Chapter 154: Untitled (No suspense if I tell you, please vote, please vote!)

"Huh?"

Cheng Xinzhan's sudden question left Feng Jihu puzzled.

Wasn't he supposed to be getting some good rest?

Cheng Xinzhan smiled and said,

"Brother Dao, rest doesn't just mean sleeping. I've watched you plow fields, plant herbs, harvest them, and refine medicine, and I found it quite interesting. I'd like to learn a bit, become a herb farmer, tend to the flowers and plants, and get a bit of that medicinal fragrance on me. What do you think, Brother Dao?"

Feng Jihu nodded with a smile, but then teased,

"You wouldn't be asking the Sect Master for a decree tomorrow to come audit the Qihuang Arts in my Du Juan Valley, would you?"

Cheng Xinzhan laughed heartily, "This time, I'm only bothering you, Brother Dao!"

————

That afternoon.

He arrived at Songlu Lake.

He stated his purpose directly, telling Green Chi that he planned to bring a friend over tomorrow.

Upon hearing this, Green Chi's emerald-green eyes widened instantly.

Cheng Xinzhan sighed and said,

"Friend Gu, I know. It was my fault for calling you lazy earlier and not refining your throat bone. I misunderstood you; your throat aperture is injured, isn't it?"

Green Chi kept her eyes wide open.

"Friend Gu, my Brother Dao is very skilled. He is a master of the Qihuang Arts and a direct descendant of a lineage. Let him take a look and see if there's a way to treat it, to prescribe medicine according to the symptoms."

Green Chi still kept her eyes wide open.

"Friend Gu?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked, feeling a bit puzzled.

Green Chi seemed to wake from a dream, shaking her head repeatedly, refusing to agree no matter what.

Cheng Xinzhan grew anxious, "Friend, you must not avoid the doctor out of fear of the illness!"

Green Chi only shook her head.

Later, pushed into a corner by Cheng Xinzhan, she used her tail to tap him.

Cheng Xinzhan was stunned and said,

"Friend, you want me to treat it?"

Only then did Green Chi nod.

Cheng Xinzhan gave a bitter smile,

"Friend, although I have the intention to refine medicine for amusement, I don't know how long it will take before I can cure your ailment!"

Green Chi didn't care; she only wanted Cheng Xinzhan to treat her.

Unable to persuade her, he had no choice but to nod helplessly.

Upon returning to Wuyou Cave, he told Third Sister, who was much more obedient and agreed immediately. He then carried her to see Feng Jihu right away.

After examining her, Feng Jihu also said it was difficult to handle, as it was a condition from birth and hard to treat.

Cheng Xinzhan thought about it and realized it made sense; if it were easy to treat, the person who sold the cat would have cured Third Sister to sell her for a higher price. Aside from her eyes, Third Sister's other qualities were extremely high.

However, Feng Jihu still wrote some prescriptions to improve her vision, to see if they would take effect over time, and taught the prescription to Cheng Xinzhan. Since he was interested, he could refine it himself in the future.

————

A month later, Start of Summer.

Water Green Bamboo Forest.

It could no longer be called a bamboo forest.

The large bamboo forest in front of Wuyou Cave had been completely cleared, with even the roots dug out. Now, only the bamboo forest behind the Wuyou Cave stone wall remained, along with two clumps left in front of the cave for decoration.

The work of clearing the bamboo and digging the roots was completed by the ginseng wood spirit white mouse Bai Yongliang. Now, Cheng Xinzhan called him Old Bai; he insisted he couldn't bear to be called anything else, saying he'd prefer to be called Little Bai or Wood Servant.

Old Bai was living very comfortably on Mingzhi Mountain now.

Cheng Xinzhan had made a few trips to register Old Bai at the Wan Shouyuan. Now, Old Bai was a legitimate alien guest of the Sanqing Mountain, with the same status as Green Chi—truly a mountain pheasant turning into a phoenix.

As for why he did this, it was because Old Bai said he wanted to read books.

Back in the mortal world, Old Bai would use earth-escape to steal books from people's studies, but he didn't have the guts to do that on Sanqing Mountain.

