Chapter 110 Succession - 8 Looking down from the entrance, what's below...

Looking down from the entrance, the space below must be an extremely cold place, with a chilling light flickering in the thin mist. The mist drifted among many shelves, which held numerous bottles, jars, and boxes. In the center of the space stood a large, cold jade platform, while in a corner, there was a cauldron that had been dormant for a long time.

"Is this the alchemy room?" an elder asked in confusion.

Wu Chen held Lu Qing's hand tightly, "If you can't bear to watch, stay up there, I'll go down and take a look."

Lu Qing felt her heart pounding wildly, and she even had trouble breathing, but she took a deep breath. "Whether I look or not, what's happened down there is already what's going on. There are some things I might understand better than you do." Some pain must be faced bravely to learn a profound lesson.

The elders assumed that she meant that because she came from Medicine King Valley, she might understand the Spirit Fruit better, so they didn't pay much attention to it.

The group went downstairs.

The secret chamber was quite large and contained many items. No one knew where to begin. One elder casually took a jade box, about a foot square, from the shelf, placed it on the stone platform, cast a spiritual seal on it, and carefully lifted the lid. But before the lid was fully open, the elder's hand trembled, and it slammed shut with a bang.

When the others noticed his expression was off, they asked, "What's wrong? What's inside?"

The elder's face was contorted with emotion, yet he found it difficult to speak.

Lu Qing, however, caught a faint, familiar whiff of blood. She glanced back at the box and said, "It must be some part of the body."

The elder sighed angrily, "This is simply... utterly depraved." He looked around the entire secret room, which was filled with countless boxes of all sizes, and he felt a chill run down his spine. "I really can't stay here any longer. I'll wait for you upstairs."

The other elders were chilled to the bone, exchanging bewildered glances, none daring to open the large boxes again. Instead, they picked up some notes from the shelf. One elder casually opened one and began to read, "...According to the Rejuvenating Pill formula, take 100 grams of Ganoderma lucidum, 7 grams of Rejuvenating Herb... 100 grams of the flesh and blood of the Spirit-Connecting Fruit, refine them into pills... Taking it will have the special effect of enhancing spiritual power, but after several days, the blood vessels will tremble abnormally, as if being cut by a string, causing unbearable pain, and the spiritual power will dissipate uncontrollably..."

The others felt nauseous at the mere mention of blood and flesh, and couldn't help but ask, "Who wrote this?"

The elder, suppressing his nausea, flipped through the pages again, explaining the entire passage as familiar to Zou Gaoyang: "It was written in the High Priest's own handwriting."

As everyone stared at the secret chamber, a feeling of nausea and disgust welled up within them. They simply couldn't imagine that the high priest, who rarely saw anyone, was hiding in this place alone, racking his brains to devour human flesh.

“Even evil cultivators probably couldn’t do this.” One elder shook his head repeatedly. “Witch God Servant, what do you think we should do?”

Wu Chen asked Lu Qing, "If we're talking about evidence, these notes are enough. The rest..."

“She came from heaven and earth, and she will return to heaven and earth.” Lu Qing recalled the soft murmur of the spirit fruit in Bilin Pond before it disappeared. “Burn them all. Keeping them is just a disgrace.”

The elders all nodded. Keeping these things around would be unbearable for anyone. It was utterly inhumane. From that moment on, even the last shred of hope they had for this matter vanished.

In front of the elders, Lu Qing opened the alchemy furnace, lit a spiritual fire, and personally threw the remains of Zou Gaoyang, which he had used to try alchemy, and some of the refined pills into the fire.

The fragrance of herbs and medicinal pills filled the secret room.

Wu Chen sighed, "The past priests of the Zou family have all been exceptionally talented. Even if they hadn't delved into crooked ways, they would have achieved great things. But starting with Zou Boyu, they were plagued by inner demons, and their insatiable desires have led them to harm others and themselves. They are truly despicable."

One elder lamented, “The path of cultivation requires both self-cultivation and mind cultivation. If the mind is not upright, one will inevitably go astray. We must always be vigilant and not repeat the same mistakes.”

Some elders began to worry about practical issues. "The Zou family's scandal is now irrefutable. What should we do next? If the whole world finds out, we will be too ashamed to face anyone. We should go up and discuss how to handle this matter first."

Lu Qing said to Wu Chen, "The matter you want to discuss is an internal affair of the Divine Palace, and it is inconvenient for me to be present. You should go up and discuss it first. Medicine King Valley has a connection with the Spirit Fruit, so I will offer a small sacrifice here to ease my mind."

Wu Chen said, "I'll have Qi Ying stay and keep you company."

Lu Qing nodded.

Wu Chen then led the elders upstairs.

Qi Ying gazed at the raging flames in the alchemy furnace and murmured, "I never expected that High Priest Zou would actually..."

Looking at the stacks of manuscripts, Lu Qing sneered, "This is not the work of Zou Gaoyang alone. Just look at all these manuscripts, not a single priest in the Zou family throughout the ages has been clean."

However, even though none of them were clean, they are all dead now.

Lu Qing felt a surge of anger with nowhere to vent it, and couldn't help but slam her fist on the stone platform. The powerful force of the punch caused the pages of the journal on the platform to flip rapidly. Out of the corner of her eye, Lu Qing caught sight of the words "Tan Family Village" in the journal. She frowned, picked up the journal, and quickly began to read it.

The notebook was written by an unknown previous High Priest Zou. It only mentioned that the Tan Family Village possessed the Spirit Fruit, without detailing how it was discovered. It then described a medicinal formula, its modifications, and the process of using the flesh and blood of the Spirit Fruit from the Tan Family Village as the ingredients, along with the medicinal effects. The process and results of the alchemy were described at length, almost half the notebook being dedicated to this. Then came the second attempt at alchemy, and the notebook was completed.

Lu Qing hurriedly searched through the other notebooks on the bookshelf and discovered that the entire shelf was filled with accounts of using the Spirit Fruit from Tan Family Village as medicine. This continued for hundreds of years until it was discovered that her flesh and blood could not counteract the drawbacks of the Blazing Sun Pill, at which point she gave up.

Lu Qing felt her head throbbing and her heart pounding. She immediately went around to a bookshelf at the back and started browsing through other manuscripts...

-----------------------

Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 15:48:53 on September 25, 2020 and 11:03:05 on September 27, 2020!

Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmines: Repigon (2 landmines);

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Repigon (10 bottles); someone else passed by with 2 bottles;

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!