Chapter 391 - Location of the Inheritance
When this tree peony flower was originally embroidered, the flower model wasn’t sewn in full bloom. Rather, it was a flower bud that was about to break free. Although Yu Cheng’s embroidery wasn’t that good-looking, every st.i.tch was always in the intended position. At this moment, the tree peony floated up. It was like it had been injected with spirituality — Layer upon layer of flower petals suddenly burst forth, revealing a type of ultimate beauty.
After that, the image of this bursting tree peony flower continuously enlarged until the entire room was filled. Then, an entrance appeared at the location of the stamen and pistils.
Such an amazing sight gave everyone present a slight shock.
Gu Zuo stared blankly: “This place…leads to the last hidden treasury?”
Truly, this was completely unexpected.
The senior who conducted this concealment really had too much time on her hands…
Gongyi Tianheng and the others could smell the fragrance of the tree peony. It was as if the tree peony flower was real. Immediately following which, Tianheng smiled and said: “Since it’s like this, we’ll go inside together.”
It didn’t matter what considerations that person had. In any case, the destination they wanted to reach had already been found.
Thinking along the same lines, everyone lifted their legs and moved onward.
Yu Cheng jumped to his feet. With embarra.s.sment strewn across his face, he dashed over — He was a young teenager. No matter how tenacious and cool-headed he was normally, this moment of doing embroidery in front of this group of people had become a piece of dark history that he yearned to be forgotten.
Fortunately, none of the others continued to express their opinions on this matter. They also didn’t use this fact to mock him. Yu Cheng hurriedly followed after them into the entrance at the stamen, and released a sigh like a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
After going inside, everyone’s expressions remained subtle.
It was because the interior of the stamen led to the pa.s.sageway to the hidden treasury. This path was the same gorgeous scarlet color as the tree peony flower. The walls, ceiling, and floor were soft and silky, and the air was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with a dream-like scent.
If it was a woman, she would probably feel very happy. At the very least, the ambiance would delight the heart and please the eyes. However, it was this group of men’s turn to experience this, and their moods truly were quite complicated.
Gu Zuo also felt something that was hard to put into words.
Nevertheless, everyone’s actions were unified. They accelerated their pace to swiftly leave this “flower-like pa.s.sageway”.
The path was very long. While everyone was being tormented by a sweet-smelling fragrance, they finally saw the end. Subsequently, they impatiently leaped out, and landed into…a woman’s study.
This study was large, and there were plenty of details where one could make out a woman’s meticulous thoughts. Gu Zuo’s attention fell onto a great, big bookshelf. There were a dozen or so book frames, and placed within every book frame was an ancient paper-printed volume of varying thickness.
Gu Zuo walked over, and reached out a hand to take a volume — Atlas of Soul Pills.
Eh?
Though, it seemed like it wasn’t to the point of astonishment.
Following this, Gu Zuo read through the volumes in the book frames one by one. Sure enough, every volume was related to soul pills. It could be seen that the owner of this bookshelf was purely a soul pill pharmacist. From what they encountered and saw outside as well as the arrangements in here, this soul pill pharmacist was definitely a woman!
Gu Zuo moved to another shelf.
This one wasn’t a bookshelf. Instead, it was used for placing objects. The shelving was also divided into a dozen or so frames. Some frames stored quite a few bottles, and others were laid out with several containers. The wooden cases, jade boxes, and a small chest were of similar elaborate designs.
Gu Zuo opened them one at a time, and looked them over.
The outcome wasn’t beyond his expectations. The things placed inside these frames were likewise related to soul pills.
Sealed within the bottles were intact soul pills, but some of their medicinal properties had diminished over the years. Placed inside the cases were basically precious medicinal ingredients necessary for refining soul pills. Not all of them were plant-based. Instead, ingredients that contained yin energy were among them. For example, there were Netherworld Ghost Eyes, Emotional Demonic Hearts, Ghost Dragon Sinews, Blackened Earth Ores, and so on and so forth. Of course, among them, the most precious things were part of that small chest — Stored inside were eighteen soul crystals. A so-called soul crystal was a dead soul that had been preserved in a special crystal by a soul pill pharmacist with a particular method.
Gu Zuo glanced at the ranks of these soul crystals. They were all dead souls of origin beasts!
From rank one origin beasts to rank five origin beasts, this was enough to frighten anyone. Most of all were the dead souls of rank five origin beasts, which were comparable to the Royal Realm. Undoubtedly, this was the precious collection of that soul pill pharmacist!
