19 The Second Door (1/2)

The place was still surrounded by fog. He could not see too far away. The only thing vaguely visible was the peak of the mountain amid the mist. It was quiet around him. There was neither wind nor sound around the area.

Su Ming looked at the mountain shrouded by fog. It was his second time there. It was also the second time he stood where he was and sized up the strange mountain before him, especially the strange letters and drawings carved into the mountain. Su Ming had a sense of respect for whoever it was that left them behind.

He took a deep breath and looked at the accessory on his chest. The black stone was gone. He pinched himself and was once again certain that he was not dreaming. He had really arrived at the strange place.

He reached into his bosom and took out a few bottles that contained Scattering Dust. Then he quickly walked towards the fog. Before long, he arrived at the foot of the mountain and he went into the tunnel again.

He did not stop until he reached the stone door in the tunnel. As he looked at the familiar circle in the middle of the door and the 15 small holes there, Su Ming hesitated for a moment. Then he took a pill out from one of the bottles. With the pill between his fingers, he placed it into the very first hole on the door.

At the very moment his fingers touched the small hole on the door, Su Ming felt a faint pull coming from the hole and it sucked in the pill between his fingers.

Su Ming’s became stern and alert. He was unsure if his judgment was correct and he did not know what would happen once he filled up all 15 holes. However, he had envisioned this trip for a long time and a part of him was looking forward to it.

He did not act rashly. After the first hole absorbed the pill, Su Ming focused his attention on the door, but nothing happened.

Su Ming scratched his head. After a moment of thought, he took out another pill and placed it in the second hole. This continued until he placed the 15th pill into the last hole with much reluctance and nervousness.

‘If there are still no changes even after I’ve placed 15 pills into the holes, all of this would be a waste…’

Su Ming watched the 15 holes anxiously. At that very moment, a gentle glow surfaced from the holes.

Su Ming immediately retreated excitedly. As the light surrounded the door and gradually grew brighter, the strings on the door came to life and moved slowly. After a while, they joined together and started to turn quickly like a vortex.

As they turned, the light from the 15 holes was slowly but surely sucked into the vortex, causing the door to be enveloped by a brilliant light. A roaring sound suddenly reverberated throughout the tunnel. The sound was so loud it could have made a person deaf. It made Su Ming involuntarily manifest the 10 blood veins within his body. He felt the blood in his entire body boiling and he instinctively resisted the pull.

The roaring sound lasted for a few moments and green smoke emerged from the 15 holes. It was as if the pills had dissolved into smoke. As 15 puffs of smoke emerged from the holes, the gigantic stone door shook. A straight and narrow gap appeared all of a sudden at the center of the door.

As soon as the gap appeared, the two sides of the door slowly swung to the side. The door opened!

Su Ming’s heart pounded against his chest. As he watched the scene unfold before him, he felt himself trembling in excitement. It was only after the door opened completely that Su Ming took in a sharp breath. There was no longer a tunnel behind the stone door but a small stone chamber.

The walls in the chamber were not smooth instead, they were filled with carvings. There was a large door that was tightly shut at the northern wall in the chamber.

On the ceiling of the chamber were some stones glowing faintly. They had fused into the walls of the chamber. There was a faint aroma in the chamber which could lift a person’s spirits the moment they took a whiff of it.

Su Ming’s eyes lit up with excitement but he still walked into the chamber carefully. He swept his gaze around the walls and saw that the style of the carvings on the walls was similar to the ones in the tunnel. They all featured men with messy hair creating medicinal pills in an ancient setting.

When Su Ming first arrived at the place, he was baffled by the drawings. However, following the success of his own quenching of the herbs and the additional memories he gained, he could understand most of them when he saw the drawings again.

The figures on the drawings were creating different medicinal pills. As Su Ming observed the drawings, he could not help but be immersed in them. He verified each and every one of the drawings with his own experiences and forgot about time as he obsessed the drawings.

He would move quickly to search for the next carving once he finished observing one. He did not realize how much time had passed. When he finished looking at all the carvings, he still longed for more and he cast his gaze on the door within the chamber.

This door was slightly different from the first one. It was completely black and it gave off a nice aroma. It seemed like the materials used to build the door held some mysterious properties.

It also had a sort of heaviness to it. There was a drawing on the door too but it featured a gigantic cauldron. There were also wisps of smoke carved on top of it. It almost looked real. As Su Ming looked on, he had the impression that he was not looking at a drawing but at a real cauldron used for the quenching of herbs.

‘If only I had a cauldron like this… ‘

Su Ming looked at the cauldron for a few more moments with envy.

Su Ming saw a number of different herbs on top and on both sides of the cauldron. He immediately felt himself quivering in excitement and paid full attention to the drawing. This was what he came here for, to find more recipes to create other medicinal pills.