Listening to the commotion behind him, Su Shi'er didn't dare to be careless, using one escape talisman after another.
At this moment, he could only feel secretly relieved. Fortunately, he had spent time learning and making a bunch of talismans before coming here, otherwise, he would have been in big trouble in this situation.
"Damn that woman, running so fast and still chasing me. She's really trying to kill me!"
Su Shi'er looked frustrated. The plan had already succeeded, and the Chu-named female cultivator had indeed engaged Zhao Yan.
But the speed at which she disengaged from the fight was something he hadn't anticipated.
Quickly darting through the underground stone forest, he could only keep running, hoping to put more distance between them.
Suddenly, his body sank sharply, and he fell into an underground cavity.
Startled, Su Shi'er was about to steady himself when he realized he had already landed.
A ball of fire appeared in his hand, and in the next second, by its light, he could see the situation below.
What he saw was a hall made of stone. The hall was over three meters high and about ten meters long and wide.
On each of the four walls were two rusty candlesticks. The entire hall was empty, except for a pile of wood shavings turned to dust.
His gaze quickly swept over the scene, and not sensing any threats, he finally relaxed a bit.
Holding a talisman in his hand, he was about to continue running when he hesitated and decided to wait by the stone wall.
After half an hour with no movement, he finally put away the talisman, exhaling a long breath of relief.
"Finally saved my life. It seems I can't underestimate anyone!"
"Judging by the looks of this place, there must have been some furniture here before, but with time, it has turned to dust. Could this have been the Cave Abode of a cultivator from the ancient restricted area?"
Su Shi'er speculated silently, knowing that the place they were testing was an ancient restricted area. And here, in ancient times, cultivators had also been active.
His gaze swept around, and he noticed that on the right-hand wall, there was a smaller room connected. That small room was emitting a rich earth spiritual energy.
"Hmm? Such rich earth spiritual energy, could this be the location of the materials I was tracking earlier?"
Raising an eyebrow, Su Shi'er immediately reacted.
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He casually put the eight candlesticks into his Storage Bag and walked towards the small room with the fireball in hand.
The candlesticks were rusty, but the materials used to make them were clearly Spirit Materials.
Entering the small room, his pupils suddenly widened.
Before him was a skeleton dressed in ritual robes, sitting cross-legged.
Beneath the skeleton was a mat, from which the rich earth spiritual energy was emanating.
Apart from that, there was nothing else in the small room.
"It seems I was right; this must have been this person's Cave Abode. But I wonder what this person did, why they built their Cave Abode underground, and what caused their death?"
Su Shi'er squinted his eyes, standing at the doorway, and discreetly cast a Wind Summoning spell.
With a gust of wind, the skeleton and its clothing turned to dust, clearly long since decayed.
"Ding!"
Immediately, a blue, ancient-looking ring rolled to the ground.
Looking at the mat and the ring on the ground, Su Shi'er quickly used Object Control to retrieve both items and then returned to the hall.
"This mat is actually a High Grade Ritual Artifact made from an entire second-level Spirit Plant, an earth vine! The cultivators of the past were truly extravagant!"
"This artifact surely can't be used for combat, so could it... aid in cultivation?"
Recalling the state of the skeleton before it turned to dust, Su Shi'er quickly set down the mat and sat cross-legged on it to try it out.
As his cultivation technique circulated within him, he immediately felt the spiritual energy of heaven and earth rushing in. The speed of refining the spiritual energy was several times faster than on Cuihuan Mountain.
"The richness of the spiritual energy here is one thing, but the key is this mat, which actually accelerates the refining of spiritual energy. This... this is a treasure!"
Discovering the mat's wonderful use, Su Shi'er immediately showed a joyful expression.
Although he had the mysterious Pill Furnace, constantly refining various Pill Medicines, his Spirit Root was indeed too poor, and even with the help of Pill Medicines, he barely kept up with the level of ordinary disciples.
If it weren't for his diligence, reaching the third level of the Qi Refining stage in five years would have been the limit.
But with this item, his future cultivation speed could be even faster. The quicker he increased his strength, the sooner he could seek revenge!
After confirming the mat's usefulness, Su Shi'er excitedly sat on it, finally turning his attention to the ancient ring.
The ring felt extraordinary to the touch, with ancient patterns carved on it.
Yet, no matter how Su Shi'er examined it, he couldn't sense any spiritual power fluctuations. But he knew that something that could endure through the ages couldn't be simple.
"Let's try injecting True Essence!"
Seeing no other clues, Su Shi'er tried injecting True Essence into it. As his True Essence touched the ring, it seemed to encounter a thin membrane.
Raising an eyebrow, Su Shi'er pushed his True Essence forcefully, breaking through the membrane.
In the next second, his mind shook, and a space about a hundred square meters appeared in his mind.
"This is actually a storage artifact like a Storage Bag?! With such a large space, it must be at least a High Grade storage artifact!"
Su Shi'er was astonished and quickly focused on exploring the space within the storage ring.
The space was not small, but it was empty, containing only a cylindrical object about a finger's length and two fingers wide, and a half-palm-sized jade tablet.
With a thought, he retrieved the two items from the storage ring.
Putting the storage ring on his hand, Su Shi'er quickly picked up the cylindrical object to examine it.
The cylinder was carved with ancient patterns, and faintly visible were three small characters: Jade Eye Tube!
"Hmm? Jade Eye Tube? I seem to recall from some miscellaneous notes that this is a medium used by ancient cultivators to record cultivation techniques and insights?"
Seeing the three characters, Su Shi'er immediately recalled.
Remembering the information mentioned in the notes, he placed the Jade Eye Tube against his forehead.
Immediately, several pieces of information flashed through his mind. In the blink of an eye, he had absorbed the information from the Jade Eye Tube.
"Minor Zhou Tian Qi Refining Technique? Minor Zhou Tian Concealment Technique? Thunder Tempering Technique?"
"Zhou Tian Sect! So this Jade Eye Tube was an item issued to entry-level disciples of the Zhou Tian Sect. This means that the person who perished here was likely a minor Qi Refining cultivator from ancient times."
"But... this Minor Zhou Tian Qi Refining Technique actually has twelve levels of Qi Refining stage techniques. How is that possible? The sect's Basic Breathing Technique clearly states that the Qi Refining stage is complete at nine levels, right?"
Su Shi'er blinked, looking puzzled.
This was a question he couldn't figure out for now, so he had to set it aside.
"However, this Minor Zhou Tian Concealment Technique can hide one's cultivation level, so I must learn it."
"And the Thunder Tempering Technique is actually a body-strengthening technique that enhances the physique. At its peak, it can make the body as defensively strong as a Top Grade Ritual Artifact? It's just a pity that this technique requires the use of weak lightning, which is not easy to handle."
With these thoughts, Su Shi'er turned his attention to the other jade tablet.
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