Alchemist Cave Abode

Clang, clang, clang...

Zheng Que engaged his core, swung his fist, and hammered the Plum Blossom Floor a dozen times.

A faint crack finally appeared on the surface of the floor.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but frown. There had to be some mechanism here he hadn't discovered yet; otherwise, the town mayor, a mere mortal, would never have been able to get down there.

At this moment, seeing that Zheng Que was taking too long to break through the floor, Qing Li said with great impatience, "Move aside, you human brat, and let this lady handle it!"

As she spoke, her arms suddenly elongated, snaking toward the Plum Blossom Floor like a phantom.

BOOM!!!

With a deafening roar, Qing Li smashed a finger-wide crack into the Plum Blossom Floor in an instant.

Qing Li continued her assault, her arms spinning like wheels as she struck the floor repeatedly.

Boom, boom, boom...

Amidst the flying sand and stone, the Plum Blossom Floor emitted crisp cracking sounds. Before long, the entire floor shattered and collapsed, revealing a hole in the ground.

Zheng Que felt a surge of joy. He brushed away the dust blowing into his face and stepped forward to investigate. Beneath the hole, there was a tunnel!

The tunnel was built with blue bricks and sloped downward, seemingly leading deeper underground. It was clearly rarely opened; now that the ceiling was broken, a musty, cold air—characteristic of a space sealed for years—wafted out.

Zheng Que didn't jump down immediately. Instead, he picked up a piece of rubble from the side and tossed it inside.

Clatter, clatter...

The stone rolled down the tunnel and came to a stop after a moment. Otherwise, it remained perfectly still; nothing happened.

Zheng Que waited a while longer before cautiously entering and heading down.

Tap, tap, tap...

His footsteps sounded exceptionally loud in the cramped tunnel. Qing Li followed closely behind.

This tunnel was longer than he had imagined. The daylight behind them gradually faded, and the surroundings sank into darkness. However, as a cultivator at the Second Layer of Qi Refining, Zheng Que possessed extraordinary vision and could still see clearly.

He walked along the tunnel for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense before a stone door appeared ahead.

The stone door was covered in intermittent patterns. They appeared to have once been complete runes forming a barrier, but they had since failed, with only scattered traces flickering with a faint light.

Zheng Que immediately recognized it as a type of barrier, similar to the one at the town entrance, though there were subtle differences between the two.

This was likely a measure to prevent outsiders from entering, but most of the patterns had since faded or blurred, rendering the barrier completely ineffective.

He stepped forward and gently pushed the stone door open. He didn't rush inside, waiting patiently for a moment. Seeing no signs of mechanisms or traps behind the door, he then stepped inside with great caution.

Behind the door lay a spacious secret chamber.

The chamber was circular, and in the center stood a Bronze Tripod as tall as a person. The tripod was covered in rust, and a faded talisman was plastered onto its lid.

On both sides of the high platform were floor-to-ceiling shelves. They were packed with an assortment of bottles and jars, along with many withered branches and leaves that faintly emitted a weak medicinal scent. Everything was now shriveled and blackened, scattered sparsely about, while four dusty bags were piled in a corner.

Behind the Bronze Tripod stood a three-foot-high stone platform furnished with a table and chair. On the table sat a set of Four Treasures of the Study covered in dust, along with a beautifully patterned Brocade Box.

At this moment, Qing Li had already hung herself from the stone door. Swinging back and forth, she pointed her chin toward the Bronze Tripod and said, "That ghost from Tongue-Pulling Hell is inside there!"

Hearing this, Zheng Que nodded slightly. That Bronze Tripod must have been an alchemist's furnace.

The ancestor of the town mayor's family was truly an alchemist!

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, he didn't waste any time and strode directly toward the stone platform behind the Bronze Tripod.

The beautifully patterned Brocade Box was very conspicuous; it was highly likely to be the Great Medicine he was looking for.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Perhaps sensing a living person approaching, a series of violent impacts suddenly came from within the talisman-covered Bronze Tripod, causing the heavy vessel to tremble slightly. It seemed the thing inside was trying to break free.

However, perhaps because it had been trapped for too long, the ghost inside was already incredibly weak. The banging lasted only a few seconds before the struggle ceased.

Zheng Que ignored the ghost in the Bronze Tripod. He reached the stone platform in two strides and carefully examined the Brocade Box on the table.

The box was about a foot long and two inches wide. The entire body was wrapped in Gold-Embroidered Satin, the intricate patterns on the surface faintly outlining the contours of runes.

Zheng Que reached out, picked it up, and opened it cautiously.

As soon as the box was cracked open, a medicinal fragrance so thick it felt almost tangible rushed into his nose.

This scent contained a powerful vitality; merely smelling it made his entire body feel indescribably comfortable, and his Spirit Power began to circulate faster.

This situation was exactly the same as the three medicinal whiskers the town mayor had given him, but the effect was even more pronounced.

This was exactly the Great Medicine he was looking for!

Zheng Que was overjoyed and immediately opened the lid completely.

Inside, lined with bright red fabric, sat a medicinal herb resembling a tuber, secured with red gold thread. A corner of the herb had already been cut away; the remaining tuber was about the size of a goose egg, and there were over a dozen strands of root fibers, each carefully fixed to the red cloth with red gold thread to prevent damage from shaking.

After a brief glance, Zheng Que immediately closed the Brocade Box to prevent the medicinal efficacy from dissipating.

With the Great Medicine in hand, he finally looked at the other items in the underground chamber.

There were many things on the shelves on both sides, but after rummaging through them, Zheng Que discovered that while the withered branches and leaves were likely spirit herbs, they had been stored for too long and had completely lost their value. The numerous bottles and jars were mostly empty. When he opened a few of them, he did manage to pour out several different types of pills, but these pills lacked any medicinal fragrance and instead emitted a stale, foul odor, clearly having expired.

Only one inconspicuous plain white porcelain bottle remained. The shelf below it was labeled with the words "Yin-Dispelling Pill." Inside this bottle, he poured out three dark red pills that still retained a faint medicinal scent; they appeared not to have expired yet.

Of course, Zheng Que knew nothing about this Yin-Dispelling Pill and dared not test the medicine casually at this moment.

Next, he turned his attention to the four bags.

Zheng Que picked up the bag on the far left. It looked like a plain, black-bottomed pouch with two strings threaded through the opening, making it convenient to hang from a belt. He had no idea what material it was made of; it felt weightless in his hand, shriveled and curled like a dried-up fruit, appearing as if there was nothing inside.

However, no matter how many times he tried, he could not open the mouth of the bag.

Realizing this was an item belonging to a cultivator, Zheng Que immediately channeled a sliver of Spirit Power into it.

The next moment, the bag suddenly expanded, and the opening unsealed itself. While it looked no larger than a fist on the outside, it contained a world of its own inside—a space as large as a trunk, filled with miscellaneous items like clothing and accessories.

Looking at this scene, Zheng Que immediately understood that this was a Storage Bag used by cultivators!

It contained its own internal space, allowing one to store personal belongings inside and retrieve them at will by channeling Spirit Power when needed.

With that, Zheng Que quickly took out all the miscellaneous items and placed the Great Medicine and the Yin-Dispelling Pill he had just acquired inside.