Chapter 721: Chapter 717: Treasure Register Chapter 721: Chapter 717: Treasure Register Shen Luo's gaze quickly scanned the labels on the wooden shelves, noting many elixirs that he had previously read about in the classics, all of considerable importance. He took a closer look.
Unfortunately, the bottles were either empty or their contents had been stored for too long and lost their potency.
Despite his disappointment, he continued searching in the stone chamber, hoping against hope. And his patience was rewarded when he found a black jade bottle in a corner.
The jade bottle was cool to the touch, seemingly made from a certain kind of cold jade. It appeared relatively new, with its mouth tightly sealed, covered with a green talisman. The bottle was meticulously preserved.
A faint green light flashed on the talisman, showing no signs of decay.
Shen Luo picked up the jade bottle. After a brief moment of contemplation, he held it in his palms radiating golden light.
After making these preparations, he removed the green talisman, then carefully grasped the stopper and yanked it off forcefully.
With a soft “pop”, the stopper came off smoothly. Before he could see what was inside, a puff of black Qi emerged.
Shen Luo's gaze hardened as the golden light in his hands surged, trapping the black Qi inside, allowing not a single strand to escape.
Given that the Huangting Technique was a treasured scripture of Mount Fangcun, not only was it incredibly powerful, but it also had a superior restraining power against poisons, miasmas, and the likes. Hence, containing this black Qi was almost guaranteed.
But as soon as the golden light touched the black Qi, the black Qi dissolved into the golden light and disappeared.
Shen Luo felt as though something had merged into his body. His face changed color immediately. He hastily replaced the stopper to prevent more black Qi from coming out and resealed it with the green talisman.
He then set down the black jade bottle, closing his eyes to check his own condition carefully. But he could perceive nothing amiss; he felt no discomfort, and there was no hindrance to his use of Mana.
But he dared not become careless given what had just happened.
“Forget it, now is not the time for detailed investigation, I'll examine it later.” Shen Luo muttered to himself before storing the black jade bottle away.
He examined the stone chamber for a while longer but found nothing. He then turned and proceeded to the stone chamber opposite.
The door to this chamber was also unlocked and was easily pushed open. The size of the room was similar to the previous one, only, this one appeared to be a bedroom. The front half of the room housed a redwood table, with a rattan chair situated behind it. Against the wall next to the table was a bookshelf crammed with numerous books.
All the items in the front half of the chamber were like that. The back half of the chamber contained a large stone bed. To the left of the bed was a one foot tall green stone stool. On the stool were a few books and a bronze candlestick.
And on the bed, lay a person, or to be accurate, a corpse. It was already desiccated, a skeletal frame.
Shen Luo raised an eyebrow but didn't pay any attention to the corpse. He began searching swiftly throughout the chamber and in no time had checked most of the books.
These books were all about spiritual grasses and materials. Their quality was on par with those in Mount Fangcun, clearly they were all quite precious.
Shen Luo always valued such useful books, so he collected them all without hesitation, to be read later at leisure.
After doing so, he approached the corpse.
Without the ability to utilize his divine sense here, Shen Luo had to physically search the corpse, but he found nothing.
The identity of the corpse was a mystery, and there were no storage magical tools, magical weapons or treasures on it. It was dressed only in a black robe which was already largely decayed.
Feeling somewhat disappointed, Shen Luo returned the corpse to the bed.
In his disappointment, he handled the corpse a bit roughly, causing it to hit the bed with a “thump”.
When Shen Luo heard the noise, he came back to his senses and admonished himself internally, silently apologising to the corpse in his mind.
But just then, with a soft “clatter”, something fell from the corpse. It was a white jade slip.
This jade slip looked quite different from ordinary ones. Its surface had an ever-changing glow to it.
Shen Luo bent down to pick up the jade slip. When he cast his divine sense into it, his expressions swiftly changed.
Indeed, this jade slip was different from the usual ones. Its storage capacity was over a hundred times that of a normal jade slip, which was an incredible feat.
The massive storage space within the jade slip was filled with densely packed small characters. Starting from basic herbs, it gradually extended to provide detailed introductions to various kinds of spiritual grasses and medicines found in the cultivation world. Information about tens of thousands of kinds of spiritual grasses was covered, including their origins, properties, and cultivation methods, all recorded in great detail, making it an encyclopedic work on spiritual grasses.
Shen Luo had read the books on spiritual grasses at Mount Fangcun, and had perused some similar books at the Bai Family and in Chang'an City. Yet, when compared to the content of this jade slip, they all seemed quite lacking.
What delighted him most was that the jade slip impressively recorded about twenty to thirty Dan formulas at the end. Covering various realms and different uses, some could assist in breaking through realms, some could cure injuries and detoxify, while others could strengthen the body, showing him a whole new world of possibilities.
Among these Dan formulas, there were two or three which could increase lifespan. Although the necessary materials were rare, they were not as nearly extinct as Thousand-Year Spirit Milk or Dragon Blood. It was quite likely that they could be found in reality.
“As they say, the Treasure Hall excels in elixir refinement. They truly live up to their reputation.” Shen Luo looked through the jade slip for a long while before reluctantly withdrawing his divine sense, and then carefully stashed it away.
This was a priceless treasure. Ruining it would be a disaster.
Just as he was about to continue his search in the stone chamber, the tightly shut door suddenly opened and the old man in gray robe appeared outside.
“Damn it, I was so engrossed in checking the jade slip that I didn't notice the movement outside.” Shen Luo cursed his negligence in his mind.
“Huh! Shen Luo! It's you!” The old man in the gray robe was as surprised to see Shen Luo as Shen Luo was to recognize his name.
“You recognize me? Who are you, Your Excellency?” Shen Luo was quite taken aback.
He had entered the Dreamland several times and recognized some people, but this old man in a gray robe was quite unfamiliar. He should not have met him.
The eyes behind the old man's gray robe seemed to flicker twice. He then suddenly turned and fled outwards.
“Wait, don't run!” Shen Luo was momentarily stunned before quickly chasing after him.
It wasn't easy to fly in the Underworld here, so the two could only chase and run on foot.
The old man in the gray robe moved as if he was a snake darting around–quite agile. Shen Luo, for the moment, was unable to catch up.
The two of them chased and fled, soon rushing out of the passageway and reaching the ground outside.
The old man in the gray robe immediately surrounded himself in a massive black light, turning into a black serpent-like light, and darted off into the distance at an incredible speed.
However, Shen Luo's fleeing speed was not something the old man in the gray robe could match. Shen Luo wielded the Six Chen Whip, and in the blink of an eye, he turned into a pitch-black rainbow, many times faster than the serpent-like light. Soon, he caught up with the old man in the gray robe.