txolops Chapter 2 Great Fortune! The Fallen Cultivator's Cave!
Chapter 2 Great Fortune! The Fallen Cultivator's Cave!
Chapter 2 Great Fortune! The Fallen Cultivator's Cave!
Silent all night.
The next morning, as dawn broke.
Lin Chuan had just finished circulating his energy when golden light appeared before his eyes as expected:
Today's divination result: Minor good fortune.
[The divination reads: You were in a good mood and went to drink with your friend Li Yun, only to find him dead from poisoning. You then took advantage of the situation and stole his storage bag.]
Lin Chuan's pupils suddenly contracted.
Li Yun!
Memories surged up.
Li Yun, also a low-level disciple living on Xuankun Mountain, had a cultivation level of 12 Qi Refining and came from the direct line of the Li family.
The Li and Lin families have been on good terms for generations. The two families have known each other since childhood and entered Huangfeng Valley together.
Half a month ago, Li Yun said he was going to the market to buy materials for refining magical artifacts, and he has not been seen since.
"Died from poisoning?" Lin Chuan's heart sank.
According to the divination, Li Yun is already dead, but has not yet been discovered.
The storage bags of cultivators at the twelfth level of Qi Refining, especially those from the direct descendants of the Li family, must contain substantial wealth.
If he were to obtain it, it would be like a windfall for his impoverished disciple.
"Little Ji..."
Lin Chuan pondered, "The divination indicates this is an auspicious sign, but..."
He got up and paced around the room.
The morning light shone through the window frame, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
The killer of Li Yun remains unknown.
If we go now and are seen by someone, or if the storage bag has the Li family's special markings, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Yellow Maple Valley has strict rules, and harming fellow disciples is a grave crime.
At best, their cultivation will be abolished and they will be expelled from the sect; at worst, they will be executed on the spot.
After a moment, Lin Chuan shook his head and sighed softly, "The risk is too great."
He sat back on the futon, closed his eyes and concentrated, forcibly suppressing the greed in his heart.
The path to immortality is long, and it would be foolish to ruin one's future because of momentary greed.
"I will go into seclusion today and not go anywhere," Lin Chuan decided.
He took out a few spirit stones, set up a simple spirit-gathering array, and focused on circulating the Fire Separation Technique.
The barrier on the tenth level loosened slightly under the impact of spiritual energy, but it remained unbroken.
Lin Chuan only finished his practice and stood up as the sun set, his expression calm.
Nothing unusual happened at Xuankun Mountain that day.
Unbeknownst to anyone, in a secluded courtyard on the east side, a disciple at the twelfth level of Qi Refining had silently perished.
On the third day, before dawn, Lin Chuan had already opened his eyes and was waiting.
Golden light appeared:
Today's divination result: Very auspicious.
[Divination Text: Your friend Li Yun has died of poisoning. Feeling down, you go to Luoyin Slope in the Taiyue Mountains to clear your mind, but discover a cave dwelling of a fallen cultivator.]
"A cave!" Lin Chuan gasped for breath.
What does it mean when a cultivator's cave is destroyed?
Magical artifacts, elixirs, cultivation techniques, spirit stones...
This encapsulates a cultivator's life's work!
Such an opportunity is rare and hard to come by in the world of cultivation.
More importantly, the hexagram indicates "great fortune," not "minor fortune."
This means the risks are far less than the rewards.
He got up, changed his clothes, and went out; the morning mist had not yet dissipated.
Xuankun Mountain remained as tranquil as ever, with only the occasional early-rising disciple passing by on their magical artifacts.
…………
Luoyinpo is located on the north side of the Taiyue Mountains, about 30 li away from the gate of Huangfeng Valley.
This place has a heavy yin energy and scarce spiritual herbs, so few cultivators usually set foot here.
Lin Chuan rode the white feather and flew for about two hours before arriving.
It was nearly noon, but the sunlight could hardly penetrate the gray fog that permeated the area.
The hillside is covered with jagged rocks and withered trees, and the occasional cawing of crows adds to the eerie atmosphere.
Lin Chuan concealed his breathing and followed the guidance of the divination text, heading deeper into the hillside.
His divine sense could be projected outwards, encompassing an area of thirty feet.
After walking about half a mile, a cliff appeared ahead.
The cliff face was steep and covered with dark green vines. Just as Lin Chuan was about to examine it closely, his foot slipped, and loose stones tumbled down.
