Holy Bone

Chapter 2022 The Bizarre and Mysterious Tale of Vinegar and the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation
Following the old Taoist's example, Fatty Li did not touch the bright red apple directly with his hands, but instead wrapped it in his sleeve to examine it.

As Li Pangzi examined the items, he kept clicking his tongue in amazement.

"This Immortal Cauldron of Investigation of Things can actually store grain perfectly, and it hasn't spoiled even after ten years!"

"There isn't even the slightest sign of spoilage. They're still as fresh and juicy as if they were just picked, and their bright red color makes your mouth water just by looking at them!"

"This is the Great Feng Kingdom's national treasure, the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation and Knowledge. It truly lives up to its reputation as a national treasure!"

Fatty Li exclaimed in surprise repeatedly.

The old Taoist priest was also very tempted, so he used his Taoist energy to draw out a piece of meat directly from the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation.

The meat had distinct textures and a glossy sheen; it was tender and juicy, as if it radiated light.

"Hey, old man, this piece of pork is still fresh."

"If this meat were taken to the market now, I guarantee it would sell immediately. The meat is tender and fresh, and it looks like it was just slaughtered from a live pig."

The old Taoist priest watched with great interest, praising the scene repeatedly.

Jin An laughed and said, "It seems you're the lucky one, old Taoist. Li Pangzi and I only managed to catch fruits and vegetables, but you caught the most valuable fatty meat."

After Jin An finished speaking, he didn't forget to give a thumbs up in praise of the old Taoist priest.

The old Taoist priest couldn't stand flattery, so he immediately grinned smugly, his face glowing with pride, feeling extremely triumphant.

Fatty Li was unconvinced and said, "I refuse to believe I'm so unlucky." He then tried to absorb the food from the Immortal Cauldron of Exploration from a distance, but he was indeed unlucky. Every time he pulled up some sunflowers, bamboo shoots, scallions and garlic, or melons, hawthorns, dates and other fruits and vegetables.

The old Taoist priest's smug expression deepened, and he chuckled incessantly.

Fortunately, when Jin An tried to take the bait, he managed to touch a lump of meat, which slightly dampened the old Taoist's smug expression.

"Young man, why does this piece of meat look so much like... mutton?" the old Taoist priest said with a soft exclamation.

The difference between pork and mutton is quite obvious. Pork has a larger texture, while mutton has a more delicate texture and is more elastic. It is as delicate and smooth as a baby's skin, with an incredibly fine texture that feels very smooth to the touch, and its color is also more vibrant red.

Pork has a coarser texture and a darker color.

However, the biggest difference is that mutton has a strong, unmistakable gamey smell.

For example, as soon as the meat from Jin'an was taken out of the pot, the three of them could smell the muttony smell. They could tell it was mutton just by smelling it.

"It really is mutton! I can smell the mutton!" Fatty Li exclaimed in surprise.

"Young man, how did you know that this old Taoist priest hasn't eaten mutton in a long time..." the old Taoist priest exclaimed, then said with a strange expression.

Jin An casually tossed the mutton in his hand to the old Taoist priest and said with a smirk, "Here, take this mutton, sprinkle it with spices and roast it slowly."

The old Taoist priest didn't reach for it. Instead, he shifted his body, and the mutton fell to the ground with a thud. Then, the old Taoist priest said with disdain, "I don't want to be a cannibal. I want to eat clean mutton. I want to eat clean mutton."

"Young man, considering how hard Li Pangzi and I have worked, accompanying you out to investigate the case so late at night, how about you treat us to a bowl of mutton offal soup when you return to the capital?"

After the old Taoist priest finished speaking, he winked at Fatty Li, who immediately understood and nodded repeatedly.

Even tough guys can't resist a late-night snack.

Only when you have a late-night snack can you truly understand the warmth and coldness of human relationships.

Jin An rolled his eyes and said, "I didn't invite you to come. You came on your own."

"Young man..."

"Master Jin'an..."

The old Taoist priest and Fatty Li looked pitifully at Jin An, begging for a bowl of mutton offal soup.

"Go away, go away," Jin An said with a laugh.

Although he laughed and scolded, he was already planning to treat everyone to a meal of mutton offal soup when he got back, because he hadn't eaten mutton in a long time and missed it terribly.

"Instead of worrying about the mutton offal soup, you should think about how to remove the celestial liquid from the Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry into Things, how to see through it completely, and how to uncover the truth within the Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry into Things," Jin An said with a laugh and a scolding tone.

The old Taoist priest winked and said, "Isn't that simple? Young brother, don't you have the Erlang Zhenjun Water-Controlling Talisman? You can try using the Erlang Zhenjun Water-Controlling Talisman to see if you can expel all this immortal liquid."

Even without the old Taoist priest's suggestion, Jin'an also planned to try using the Erlang Zhenjun Water-Controlling Talisman.

