Volume 5: The Mystery of Shamo Chapter 24 A Hidden Paradise
I don’t know how long it took, but when Gong Lili surfaced again, she was stunned by the scenery in front of her. She had thought that the valley outside was already a paradise on earth, but it turned out that she was ignorant.
The Shen family's paradise now appeared shyly in front of Ying Lili, like a girl holding a pipa and half covering her face.
The lush forests, bamboo groves and natural canyons give the Mingyue Canyon a unique appearance. Waterfalls, deep pools, strange rocks and dense forests, all these pristine natural beauties complement each other in this canyon.
Looking around, you can see winding streams, singing birds and fragrant flowers. Being in it, you feel like stepping into a fairyland on earth. In this fairyland, there are countless carved railings and jade bricks, red buildings and painted beams, which are dazzling to the eyes.
All kinds of rare flowers and plants are blooming, red, white , green and purple, competing with each other in beauty.
No matter from which angle you look at it, it is a wonderful picture. It is truly a paradise on earth!
The Shen family really knows how to choose a location! Such a beautiful scenery, I'm afraid the legendary Penglai Fairyland is no more than this, right?
The place where Yan Lili and Yan Xiaoxiao emerged was still a deep pool. Yan Lili was a little confused. Could it be that this deep pool was connected to the previous one? Or was this place originally a secret passage?
But there was no time to think about all this. The two of them looked at each other and flew up from the deep pool. At this time, Yan Xiaoxiao's surprised voice came to their ears: "G, your face..."
Ying Lili subconsciously lowered her head and saw with the help of the ripples on the water that her face was actually mottled like a tabby cat. It turned out that the material used for disguise had dissolved after coming into contact with water. Now her face was all colorful and turned into a pile of oil paint. She was afraid that her mother would not recognize her. Ying Lili smiled self-deprecatingly and was too lazy to even wipe it off. Forget it, she didn't even need to disguise herself. She was just going to do the job of a thief, and it would be better if others didn't recognize her.
Yan Xiaoxiao seemed incredibly familiar with the terrain. According to her, they were already within Mingyue Canyon, home to the Shen family, but still some distance from the Shen family's pharmacy, which was located in a secluded area deep within the canyon. Judging from her appearance, she must have wandered there several times. The two of them didn't dare delay any further; after all, Yan Zheng was still waiting for them to bring back medicine to save his life.
It was dusk, and though it was still early for the lights to be lit, the canyon was already somewhat dim. Yan Xiaoxiao and Yan Lili were both exceptionally skilled, moving through the dense forests and bamboo groves as if they were in an uninhabited area. The Shen family didn't appear to be very prosperous, at least not by much. They encountered few people along the way, only one or two maids hurriedly carrying small bamboo baskets filled with herbs.
"Is the 'Nirvana Huifeng Pill' in the pharmacy?" Ying Lili suddenly thought of this important question. Such a precious thing would not be placed together with ordinary pills, right?
Yan Xiaoxiao shook her head. "It should be, but I've sneaked in a few times, but maybe I was unlucky and didn't catch the day they opened the furnace. Or maybe the Shen family hid it too well. Anyway, I never saw that thing. But we don't have much time now, so instead of searching everywhere, why not go to the nearby alchemy room and take a look."
Gong Lili nodded without saying anything, and then used the Life Secret to explore again, and found that the mysterious man who had been following him all the way had really disappeared. Although he didn't know what secrets were under the deep pool, it was really not easy to get rid of the tail that had been following him like a shadow and a leech.
Moreover, it stands to reason that the Shen family has been living in seclusion in this canyon for many years without any harm. In addition to the fact that their head of the family is on good terms with the wizard Sha Mo, there must be a strong barrier or protective measures outside the canyon. However, they came all the way here as if they were walking in their own backyard, and did not seem to encounter any obstacles. Ping Lili subconsciously thought that Yan Xiaoxiao must have done something secretly, but she did not seem to do anything deliberately along the way. It was just that her body was more cunning than that of ordinary people, and her footwork was very impressive. It seemed that Yan Xiaoxiao was indeed a hidden genius.
Only then did they realize how vast Mingyue Canyon truly was. The two had ascended from the deep pool to a mountain peak, over five hundred feet high, composed entirely of lustrous green jade. Between the jade grew dwarf pines and cypresses, dotted with a few cloud fungus and a few ginseng flowers. Bell-shaped orchids nestled among the vast expanses of vines, their rich fragrance filling the air. Countless fist-sized holes pierced the mountain's surface, and wisps of purple air, like mist and smoke, slowly rose from these tens of thousands of holes, enveloping the entire mountain.
