father had left behind, the sentence "If you can get this far, it means you've grown up," the words his grandmother had spoken, and Sun Bo'an's words, "What your father did is not something ordinary people can understand."

He reached out, his finger pausing on the four characters "Bloodline as Guide." The instant his fingertip touched the stone wall, his divine eye moved on its own. Pale golden characters emerged from the stone's surface, flowing slowly like water, startling him. He took a half-step back, but the characters didn't stop, continuing to outline a complete pattern on the stone wall—behind the stone wall, there was another layer of space.

Wen Zhaoye gasped. "What's wrong?" Gu Qinghan asked, her voice tinged with alarm.

"There's something else behind the stone wall," Wen Zhaoye said, pointing his finger at the spot where the words had just appeared. "It requires blood to open it."

Gu Qinghan was silent for two seconds, then said, "Then let's give it a try."

Wen Zhaoye took a deep breath, took out the broken piece of the bracelet from his inner pocket, and ran it across his fingertip. Blood seeped out, and he raised his hand to press it against the character "引" (yin, meaning "guide") on the stone wall.

The blood seeped into the stone, as if it were being sucked in.

Then, the stone wall began to peel away.

It wasn't a loud bang; it was very quiet, like long-dried mud falling from the wall, piece by piece, revealing a hidden door inside. The hidden door wasn't large, only about a meter wide, and its surface was engraved with patterns similar to those on bronze doors, but more intricate and ancient.

Gu Qinghan drew her short sword, walked to his side, and stood very close to him. "Shall we open it?" she asked.

Wen Zhaoye glanced at her and nodded.

The two of them reached out at the same time and pushed the hidden door.

The hidden door opened.

It wasn't the creaking kind; it was very smooth, like someone was pushing the door open for them from behind. Behind the door was a deeper passage, narrower than the previous stone steps, only wide enough for one person to pass at a time. The beam of the flashlight shone in, revealing that the end of the passage was several meters away, and a faint breeze blew out, carrying a dry, earthy smell.

Wen Zhaoye hung the jade pendant around his neck, stood at the entrance of the passage, and glanced back at the stone chamber behind him. The bronze door was still open, the wooden box on the stone platform was empty, and the ancient characters on the wall gleamed coldly in the flashlight beam. He took a deep breath, turned around, and stepped into the darkness first. The passage was longer than he had imagined; he had been walking for about three minutes and still hadn't reached the end. The path beneath his feet was paved with smooth stone slabs, but each step echoed, like walking on a hollow drumhead. Every few meters along the walls on both sides, there was a bronze lamp, the lamps still stained with black oil, but long since extinguished.

Gu Qinghan followed behind him, able to hear her breathing and the occasional soft sound of a short sword hitting the wall. "Your father," Gu Qinghan suddenly spoke, her voice echoing far in the passage, "he must have walked this path back then." Wen Zhaoye didn't turn around, but paused for a moment.

"Your master has been here too, hasn't he?" he asked.

"Yes," Gu Qinghan said, "They left together thirty years ago."

"Where is your master now?"

Gu Qinghan was silent for a few seconds before saying, "In Kunlun Mountain. I go into seclusion every year and don't allow anyone to follow me."

Wen Zhaoye didn't ask any more questions. He continued walking forward, the beam of his flashlight flickering in the darkness, illuminating the blurry patterns on the walls. He noticed that there were arrows in some places, as if they had been carved in, pointing deeper into the passage.

"Tell me, what exactly does my dad want me to see?" he asked.

"I don't know," Gu Qinghan said, "but since he left a letter and a jade pendant, and even brought you here, it certainly wasn't to let you come and see the scenery."

Wen Zhaoye chuckled and said, "What scenery is there to see in this desolate wilderness?"

"You still have the mood to joke around."

"I can't help it, I tend to talk nonsense when I'm nervous." Gu Qinghan didn't reply, but Wen Zhaoye heard her chuckle softly, a very short laugh, as if she couldn't help it.

The passage finally came to an end. The flashlight beam shone out, revealing a much larger stone chamber, three or four times the size of the previous one, resembling an underground hall. In the center of the chamber stood a stone pillar, atop which rested a bronze lamp, which was still lit, a faint flame flickering in the darkness.

Wen Zhaoye was stunned. "Why is this lamp still lit?" he asked. Gu Qinghan walked to the stone pillar, looked up at the lamp, and said, "A lamp that has lasted for three thousand years, its materials contain mermaid oil." "Mermaid oil?"

"It's made from the oil of merfolk, and it can burn for a thousand years without going out," Gu Qinghan said. "My master wrote about it in his book."

Wen Zhaoye stared at the lamp, a chill running down his spine. He walked to the stone pillar, the beam of his flashlight sweeping across the surroundings—the walls of the stone chamber were inscribed with even more ancient characters, more numerous and denser than the previous wall. Moreover, some areas bore drawings, resembling structural diagrams of some building, the lines fine and intricate. "What is this?" he asked.

Gu Qinghan approached the wall and stared at it for a long time, his expression growing increasingly serious.

"This is the formation diagram of the Nine Locks."

"A formation diagram?" "Yes." Gu Qinghan pointed to the lines on the wall. "Look, these lines correspond to the directions of the Nine Provinces. The dot in the middle is the location of the main cauldron. Nine small bronze square cauldrons are distributed at nine key nodes on the sphere, forming a complete sealing system."

She turned to look at Wen Zhaoye: "Your father activated the Four Symbols Sealing Array right here."

Wen Zhaoye's finger stopped on the wall.

He recalled a sentence from his father's letter: "My father's biggest regret in life is that I couldn't be there to watch you grow up."

He recalled his father's words, "Don't mention the surname Wen."

He remembered the hesitant look on his grandmother's face whenever she mentioned his father. Now, he finally understood what that sentence meant—it wasn't that she didn't want to be with him, it was that she couldn't be with him.

"Did my dad seal himself off here back then?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse.

"Hmm," Gu Qinghan said, her voice much softer than before. "My master said that when your father activated the Four Symbols Sealing Array, he sealed himself inside as well. He didn't want anyone to find the Nine Locks, including himself." Wen Zhaoye stood in the stone chamber, the beam of his flashlight dancing on the walls, illuminating the intricate lines and characters. His mind was a jumbled mess, like a tangled ball of threads, but one thread was clear—his father didn't abandon him; he simply had no other choice.

His father trapped himself here for seventeen years to protect that thing.

"And where is he now?" Wen Zhaoye asked in a low voice, "Is he still inside?"

Gu Qinghan looked at him but did not answer.