Establishing a Clan in the Eastern Wilderness: A Daily Divination, Cultivating Longevity in a Grotto

Chapter 104 Two Major Gains: The Secret to Prolonging Life

The entrance to the ancient tomb is behind the altar, blocked by a bluestone slab.

The stone slab was covered with symbols, which are now blurred and illegible.

Zhao Cai squatted on the edge of the stone slab, pointed downwards with its little paws, and squeaked at Li Changsheng.

Li Changsheng moved the stone slab.

A cold, rotten smell wafted out.

He threw a glowstone down; the stone bounced a few times and rolled into a corner.

There was no movement.

He jumped down.

The tomb passage is narrow, only wide enough for one person.

The blue bricks on both sides were slippery, water dripped from above, and hollow echoes followed behind.

The light from the fluorite casts shadows that appear to be of varying lengths.

Zhao Cai perched on his shoulder, its little nose twitching and eyes shining, showing no fear whatsoever. It patted Li Changsheng's ear with its tiny paws, squeaking and urging him to hurry. Li Changsheng flicked its forehead: "Haste makes waste."

Zhao Cai covered her forehead, glared at him, and then pointed forward with her paw.

At the end of the tomb passage is a burial chamber.

The area is several meters in circumference, with an arched roof and a stone coffin in the center.

The coffin lid leaned to one side, and the coffin was empty.

The stone coffin was covered with runes, more intricate than those on the lanterns.

A stone tablet is embedded in the wall of the tomb, and the inscription is still faintly discernible.

Li Changsheng leaned closer to examine it. Engraved on it was a dying man's self-narration: "I am Yin Changsheng, a rogue cultivator. As my lifespan was nearing its end, I stumbled upon an ancient curse technique. By sculpting a clay doll, inscribing runes, and nourishing it with the blood of a virgin, the clay doll could become a vessel for the curse, bearing the death calamity for the caster. I spent ten years refining a clay doll, only needing one final blood sacrifice to complete the process. However, fate was unkind, and I was already exhausted. Therefore, I offered my remaining soul as a sacrifice, sealing it within the clay doll's body, to be awakened by a future generation with the blood of a virgin. At that time, I will be reborn through the clay doll, gaining several hundred years of lifespan."

On the next line, the handwriting was hasty and messy, as if it had been added later: "Yin Changsheng failed. His soul failed to control the mud doll and was instead devoured by it. That thing came back to life. It doesn't need rebirth; it only wants to eat people. Sixty years ago, it appeared in the village chief's dream, saying it wanted a bride. If it wasn't given one, the entire village would die."

Below that was a line of smaller print, like a note left by someone in the know: "The sacrificed bride will not die. Her body will be possessed by a clay doll, becoming its shell on earth. Her soul will be imprisoned within her body, watching day and night as that thing uses her face until the clay doll gets tired of playing with it and replaces it with another."

None of them are good things.

It's just a pity for those girls who were sacrificed.

Li Changsheng's attention was drawn to a spiritual plant on the coffin.

The spiritual plant grew from the cracks in the coffin. It was pitch black, about a foot tall, with a stem like black jade and leaves like cicada wings, thin and transparent, with a faint glow flowing between the veins. At the top of the stem hung a fist-sized flower bud, the outer layer of which was black, while the inner layer was blood red, like a closed eye.

The spiritual plant exudes a strange aura—cold and eerie, yet with an inexplicable allure.

Within Li Changsheng's dantian, the ancient, exotic plant suddenly trembled slightly. It wasn't fear, nor rejection, but a powerful, almost famine-like craving. It urged him to pluck the spiritual plant and consume it.

The Heavenly Book vibrated at the opportune moment:

[A magical object was discovered: the Netherworld Flower.]

