Chapter 35: Canglang

Su Chen returned to the main cavern, his gaze studying the jade-like skeleton.

“Forgive me, elder.”

He spoke softly, then carefully extended his hand, preparing to move the remains of Canglang the Wanderer.

Yet, just as his hand was about to touch the skeleton.

His eyes were drawn to a corner of the cushion beneath it.

The cushion, aged by time, had mostly rotted away, but the spot where the skeleton sat cross-legged had been preserved relatively intact, having long been pressed down by an immortal body.

And within the gap between the cushion and the ground, something seemed to be pressed.

Su Chen’s heart stirred—he did not touch the skeleton, but gently pulled the tattered cushion out from beneath it, bit by bit.

As the cushion was removed, a small array etched into the floor appeared before him.

The array was tiny, no larger than a palm, its patterns intricate and precise, with a small depression at its core.

“So this is where the real treasure was hidden.”

Su Chen carefully studied the array.

It was a small storage array, requiring a specific “key” to open.

He turned his gaze to the skeleton.

He reached out and carefully felt over the jade-like bones.

Soon, he detected an anomaly in the skeleton’s right hand.

The skeleton’s right hand was formed in the flower-holding mudra, and between its thumb and index finger, something appeared to be clutched.

Su Chen gently pried open the fingers, and a simple, ancient jade ring, broken in two, fell out.

This ring was clearly the key to the array.

Unfortunately, the owner had perished and his Dao dissolved; the storage ring, serving as the key, had also crumbled over time.

Su Chen picked up the broken half of the jade ring, studied the runes upon it, then looked at the depression in the floor array—his mind already had a plan.

Though the key was ruined, the array remained.

With his current array expertise, deciphering this small storage array was no great challenge.

He placed the broken jade ring into the array’s depression, then activated his immortal energy, mimicking the residual rune vibrations on the ring, slowly channeling them into the array.

“Click.”

A soft sound echoed—the array on the floor flashed once, then slowly split open, revealing a half-foot-square recess rising from the ground.

Inside the recess lay three items, still and quiet.

A book, a vial of pills, and a black token.

Su Chen’s breath quickened slightly.

He first picked up the book.

The book was neither paper nor jade slip, but forged from an unknown golden metal, heavy in his hand.

On its cover were four ancient seal-script characters: “Compendium of Alchemy.”

Su Chen flipped through the pages; after only a few glances, his eyes brightened.

This “Compendium of Alchemy” was not a collection of specific pill formulas, but the lifetime’s accumulated experience of Canglang the Wanderer.

From basic herbal analysis, to the pairing of sovereign and minister herbs, to the precise fire control and incantations for crafting different pills—it encompassed everything, down to the finest detail.

It was nothing less than an encyclopedia for alchemists!

For Su Chen, the value of this gift surpassed even the “Cangming Immortal Scripture.”

Though he had learned some rudimentary alchemy from the Bodhi Patriarch, it had never been systematic.

With this “Compendium of Alchemy,” he now had confidence he could become a qualified alchemist in a short time.

He suppressed his joy, carefully stored the “Compendium of Alchemy,” then picked up the jade vial.

This vial was far more refined than any others he had found in the alchemy chamber.

Its surface was smooth and warm, engraved with spirit-gathering runes.

He gently uncorked it, and an invigorating fragrance instantly filled the entire cavern.

Merely breathing in the scent, Su Chen felt his soul purified, as if washed clean.

He tilted the vial, pouring out a pill the size of a pigeon’s egg, entirely emerald green, glowing with a soft luminescence.

Three natural, swirling pill patterns encircled its surface.

“Three-fold Golden Core Pill!”

Su Chen gasped in shock, his eyes filled with awe.

Legend said Laozi could forge Nine-fold Golden Core Pills; consuming one would instantly grant the practitioner the Dao Fruit of a Celestial Immortal.

This Three-fold Golden Core Pill was a lower-tier version—though it could not grant immediate Celestial Immortality, it could increase a Terrestrial Immortal’s chance of breakthrough by two-tenths.

He never expected Canglang the Wanderer had even one—and that it remained intact to this day.

He carefully returned the Three-fold Golden Core Pill to the vial and stored it away.

Finally, his gaze settled on the black token.

The token was about the size of a palm, made of an unknown material—not metal, not iron—cold to the touch.

On its front was carved an ancient character: “Water.”

On its back was a pattern of raging waves.

Nothing else.

Su Chen infused it with immortal energy—the token showed no reaction.

He probed it with his spiritual sense—it vanished like a stone dropped into the ocean, revealing no information.

“Strange thing.”

Su Chen frowned slightly.

This token had been placed alongside the “Compendium of Alchemy” and the Three-fold Golden Core Pill in the final recess—its value must be equal to theirs.

Yet after studying it for a long time, he could make no sense of it.

He thought, and summoned the Heaven’s Mechanism Mirror.

“Determine the origin of this token.”

He spoke his request to the mirror.

【Insufficient Heaven’s Points.】

【Hint: Deciphering the origin of this token requires 400 Heaven’s Points.】

“Huh? Four hundred Heaven’s Points?!”

Su Chen froze.

Earlier, he had spent three hundred Heaven’s Points to deduce the origin of Yang Mei’s immortal remains.

Now, with the token right in his hand, merely deducing its origin required four hundred Heaven’s Points!

“Hss…”

Su Chen drew a sharp breath, staring again at the plain black token in his hand—his gaze had completely changed.

What on earth was this thing?

Unable to figure it out, Su Chen stopped thinking about it.

He carefully stored the mysterious black token separately.

The token’s secret could be studied later.

For now, his priority was to explore the remaining parts of the cavern.

He walked to the end of the main cavern, where a sealed stone door stood.

This stone door was heavier than any he had seen before.

Complex array runes were carved upon it—clearly the most important chamber in the entire cavern.

Su Chen reached out and gently pushed against the stone door.

“Boom… rumble…”

With a deep, muffled sound, the stone door slowly swung inward.

A thick aroma of herbs, mixed with pure spiritual energy, rushed toward him.

The moment Su Chen inhaled, every one of his thirty-six thousand pores opened wide, and his immortal energy stirred with renewed vigor.