He swayed slightly, but then noticed that the vines on the cliff face were unusually dense, with faint traces of human intervention.
"This is it!"
He carefully parted the vines and sure enough, a hole about half a person's height was revealed.
The edges of the cave entrance were smooth, clearly cut by magic, but over the years they had become covered with moss.
Lin Chuan did not rush in. He first took out Zhang Mingzhao talisman, activated it, and threw it into the cave.
Under the light of the talisman, one could see that the cave was a downward-sloping passage, its bottom unseen.
He then took out a Vajra Talisman and patted it on his body. After being protected by golden light, he crouched down and crawled into the cave.
The passageway is narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time.
After walking about a hundred steps, the view suddenly opened up.
A stone chamber came into view, about three zhang square, with several dim moonstones embedded in the stone walls, reflecting the scene inside.
In the center of the stone chamber, a skeleton sat cross-legged on a futon, its clothes long since decayed into ash.
The skeleton was an eerie dark green, clearly indicating that the person had been severely poisoned before death.
"Is this the owner of the cave?" Lin Chuan wondered warily.
He didn't approach the skeleton at first, but instead looked around.
On the left side of the stone chamber is a stone table with several jade scrolls and two porcelain bottles scattered on it.
On the right is a row of wooden shelves, but unfortunately they are empty, covered only with dust.
Most strikingly, a dark blue storage bag hangs from the skeleton's waist.
Lin Chuan did not rush to retrieve the item, but instead carefully sensed his surroundings.
Only after confirming that there were no remaining restrictions did they slowly step forward.
He first went to the stone table and gently fiddled with the jade slip with his Qingfeng sword.
The three jade slips are well preserved. One of them is called "The Classic of Herbs and Elixir," which records insights into alchemy.
One of the volumes is "Water Cloud Technique," a water-based cultivation method that can be practiced up to the Foundation Establishment stage. It should be the cultivation method practiced by the cave master.
The last volume is the cultivation notes of the cave dwelling's owner.
Lin Chuan's pupils contracted slightly as he opened the notebook.
"I am Chen Tianhe, a rogue cultivator from the Yue Kingdom, at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. Ambushed by an enemy, I was poisoned by the 'Azure Scale Poison' and fled here. Knowing my days are numbered, I have left this legacy here, awaiting a destined one..."
The notes also mention that Chen Tianhe hid most of his wealth in a secret compartment of his cave to avoid his enemies.
"Foundation Establishment cultivator!" Lin Chuan's heart raced.
Following the instructions in the notes, he knocked seven times on a certain spot on the stone wall.
With a soft click, a stone slab slid open, revealing a hidden compartment.
Inside the hidden compartment, three items were neatly arranged:
A foot-long azure flying sword, its blade shimmering with light—the top-tier magical artifact, the "Azure Cloud Sword"!
A small bronze cauldron, no bigger than the palm of your hand, its body engraved with runes—the superior-grade magic weapon "Azure Flame Cauldron," which can be used for both alchemy and weapon crafting.
Finally, there was a jade box containing five mid-grade spirit stones and three bottles of pills.
One mid-grade spirit stone is worth one hundred low-grade spirit stones!
Lin Chuan was breathing rapidly, but he forced himself to remain calm.
He carefully put all the items into his storage bag before finally approaching the skeleton.
The dark blue storage bag felt slightly heavy in my hand as I probed it with my divine sense.
The bag also contained hundreds of low-grade spirit stones, several mid-to-low-grade magic artifacts, and some materials.
"The life savings of a Foundation Establishment cultivator..." Lin Chuan murmured.
A moment later, Lin Chuan solemnly bowed three times to the skeleton: "Senior Chen, I have received your teachings today. If I achieve something in the future, I will definitely avenge you."
From Chen Tianhe's notes, he already knew who his enemy was.
After saying that, he quickly left the cave, restored the vines to their original state, and then used magic to erase the traces of his presence.
As Lin Chuan rode the white feathers away from Luoyin Slope, he looked back at the cliff and felt a surge of emotion.
Before today, he was a Qi Refining cultivator with scarce resources.
From today onwards, your wealth will be comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator!
"The divination proved to be indeed accurate and insightful."
He clenched his fist: "The death of Li Yun, the demise of Chen Tianhe... this cultivation world is truly fraught with danger, but also full of opportunities."
A white feather streaked across the sky as it sped toward Yellow Maple Valley.