There was only one pharmacist present, so these things naturally fell into Gu Zuo’s possession. He waved a hand, and put away everything. Once the group prepared to go back, he would slowly research them.
Afterwards, Gu Zuo turned around, and saw that Tianheng was sitting in front of a table. On this table was a milky-white sphere held up by a white jade cup.
There appeared to be clouds and mist curling around inside the sphere. The milky-white hue wasn’t the color of the sphere itself. Rather, the clouds and mist were too thick, which formed this kind of scene.
Gu Zuo stared blankly: “Big brother, what’s this?”
Tianheng pondered: “If this elder brother hasn’t guessed wrongly, this is…a type of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Object.”
Surprised, Gu Zuo hurriedly walked over, and trained his eyes as he carefully observed that sphere.
One would only see layer after swirling layer of clouds and mist inside that sphere. At almost every moment, there were violent movements and collisions. However, if one only took a cursory glance, the observer would feel that it was tranquil and beautiful like the most delicate of flowing, white muslin.
After Gu Zuo got a clear look, he slowly exhaled: “So, it’s actually a Heavenly Cloud Flame.” He was somewhat disappointed, but quickly perked up, “The Heavenly Cloud Flame is a fire of extreme yang. Big brother, so long as we find a fire of extreme yin, you can absorb them!”
Tianheng’s expression relaxed: “Indeed. Since this fire is currently sealed, we can put it away first. In the future, we can search for the other type of flame. At that point, it won’t be too late to find some time for secluded cultivation to absorb them.”
Presently, Tianheng had already completed the criteria for wondrous water, and he had absorbed one type of wondrous metal. However, this wondrous fire was different from the others. Its nature was fierce and violent. In addition, extreme yin and extreme yang had to be absorbed together.
Gu Zuo knew about this reason, but he still happily put away the Heavenly Cloud Flame first.
At this time, Yu Cheng’s voice suddenly echoed out from the side. It carried some hesitation: “Pharmacist Gu, you just mentioned wondrous fires. Would this thing be…”
Gu Zuo turned his head, and looked at the place Yu Cheng indicated.
Right now, held in Yu Cheng’s hands was a dainty pill furnace. It appeared to be no larger than a balled fist. Its entire body was snow-white, and was incredibly exquisite and refined. In the chamber beneath the pill furnace was a thin wisp of flame, which was quietly burning — The flame never moved nor flickered. If someone didn’t seriously examine it, perhaps they would only treat it as a dainty design. They wouldn’t know that this flame was genuinely burning.
Gu Zuo’s pupils suddenly shrank. He almost couldn’t control himself as he took a few steps forward, and quickly received that pill furnace. Immediately following which, he got a clear look at that wisp of greenish-black flame, and couldn’t help revealing an ecstatic expression: “Big brother, come here and see this!”
Tianheng flashed over, and stood by Gu Zuo’s side: “Ah Zuo, what’s going on?”
Gu Zuo pointed a finger at the greenish-black flame. He couldn’t contain his excitement: “This is a Yin Bone Flame — A fire of extreme yin! Unexpectedly, this place has fires of both extreme yin and extreme yang!”
Tianheng’s mind stirred. He looked at this flame, and unhurriedly opened his mouth: “This is truly a stroke of luck.”
Gu Zuo got a hold of his emotions, and sized up this pill furnace for a short while. He discovered that it was constructed using Star-Refined Beast Bone. This type of beast bone belonged to a high-ranked origin beast, which had been tempered by countless years of starlight. It was a type of refining material like the beautiful Starlit Profound Iron. It was an exceptionally good object that could preserve the Yin Bone Flame. Therefore, one couldn’t look at the whole thing like it was a work of art. It was actually a wondrous fire and an outer sh.e.l.l that preserved that flame.
After putting away the pill furnace as well, Gu Zuo looked at Tianheng: “When we go back this time, big brother can absorb these two types of wondrous fire to raise his strength.”
Now that he had calmed down, it naturally wouldn’t be mentioned in front of others that he needed to treat his big brother’s Tiandu Body — In any case, there were many people who used wondrous fires to cultivate. It wasn’t a mistake that he only said that it would “raise his strength”.
Sure enough, off to the side, Yu Cheng didn’t have any doubts. He just felt that he could see a pharmacist happily giving another martial artist a wondrous fire that was obviously very useful to the pharmacist. Thinking about his own messed-up family, his heart was a bit envious of these two people’s friendship.
Tianheng’s gaze softened, but he didn’t say anything more.
