Volume 1, Chapter 297 – Sudden Change

“Come with me.”

Lin Mo first retrieved the thin shard used to open the door, then took the lead, turning into a passageway and heading deeper into the cave abode.

Shi Lan followed close behind.

The cave abode was deep, buried far into the mountain range. Luminous pearls were set into both sides of the passage, making the entire corridor as bright as day.

After walking nearly a hundred meters along the passage, they came upon another cavern. It was not very large, only a little over ten zhang across, and held quite a few bookshelves. Hundreds of books rested on the shelves, spotless and free of dust.

Once they reached this cavern, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth became somewhat denser, and the fragrant scent they had sensed before the entrance of the cave abode grew even stronger.

Shi Lan walked around the cavern and quickly discovered a simple formation. It served only to keep away insects and dust, drawing in the spiritual qi from the air to maintain its operation.

She picked up a few of the books from the shelves and flipped through them. Their contents were fairly varied, covering pill refining, talismans, and formations to a certain extent.

Shi Lan skimmed them for a moment, then tossed them aside. The cultivation methods here did not suit her, and at most they could only be cultivated to a level roughly equivalent to the Heavenly Astral Realm. They were of no use to her whatsoever.

But since cultivation methods of this level could appear here, then this world might once have had a glorious past as well. At the very least, it must once have had existences comparable to Heavenly Astral Realm martial artists.

When Liang Yunnan and the others saw so many books, especially the cultivation methods, they looked rather excited. These would still be quite useful to them.

Lin Mo did not stop at all and continued deeper inside.

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On the way, they passed through two more caverns. One looked like a training ground, while in another stood a massive cauldron. Beside the cauldron were several racks, and on the shelves sat jade bottles clearly meant for storing pills.

But the medicinal power of pills dissipated very easily, and the pills in those jade bottles had all long since spoiled.

Shi Lan kept up with Lin Mo. After passing several caverns and advancing several hundred meters deeper inside, a flash of light appeared ahead, revealing an opening.

They passed through it, and the view suddenly opened up.

This was a valley floor ringed by mountains on all sides, carpeted in lush green grass. The cliff walls were extremely high and steep, at a rough estimate at least nearly three hundred zhang tall. A barrier shining with a dim yellow light sealed off the entire valley.

At the very center of the valley floor flowed a clear spring. In the middle of the spring stood a pale-green lotus, just on the verge of blooming. That soul-stirring fragrance rolled toward them like a tide.

What dense spiritual qi…

A trace of surprise flashed through Shi Lan’s eyes. The spiritual qi of heaven and earth here was already enough to support the cultivation of Innate Realm martial artists.

“This is the Longevity Spring.”

Lin Mo pointed at the spring, said nothing more, then slowly walked aside and sat down on the grass.

Shi Lan stepped forward, crouched by the spring, lightly scooped up a mouthful of the spring water, sniffed it, and then drank it down in one gulp.

The sweet, cool water slid down her throat and straight through her organs. Her whole body seemed to lighten considerably.

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But that was all. Shi Lan closed her eyes and felt through herself, but found no unusual changes at all, nor had this body’s vital essence increased in the slightest.

It seemed she had still been somewhat naive. She had originally thought that this Longevity Spring would at least have some effect in extending life and preserving health.

Shi Lan shook her head slightly, somewhat disappointed. Her gaze shifted to the green lotus in the center of the spring. As she stared at it, her brows suddenly knit tightly.

There was something wrong with that lotus…

The power of her soul poured out and completely wrapped around the lotus. A distinct aura of spirit-soul was hidden within the center of the flower, rising and falling with the opening and closing of its petals as though it were breathing.

No one knew how many years this lotus had remained here. After so much time, it had nearly developed spirituality and given birth to a spirit-soul. It was almost on the verge of becoming a demon.

Even in Lingyang Realm, this kind of situation was not common apart from those plant spirits that had already formed entire communities, let alone in a world where the spiritual qi of heaven and earth had almost dried up. To give birth to a spirit-soul here was extraordinarily difficult.

As if it had sensed Shi Lan’s soul power, the spirit-soul within the lotus seemed to be stimulated. Its petals instantly spread wide open, seized hold of Shi Lan’s soul power, and tried to devour it.

This was the instinct of living beings to evolve. It sensed that Shi Lan’s soul power would help its own evolution, so it opened its mouth without the slightest hesitation.

Caught off guard for a moment, Shi Lan instantly felt a sharp pain in her mind. A piece of her soul power was torn away and immediately swallowed by the lotus.

Shi Lan withdrew her soul and took two steps back, moving away from the spring.

With her soul power gone, the green lotus seemed to grow extremely agitated. As its petals opened and closed, it kept twisting in the center of the spring.

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A trace of surprise flashed through Lin Mo’s eyes. He had never noticed anything unusual about this green lotus before. He had even eaten it several times in order to increase his cultivation.

Shi Lan let out a breath. She was not too angry. This was merely instinct. The green lotus had not truly developed spirituality yet. It was just a beast without sentience. She was not about to argue with a beast.

After devouring that portion of Shi Lan’s soul power, the lotus’s spirit-soul had grown considerably stronger, and the faintest trace of awareness appeared. But it still had not truly become a demon. After swaying for a while in the middle of the pool, it could only settle back into calm again.

“Are there any other places like this?”

Shi Lan rubbed her forehead and looked toward Lin Mo, who was sitting to one side.

Lin Mo shook his head slightly and looked toward the entrance to the valley.

Liang Yunnan and the other three entered the valley one after another. Judging from their expressions, they had all gained quite a bit.

“The cultivation-method objective is already complete. All that’s left is that item.”

Liang Yunnan walked over to Shi Lan and said it quietly.

“Do you have some treasure on you that aids cultivation?”

Shi Lan stopped beating around the bush. She walked up to Lin Mo and asked directly.

Lin Mo froze for an instant, glanced at Liang Yunnan not far behind Shi Lan, and casually tossed over the thin shard in his hand.

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[Discovered fragment of an unknown item. Item rank: nine-star (absorbable)]

The moment she touched the shard, Shi Lan was just about to throw it to Liang Yunnan when a prompt suddenly sounded in her mind. It had nothing to do with the All-Heavens Samsara System. It was the long-unheard icy voice of the Empress-raising System.

Heard again now, it even felt faintly familiar.

Shi Lan silently withdrew the hand that had been about to toss the shard to Liang Yunnan. How could something at the nine-star level be handed to someone so casually…

Besides, it was only a fragment, yet its rank had already reached nine-star. If it had not been damaged, the grade of the complete item was beyond imagining.

She had not expected to find something like this in such a low-level world.

Shi Lan turned the shard over and over in her hand for quite some time, but even after a long while, she still could not figure out what it was.

“Absorb it.”

After hesitating for a moment, Shi Lan still chose to have the system absorb it directly.

The transparent shard melted like ice crystal and vanished from Shi Lan’s palm in an instant. Passing through her flesh, it went straight into the depths of her soul.

The moment the ice crystal melted, the bright, sunlit sky above the valley was instantly covered in dark clouds, and world-ending lightning burst forth.