PDLP Chapter 213 Underground Palace Ghost Fire
Chapter 213 Underground Palace Ghost Fire
“Young Master Xiao, you are being far too suspicious! My speculations are mostly unreliable. If you insist on saying it, then so be it. Just don’t laugh at me for it, Young Master Xiao.”
"Tell me your opinion, and I will make my own judgment."
Xiao Keding sneered repeatedly, showing considerable distrust of Luo Sifan.
"I racked my brains, but the disappearance of these Pill Tower cultivators was inexplicable. Then, a flash of inspiration struck me, and I remembered something that had this miraculous effect!"
"What is that?!"
"I have heard that in the North Sea of Yunzhou, there is a creature called the Swallowing Shark. When it opens its mouth, fish and shrimp within a radius of about a mile can all be swallowed into its belly! Surely someone in the Pill Tower has refined a shark into a treasure, and with this treasure, they can instantly transfer everyone in the Pill Tower into the shark's belly!"
"Young Master Lin is knowledgeable and has a rich imagination; I admire him!"
The so-called North Sea Swallowing Shark was a fabrication by Luo Sifan, based on the demon beast Devouring Li. Xiao Keding had never heard of it before and would not believe it.
"Young Master Lin, instead of going to the underground palace, you've come here to investigate. It seems you're quite concerned about the Danta Federation! You also had a long private conversation with those three prisoners before. Young Master Lin, how do you explain your actions before and after?"
Xiao Keding then changed the subject and continued to question Luo Sifan's motives.
Seeing his posture, Luo Sifan realized that his response was inadequate and was about to make a move.
"To be honest, I am a cultivator of alchemy! The people of the Pill Tower have a long-standing reputation in the art of alchemy. Due to my selfish desires, I had the idea of learning from the cultivators of the Pill Tower. That is why Young Master Xiao has become suspicious."
"As for such a mysterious place as the Immortal Tomb Palace, I, Lin, consider myself to be of limited knowledge and skills. How could I dare to compete with others for it? It would be wise of me to retreat and not be greedy."
Luo Sifan blushed, as if Xiao Keding had indeed found a weakness in him.
"You're a pill refiner? What level of pills can you refine?"
Xiao Keding frowned, intending to continue the interrogation.
"It's a third-level pill, but the quality is a bit lacking. It's still passable, though."
"Oh, for your age and cultivation level, being able to refine a third-level pill already shows some talent."
Xiao Keding's brows relaxed slightly, and he then posed several questions on basic alchemy knowledge. Luo Sifan frowned and pondered deeply, answering about 80% of the questions correctly.
Xiao Keding finally believed that he was indeed a self-taught alchemist with a weak foundation, but with some bright spots.
"The Silverfrost Empire's Pill Gathering is imminent, and I've been too negligent in my alchemy skills, constantly worrying that I might jeopardize Miss Qianxiu's important matter. Seeing the Pill Tower cultivators before me, I can't help but feel the urge to learn from them..."
Luo Sifan embellished the story, trying her best to portray a wild, ambitious alchemist in front of Xiao Keding.
Xiao Keding, confident in his orthodox alchemy, was extremely arrogant in front of Luo Sifan, who was a self-taught practitioner. Upon hearing this, he smiled faintly.
"Lin Qianxiu will be the head of the Pill Gathering, so why worry so much? As for the Pill Gathering being held soon, you don't need to be too anxious. This year's Pill Gathering has been moved to the Pill Tower Federation, and the date has been postponed."
"Really!?"
Luo Sifan was both surprised and delighted. It would be perfect to take this opportunity to visit the Danta Federation, find a chance to meet the Purple Tower Master, and confirm whether she was Mu Xiaoqing.
"You seem quite confident!"
Xiao Keding knew that this year's Pill Gathering was far more difficult than previous ones. He secretly chuckled at Luo Sifan's unpredictable performance and sneered.
The Danta Federation's move was clearly intended to humiliate Silverfrost and seize control of the Eastern Lands. This year's Dan Conference was fraught with difficulties, and Xiao Keding was not as ignorant and reckless as Luo Sifan.
The Silver Frost cultivators in the distance suddenly became noisy.
Xiao Keding was too lazy to argue with Luo Sifan anymore, and glanced at Luo Sifan, saying indifferently:
"Lin Qianxiu and the others have already come out of the underground palace. Shall we go and see what Miss Lin has gained?"
Xiao Keding's sneer remained, clearly indicating that he did not think Lin Qianxiu could crack the Immortal Tomb Palace.