When he was walking through the underworld in Haizhou Prefecture and saw the human flesh cauldron, he used Erlang Zhenjun's water-controlling talisman to drain the blood from the cauldron and see the truth inside.

Immediately, Jin An stopped wasting words and took out his Erlang Zhenjun Water Edict Talisman, which was worth 6.6 million Yin Virtue and had the combat power of a late-stage fourth realm cultivator, and began to activate it on the Gewu Immortal Cauldron.

If the Erlang Zhenjun Water Edict Talisman, a talisman for the late stage of the fourth realm, cannot catalyze the evaporation of the immortal liquid in the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation of Things, then he really has no better solution.

result!

Accident happened!
The Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry remained completely still!

Not a single drop of the celestial elixir evaporated or was stirred!
The tranquility still rippled within the Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry!

This left Jin An, the old Taoist priest, and Fatty Li all stunned.

"Whoosh!"

The old Taoist priest gasped and said woodenly, "Young brother, don't you have the powerful Erlang Zhenjun Water-Controlling Talisman? Just use the best quality Erlang Zhenjun Water-Controlling Talisman you have and see the effect."

Jin An frowned as he looked at the Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry and said, "This Erlang Zhenjun Water Edict Talisman of mine is the best quality one. It is comparable to the late stage of the fourth realm and can hold its own against a late stage cultivator of the fourth realm."

"what!"

"This……"

The old Taoist priest was dumbfounded.

"Really?" the old Taoist priest asked repeatedly.

Upon seeing Jin An nod, the old Taoist priest couldn't help but exclaim again, then stared in disbelief and said, "This Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry is truly divine!"

"If even a late-stage fourth realm cultivator can't move it, could this magic weapon be... a fifth realm... a sixth realm... or even a higher realm magic weapon! Wouldn't that truly be a divine artifact!"

"Good guy!"

"The national treasure has actually come true! Holy crap!"

The old Taoist priest spoke in a string of vulgarities, which clearly showed his shock and horror.

Jin An remained silent. He pondered for a moment, then took out the red gourd and the Taishang Laojun Purple Gold Red Gourd, and tried them one after another, but he could not move the Gewu Immortal Cauldron even a fraction of an inch.

The Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry into Things remains unmoved, like a divine object, standing firm for thousands of years, as eternal as the primordial era.

The old Taoist knew the origins and power of Jin'an's red gourd and the Supreme Lord Laozi's Purple Gold Red Gourd. Seeing that Jin'an was unable to subdue the Immortal Cauldron even with these two magical treasures, the old Taoist gasped in shock once again.

"This is fucking bizarre!"

"Even the Supreme Lord Laozi's Purple-Gold Red Gourd is useless!"

The old Taoist priest stared in disbelief. Jin An put the magic weapon back into the human stomach pouch at his waist, his brows furrowed, and said, "It should be related to the laws of the mortal realm."

"According to the laws of this mortal realm, I can only use the late stage of the fourth realm at most. My purple-gold-red gourd is affected by the laws, so I cannot use the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation of Things even slightly."

"And my purple-gold gourd has suffered from the deterioration of time and was already damaged, so its power has been greatly reduced, and it is difficult to see its peak glory."

Li Pangzi could only understand half of the conversation between Jin An and the old Taoist priest, but he did understand one thing: Jin An was currently unable to do anything about the Gewu Immortal Cauldron!

Fatty Li asked in astonishment, "Then what do we do? If we can't see the truth about the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation, how can we redress the injustices done to the late emperor and empress?"

"Then how can this case be investigated?"

"Wouldn't this mean the truth has once again been buried and will never see the light of day again?"

Jin An then tried several more times, trying various methods, but all of them failed to activate the Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry. In the end, the three of them had no choice but to return to the ground and discuss the matter further.

The old Taoist priest was also dumbfounded and asked Jin An what to do. Were they going to have to return empty-handed this time?

Jin An snorted and said, "Since my Erlang Zhenjun's Water Edict Talisman and Taishang Laojun's Purple Gold Red Gourd are ineffective against the Investigating Things Immortal Cauldron, I will try the most folk and unsophisticated method."

"This time, in order to investigate the truth of the Immortal Cauldron and what secrets it holds, I have come up with more than one method to test it."

The old Taoist priest asked suspiciously, "Traditional methods?"

"What kind of folk remedy is so effective that it can even be used to protect the national treasure of the Great Feng Kingdom?"

Jin An said coldly, "Isn't everyone saying that this Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry can store grain, last a long time without breaking, and can be replaced as if it were new?"

"Ah."

"correct."

The old Taoist priest and Fatty Li both nodded in agreement.

Jin An said coldly, "I do know of something that can keep food fresh and prevent it from spoiling."

"This thing is also very common in our folk culture."

