Chapter 282: Chapter 228: Tomb of the Ancient Pharmacist
The group walked through the pitch-black tunnel for a full quarter of an hour. One section was so low they even had to bend over to get through. Thankfully, Tiger could shrink his body. If he had tried to pass through at his normal size, he probably wouldn’t have even been able to crawl through the narrowest part!
After passing through this area and rounding another bend, the space ahead suddenly opened up, bathed in brilliant light!
The group walked over, all of them astonished. Even Song Mingyue, who was used to seeing her family’s treasure vault, couldn’t help but have stars appear in her eyes. In that moment, her girlish nature couldn’t help but show as she exclaimed, "It’s so beautiful!"
However, Ling Xiao didn’t notice Song Mingyue’s reaction, because he himself was stunned by the sight before him. ’What kind of master craftsman could have afforded such a luxury, inlaying several thousand Luminous Pearls into the ceiling of this cavern?’
The cavern before them was over twenty meters square. Above them, the ceiling was a dome, its highest point a full twenty meters from the floor. In the very center was a fist-sized Luminous Pearl. Who knew how many years had passed, but it still shone with brilliant light, not slacking in the slightest despite being hidden deep within this unknown mountain!
Surrounding the large Luminous Pearl, the entire dome was inlaid with several thousand more Luminous Pearls of all sizes. They were spaced closely together, each one glittering brightly, creating a magnificent and dazzling effect.
Moreover, Ling Xiao could tell at a glance that the Luminous Pearls were arranged to mimic the constellations in the sky!
Staring intently, it seemed as if they were actually moving! Ling Xiao closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly opened them again. He praised, "What a powerful Star Illusion Skill! This person... was a true master!"
"Star Illusion Skill?"
Ling Su furrowed her shapely brows slightly, looking up at the dome. "What’s the Star Illusion Skill? Why do I feel like the arrangement of these Luminous Pearls looks like constellations? Ah... I can’t. Looking too long is making me dizzy. It’s too bright!"
Song Mingyue also shook her head. "It is a bit dizzying. Brother Ling, what is this Star Illusion Skill you mentioned? Is it a type of Array?" She had learned a little about Arrays from Ling Xiao, but things like the Two Primal Forces, Three Powers... Five Elements and Eight Trigrams... she couldn’t understand them at all. She would just get confused whenever Ling Xiao talked about them, but she now had a basic understanding of what an Array was.
Ling Su glanced discreetly at her younger brother. ’It seems he gets along quite well with her,’ she thought. ’And I don’t sense any malice from Song Mingyue. Oh well, I’ll just let them be.’ She sighed softly. ’So the little brother I always thought needed my protection and care has already grown up without me even realizing it.’
"It’s a type of Array, but it’s not particularly profound," Ling Xiao said softly. "It just takes advantage of people’s curiosity by arranging these Luminous Pearls into the image of a starry sky. This creates the illusion that the stars are moving. If you stare at it for too long, you’ll lose your focus."
"Ah, how is that not impressive!?"
Song Mingyue chimed in from the side, "And what happens after you lose your focus?"
Ling Xiao chuckled softly. "Perhaps you’d be trapped here forever."
"You’re just being mischievous." Ling Su knew her brother was joking, so she laughed before sizing up the cavern. It was dry and clean, looking as if someone had just swept it yesterday. There wasn’t a speck of dust on the hard ground.
Around the cavern were five rooms. Four of them had stone doors, while one was wide open.
The first impression the place gave was that of a reclusive master’s hermitage for cultivation, not some Ancient Ruins.
The cavern was empty, so the group pinned their hopes on the rooms. They decided to check the open, doorless one first.
Inside were various pieces of porcelain from the Ancient Era, along with all sorts of kitchen utensils.
Song Mingyue joked, "Haha, don’t tell me we’ve stumbled into the home of a hermit from the Ancient Era?"
Ling Su nodded. Looking at the kitchen utensils, she said thoughtfully, "That’s actually a real possibility! But the river outside must have been formed at least several thousand years ago, maybe even longer! I’m sure anyone who could build a residence like this in such a place was no simple character! Besides, just one of those Luminous Pearls would probably be worth a fortune if you pried it off! To see them inlaid in the ceiling just for lighting shows how extravagant the owner was. So, I believe we can find something good here!"
Tiger licked his lips as he surveyed the kitchen. He was pondering a question: ’Could there be some delicious food hidden in here?’
Ling Su approached but didn’t touch anything in the kitchen. Although the porcelain from the Ancient Era was very valuable, it was clear that none of them had come here for money.
Tiger, somewhat curious, touched the wall. Suddenly, a tremor ran through the ground beneath their feet!
It startled everyone. Ling Xiao looked up at Tiger, who spread his paws with an innocent look. "I just touched the wall!"