However, if a non-Sanqing Mountain disciple wanted to read the classics of Sanqing Mountain, they had to become a guest. From then on, they would be tied to Sanqing Mountain and couldn't just come and go as they pleased.

Old Bai, who had always longed for freedom, agreed without a second thought.

In fact, what he longed for wasn't freedom, but safety. Moreover, within the vast Sanqing Mountain, he felt he couldn't speak of being unfree at all.

As for being an alien guest of Sanqing Mountain, it was naturally not easy to become one; the conditions were very strict. But fortunately, the merit Old Bai had established was great enough, his own cultivation realm was low enough, his background was very clean, and he had few ties to the outside world, which made the matter easier to handle.

Without needing the Sect Master to step in, he asked his Master to vouch for him, and it passed steadily.

Since then, Old Bai had settled down in Wuyou Cave, getting along very well with Deng Ge'er and Third Sister. Third Sister hadn't known what a mouse was since she was born, and besides, Old Bai was a wood spirit, not a real mouse.

Moreover, Old Bai was a spirit creature that had lived for many years, and guiding two furry children in their cultivation was a piece of cake. Now, he had become the teacher of the two furry children, and his status in Wuyou Cave was second only to Cheng Xinzhan.

Besides that, what Old Bai loved most was going to the Fangtang Library of Little Wan Mountain, immersing himself in it, reading the books available for free borrowing like he had found a treasure.

Now, many disciples of Little Wan Mountain knew that there was a white mouse that loved to read in the library, was knowledgeable, and was a newly invited guest of the mountain.

Every time he heard such talk, Old Bai would be blooming with joy inside.

"If the immortal mountain sects of this generation were all like this, I would have sold the ginseng fruit pits long ago."

He often thought this, feeling that much of his time underground had been wasted. But he also knew that in this world, such things were impossible. If he hadn't met the Cave Master, he would only have been interrogated and then eaten.

He now called Cheng Xinzhan the Cave Master. Deep down, he knew he was far from worthy of being a guest of Sanqing Mountain, but if it were a guest of Wuyou Cave, he felt he could work hard for it.

Being able to live on such an immortal mountain was something Old Bai had never dared to imagine before. He knew that he was able to have such an encounter today entirely because of the Cave Master.

So when the Cave Master came to ask if he could help him reclaim the herb fields and classify the plants, he agreed without any hesitation.

He was an expert in this field, and he took Deng Ge'er with him to dig up all the land, also taking the opportunity to teach Deng Ge'er earth-escape.

The only surprise was that Cheng Xinzhan had once instructed Old Bai to be extremely careful when using earth-escape on Mingzhi Mountain, as there were things underground. Cheng Xinzhan wasn't afraid of what Old Bai might see, but only that Old Bai would be dissolved by the array below before he even got close.

This scared Old Bai quite a bit, and he was very careful when digging, fearing he would see something he shouldn't.

Finally, after more than a month, the land by the pool had been reclaimed into herb fields—not large, piece by piece, totaling about eight mu.

When planning, Cheng Xinzhan took the small pool as the center and arranged the fields in the shape of the Eight Trigrams, with some ridges long and some short, forming the eight trigrams.

Reclaiming these herb fields was not easy. The soil quality of Mingzhi Mountain was on the yin side and was filled with various bamboos. To plant trees of other elements, he had to change the soil quality and harmonize the Five Elements.

Under the guidance of Feng Jihu and Old Bai, Cheng Xinzhan bought a lot of spiritual soil, metal essence, and minerals to arrange in the herb fields, and prayed for rain many times to regulate the hydrology, only then managing to get it done.

He was just waiting to go to Du Juan Valley again in two days to purchase some plant seedlings with Brother Jihu, and only then would he truly be on the right track.

As for today, he had other arrangements.

One human, one spirit, and two monsters stood by the small pool.

Since he wanted to tend to the herb fields, this small pool had to be utilized as well, rather than just raising sea fish, with only one Nine-Hole Dustless Lotus inside.

Come to think of it, since he came here to open his cave dwelling, he hadn't even been down into this small pool.

