Chapter 43: Mysterious Stone Tablet

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Mysterious Stone Tablet

Zhiyuan Hall.

Fang Xu looked at the package on the desk in front of him with some curiosity.

"Master, what is inside this?" he asked.

Lu Zhiyuan smiled faintly. "Open it and take a look."

Fang Xu stood up and unwrapped the package, revealing a very primitive-looking stone plate. It wasn’t large, but its surface was densely carved with strange, intricate patterns.

"What is this?" Fang Xu asked curiously, examining the stone plate.

Lu Zhiyuan stood up slowly, clasping his hands behind his back. He paced over to the door and asked, "Do you know why the Yun family’s Little Princess came to a remote place like Fenglin Town?"

Fang Xu cupped his hands slightly. "I heard it was to search for the Yun family’s Second Master."

Lu Zhiyuan turned around. "Then do you know why he came to Fenglin Town?"

Fang Xu shook his head.

The Yun family’s Second Master was the owner of the Glowing Gold Embroidered Boots. As for why he had come to Fenglin Town, why he had died here, and where the Divination God Treasure manual on his person had come from, Fang Xu had no idea.

"That is because an Ancient ruin appeared in Tilan Mountain," Lu Zhiyuan said slowly.

Before Fang Xu could ask, he continued, "This Ancient ruin seems to be the final resting place of a mighty Martial Dao expert. It contains many treasures and cultivation insights left behind by that expert during his lifetime.

"After Yun Tianhe of the Yun family received the news, he immediately rushed over from Huangzhou to explore the ruin.

"But no secret can be kept forever. Even though the Yun family decisively silenced everyone who knew about the ruin, others still caught wind of it.

"Yun Tianhe’s death was likely because he obtained something incredibly valuable from the ruin, leading others to hunt him down until he fled to Fenglin Town."

Fang Xu was suddenly enlightened. That made perfect sense!

Yun Tianhe must have obtained the Divination God Treasure from the ruin, which other experts found out about. These people pursued him relentlessly, forcing him to flee to Gourd Valley. Severely injured and knowing he was unlikely to make it back to Huangzhou alive, he hid the Divination God Treasure inside the Glowing Gold Embroidered Boots.

"This stone plate also came from that ruin," Lu Zhiyuan said. "I have already examined it. The carvings on the plate seem to record a Cultivation Technique. Take it back with you and study it. See if you can comprehend anything from it."

Fang Xu examined the stone plate in front of him, wondering if it really was a Cultivation Technique.

Lu Zhiyuan seemed to see through his thoughts and smiled. "After a Martial Artist breaks through the Martial Disciple realm, they can independently absorb energy from the world and convert it into their own vitality.

"If we compare this worldly energy to a great river, and a Martial Artist’s absorption method to drawing water, then a Cultivation Technique is the method for building a bucket.

"Different Cultivation Techniques will create buckets of different sizes, so naturally, the speed of drawing energy will vary.

"A person without a Cultivation Technique is like someone without a bucket. They can only cup the water in their hands to drink, which is naturally far less efficient.

"Do you understand what I am telling you?"

Fang Xu nodded in realization. Lu Zhiyuan’s analogy was quite fitting.

Since the stone plate in front of him came from the same ruin as the Divination God Treasure, it was certainly no ordinary item.

If he could comprehend something from this stone plate, it would be immensely beneficial to his future cultivation.

However, such a precious item had caused the death of an expert as powerful as Yun Tianhe. How did Lu Zhiyuan, a Third Realm Martial Master, obtain it? Had the faction behind him also participated in exploring the ruin and besieging Yun Tianhe? If that assumption was true, this stone plate should be equally important to his faction. How could Lu Zhiyuan make the unilateral decision to give him something so significant?

"Master, this item is too precious. I..."

Lu Zhiyuan raised a hand to interrupt him. "I know you have your misgivings, but when you became my disciple, I told you clearly.

"I took you in as a disciple solely so that when you grow strong in the future, you will be able to protect Qingluo. Other than that, I have absolutely no ulterior motives."

Seeing that Lu Zhiyuan had put it this way, Fang Xu suppressed the doubts in his heart, rewrapped the stone plate, and picked it up.

"Rest assured, Master. If Qingluo is ever in trouble, I will gladly risk my life to help her!"