Just then, with a low RUMBLE, a huge stone table suddenly rose from the middle of the cavern floor!
The stone table was a full two meters long and over a meter wide, with a thickness of more than a foot. Below it was a massive stone pedestal, smaller in circumference than the tabletop. It looked as if the whole thing had been carved from a single piece of stone.
The stone table was grayish-white and incredibly smooth. Despite rising from the ground, it was nearly free of dust, making everyone marvel in amazement.
Ling Su walked over to the wall Tiger had touched. After a careful look, she noticed a few simple, linear patterns where he’d touched. It seemed to be a drawing of an animal, but it had faded with age and was difficult to make out.
Ling Su looked at it for a moment, then pressed the wall a few times. Another rumbling sound echoed as two rows of stone benches slowly rose from the floor on either side of the table.
Song Mingyue said in disbelief, "Heavens, what did the owner of this place do for a living? To be able to create something so incredible here! And... this technology seems even more advanced than our own! It’s hard to imagine how they did this ten thousand years ago!"
Ling Su said calmly, "The ancient civilization was far more glorious than our current one. Back then, many fields of technology were developed to their absolute peak. Things like what we’re seeing now would have been considered trivial."
"Looks like we don’t have to be in a rush to check those rooms after all," Ling Xiao said with a light laugh. "I was just thinking it was strange for such a large space to be so empty. Turns out there were hidden mechanisms. Sister, why don’t you look around and see if there are any other hidden triggers?"
Ling Su nodded. Following the walls, she triggered another mechanism, and a row of bookshelves and a row of storage cabinets rose up! Then, a huge stone platform, three times the size of the table, ascended from the floor! It too was exceptionally smooth. The group even believed that if it were polished, it could almost be used as a mirror!
"This might be a workbench!" Ling Su said with certainty. She had read in ancient texts that the workshops of Great Mages or Alchemists from the Ancient Era always had a massive platform.
Ling Xiao, however, went straight for the bookshelves. To him, the value of these books was even greater than that of the closed storage cabinets next to them.
Back in Shushan, Ling Xiao’s favorite thing to do was hole up in the Scripture Pavilion for days on end. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to gain such a wide range of knowledge on so many subjects.
The first thing that caught Ling Xiao’s eye was an incredibly thick and heavy book. He could barely lift it with one hand. And the material... it was actually made of metal!
’It hasn’t degraded in ten thousand years!’ Ling Xiao marveled internally. He opened it and saw illustrations of all kinds of animals and plants, with detailed descriptions next to them. Moreover, these flora and fauna were completely different from the bestiaries and botanical guides he had seen at the Imperial Academy! Ling Xiao was shocked because seventy to eighty percent of what was illustrated in the book... were Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from the Cultivation Realm!
"Hey, there’s a diary here!"
Song Mingyue picked up a black-covered notebook and said in pleasant surprise. Then she began to murmur the words inside, "I have always firmly believed that on the Canglan Continent, there is a vast variety of spiritual flora and fauna. These spiritual things must be excellent medicinal ingredients... And what I must do is find a way to refine them into Elixirs that can be used to increase one’s strength! I will succeed. I will definitely succeed!"
After reading that passage, Song Mingyue’s eyes lit up. She looked at Ling Xiao and said, "These are the belongings of an Alchemist from the Ancient Era!"
Ling Su also walked over at this moment, a look of pleasant surprise on her face. Everyone knew what an Alchemist from the Ancient Era signified. Although Ling Su wasn’t from a reclusive, powerful family, anyone well-versed in archaeology would understand the importance of finding Ancient Ruins left behind by an Alchemist.
"See what’s written later on," Ling Su urged.
"Okay, later on... let’s just skip to the end." Song Mingyue seemed to be an impatient person as well, flipping directly to the last page and reading aloud, "I can already feel that my time is short. My body worsens by the day. It’s even become a struggle to cross the river when I go out to gather herbs. I’ve really gotten old. The day before yesterday, I ran into that little Rank Seven creature, and it actually dared to roar at me a couple of times. Could it be that it also knows I am about to return to the Holy Sanctuary?"
"Holy Sanctuary?" A question rose in the minds of everyone present. Even Ling Su was completely baffled and couldn’t help but ask, "What kind of place is the Holy Sanctuary?"
Surprisingly, it was Song Mingyue who whispered, "The Holy Sanctuary... Can such a place really exist? Do people really have souls after they die?"
As she spoke, Song Mingyue raised her head and said to Ling Xiao and Ling Su with a grave expression, "What I am about to say... it would be best if you all forget it completely once we leave this cavern! Because... if word of this gets out, it will cause utter chaos!" (To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please log in to www.qidian.com, for more Chapters, to support the author and support genuine reading!)
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