Chapter 56 - Basalt Scriptures and the Dragon Turtle Armor
Zuo Shi strolled around on the third floor, feeling very bored, so she went and stood next to the turtle shell on the ground, waiting for Shi Yan to get back.
After half an hour, Shi Yan slowly walked up the stairs. Wearing a light green long garment, he looked fairly handsome.
But Zuo Shi only glanced over him once, then retracted her gaze, and continued staring at the turtle shell. She spoke, “If you’re done then let us take a look at it quickly, I’ve been waiting for so long.”
Zuo Shi had seen too many attractive men, and the men of the Zuo family were all good-looking. So Zuo Shi was nearly immune to all the different types of handsome men.
“Girl, you’re used to making people wait for you, aren’t you? If you don’t try waiting for someone else, how would you know how hard it is?”
Shi Yan sneered, he didn’t rush to approach her, but first he went around the bookshelves, and using the memories deeply rooted in his head, took out a heavy ancient book that was covered with dust, then moved to Zuo Shi’s side.
Zuo Shi stared in a daze, as she had unexpectedly blanked out due to Shi Yan’s words. She nodded lightly, and spoke in agreement, “You’re right, it has always been others waiting for me. I’ve never waited for anyone. So this is how it feels to wait for someone... Why is it that those people waited so long for me, yet they never made a fuss, and still talked to me with a face full of smiles?”
“That’s because they’re low!” Shi Yan commented bluntly.
“Ha!”
Zuo Shi chuckled, her bright eyes scanning Shi Yan, and she spoke while smiling, “You’re so wicked. So how are they low?”
“I think you shouldn’t be named Zuo Shi, you should instead be called Zuo Xin Xin.”
“Why?”
“From where I come from, they name children based on what they lack. Like how the name Zhao Xin (鑫 meaning gold) means lacking wealth and Wang Miao (淼 meaning flood/water) means lacking water, so you should be called Zuo Xin Xin (心 meaning wits)...”
“You lack wits! Asshole!”
“So you’re not stupid?” Shi Yan said indifferently, “If you weren’t so slow-witted, how could you not know what they were thinking? They wanted to flatter you so of course they wouldn’t show any discontent. All men, before they obtain a wonderful thing, act incredibly low. After they obtain it, they become even lower!”
“Are you talking about yourself?”
Zuo Shi’s eyes brightened, and she smilingly as she looked at him.
“Cough cough, I said normal men are like that, but I’m an exception.”
Shi Yan shamelessly stated, then crouched down, moving closer to the piece of turtle shell on the ground. With one hand, he quickly flipped through the pages of the thick ancient book. Whenever he flipped to a certain page, he would pause, his finger pointing to a specific ancient character.
On the back of the basin-sized turtle shell, aside from the complex old moire pattern, was actually eight lip-sized ancient characters. Those eight ancient characters didn’t seem to look like they were forcefully carved on, instead they looked like they were naturally formed by the moire patterns on the turtle shell; it was extraordinarily magical.
The eight ancient characters were arranged in two lines and each character was about the same size, and gave off a cold feeling when touched.
Shi Yan felt the surface of each character with his left hand, his right hand constantly flipping through the ancient book in his hand. Sometimes he wrinkled his eyebrows in thought, other times, his eyes would brighten and a smile would appear at the corner of his lips, as if he came to an understanding. He engrossed himself in deciphering the ancient characters on the turtle shell.
As focused as he was, it seemed as if he didn’t noticed there was a beautiful young girl nearby.
Zuo Shi’s dainty figure knelt down, her delicate face pointed towards him, constantly paying attention to the changes in expression on Shi Yan’s face.
It was to say, when Shi Yan was deeply concentrating on something, he displayed the unique charms of a man.
Zuo Shi somewhat admired this kind of concentrated dedication, and she nodded silently in her mind, thinking, “Although he has a big attitude, and rants a lot, when working on things, he’s pretty serious about it.”
“Rustle! Rustle!”
In the silent room, there was only the sound of Shi Yan rapidly flipping through his book. Zuo Shi had quietly kneeled down next to him, not interrupting.
