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"Actually, there isn't much written above; I just made some inferences from it... 'The staff was made, countless died, hidden,' meaning that since the staff was created, many people have inexplicably died, and no one knows the reason. Therefore, the leader of the Southwest Region believed this object was ominous and had it hidden away. However, after conquering the Southwest Region, the Founding Ancestor did not know who unearthed this staff again, thinking it was a rare treasure, and thus mixed it with the plundered treasures to be sent to the capital."
What Mei Shuang said was flawless. Nangong Nuo relaxed his expression and asked, "How do you explain what happened later?"
Mei Shuang replied, "When this batch of treasures was on its way, strange occurrences were already noted because the soldiers transporting the treasures gradually fell ill with high fevers and ultimately died without any cure. Previously, a shaman from the Southwest Region had predicted that anyone who obtained these treasures would face divine punishment. The Founding Ancestor, proud of his military achievements, scoffed at this prophecy. However, as the number of sick soldiers increased, even though the Founding Ancestor did not believe it, he had to have the treasures reorganized to see what was causing the trouble. But there seemed to be no results; they merely thought perhaps the soldiers had contracted miasma. Unexpectedly, something even more terrifying occurred: some soldiers began to experience hallucinations and started killing each other... This is why the cavalry guarding the treasures disappeared in Qishan..."
Listening to Mei Shuang's narrative as if telling a story, Nangong Nuo remained silent but felt an extraordinary shock within. He had to agree with Mei Shuang's analysis; it was quite reasonable.
The light in the cave finally dimmed. Sitting across from each other, they could only see each other's faces blurred in expression.
"Moisten your throat..." Nangong Nuo raised his hand and poured a cup of tea for Mei Shuang, pushing it toward her.
Mei Shuang glanced at Nangong Nuo; his eyes were as dark as ink. Since he did not raise any questions, it indicated that he accepted her explanation. However, Nangong Nuo's rare behavior still made her feel somewhat flattered. After all, she was no longer the Mei Shuang from before; regardless of his motives, Nangong Nuo had always cared for her. Now that she was a prisoner and received such treatment, it was hard not to feel a bit overwhelmed.
Mei Shuang took no offense and drank all the water in one go. After running around and saying all this, it indeed felt like a waste of breath.
Seeing Mei Shuang treat herself as if she were not an outsider and pour herself another cup, Nangong Nuo said, "Continue."
"To be honest," Mei Shuang set down her cup, "could you please light a candle? It's so dark that if we keep talking like this, I might think I'm speaking to thin air."
Nangong Nuo waved his hand, and immediately someone lit candles on the surrounding stone walls. Suddenly, the entire space became much brighter.
Mei Shuang cleared her throat. "Later on, it was ultimately determined that these people had come into contact with that staff. Of course, this is just speculation; after all, who could have imagined that such a small object could possess such power? The Founding Ancestor eventually believed that the treasures contained a curse that would lead to misfortune if obtained. Thus, he had no choice but to bury them on-site and invited shamans to perform rituals to subdue them. I believe this is also why neither the Founding Ancestor nor Former Emperor nor New Empress Xiao Luo dared to touch this batch of treasures again; they all uniformly claimed that these treasures had vanished without a trace. After all, these treasures represented the Founding Ancestor's hard work; even if they could not be used immediately, they absolutely could not be coveted by outsiders. This is why we see so many mechanisms: not only to prevent outsiders from easily entering but also to prevent any 'evil spirits' within the treasures from harming others..."
At this point, Mei Shuang almost said, "It's actually to prevent someone like you from intruding." Upon hearing this, Nangong Nuo slightly furrowed his brow and gently tapped his index finger on the stone table as if pondering something.
Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows and turned to Mei Shuang. "It does sound quite reasonable, but how do you know? It's as if you've experienced it yourself."
Mei Shuang shook her head. "I'm just making deductions based on the current situation."
After a pause, she suddenly froze, took a deep breath, and slowly said, "Actually, if it weren't for your interest in that treasure, I believe the Emperor of the Great Qin Empire, Xiao Luo, wouldn't have come here either. I think he must know the dangers involved..."
Although these words were ostensibly directed at Nangong Nuo, Mei Shuang knew she was really speaking to herself.
Just think about it—he was able to give her the Sword of the Emperor, the Zhanlu Sword, which he never parted with, and he allied with Anriyan, who was knowledgeable about the Southwest Region's poisons and dark entities. This was enough to show that he understood the ways to overcome challenges here.
Mei Shuang felt a surge of blood rush to her head; it turned out he had known all along.
What infuriated her was that he had initially asked her to decipher that Secret Edict, and when she finally uncovered the true location, he pretended as if it were the first time he had heard about it.
"Secret Edict, Secret Edict..." Mei Shuang murmured. "Now I finally understand why he wanted me to decode that document..."
