Chapter 145: Five Elements Spirit Soil
This Secret Realm was indeed a massive, High Tier Medicinal Garden left behind by an Ancient Sect.
This Ancient Sect was called the Celestial Repair Sect. Each generation’s Sect Leader was a Nascent Soul Powerhouse and also held the hereditary title of Celestial True Monarch.
The Celestial Repair Sect was most skilled at cultivating Spirit Medicines and Refining Elixirs. As such, the Cave Mansions of the Sect’s upper echelons often had an attached Medicinal Garden, and this place was precisely where the Celestial Repair Sect’s Sect Leader resided.
The Medicinal Garden was divided into three layers: the Outer Garden, the Inner Garden, and the Core.
This Oasis was the core of the Medicinal Garden. Even the surrounding desert was once part of it long ago.
But later, as the Spiritual Qi gradually diminished, those areas slowly turned into desert, and the remaining part shrank into this Oasis.
Arrays separated each of the three layers. The array barrier and the rock wall that Zhang Chi had encountered were examples of this.
Back in the day, one only needed a Celestial Repair Sect Disciple Token to enter the Outer Garden.
To enter the Inner Garden, one had to pass an inspection by the Celestial Repair Sect’s Guards.
And to enter the core area, one had to possess a Core Disciple Token.
But then, a massive eruption of the Demon Abyss occurred. The Celestial Repair Sect evacuated completely, leaving this Medicinal Garden behind.
However, the Celestial Repair Sect didn’t abandon it completely. The Sect’s high-ranking members used their Great Magical Power to protect the Medicinal Garden with a Restriction Array, hoping to return and reactivate it one day.
Furthermore, because the situation was urgent, there wasn’t time to evacuate all the Disciples, and some were unwilling to leave.
Thus, the Celestial True Monarch left this place to those Disciples as their final refuge.
For this purpose, the Celestial True Monarch even used some High Tier Demon Beast Hides to draw ten maps of the Medicinal Garden, leaving them for the ten disciples who were staying behind.
Only those who held these Beast Hides were qualified to enter his Cave Mansion.
Because the disciples’ abilities, status, and Cultivation levels were different, the areas they were responsible for guarding also varied, so each of these Medicinal Garden maps had a different focus.
But later, the Celestial Repair Sect never returned, and no one knew what happened to the Disciples who stayed behind.
Even the Beast Hides were scattered and lost to the outside world.
Additionally, the text mentioned ten passages between the core area and the Inner Garden, which were exclusively for the ten disciples left behind by the Sect Leader.
But for some unknown reason, they later became what Zhang Chi and the others had seen.
Clearly, after the Celestial Repair Sect left, many unknown changes occurred.
The reason this text existed was that the high-ranking members of the Celestial Repair Sect had a premonition they might never return.
This way, if the Medicinal Garden were to be discovered by a fated person in the future, the Celestial Repair Sect would not be completely forgotten.
The text even stated that if the Celestial Repair Sect’s remaining personnel no longer existed, a fated person who obtained the Medicinal Garden in the future could choose to become a new Disciple of the Celestial Repair Sect.
Furthermore, a map was drawn at the end of the text. Whether a Celestial Repair Sect disciple or a fated person, anyone who found it could activate a Teleportation Array, leave the Great Abyss directly, and travel to the new location of the Celestial Repair Sect.
As for this Stele, it was actually a Magical Treasure, and also the key to activating the teleportation!
"What a sect, this Celestial Repair Sect!"
After sorting through his thoughts, Zhang Chi couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe.
Although he didn’t know much about the Celestial Repair Sect and couldn’t even be certain if the text was genuine, he knew most of it had to be true.
Moreover, even if the Celestial Repair Sect was just an Alchemy Sect, its power was clearly far greater than that of the Ten Great Immortal Sects, like the Cangwu Sect.
In Immortal Sects like the Cangwu Sect, the Sect Leader’s Cultivation was at most at the Golden Core Peak, with only the Supreme Elders being at the Nascent Soul realm.
But this Celestial True Monarch, also a Sect Leader, was already at the Nascent Soul realm.
’Of course, it could also be that because the Celestial Repair Sect is an Ancient Sect, the Sect Leader is the strongest person in the Sect.’
’I can’t worry about all that now. Since this Stele is a Magical Treasure, has a map carved on it, and is even related to a Teleportation Array, I’ll just take it first and figure it out later!’