After a long while, Shi Yan suddenly shut the book in his hand and with a serious face he said, “Done.”
“What do these eight characters mean?” Zuo Shi’s eyes brightened, and she asked delightedly.
“Dragon Turtle Armor! Basalt Scriptures!” Shi Yan shouted with a deep voice.
“Hey!”
Zuo Shi whispered, pointing at the turtle shell, and spoke in surprise, “The turtle shell is glowing because of your voice!”
Shi Yan was surprised, and hurriedly looked down. The meticulous moire pattern on the turtle shell was indeed releasing a faint green glow.
It was as if the eight ancient characters were brought to life, slowly shifting on the turtle shell, reforming altogether.
Staring, both Zuo Shi and Shi Yan were stunned.
The eight ancient characters, after shifting for a while, formed a hand-shaped indent.
On the turtle shell, there was a light green glow that was swirling, and strange continuous pulses escaped from the turtle shell. The air in the room seemed to be attracted to the turtle shell, as it quickly flowed into the shell, making it hard for Shi Yan and Zuo Shi to breathe.
“Zuo Shi, I’ll stay right here, you go into the living room right now and call both of our grandpas over! Now!” Shi Yan was dazed for a moment, then shouted.
“Okay!”
Zuo Shi was also stunned by the change to the turtle shell, so she didn’t dare to hesitate. Her tall figure shook for a second and she disappeared from Shi Yan’s view.
Shi Yan’s expression was serious, his eyes steadily fixed upon the turtle shell.
After staring at the turtle shell for a while, Shi Yan’s heart skipped a beat, suddenly realizing the strange conditions of the turtle shell was as if it wanted someone to put their hand in.
As soon as the thought surfaced in his mind, Shi Yan could not resist, and wanted to place his hand onto the turtle shell.
Yet, right after his hand reached out, he realized what he was doing.
“No, this turtle shell belongs to Zuo Shi, I shouldn’t be the one to do it.”
Thinking this, Shi Yan stopped, took a deep breath, and he made himself take a few steps away from the turtle shell, waiting patiently.
After a short moment, Zuo Shi, Zuo Xu, and Shi Jian rushed to the room, and the three surrounded the turtle shell, watching the continuously shifting turtle shell.
“So this is what happened…” Shi Yan explained the situation briefly, and then said, “The hand print that’s shown on the turtle shell should be the key to opening it. Just place your hand onto it and you should be able find out the secret of the turtle shell. Since it was Little Shi who brought it, I’m not going to mess with it.”
“Could it be dangerous?” Zuo Xu’s wondered aloud. At this moment, he was a little unsure of what to do.
“I don’t know.” Shi Yan shook his head, and he hesitated for a second, then stated his thoughts, “The reason why I called you guys over was because I don’t know whether it’s dangerous or not. Since you’re all here, even if the turtle shell turns out to be dangerous, you’ll be able to stop it.”
“So you’re saying that we can give it a try?” Zuo Xu’s eyes brightened. ‘Dragon Turtle Armor’ and ‘Basalt Scriptures’ were obviously connected to secret treasures and martial skills, so no wonder they grabbed Zuo Xu’s interest.
“Of course we can give it a try.” Shi Yan smirked, and said lightly, “Grandpa Zuo, if you’re worried about Xiao Shi, I can do it for her, how’s that?”
“I’ll do it.”
Zuo Shi heard what Shi Yan said, and without asking for Zuo Xu’s opinion, held out her glistening hand and pressed it into the deep indent on the turtle shell.
“Boom!”
A low, exploding sound came from the inside of the turtle shell.
Five thin needles shot out and embedded themselves into Zuo Shi’s five fingers that were placed into the indent.
Bright red blood immediately dripped out of Zuo Shi’s fingers. Like rubies, the blood rolled around in the indent as if it was solid, and was finally absorbed by the turtle shell.
Bright green light suddenly burst out from the turtle shell, and the blazing green light was blinding to everyone’s eyes.
Strange ancient symbols formed by the green light suddenly flew out, went along Zuo Shi’s arm, and it flew straight into her head.