Mortal Cultivator: Lin Tianzun

Chapter 34: Exploring the Stone House to Find an Opportunity, Accidentally Touching the Mechanism to Obtain the Alchemy Scripture

Lin Fan carefully chose a relatively safe mountain path and slowly stepped onto it. The path was winding and the ground was rugged, covered with large and small rocks and crisscrossing roots. If you weren't careful, you could easily trip.

As he walked, he vigilantly observed his surroundings, his spiritual awareness spreading like a fine spiderweb, not missing a single movement. The mountain wind whistled, rustling through the trees along the road, as if the forest were whispering secrets, adding a touch of eeriness to the quiet atmosphere.

Occasionally, a few unknown birds were startled by Lin Fan's footsteps and flew into the air. The flapping sound of their wings was particularly harsh in the quiet mountains, which made Lin Fan's heart tighten every time. After confirming that they were just birds, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued to move forward.

After walking cautiously for about an incense stick of time, a large stone house appeared in front of us. The stone house was simple and old, with walls made of rough stones and moss and weeds growing in the cracks, showing the vicissitudes of time.

The stone house's roof was covered with thick slabs of stone, cracked in places, as if eroded by time or force. The door was closed, a simple wooden door, the paint peeling, revealing the wood grain, and rotten in places, as if it would break at the slightest push.

There is a small window on one side of the stone house. The window frame is made of stone. The oil paper on the window is gone. The dark window is like a deep eye, staring at Lin Fan quietly, as if hiding endless secrets, making people want to find out, but also afraid of unknown dangers.

Lin Fan stood in front of the stone house, took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and slowly approached. He reached out and gently placed his hand on the rotten wooden door. With a slight push, the door slowly opened with a sharp creak, raising a cloud of dust that swirled in the sunlight.

He stepped inside and quickly scanned the surroundings, taking in the entire stone house. It was a massive stone house, over ten feet in size, spacious and two or three feet high. Looking up, one could see the crisscrossing stone beams on the roof, giving it a sense of antiquity and heaviness.

However, the vast stone house was quite bare, with only a few scattered objects placed haphazardly. Near the door, a stone table with a missing leg leaned against the wall. Several dry inkstones, with cracked ink stains remaining in them, seemed to tell of a time when someone had painted here, but now nothing had changed.

Several stone benches lay overturned beside the stone table, some broken in two, others covered in dust and cobwebs, clearly unused for a long time. In the corners of the room lay a collection of tattered books, their pages yellowed and damaged, making a slight rustling sound in the wind, as if they were trying to convey the secrets within. It was unclear whether one could piece together the complete text.

Walking further in, Lin Fan saw bottles and jars of various shapes scattered on the ground. Some had been broken into pieces, while others had corks stuck in their mouths, leaving no idea what they once held. Dried medicinal residues lay around several of the jars, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance. This place seemed to have once been a place for alchemy, but now it was just a dilapidated scene.

On the other side of the room, there is a row of old wooden shelves against the wall. There should have been many items on the shelves, but now most of them are empty, with only a few ordinary small boxes covered in dust. No one knows what is inside.

Lin Fan was curious and slowly walked towards the wooden rack, taking every step carefully, for fear of breaking the long silence of the stone house. At the same time, he was fully expecting to find something useful among the remains.

Lin Fan slowly walked towards the dusty wooden shelf, reached out and gently brushed away the dust on the box. The patterns on the surface of the box gradually became clearer, engraved with strange animal patterns, exuding an ancient and mysterious air.

His heartbeat quickened. He took a deep breath and opened one of the boxes. It was completely empty. Unwilling to give up, Lin Fan's movements became increasingly hasty. With a thud, he quickly opened the remaining boxes. Without exception, they were all empty.

Lin Fan searched the stone house for a long time but found nothing of value. "Damn it!" Lin Fan cursed under his breath and kicked the box beside him hard, making a dull thud. It seemed that this stone house had been visited by countless senior disciples, and everything that could be taken had long been looted.

With a muffled creak, Lin Fan's kick inadvertently triggered a long-hidden mechanism. Instantly, the nearby stone wall vibrated quietly, and a secret compartment, as if awakening after a thousand-year slumber, slowly opened. Lin Fan's heart suddenly sank, and his eyes flashed with uncontrollable surprise.

