Star Gate

Chapter 445: What One Sees and Hears in an Ancient City (II)

A high degree of purity... so regular ones wouldn’t do?

“Give it a try, Ole Hong,” He Yong urged. “Something like this is hard to buy with all the money in the world. We’re finally in, so let’s just give it a try!”

“Are you paying?”

“......” He Yong immediately fell silent with resignation. I don’t have any stones.

“You have no mysterious power stones? I hardly believe that!” Hong Yitang snorted. “You’ve been part of the royal family for so long. Who are you fooling with the idea that you haven’t gained anything for your time?”

There was nothing Hong Yitang could say to that. “I do have some,” he harrumphed after a while. “But their degree of purity may not be enough.”

“Give it a try!” Hong Yitang commanded. “This is my room, Li Hao led us into the city, which leaves you the only one without a single contribution yet. Come, let us go to the backyard!”

The three weren’t in a hurry to see anything else. They could try this curiosity first. It was a great find in a great place!

They swiftly made their way through the building and entered the backyard through the back door. There was a similar lack of grass and flowers here, but the spring still flowed with water. There seemed to be a layer of glass over it. The trio found themselves unable to approach the spring when they drew close.

There was a tiny basin next to the pool; some words were etched on it. Li Hao stooped down for a look and said, “Right here. It says that we will be able to use the hot spring if we input sufficient energy.” The young man took out a piece of stone. “I have some left, let’s try with a piece.”

There was absolutely no response from the basin after he dropped his stone in. Not only was there no response, but there was no change at all. It plopped into the water like it was a regular stone and didn’t elicit anything.

He Yong grit his teeth when he saw the situation and pulled out a larger piece of mysterious power stone from his storage ring. Its shine was brighter than the one Li Hao paid. The basin reacted slightly when the second stone was dropped in.

The water surged slightly and crushed the stone with a brush, but while the energy disappeared and the stone crumbled away, the shield over the basin remained.

“That was the equivalent of twenty times the energy of a regular stone!” He Yong said with a pained expression. “One of those is worth twenty of yours! How is that not enough?”

“There was a reaction!” Li Hao quickly said. “That’s better than how mine did. It probably wasn’t enough. Put some more in, Martial Uncle He.”

Fuck you! He Yong griped. This is so expensive! How much will it take for the pool to open? And the key thing is, what if we just can’t open it? What if the effects are mediocre? Although the waters are still flowing, it’s been countless years since it was established. What if the thing that inputs the Water of Life has died?

Then it would be a waste of their stones!

But He Yong was also quite tempted and placed another piece in with a determined clench of his jaw. The stone immediately crumbled away like before and the energy instantly absorbed.

There was still no reaction.

He Yong sweated profusely from the anguish of spending so much. But since he’d offered two pieces, here came a third... A fourth, a fifth...

He couldn’t bear it after the fifth piece was consumed and moaned, “I have no more. I did accumulate some wealth from my time with the royal family, but I’ve had to cultivate these years as well. That was my life’s savings, I put it all in there!

“That was worth one hundred mysterious power stones!” He Yong wailed. “According to market prices, one piece is worth one thousand cubes. That was ten thousand cubes of mysterious power! I can’t do it anymore if that still isn’t enough!”

It was too expensive! Li Hao also looked on with a pained expression—this spring was frightfully expensive. “Has it been too long and some of the mechanisms have degraded...?”

“So you mean we can’t access the spring at all?” He Yong gasped.

Who knew? It’d been countless years, who could say for sure?

Hong Yitang frowned at seeing He Yong ready to lose his mind. “Shut up, what are you putting this act on for? One hundred mysterious power stones is a lot, but I don’t believe that this is your entire fortune! Would you have been willing to pay it all if it was, you bastard? We consumed eight hundred pieces at Ash Mountain and you didn’t even bat an eye.”

“No, but those...”

Were spoils from battle! It didn’t hurt to spend something that wasn’t theirs!

Hong Yitang couldn’t be bothered to respond and thought for a moment. Although it hurt to do so, he took out the massive piece of mysterious power stone that he’d just picked up. He carefully scraped off a piece—a very tiny piece!

The water churned when he put it in the basin—it still wasn’t enough. Hong Yitang took a breath and scraped off some more, and some more. The water frothed with action, as did the pool beside the basin. The barrier flickered in and out of sight, but didn’t fully vanish.