"What is it?" the two asked curiously.

Jin An did not reply immediately, but instead patted the human stomach bag hanging at his waist and suddenly produced more than a dozen large earthenware jars that looked like wine vats.

Each earthenware jar is about half a person's height and can hold at least a hundred kilograms.

"Huh, a wine jar?"

"Young man, would you like some wine?"

The old Taoist priest suspiciously opened the seal on the wine jar, took a sniff, and immediately broke into a violent dry cough. He staggered back more than ten steps, covering his mouth and nose with both hands.

"This is... vinegar!" the old Taoist priest exclaimed.

Upon hearing this, Fatty Li stepped forward to take a sniff, but before he could even get close to the wine jar, he quickly backed away, exclaiming in surprise, "It really is vinegar!"

"Young man, why did you bring out so much vinegar? What are you going to do with all this vinegar? Are you going to use it to irrigate the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation of Things?" the old Taoist priest said in surprise, still covering his mouth and nose with his hands. It would take him at least half a day to recover from the strong smell of vinegar he had just inhaled.

Jin An snorted and said, "Indeed, I'm irrigating it, but I'm not irrigating the inside of the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation, but the outside, soaking the entire Immortal Cauldron of Investigation in vinegar!"

"Why?" the old Taoist priest asked, puzzled.

Jin An said, "I don't know if you've heard of it, but in my hometown, there used to be a rumor that lapis lazuli can keep food fresh and prevent it from rotting for a long time."

The old Taoist priest and Fatty Li both shook their heads, indicating that they had never heard of it.

Lapis lazuli is an ancient name for it.

It also has another name, lead.

Jin An continued, "Although lapis lazuli can keep food fresh for a long time and prevent it from rotting easily, it is also a highly poisonous substance. If a person takes lapis lazuli for many years, causing a large amount of lapis lazuli to accumulate in their body and resulting in lapis lazuli poisoning, that person will suffer from a terminal illness!"

"Eating! People! Addiction!"

Jin An uttered three words in a deep voice, which stunned the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li.

"Eating... cannibalism?"

"Whoosh!"

The old Taoist priest gasped, then his expression turned extremely solemn as he said gravely, "Young brother, is what you say absolutely true?"

Jin An nodded and continued, "To test for the presence of lapis lazuli, there is a traditional method: soak the item in vinegar for fifteen minutes."

"If the vinegar changes color significantly, such as becoming cloudy or developing more white or gray sediment, it indicates that it contains lapis lazuli."

"The more violent the reaction, the more serious the lapis lazuli content."

Upon hearing this, the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li exchanged bewildered glances, both stunned by Jin An's new knowledge. They never imagined that such a wondrous object existed in the world.

It can both prevent food from spoiling and cause people to develop cannibalism.

But most importantly, such a highly toxic substance can be detected by a simple folk method: soaking it in vinegar.

"Young brother, what are you waiting for? Let's soak it and see if this Immortal Cauldron is made of lapis lazuli... or contains lapis lazuli!" The old Taoist urged Jin An to try it out. He was filled with curiosity about this novel thing and couldn't wait to know the answer.

"it is good."

Jin An looked around, then raised his hand and lifted it into the air. The soil inside the stone chamber quickly rose up, and in no time, a huge earthen jar appeared before the three of them.

The enormous earthen jar tightly surrounded the Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry, with thick soil on all four sides, leaving no gaps.

Next, Jin'an repeatedly pounded on the wine jars, and then one wine jar after another flew up and into the huge earthenware pot, where they shattered one after another with a bang, and the vinegar inside began to gurgle out in large quantities.

The speed was even faster than the overflowing of spring water; in just a moment, the huge earthen jar was filled, and two-thirds of the surface of the Gewu Immortal Cauldron was deeply soaked in vinegar.

"Young brother, hurry, hurry, let's take off and investigate. I need to ascertain the truth as soon as possible!" the old Taoist priest urged Jin An repeatedly.

"nature."

Jin An smiled slightly, then lifted the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li up again, and the three of them flew into the air, standing above the Immortal Cauldron of Inquiry to observe the next changes.

A quarter of an hour is neither a long nor a short time. The old Taoist priest and Fatty Li waited with their eyes wide open, staring at the Immortal Cauldron of Investigation of Things below like bull's eyes.

However, less than a quarter of an hour had passed, and only half a quarter of an hour had gone by when the vinegar jars under the three people's feet began to change.

The vinegar started to turn cloudy.

At first, the three of them thought it was mud stains stirred up when the vinegar was spilled. However, after a quarter of an hour, then a third of an hour...

Until the vinegar calmed down completely and no longer caused any ripples.

The vinegar remained incredibly cloudy, and it grew even more cloudy over time.

At the same time, a foul stench began to emanate from the air, and the three of them immediately changed their expressions!