Chapter 227: The Three-storey Tripitaka Block
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Xiao Yan gazed at the silver light emitting from the Eight Trigrams pattern on the ceiling of the Elixir Chamber. An entire map of words appeared among the light.
Although he had never seen the actual recipe for the Celestial Elixir, nor consumed the Celestial Elixir before, Xiao Yan could immediately identify the map of words as the real recipe for the Celestial Elixir. And on the first line of the list of ingredients, was the 'Nine Steps to Heaven' Herb.
Xiao Yan's eyes glimmered in excitement, "Master, our Elixir Chamber can even use existing elixirs to elicit their recipes?"
"Not bad, it's indeed so." Lin Feng wore a calm expression as if he had known this previously, but he was actually as surprised as Xiao Yan was.
The crafting of elixirs does not only involve harnessing the herbal essence and spiritual energy within the ingredients but also comprises various complex changes and combinations.
A recipe, too, is not just a simple list of ingredients, but an integration of multiple skill sets.
Even all-powerful Immortal Soul cultivators cannot elicit a complete recipe from an existing elixir.
Perhaps there may be a chance using lower-level elixirs, but it would be completely out of the question for more advanced elixirs.
The Eight Trigrams Formation on the ceiling of the Celestial Golden Pavilion could actually elicit the recipe using an existing elixir, which for Lin Feng was definitely something worth rejoicing about. And it was not just because he could now expand the recipe archives of his Elixir Chamber on a large scale.
More importantly, the Celestial Sect of Wonders could possibly recover ancient elixir recipes that have been lost in the sands of time.
Over the tens of thousands of years of the Grand Celestial World's history, countless sects had risen, and countless great cultivators had been born, but many sects have also been annihilated, and many great men have fallen, drowned in the long river of history.
And with their demise, many precious mantras, abhijna, and elixir recipes have been lost.
Some of these elixirs and medicines still have completed elixir pills being circulated around, but the recipes have been completely lost.
Without the original recipe, new elixirs of the same kind cannot be produced, and remaining existing pills will definitely be used up one day. In the end, these elixirs cannot escape the inevitable fate of disappearing from the face of the earth for good.
"If I can get my hands on these elixirs, I can use the Celestial Golden Pavilion to retrieve their lost recipes." Lin Feng pondered for a bit. "Hmm, perhaps the true value may not lie within the elixir itself. Operating the Celestial Golden Pavilion well may yield other rewards."
Of course, having the recipe does not necessarily guarantee successful crafting. Some elixirs require unique and rare ingredients.
Take the Celestial Elixir for example. Without the 'Nine Steps to Heaven' Herb, the elixir cannot be crafted just with the recipe.
But despite this, this realization was invaluable for Lin Feng. He cracked his mind and instantly churned out many different ideas. "I'll try to collect as many high-level and rare elixirs as possible, even one is fine."
Besides collecting other elixirs, Lin Feng also reminded Xiao Yan not to stop renewing his skills.
After he exited the Elixir Chamber, Lin Feng went to the neighbouring Tripitaka Block.
Compared to the brilliantly grandiose Celestial Golden Pavilion, the Tripitaka Block was evidently more rustic and modest, with an antique charm to it.
The Tripitaka Block was close to ten meters tall and consisted of three levels. The building was constructed using emerald bamboo that flashed with a purplish glow.
Lin Feng entered the block, first into the spacious outer room, then he continued further in. He passed through a passageway to where the first storey library was.
The library was thousands of square meters wide and was neatly lined with rows and rows of bookshelves, just that all of them were empty at this moment.
Lin Feng frowned, "Does this mean I'll have to fill these up myself?"
His fingers grazed the bookshelves, and sensed the mild spiritual energy flowing within them. The tracks were faint but distinct, and Lin Feng felt a tingle in his heart.
After stroking the shelves for a while more, the pupils in Lin Feng's eyes suddenly glowed with purple light.
Amidst the purple light, paragraphs of cryptic incantations flowed continuously. This was the Great Thunderclap Temple's Dharma Mantra which Lin Feng previously obtained from the Lottery System - the Art of Acalanātha.
When he first obtained the Art of Acalanātha from the System, it only contained the first half of the mantra. Only afterwards when he slaughtered the monks of the Black Cloud Earth Palace, did Lin Feng obtain the complete mantra.
But he did not release the full version now, instead using just the first half of the Art of Acalanātha.
Under the effect of Lin Feng's mana, the lines of words condensed into a book of Buddhist scriptures with a purple cover and gilt words, and landed on the shelf.
Lin Feng calmed down and observed it for a moment, but the scriptures showed no changes, and the shelves and library did not react either.
After mulling over it, Lin Feng channelled his mana into the bookshelf.
All of a sudden, the bookshelf's internal spiritual energy flow began to change. It began diverging from its original trajectory course as it absorbed and converted Lin Feng's mana, and channelled it into the Buddhist scriptures on the shelf.
The scriptures started to transform. The physical, tangible book was cloaked in a brilliant purple light, and gradually morphed into a virtual shadow.
The shadow slowly increased in size as countless cryptic runes dotted around within the purple light before merging into the shadow. Once the purple light faded, the shadow reverted to a physical entity, back into the shape of a scripture book.
But the book of Buddhist scriptures was evidently twice as thick as before.
Lin Feng flipped it open, and noticed that it already contained the full version of the Art of Acalanātha.
"Is this all?" Lin Feng scanned the rows of bookshelves in the library and frowned. He laid the scriptures down and walked to the centre of the first-storey library.