He darted forward and saw a brocade box, several feet in size, resting quietly in a hidden compartment. The surface of the box was intricately patterned, and though it bore the marks of time, it hadn't diminished its elegance. Lin Fan took a deep breath, steadied his trembling hands, and carefully lifted the box. The moment he opened it, a soft, faint light shone through. Within, a pristine token lay quietly, engraved with intricate and profound runes. The runes seemed to come alive, flickering with a faint, almost invisible light, as if to speak of its extraordinary origins.

Lin Fan gently picked up the token. It felt warm to the touch, and a strange sensation spread from his fingertips throughout his body. He held the token close to his eyes, his gaze fixed on the runes, his brow furrowed as he examined them closely, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't decipher the runes' meaning.

Next to the token was a roll of yellowed animal hide. Lin Fan gently unfolded the hide, revealing a strange pattern painted on it. The lines twisted and winding, at first glance it looked like a mysterious map, but then again it resembled some ancient, mystical magic circle, brimming with mystery.

In addition, there was an ancient book in the brocade box, with the words "Ancient Alchemy Classic" written on the cover in ancient characters. When Lin Fan saw these four words, his heart suddenly shook, realizing that he had stumbled upon a great opportunity.

In contrast, the booklet "Ancient Alchemy Scripture" brought Lin Fan a pleasant surprise. He immediately recognized the ancient characters on the cover, having happened to have studied them before while studying immortal cultivation texts.

With excitement and trepidation, Lin Fan slowly opened the booklet, and densely packed text came into view. Upon closer inspection, he saw that they were all ancient elixir recipes. A rough count revealed that there were over a hundred of them.

The vast variety of elixir recipes is like a treasure trove of rare treasures. Some can help practitioners improve their mana cultivation, helping them break through bottlenecks in their practice; there are detoxification elixirs for various poisons, saving lives in critical moments; and there are also special elixirs for restoring mana, quickly recovering vitality after battle. Furthermore, hidden in the corners are a few rare elixir recipes with mysterious uses, which attract curiosity.

Lin Fan eagerly scanned the recipes, his attention quickly drawn to the section dedicated to improving mana. After a careful inspection, he discovered that recipes for every stage of life, from Qi Training to Spiritual Transformation, were readily available.

However, the distribution is uneven. Qi training, as the starting point of cultivation, has relatively few elixir recipes, only seven or eight, but they are all simple and practical, suitable for beginners. The spirit transformation stage, as a high-level realm, has a high degree of difficulty in refining elixir recipes, and the rare natural materials and treasures required are only two or three.

The Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul stages, as crucial stages of cultivation, teem with a remarkable number of elixir recipes, with over a dozen for each. These recipes encompass diverse combinations of medicinal ingredients and refining techniques, ranging from aiding breakthroughs to solidifying spiritual power foundations and enhancing spiritual power quality. The rich and comprehensive details make it akin to a cultivator's guide to advancement. Looking at these precious recipes, Lin Fan felt as if he could see his future cultivation flourishing, and his heart was filled with excitement.

Lin Fan stared intently at the Foundation Establishment Stage elixir recipe, studying it word for word, memorizing the names of the herbs and the dosage ratios. After finishing, he eagerly counted his inventory, mentally listing the available spiritual herbs and recalling his harvest in the forbidden area. After some comparisons and calculations, a wave of surprise coursed through him like an electric current—he had actually been able to concoct two of the elixirs.

One is the "Peking Yuan Pill," which nourishes the body in all directions and consolidates the spiritual power foundation, allowing practitioners in the Foundation Establishment Stage to have a more mellow and solid spiritual power. The other is the "Gathering Spirit Pill," which greatly increases the speed at which practitioners absorb spiritual energy. When practicing, it creates a powerful spiritual energy vortex, accelerating the condensation and growth of mana.

In this blood-red forbidden land, fraught with danger, deadly dangers lurk everywhere, yet countless rare treasures are also hidden, especially rare and precious elixirs rarely seen in the outside world, which are fascinating. Each elixirs contains unique spiritual power and emits a charming luster, like a spirit that seals a mysterious power.

Lin Fan knew that collecting one more spiritual herb in the forbidden area would pave a shortcut for his future. In the outside world, searching for a suitable spiritual herb might require trekking across mountains and rivers, spending countless days, and not necessarily finding anything. But here, with courage and carefulness, precious medicinal herbs could be collected.

The time saved was an inestimable asset to Lin Fan. He could now devote more energy to cultivation, focusing on breaking through the bottleneck of the Core Formation Stage. The Core Formation Stage was a crucial turning point in the path of cultivation; once broken through, both strength and lifespan would increase exponentially.

(End of this chapter)