At the other end of the room, Ao Min suddenly spoke up: “Pharmacist Gu, there’s something odd over here.”
Several people looked towards Ao Min’s location.
As it turned out, there was a delicate incense burner atop a long-legged stool. When Ao Min uncovered the lid of this incense burner to examine it, something the size of a pigeon’s egg started to spin.
Ao Min recalled the previous scenes of the many tests, and knew that there was certainly a problem. Out of a conditioned reflex, he promptly closed that lid again. Just like this, that round pearl inside the incense burner stopped moving.
Nevertheless, he needed to let Gu Zuo take a look.
Hearing Ao Min’s report, Gu Zuo walked over, and opened that incense burner.
Indeed, the pearl inside started spinning once more. Simultaneously, at a pill furnace just ahead, an old man with a seemingly-lifeless expression appeared. His countenance looked treacherous, as if he wasn’t a good person. However, he also didn’t have any characteristics of going on the attack. Instead, he muttered to himself:
“Soul pills, and the souls that enter pills, can wage war in the sky, battle on the earth, and shatter the blue dome of heaven. They can also bridge the past and present, an inheritance of ten thousand years… Of the medicinals that enter the pill, living souls…dead souls…require…pill prescriptions…”
As Gu Zuo listened, he realized that this was a narration of the knowledge for conducting soul pill refining! This explanation was comprehensive, and not the smallest concept was lost. Every detail seemed to be broken down to their most fundamental components. If a martial artist heard this, they might not be able to understand it too well, but as a pharmacist, he knew that this contained a soul pill pharmacist’s lifetime of experience.
— In other words, this was a soul pill’s inheritance?
Subconsciously, Gu Zuo put back that incense burner’s lid.
The old man vanished.
He took off the lid again.
The old man appeared once more, and started to speak from the first line of words.
Gu Zuo: “…”
The others also somewhat understood.
Gu Zuo said: “This is probably an Inheritance Soul Pill. Once we open the incense burner, the inheritance will begin from the beginning, and it will consume the medicinal power of that soul pill inside. Although I don’t know how much medicinal power it has, there shouldn’t be any problems for it to run through at least one full recording. It’s just that we can’t make any more attempts. Otherwise, it’ll be repeated every time. When the medicinal power is insufficient at a crucial moment later on, the inheritance will be wasted.”
Tianheng smiled, and said: “Ah Zuo, let’s put it away.”
Gu Zuo nodded his head: “After we return, I can find a few more pharmacists to listen to it together. This inheritance is clearly meant for more than one person. On the contrary, there isn’t any need to fight over it.”
But in any case, this place really went through a lot of effort to cover things up.
Not only were there two types of wondrous fire, there were so many soul pill volumes, precious soul pill medicinal ingredients, and the soul pill inheritance… On top of that, there had been the traces of soul pills throughout the entire journey here. Wouldn’t this mislead any treasure hunters into believing that the inheritance left behind by the Xiao Clan was a soul pill pharmacist inheritance?
Although the soul pills were an unorthodox type of medicinal pill, they were very practical. Those who came later would obtain a precious soul pill inheritance. While some martial artists would be disappointed, once they gained an understanding, they would believe this deception and gladly accept it.
In particular, according to Gu Zuo’s observations, the soul pill pharmacist of this place had been at least an earth-level pharmacist when she was alive. As such, the inheritance she left behind was truly invaluable.
Gu Zuo sighed in lament. His thoughts turned, and settled onto the real inheritance.
When the time came, who knew what was left behind. Moreover, how were they going to enter the final entrance? With this way of thinking, he could only let everyone continue the search.
The study was large, but it wasn’t too big. After the things inside were collected by Gu Zuo, it made the room appear even more empty.
Gu Zuo’s psychic power discharged, and formed countless psychic power threads. The strands spread out across the entire room, and every nook and cranny was attentively investigated.
However, this time around, Gu Zuo miscalculated. His psychic power searched all over, but there wasn’t a single place that had anything wrong. This prevented him from finding the entrance to that inheritance’s location.
Could it be that they had to violently break through? If the study was completely destroyed, would they be able to see the inheritance?
Though he had this train of thought, Gu Zuo didn’t rush indiscriminately into action.
After all, this was considered the last place the woman left behind. They had already taken enough good things. Unless it was a last resort, they wouldn’t overdo it.
Merely, if it was never found, it would cause one to feel discouraged.
When all was said and done, they knew that this place was still hiding the most important thing…
A good while later, Tianheng flipped his palm, and took out the Jade Heart Pendant.
