It was not at all surprising that a lost treasure of the Xuan Sect had ended up in the Confluence. Throughout history, the Xuan Sect and the Chan Sect had clashed and contended, both experiencing their fair share of rises and falls.
Moreover, both sides possessed numerous branch sects. Whenever one side found itself at a disadvantage, they might stash some of their treasured relics away in the Confluence, entrusting them to members of branch sects to guard against external plundering. More importantly, if danger struck, the items could be moved at a moment's notice.
Yet the Confluence was fraught with complications. When fleeing calamity, there were times when sect elders vanished without a trace, taking the treasures with them.
To prevent these items from being lost forever, they would leave markings along their routes that only sect members could understand, or drop hints about their destination beforehand using secret sect ciphers so that later generations might retrieve them.
Whatever Guardian You had been looking for was likely in a similar situation.
As Chen Chuan examined the stone stele records, he noticed that in the early period, although Guardian You had come across the stone lotus, he had not abandoned the thought of seeking the lost treasure. Between the lines, he would occasionally remind himself that once the lotus seeds ripened, he would try searching for it again.
Even later on, when the man became deeply immersed in those "marvelous methods" and his inscriptions grew fragmented and incoherent, traces of remarks concerning the lost treasure were still interspersed throughout.
Phrases such as "Is the treasure in water, or in heaven?", "The Lake of Tilting Heavens—upon what does it rely?", and "I know! I know! Now that I hold the method, I see it. To take or not to take, how vexing!"
Beyond these, other stone steles held scattered clues referencing geographical terms, likely drawn from maps of the Confluence compiled by the Xuan Sect.
Chen Chuan had never seen such a map. Many relics of the Old State Religion, including canonical texts and secret records, were currently kept in the National Archives. They were not open to the general public; only individuals of recognized standing could submit an application stating their reasons to access and consult them.
Without them, many critical pieces of information were missing, making it virtually impossible to pinpoint the exact location.
Furthermore, even the clues Guardian You possessed were likely incomplete. Thus, Chen Chuan committed them to memory for the time being, deciding to look into them when an opportunity presented itself in the future.
His primary purpose in entering the Confluence was hunting and cultivation. Stumbling upon these lotus seeds was already an unexpected windfall; there was no need to be greedy. Cultivating here and now was what mattered most.
Over the next few days, he hunted nearby during the day and continued his rigorous practice of the Grand Radiant Light Forms and Grand Firmament Forms at night.
In the area surrounding the stone lotus, he did not have to venture far to spot rare creatures documented in the compendium.
These beasts congregated there precisely because of the yaogui's presence. They knew they could avoid certain hazards here, as fiercer predators dared not draw near.
This spared Chen Chuan a great deal of effort and made his hunting considerably easier. Of course, he had no intention of wiping them out completely; after each hunt, he switched directions.
With an abundant supply of nourishment, his cultivation rhythm returned to its proper track. He could now master a form in roughly three to four days, so by the sixth day, he had mastered two of the Grand Firmament Forms.
His cultivation did not specialize in a single branch; rather, he prioritized advancing in tandem. The two great form systems served to temper the spirit and the body respectively, corresponding to each other. Having practiced the Grand Radiant Light Forms earlier, catching up on the Grand Firmament Forms now ensured neither lagged behind.
Moreover, employing both form systems together in combat yielded even greater might, a fact thoroughly demonstrated during his confrontation with the yaogui. Had either aspect of restraint been lacking back then, the outcome would have fallen far short; he might not have won so decisively, and the creature might have even escaped.
After all, a yaogui's primary mutated tissues could disperse and flee. If even one slipped away, it might regenerate by the next day. And once it gradually regained its combat consciousness, it could adopt hit-and-run guerilla tactics, making it extraordinarily troublesome to deal with.
While he would not normally mind sparring against such an adversary, his main objective here was cultivation, and he did not wish to be disrupted by unforeseen complications.
During these days, he retrieved the lotus seeds every day at dawn and returned them at nightfall, repeating the cycle for several days.
Yet amid this, he also considered an important matter.
Because the final ripening of the lotus seeds might take place at night, a rare specimen that had grown for hundreds of years could very well provoke an anomaly.
The compendium contained accounts on how to harvest those "bearing three" or "bearing five"; the more seeds produced, the greater the peril encountered. Not to mention that this instance was "bearing seven"—the compendium held no record whatsoever of such a scenario, while the so-called "bearing nine" was purely the stuff of legend.
He reasoned that since Guardian You had intended to harvest them, he could not have overlooked this factor and must have made preparations. Following this line of thought, Chen Chuan inspected the surroundings over the past few days. In the end, he was certain that the arrangement of the stone steles was intentional, likely an esoteric ritual set up for the harvest.
