Chapter 34

Su Chen landed back before the stone wall, looking at the formation light screen that was covered in cracks and might collapse completely at any moment, and fell into thought.

Although this formation was dilapidated, its core foundation still emitted an ancient and profound aura.

Judging from the space power leaking from it, the person who set up this formation clearly had extraordinary attainments in the way of space.

"Breaking it by force might damage the structure of the cave dwelling inside; it's better to study it first."

Su Chen had always been cautious.

He sat cross-legged, sank his spiritual sense into the light screen, and began to analyze the structure of the remnant formation.

This formation was called the "Small Shift Illusion Formation," a rather sophisticated concealment formation.

It could not only distort light and hide the existence of the cave dwelling but also slightly "shift" this space out of the main world, making it impossible for the spiritual sense of ordinary cultivators to detect it.

If it were in its prime, perhaps even a Heavenly Immortal might not have been able to discover the anomaly here.

Unfortunately, time is ruthless.

No matter how exquisite a formation is, without anyone to preside over it and with its spiritual energy exhausted, it will eventually collapse one day.

When Su Chen was at the Xieyue Sanxing Cave, he had also dabbled in some formation knowledge.

Although he couldn't be considered proficient, his vision was not low.

Coupled with his initial realization of space power, analyzing this already dilapidated formation was not a difficult task.

About an hour passed.

Su Chen opened his eyes, a trace of enlightenment flashing through them.

He had already found several key nodes of the remnant formation, as well as the weak points in its energy circulation.

He stood up, did not use any magic treasures, but simply extended his fingers, holding them like a sword, and pointed unhurriedly and consecutively at several specific positions on the light screen.

Each of his points landed perfectly on a formation node.

His fingertips spat out immortal essence, like a key, reactivating those "lock cores" that had rusted shut one by one, and then unlocking them in a reverse order.

"Hum—"

As he pointed his final finger, the entire light screen emitted a slight hum, and then, like melting ice and snow, it silently dissipated into the air.

A pitch-black cave entrance appeared on the stone wall.

A musty aura mixed with dust and spiritual energy rushed out from the cave entrance.

Su Chen did not go in immediately.

He stood at the entrance, first releasing his spiritual sense to carefully explore the cave dwelling, and after confirming that there were no dangerous restrictions or living creatures inside, he stepped in.

Behind the entrance was a flight of stone steps extending downward.

On the walls on both sides of the stone steps, every few feet, a pearl the size of a pigeon egg was embedded.

One didn't know what material these pearls were made of, but even after endless years, they still emitted a soft glow, illuminating the entire passage as bright as day.

Su Chen followed the stone steps all the way down, walking for about a hundred steps, when the view suddenly opened up.

A massive karst cave appeared before him.

This karst cave had clearly been artificially excavated and renovated; the ground was paved with smooth bluestone slabs, and more pearls were embedded in the dome, like a brilliant starry sky.

In the center of the karst cave was a small stone platform with a meditation cushion on it, and the cushion was already covered in a thick layer of dust.

Apart from this, the entire karst cave was empty, appearing somewhat simple.

Su Chen's gaze was soon attracted by a line of words carved on the wall behind the stone platform.

"I am the Canglang Loose Practitioner; I accidentally obtained this place, opened this cave dwelling, and cultivated for one Yuan period, but ultimately failed to advance further. Now my time is up. Future predestined ones who see this message may inherit my mantle."

The handwriting was bold and vigorous, carved deep into the stone; even after a long period of time, it still revealed a sense of unwillingness and loneliness.

Below the handwriting, a white skeleton that had completely turned into jade was leaning against the wall.

The skeleton maintained a cross-legged meditation posture, and the Daoist robe it wore had long since rotted into dust.

"So it was a predecessor whose lifespan had run out."

Su Chen looked at the skeleton and sighed slightly in his heart.

The path of immortality is long and full of bumps.

From Human Immortal to Earth Immortal, and then to Heavenly Immortal, every step is a struggle against Heaven for life.

And although a Heavenly Immortal has one Yuan—that is, 129,600 years of lifespan—there is still a day when their time runs out.

This Canglang Loose Practitioner was clearly one of them.

"Rest in peace, predecessor."

Su Chen bowed solemnly to the skeleton.

He did not immediately move the skeleton but carefully explored the cave dwelling.

On both sides of the main karst cave, several stone rooms had been excavated.

Su Chen pushed open the stone doors one by one.

The first stone room was an alchemy room.

In the center of the room stood a half-person-high alchemy furnace; the style of the furnace was simple and ancient, and it was covered in flame runes.

Su Chen looked at the inscriptions on it; this furnace was called the "Three Yang Earth Fire Furnace," which was a decent immortal treasure, sufficient to refine the vast majority of immortal elixirs.

Su Chen put it away. Then he looked at the stone shelf to the side.

On the stone shelf next to the alchemy furnace, there were more than a dozen jade bottles.

Su Chen opened one of them, and a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out.

Inside the bottle lay three fire-red elixirs the size of dragon eyes.

"Red Yang Elixir?"

Su Chen's heart stirred.

This Red Yang Elixir was a holy medicine for healing, and for cultivators with fire attributes, it had the miraculous effect of increasing cultivation.

Judging by the quality of these elixirs and the spiritual energy contained within them, they were at least of superior grade.

Su Chen was about to take one out when the three elixirs suddenly dissipated in the bottle with a "puff" sound.

Su Chen secretly thought it was a pity; these elixirs had been stored for too long and had long since rotted.

Now that he had touched them, they had dissipated.

He opened the other jade bottles one by one; most of them were empty, and only a few bottles still contained some elixirs—some for increasing magic power, some for stabilizing the primordial spirit—but just like the Red Yang Elixir, they dissipated the moment they were opened.

The second stone room was an artifact refining room.

Apart from some artifact refining materials and an already extinguished earth-fire furnace, there were no major discoveries. Clearly, this Canglang Loose Practitioner was not skilled in artifact refining.

The third stone room was a scripture room.

The stone room was not large, with only a stone bookshelf on which a few jade slips were placed in isolation.

Su Chen picked up one of them and probed it with his spiritual sense.

A cultivation technique called "Cangming Immortal Art" appeared in his mind.

This technique was the fundamental inheritance of this Canglang Loose Practitioner and was a superior water-attribute technique that pointed directly to the Golden Immortal Great Dao.

If it were placed in the outside world, it would be enough to make countless cultivators fight until they were broken and bleeding.

Unfortunately, for Su Chen, it was of little use.

His "Hunyuan Jin Dan Zhen Jie" was taught by Patriarch Puti and pointed directly to the Great Luo; its profoundness was far beyond what this "Canglang True Interpretation" could compare to.

However, stones from other hills can serve to polish the jade of this one.

Su Chen still collected these jade slips. Apart from some water-system divine abilities, they also contained some of Canglang Loose Practitioner's own cultivation insights and travel notes, which could be considered a supplement to his knowledge.

After exploring all these stone rooms, Su Chen did not find any particularly stunning treasures.

"Is this really all there is?"

Su Chen was somewhat skeptical.

The legacy cave of a Heavenly Immortal expert shouldn't have only these things.

His gaze fell once again upon the skeleton.