Chapter 43: Mysterious Stone Tablet

Hall of Attaining Far.

Fang Xu looked at the package on the documents before him with some curiosity.

"Master, what's inside?"

Lu Zhiyuan smiled slightly and said, "Open it and see."

Fang Xu stood up and opened the package, revealing a remarkably ancient stone tablet. Though not large, its surface was etched with dense, strange patterns.

"What is this?" Fang Xu asked curiously as he examined the stone tablet.

Lu Zhiyuan slowly rose, hands behind his back, paced to the door, and said, "Do you know why the Yun family's little princess came to such a remote town as Maple Forest Town?"

Fang Xu slightly cupped his hands and said, "I heard it was to find the Yun family's second master."

Lu Zhiyuan turned and asked again, "Then do you know why the Yun family's second master came to Maple Forest Town?"

Fang Xu shook his head.

The Yun family's second master was the owner of those gilded silk-embroidered boots; Fang Xu did not know why he came to Maple Forest Town, why he died there, or where the Divine Extension Canon on his person came from.

"It's because an ancient ruin has appeared in Ti Lan Mountain," Lu Zhiyuan said slowly.

Before Fang Xu could ask, he continued, "This ancient ruin seems to be the burial place of a certain martial arts master; inside lie many treasures and insights he left behind in life."

"After Yun Tianhe of the Yun family received the news, he immediately rushed from Yellow Prefecture to investigate the ruin."

"Though there are no walls that don't let wind through, even though the Yun family decisively silenced everyone who knew of the ruin, others still got the news."

"Yun Tianhe's death was likely because he obtained something good from the ruin, was pursued, and fled to Maple Forest Town."

Fang Xu suddenly understood!

That makes sense!

Yun Tianhe had obtained the Divine Extension Canon from the ruin, and when other strong cultivators learned of it, they pursued him all the way; he fled to Gourd Valley, and knowing he could hardly survive to return to Yellow Prefecture, he hid the Divine Extension Canon inside the gilded silk-embroidered boots.

"This stone tablet also comes from that ruin; I have already examined it. The tablet records a cultivation method. Take it back and try to comprehend it, see if you can gain anything from it."

A cultivation method?

Fang Xu eyed the stone tablet before him with some doubt.

Lu Zhiyuan seemed to see through his thoughts and immediately smiled, saying, "When a martial artist breaks through the realm of a martial novice, they can independently absorb energy from heaven and earth and transform it into their own vital energy."

"If we compare the energy of heaven and earth to a great river, the way a martial artist draws energy is like drawing water, and the cultivation method is like the method of making a water bucket."

"Different cultivation methods produce water buckets of different sizes, so the speed of drawing energy naturally varies."

"One without a cultivation method is like having no bucket, only able to cup water in their hands to drink, which is naturally slower."

"Master says it this way; do you understand?"

Fang Xu suddenly comprehended and nodded.

Lu Zhiyuan's analogy was indeed quite fitting.

Since this stone tablet before us comes from the same ruin as the Divine Extension Canon, it must not be an ordinary object.

If I could comprehend something from this stone tablet, it would be greatly beneficial to my future cultivation.

But such a precious item—even someone as strong as Yun Tianhe lost his life over it—how did a mere Third-Rank Martial Master like Lu Zhiyuan obtain it?

Could it be that the forces behind him also participated in the exploration and the operation to surround and kill Yun Tianhe?

If that were the case, this stone tablet would also be important to his backers; how could Lu Zhiyuan decide to give such an important thing to me?

"Master, this thing is too precious, disciple..."

Lu Zhiyuan raised his hand to cut him off, saying, "Master knows you have reservations, but when you first became my disciple, I already told you."

"I took you as my disciple only so that you would become strong in the future and be able to protect Qingluo well; aside from that, I have no other intentions."

Seeing Lu Zhiyuan say that, Fang Xu suppressed his doubts, rewrapped the stone tablet, and picked it up.

"Master, rest assured; if my senior sister ever faces danger, I will surely sacrifice myself to help her!"

