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If it were just a simple piece of Blue and White Porcelain, although it's quite precious and rare, it wouldn't catch Qin Fang's eye. However, with this Brocade Box, it's a completely different story.

Or rather, in the eyes of others, the value of the Blue and White Porcelain far exceeds that of this Brocade Box.

But in Qin Fang's view, the result is exactly the opposite.

Initially, he wasn't particularly interested in this Blue and White Porcelain; he merely used his Scouting Skill to verify its authenticity.

When he confirmed the porcelain was genuine, he didn't give it much further attention.

Yet, coincidentally at that moment, he unexpectedly used his Scouting Skill on the box holding the porcelain, mainly because he found the material of the Brocade Box to be quite exceptional, wondering if it might be made of Golden Nanmu wood.

Golden Nanmu is an extremely rare type of wood, also one of the most precious, reserved for the Imperial Family in ancient times.

Of course, while that's the saying, in reality, there were still a few items made of Golden Nanmu among the people, ranging from furniture like tables and chairs to jewelry boxes, and even some more extravagant items like coffins made of Golden Nanmu... which was thanks to the characteristic of Golden Nanmu that can preserve for a millennium without decay.

In a sense, this indirectly demonstrated the value of Golden Nanmu wood.

However, as Golden Nanmu gradually got completely harvested, no new Golden Nanmu exists in the world today, leaving only those traditionally handed down from ancient times.

This is why Golden Nanmu has become increasingly valuable and its price has become quite high. The remaining stock is extremely limited, making it difficult for many people to obtain even one or two Golden Nanmu items.

Qin Fang was the same. The Brocade Box seemed likely to be made of Golden Nanmu, capturing a bit of his interest...

If it truly was made of Golden Nanmu, Qin Fang planned to ask Qu Yuancheng for it once he purchased the porcelain.

Given his relationship with Qu Yuancheng, as long as Qin Fang asked, Qu Yuancheng would never refuse.

The reason why Qin Fang wanted the Golden Nanmu Brocade Box was not for his own collection, but because of the wood's millennium preservation trait. He wanted to store items that are difficult to preserve, for example... the Peerless Elixir Golden Dragon Saliva from a puppet person!

The Golden Dragon Saliva can retain its spiritual essence when it remains with the puppet person, but once it leaves the puppet's body, its spiritual energy dissipates quite rapidly.

Qin Fang had tried to store it in a Jade Vial, which slightly slowed the dissipation, but still resulted in considerable loss of potency.

The longer it's stored, the faster it evaporates. In perhaps no more than a couple of weeks, the medicinal properties would completely evaporate, turning it into an ordinary, useless liquid.

This was quite frustrating for Qin Fang!

Fortunately, the time in his Props Box was almost still, ensuring the Golden Dragon Saliva wouldn't evaporate while stored inside, but once taken out, there was no stopping it.

However, the box made of Golden Nanmu was different. It was considered the best container, next only to vessels made of Thousand-Year Cold Jade or Warm Jade.

The effects of the Golden Dragon Saliva are incredibly miraculous, and although its effect is domineering, it's undoubtedly a life-saving weapon when necessary... as seen with Tang Cheng's incident.

If Tang Cheng had taken the Golden Dragon Saliva beforehand, although it couldn't completely neutralize the sorcery, at least those poisonous insects wouldn't have harmed him.

Hence, Qin Fang considered extracting some Golden Dragon Saliva and storing it separately for easy access when needed, without having to retrieve it from the puppet person on the spot...

This idea was naturally excellent, so Qin Fang had been looking out for it for a long time, but items made of Golden Nanmu were simply too scarce, so he had yet to find one.

This plan thus had to be delayed until now, until he saw the Brocade Box and noted its material, that Qin Fang cared to determine if it was truly made of Golden Nanmu.

After such careful observation, along with the aid of his Scouting Skill, Qin Fang was left utterly shocked by the result.

"Mechanism Box?"

Qin Fang was also puzzled.

The material of this Brocade Box was indeed nanmu, but not the Golden Nanmu he desired, leaving him slightly disappointed. However, when the scouting result of the box emerged, Qin Fang was again slightly taken aback.

Because this box was not an ordinary Brocade Box; its name was actually... "Mechanism Box."

Qin Fang had heard of mechanism boxes before, so he had some impression of them, but such things were extremely rare and he had never seen one before.

