Stealing Heavenly Secrets from Cover the Heavens Section 27

Better to wait until the Bitter Sea is opened up and he's cultivated enough magical power before refining it.

After returning to the city, he took the Luoyang Shovel and Snakeskin Bag and headed alone to Mount Tai.

At the same time, the great tomb beneath the Vegetable Greenhouse was finally discovered.

Not long after the local archaeological team got involved, Old Man Xu learned of his third son's death.

In the Xu Family Ancestral Hall, Old Man Xu held another secret discussion with his eldest son Xu Jian, just released from prison, and his second son Xu Jisheng.

"Dad, Third Brother's death is definitely tied to that Li Zhi," Xu Jisheng said with certainty.

"I was fooled by him before too. He's not from the Li family at all. Maybe you're right—his death can't be separated from him." A flicker of grief over losing a son passed through Old Man Xu's eyes.

"But Dad, aside from an overseas bank account, we don't have any other information on him," Xu Jian said, a hint of unease in his eyes.

Old Man Xu replied, "In this world, there's nothing money can't buy. As long as we're willing to spend, we'll find his whereabouts."

"That guy's probably a tough nut. If he finds out we're looking for him, could it bring trouble to the family?" Xu Jian asked with some worry.

"Big Brother, you're always overthinking things. It's obvious now. Third Brother must have found something in that great tomb and got silenced. Haven't you heard what the archaeological team said? They've confirmed a third party was at the scene. It has to be that Li Zhi—he played the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, and took the spoils," Xu Jisheng said.

"Dad, Second Brother, I still think we should take our time with this. Our family isn't some powerful clan. Even if we find Li Zhi, what then? With his wealth, can we really fight him?" After his stint in prison, it seemed Xu Jian's courage had been worn down.

"Big Brother, what do you mean? This is a chance at immortality, and you're just going to let it slip away?" Xu Jisheng glared at Xu Jian indignantly.

Old Man Xu said, "Third Brother's death must be accounted for, but we need to think of a steady plan."

Xu Jian frowned. "Dad, have you forgotten what happened to the Yao Family? Our family can't afford to get mixed up in this."

Just then, Xu Jian's daughter Xu Miaomiao called out from outside the ancestral hall.

"Grandfather, Dad, Second Uncle. A fierce-looking boss named Ke showed up at home, says he's looking for you."

"Boss Ke?" Xu Jian and Old Man Xu both turned their gaze to Xu Jisheng.

Xu Jisheng shook his head. "I don't know any Boss Ke."

"Let's go. Let's see who this Boss Ke really is."

In the end, Old Man Xu spoke calmly.

At that moment, Li Zhi, who had already entered the Array Barrier, had no idea that people who wanted him dead were starting to appear one after another.

And after successfully breaching the outer Array Barrier of the Great Sage's Grotto-heaven, things were far from as smooth as he'd imagined.

In truth, Li Zhi's troubles were foreseeable.

If he'd carefully calculated the time before entering that array, he'd have been shocked to realize that the day he climbed Mount Tai was exactly the day his three-year borrowed fortune from the heaven sacrifice expired.

Unfortunately, three years of smooth sailing had made Li Zhi subconsciously overlook this.

Towering mountains, lakes everywhere, lush vegetation, and countless birds and beasts flitting through the woods.

After entering the Great Sage's Grotto-heaven, Li Zhi felt like he'd stepped into another world.

He entered atop a great mountain.

On the mountain was a terrace.

Standing on the terrace, behind him was a blurry mist, as if it were the edge of the world, the location of the array's barrier.

In front of the terrace stretched an enormous area.

Endless as far as the eye could see, spanning what seemed like hundreds of miles.

In the distance, mountains linked to mountains, waters joined waters, like a beautiful landscape painting.

He could also see that on every mountain, there was a flat area, as if invisible barriers shrouded those spaces. Looking closely, they were herb gardens of varying sizes.

The herbs planted in those gardens were almost entirely unrecognizable to Li Zhi.

