Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Cave

Letting out a long breath, Yi Qianmo entered the valley.

Holding the black sword tightly, he remained alert to his surroundings. He was now trapped in the valley by the Green Back Bear. If he couldn’t find the magical herb to make a pill, there were only two outcomes: either he would starve to death in this valley or become food for the Green Back Bear.

His ancestor was a great emperor; if he knew that his descendant died here in such a pathetic way, it would probably make him very angry.

"Since it can produce spiritual medicine, there must be spirit Qi here!"

The old man didn’t know that the herb he picked was a spiritual medicine, but its spiritual essence was not very rich.

When Yi Qianmo stepped into the valley, he felt it was very strange. The valley was cold and damp, and the top of the valley was like the mouth of a bottle, with sunlight barely reaching the sides; only the center had lush vegetation.

The valley was long, about a mile or more, and in the central vegetation, many medicinal herbs were growing, though many were not yet ripe, clearly just harvested by the old man.

As Yi Qianmo walked through, he did not find any other herbs with spiritual essence, but he thought the shape of the valley was a bit odd.

"This central area… does not seem to be naturally formed, but rather like a man-made herb field?"

He unlocked his ancestor’s memory from sixty years ago, but within those sixty years, there were memories of his ancestor going from a mortal to an immortal.

In those immortal sects, there were herb fields; spiritual medicines were harvested and cultivated for alchemy.

What he saw was very similar to those herb fields from the immortal sects, but there was no spirit Qi present here.

Soon, he reached the end of the valley, but he did not find any spirit Qi or other magical herbs.

"Did I judge wrongly?!"

Yi Qianmo felt a bit down.

If he made a mistake, he would not only be unable to save his grandfather but might also get stuck here himself, and he did not have much time left.

He did not give up; like plowing a field, he began to search the valley.

An hour later, just when Yi Qianmo was about to give up, he suddenly discovered a strange pattern in the center of the valley.

"A formation!"

Yi Qianmo swallowed hard. "It turns out it’s not naturally formed; since there is a formation, it means there must be other secrets here!"

He started to search around the pattern and indeed found other similar patterns, which had been buried underground over the years.

Yi Qianmo held the black sword and dug it out.

"Maze Formation!"

Yi Qianmo let out a sigh of relief, "If it were any other formation, with my current level, there would be no way to break through. But the Maze Formation…"

The Maze Formation is a technique used by immortals to confuse outsiders, and it does not cause any harm; to ordinary people, it seems like hitting a wall.

However, the Maze Formation in front of him is much more advanced than a usual Maze Formation. A typical Maze Formation would trigger immediately, but this one does not activate right away; it only triggers when someone tries to enter its inner space. This is a type of actively activated Maze Formation.

If you do not understand how a Maze Formation works, even if it is activated, you could end up trapped inside.

Taking a deep breath, Yi Qianmo found the core of the formation, gathered a bit of true energy in his fist, and struck down.

In an instant, the scenery around Yi Qianmo changed; the valley disappeared, and he was surrounded by fog, seeing only a distance of about ten feet.

Yi Qianmo stood still; if he moved around, he would no longer be able to find his way and would be trapped in this Maze Formation, making it impossible to leave the valley.

He recalled the patterns from earlier. In the memories of his ancestors, even the master who set the maze needed to step in the right place to enter.

"The patterns seem to be arranged like stars. If you take the usual path, you will definitely get trapped!"

Yi Qianmo closed his eyes, thinking as he silently recited, "The pivot is the sky, the rotation is the earth, the point is the people, the power is the time, the balance is the sound, the opening sun is the law, the shaking light is the star…"

When he finished, he opened his eyes and walked according to the positions of the stars in his mind.

Unfortunately, he failed the first time, but Yi Qianmo remembered where he stopped and continued to try, taking seven steps each time, with each attempt being different.

Finally, on his tenth try, the mist in front of him suddenly parted, revealing a path. Yi Qianmo immediately stepped out of the mist, and in front of him appeared a cave.

The area around the cave was creamy white, and bronze lights on the walls suddenly lit up.

"A cave dwelling!"

After walking for several tens of yards, he finally reached the depth of the cave. It was a space high and wide, with rooms surrounding it.

Outside the room, there are names: Pill Room, Spirit Room, Scripture Chamber…

Inside the cave, there is not a speck of dust; everything looks like the owner just left. Yi Qianmo burst into the Pill Room and found that there was a roaring fire, and a batch of pills was being crafted.

"This cave has an owner!"

Yi Qianmo originally thought he had entered the ruins of some immortal, but seeing the scene in the Pill Room made him realize otherwise.

If the owner were inside the cave, his sudden intrusion could lead to him being killed instantly, which sent a chill down his spine.

After all, this is not an ordinary Maze Formation; the chance of accidentally wandering in is almost zero.

He walked around the Pill Furnace, sniffing carefully, his eyes widening, "Building Foundation Pill… it seems… a few things are missing. This is… a method of blood refinement from the demonic path. The owner of this cave practices the demonic arts!"

Above Qi Refining Stage is the Foundation Establishment Stage, and the Building Foundation Pill is the pill used to enter the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Yi Qianmo was very tempted by this pill; although he had not yet entered the Qi Refining Stage, he knew the value of the Building Foundation Pill.

However, he quickly dismissed the idea of taking the Building Foundation Pill for two reasons. First, this is a method of demonic cultivation, which is only suitable for demonic cultivators to consume.

The second reason is that the Building Foundation Pill has not yet been successfully made and requires a special spiritual herb. He guessed that the owner of this cave might have gone to search for that herb.

However, the Pill Room contained quite a few pills. When he opened it, he found that it was filled with various grades of Qi Nourishing Pills!

The Qi Nourishing Pill is a true magic elixir. If a postnatal martial artist takes one, it is almost guaranteed they will enter the innate stage.

"If I take the pills, the owner here will surely notice, but if I don’t take any…"

In the end, Yi Qianmo decided to take the pills. "The owner is eager to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, so their demand for Qi Nourishing Pills isn’t very high. There are ten bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills here. I’ll take one pill from each bottle…"

But thinking this way, Yi Qianmo changed his mind again. "No! If I take one pill from a bottle, he might think I’m afraid of him. But if I take them all, with the way I entered here, he would definitely think my power is the same as his or even higher, so…"

Yi Qianmo no longer hesitated and quickly swept away all the pills in the Pill Room.