’Besides, if I don’t take it, and the Ten Great Immortal Sects find out this is a Nascent Soul Cave Mansion where someone else already took the best treasures, they’ll definitely investigate. That would be bad for me.’
After that, Zhang Chi immediately tried to collect the Stele. He found that he could, and it didn’t even require any sort of Refinement.
It was as if the Stele were just an ordinary stone.
Next, Zhang Chi found nothing else of value in the courtyard in front of the Cave Mansion, so he continued forward and, in a flash, arrived at the Pill and Artifact Room.
The room was divided into an inner and outer chamber, for Alchemy and Artifact Refining respectively. However, there were no materials or Elixirs inside, nor were there any Magical Treasures.
But Zhang Chi wasn’t disappointed; in fact, he was pleasantly surprised.
Because in the two rooms stood a Pill Furnace and an Artifact Cauldron. Both were black, and while they looked unremarkable, they had a simple, heavy feel and emanated the pressure and fluctuations unique to Magical Treasures.
The Pill Furnace even gave off a scorching aura, as if a Fire was still burning within.
Without a second thought, Zhang Chi tried to collect them and succeeded in an instant.
After confirming he hadn’t missed anything, Zhang Chi quickly left to search the other rooms.
Thanks to his powerful Divine Thought and the Beast Hide Map, even though it was his first time here, he knew the Cave Mansion’s layout like the back of his hand, making his search extremely efficient.
Soon, Zhang Chi had checked places like the Spirit Beast Garden and the Library Pavilion, but he came up empty-handed.
These places were completely empty.
But Zhang Chi didn’t mind. He had already reached the medicinal fields and discovered a vast quantity of Spirit Medicines. There weren’t just Tier Two herbs, but also over twenty types of Tier Three ones.
He even found several Core Formation Spiritual Objects.
There were samples of Profound Light Grass, Demon Companion Flower, and Element Condensing Fruit here.
Of the other major Core Formation Spiritual Objects, there was one stalk each of Blue Crystal Grass and Deer Horn Ganoderma.
The former looked ordinary but was a translucent, crystalline blue, as if carved from crystal.
The latter was a silver ganoderma shaped like a deer’s antler, emitting an astonishing amount of Plant and Wood Spiritual Qi.
In addition, Zhang Chi was stunned to find a Tier Two Longevity Fruit, the main ingredient for Refining the Lifespan Extension Pill.
The fruit, about the size of a fist, glowed with a brilliant green light as it hung from the tip of a short plant.
Zhang Chi tried to transplant the entire plant, but the moment it left the ground, the Spirit Medicine instantly withered into ash.
Only the Longevity Fruit remained intact. With quick eyes and nimble hands, Zhang Chi caught it in a Jade Box specifically designed for collecting Spirit Medicines.
Zhang Chi felt a twinge of regret about this but didn’t dwell on it.
Anyway, these Spirit Medicines couldn’t be left here. Even if he didn’t touch them, any other Explorers who showed up would surely sweep the place clean.
"Huh? Is this Five Elements Spirit Soil?"
After he finished gathering everything, Zhang Chi discovered that even the soil in the Medicinal Garden wasn’t ordinary; it was the rare Five Elements Spirit Soil.
He had only read about Five Elements Spirit Soil in Alchemy and Spirit Plant cultivation texts but had never seen it in person until now.
But he was certain he wasn’t mistaken. The soil emitted an astonishing amount of Spiritual Qi and faintly shimmered with a five-colored halo, exactly as described in the texts.
So, Zhang Chi immediately collected all of the Five Elements Spirit Soil, gathering over a hundred pounds of it.
Using it to cultivate Spirit Medicines in the future would be twice as effective with half the effort. It could even be used for Refining Elixirs or Artifacts.
In short, if this stuff were to appear in the outside world, Golden Core Cultivators would definitely fight to the death over it.
The major top-tier Immortal Sects probably had some, but it was surely all hoarded by the Sect’s upper echelons and had nothing to do with Low Tier Disciples like them.
’Most Spirit Medicines have a limit to their growth; they can’t just grow indefinitely for thousands of years. Some need tending, and others might even require Spirit Insects for pollination. Otherwise, there would be even more, and better, Spirit Medicines here.’
’Still, what I’ve found so far is already an incredible surprise. Just getting these things has made this trip worthwhile!’
Once he had finished gathering everything, a delighted Zhang Chi finally left. He quickly finished inspecting the entire Cave Mansion and arrived at the final location.