Mysterious Text

The two entered the hall, and the first thing that caught their eyes was an incredibly large stone table, at least five times the size of their usual ones. Around the table, four sturdy stone stools were placed, and there were no other objects.

To their left, a deep, dark passage beckoned. Jiang Yun and Zhang Tie cautiously stepped into it. Before long, they discovered two stone doors facing each other.

Jiang Yun waved his hand, casting a magic incantation. A white ball of light instantly appeared, hovering above their heads, illuminating the entire passage with a soft glow, making everything much clearer.

Zhang Tie strode quickly to the stone door on the right, took a deep breath, and pushed with all his might. The stone door slowly opened from one side. As they stepped inside, they were surprised to find that the room contained only four walls, but these walls were made of a very special material, clearly different in texture from the outside.

Zhang Tie walked to the wall and, without hesitation, raised his fist and punched it forcefully. To his astonishment, not even a slight crease appeared on the wall.

This time, Zhang Tie held nothing back. He gathered all his strength into his fist and struck the wall again with a heavy blow. With a dull thud, the wall emitted a faint sound of impact, but still, no trace was left.

"This should be a room for ancient cultivators to practice spells," Zhang Tie guessed. Jiang Yun nodded slightly, agreeing wholeheartedly. He had personally witnessed Zhang Tie's terrifying strength before, and now, even Zhang Tie couldn't leave a mark on this wall, which showed its unimaginable hardness.

Zhang Tie then exited this practice room and went straight to the opposite room. He reached out and pushed open the stone door, and the entire room was revealed.

On the left side of the room, a row of bookshelves was neatly arranged, densely packed with numerous books. Beside the bookshelves stood a stone chair and a small table about half a zhang square.

On the right side of the room, a mysterious pattern was carved into the wall.

Zhang Tie and Jiang Yun first walked towards the bookshelves. Zhang Tie reached out to take an ancient book, but unexpectedly, as soon as his hand touched it, the book instantly turned to dust. Zhang Tie tried several more books, but the result was the same. Zhang Tie looked up at Jiang Yun, and from his companion's eyes, he clearly saw a deep sense of disappointment.

Zhang Tie frowned and waved his hand, casting several magic incantations. Suddenly, a small tornado, about two people tall, appeared in the room and swept rapidly along the bookshelves like a whirlwind. In just a few breaths, the books on the shelves vanished without a trace, turning into dust that was blown to a corner and piled up.

"Huh!" Zhang Tie's eyes lit up with surprise and delight, and he quickly walked towards a bookshelf. It turned out something was still left on the shelf. Zhang Tie reached out and took it into his hand. Upon closer inspection, it was a rectangular white jade pendant, about the size of a palm.

Zhang Tie immediately injected spiritual power, but the jade pendant remained unresponsive. After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Tie began to inject the power of qi and blood. Soon, the jade pendant began to hum and then floated in the air, projecting a field of golden text.

There weren't many words, only about two hundred. However, Zhang Tie didn't recognize any of them. He turned to Jiang Yun and asked, "Do you recognize these characters?"

"No, but they should be ancient characters. The Sect might have relevant records," Jiang Yun replied.

Zhang Tie said no more. He waved his hand and put away the jade pendant, then collected the bookshelf into his storage bag. This bookshelf had remained intact for ten thousand years, so it was definitely not ordinary.

Afterward, the two moved to the right side, their gazes fixed on the pattern on the wall. Immediately, both of them showed pleased expressions.

"This should be a map of the surrounding area. This square-shaped marker must be our current location," Jiang Yun said.

"Indeed. Let's each make a rubbing," Zhang Tie said.

Then, the two took out the beast hides used for making rubbings. Zhang Tie injected spiritual power first, and the beast hide instantly enlarged, adhering tightly to the wall. Next, he cast another magic incantation, and the beast hide spun back into his hand. Zhang Tie opened it and saw that it had been completely copied. Jiang Yun followed suit and successfully made a rubbing as well.

Zhang Tie took out his flying sword and scribbled wildly on the map, completely destroying it.

The two walked out of the room and headed towards the opposite passage. During this time, Jiang Yun clearly noticed Zhang Tie looking back at the practice room several times with a look of regret.

Upon reaching the opposite passage, there was only one stone door. Zhang Tie pushed the stone door open with force and saw that the entire room contained only a giant stone bed, over three zhang long. Zhang Tie walked up to it and, unwilling to give up, tapped and knocked on the stone bed, hoping to find some hidden compartment.

"Brother Zhang, what are your plans now?" Jiang Yun asked.

Zhang Tie didn't answer directly. Instead, he opened the map they had just copied and studied it carefully before asking, "What are your thoughts?"

Jiang Yun also looked at the map spread on the bed and fell into thought. After a moment, he said, "According to the map's records, this area should be rich in spirit medicine and spirit herbs, while this area is extremely dangerous, marked with 'x's. As for this place, I really can't figure out what it is." Jiang Yun said this while pointing to a circular marker and looking at Zhang Tie.

"Are you alright now? Have you recovered? Let's go to the spirit medicine area first, and then head to the circular marked area," Zhang Tie said.

"I'm fine now, but I think it would be safer for Brother Zhang to keep this token," Jiang Yun said, handing the token to Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie pushed it back, saying, "That won't do. What if we encounter a formidable opponent, and you abandon me and flee alone?"

Jiang Yun's face turned red. "Brother Zhang, what are you saying? I'm just afraid of being a burden to you. Also, this Five Elements Forbidden Breaking Formation, I feel a strong connection with you, so I'll give it to you."

Jiang Yun took out the formation flags and formation disk, placing them with the token. With a pained expression, he handed them to Zhang Tie again. Zhang Tie hesitated for a moment before finally accepting them and putting them into his storage bag, saying, "The Sect's interests come first. I'll take the token for now." As of this moment, Zhang Tie had four tokens in his possession, including his own.

The two then meticulously planned their route to the spirit medicine area. Afterward, they left the ruins of the cave dwelling and, using the Wind Riding Technique, sped towards the direction of the spirit medicine garden.