Guardian You had been a Guardian of the Jinli Sect, so setting up such an arrangement came as no surprise. To Chen Chuan's limited knowledge of esoteric rituals, the initial purpose of this entire setup was to ward off incursions from outside entities and suppress the mutation that the stone lotus was likely to undergo upon the seeds ripening.
As for the stone steles turning into diary tablets, that was something that happened later.
However, parts of this arrangement had apparently been damaged. While hunting, he had spotted several worked stone fragments outside, seemingly discarded by Guardian You.
He surmised that Guardian You had likely broken them himself later on to better contemplate the "marvelous methods."
Fortunately, the original traces of their placements still remained. All he needed to do was retrieve those stones and align them with the markings once more.
As for those completely shattered, they were not strictly necessary. By piecing together their general silhouettes, he could simply find stones of similar size, chisel them to match the originals, and set them in place. After all, these stones had been gathered locally and possessed no innate special properties.
By daytime on the seventh day, he had restored every missing piece to its proper position. The moment everything was set, he instantly felt a shift in the surroundings, as though certain influences were being walled off, and even the intrusive effects of the Confluence seemed to weaken.
Yet something still seemed to be missing.
As he was pondering, a sensation struck him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the heart-like crystal left behind by You Zhinan. The object was now pulsing with a faint heat.
He focused his senses on it, his heart stirring. Turning in place, he discovered that the heat grew noticeably stronger when facing a particular direction. He walked toward it, halting where the temperature peaked. At that spot, the texture beneath his feet felt unusual.
Crouching on one knee, he brushed his hand across the ground, revealing a distinct hexagonal outline. He considered it for a moment, then pressed down. The soil churned outward, and guided by his steady upward motion as he rose, an object slowly pulled itself up from beneath the earth.
Once it fully surfaced, it proved to be a hexagonal stone pillar just over a meter tall and roughly as thick as a rice bowl. Pitch-black throughout with a surface resembling jade glaze, it was evidently crafted from a specialized material. Near the top was a fist-sized aperture open on all four sides, flanked on either side by a pair of pierced lugs that appeared meant for fastening cords and carrying.
After looking it over, he suspected this was very likely the legendary ritual pivot stone.
Section Chief Lei had mentioned such items in the esoteric compendium he had provided; the great sects of the old era used them when conducting grand sacrifices and rites.
This stone had undoubtedly been brought here by You Zhinan, and it was most likely an artifact of the Jinli Sect. He must have intended to use it as the core of the entire esoteric ritual.
Perhaps because it was extraordinarily durable, it had not been smashed like the other steles, only buried underground. Or perhaps deep down, he had been unwilling to let it go.
He compared the hollow aperture at the top of the pivot stone—its size was an exact fit for the crimson crystal.
Earlier, he had not known what the crystal was, but now he understood: in this ritual, it served as both the ritual initiator and the catalyst for generating the field.
Strictly speaking, none of the surrounding setup involved esoteric materials, so channeling and directing power required a source. This crystal had to be it.
If that were the case, it made sense why the yaogui kept it on its person. Perhaps it held additional functions beyond this, or was even a major treasure of the Jinli Sect itself.
With these pieces assembled, he felt several degrees more confident about successfully obtaining the lotus seeds.
As dusk approached and the time drew near, he inspected the perimeter once more, moved all his belongings near the pivot stone, and placed some food ingredients and high-energy nutrients within easy reach. He also bade Chaoming stay obediently at his side.
Then, he set the crimson crystal into the aperture. The moment it slipped in, the surrounding stones seemed to vibrate faintly, though the sensation vanished an instant later.
At that moment, the black pivot stone turned completely translucent, radiating a bright light in all directions. The illumination struck each stone stele, reflecting back and forth to link them into an integrated whole. Seen from above, it appeared to form an intricate esoteric diagram.
Standing at its center, Chen Chuan found this esoteric ritual rather sophisticated—entirely different from the rituals he had known previously. The difference likely lay in the application of ritual materials. Its effectiveness was impressive as well; the bizarre, uncanny incursions typical of the Confluence's nights seemed entirely barred outside.
He walked over to the stone lotus and looked at the seedpod. Wisps of a refreshing, heart-soothing fragrance had already begun to drift from it. Once tonight passed, the seven lotus seeds would ripen, ready to be harvested first thing tomorrow morning.
Just then, he caught a strange sound. Moments later, with a thunderous crash, the ground trembled violently as if something were hammering furiously against something nearby. All the stones shook and rumbled, dislodging constant showers of loose dirt and grit.
……
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Chapter 888