Upon seeing this, Gu Zuo couldn’t help saying: “Big brother, what do you have in mind?”
Tianheng pondered: “The Xiao Clan had done many things in the hope that outsiders would take away the numerous hidden treasuries, be tricked by this deception, and leave. Everything they did was for the sake of safeguarding the inheritance so that no outsiders would claim it. But if even the Xiao Clan’s descendants weren’t able to find it after coming here, the inheritance would lose its original purpose.”
Gu Zuo understood a little bit: “What big brother means is that the key to this final checkpoint still lies with Yu Cheng?”
Yu Cheng trembled. He swiftly straightened his back, and awaited orders.
Tianheng faintly nodded his head. He extended his finger and flicked it: “Ah Zuo, come see this.”
Gu Zuo looked over.
He saw a small stack of paper spread across the desk that Tianheng indicated. It wasn’t known what material they were made of, but even until now, the papers never degraded nor rotted away.
Tianheng’s finger lightly pointed out several things.
Gu Zuo saw that there was an ink stone on the side, and inside the well was an ink stick. Placed above it was a bamboo brush with a glossy surface. The bristles of the brush tip were still soft. Beside it was a brush pot with a phoenix design of outstretched wings in mid-flight. The phoenix’s unfolded wings were as graceful as a dancer. It was like the figure was about to fly into the sky… The pattern was graceful and elegant.
Ah, but this wasn’t the important point.
Whose desk wouldn’t be arranged this way?
However, the next moment, Gu Zuo found that Tianheng had tilted the Jade Heart Pendant at an angle, and inserted a convex corner of the pendant into the depression formed by the back of the phoenix’s flapping wings. Soon after, he watched in amazement as the Jade Heart Pendant was securely inserted. There was no chance of it falling down!
Yet, there still weren’t any subsequent reactions?
Tianheng waved a hand, and called Yu Cheng over.
Yu Cheng was puzzled.
Tianheng said: “Cut your finger, drip some blood into the ink stone, and grind the blood with the ink stick.”
Yu Cheng promptly did as instructed.
His biggest objective in coming to this place was the inheritance. While it could be said that it wasn’t essential for Tianheng and the others to find the location of the inheritance, as far as he was concerned, it was the most important!
Thus, let alone making him use his own blood to grind some ink, he would try whatever was asked of him!
— He even embroidered flowers before, so what was there to be afraid of?
Very quickly, Yu Cheng ground out a small puddle of ink. His blood was blended within this liquid. In a short moment, the surface of the pitch-black ink carried threads of blood. Unexpectedly, it didn’t feel strange. On the contrary, there appeared to be starlight twinkling inside. This filled Yu Cheng with a sense of closeness.
Tianheng continued: “Take the bamboo brush, dip it in the ink, and write some words.”
Yu Cheng still complied, but he did pause: “What should I write?”
Tianheng pondered slightly: “You can write ‘The Xiao Clan’s descendant. Please present the inheritance.’”
Yu Cheng felt that this was very blunt and didn’t know if there was any use in the end, but… He trusted in Tianheng’s judgment. Brandishing the brush, he quickly wrote out these eight words!
It could be said that the instant Yu Cheng finished writing these words, right as the brush came to a halt, the eight words written by him floated up just like the tree peony flower outside. At the exact same time, the words rapidly enlarged. The inky words continuously changed and twisted to form a black gate.
Following this, all of the blood lines on the Jade Heart Pendant burst out. Like a jet of blood-colored water, it rushed straight into the ink gate. At this moment, the ink gate abruptly opened, revealing a pane of darkness inside.
Gu Zuo’s eyes widened: “It really worked…”
Since it worked, what was there to hesitate about?
Under Tianheng’s gesture, everyone uniformly plunged into that black gate.
The interior of the gate was pitch-black, but this darkness lasted for only an instant.
It was like they had really strode across a door’s threshold. As everyone moved inside, one foot stepped into one s.p.a.ce and stepped out of another. Then, they were already standing within a cave.
There were only two stone platforms in this cave.
Placed upon the first stone platform was a prayer mat. And atop the other stone platform was a weaver shuttle.
Compared to all the previous hidden treasuries, this place was obviously cruder and simpler. There also weren’t any other heavenly materials or earthly treasures to be seen. Yet, it was precisely because of this that it appeared guileless and forthcoming. There was no confusion at all.
The prayer mat was certainly the inheritance. So long as a person sat on the mat, they would presumably obtain it. As for that shuttle, it should’ve been a bequeathed treasure of the Xiao Clan. But for the time being, it wasn’t clear what kind of treasure it was.
