Ascending from the mortal realm to become an immortal begins with taking charge of a grotto-heaven.

Three months later.

Zhang Li reached out and guided the seven finished pills into a jade bottle beside him without missing a single one.

"Phew! The success rate of the Peiyuan Pill has finally stabilized at 30%."

He casually gathered up the few pill bottles scattered in front of him, then got up and left the alchemy room.

"I have already fully comprehended the subsequent cultivation methods for the Qi Refining stage. All I need to do now is cultivate step by step. The success rate of alchemy and talisman making has also stabilized at 30%."

"It's time to consider deciphering the silver pages."

After drinking a cup of cool tea, Zhang Li took out the silver page he had obtained from the water talisman from his storage bag.

After returning to his sect from Yulin County, he searched for records of ancient seal script in the outer sect's scripture library.

Unfortunately, no proper book recording ancient seal script was found; only scattered records were found in a few ancient books.

After his cultivation level broke through to the seventh level of Qi Refining and he was promoted to the inner sect, he was busy with other things.

Only today has he been able to free up his hands.

Getting up and leaving the cave, Zhang Li boarded the Black Shadow Boat and headed towards the Scripture Pavilion once again.

You don't know until you look, and once you start looking, it's already dark.

Ancient seal script was even more obscure than he had imagined, and he had expanded his search as much as possible.

Although there are quite a few ancient books that record ancient seal script, and some of them contain interpretations of individual ancient seal script characters, they are of no use to Zhang Li's interpretation of the entire text.

Not to mention the kind of translation table that he had imagined recording all the ancient seal script, he didn't even see a trace of it.

In this situation, continuing to search blindly would be a waste of time and effort.

Zhang Li had no choice but to seek help from a steward who guarded the Sutra Repository.

"Ancient seal script? A translation table?"

Upon hearing that Zhang Li wanted to find some ancient texts on deciphering ancient seal script, the Foundation Establishment cultivator showed a hint of surprise: "Ancient seal script contains profound principles in every character and profound Dao in every sentence. It can be said that each character has a thousand meanings, making it extremely difficult to decipher. Therefore, there is no absolutely accurate translation table. It is likely that only Golden Core elders in the sect would study this script."

"Kid, I advise you not to be so ambitious. Focus on your cultivation and reach the Qi Refining stage as soon as possible. Searching for Foundation Establishment materials is the real priority."

Zhang Li naturally wouldn't give up just because of the steward's words. Whether he could learn it or not, he would only know after trying. So he said:

"Thank you for informing me, Steward. I came across this information by chance and was quite curious. I would like to give it a try. Please advise me."

"Fine! You can't reason with a damned devil." Seeing that Zhang Li was determined to try to learn, the steward stopped trying to dissuade him and gave him a suggestion: "Go look at those bookshelves in the northeast corner of the Scripture Pavilion. You might find something there."

After saying this, the steward waved his hand, signaling Zhang Li to leave.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Li bowed to the steward and, following the direction he was directed, indeed saw several shelves filled with Taoist books.

These bookshelves haven't been visited by any disciples for quite some time, and they hardly look like anyone is taking care of them.

After searching for a while, he finally found a book titled "An Introduction to Ancient Seal Script".

It records several common interpretations of ancient seal script, as well as methods of deduction and interpretation in context.

Having found what he wanted, Zhang Li didn't linger in the Scripture Pavilion any longer. He took the Taoist book and headed towards the steward in charge of exchanging it.

"Hmm? Do they still have Taoist books like this in the library?"

The deacon in charge of the exchange raised an eyebrow.

Although the steward was somewhat surprised, he still said as usual, "These kinds of Taoist books are usually unique copies and must be returned within a month. If they are lost or damaged during this period, you will have to pay ten times the amount. Please remember that the rental fee is five spirit stones."

"Your disciple will remember this."

Zhang Li indicated that he understood, and then took out five spirit stones and handed them over.

……

Return to the cave.

After a short rest, Zhang Li took out "An Introduction to Ancient Seal Script" and began to read it meticulously.

It has only been the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

He picked up the ethereal tea that had been prepared beforehand, drank a cup, and then continued reading.

However, after flipping through two or three more pages...

Zhang Li glanced sideways at the tea leaves in the pot.

That's right! It's infused with the Clear Mind Tea, so why is it taking so long to work this time?

"Could it be because I drank too much? Has the effect diminished?"

After looking through it for a while, Zhang Li finally resigned himself to his fate. It wasn't that the Kongming Spirit Tea was useless, but rather that even after using the Kongming Spirit Tea, he still couldn't understand the contents of "An Introduction to Ancient Seal Script".

"Is this really a character?" he couldn't help but wonder.

I actually tried to learn this script?

Ah!

I must be crazy.

Zhang Li admitted that his comprehension was not very good, and he did find it difficult to understand cultivation techniques and spells, but it was not to the point that he could not understand them at all.

However, this introductory guide to ancient seal script was a hundred times more difficult to understand than the most profound cultivation methods he had ever encountered.

It's like reading a book written in a foreign language.

Looking back now, the butler's words were not an exaggeration at all; in fact, they were already taking care of his feelings.

Zhang Li sighed and put away "An Introduction to Ancient Seal Script".

"Isn't there any other way?"

He thought about it carefully and it seemed that there really was no other way.

He certainly couldn't get close to the Golden Core Ancestor, and he only knew a limited number of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"Why don't we ask Wu Feng?"

Zhang Li had just had this thought when he suppressed it.

As I said before, if he had a choice, he wouldn't want to bother Wu Feng; the current relationship between the two of them is just right.

Wu Feng didn't care about him, and he was too lazy to pay attention to Wu Feng.

"Oh, right, Su Qinghe!"

We can try to follow the Su family's lead; at worst, we can sign another few years' worth of alchemy agreements.

I hope the final interpretation will be worthy of all the effort I've put in.

Thinking of this, Zhang Li took out a communication jade talisman. Yunyu Immortal City was far away from the sect, and ordinary communication talismans could not reach such a distance. Only a special communication jade talisman could do so.

Having made up his mind, he activated the communication jade talisman, whispered something to his lips, and then tossed it out.

Gazing at the horizon where the jade talisman disappeared, Zhang Li turned and walked back to his cave.

……

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

A streak of azure light shot through the air, passing directly through the array and restrictions outside the cave, and landed beside Zhang Li.

"Finally, a reply!"

He reached out and took the jade talisman, then poured his magic power into it. Su Qinghe's voice came from the talisman.

After hearing the full message, Zhang Li felt a sense of relief and murmured to himself, "As expected, they have connections."

The Su family did not have any cultivators who were experts in ancient seal script, but she knew a Foundation Establishment cultivator who had done a great deal of research on ancient seal script, and she could introduce him to Zhang Li.

The latter half of the jade slip contained a letter of introduction written by Su Qinghe to that Foundation Establishment cultivator. He only needed to take this jade slip to Cailian Mountain to find that Foundation Establishment cultivator.

After carefully putting away the communication jade talisman, Zhang Li immediately headed towards the direction of Rainbow Lotus Mountain.