Chapter 316: Ancient Alchemy Chamber

Chapter 316: The Ancient Alchemy Chamber

Kunlun City was not originally a city, but a town that had expanded ever larger, nestled in a mountain hollow surrounded on three sides, with only a path leading outward to the east.

Thus, whether it was Sisi in the past, or later Yang Qianyuan, or even now Chichi and Zhao Changhe, they all entered from the eastern district, where Liu Tu Zhang and Chen Yi had also settled.

But the people of the eastern district also made their living in the surrounding mountains, not to search for any secret realms, but purely for logging, mining, hunting—ordinary livelihoods that relied on the mountains. These were mountains they had lived in for ages, long stripped of any mysterious veil to outsiders. Once up there, wasn’t it just wild boars defecating and venomous snakes slithering about? What damned secret realm could there be?

As for the distant peaks of the vast Kunlun range, no one dared to speak of them, but near Kunlun City’s nearby summits, there truly was nothing. If anything existed, it would be on Yuxu Peak, occupied by the Yuxu True Man.

Yet the essence of a secret realm lies in its being undetectable by conventional means.

Just as the Blood God Sect sought the Azure Dragon Seal in Beimang, unless someone dripped a certain amount of blood into the pool, the formation diagram in the Water Curtain Cave would never appear, no matter how hard one searched. That was fate.

The secret realm discovered by the Poison Spider and Tian Lingzi lay several peaks away, and the reason for its discovery was rather unsettling: the two had ventured to the far side of the mountain for a tryst, when an unlucky merchant caravan passed by. Their goods were robbed by Yu Lingzi, and the people were vivisected on a whim by the Poison Spider to test her elixirs and study the art of immortality.

After dissecting an entire caravan, the poisonous blood seeped into the earth, truly triggering the opening of the secret realm. A crack suddenly split the seemingly barren cliff face, revealing the eerie miasma within.

Whether Tian Lingzi and the Poison Spider had quarreled before the secret realm descended was unknown... In any case, the Poison Spider carefully dispelled the outer miasma and entered to find a stone chamber.

This was not a chamber dug from the earth but a space isolated by the ancient secret realm’s time and space. Like the sword chamber beneath the Sword Lake, it was a solitary room existing outside of time.

In such cases, there was bound to be a rare treasure. Either the treasure’s own power sustained the spatial isolation from collapse—like the Ice Soul protecting the sword chamber, perhaps with the aid of the Heavenly Scripture—or someone had set up spatial barriers to protect the treasure, as with the Azure Dragon Seal and the Basalt Stone.

Both the Poison Spider and Tian Lingzi were well-versed in such matters. Overjoyed, they began to explore the chamber.

They found it to be an alchemy room, filled with ancient vessels containing various medicinal substances.

Unfortunately, after countless ages, the medicines had all deteriorated and were unusable. Only the vessels could be cleaned and reused, like the gourd Tian Lingzi had planned to sell to Zhao Changhe, which had once held pills. Aside from their special, durable materials and possible preservative effects, they held no extraordinary value.

When Tian Lingzi said the item wasn’t worth haggling over, he wasn’t entirely feigning generosity; its use was indeed narrow, and no one would be a fool to pay much. Most things found here were similar, the letdown so great that the two, who thought they had struck treasure, found it hard to accept.

After groping around the chamber’s edges for a while, they discovered a hidden door, this time leading to the true core.

But when the door opened, it was filled with intangible toxins. Had it not been for the Poison Spider’s acute sensitivity, anyone else entering might not have realized that the seemingly normal air was poisonous until it seeped into their skin and flesh, by which point it would be too late.

The two retreated hastily. Even the Poison Spider, with all her expertise, could not neutralize this toxin—she had never even seen its like before.

Returning to the city, the Poison Spider immediately captured live subjects to test the poison, studying its effects to find a cure. Over the past days, she had quietly brought in many victims for testing. Her research showed the toxin was extremely vicious; by her estimation, even those on the Human Ranking would succumb if the poison penetrated them, and even those on the Earth Ranking might suffer severe damage.

The Poison Spider could not yet resolve this strange toxin, but she discovered a cruder solution: the toxic mist was consumable. It did not spread or infect but lingered in the body, thinning with each person it contaminated. Thus, all she needed was to lure a large number of people in to fill the gap.

A sinister plan naturally took shape. Tian Lingzi openly displayed the vessels obtained from the outer chamber for sale at the Yukun Gang, and the appearance of many suspected ancient artifacts caught the attention of the neighboring Money Gang.

Tian Lingzi knew other factions might also take notice, but he didn’t mind sweeping them all in. Even if the Thief Gate’s Ye Wuzong got involved, his expertise in toxins could not surpass the Poison Spider’s... What he hadn’t anticipated was that this would attract the attention of a Heaven Ranking intelligence organization, and like a butterfly’s wings, it would summon a dragon from thousands of miles away.

The faction most obsessed with secret realm clues was none other than Ying Wu’s. When these ancient vessels surfaced, Chen Yi, Ying Wu’s agent stationed here, immediately purchased several pieces.

Carefully extracting the residue of medicinal herbs from the vessels, Chen Yi found some withered ginseng roots. After study, he concluded they had once contained astonishing blood energy, now dissipated.

