Chapter 2709 — The Main Tomb Chamber

"What? It was that extraordinary?" Hearing White Leader's words, Wei Zhao felt wave after wave of regret wash over him. Back then he had had no idea what the thing was, nor how precious it might be, and so he had simply overlooked it. Only now did he realize that he had let slip a stroke of fortune beyond all measure!

Wei Zhao had gone to such pains, searching far and wide for a third-tier medicinal cauldron, never knowing that a replica of the Shennong Cauldron—one of at least the Mystic Rank, first grade—had once been right before his eyes, and that he had failed to grasp it...

"Indeed. A pity, such a pity!" White Leader did not much mind the photograph in Wei Zhao's possession. After all, the cauldron was already damaged beyond repair; what did it matter even if it had been the genuine article?

What truly weighed on him was that a replica once used by Zhang Lifeng himself had slipped through his fingers!

"Never mind. What is lost is lost. Perhaps this cauldron was never meant for us. We have already done well to obtain what we have," Wei Zhao said, taking it philosophically.

"You have a point. It was I who grew a little greedy," White Leader said with a nod. "Since this is our founding patriarch's tomb, everything here follows his design in ways we cannot see. We must not insist too much."

"Is there anything else here worth taking?" Wei Zhao asked after scanning the chamber once more.

"Nothing. Even this round bead for testing one's constitution—leave it here as well. There would be no use for it if we carried it off." White Leader casually returned the bead to where it had been. "Little Yi, shall we now go and pay our respects to Patriarch Zhang Lifeng?"

"All right." Wei Zhao nodded, stroked the Thunder Pig's head, and said, "Thunder Pig, we are going to the main tomb chamber to pay our respects to Patriarch Zhang Lifeng. That should be fine, shouldn't it?"

The last time Wei Zhao had come to the ancient tomb, he had not intruded upon the main tomb chamber to disturb Zhang Lifeng's spirit. But this time his standing was different, and naturally he would follow White Leader to pay his respects—which would unavoidably disturb the master of this tomb.

"Squeak, squeak..." The Thunder Pig nodded, then led Wei Zhao, White Leader, and Yu Xiaoke out of the stone chamber and toward the main tomb chamber.

When they reached the entrance to the main tomb chamber, Wei Zhao was just about to warn everyone not to enter carelessly when the Thunder Pig gave them all a warning first. It stood at the doorway, shook its head, and squealed "squeak, squeak," signaling that they should not go in.

Apart from White Leader, who was briefly taken aback, both Wei Zhao and Yu Xiaoke understood at once: the main tomb chamber must contain traps, which was why the Thunder Pig was behaving so.

After the Thunder Pig triggered the mechanism that opened the stone door, it entered the main tomb chamber first. Sure enough, it knew the way well and casually touched a few inconspicuous spots, then returned to the doorway and nodded at everyone with a "squeak, squeak."

"All right, we can go in now. There were traps inside just now, and the Thunder Pig helped shut them down," Wei Zhao explained to White Leader.

"Oh, so that was it!" White Leader had encountered no traps or dangers on the way in, and he was no professional tomb robber, so he did not understand such things well. Only after Wei Zhao spoke did it dawn on him, and he nodded in sudden comprehension.

The three of them entered the main tomb chamber together, and the stone door behind them closed in turn.

It was a very simple main tomb chamber. In one corner against the wall rested a massive coffin, and around it there was nothing else at all—bare and stark, almost jarring to the eye.

Yet the stone walls of the main tomb chamber were covered in writing. Wei Zhao gave it a brief glance: it concerned the life and experiences of Zhang Lifeng.

Wei Zhao and White Leader stood respectfully before the coffin and paid their respects to Patriarch Zhang Lifeng. White Leader grew somewhat agitated. Though the Five Luminaries Sect enshrined the tablets of its patriarchs through the generations, to stand in person before the coffin of Zhang Lifeng—the most renowned alchemist in history—left White Leader overcome with emotion.

A heroic spirit long suppressed for years rose unbidden from the depths of his heart! Once, White Leader had believed himself ruined and had sunk into despair, thinking he would muddle through the rest of his life. In those days his only goal had been to find a wood-attribute heir for the Five Luminaries Sect and pass on all he had learned.

As for Xuan Chen's treachery and his seizure of power, White Leader had truly been powerless to stop it, powerless to restore the Five Luminaries Sect's good name. If the sect was ever to prosper, his only course had been to cooperate with Xuan Chen and aid him in his villainy.

But after meeting Wei Zhao, White Leader suddenly discovered that his future was bright after all—that returning to the Five Luminaries Sect, even reclaiming it, was no impossible feat.

All of it seemed like the guiding hand of Patriarch Zhang Lifeng, unseen, delivering Wei Zhao to his side and letting him see hope.

White Leader swore silently in his heart that he would never betray Patriarch Zhang Lifeng's hopes. One day he would restore the Five Luminaries Sect and bring back the glory it had known thousands of years ago!

"Phew..." White Leader let out a long breath, then said, "Let us read through Patriarch Zhang Lifeng's life and experiences, and then leave. This whole affair is finished now..."

"All right." Wei Zhao nodded solemnly as well. This trip to the ancient tomb was different from the last: he had now formally entered the Five Luminaries Sect and become one of its members, so standing before Zhang Lifeng's coffin naturally stirred different feelings in him.

Wei Zhao quietly lifted the Thunder Pig in his arms, and together they began reading the account of Zhang Lifeng's life on the wall. The little creature could read as well, and Wei Zhao meant to let it look too, to recall the events of those years.

"You two go ahead. I'll poke around here and see if there's anything good." Yu Xiaoke was not much interested in Zhang Lifeng's life and experiences.

Wei Zhao nodded without saying more, and together with White Leader began carefully reading the writing on the wall...

Zhang Lifeng devoted his entire life to the study of medicine and alchemy. The remedies and pill formulas he improved were beyond counting, and the lost elixirs of high antiquity that he restored were no few either!

Some ancient elixirs were lost not because they were so difficult to refine, nor because their formulas had vanished, but because certain ingredients named in those formulas no longer existed!