Chapter 65 Underground Palace (1)
The ancient times sealed within the ruins reeked of blood, with corpses and the remains of magical artifacts scattered across the ground. There was a Buddhist rosary at Luo Xuanyi's feet, but she simply bent down and blew it to pieces before she could even touch it.
Luo Xuanyi sighed. Thinking it was crucial to enter the Ancient Alchemist's underground palace before Qi Mingzhe and the others, she carefully considered the situation and, after taking out her bamboo slips, controlled her aura and flew towards the massive pile of corpses in the distance. She had chosen this spot first because, while she couldn't pinpoint the exact location of the underground palace entrance, she believed there must have been skilled practitioners among the cultivators at the time. The fiercest fighting was most likely at the entrance.
As expected, the closer she got, the more Luo Xuanyi could see. It seemed as if the chaotic spiritual threads grew denser towards the center of the pile, weaving a three-dimensional heavenly and earthly formation, with terrifying waves oscillating irregularly. If a corner of the formation had not been completely shattered, Luo Xuanyi would have been completely helpless.
Carefully entering through the damaged area, Luo Xuanyi did not dare to fly anymore, for fear that her spiritual power would disrupt the fluctuations of the formation and bring about disasters such as killing. She only walked inside relying on her physical body.
The ground was soft and muddy, almost swampy. Every step left a deep footprint, then filled with seeping blood. Luo Xuanyi was shocked by the tragic scene. Why such a brutal battle? She couldn't understand the logic behind it. Was it because the demons were capturing too many civilians, even monks, for cultivation? Didn't they have any selfish motives?
The entrance to the underground palace could no longer be hidden. Only an ornately carved stone gate slanted into the earth remained. Carved on the stone gate were countless lotus flowers and a river. Luo Xuanyi gazed at the stone gate and felt the river slowly flow out, its golden water flowing slowly and peacefully, forming a bridge in the air.
The lotus carried tiny figures, flowing along the river to the far end. The faces of those figures were lifelike, but they were naked, sitting peacefully and serenely on the lotus pedestals.
Luo Xuanyi was about to place her hand on the stone gate when she suddenly felt a pain. When did I even get to the stone gate? This is an illusion!
The river and lotus in the sky vanished without a trace. Luo Xuanyi turned over her palm and discovered a shallow circular mark on it, emitting a mysterious aura. This was the blessing left to her by the elixir.
Luo Xuanyi looked at the underground palace again and found that the stone door had disappeared, replaced by a long staircase leading deep underground.
Lit with incense and held in hand, Luo Xuanyi cautiously descended the stairs, step by step. It took an indeterminate amount of time before she finally stopped descending and entered a long corridor. Only a few lamps remained, most of them shattered to the ground. After careful examination, Luo Xuanyi discovered that these were genuine mermaid tears, priceless and unsold. Even after being knocked to the ground, they hadn't dissipated. She immediately retrieved her porcelain vase and gathered what she could.
Mermaid Tears and Mermaid Candles both originate from mermaids, but their methods and uses differ significantly. In ancient times, some unknown secret method allowed mermaids to maintain their tears for millennia, creating an inexhaustible supply of mermaid tears. However, this secret method was completely lost in later generations, and those seeking to use mermaids had to kill and process their corpses. This not only led to a rapid decline in mermaid numbers, but also made them less useful than mermaid tears.
Luo Xuanyi's mood after losing the elixir had completely recovered. She even considered returning home contentedly, but as she gazed down the corridor, she couldn't help but take a step forward. The journey was uneventful, and she arrived safely at the underground palace's main gate.
This place resembled an ordinary residence, constructed similarly to Luo Xuanyi's residence on Ruoyu Peak, only made of stone. The beams and walls were painted with numerous colorful images, but unfortunately, they had long since been destroyed and were no longer legible. The ornately carved screen wall had been cut open, leaving only a small amount of stone near the base, allowing one to imagine how magnificent it once was. Strangely, the cut section was gone, presumably taken away by someone.