In fact, let's put it this way: in this world, there are not many people who have truly seen a mechanism box. Even those masters who have dealt with antiques all their lives may not have seen a mechanism box.

A mechanism box, as the name implies, is a box that is installed with a mechanism.

This type of object originally came from the carpenter patriarch Lu Ban, who was the first to create a mechanism box, and then the method of making such boxes was passed down to his apprentices and descendants.

Lu Ban was actually one of the patriarchs of the Thousand Gate, so those who truly crafted mechanism boxes must be people from the Thousand Gate... mastering mechanical techniques.

Mechanical techniques are considered a kind of Thousand Skills, an incredibly magical craft.

Unfortunately, the Thousand Gate is very secretive, and whether this magical skill has been passed down is something even Qin Fang doesn't know. However, every Thousand Gate expert who masters mechanical techniques is absolutely respected wherever they go.

As for the reason, well, those who know already know, and those who don't know simply don't need to know.

The crafting process of mechanism boxes is actually considered one of the more complex items within mechanical techniques. Don't be fooled by its potentially small size; its complexity is by no means less than that of those large-scale mechanical techniques.

The crafting of such mechanism boxes is mostly intended for storing some extremely important items, and the method of opening them is very complex. In fact, only a few individuals know how to open them; otherwise, even if you try to forcibly dismantle it, you won't be able to open it.

The mechanism box in front of him had existed for a long time, even longer than this Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain, and it should have been made in the late Song Dynasty.

Qin Fang had just carefully observed it; this should be a very intricately crafted third-level mechanism box. It wasn't the top-tier within the mechanism box family but not the simplest either.

There are five types of mechanism boxes: one-turn, two-turn, three-turn, six-turn, and nine-turn. The complexity of the crafting is determined by the number of turns, with the one-turn being the simplest and the nine-turn being the hardest!

The three-turn mechanism box Qin Fang had was somewhere in the middle, with a difficulty level that was relatively moderate...

A mechanism box is used for storing items, so the more precise the mechanism box is used, the more important the items inside are obviously.

The three-turn mechanism box Qin Fang saw surely contained something very precious, thinking of this, Qin Fang couldn't help but frown.

Three turns meant that this mechanism box had three layers. Now, one layer of this mechanism box had already been opened, and whether or not the other two layers had been opened was unclear to Qin Fang. However, from the appearance of this box, it seemed there were no signs of it being discovered...

Using a three-turn mechanism box to store a piece of Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain was something, in ancient times, that seemed a bit excessive.

Blue and white porcelain is indeed very precious, but that is in relation to today's standards. In ancient times, it might not have been so noteworthy. Even the finest blue and white porcelain might have been just a regular display in a wealthy home.

But this three-turn mechanism box was different. Besides the complexity of its crafting, its mere purpose was enough to rule out many possibilities.

The opening method of mechanism boxes is very complex. The more complex the mechanism box is, the higher the difficulty of opening it is, and for something like the nine-turn mechanism box, it's almost impossible for anyone besides the creator to open it, because the methods to open it were so complicated that they couldn't slowly try them out.

The difficulty of opening this three-turn mechanism box, although far less than that of a nine-turn mechanism box, is still something that most people can't open.

Even Thousand Gate experts who understand mechanical techniques may not necessarily have the confidence to open it...

In ancient times, the Thousand Gate surely had its most prosperous period, with countless experts within the door, but now it has clearly declined a lot.

Historical reasons have led to the loss of many exquisite skills of the Thousand Gate, and many Thousand Gate experts are unable to break through to the level that many great grandmasters reached back then.

Let alone surpassing the achievements of their predecessors, even catching up is almost impossible...

Just like in ancient times, there were many "god-like" great grandmasters such as Lu Ban, Guiguzi, Huang Shigong... each of whom was unimaginably formidable.

But now, apart from some so-called "brick experts," there are no impressive figures worth mentioning.

"Could it be that the items inside haven't been discovered?"

The Thousand Gate is still powerful, but it is far from being comparable to back then, and since the ancestor Lu Ban's passing, there haven't been any particularly impressive creations in mechanical techniques.

Looking at this three-turn mechanism box which had one layer opened, but still had two layers unopened, Qin Fang couldn't help but wonder about the contents kept inside.

Blue and white porcelain, though precious, was only placed in the first and easiest-to-open layer of the three-turn mechanism box, likely to serve as a decoy. The other two layers were surely meant for storing even more precious items...(To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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