When the two met Lin Qianxiu and Duan Xiaoyun, Lin Qianxiu, who had been exploring the underground palace passage for more than an hour, indeed had a gloomy expression on her face.
"Lin Xiaozhi, it's your turn to go next round!"
Lin Qianxiu's tone became even more unfriendly when she saw that he had come with Xiao Keding.
"It's no use me going!"
Luo Sifan declined with a bitter face, while Xiao Keding chuckled and left on his own.
"How did you end up hanging out with him?"
Before Xiao Keding could walk far, Lin Qianxiu loudly questioned Luo Sifan.
"It's a long story, this kid just keeps bothering me."
Luo Sifan complained in a low voice that he found it difficult to deal with either Lin Qianxiu or Xiao Keding.
Luo Sifan could no longer bear living under someone else's roof.
Xiao Keding is a scoundrel who never gives up his wicked intentions and is always trying to undermine the Lin family!
Lin Qianxiu thought this to herself and instructed Luo Sifan:
"There aren't many good people in the Xiao family. They're all ambitious, so remember to stay away from them! Don't let their beauty and sweet talk bewitch you!"
Those summoning the cultivators to descend into the underground palace were already loudly urging them on.
Lin Qianxiu waved to Luo Sifan:
"Lin Xiaozhi, I'll accompany you to the underground palace again. Just in case the Xiao family comes to cause trouble again."
Lin Qianxiu's reluctant expression showed that she was truly at a loss and stumped by the underground palace passage.
The two followed another group of cultivators, totaling about several dozen people, and once again lined up in two rows before entering the underground palace passageway.
Every two people, a monk held up a fluorite to illuminate the narrow underground palace passageway.
Luo Sifan surveyed the passageway, quite shocked. He finally understood why Lin Qianxiu had returned empty-handed and looked anxious.
The passageway is covered with a dense network of fine lines, like millions of lines carved into the surface of water, each line being unique in its minute details.
To decipher the method for breaking the formation and opening the gate, it would likely require hundreds of cultivators to record and analyze it over many years.
The secret formations of the mortal realm, though elaborate and flashy, are no match for Luo Sifan's Pearl Palace Profound Exploration Technique, which he inherited from the Immortal Realm's Lotus Treasure.
He secretly channeled his inner energy, and the dense patterns in his eyes fell away like rain. All pretense crumbled, and only the true incantations related to this formation remained writhing in his eyes.
Luo Sifan moved slowly forward in the queue, glancing up occasionally, but mostly idling around.
Lin Qianxiu was already disheartened by the dense patterns all around her, but she was still unwilling to give up and kept trying despite repeated failures.
Lin Qianxiu understood and sympathized with Luo Sifan's voluntary decision to give up slacking off, and did not make any demands.
After advancing more than ten zhang, the procession reached the stone barrier blocking the underground palace and turned back. Luo Sifan had left more than a hundred true words and secret texts in his eyes.
Seeing that they had returned empty-handed again, everyone was dizzy and disoriented, filled with resentment, and the whole team was bored and listless.
The addition of another True Word Rune in Luo Sifan's eyes was like a live fish entering water, causing hundreds of True Word Runes to suddenly become agitated.
Hundreds of mantra patterns moved and combined, gathering and dispersing hundreds of times in an instant. Just as Luo Sifan was getting so agitated that he felt like vomiting, his soul suddenly roared, and more than a hundred mantra patterns connected one after another, forming a flawless closed-loop array.
The dense texture blends seamlessly, creating a unified whole where not a single gap can be seen.
A flash of light appeared, and the array symbol vanished in an instant.
Luo Sifan was so shaken that he had no time to care.
A tremendous force suddenly came from beneath their feet, causing everyone to stumble and fall, finally managing to grab onto the stone wall of the passageway.
A deafening, earth-shattering roar erupted, shaking the mountainside and startling Xiao Keding and the others outside the passageway, who were thrown into the air to dodge the falling debris.
"Earthquake! Landslide!"
Some of the monks in the passageway could not withstand the pressure, cried out in alarm, and stumbled and fell as they fled for their lives.
"Shut up! What landslide, earthquake, the underground palace has been opened!"
Lin Qianxiu remained calm, kicking away the cultivator who was standing close by, and said coldly.
As she gazed, the eerie flames gradually brightened, and at the end of the passageway, a deep, narrow crevice, dozens of feet wide, opened up, revealing the eerie glow of the flames that had burned for millennia within the underground palace.