Luo Xuanyi entered several outer rooms and finally confirmed that the underground palace was different from the outside. There was no formation or poisonous gas. This underground palace was the place where the ancient alchemist practiced, and the layout was relatively ordinary. The outer room seemed to be a training room for his disciples. It only contained a bookshelf, a couch, and an alchemy furnace. All the alchemy furnaces were destroyed, and the bookshelves were bare, leaving only a thick layer of ash.
"Although he is an upright person, the looting is still quite thorough." Luo Xuanyi complained and continued to walk deeper into the underground palace.
Within the outer perimeter lay a vast medicinal field. Luo Xuanyi's spirits immediately perked up. After all, the possibility of obtaining ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs was something she couldn't even simulate. Unfortunately, not even a single root remained in the field; it was as clean as if someone had licked the ground.
Luo Xuanyi stood up depressedly and patted her robe below her knees. Looking at the empty medicinal garden with only dirt left, she suddenly had an idea.
Soil capable of cultivating medicinal herbs must be rich in spiritual energy. Moreover, this medicinal field has been accumulating spiritual energy for thousands of years. If there are no herbs, at least take something with you. Luo Xuanyi pointed her empty storage bag at the ground and began to laboriously carry it.
"Huh?" Luo Xuanyi continued digging, but the medicinal field seemed to have a suction force that pulled the soil back in. She closed her eyes and felt it carefully, suddenly overjoyed. "Sure enough, there are still good things!"
The stone pool filled with soil was plain and simple, with even some traces of moss growing on it. Compared with the spiritual herbs that once grew on it and the soil that was rich in spiritual energy now, it did not attract the slightest attention. Luo Xuanyi even suspected that perhaps the precious medicinal materials were just a cover for the stone pool, and there must be some secret treasure hidden in it.
Attempting to use spiritual power to dislodge the soil, Luo Xuanyi resorted to sweeping it away with the Ink-Splashed Jade Bamboo Flag, piling it to the sides. After some painstaking work, a long, chained stone slab came into view. Luo Xuanyi attempted to retrieve it, but as her hand touched it, the Xiandan Fu Mark on her palm suddenly lit up. The stone slab showed no sign of reaction and slipped easily into her grasp.
As soon as the stone slab left, spiritual energy overflowed from the soil and returned to the stone slab, and the soil became ordinary soil. Luo Xuanyi felt quite regretful, but she still wanted to see what use the stone slab had.
There was an ancient text engraved on the stone slab, which Luo Xuanyi easily understood. It contained a proverb: "Those who succeed have not yet achieved success, while those who watch regret it. We are powerless and can only rely on future generations." Following this text was a rather concrete picture, which was exactly what Luo Xuanyi saw during the elixir tribulation.
Unsure of its meaning, Luo Xuanyi simply memorized it and tried to figure out how to use this seemingly magical artifact. She looked at it from all angles, realizing it looked like a box, but she couldn't find a way to open it. She tried to break it, but the stone slab remained intact. Desperate, Luo Xuanyi put the stone slab into her storage bag, only to discover it wouldn't even fit inside.
So was that all she could do? Luo Xuanyi compared her height and discovered that the stone slab was at least two and a half times her height. This looked strange even in the Zang Yao Sect and would easily attract attention, which was not a good thing.
"Can't you make it smaller?"
As soon as these words came out, Luo Xuanyi felt the stone tablet in her hand tremble and slowly shrink to half of its original size.
Can he understand what I say? This person is actually spiritual. Luo Xuanyi was just surprised. She tried to ask, "A little smaller?"
The stone slab shrank again, this time only half the height of Luo Xuanyi.
"Can it be a little smaller? It would be best if it could be tucked into the sleeve."
The stone slab stopped moving. It seemed it could only shrink this small, so it wouldn't block her view and could also be used as a shield from behind. Luo Xuanyi walked around the stone slab, looking around, and decided to take it with her. She took out a new Taoist robe, tore it into strips, threaded it through the chains, and carried the stone slab on her back, continuing her journey deeper into the underground palace.
Suddenly, there was a slight ripple on the ground, and a group of people fell down in a mess, with the people in red being particularly conspicuous.
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