Tianheng gave a slight smile: “Yu Cheng, that prayer mat belongs to you. First, regulate your breathing. When you’ve adjusted yourself to an optimal state, accept that inheritance.”
The great stone that weighed in Yu Cheng’s heart had finally, completely, dropped to the ground.
Having reached this stage, he already lacked any exploitive value. This honorable prodigy also didn’t have any intentions of breaking their promise… An all-star prodigy was worthy of the t.i.tle. The vastness of his bearing caused people to admire and look up to him!
Yu Cheng took deep breaths, and hurriedly sat on one side to calm his state of mind.
Though he failed to live up to his own expectations, he was still able to acquire the greatest benefit. And this was after being given things by others!
At the other end, Gu Zuo walked towards that weaver shuttle.
For some reason, he felt that this shuttle was pulling at him. In the world unseen, it was like this object was incredibly important to him. Hence, he couldn’t help taking that shuttle in hand. He gently rubbed it with his fingers, and carefully inspected it.
The weaver shuttle was sleek and streamlined. It presented a translucent, silvery-gray color. Streams of light faintly roved across the surface, which seemed to draw a person’s mind into it. The shuttle wasn’t heavy, and it was small enough to be grasped in one hand. The interior appeared to contain a bit of splendorous starlight. It was like one could activate it with the injection of some internal qi. Then, it would blossom with a bright and resplendent brilliance.
But whatever this shuttle was, Gu Zuo couldn’t recognize it. He also didn’t know what function this thing had.
Perhaps, Yu Cheng could tell him after receiving the inheritance?
Tianheng also came over: “Ah Zuo, what are you looking at?”
Gu Zuo raised the shuttle in his hand: “This.” He thought of something, “Big brother, can you tell what use it has?”
Tianheng carefully observed it before shaking his head: “This object isn’t an offensive spirit weapon, and it doesn’t seem to be a defensive item either. As for other uses… Its qi emissions are cryptic and extremely hard to distinguish. This elder brother can’t tell.”
Gu Zuo wasn’t disappointed.
No matter how well-read his big brother was, it didn’t mean that Tianheng knew everything.
At this moment, Tianheng silently mouthed something.
Gu Zuo noticed the two syllables for “system”.
In an instant, Gu Zuo’s eyes shined.
He promptly inquired in his consciousness.
[System, do you recognize this thing?]
This time around, the system’s answer wasn’t candid at all.
Gu Zuo: ???
After a long while, the system replied.
[Void-Breaking Shuttle.]
It wasn’t known why, but Gu Zuo’s heartbeat suddenly quickened.
Void-Breaking Shuttle…
This name seemed to cause some indistinct thoughts to rush out from the bottom of his heart.
Gu Zuo couldn’t help his heart from trembling.
[System, what are the Void-Breaking Shuttle’s functions? D-do you know?]
The system’s reply came even slower.
It was hard for Gu Zuo to stay calm. For a moment, he actually forgot that there was someone else by his side.
On the contrary, when Tianheng saw Gu Zuo’s expression change, he faintly furrowed his brows.
Ah Zuo… What was he thinking about?
[If the Void-Breaking Shuttle has enough energy, it can travel back and forth through s.p.a.ce and come and go to different worlds.]
It was like Gu Zuo’s heart came to a sudden, violent halt.
Travel back and forth through s.p.a.ce! Come and go to different worlds!
Subconsciously, Gu Zuo injected his profound qi into the Void-Breaking Shuttle.
He dearly wished to see what would happen after this Void-Breaking Shuttle was activated… With this thing, so long as he could make up for the lack of energy, he wouldn’t need to refine the Void Pill. He would be able to…
Yet, after the profound qi was poured into the Void-Breaking Shuttle, it instantly erupted with extremely frightening rays of light. These rays of light enveloped Gu Zuo, and seemed to cause his entire body to distort along with the surrounding s.p.a.ce!
Gongyi Tianheng’s expression changed abruptly.
Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately reached out a hand, and made a desperate grab —
T/N: And that’s the final chapter of this volume. It’s a bit of a cliffhanger, isn’t it? Volume 6 is up next. It’s called “Sudden Return to the Modern World”, and it’s thirty-seven chapters long.
In the meantime, I will be taking a week off to rest and recover.
As always, let me know what you guys think. If you’d like, please leave a rating and review on Novel Updates. Even though the website’s rules prevent me from linking these chapters directly to that site, most new readers and traffic come from there, so every little bit helps!
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