If Lu Zhiyuan's intentions are truly as such—the bond of master and disciple, the grace of rebirth, plus the Divine Servant Pill, the strange wooden staff, and this stone tablet among other precious items—Fang Xu feels he has no reason to refuse.

"Go back and cultivate diligently," Lu Zhiyuan said, waving his hand.

Fang Xu cupped his hands, left the room, and then returned home from the Hall of Attaining Far.

Before he even entered the gate, a smell of burnt food wafted over him!

Smelling that odor, Fang Xu's expression changed slightly; he hurried to the courtyard and found Lu Qingluo and Chu Mu eating there.

Fang Xu wondered curiously: with the whole courtyard smelling of burnt food, could the meal Lu Qingluo made still be edible?

As he approached and took a look, he instantly laughed.

What they were eating was exactly the meal he had left for Chu Mu the previous day.

Seeing Fang Xu stare at the food and laugh, Lu Qingluo's cheeks flushed; she said nothing, merely picking at the millet in her bowl.

"Brother Fang Xu, there should still be some rice in the pot; let's eat together," Chu Mu said.

Fang Xu nodded, stepped toward the smoky stench into the kitchen, saw the blackened lump in the pot, couldn't help shaking his head, rolled up his sleeves, scrubbed the pots, bowls, ladles, and basins clean, then lifted another stove's lid to prepare to serve some rice.

But when the pot lid was opened, he found it completely empty.

He clearly remembered cooking a pot of millet rice yesterday, but…

Chu Mu is an ordinary person with nowhere near such an appetite; the only explanation is that all that rice went into Lu Qingluo's stomach!

Thinking that, he turned his head to look at the two in the courtyard, and happened to meet Lu Qingluo's guilty gaze as she turned away.

Lu Qingluo quickly turned her head, hastily shoved the rice in her bowl into her mouth, not even waiting to swallow, stood up, and stammered, "Little sister Mu… um, I'll…"

Flustered, she rose and left; Lu Qingluo also dared not greet Fang Xu.

Chu Mu stared at Lu Qingluo in astonishment, then looked at Fang Xu emerging from the kitchen holding an empty bowl, and said, "Brother Fang Xu, what's wrong?"

Fang Xu tapped the empty bowl and shrugged his shoulders.

"No rice left?"

"Chu here still has half a bowl; Brother Fang Xu, if you don't mind…"

"You eat." Fang Xu smiled and said, "I'll stew some blood food to eat later and that'll do."

After becoming a martial apprentice, ordinary food only satisfies some cravings; it's of no use.

Most of the time, martial artists still rely on blood food to replenish their energy expenditure.

He stewed blood food in the pot, then Fang Xu cleaned the bowls and chopsticks they had used, pushed Chu Mu to the old tree in the courtyard that had already sprouted green leaves, and himself fertilized and weeded the vegetable patch beside it.

After a bout of busyness, the blood food in the pot was also cooked; he left a little for Chu Mu, then Fang Xu ate up the rest.

The effect of the Blood Qi Pill is too overbearing; he doesn't intend to let Chu Mu rely on it to recover, that kind of pain is something she cannot bear.

Compared to that, the effect of blood food is milder.

In the evening, as the sun gradually set, Fang Xu brought the blood food to Chu Mu; after watching her finish it, he personally prepared a basin of hot water, washed her feet, continued massaging her for a moment, then let her sleep in the side room where his grandfather had lived.

He himself went to the room, opened that stone slab, dug out the Divine Extension Canon, and began his daily cultivation.

After swallowing a Blood Qi Pill, Fang Xu placed the stone slab and the beast skin bearing the Divine Extension Canon before him.

The writing on the stone slab is not any kind of script he knows.

Though called writing, it more often resembles a child's random doodles—neither picture nor script, very obscure and hard to understand.

Fang Xu studied it for nearly an hour, but found not a single clue.

He simply prepared to cultivate on his own.

The water barrel needs to be made slowly; scooping water by hand to drink is better than not drinking at all.

Adding an extra chapter, thanks for the support, everyone!

(End of chapter)