Shen Qiufeng charged into the northwest side room and locked the door behind her. She knocked on the walls, the window frames, the beams overhead. She brought in the stepladder and examined the crossbeams and window frames closely. Sure enough, beside the window she found a parallel panel cover, identical in size to the window. The seam was so fine that, with paint covering it, it was nearly invisible.



Maybe it was a spare window, she thought. Could there be a mechanism? She tried to pry it open鈥攏o movement. Just a regular panel, it seemed. She turned to the adjacent window, pushed it open. Beneath the window frame was a deep groove that connected to the panel cover beside it. She shone her flashlight into the groove and spotted a wooden pin connecting the window frame to the adjacent panel. She gave it a gentle push鈥攏othing. She pulled back hard instead, and a miracle happened: the panel cover popped open.



She pushed it鈥攖he panel had wooden hinges that allowed it to swing freely. Behind the panel was a solid camphorwood board with a circular hole in the middle, and beyond that, an outer layer of genuine carved window lattice. From outside, it looked no different from any other window. But from inside, it was clearly a concealed opening. The outer lattice had a latch; flip it, and the lattice swung outward, and the solid middle board could open in either direction.



This was a significant discovery. Why an extra window? And a three-layered one at that, when all the other windows had just two layers of lattice. The three-layer window was suspicious.



Standing on the ladder, she looked out through the window. Nothing special compared to the others. Camel Peak Mountain was clearly visible鈥攖he larger left peak to the west, the smaller right peak to the east. On the smaller right peak was a giant boulder; on the larger left peak, two ridges that from a distance looked like a natural observation point.



She studied the window for a long time but found nothing more. She moved the ladder to examine the roof beams. Her intuition told her the mechanism was in this room. If no one had found it for so many years, the designer must have made sure it wouldn't be easy to discover. The thought made her feel like an actor on a stage鈥攆rom the moment she was born a Shen, she'd been on this ship, tossed by giant waves with no choice in the matter. Accept what comes, she thought. Since I can't escape, I'll face it bravely.



She continued examining the thick, lacquer-coated beams. She couldn't identify the wood. Could it be nanmu? If so, that alone would be worth a fortune to these scavengers. She found a kitchen knife and gently shaved off a sliver of paint. Underneath was camphorwood, not nanmu. She knocked on each beam. Because of the thick paint, there were no visible marks. But when she knocked near the end of the thickest beam, she heard a hollow sound鈥攄istinctly different from the dull thud of solid wood. It was the sound of an empty box.



Her heart leaped with excitement. She nearly fell off the ladder.



Shen Qiufeng steadied herself on the ladder, the near-fall's shock fading into certainty. The core mechanism of this old house had to be hidden inside this beam.



She took a deep breath and studied the beam closely in the light filtering through the window. The beam was coated in brown raw lacquer, its grain ancient and heavy. A century had worn away its edges, but it remained as solid as ever. The lacquer was seamless鈥攏o visible point of entry. Pushing, pulling, knocking, banging鈥攏one of it worked. She remembered the wooden pin mechanism on the three-layer window. The Shen ancestors were masters of woodworking, so the beam mechanism was likely the same kind of solution.



Shen Qiufeng ran her fingers along the beam inch by inch, her fingertips tracing the carved cloud patterns, the cool lacquer against her skin. She felt every groove, every ridge. At the midpoint of the beam, where the cloud motifs intersected, she suddenly found a tiny circle. The circular seam was embedded within the intricate carvings鈥攊mpossible to spot without deliberate searching, easily mistaken for part of the ornamentation. Wiping away the paint revealed a deliberately embedded wooden plug.



She tried pressing it in鈥攏othing. Pulling鈥攏othing. Knocking鈥攏othing.



She'd have to change her approach. She paused and thought back. The genealogy mentioned that ancestor Shen Wance was skilled in carpentry. And her grandfather had insisted on teaching her father martial arts. The mechanism probably required not just finesse but the right technique. She took the scissors, inserted the tip, and twisted left along the cloud pattern's direction for half a turn, then wrenched it sharply to the right. She pulled outward鈥?bang!* The wooden plug came free.



Shining her flashlight into the hole, she saw a vertical wooden bolt. She flicked it with her finger鈥?crack!* A splitting sound came from beside the beam, and a lid popped open. The paint's stickiness had kept it from springing all the way. She lifted the lid. A long wooden case slid out of the hollow beam cavity, suspended midair by a hidden rope.



Seeing the wooden box, Qiufeng's heart pounded like an engine at full throttle. It felt as though the universe's greatest mystery was about to be unveiled. Without a second thought, she grabbed the case.



The case was carved from a single block of old camphorwood, with no lock or key鈥攐nly a simple cloud pattern carved on the front, echoing the motifs on the beam. She gently pried open the lid. Inside lay dry, insect-repellent linen cloth, wrapped around a thick layer of blue silk. Unfolding the silk, she found a thread-bound ancient book with a blue cover. On the cover, in deep ink, three ancient characters: The Skyward Collection.