Ancient Cultivator's Cave Abode

Could there be some treasure inside the cave? Su Ye wondered.

Su Ye washed his hands by the river, then headed for the cave halfway up the mountain.

The flash of light he had just seen certainly hadn't been a trick of his eyes.

Trees grew thick on the mountainside, with vines winding between them, so Su Ye made slow progress.

After about twenty minutes, Su Ye finally arrived at the cave entrance.

The entrance was roughly ten meters across, surrounded by enormous rocks. On either side stood a large stone slab, each about two meters long and four meters high.

Seen from a distance, it looked like the gaping maw of a giant beast, with the two stone slabs as its fangs.

Su Ye looked at the huge opening, which seemed ready to swallow him whole, and couldn't help having second thoughts.

But his intense curiosity kept urging him to go inside and find out what lay within.

Could someone have lived here? Su Ye wondered.

It was just past noon, and perhaps because of the heavy rain the night before, the sun was exceptionally dazzling today.

Su Ye peered into the cave. Although it was still a little dark, he could see well enough.

Su Ye stepped into the cave and walked several dozen meters forward before a cool breeze rushed against his face.

There can't be ghosts, can there? For some reason, Su Ye's heart tightened.

Su Ye stared at the sight inside the cave, momentarily stunned. The space within was surprisingly vast, certainly more than ten meters high, like a hollowed-out watermelon.

The moment Su Ye stepped into the spherical cavern, the scenery around him changed.

A dazzling light shone in his eyes, and Su Ye involuntarily closed them. When he opened them again, the dim cavern had disappeared. At some point, dozens of luminous pearls had been embedded in the surrounding stone walls, making the cavern as bright as day.

"What happened?"

Su Ye looked around in bewilderment.

In the light of the luminous pearls, he saw a stone cabinet, a stone table, and a skeleton sitting on a meditation cushion, all of which had appeared at some unknown time. A long bronze box lay on the table.

If there's any danger, I'll immediately hide in the Immortal Spirit Space, Su Ye thought.

Su Ye then cautiously walked toward the skeleton.

Seeing no traps, Su Ye sat down beside it.

Phew!! What on earth is this place? Su Ye wondered.

Nothing before him seemed like something an ordinary human could have accomplished. The methods involved were more like those of... an immortal cultivator.

Su Ye looked at the skeleton. It wore ancient-style clothing, though the ravages of time had reduced the garments to tatters.

Suddenly, Su Ye's eyes narrowed. He saw a small cloth pouch tied around the skeleton's waist, not much different in appearance from the storage bag he had obtained in the Immortal Spirit Space.

Su Ye immediately untied the storage bag, then extended his spiritual sense and swept it through the bag.

The storage bag had roughly a thousand square meters of space inside, packed full of things: medicinal herbs, furniture, clothes, all kinds of weapons, books...

Su Ye took out a piece of furniture, only for it to turn to ash the moment it emerged. He then took out some medicinal herbs and clothes, but they met the same end.

Who knows how much time has passed? They turned to ash as soon as they were exposed to the air, Su Ye thought.

Su Ye then took out several weapons. This time, they didn't turn to dust. He picked up a saber and slashed at the stone wall, but its edge immediately curled over.

"Still no good?"

Next, Su Ye took out a thick book. It was completely intact, its pages slightly yellowed. Two large, bold characters were written on the cover: Pharmacopoeia.

"Is this a book on pharmacology?"

Su Ye slowly opened it to the first page.

Spirit Gathering Pill: A pill rich in spiritual energy. Taking it restores spiritual energy and accelerates its absorption.

Below that were the ingredient formula and precautions for taking it.

"Is this a pill manual?"

Su Ye flipped through the next few pages. Essence Pill, Body Shaping Pill, Bigu Pill, Yellow Tooth Pill, Foundation Establishment Pill...

Without exception, they contained descriptions of pills, the materials used to refine them, and some precautions.

After reading for a while, Su Ye put the Pharmacopoeia into his own storage bag.

He then took a few more things out of the other storage bag, but every one of them turned into a pile of ash.

Suddenly, Su Ye spotted three objects resembling jade pendants in a corner of the storage bag.

Su Ye took out the three "jade pendants" and examined them carefully, but after looking at them for a long time, he still couldn't make anything of them. He then extended his spiritual sense into the jade pendants, and they immediately gave off a faint glow.

A long while later, Su Ye withdrew his spiritual sense, a look of sudden realization on his face. They were three jade slips. The first two each recorded a cultivation method capable of reaching the Golden Core Realm, while the third jade slip seemed rather strange, containing only some information.

Roughly speaking, it said that this was the dwelling place of an immortal cultivator named Qinghua. Qinghua had cultivated for over three hundred years before entering the Golden Core Realm, and had challenged experts from all quarters without suffering a single defeat.

But just when he was at the height of his glory, heaven and earth suddenly underwent a great change. Spiritual energy was exhausted, and his cultivation regressed rather than advanced. The immortal cultivators all used the spiritual energy in spirit stones to prolong their lives, but eventually the spirit stones ran out, and they died when their lifespans came to an end.

"Spiritual energy was exhausted?" Su Ye sensed his surroundings and confirmed that spiritual energy did exist, though it was so thin as to be almost negligible.

Su Ye tossed the three jade slips into the Immortal Spirit Space and put them on a shelf in the thatched hut.

Su Ye then looked at the bronze box on the stone table. After reading the jade slip, he already knew that it contained Qinghua's magic treasure: a sword.

Back then, Qinghua had wielded this sword to defeat the heaven's chosen of the same level from all quarters.

Su Ye touched the bronze box, then slowly opened it.

Inside was a cyan longsword about a meter long and ten centimeters wide, emitting a faint, cold gleam. A cyan dragon's head was carved into the hilt, giving it an imposing air, and the blade looked incomparably sharp.

"Can it still be used?" Su Ye wondered.

Everything else had turned into piles of ash under the ravages of time.

As he spoke, Su Ye raised the cyan longsword and slashed at the stone wall.

"Clang!!! Thud!!!"

After a light sound, the protruding part of the stone wall had been cleanly sliced off by the cyan longsword.

Su Ye picked up the piece of stone that had fallen at his feet. Looking at its smooth cut surface, he couldn't help freezing in astonishment.

"It's that sharp? Wouldn't chopping a person with it be like cutting vegetables?" Su Ye said in delight.

The Taihe Sixteen Grotto-Heavens recorded a spell for refining magic treasures, but Su Ye hadn't had any magic treasures before, so he hadn't learned it. Instead, he had learned a few practical minor spells.