The grim-faced Taoist priest looked around at the entrance and exit routes, and then opened the wrist crossbow mechanically. When he felt that everything was OK, he stepped into the stone hall.
Entering the stone hall, a strong smell of medicinal herbs hit his face. The grim-faced Taoist priest hurriedly tightened his mask and quickly glanced around the hall. The situation in this hall was similar to the one below. There were only two empty stone beds. There are also overturned alchemy furnaces, but there are three alchemy furnaces in this hall. The pungent smell of herbs in the air comes from the dark stuff at the mouth of the furnace.
The Taoist Priest with a grimace walked to the nearest alchemy furnace, then took out the Long Ming Dao and took out a black hard object. After sniffing it between his noses, he found that it was vaguely mixed with the fragrance of mugwort and the coolness of silver elixir grass. Breathing, he frowned slightly and secretly wondered: What kind of immortality elixir are these demons making? How come these things are in them?
The Ghost-faced Taoist priest has never believed in the theory of immortality, but Zhang Tianshi of Qingyun Temple was extremely obsessed with this way. The Ghost-faced Taoist priest served him all day long, and he understood a little bit about it. The so-called elixir of immortality was actually Taoist alchemy. It is a kind of art, which covers many Taoist theories of the mutual interdependence of the five elements. It can be said to be an extremely complex academic discipline.
Taoist alchemy is divided into two types: inner elixir and outer elixir. The outer elixir is made from gold stone converted in a cauldron. The elixir can be divided into "elixir" and ordinary elixir, such as the "Fragrance Antidote" carried by He Siniang. "Zhenshen Pill" is an ordinary elixir among the external elixirs. Its main function is medicine or detoxification, while the elixir is used to cultivate immortality and immortality. The specific method of operation falls under the category of internal elixirs.
Inner elixir is also called "qigong technique". The human body is simulated as a cauldron. After taking the elixir, it follows the changes of yin and yang, follows the five elements to generate restraints, absorbs the essence of the sun and moon, and unblocks the meridians and energy, so as to cultivate the mind and cultivate the Tao. For the purpose of immortality, it can be said that alchemy is essentially a Taoist method of cultivating the mind and cultivating one's nature. However, it has gradually been demonized by some demons who are obsessed with immortality. Later, many ruling classes even believed that there would be people who could live forever by eating. Even the heroic First Emperor suffered from the decline of his country due to such fallacies and heresies in his later years.
Since Ghostface Taoist knows alchemy, he is also very clear about the materials for alchemy. The external alchemy focuses on transforming gold and stone into pills, and gold and stone refers to various minerals. He has seen Zhang Tianshi refining three immortal pills, cinnabar, ice stone, There are many ores such as cold water stone, calamine, kaolin, etc., but none of them are mixed with mugwort and silver elixir grass. Even in the process of refining the elixir, any medicinal herbs put into the high-temperature elixir furnace will be destroyed. It's useless. Could it be that this place is not just a Taoist temple for refining elixirs, as Siniang had expected before, but is also responsible for refining some other elixirs?
The Taoist Priest with a grimace thought for a while and felt that if this was true, it would be good news, because it would make it much more likely to find the antidote to He Siniang's poison. The only thing to do now is to search every corner of the temple. , these demons are not afraid of the miasma of silverfish in the valley, and maybe they really have some pills that can repel poison and avoid miasma.
The grim-faced Taoist priest made up his mind not to miss any corner of the temple. He even checked the walls carefully to avoid hiding other secret chambers. He walked back and forth all over the stone palace before deciding to set off and continue searching for the next chamber. Stone Palace.
After half an hour of this, the Taoist Priest with a grimace had already reached the flying pavilion in front of the sixth stone hall. Although he searched the previous five stone halls carefully, he found nothing. When he arrived here, he inevitably felt a little confused. I was impatient, so I lay down on the flying pavilion and called down: "Six Niang! Lao Qi! Can you hear me?"
After a while, He Siniang's voice came from not far from the front of the next floor: "What's wrong, Taoist priest? Did you find anything?"
The Taoist priest with a grimace judged from He Siniang's voice that they should be in the seven or eight stone halls below. He searched faster than himself, but there seemed to be no progress, so he replied: "I didn't find anything, I didn't even search for bird feathers." I got one, where are you two?"
"We are the same, we are about to reach the eighth room, or... Huh?!" Before He Siniang could finish her words, she suddenly seemed to be shocked by something. Upon seeing this, the Taoist priest with a grimace asked hurriedly: "Siniang! What's the matter? Si Niang?!"
"Taoist Master, come here quickly! There is something here." He Siniang's surprised voice sounded again, and then Luo Laoqi also said in surprise: "His grandma's, isn't this Gong Laosan?!"
Gong Laosan? The ghost-faced Taoist priest's heart froze, and an ominous premonition suddenly arose. He didn't bother to ask more questions, and shouted, "I'll be there soon," and then climbed down from the flying pavilion and jumped to the top of the stone palace below.
The Taoist Priest with a grimace moved quickly. After landing on the top of the palace, a swallow jumped with its tail to the lower flying pavilion. Then he quickly walked through the stone hall and rushed to He Siniang. He Siniang was leaning towards him at this time. Looking around in the eighth stone hall, Luo Lao and the others had already entered the hall. The Taoist priest with a grimace hurriedly asked He Siniang: "What Gong Laosan?! What is the situation in this hall?"
Without waiting for He Siniang to reply, Luo Laoqi in the hall interrupted: "Taoist Master, come in and see for yourself whether the portrait hanging on the wall is that of Gong Laosan?"
The Taoist priest with a grimace entered the temple full of suspicion. As soon as he saw the layout of the temple, he saw that it was very different from the previous stone temples. Not only were there many things placed in this stone temple, but even the walls of the temple were painted, and the paint used was still The black color makes people feel a sense of oppression as soon as they enter the temple.
In the eighth stone hall, a long wooden altar table with a length of half a person is placed in the middle. The altar table is close to a carved stone wall similar to a screen. The stone wall seems to have been deliberately carved when the stone hall was carved. Designed in this way, the top and bottom are integrated with the stone hall wall. It cannot be seen that it was added later. This stone wall just divides the stone hall into two entrances, front and rear, leaving only a foot wide on the east side. At the side door, the grim-faced Taoist priest could not see the situation in the back hall, but the sight of the front hall almost made his jaw drop.
On the altar table in the front hall, there are various offerings such as incense burners and candlesticks. There are also seven silver plates arranged in a row. They are all filled with dark offerings whose original shapes cannot be seen. There is a jade cup in front of the silver plates. Three of them, the fine wine inside has naturally evaporated, and the entire altar table has all the basic items, except for the most important tablet. There is only a portrait hanging on the carved stone wall behind the altar table.
It was this portrait that made the Taoist priest break out in cold sweat. The face in the portrait was exactly the same as that of Gong Laosan. Even the cunning look in the corner of his eyes was exactly the same. When he saw the raised corners of the man's mouth in the painting, , the Taoist priest with a grimace finally couldn't bear it anymore, and said in a trembling voice: "Then what is the origin of the couple...?"