Growing in places of extreme Yin energy, nourished by the energy of corpses, it takes a hundred years to take shape. Its petals contain pure Yin-attribute spiritual power, possessing extremely potent nourishing effects on Yin-attribute spirit beasts, ghosts, and certain special exotic species. It can be consumed directly or incorporated into elixirs. If this flower is fed to ancient exotic species in the dantian, it can greatly accelerate their growth and shorten their maturation period.

Li Changsheng's heart stirred. Since the ancient exotic species was planted in his dantian, it had remained stagnant, and the Heavenly Book had never offered any guidance on how to accelerate its growth. Unexpectedly, he had encountered an opportunity here.

He scanned the entire tomb chamber with his divine sense, confirming that there were no evil spirits lurking there, before stepping forward and carefully plucking the Netherworld Flower from the coffin, placing it in the jade box, and affixing a sealing talisman.

No rush, we'll deal with it when we get back.

After picking the spiritual plants, Li Changsheng's gaze returned to the stone coffin. The coffin was empty, but the bottom was covered with a layer of black velvet, and on the velvet was a fist-sized object—silver-white all over, with a pitted and uneven surface, like a piece of scrap iron that had been eaten by insects.

He reached out and picked it up, examining it from all angles. It was heavy, several times heavier than a block of iron of the same volume. The surface had fine lines, like some kind of runes, but they were corroded and illegible. He brought it closer and smelled it; there was a faint fishy odor.

Zhao Cai jumped off his shoulder, plunged into the stone coffin, picked up the piece of black iron, and examined it from all angles, its round eyes filled with surprise. It touched it with its little paws, sniffed it with its nose, and even tried to take a bite.

"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!"

-

It was hard and astringent, like chewing iron filings, and it quickly spat it out.

Li Changsheng took the black iron from its arms.

Zhao Cai panicked and pounced on it, squeaking as it tried to snatch it.

Li Changsheng took out a spirit fruit from his storage bag and waved it in front of Zhaocai. Zhaocai looked at the spirit fruit, then at the black iron, hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the spirit fruit and started biting into it, juice splattering everywhere, no longer caring about the black iron.

The Heavenly Book trembled once more:

[Spiritual Material: Netherworld Black Iron]

Forged from the earth's core iron and tempered with the energy of the netherworld, it possesses a hard texture and is compatible with spiritual energy, making it an excellent material for crafting spiritual weapons of the second tier and above. However, due to improper storage, its spiritual energy has been severely depleted, and the runes have been damaged, rendering it unusable for weapon crafting. It can be used to feed beetle-devouring insects; after consuming them, there is a certain chance that the insects will evolve and awaken new bloodline spells.

Li Changsheng's eyes lit up, and he tossed the Netherworld Iron into his spirit beast pouch.

Inside the spirit beast pouch, the beetle, which had been dozing among the spirit stones, suddenly caught the scent of the black iron and snapped its eyes open. It pounced, grabbed the black iron, and began to devour it greedily. The black iron shrank little by little as it gnawed at it, while the beetle visibly grew larger. The golden patterns on its shell became denser and brighter, transforming from pale gold to crimson gold.

Its aura rose steadily.

boom!

Its aura remained steadily at the mid-stage of the first tier. The beetle raised its head, emitting a low buzz, and spewed out a beam of golden light from its mouth.

[Awakening Bloodline Spell: Golden Rainbow Piercing the Sun.]

It is formed by condensing the energy of Geng metal, penetrating through at high temperatures, and its power is comparable to a high-grade first-tier spell. It has an additional restraining effect on Yin-attribute ghosts.

Li Changsheng nodded in satisfaction and retied the spirit beast pouch.

He circled the tomb again, making sure there were no further finds, before returning the way he came. Once outside, he replaced the stone slab and used magic to erase any remaining traces.

Inside the coffin, the girl was still unconscious. Li Changsheng lifted her out of the coffin, placed her on Chi Yu's back, and then leaped onto the chicken's back, securing the girl in front of him.

"Walk."

With a flap of its wings, Chi Yu soared into the sky and flew towards the village.

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