If this was truly Lu Zhiyuan’s only intention, then between the title of master and disciple, the grace of giving him a new lease on life, the Divine Attendant Pill, the strange wooden stick, and this stone plate... With such a series of priceless gifts, Fang Xu felt he had no reason to refuse.

"Go back now, and cultivate well," Lu Zhiyuan said, waving his hand.

Fang Xu cupped his hands and backed out of the room, then returned home from Zhiyuan Hall.

Before he even stepped through the door, a burnt smell hit him in the face!

Smelling the stench, Fang Xu’s expression shifted slightly. He hurried into the courtyard, only to find Lu Qingluo and Chu Muyun eating there.

Fang Xu was a little curious. With the whole courtyard reeking of burnt food, was the meal Lu Qingluo cooked even edible?

When he got closer for a look, he immediately smiled.

The two of them were actually eating the leftovers he had saved for Chu Muyun the day before.

Seeing Fang Xu staring at the food and laughing, Lu Qingluo blushed. Without saying a word, she just focused on shoveling the millet from her bowl into her mouth.

"Fang Xu, there should still be some rice in the pot. Come eat with us," Chu Muyun said.

Fang Xu nodded. Braving the choking burnt smell, he walked into the kitchen. Looking at the blackened clump of something in the wok, he couldn’t help but shake his head. He rolled up his sleeves and scrubbed the pots and pans clean, then lifted the lid of the other pot to scoop out some rice for himself.

However, upon opening the lid, he found it completely empty.

He clearly remembered cooking a whole pot of millet rice yesterday. This...

Chu Muyun was an ordinary person and simply didn’t have that big of an appetite. The only explanation was that all the remaining rice had gone into Lu Qingluo’s stomach!

Thinking of this, he glanced back at the two girls in the courtyard, just in time to catch Lu Qingluo glancing back at him with a guilty conscience.

Lu Qingluo hurriedly turned her head away and rapidly finished off the food in her bowl. Not even caring that her mouth was still full, she stood up and mumbled incoherently, "Mu Yun... I’ll be leabing now..."

Fleeing the scene in a fluster, Lu Qingluo didn’t even dare to greet Fang Xu.

Chu Muyun stared at Lu Qingluo in astonishment, then looked at Fang Xu, who was walking out of the kitchen holding an empty bowl. "Fang Xu, what’s wrong?"

Fang Xu tapped the empty bowl and shrugged.

"Is there no more rice?"

"I still have half a bowl left. If you don’t mind..."

"You eat it," Fang Xu said with a smile. "I’ll just stew some Blood Food for myself in a bit."

After becoming a Martial Disciple, ordinary meals could only satisfy cravings but provided no real benefit.

Most of the time, a Martial Artist still had to rely on Blood Food to replenish their expended energy.

After putting the Blood Food in the pot to stew, Fang Xu cleared away their used dishes and wheeled Chu Muyun under the old tree in the courtyard, which had already sprouted green leaves. He then went over to the nearby vegetable patch to weed and fertilize it.

After busying himself for a while, the Blood Food in the pot was fully cooked. Leaving a small portion for Chu Muyun, Fang Xu devoured the rest.

The medicinal efficacy of the Qi Blood Pill was too overbearing. He didn’t plan on letting Chu Muyun rely on it to recover anymore; the intense pain it caused was beyond what she could endure.

In comparison, the effects of Blood Food were much milder.

As evening fell and the sun gradually set, Fang Xu brought the Blood Food to Chu Muyun. After watching her finish it, he personally fetched a basin of hot water, washed her feet, and massaged them for a while before letting her sleep in the side room where his grandfather used to live.

He then went to his own room, unwrapped the stone plate, dug out the Divination God Treasure, and began his daily cultivation.

Swallowing a Qi Blood Pill, Fang Xu placed both the stone plate and the Beast Hide recording the Divination God Treasure in front of him.

The characters on the stone plate didn’t match any script he was familiar with.

In fact, calling them characters was a stretch; they looked more like the random scribbles of a child. They were neither quite pictures nor quite text, making them incredibly obscure and difficult to decipher.

Fang Xu studied them for nearly two hours, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

He simply decided to cultivate on his own for now.

A bucket had to be built slowly. Cupping water with his hands was still better than not drinking at all.