nder his breath and realized he had fallen into an enemy ambush."Extremely cunning."He was running while sorting out his thoughts. The enemy cleverly used the sound of explosions to draw attention, th...The owner of this ancient tomb clearly favored geometric beauty. In the center of the square inner chamber, a massive bronze alchemy furnace stood proudly. Along the walls, a row of stone medicine cabinets was arranged, their surfaces etched with blurred markings, as if recording ancient recipes.
Surrounding it were copper-made lamps shaped like cranes with lingzhi berries in their mouths. The firelight was dim, yet it flickered with a mysterious glow due to the embedded, ping-pong ball sized night pearls. It wasn't ethereal or extravagant, but rather exuded an eerie silence.
"You're saying there might be an elixir of immortality hidden inside"
He Jian Guo's gaze flickered between Jiang Yan, the latter staring at the crane and medicine cabinet, calculating in his heart whether he could find usable herbs to quietly stash into his own space.
Ren Jun was completely focused on how to remove the night pearl. Only Li Hong, her eyes deep and piercing, stared at the heavy bronze furnace, letting out a low voice: "It's just fantasy. If there really was a elixir of immortality, there wouldn't be our revolutionary victories, nor would this tomb exist."
Ren Jun immediately retorted, "Although the power of revolution is great, who can guarantee success against a thousand-year-old demon"
His questioning did not dispel Li Hong's curiosity. She directly touched the dan furnace. It was shaped like a gourd, with a flame totem engraved on it. Its base had three legs, and four mythical beasts adorned its sides. Its belly was round, and the top was a gourd-shaped lid.
Li Hong strained to lift the lid, and the scene inside made her gasp in surprise: “It really is here.”
Ren Jun heard the noise and quickly came over. He looked into the gourd and couldn't help but exclaim.
He acted shrewdly, avoiding direct contact instead halting Li Hong and reminding her not to forget the previous lesson.
Jiang Yan and He Jian Guo came at the sound. Jiang Yan noticed Li Hong's improved complexion, silently praising Dakning Uncle in her heart. She thought to herself, if he could leave China, besides Lao Gan Ma and Malong, he would definitely make Europeans go crazy for traditional Chinese medicine again. She didn't believe they wouldn't have flatulence problems.
She smiled, her gaze drifting for a moment before turning to the gourd-shaped furnace. Her eyes focused on one black, round object inside, and her smile froze when she saw the small stone etched with a pattern.
That stone mixed in the red pills stood out.
Ren Jun was still talking incessantly about the "deadly poisons" in ancient alchemy, Li Hong rarely brought up the TCM theory of "using poison to counteract poison." This made He Jianguo even more convinced that he was getting closer to uncovering Jiang Yan's secret.
Since they first met, Jian Guo had never deliberately probed into Jiang Yan's privacy. This wasn't due to neglect, but rather a traditional masculine attitude he held. He believed women always had some unspeakable secrets, whether it was hidden spending money or whispers among girlfriends. His upbringing and teachings from his mentors instilled in him that the best approach to a woman's thoughts was to maintain a subtle ambiguity.
When Jiang Yan frankly said, "There are some things I can't say for now, and some secrets may never be told to you," He Jian Guo felt she was naive instead. It seemed she didn't understand that this kind of mystery would only lead people to investigate further.
Although the two had been together for a long time and their feelings were deep, many details naturally came to He Jian Guo's attention. It was not easy for him to pretend to be unaware, so he helped deal with those inadvertently revealed pieces of information. For example, during a conversation with Song Wei Hong, mentioning that Jiang Yan only stayed for one night before leaving in a hurry, He Jian Guo explained that she had friends in the city.
Hsiao-Chun received praise from Liao for her taste in purchases. He Jian-Guo, meanwhile, subtly hinted that someone had specially curated those items for her.
Jiang Yan was oblivious to this, not because she wasn't alert, but because her life had long been solitary. Before the apocalypse, she was a recluse who stayed indoors most of the time, occasionally going out with her fellow disciples, but never for more than twelve hours.
After the apocalypse, her world became more closed off. Besides gathering supplies, she spent most of her time in her own space and hadn't experienced the complexities of human nature deeply.
Everyone discussed the Dan Pill for a long time, and finally He Jianguo proposed that Jiang Yan pack it away, including the black stone.
Ren Jun and Li Hong had no objections. They were just curious; no one would take expired pills with unknown effects for no reason.
The bottom of the furnace was originally a fuel storage area. Ren Jun and Li Hong, out of curiosity, moved it to take a look, only to find that there were only a few ordinary pieces of wood inside. They didn't pay much attention, but He Jianguo was surprised - those seemingly ordinary woods turned out to be precious agarwood! He happily picked one up, glanced at Jiang Yan, and quietly put it in his bag.
Inside the stone cabinet, various precious and durable medicinal herbs were displayed. Some had expired and some were still valid. In one area, there was a huge glazed jar containing a single Reishi mushroom that looked like a vegetable flower. Although the liquid inside had turned dark brown, the Reishi mushroom was still fresh as ever.
Jiang Yan decisively put it in her bag, because no one else had ever approached the stone cabinet, and no one knew its secrets except her.
They obtained the night pearl from the crane's head, two per person. Then they began to ponder how to leave.
He Jian Guo nodded in response, that wall should follow some kind of cycle. His inspiration stemmed from Jiang Yan's narration of the "human skin bomb" theory. At this moment, a plan surfaced in his mind, which he called "The Breaking Wall Method."
At that time, ten-year-old Lin Yang had just moved into a new home. Being at the age of mischief and exploration, he was deeply curious about the rumored haunted house in his neighborhood.
He had never liked those timid friends of his. With only a small dagger in hand, he walked alone into that mysterious ancient house.
The masters were idle and restless. When the second master saw this, he decided to play a prank. Wearing a white robe, he suddenly vanished through the wall, startling Lin Yang so much that he stood frozen in place, taking several steps back.
Xiao Lin Yang was so frightened that he cried loudly, but in the end, he was still caught back by his master uncle.
Several masters needed an industrious assistant, and so, under fear and temptation, Lin Yang became their temporary apprentice.
Afterwards, he realized that the wall was actually concealing a mechanism. It was made of a special kind of mud that could regenerate rapidly, with hidden movable cabinets or disguised walls within it. The design was ingenious and difficult to detect.
"What was that shadow just now"
Zhang Yu was full of curiosity about his second master's wall-piercing technique. Remembering that enormous shadow, he still felt a bit uneasy. That shadow was obviously not human, appearing unusually tall and imposing.
That could be the twelve zodiac statues hidden within the walls, revealed through the Yellow Robe Man's disguise.
I think there might be six passages on either side, each guarded by a zodiac animal sculpture. Inside, they would be decorated according to the deceased's lifestyle, possibly with alchemy rooms, study rooms, bedrooms, etc. This is just a guess.
Lin Yang shared his analysis, but he concealed his speculation about the collapse of the hall. He believed that it might be hiding the Three Pure Ones statues, which symbolized "life," and the next layer represented "death."
"Whatever, let's just go in and see! I wonder if the Daoist's abode has any good swords."
Zhang Yu's mind was constantly occupied with thoughts of a divine weapon.o her collection one by one. Every time she put something away, her heart beat faster until all the treasures were safely stored. Then, she sat heavily on the stone platform.Though her dowry from her...