There was a spell formation silently emanating a soft glow. Once Lin Feng stepped into the formation, the light instantly became blinding, and in the next moment, Lin Feng was already transported to the Tripitaka Block's second-storey library.
Compared to the first storey which was packed with bookshelves, the second storey was very empty. There was nothing in the wide empty space.
Lin Feng walked up to a wall, and noticed the multiple reels of scrolls hanging on the wall, just that these open scrolls were completely blank with nothing written on them.
After quietly sensing the aura of the scrolls, Lin Feng lifted his finger and fired a ray of purple light which landed on a blank scroll.
Many dark green images surfaced among the purple light, flying around continuously. Once the image touched the scroll, it swiftly melted into the scroll.
The originally blank scroll was suddenly decorated with a lifelike scene of green mountains and rivers.
Lin Feng's consciousness entered the scroll, and the scenery before him instantly changed, as if he had actually stepped into a world of green.
In this world, the dark green Grand Moon Primordial Water flowed quietly, but being in this world, Lin Feng was enlightened by the real meaning of the Mantra of the True Understanding of the Grand Moon, and experienced the mystifying spiritual powers of the Grand Moon Primordial Water that can create the heavens and earth.
Lin Feng's consciousness exited that world, and his finger pointed towards another empty scroll beside him, shooting out another ray of purple light. This time round, gold images flickered amidst the purple light.
The second scroll also transformed instantly when in contact with the purple light. The blank scroll now depicted a scorching sun shining down from the skies.
Lin Feng's consciousness entered the scroll, and everything before him was showered with the golden, resplendent holy light from the Grand Sun Primordial Flame. Being in an entirely golden world, he could clearly feel the intense heat of the Grand Sun Primordial Flame, and the esoteric mystery of the Scripture of the Great Heaven-Illuminating Sun.
"These scrolls can follow the recorded mantras to conjure a section of space, a space constructed completely from the profound scriptures of the Taoist mantras."
Lin Feng already understood what was going on. "Practicing a unique mantra in such a space would yield twice the results with just half the effort, and greatly increase the training efficiency."
Lin Feng was very satisfied with this realization. He was not in a hurry to fill the scrolls up, and just headed up to the third storey straightaway.
The first and second storeys each have their magical uses, so the third storey should be even more fantastical.
After riding the formation up to the third storey, Lin Feng scanned the scene before him and was slightly dazed.
The third storey's floor area was much smaller than the first two storeys, with a spacious, simple layout. There were only a few bamboo tables and chairs, and one could gaze at the world outside the Tripitaka Block through the railings.
There were no peculiarities. It looked as normal as the living quarters of very down-to-earth people.
Lin Feng naturally did not believe that the Tripitaka Block's third storey was as normal as it seemed. He probed around using his mana, and it triggered a reaction akin to being rebounded off a wall.
He frowned, and went over to the railings and looked into the distance.
The Elixir Chamber was just beside the Tripitaka Block, and in the distance was the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree with an incomparably thick trunk. Under the Treasure Tree, Zhu Yi sat there upright and cross-legged, and in front of him were the new disciples, over thirty of them.
Zhu Yi had undoubtedly immersed himself in the role, and was imparting mantras to them.
Lin Feng smiled and gently stroked the purple bamboo railings. His mind was one with the entire Tripitaka Block, and he slowly pried for some clues.
"It seems like I'll need to advance to the Immortal Soul stage before I can truly unlock the magical uses of the Tripitaka Block's third storey." Lin Feng had an inkling but just shrugged his shoulders. "Heck it. The first two storeys are adequate for now."
As he pondered, the System's prompting voice suddenly rang in Lin Feng's head. "System upgrading complete. The Lottery System and the Exchange System can now be used."
Lin Feng sprung back to life, and his consciousness entered the Lottery System immediately.
But this time, instead of entering it straight, he was first greeted by a hint from the System.
"The System has reached Level 3. The Host's newest privilege is that, the Host automatically receives one chance for the Lottery at the start of each month!"
Lin Feng was stunned for a good long while before regaining his composure. But his first reaction was not to rejoice, instead he became incredibly wary.
F*ck, could the System be plotting something?
In view of the System's usual tendency to provide deceiving messages, Lin Feng had no reservations for testing it out with the greatest scepticism.
After examining the System's explanation carefully, he could not identify any signs of wordplay, nor did it seem like a trap. Lin Feng wondered, "Has the sun risen in the west?"
Unfortunately, it was already past the start of May. If he wanted to verify whether the System was scheming something, he needed to wait until June.
"Heck it. I'll see what tricks you're trying to pull then." Lin Feng thought over it then threw this matter to the back of his mind for now, and entered the Lottery System.
"I'll just use the two Lottery chances I obtained from taking in new disciples. These two chances shouldn't pose any problems."
Lin Feng first entered the Spin-a-wheel page, which he had the most confidence in. After examining the list of possible prizes, his eyes widened, "This one's great!"
The Spiritual Replenishment Elixir. It can raise the talent and innate ability of the cultivator that consumes it. The first consumption is effective.
Once Lin Feng noticed this, he could not pry his eyes away for a moment.
"Since the Elixir Chamber can use the existing elixir to elicit its recipe, if I get my hands on just one Spiritual Replenishment Elixir pill, I can mass-produce this elixir."
Lin Feng hesitated no more. He immediately locked on to the Spiritual Replenishment Elixir, and began spinning the wheel to draw a prize.