Chapter 105: The Secret of the Royal Family, The Secret of the Ruby Necklace

“Lin Ran.”

The empress called out softly. Seeing Lin Ran look up at her, she pointed at herself. “Help me take off the necklace. I don’t have the strength now.”

Lin Ran looked at the empress in confusion, not knowing what she wanted to do. She didn’t call him “Lord Lin”, which gave him a strange feeling.

Seeing that Lin Ran didn’t move, the empress frowned slightly. “Quick, do it before I change my mind.”

Lin Ran hesitated for a moment before reaching out to touch the empress’s neck.

The empress had always worn the ruby necklace that had been passed down for generations next to her skin. This meant that if Lin Ran wanted to get the necklace, he had to lift her collar.

A large area of snow-white skin was exposed. Even under the dim candlelight, it was still so fair and attempting.

The empress’s face was red, and Lin Ran’s heart was racing when his fingertips touched her skin. However, he still calmed himself down and quickly took off the necklace.

This was the first time Lin Ran had observed this necklace so closely.

Unlike the ropes or chains of other necklaces, the ropes of this necklace were connected by metal rods the thickness of a chopstick and the length of a knuckle.

The pendant of the necklace was a ruby embedded in the golden base. There was an exquisite pattern engraved on the edge of the base. Now, Lin Ran could recognize that those were runes specially used in array formations, and they were quite ancient.

After looking at it carefully for a while, Lin Ran looked at the empress and forced a smile. “This thing is quite heavy. It must be uncomfortable to wear it all day long. No wonder you wanted to take it off.”

The empress smiled and did not reply. Her gaze was fixed on one of the metal rods. “You can unscrew the third rod from the right.”

Lin Ran found the third rod and exerted a little force, causing a horizontal pattern to appear on the metal rod.

After spinning a few more times, the metal rod came off. It looked not much thicker than a strand of hair.

Even so, one could still see exquisite patterns engraved on it.

“This is a key.”

The empress looked at the small metal rod and said softly, “There’s a small hole on the base of the third pillar on the left of the Hundred Fragrance Palace. After opening it, there’s everything you want to know.”

When Lin Ran heard this, his eyes widened in shock. “I haven’t said anything yet. How do you know what I want to know?”

“Whatever you want to know.”

The empress replied indirectly with a hint of helplessness and struggle in her eyes. “This is the greatest secret of the Heavenly Saint Dynasty because all the secrets are inside. Even Grandpa Sword God doesn’t know… Go quickly. Don’t wait until I change my mind.”

Lin Ran looked at the empress with a complicated expression. Although her tone was casual, he knew that this was not an easy decision.

“Thank you.”

After a moment of silence, Lin Ran said softly without expression.

The empress smiled. “There’s no need to thank me. After tonight, I will pretend nothing happened. You can’t tell anyone about what you see there, including me.”

Lin Ran nodded to show that he understood, but he did not leave immediately. Instead, he put away the necklace, picked up the soup bowl, and continued to feed the empress.

“By the way.”

The empress swallowed a mouthful of chicken soup and suddenly looked at Lin Ran as if she had thought of something. “After you get there, can you bring me something?”

Lin Ran was puzzled. “I can’t tell anyone the secret inside, but I can bring something out?”

“You are not supposed to.”

The empress smiled, and for the first time, her voice was filled with pleading. “But this thing is very important to me. It’s a green jade hairpin with irises carved on it.”

“Alright.”

Lin Ran nodded without hesitation. Although he didn’t know if it was dangerous there, the danger he had to face was nothing compared to the courage the empress needed to make this decision.

By the time he finished feeding the bowl of soup, it was already midnight.

After letting the empress rest, Lin Ran went straight to the Hundred Fragrance Palace.

The Hundred Fragrance Palace was one of the most remote palaces in the northwest corner of the imperial palace. Because it was too remote, no one had set foot in it for countless years.

The trees that were not trimmed grew into strange shapes. Weeds grew wantonly through the cracks in the heavy limestone, and the entire yard was filled with a strange but surging vitality.

Lin Ran descended from the sky and landed in the yard. In a flash, he arrived beside the third pillar. After walking halfway around, he found a round hole on the stone base.

This hole was really too small, almost the size of a needle.

He took out the key and inserted it into the small hole. The surroundings were quiet, and nothing seemed to have changed.

Lin Ran tried to turn the key left and right again when he suddenly heard a muffled sound coming from the ground in the middle of the yard, as if some machinery had been activated.

Then, under Lin Ran’s gaze, the stone bricks in the middle of the yard slowly raised, revealing a staircase that went straight down.

When he landed in the yard and used his divine sense to investigate, it was clearly solid ground.

“Is this the greatest secret of the Heavenly Saint Dynasty…”

Lin Ran recalled what the empress had said previously and couldn’t help but look serious.

historical

This secret room could not even be detected by the divine sense of a Half-Saint. It was obvious that it must have taken a lot of effort to build it back then.

From this, it could be seen that every secret that could be hidden here was extraordinary.

Clang!

With the sound of a sharp blade being unsheathed, Lin Ran slashed out a few fire attribute sword energy that surrounded him and slowly walked down the stone steps.

As Lin Ran disappeared from the ground, the stone bricks returned to their original place.

Silence returned to the desolate yard. The leaves and weeds rustled as the breeze blew past, as if someone was whispering in the night.

The next morning.

When the first ray of sunlight shone into the deserted courtyard of the Hundred Fragrance Palace, a series of muffled sounds suddenly sounded from underground. A few stone bricks in the middle began to slowly rise.

Just as the stone bricks were halfway up, a figure rushed out of the gap. When he landed, he turned around and pressed down on the stone bricks that were still rising. He actually used his strength to force them down!

Almost at the same time, something hit the stone bricks with a loud bang. The stone bricks that had just been pressed down were instantly pushed up a few inches!