Today he would go down to take a look, familiarize himself with the water, and see what would be suitable to raise inside.

He looked at the one spirit and two monsters.

Third Sister shook her head and took a step back. She dared to fish on the shore, but she didn't want to go down.

Deng Ge'er swallowed his saliva and took a step forward, looking righteous. Old Bai looked indifferent.

"Then Old Bai, come down with me to take a look."

Upon hearing this, Old Bai stroked his beard and smiled, saying,

"I am willing to accompany the Cave Master."

His demeanor and words were quite imposing.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded, jumped into the pool with a splash, and Old Bai followed closely behind.

In the pool.

Without seeing Cheng Xinzhan make any movements, he moved through the water very naturally.

He visualized the Taiyin Emperor who controlled the world's water veins. Now, when he performed the Water-Avoiding Technique, he naturally didn't even need to use the incantation.

Old Bai, on the other hand, was covered in blue light, isolating the pool water, also moving leisurely.

The pool was now full of sea fish, all sent by Eleventh Sister.

Ever since he helped Eleventh Sister at the Autumn Hunt, Eleventh Sister had taken the initiative to write letters much more frequently, often sending greetings. Coincidentally, Cheng Xinzhan had indeed been much freer recently and often responded.

Eleventh Sister would often send people to deliver fish when she was happy, and she would thoughtfully send some talisman paper, with letter paper often tucked inside.

!

This was out of fear that the connection would be broken once the letter paper was used up.

In the pool were all kinds of sea loaches and sea clams. He would put everything Eleventh Sister sent here first, and send them to Songlu Lake after a while, otherwise Green Chi simply couldn't control her mouth.

Many shells hung on the pool wall. These sea shells were strange in shape and emitted a faint blue light, illuminating the bottom of the pool quite brightly. It was also these shells that replaced the fresh water with sea water, keeping the loaches and clams fresh.

When he reached the bottom of the pool, Cheng Xinzhan discovered that the Nine-Hole Dustless Lotus was actually rooted on the side wall. This pool water was much deeper than he had expected.

He really hadn't paid attention at the time and just threw the lotus seeds in. Not long after, seeing the small lotus leaves emerge, he paid even less attention.

"Cave Master, I'm afraid there is a hidden world under this pool!"

Old Bai had spent his whole life underground and had the best judgment of depth. The two had been going down for a long time, but this pool just didn't seem to have a bottom, and the further down they went, the larger the space became!

This small pool, which looked unremarkable from the outside, was gourd-shaped—small mouth and large belly!

The further down they went, the fewer sea shells there were. Below, it gradually transitioned back to fresh water, and the water color gradually turned black due to the lack of light.

Cheng Xinzhan threw a Light Talisman down and continued to dive. This was getting interesting.

Cheng Xinzhan knew that the very bottom of Mingzhi Mountain was empty, but his Wuyou Cave was still halfway up the mountain, far from the foot of the mountain. He wanted to see how deep this pool was and what was at the bottom.

The two continued to dive for two or three hundred zhang before light appeared from below again.

Old Bai was a bit nervous, fearing he would see something he shouldn't, so he said,

"Cave Master, this pool should be at the bottom. I'll go up first."

Cheng Xinzhan knew what he was worried about, but he believed that on Mingzhi Mountain, there was nothing that couldn't be seen. If there were any secrets, there would definitely be an array.

"It's fine."

He said.

Only then did Old Bai follow him down.

Soon, the small pool finally reached its bottom, and the two finally knew where the light came from.

The human and the spirit stared blankly at the bottom of the pool, both stunned.

"Good heavens, is this a Dragon Palace?"

Old Bai looked at the bottom of the pool and stammered.

After saying this, he immediately looked at Cheng Xinzhan in horror. He had said he wouldn't come down, he didn't want to see things he shouldn't. Now it was done. The Cave Master was kind-hearted, so he shouldn't silence him, right?

At this moment, the bottom of the pool was many times larger than the mouth of the pool. The surroundings were pitch black, and the boundaries couldn't be seen, but the area in the middle was bright and clear, just because a Crystal Palace stood here, emitting a pure white light!