Hong Yitang scraped ever smaller shavings so as to not waste any. After a dozen times, the barrier disappeared with a pop. Humid air wafted over their faces—the pool was open for business!

Delighted, He Yong tensed to charge over, but Hong Yitang grabbed him by the shoulder. The man addressed Li Hao without even looking at He Yong.

“Go get some water and see if there’s any benefits to it.”

Li Hao smiled and walked up to the pool. There wasn’t that much water, but it kept flowing into the pool. There was some color and luster to the water, making for a pretty sight.

The young man reached out tentatively and grabbed a handful of water. He could sense a unique energy rippling through it as soon as he touched it. The energy sank into his arm, a similar sensation to sword energy, but not entirely the same.

The energy didn’t seem as dense as sword energy upon further consideration, but Li Hao could sense that his body was indeed being enhanced as it flowed further in.

Some dead skin suddenly appeared on his arm. Li Hao regarded it with curiosity. This energy was very unique, it imparted the feeling of returning to one’s youth. It reminded him of a dead tree that his teacher once spoke of finding. The tree trunk had suddenly split open and a drop of water evaporated. Yuan Shuo had only absorbed a little, but it gave him the feeling of returning to a younger state.

Of course, that description was different from what was taking place now. Li Hao looked carefully at the water and absorbed some more energy. Perhaps... this was the diluted form of that water droplet?

“Don’t take it all for yourself, Li Hao!” He Yong called out. “How does it feel?”

“Decent!” Li Hao smiled and withdrew his hand. “It improves the constitution in a gentle manner and should have good effects for both of you. The mysterious power stones were not wasted as it should fortify the entire body. The effects are actually quite decent and will help heal some old injuries.”

It bore similar effects to sword energy, but it was hard to determine the specifics and if it could extract energy of the five elements. The energy had seeped into the water and was thus hard to extract again for use.

Hong Yitang released He Yong—the man’s first instinct wasn’t to jump into the water, but bend by the edge and open his mouth. He sucked in a mouthful of water and swallowed it!

“......” Li Hao and Hong Yitang stared at him. This is bathing water!

But Li Hao had done something similar before. He’d even wanted to drink water that a dog already had tasted, much less bathwater.

He Yong silently observed his body after swallowing a large mouthful. “This is great!” He brightened. “But it doesn’t seem as wondrous as the ancient books make it out to be. They say that one drop of the Water of Life can even regrow limbs. Why don’t I feel the same way?”

“It’s been diluted!” Li Hao explained. “Are they really going to give you an entire pool of that treasure? It's good enough that these waters contain a little bit of it, and it may just be left over from all those years ago.”

Very well then! He Yong was slightly disappointed.

Hong Yitang couldn’t be bothered to engage in conversation. He took off his clothes, leaving only his undergarment. The waters frothed when he jumped in, drawing a muttered curse from He Yong.

Oh come on! Just drink it, what are you really bathing in it for??

Li Hao laughed and also jumped in. The pool was modestly sized and could fit three. But if He Yong wanted to drink it, then he could drink it.

“What are you guys doing?” He Yong cursed. “This is such a waste, just drink it all...”

“Since they want us to soak in it, then we’ll follow the rules!” Hong Yitang replied indifferently. “Maybe they added something that makes it unsuitable for drinking. Drink it yourself if you want to.”

He began operating a breathing method, as did Li Hao with the Breathing Method of the Five Styles. Sword energy was excellent, but this energy was slightly different. Sword energy could heal and enhance, yet it lacked other abilities. When this energy rushed into the body, Li Hao discovered that some of his surface injuries were disappearing.

As he thought, this energy was very special. After a while, he found that his skin was turning paler. He was tanned from the sun before and injuries were inevitable throughout the course of training. Sword energy could heal injuries and hasten their closure, but it didn’t erase scars.

There were many scars on his body—they were all turning fainter now. And of course, this wasn’t important.

What was important was that the five organs felt like they were being tempered anew as energy rushed in. It wasn’t the tempering from a single element—that required absorbing exact amounts of energy to maintain a balance between the five organs.

The five organs seemed ensconced in the energy; it contained a unique complete balance, but the effects were slightly less than elemental energy. It seemed similar to blood energy, but blood energy wasn’t this gentle.

He Yong quickly jumped in. The three furiously operated their breathing methods to absorb the energy within the spring.

Li Hao opened the pamphlet again at the same time to glean more information.

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