Suddenly, Yinglili felt a cool breeze flowing into her body, and her entire body felt relaxed. The spiritual energy contained in the veins beneath this peak was truly astonishing. No wonder the Shen family chose this place to refine their elixir. It was truly wonderful.
The two of them went straight to the top, and behind a bamboo forest, the alchemy room appeared before their eyes. At this moment, the smell of elixir wafted into their noses. There was a hint of strange fragrance in the coolness. I wonder what kind of elixir they were refining?
What is even more amazing is that wisps of purple mist continuously fall from the sky, splashing purple air masses on the roof of the alchemy room, slowly surging with the wind.
Yan Xiaoxiao also briefly mentioned it to Gong Lili along the way. It is said that the Shen family's alchemy room has eight entrances, from the inside to the outside, they are divided into eight levels of alchemy rooms, namely "Heaven, Earth, Mysterious Yellow, Universe, Primordial Wilderness", and the number of alchemy furnaces in each alchemy recipe and the quality of the elixir produced are different.
The four alchemy rooms of Heaven, Earth, Xuan, and Huang each had only one furnace, while the four levels of furnaces—Yu, Zhou, Hong, and Huang—held a variety of furnaces, ranging from dozens to nearly a thousand. Each level of furnace was responsible for refining a specific elixir with a specific quality and magical effect. The Heaven-level furnace was said to be capable of resurrecting elixirs that could reverse the course of heaven and earth, while the Earth-level furnace was said to produce an elixir of immortality. The Xuan-level furnace was said to be used for rejuvenating elixirs. Most important to them, however, was the Huang-level furnace, which was used to refine the "Nirvana Huifeng Pills," which could cure all ailments and restore the world.
Of course, these are just legends. After all, the Shen family, the king of medicine in Wucheng, had already become a legend in the Xu Ming world, and had accepted many closed disciples, so it was inevitable that there were many different opinions.
But Yan Xiaoxiao also said that she had been to the Shen family's alchemy room countless times, but had never seen these four furnaces refine a single elixir. To be precise, she had been in and out of the Shen family's alchemy room countless times, but had never stolen anything valuable from the four alchemy rooms of Tian, Di, Xuan, and Huang. She didn't know whether the Shen family could no longer refine good things, or whether they kept them too well, so that this skilled thief could only steal some ordinary elixirs from the alchemy rooms of Yu, Zhou, Hong, and Huang, but had never succeeded in getting anything of truly high grade.
However, Gong Lili also knew that since Yan Xiaoxiao dared to take the risk to come here again, she naturally thought that the latter possibility was more likely. However, she didn't know where their Shen family hid those high-grade elixirs that could bring the dead back to life?
There was no time for them to hesitate at this point. Although there seemed to be quite a few servants and guards at the door of the alchemy room, and many people patrolling back and forth, they were still able to sneak in easily with their skills.
However, ever since approaching the alchemy room, Ping Lili had been feeling a sense of unease. The refreshing, strange fragrance lingered around her, and it felt strange. For no apparent reason, she suddenly recalled the time Wei Xingying had thrown her into the alchemy furnace beneath the Five Poisons Garden at the Ruoye Clan's palace in Yonghui City. Although that incident had been a close call and a blessing in disguise, being thrown into an alchemy furnace was never a pleasant experience. The thought still lingered, and so, as she gazed upon the alchemy furnaces, each as tall as a person, shrouded in wisps of green smoke and billowing red flames, she couldn't help but shudder.
The first places they arrived at were the four low-grade alchemy rooms: Yu, Zhou, Hong, and Huang. Yan Xiaoxiao didn't even glance at them before rushing straight inside with Peng Lili. It was obvious that Yan Xiaoxiao was preoccupied with Yan Zheng's safety, so she didn't care about the ordinary elixirs and naturally wanted to search the four high-grade alchemy furnaces. However, she wondered if the conditions inside Tian, Di, Xuan, and Huang were still the same as before.
Just as the two of them stepped into the yellow-labeled alchemy room at the front, a teasing voice floated out of nowhere, "You two girls are so boring! You finally made it to Mingyue Canyon, but instead of enjoying the flowers and the moon, you came to this alchemy room to join in the fun. Are you planning to be fire-making maids for the Shen family?"
