Suppressing his excitement, Yan Liqiang headed towards that stone house.
It had two rooms, one big and one small. Yan Liqiang headed to the smaller room first.
The room had no door but a skin-curtain. It was completely tattered. Yan Liqiang touched it with his sword and the curtain fell to the floor.
It seemed like no one had been here for a long time.
In the first room, there was a stone press, a stone chair, and a stone stand. There were bottles and jars on the stand and a stone-made cauldron. There was a layer of dust on them but Yan Liqiang recognized them immediately.
Yan Liqiang walked out of the first room and headed to the second. He brushed away the curtain and went in and saw a dried body sitting on a stone bed. This gave Yan Liqiang quite the scare.
Up until now, Yan Liqiang had seen all kinds of things and an ordinary dried body wouldn’t be enough to scare him. However, this body had been here for who knows how long, still sitting on the stone bed. Its face seemed lively, as the hair and beard were still there. The eyes were shot and the body wasn’t rotten — the body had just lost its water and seemed a little dry.
Focusing his mind, Yan Liqiang carefully walked into this room. The set up here was simpler. Other than a stone bed and stone table, there was nothing else.
Yan Liqiang studied the dried body. From the looks of it, there was no external injury. The person probably died naturally but it was very magical that this body didn’t rot after death. According to what he knew, the bodies of only those who had a very high cultivation state, at least above Martial Ancestor, would not rot.
For some reason, the body was missing a hand. The body had a silvery necklace that had dense runes inscribed on it. The thing hanging off the necklace was a small black beast core.
Crap, this necklace was a talisman artefact! Yan Liqiang was a bit surprised. He perused the necklace. It had exquisite craftsmanship, especially the formation runes and the design. It definitely came from a master. Judging by the runes, the necklace was a defensive talisman used as insect repellent.
Out of respect for the dead, Yan Liqiang wasn’t going to take the necklace. He felt that for someone to carry something with him to death, the person must have cherished it a lot when he was alive.
“Although we don’t know each other, it’s still fate that we met here. Your necklace is exquisite but in a few years, I can make it myself. I’ll leave it with you!”
After speaking to the body, he didn’t find anything else in the room and was a little disappointed. Just when he wanted to leave, his eyes glanced at the body again and he stopped.
Yan Liqiang noticed that the only hand the body had was clenched into a fist and placed in front of the stomach. For some reason, the index finger wasn’t clenched and instead reached out. Yan Liqiang walked nearer and looked at the direction the finger was pointing. It seemed to be pointing at the stone table next to the bed.
There might not be any meaning to this, but what if it was a clue?
He had plenty of time now so Yan Liqiang didn’t mind testing his luck.
There was nothing on the ground below the table other than dust.
Yan Liqiang squatted down and used the sword to knock on the ground below the table. The sound was solid, nothing hollow.
Since there was nothing below the table, it seemed like he was thinking too much. The finger probably wasn’t pointing to anything here. Yan Liqiang got up and laughed in self-mockery and shook his head before heading toward the door. Just when he was about to cross the door, Yan Liqiang stopped and turned around looking in the direction the finger pointed to once again. He quickly went to the table and felt under the table. A few seconds later, Yan Liqiang’s face was full of surprise and joy. When he took his hand from under the table, there was a stone tablet in his hand. The tablet was filled with small writing.
— Since you have found this tablet, it means there is fate between us. If you took my talisman necklace, you would probably be dead now. The necklace is filled with poison — anyone who touches it will die. Very well, you didn’t touch the necklace. In that case, everything left here is yours.
— Since you have reached this place, you must’ve escaped from that ten-thousand-year spirit leech. It means you’re very lucky and fortunate. You must be thinking about how to leave this place. The only way to leave is through the water pond in that cave. It’s connected to the underground river. The water of that river is like blades that scrape the bones. Normally, if you enter you would die a certain death, but in the middle of the twelfth lunar month each year, the time of the great tide, the water in the river can slow down or even recede. You have one day’s worth of time to go back to the surface through that.
— That ten-thousand-year spirit leech is an extinct being within the world. Its essence and blood Qi is extremely thick. It lived for ten thousand years and ate countless earth dragon fruit in the cave. It has reached an unimaginable level. It’s the most precious thing, especially for martial practitioners. If one uses the leech’s essence for oneself, becoming an ancestor or saint is not out of the question. I originally wanted to use it to forge an Emperor God Pill to reach Martial Emperor, but the heavens forbade it and my life was coming to its end. I could no longer set up a trap to subjugate it. I’ll leave the rest to fate. I wonder who would be lucky enough to get the essence of that ten-thousand-year spirit leech.
— The fruit on the small tree outside is earth dragon fruit. It matures once every 360 years. Once it matures, it emanates a seven-colored light and aroma, but you must not eat it. It’s a huge supplement for strange beasts like the leech, but for humans it’s extreme poison. The things in the gardens are all planted by me. You can eat all those fruits and mushrooms.
— When I was still alive, I had a title called Thousand-Faced Demon Monarch. Some Dao protectionists call me the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon. I wonder if the world still knows of my name. I dominated the pugilistic world and tried all the extreme beauty in the world. I could enter the royal palace, the big sects, island nations, and deserts freely but I have never coerced any woman. It was all mutual. I’m a hundred times better than those hypocrites who act righteous but are secretly bleak. In the cauldron room next door, there’s a secret manual under the cauldron foot. It’s my gift to you. You can take it, but it’s up to you if you cultivate it or not. As for other things, never mind, never mind…
— Little Mei… Little Mei… Little Mei… Little Mei…
The remaining words were all ‘Little Mei’ which seemed to be a woman’s name. There seemed to be endless regret and longing in those words…
