Chapter 109 The Secret In The Treasure Box
Today the weather was nice. The cool breeze lifted the sea surface that was sparkling with white light, like a layer of white and silver foil s.h.i.+ning in the sunlight.
The electric eel swam to the s.h.i.+men trench, estimated the range, and then plunged down in one go.
After more than ten days of strengthening, the electric eel"s pressure level was unquestionably up another level. It was able to dive up to 1,200 meters in one breath and there was hardly any other feeling except the cold.
One thousand and four hundred meters...
One thousand and five hundred meters...
When it achieved 1,700 meters, the electric eel stopped above the cliff.
By this time, the electric eel could clearly feel the pressure from the surrounding water, and even the blood flow slowed down, and its body felt icy cold.
Hu Hu
After deeply inhaling twice, the electric eel wiggled its tail and headed down the cliff. The cliff was as high as three hundred and sixty meters. It must go down to the bottom in one go.
The white cliff was an almost ninety degree angle which was as smooth as if it was cut with an ax.
The electric eel could not even bear the 1700 meter depth the last time, but this time, it only had difficulty in breathing and was uncomfortable as it approached the cliff.
Boom...
The more than 60 meter long electric eel fell to the sea bottom like a cras.h.i.+ng helicopter, and sediment kicked up from the collision, churning the entire area.
"Cold … very cold!" The electric eel could still bear the pressure from that depth but the cold made Chen Fan suffer.
After bearing that for about two minutes, he waited for the debris to slowly sink to the bottom of the sea and then he carefully observed the images in his mind.
The box was not large. The height was about fifty centimeters high, and the carved pattern on the surface had been eroded by the sea water. At the mouth of the box, there was an ancient lock that had rotten into useless metal.
As the voltage penetrated across the wooden case, the voltage decreased. Chen Fan did not dare to increase the output voltage because he was afraid of damaging
anything precious in the box. He could not obtain a distinct image of what was inside. All he could observe was a hazy general outline of the object.
The eel moved two steps forward with its four claws and approached the box. Then it gently held the box with its front claws, used the two hind claws as a pedal, and floated to the diving area.
The floating process was slow. Chen Fan was afraid that, because of the electric eel"s speed, the water in the box would not be able to balance its pressure with the surrounding pressure, causing the box to break.
The reason why the box had not collapsed after it had sunk to the depth of 2000 meters was that as long as there was a gap for the water to flow between the internal environment and the sea water the pressure was equalized. Even if a delicate, cracked, empty egg sh.e.l.l was thrown into the sea and it sank to a depth of 2000 meters, it would not break.
For more than half an hour, the electric eel swam to the beach dock, and then quietly placed the box in front of the dock.
...
"Hope it is not filled with stones when I open it!" Chen Fan secretly prayed and drove to the dock.
As he drove the car to the dock, he glanced around and saw that no one was around, and he took off his clothes and jumped into the water with a splash.
The weather in October was slightly harsher, and the cold water was slightly piercing cold, but it was not a problem for Chen Fan, whose curiosity was higher than the Himalayas.
After getting into the water and reaching down to the bottom, he felt the box. It was very heavy. Chen Fan took a long time to pull the box out of the water using brute force.
Gulp…Gulp…
Chen Fan s.h.i.+vered in the cold as he came up to the bank. He quickly took out a towel to dry himself, and then put on his clothes.
Kaqiang!
The rotten copper lock on the wooden box was cut off by the Kun Wu dagger in one cut. When he pried open the box, what came to his sight was a cloth that was rotten from the corrosion of the sea water.
Chen Fan immediately tore the cloth into several pieces so he could see what was underneath. After ripping off the cloth, Chen Fan was suddenly stunned.
There were actually stones in the box.
Yellow, green, and white stones.
But these stones were not normal stones.
All of the yellow, green and white stones were exquisite, smooth, s.h.i.+ny jade!
"Tianhuang, Jadeite, Suet white jade!" These familiar names flashed through Chen Fan"s mind.
"Tianhuang! It is Tianhuang!" Aside from the fact that the other two were very valuable, the Tianhuang alone made Chen Fan drool.
Tianhuang was worth a great deal! It was a very rare, one of a kind type of jade that was found in a small area of land that was less than one square kilometer in Shoushan, Fujian province. It was the king of stones and had great value.
At the Fuzhou auction in 1999, the price of 500 grams of Tianhuang reached 21 million which was about 600 times the price of international gold.
Chen Fan had three pieces of Tianhuang, two of which were carved into small orange squares with a coiling dragon and a crouching tiger pattern, and the other was a slightly larger uncarved rough piece.
"Treasure… absolute treasure!" Chen Fan, even as a layman was able to determine that these were definitely first-cla.s.s goods!
Like women who loved diamonds, Chen Fan"s heart was immediately captivated by this Tianguan; these yellow stones that were a beautiful eye-catching yellow, and as smooth as a baby"s skin.
"I"ll take this big Tianhuang, and ask the professional carving master to carve my name on it!" Chen Fan made this quick decision within five seconds.
Chen Fan was lucky enough to get a piece of this rare stone. It was important to know that Tianhuang was extremely rare and since the Qing dynasty, it had often been made into a seal. Those seals had been bought at a high price and then carved with their owner"s name, replacing the original name.
This is how many of them were worn down to where they couldn"t be used, which made them even more rare. In the modern era, there were even collectors who were so obsessed that they did not want to damage the seal, so they changed their name to the one carved on the seal.
Chen Fan picked up the Tianhuang and put it in his arms. He then took the other jade stones and situated them on the ground one by one. These jade stones were all about the same size and shape as if they were specially screened. The emerald green jade was in seven pieces, each the size of a fist, and had a smooth surface, while the eight pieces of the Suet white jade were all also the size of a fist!
"I"m making a fortune!" Chen Fan was excited and his hands trembled. Just these three pieces of Tianhuang alone could sell for more money than he had earned so far, not to mention the other pieces of jade which were worth plenty of money!
Under the jade was another cloth, and when he pulled it out, he found that it was a wrapped, flat, rectangular box, which was better looking than the other box, and it was not completely decayed.
"Is it a more valuable treasure?" Chen Fan was so nervous that he opened the wooden box and found that inside was a piece of grey-brown cloth full of writings.
"It"s the G.o.d"s will and the emperor"s command: that the city of the stone mountain has recently been plagued by the great bandits, and I confer Fu Lin as Royal deputy leader of the Xiaoqi Camp to lead men to seize the bandits... Granting him with a yellow Magua, and eighteen jade, that"s all!"
"Guangxu fifteen years and nine... Nine... "
The writing in the back was a little vague, and Chen Fan wanted to take it down to see it, but as he picked up the corner and pulled it down, the brocade tore in two!
"Oh!"
Chen Fan put down the box, and then put his hands on his head. His heart ached!
"G.o.d, kill me! I just tore up a yellow Magua and an imperial edict!"