At that time, Ying Wu was buried in a pile of ancient texts, searching for clues about the Dragon-Elephant Blood Ginseng for Zhao Changhe, growing increasingly frustrated. Just then, he received a message from Chen Yi via falcon. Ying Wu thought, “What a coincidence,” and directly consulted records related to Kunlun. He indeed found mentions of the Dragon-Elephant Blood Ginseng in Kunlun. Cross-referencing the evidence, he was ninety percent certain. San Niang relayed this to Zhao Changhe, leading to this journey to Kunlun.

From start to finish, it was all one affair... If San Niang hadn’t been so cryptic and had simply sent Zhao Changhe to the tavern to find Chen Yi, they would have gotten straight to the point, without all this secret exploration.

Still, it wasn’t too late now... Perhaps the greatest significance of San Niang’s riddles was to let Zhao Changhe meet their Saintess, spark a romance, and help her break through the Secret Treasury...

In any case, at this moment, the young couple trailed far behind the Money Gang’s crowd, following Tian Lingzi over mountains and ridges until they reached the spot. They saw the cave opening in the cliff, not even concealed, as if daring anyone to enter.

“The air is thick with the smell of blood and lingering poison,” Zhao Changhe murmured. “How many people have Tian Lingzi and the Poison Spider killed here?”

Xia Chichi turned to look at him, sighing helplessly. She was a demonic cult enchantress, thinking she had taken up with a bandit, only to find herself with a chivalrous hero... What could she do?

She could only say, “Well, even if the Poison Spider isn’t dead by now, she’s been captured alive—karma has caught up. As long as we cut down Tian Lingzi, our minds will be at ease. But should you stop the Money Gang from going in? From the looks of it, many more will die.”

Zhao Changhe smiled. “Though the Money Gang isn’t exactly virtuous... I’ll try to warn them, for my own peace of mind. Whether they listen is their affair.”

He looked up, pondering how to discreetly advise them, when the Money Gang members surged into the stone chamber.

“It’s truly a secret realm! This sense of spatial isolation is definitely not an ordinary underground chamber!”

The group was ecstatic, their faces twisted with greed. The Money Gang leader, initially skeptical, now had no doubts upon sensing the spatial isolation. Delirious with joy, he asked Tian Lingzi, “Brother, do you really mean to let us develop this secret realm together?”

Tian Lingzi spread his hands. “Our Yukun Gang lacks manpower and strength. Even if we could crack the secret realm, we might not be able to hold it. So either we seek the Thief Gate’s backing or cooperate with our neighbors. If we go to the Thief Gate, I fear the Thief Saint might swallow everything whole. But cooperating with you, we can at least share the spoils.”

“Reasonable! Reasonable! I never thought you’d be so clear-headed, brother!” The Money Gang leader, in his excitement, slapped Tian Lingzi’s shoulder like a close friend, giving it two hearty thumps. “From now on, we’re brothers!”

But on the final slap, he suddenly channeled internal force. A blow like that could shatter a shoulder.

Why cooperate? Now that he’d found the place, why not kill Tian Lingzi and take everything?

Tian Lingzi seemed not to have anticipated that this seemingly gullible fool would launch a surprise attack. He only reacted after the blow landed, hastily deflecting the force, but couldn’t fully absorb it. His left shoulder cracked as it was dislocated.

Quick-witted, Tian Lingzi kicked out and retreated, shouting in feigned fury, “Money, just you wait!”

His lightness skill was excellent; he vanished in an instant.

The Money Gang leader sneered coldly. “The man’s injured. The monk may run, but the temple won’t. We’ll wipe out his Yukun Gang later. Men, search the chamber!”

The Money Gang members poured into the stone chamber, but the leader himself stayed outside, cautiously observing. Seeing no traps, he leisurely followed them in.

Zhao Changhe and Xia Chichi watched from afar, exchanging glances. They had been planning to try to stop them, but now there was no point.

Not a single one of them was a fool.

Yet the Money Gang leader’s actions were exactly what Tian Lingzi had planned. Only by doing so would the leader let down his guard and walk into the poison. Zhao Changhe was almost certain Tian Lingzi had deliberately let his shoulder be dislocated, easily popping it back into place... Once everyone was inside, Tian Lingzi would surely reappear.

“What do we do?” Xia Chichi watched the drama with amusement, finding it quite entertaining. She finally asked, “If we keep watching from afar, he probably won’t show. Should we leave for now, or...”

“We go in too,” Zhao Changhe said quietly. “Tian Lingzi can’t find the Poison Spider, so he must be uneasy. Only if we’re lying inside too will he breathe a sigh of relief.”

Xia Chichi asked, “Are you sure you can handle the poison inside?”

“Yes.” Zhao Changhe smiled faintly. “The Poison Spider had already cracked the poison inside. The one we fell to silently last time was that same poison... I’ve tested it; the Return Spring Art can neutralize it.”

Xia Chichi was stunned for a moment, then laughed helplessly. “So the Poison Spider was also tricking Tian Lingzi. She might have secretly taken some core item from inside, and he doesn’t know. This place is really amusing...”

The two walked forward slowly. Yang Qianyuan, unqualified to enter, was standing guard outside. Seeing Zhao Changhe approach, his expression shifted in surprise. “Senior, you...”

Zhao Changhe laughed. “What, afraid I’ll play the mantis stalking the cicada and ambush your leader?”

I’d love for you to ambush our leader, but don’t say it in front of my subordinates... Yang Qianyuan felt a bit awkward. Before he could respond, piercing screams erupted from the stone chamber, one after another, a chorus of agony.