153: Chapter 51: The Origin of the Dragon Sleep Stone 153: Chapter 51: The Origin of the Dragon Sleep Stone Zhang Xiaoman, guided by Manager Sun, made his way through the long corridor behind Yinglong Hall, past two plazas and a bamboo forest, and finally stopped in front of a stone marked “Dragon Viewing Platform.”
Along the way, he finally got a sense of what a true millennia-old sect was like, a stark contrast to the minor temples and monasteries he had visited before.
Although he wasn’t saying they had produced any real Cultivators, the sheer grandeur of the sect’s architecture was in a league of its own.
“Master Pei, Sect Leader Ye is waiting right here.
You can go in, and you’ll see him,” Manager Sun said.
“Alright, thank you, Manager Sun…” Zhang Xiaoman nodded as he spoke.
He had initially wanted to address the other by his Daoist honorific, but the distractions of the walk had scattered his focus, and he was naturally averse to such honorifics, often forgetting them easily.
In just that short ti, he failed to recall the na the other had told him earlier, and he reluctantly had to address him by his official position instead.
As Zhang Xiaoman entered, Manager Sun shook his head slightly, disappointed.
From the way Zhang had just addressed him, he seed to have guessed sothing and silently lanted,
“What a pity…
Could it be that Master Pei is truly not one of our cultivators?
Is there really no path left for cultivators like us in this world…?”
Unaware of Manager Sun’s thoughts, Zhang Xiaoman proceeded directly into the Dragon Viewing Platform.
At the end of the platform was a sheer cliff, with a pavilion on the inside edge and surrounded by a vast lotus pond.
The pond was covered with many beautiful lotus leaves, and it was the season when the lotus flowers were in full bloom.
Pink petals blood by the cliff’s edge against the backdrop of the azure sky, with naless white birds gliding by and mists swirling about, adding a touch of immortal energy to the place.
Zhang Xiaoman walked towards the pavilion where one person was sitting.
With his back to the lotus pond and facing the cliff, he appeared to be admiring the view below the cliff.
This person was Ye Cang, the current Sect Leader of Dragon Sleep Mountain.
“Mr.
Pei, co sit over here.
I, Ye, have been waiting for a long ti,” Ye Cang called out, seemingly having heard the footsteps behind him.
Zhang Xiaoman hadn’t expected that, despite being over ninety years old, the other still had such sharp senses, and he imdiately quickened his steps.
…
In the pavilion, Zhang Xiaoman and Ye Cang sat opposite each other, both facing the cliff.
In their hands were cups of the precious Yao Lin Fragrant Tea, and before their eyes lay the peerless beauty of the immortal mountains.
It was just a pity that such a divine elixir was wasted on Zhang Xiaoman, who knew nothing about tea appreciation.
Watching him gulp down half a cup of tea in one sip, Ye Cang couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his eyes.
He was now certain that Zhang was not a Cultivator like himself.
“Young friend, look, the entire range stretching before us is the famous Wo Long Mountain Range, and our Dragon Sleep Mountain is located right at the Dragon Head,” Mr.
Ye explained, gently indicating the sweeping range of mountains below as he set down his teacup.
Zhang Xiaoman looked ahead, and from this position, the mountain range indeed resembled a giant dragon lying down, with the Dragon Sleep Mountain, where he currently stood, evidently representing the dragon’s head.
“In ancient tis, there was a legend about our Dragon Sleep Mountain in the outside world.
It was said that on the peak of Dragon Head Peak, within the dragon’s mouth, nurtured a Dragon Ball.
When the Dragon Ball encountered the five flavors of the Mortal World, it would descend into the mortal realm, transforming into an illusion that would ensnare mortals, as true as a dream and indistinguishable between reality and fiction,”
Ye Cang said, then turned around, his gaze piercing as he continued speaking to Zhang Xiaoman:
“This Dragon Ball was once pursued by cultivators as a Treasure and also adored by mundane rchants to the point of obsession… but as ti passed and due to lack of records, it gradually faded into oblivion.
Nowadays, only a few people are aware of it…”
Hearing this, Zhang Xiaoman had co to understand what the other was talking about, and he couldn’t help but ask curiously:
“Mr.
Ye, since you say this Dragon Ball originates from Dragon Sleep Mountain, how did you co to possess it?”
Upon hearing this, Ye Cang replied:
“Atop Dragon Head Peak, there is a cave with a Dragon Vein inside, and the Dragon Ball is produced from this Dragon Vein… In modern terms, it is simply a vein of ore.
However, this vein does not produce gold or silver but only yields the Dragon Sleep Stone…”
Hearing him say this, Zhang Xiaoman also ca to understand the origins of the Dragon Sleep Stone.
It seed to be a type of unique mineral.
However, since it was a mineral, a new question puzzled him even more.
“Mr.
Ye, if the Dragon Sleep Stone is so miraculous, why haven’t you mined and sold it?
Or why hasn’t the governnt developed it?”
Ye Cang shook his head and explained:
“It’s not that we don’t want to develop it; rather, this stone is too peculiar.
It’s extrely hard, almost impossible to mine.
The few pieces we do have were naturally detached from the Dragon Vein for so unknown reason.”
“Moreover, the governnt already researched this stone, for twenty years no less, but in the end, they couldn’t produce any results.”
“The Dragon Sleep Stone is extrely hard, and currently, there are no ans to study it analytically.
We only know that it volatilizes under specific conditions.
Yet, this volatilization also accompanies illusions so realistic they deceive the senses, which is one of the reasons its sale is prohibited.”
Mr.
Ye explained so much at once, then took a small sip from his tea to moisten his throat before he continued to look at Zhang Xiaoman, seemingly waiting for his next question.
Indeed, as soon as Zhang Xiaoman heard about the specific conditions for volatilization ntioned by Ye Cang, his interest was piqued, and he promptly expressed the doubts in his mind:
“Then, Mr.
Ye, what do you an by this volatilization?
Could it be what you just ntioned: ‘encounters the five flavors of the Mortal World?’ What are these five flavors?”
Ye Cang smiled wistfully and said:
“These five flavors naturally refer to the ‘sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, salty’ tastes, or in another sense, ‘sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty’.”
As he spoke, he carefully lifted a small purple wooden box from beneath the stone table and gently opened the lid, slowly taking out a purple incense burner.
Zhang Xiaoman could see his hands trembling slightly, unsure whether it was because the incense burner was too heavy, or if Mr.
Ye was too nervous.
This incense burner was exactly the one used by Ye Cang during the Cultivation exchange conference a few days ago.
“Contained in here is the object once known as the Dragon Ball within the legends of Dragon Sleep Mountain—the Dragon Sleep Stone,”
Ye Cang said.
The mont Zhang Xiaoman heard this, his eyes flickered, and anticipation arose within him.
He knew that the mystery about the Dragon Sleep Stone was about to be revealed.
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