"What?" Nangong Nuo asked, not having heard clearly.
"The document—the Secret Edict," Mei Shuang spoke to herself. "That document came from outside; he wanted to know if outsiders could use the Secret Edict to uncover the treasure's hiding place. And I was a perfect test subject. If I could decipher it, it would mean more people would know... right? Zhao Prince? Wasn't your purpose in saving me also for this reason?"
Nangong Nuo's eyes flickered as he nodded slightly. "Your analysis is indeed correct... You probably don't realize how important you are regarding this Secret Edict, do you? Do you know why I've gone to such lengths to obtain you?"
Mei Shuang shook her head. "I can only say that it seems your direction is correct... I have the ability to decode the Secret Edict, which undoubtedly makes me valuable..."
Nangong Nuo stared at Mei Shuang, admiration evident in his eyes as he nodded, "Talking to smart people is refreshing."
He stood up and said casually, "Don't forget, my grandfather fought alongside the Founding Ancestor and has personally experienced transporting treasures. To be honest, I know a bit about the legends surrounding those treasures, but no one knows where the final treasure ended up. Looking back now, it must have been the Founding Ancestor deliberately avoiding everyone... So, uncovering the location of the treasure is enough for me. This should have been done long ago; it's just that I didn't expect that damned Mei Ru to meddle with you, causing you to lose your memory, which delayed me and nearly led to failure..."
When talking about the past and mentioning Mei Ru, Nangong Nuo's face was filled with disgust.
"So, you're saying that even your nephew Xiao Luo was deceived by you? He thought you knew nothing..." Mei Shuang asked.
Nangong Nuo seemed reluctant to mention Xiao Luo. He frowned and finally said unwillingly, "You may not realize that Xiao Luo is no ordinary person; he is deep and inscrutable, his emotions hard to read. His intelligence and strategic abilities are far beyond your imagination... I actually have to thank him this time for giving you the Zhanlu Sword at a critical moment; otherwise, we would have truly been trapped in that cave..."
The last sentence clearly carried a hint of sarcasm, but what shocked Mei Shuang was Nangong Nuo's evaluation of Xiao Luo. Anyone who could give such high praise to an already formidable opponent must be quite exceptional themselves.
One thing Mei Shuang deeply agreed with was the description of Xiao Luo as "hard to read." In her interactions with him, this emperor had shown nothing beyond a cold demeanor; his deep, dark eyes were inscrutable, making it impossible for her to discern whether he was happy or angry.
However, aside from that point, she couldn't agree with Nangong Nuo's other assessments of Xiao Luo.
No ordinary person? Deep and inscrutable? Abilities far beyond my imagination? Mei Shuang shrugged; she really hadn't seen much evidence of that. But these opinions didn't concern her much—regardless of how impressive Xiao Luo might be, she had no use for him.
At least at this moment, relying on him to save herself was completely out of the question.
With this discussion, the matter of the treasure came to a close. The truth behind the illness boiled down to the radiation from the items in the box, which posed a direct threat to one's health.
Nangong Nuo seemed to accept this explanation; the so-called "evil spirit" or "curse" did exist but was merely another form altogether.
"How can we eliminate the so-called 'radiation' from Miss Mei Shuang?" Nangong Nuo returned to the main topic.
"Prince Zhao, I regret to inform you that this 'radiation' comes from the stone itself. I'm afraid we cannot remove it with our abilities; we can only dispose of it or, following the method of the Founding Ancestor, bury it deep in an unknown place so it no longer harms anyone. As for your illness, to be honest, it's quite difficult to handle."
Mei Shuang shrugged her shoulders and spread her hands.
"Oh? Then how did you recover?" Nangong Nuo scrutinized Mei Shuang from head to toe; she appeared to be a perfectly healthy person with no signs of discomfort.
"Actually, I was in a much worse condition than the others when I came out. I was the first to have a fever, followed by confusion, while they only showed similar symptoms several days later. So, this illness varies depending on one's constitution. However, I don't know what medicine they used on me or how much; I was saved... Also, after I fell into the water and was rescued, I went to Jiangnan and lived a very ordinary life without taking any medicine. That's how it was..."
Nangong Nuo looked at Mei Shuang; her expression showed no signs of deceit. He asked with a serious face, "Then why are the others not like this?"
"Well, I really don't know. Ever since I woke up after falling into the water, I've lost contact with them. As for their current situation, I'm completely unaware... Uh, if I had to point out any differences, I could only say that I'm female and they are male..."
This explanation left Nangong Nuo both amused and exasperated.
In fact, Nangong Nuo was not clear about the situation of Anriyan, the envoy from Yamataikoku who had gone with Mei Shuang. However, it was true that Cong Fei had died; he died from other accidents rather than this illness. The reason he said this was solely to test Mei Shuang.
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