The Crystal Palace wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. It was square, about seven or eight hundred paces long and wide, with twenty or thirty palaces, each made of crystal, decorated with coral and pearls. It was truly shining with treasure light.

Such a palace, if placed on Sanqing Mountain, might not be anything, and if placed in any city of Baiyujing, it would be even more ordinary. But at this moment, it was under a hundred-zhang pool, and seeing such a palace at the bottom of the pool after experiencing long darkness, the shock was huge.

Cheng Xinzhan continued to dive down, wanting to see clearly what the origin of this Crystal Palace under the pool was, who built it, when it was built, and why it was built.

Just then, he discovered that Old Bai was hanging there, not moving.

"Come down and take a look, Old Bai."

Old Bai shook his head like a rattle. This time, he wouldn't go down no matter what.

Cheng Xinzhan knew what he was worried about, so he didn't say anything more and dived down alone.

Before long, he landed at the bottom of the pool. It was already very cold here, and a string of small bubbles floated up from the bottom from time to time, gurgling. This was still a pool of living water.

However, it was too cold and too deep, and he didn't see any water plants or swimming fish.

The Crystal Palace had no walls and no city gates, so he landed randomly in an area on the outskirts.

Looking around, the size and style of these palaces were much the same as those outside, with no difference—all in the style of the Central Plains Han people.

He approached very carefully, worried about triggering any arrays.

Slowly approaching, slowly walking in.

There were no arrays or spiritual prohibitions, only a string of bubbles popping up from time to time by his feet, which would give Cheng Xinzhan a fright.

He walked slowly from the outskirts of the Crystal Palace to the inside, looking carefully, and finally discovered some clues.

This Crystal Palace looked harmonious as a whole, but from the outside in, the styles between the palaces were a bit different!

The outermost palaces, he saw, were clearly of the contemporary style, with complex and gorgeous roofs, embroidered caisson ceilings inside, and rows of ridge beasts outside.

Further inside, the paintings and decorations on the palaces were much fewer, and overall they were more rigorous. There were fewer pillars in the palaces, making them look more transparent and magnificent.

This was the style of the Tang Dynasty.

Moving towards the center, the palaces were all built on high platforms, with various stairs and high corridors connecting them, like palaces in the sky.

This was the style of the Han and Jin Dynasties.

Strange, truly strange.

The strangest thing was that he looked at them one by one and found that these palaces were built very exquisitely, but they were empty inside, without any treasures or dangers as he had imagined.

What kind of place was this?

The doubt in his heart grew stronger and stronger until he walked near the palace in the very center.

This palace was built on a high platform, and he had to look up to see the whole picture. It was extremely spectacular.

And there was a stone tablet under the high platform, which seemed to have words on it.

He stepped forward quickly. This was the first time he had seen something with words on it since entering the Crystal Palace.

There were several lines of words on the stone tablet, and he looked at them carefully.

Just looking at the first line of words, he was suddenly stunned, as if he had seen something that surprised him extremely.

Old Bai was watching from above, watching Cheng Xinzhan carefully looking around in the palace, finding nothing, and finally stopping in front of a stone tablet and not moving again.

He was so anxious he was scratching his ears and cheeks.

"Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"

A series of loud laughter suddenly came from the Crystal Palace, which gave Old Bai a fright.

"Cave Master?!"

Old Bai called out, fearing Cheng Xinzhan had been bewitched by a spell.

"Come down and see for yourself, hahaha!"

Cheng Xinzhan laughed and beckoned Old Bai to come down.

Since the Cave Master had said so, it should be fine, Old Bai thought. Unable to suppress his curiosity any longer, he twisted his tail and dived down.

He came to Cheng Xinzhan's side and looked up at the stone tablet. He saw several lines of words engraved on it, and the handwriting of each line was different. He looked at the first line of words at the beginning, and it was such a sentence:

Third-generation disciple of Mingzhi Mountain, Wei Baoping, admired the four seas since childhood, often thought of the Dragon Palace. After entering the mountain and obtaining the Dharma, I traveled to this pool and playfully built this palace to win a smile from the monarch, asking to visit the sages of later generations.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 155 =====