?Mobile reading Qin Feng rushed home as quickly as possible, without greeting his two sisters who were sitting on the living room sofa watching a variety show. He straightened into the bathroom, brought a basin of water out, and then headed straight for his study on the second floor. In the study, Qin Dan soaked the mud clump in the water basin for several minutes before pulling out the dagger, Huo Yin, to begin peeling off the outer layers of soil and bronze fragments. With the sharp blade slicing through, the soil detached piece by piece, and though he didn't devote much effort to removing the metal fragments, the coordination of his hands gradually reduced the size of the citrus-sized mud mass to that of an apple. He grew more careful, mindful not to damage the contents within, and switched to a bamboo slip. A head appeared from outside—Fang Beauty. "Bo Qin, what are you doing?" she asked. Qin Feng lifted his head, smiled at her, and said, "I've brought back a treasure, and I'm currently cleaning off the external impurities." Fang Beauty's eyes lit up. "What treasure? Let me have a look!" When she saw the basin of muddy water, her expression turned dismissive. "Where did you dig this up? The water's even green now!" "I swear, I didn't pull it from a stinking gutter." "Of course, he won't admit it was stolen from the museum—and he's been quite generously charged by Lin Caiwei." "Oh, I'll see what you can dig up from there," she said, pulling over a storage stool, sitting down and resting her hands on her cheeks, watching every move he made. As more soil was stripped away, the bamboo brush came into contact with a solid object. The bamboo brush was then replaced with a soft brush, and after several dozen strokes, a flat surface measuring eight centimeters long and five centimeters high came into view, adorned with exquisite gold-inlaid patterns. The gold-inlaid cloud dragon pattern—typical of Shang and Zhou dynasty bronze wares. "Wonderful! Truly something special," said Fang Meiren, her eyes sparkling. "It looks ancient—do you think it's worth a lot?" Qin, the younger brother, looked utterly exasperated. What on earth was there to link him with the not-so-valuable Lenovo? If it were just a piece of antique, he’d barely glance at it. His interest stemmed from the very beginning—he’d always suspected that something magical was hidden inside. Soon, the other face was revealed as well. Both faces were wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, inclined at a certain angle, resembling a bronze tripod vessel. Indeed, he soon discovered a tripod base beneath. Fang, the beautiful woman, widened her eyes even further, gripping his arm and saying, "Where exactly did you dig this up? How about we organize a team and go dig again—maybe we’ll uncover even more treasures!" "I've already said it wasn’t dug from a ditch!" Qin, now truly frustrated, replied. "If a ditch could yield such treasures, wouldn’t we have already been the ones to claim them? Even if the treasures weren’t all taken away, officials would surely step forward and claim them as national assets!" "Oh, then where exactly did you find it?" Fang asked again. Qin Dashi was genuinely flustered and, without thinking, simply stated the truth: "The museum!" "Oh," the beautiful assistant's eyes widened in surprise. "I've never heard of someone extracting treasures directly from a museum—could it be that they were stolen?" Qin Dashi nodded. "It was found there, not stolen. Honestly, I'm such a straightforward person—I couldn't possibly be involved in stealing anything. It was someone else who discovered it, and then I obtained it from her." As he spoke, the outer surface of the small ding had been completely cleaned, appearing remarkably refined. The remaining task was to remove the soil from within the body of the ding. The young woman eagerly offered, "Let me do it—would you mind?" That was a good idea—girls were naturally more meticulous. He confidently handed the small ding over to her. Within fifteen minutes, it was completely cleaned, even the fine soil hidden within the delicate patterns being carefully removed one by one by the young woman. "Perfectly done." She handed him the small tripod and said, "The bronze tripods shown on TV are usually much larger—why is this one so small, almost like a incense burner!" Indeed, it did look quite like an incense burner. He examined it again and again, but couldn't figure out why. He explained to Fang Fang, "Familiar objects only reveal their hidden functions after blood is dripped onto them to establish a bond. Would you like to try it? All you need to do is use a small knife to make a small cut on your fingertip and squeeze out a few drops of blood." The beautiful woman gasped, "No, I'm afraid of the pain!" Qin, the young man, expressed his helplessness—how could a few drops of blood be so much to bear? His relatives visited every month, and each time they always managed to bleed quite a bit. He finally made a cut on his own index finger, and the blood droplets quickly landed on the small tripod. Yet, to his surprise, there was absolutely no reaction. Was it possible that he had mistaken the object all along—was it simply not a magical artifact at all? Or perhaps there simply wasn't enough blood—before the wound could clot, he quickly squeezed out a few more drops, but the small tripod showed not a single reaction. He pushed it further, cutting again at another spot. At least several dozen drops landed on it, covering every surface—even the belly and the legs of the tripod—without fail. Still, no response whatsoever. He was completely defeated. Fang, the beautiful woman, watched with a satisfied smile: "Haha, I still think I'm smarter. All your blood has been wasted, Feng!" A little blood loss wasn't the issue—what mattered was losing face in front of a beautiful woman. That was the real point. Damn it, stinky little tripod! I've sacrificed so much for you—what do you give me in return? Since the blood recognition failed, he tried channeling spiritual energy instead. If it still didn't respond, he'd toss it straight into the toilet. But as soon as the spiritual energy reached his fingertips, it vanished in a "whoosh"—absorbed by the tripod as if it had disappeared into the sea. This time, it was Qin Dashi who had to stare, what on earth was going on? He tried again—same result as before: the spiritual energy was instantly sucked away by the small cauldron, vanishing completely, as if it had never appeared at all. Solid. He couldn't help but feel delighted and kept channeling more spiritual energy into it. The small cauldron seemed like a person who had been starving and thirsty for a long time, suddenly receiving food and water, greedily gulping down the spiritual energy. Indeed, a true artifact—wah, wah! Yet, in his excitement, he noticed a serious problem! He couldn't stop—he felt as though the cauldron was determined to drain all his spiritual energy.