Chapter 149 - The Treatment Hall and the Ancient Recipes
Chapter 149: Chapter 149 - The Treatment Hall and the Ancient Recipes
Su Bai finished recording another herb and looked toward the deeper part of the greenhouse.
Behind a curtain of hanging roots, another formation line pulsed faintly.
It was different from the formations around the herb beds.
This one led toward an adjacent stone door half-hidden behind vines.
Mu Qing noticed his gaze.
"There is another chamber?"
The others immediately looked over.
After the shock of finding the ancient greenhouse, even a half-hidden door looked like a treasure chest with hinges.
The cultivators crouched down and checked the marks near the floor.
"They connect to the greenhouse, but the structure is different. It looks like a transfer formation. Maybe for moving herbs or medicinal Qi."
Qiao Wen glanced at the thriving herbs behind them.
"If this chamber is connected to the greenhouse, it should not be ordinary."
No one disagreed.
After a brief discussion, the group unanimously decided to enter.
Of course, "unanimously" mostly meant everyone looked at Su Bai first, and after Su Bai nodded, they all agreed they had thought the same thing.
Very harmonious.
Su Bai pushed open the adjacent door.
The chamber beyond was smaller than the greenhouse, but the moment everyone saw it, they understood what it was.
An alchemy chamber.
Broken cauldrons stood throughout the room.
Some had split open from old heat.
Some had collapsed into metal fragments.
Some were only three-legged bases now, with the main bodies long since cracked apart.
Stone shelves lined the walls. Faded labels were engraved beneath each shelf. Old jade bottles lay scattered everywhere, most of them broken or empty.
A faint medicinal scent still lingered in the air.
It was weak, almost gone.
But after so many years, the fact that any scent remained at all was already frightening.
Several cultivators froze.
Then their breathing changed.
An untouched greenhouse was already a fortune.
But an untouched alchemy hall connected to that greenhouse?
That was no longer just a fortune.
That was the kind of discovery that made sect elders smile gently while secretly locking doors.
The group moved carefully.
No one rushed forward.
After Su Bai’s earlier rules, everyone had become strangely disciplined.
Also, nobody wanted to become the person who destroyed an ancient pill because his greed arrived before his brain.
They inspected the nearest shelves first.
The labels were still visible.
Clear Meridian Renewal Pill.
Hundred-Breath Soul-Calming Pill.
Flesh-Mending Jade Pill.
Cold Marrow Recovery Pill.
The more they read, the quieter the room became.
Mu Qing stared at one label.
"This pill... I have heard my master mention it once. The recipe was lost long ago."
Another cultivator’s voice trembled.
"This one too."
"And this."
"Even the names are worth recording."
Chen Feng opened one old jade bottle.
Nothing remained inside.
Only a little gray residue clung to the bottom.
He opened another.
Empty.
Another.
Also empty.
His face darkened.
The others checked the shelves, and their excitement quickly turned into disappointment.
Not one complete pill remained.
After so many years, even pills preserved in jade bottles had decayed into useless residue.
Qiao Wen sighed.
"Ancient treasure really knows how to tease people."
Chen Feng looked at the empty bottle in his hand.
"At least this one did not turn into powder in my fingers."
Qiao Wen immediately looked away.
The room was full of disappointment.
But not completely.
At the deepest part of the alchemy hall, one cabinet stood apart from the others.
Unlike the surrounding shelves, it had not cracked.
Formation lines wrapped around its frame like thin silver vines.
A faint layer of light covered the doors.
Everyone stopped at once.
Their eyes slowly brightened again.
A protected cabinet.
No one needed to say what they were thinking.
Su Bai walked forward.
"Do not stand too close."
Everyone immediately took half a step back.
Chen Feng glanced at them.
"You are all very obedient now."
One cultivator coughed.
"Experience teaches quickly."
No one refuted him.
Su Bai examined the cabinet.
The protective formation was weak, but stable. Its purpose did not seem to be killing intruders. It preserved, sealed, and isolated.
He placed his hand on the cabinet door.
The formation light touched his palm.
For a breath, it trembled.
Then it accepted him.
Click.
The cabinet opened easily.
Everyone held their breath.
Inside were preserved jade bottles.
Several sealed packets of medicinal powder.
And jade slips.
For a moment, the entire alchemy hall became silent.
Then several cultivators inhaled sharply.
Jade slips in an ancient alchemy chamber?
If those jade slips contained pill recipes, their value could be no less than the herbs outside.
Perhaps even higher.