At least in the outside world, he'd never seen such plant species.

Following a small path down from the terrace.

Li Zhi officially entered the area of the Great Sage's Grotto-heaven.

He was searching for a place called Longevity Hall.

Crossing mountains and valleys, when he passed a herb field at the foot of a mountain, he finally spotted plants he recognized.

That field was actually full of rice paddies.

And Li Zhi noticed that there seemed to be no weeds in the rice field, which was quite remarkable.

It wasn't until he saw the Array Barrier covering the rice field that he understood the reason—it seemed those arrays automatically regulated the balance of water and fertilizer.

Even without anyone tending them, the herbs in those gardens still grew impressively.

Unfortunately, all those herb fields gave Li Zhi a feeling of being utterly devoid of spirituality.

Even the barriers didn't seem very sturdy.

He tried poking them a few times with the Luoyang Shovel in his hand and broke through the barrier.

After observing the herbs in the field for a moment, Li Zhi simply shook his head. Sure enough, no spirituality at all.

No different from the plants outside—they weren't spiritual herbs at all.

Moreover, he could not sense any spiritual energy in the air.

It was almost no different from the Heaven and Earth Environment outside.

Li Zhi couldn't help but marvel at the power of Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountain, which had nearly drained a primordial star larger than the Big Dipper.

Even the area sealed off by the Array Barrier set by the Great Sage could not escape the fate of withering.

No wonder those Ancient Cultivators all chose to leave the star and go far away.

Crossing one mountain after another, fording one stream after another.

Li Zhi finally caught sight of the Longevity Hall on a mountain seven or eight hundred meters high.

The hall seemed to merge seamlessly with the mountaintop.

It was built entirely from an unknown type of wood.

Just laying eyes on that wooden hall made Li Zhi feel his blood and qi stir with vitality.

It seemed that a fair amount of spiritual energy still lingered inside the hall.

It took Li Zhi over an hour to reach the summit and stand before the Longevity Hall.

The exterior of the hall was extremely plain, with neither carved beams nor painted rafters, nor any variety of divine beast reliefs.

The hall, in its natural wood color, measured no more than ten zhang in both length and width.

Its height was also around ten zhang.

Moreover, the hall's doors were wide open, allowing a clear view of the interior in a single glance.

Two rows of eight pillars, each over a meter thick, supported the entire structure. Inside, there were no tables, chairs, benches, or any other decorations.

Not even a single meditation cushion was present.

The hall felt very empty.

The only distinctive feature was the floor, which differed from ordinary halls—it was solid wood planks without any gaps.

The one thing that delighted Li Zhi was the Hundred Herbs Diagram floating in the center of the hall.

It was an unfurled scroll, nine feet long and three feet wide, with its two rollers carved from an unknown Divine Wood.

Within the painting, there was nothing extraneous—only a great mountain and tiered medicinal fields arranged like steps around it.

The colors of those fields were also easy to distinguish: green, yellow, red, white, and black.

And the spiritual herbs planted there seemed to be arranged according to the Five Elements.

At the mountain's summit platform grew a fruit tree about the height of two people.

Beneath the tree sat a Daoist with a blurred face, cross-legged.

And on the branch directly above the Daoist's head hung a single fruit.

The fruit resembled a baby, with clear features, rosy white skin, and a look that strongly recalled the legendary Ginseng Fruit.

Just one glance through the Array Barrier and the scroll made Li Zhi feel an urge to eat it immediately.

After pacing outside the hall for a few minutes, Li Zhi did not enter directly. Instead, he went to check out other peaks.

To see if there were any other places where humans might live within this vast secret realm.

Or places where spiritual herbs grew.

Over the following half-month, he scoured nearly the entire secret realm, finding only a few abandoned caves.

And he found nothing of value inside those caves.

As for spiritual herbs, he couldn't even dream of them.

There were, however, many sweet-tasting fruits in the mountains.

Li Zhi picked nearly half a Snakeskin Bag full of fruit, planning to bring them back for the children to enjoy.