Before Liang Xiao lay an irregularly faceted polyhedron, each side alternating between gray and white.
After Jian Nanfeng confirmed that his daughter Jian Qinwan and Liang Xiao had married in Tianshan, he entrusted the West Sichuan Sword Clan's heirloom to Jian Qinwan's safekeeping. Upon their consummation, the heirloom was to be gifted to Liang Xiao for his research.
Initially, Jian Qinwan had hoped Liang Xiao would research it sooner, believing it might greatly benefit him. However, Liang Xiao, mindful of the West Sichuan Sword Clan's rules, only formally accepted it today.
Under Jian Qinwan's expectant gaze, the key turned in the lock.
Liang Xiao marveled, "Could this key and the heirloom both be forged from Yin Long Jin?"
He estimated roughly that the density of the key and the treasure should be similar to the Yin Long Jin gifted to him by Liu Yunzi. The gray and white on the surface, he suspected, was merely a coating.
Jian Qinwan finally overcame her shyness, rose from the bed, and moved to Liang Xiao's side. She explained, "My father faced the calamity of clan annihilation. My grandfather entrusted this heirloom to him, but there was no time to explain its use or how to unlock it before..."
Sensing Jian Qinwan's sorrow, Liang Xiao nodded silently, embraced her, and slowly turned the key.
The outer layer peeled away, revealing the true form of the heirloom.
It was a metallic cylinder, covered in rows upon rows of silver-white gears.
As Liang Xiao manipulated it, the couple observed the surface of the cylinders.
Only the two base surfaces were smooth and flat. One side bore a symbol resembling the character for "three."
The gears on the cylindrical surfaces could actually rotate!
Each tooth of the gears was inscribed with characters and patterns of the Great Qian dynasty.
"What era is this from? It looks so precise..." Liang Xiao couldn't help but exclaim.
Yin Long Jin was notoriously difficult to refine; the decades it took to forge the Ephemeral Sword was proof enough.
Manufacturing these palm-sized cylinders packed with gears that could rotate so smoothly would be ten times more challenging than forging weapons, from a craftsmanship perspective!
"E'afeng, Zhaomeng, Rouzhao..." Jian Qinwan strained to decipher the characters on the gears, a hint of surprise in her voice.
Liang Xiao turned them repeatedly, finally confirming: there were twenty-nine rows of gears in total!
The first seven rows of gears each had eight teeth. Every tooth bore a different depiction of three lines, with variations in the notches of these eight tooth-patterns.
Liang Xiao pointed at the patterns and explained, "These are clearly symbols representing the Eight Trigrams: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui."
Jian Qinwan's beautiful eyes brightened, "Indeed they are!"
The middle ten rows of gears each had ten teeth, all inscribed with ten symbols: E'afeng, Zhaomeng, Rouzhao, Qiangyu, Zhuyong, Tuwei, Shangzhang, Chongguang, Xuanmu, and Zhaoyang.
However, the gears in the first row were fixed.
Liang Xiao explained, "These are actually the Ten Heavenly Stems. In simpler terms, they are Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui."
Jian Qinwan suddenly understood, "Then these twelve rows below..."
The last twelve rows of gears each had twelve teeth, also inscribed with twelve symbols: Kùndūn, Chìfènruò, Shètígé, Dān'è, Zhíxú, Dàhuāngluò, Dūnbāng, Xiéqià, Tūntān, Zuò'è, Yānmào, and Dàyuānxiàn.
Similarly, the gears in the first row were fixed.
"Naturally, they are the Twelve Earthly Branches. Simply put, they are Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai," Liang Xiao explained.
"You are truly amazing, knowing even this!" Jian Qinwan looked at him with adoration.
Liang Xiao smiled gently, "We saw scriptures in Old Brother Liu Yun's Taoist temple."
"No wonder my father said he couldn't fathom its mysteries even after opening it. This thing doesn't seem to have any use..." Jian Qinwan sighed.
Apart from the "Qian" symbol with three horizontal lines on the surface, the symbols recorded on the teeth of the subsequent gears were arranged in a chaotic order.
"Let's try."
As Liang Xiao spoke, he began examining the gears. He finally discovered that he could see the symbols of the next row through the gaps between the teeth.
A thought struck Liang Xiao. He began to carefully rotate the gears, aligning them as he turned.
Jian Qinwan watched, growing more bewildered and refraining from speaking.
"Based on the positions of the first row of each of these three sets of symbols, I'll then arrange the required symbols in subsequent rows according to the order of the Eight Trigrams and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. For instance, since the ninth row representing 'Jia' is already fixed, I'll only look for the symbol 'Yi' in the tenth row and align it in the same position as 'Jia'..."
Jian Qinwan, unfamiliar with such matters, simply nodded like a pecking hen.
After turning two rows, Liang Xiao found the friction between the gears to be a bit significant. He went to the kitchen, found some cooking oil, and applied it to the surface, finally enabling further rotation.
Jian Qinwan gazed at Liang Xiao, diligently turning the gears, her eyes shimmering. "Does he know everything?"
After half an hour, Jian Qinwan began to feel guilty.
This small object had wasted so much of his time. What if it yielded nothing...
After a full hour of effort, Liang Xiao finally arranged all the gears in the correct sequence, confirming it repeatedly.
"Still no luck?" Jian Qinwan lowered her head with remorse.
"Click!"
At that moment, the cylinder emitted a soft sound. Jian Qinwan looked closely and saw that Liang Xiao had already separated the cylinder in the middle!
Upon seeing the object inside, the couple froze simultaneously.
Within lay a perfectly round, transparent sphere, less than an inch in diameter, crystal clear.
Liang Xiao didn't rush to take out the sphere. Instead, he picked up the upper half of the cylinder and examined its internal structure, his face filled with astonishment.
The internal mechanism resembled a "combination lock" where each "combination" locked a recessed position in the center of the dial. The shaft at the center of the lock had multiple protruding teeth to grip the number ring. When the dial was turned to the correct password combination, the lock would open.
The "password" for this cylinder was the correct sequence of these symbols!
Jian Qinwan's guilt vanished, replaced by boundless joy. She couldn't resist kissing Liang Xiao before examining the sphere.
"What is this thing?" Liang Xiao frowned as he looked closely.
The sphere was transparent, yet he could vaguely see liquid flowing within. It seemed that due to differing densities at various points within the liquid, candlelight projected onto the sphere refracted in different ways.
"It's yours now. Why don't you take it out and have a look?" Jian Qinwan said playfully.
Liang Xiao carefully held the sphere between his fingers and observed it in his palm. He found it to be surprisingly elastic, and his expression turned solemn.
This sphere was not made of crystal or jade; it was liquid encased by something. Its weight was astonishing, its density far exceeding that of water.
"Shall we let Father and Mother take a look?" Liang Xiao asked.
Just as Jian Qinwan was about to respond, she suddenly cried out in surprise.
The sphere in Liang Xiao's right palm had suddenly dissolved. All the liquid had flowed directly into Liang Xiao's palm, as if being absorbed by him!
Liang Xiao was also startled, "What on earth is this thing?"
It hadn't evaporated; it had been directly absorbed through his skin and flowed rapidly into his body.
Liang Xiao felt a cool sensation spread from his palm throughout his body, seemingly utilizing his bloodstream.
This world indeed held many substances beyond his comprehension!