Su Bai took one jade slip first.
His spiritual sense entered it.
A moment later, his eyes changed slightly.
It was indeed a pill recipe.
He checked another.
Then another.
All of them were recipes, treatment notes, or medicinal records.
But as Su Bai read through the opening line of each jade slip, he noticed something.
The same title appeared repeatedly.
Treatment-and-Containment Hall.
He took out several jade slips and passed them to the others.
"Look at the beginning."
The others received them carefully.
Their spiritual senses swept through the jade slips.
Soon, their expressions changed.
"They all mention the same place."
"Treatment-and-Containment Hall..."
Qiao Wen looked around the alchemy chamber.
"Is that what this entire structure is called?"
"It should be," Su Bai said.
The name made the air feel different.
Treatment and containment.
Those two words did not sit together comfortably.
The greenhouse.
The alchemy chamber.
The cocoons outside.
The broken altar in the basin.
Everything seemed to connect, but the full picture remained hidden behind fog.
Mu Qing’s face became pale.
"If this was a Treatment-and-Containment Hall, then what were they treating?"
No one answered.
Zhao Heng looked toward the hall outside where the rescued cultivators were resting.
"And what were they containing?"
This time, the silence became heavier.
The alchemy chamber suddenly felt colder.
Su Bai did not say anything.
Guessing too much inside a ruin that whispered names was not wise.
He continued checking the cabinet instead.
Then Su Bai’s gaze stopped on the sealed packets beneath the second row.
Ancient characters were written on the label.
Soul-Stabilizing Powder.
His eyes narrowed.
The name alone was enough to make everyone focus.
Qiao Wen took one step forward unconsciously.
"Brother Su..."
Su Bai searched the jade slips again.
Soon, he found the matching record.
He read through it carefully.
The powder was an emergency medicinal powder used to calm unstable souls, slow soul-fragment scattering, and support consciousness after severe spiritual damage.
It could not truly heal a wounded soul.
But it could prevent the injury from worsening.
For the cocooned cultivators, that was already extremely valuable.
Su Bai passed the jade slip to Mu Qing, then to the others.
"It may help them."
Qiao Wen gripped the jade slip tightly.
His fingers trembled.
Mu Qing read through the description and nodded quickly.
"The medicinal logic is sound. It should be inhaled in small amounts. Too much may burden them, especially if their souls are weak."
Su Bai nodded.
"Then we use only a pinch for each person first."
The others looked at one another.
No one objected.
By Su Bai’s rule, urgent life-saving use came before distribution.
Also, after seeing the cocoons, no one was shameless enough to argue over soul-stabilizing medicine in front of the victims.
At least, no one wanted to look that shameless.
Su Bai recorded the cabinet contents first.
A few items were still unidentified, so he marked them carefully.
Everyone watched with hungry eyes, but no one reached out.
They had seen too many things turn to dust, scream without voices, or pretend to be junior brothers.
Patience had become attractive.
After recording everything, they returned to the main hall.
The rescued cultivators were still lying within the formation light.
Their breathing remained weak.
Luo Shenshui’s condition was better than before, but not by much. His brows were still furrowed, and his fingers twitched from time to time.
Su Bai opened a sealed packet of Soul-Stabilizing Powder.
A faint silver-gray powder rested inside.
It gave off a cool, clean scent.
Mu Qing helped control the dosage.
A tiny pinch floated up under her wood Qi, then dissolved into a faint mist near Luo Shenshui’s nose and mouth.
Luo Shenshui inhaled weakly.
For several breaths, nothing happened.
Then the red lines beneath his skin faded a little.
His breathing became steadier.
The tension in his brows loosened.
Qiao Wen’s eyes brightened.
"It works."
Su Bai nodded.
"Continue with the others. Same amount."
One by one, the cocooned cultivators inhaled a pinch of Soul-Stabilizing Powder.
The effect was not dramatic.
But their muttering gradually stopped.
Their breathing became smoother.
Their expressions softened.
They no longer looked like people being dragged through nightmares.
They just looked asleep.
For the group, that was enough to make their hearts settle.
Qiao Wen bowed deeply to Su Bai.
"Brother Su, thank you."
Su Bai shook his head.
"We used what we found. Thank the hall for not turning everything into dust."
Qiao Wen only smiled.
He knew that if Su Bai had not been here, he could already imagine them fighting over the treasures.
And perhaps, in the end, everything would have turned to dust.
Even them.
After the injured stabilized, Su Bai still left two cultivators to guard them.
The rest resumed exploring.