Tomb Raider: What the hell is this strange commission?

Xie Yuchen gave up discussing this issue with Chi Yu.

He shifted his attention to the thing Chi Yu handed him, and carefully looked at the item that Chi Yu was willing to risk his life to get.

It was a piece of silk that had obviously become hard. Judging from the yellowing and brittleness of the edges and corners, it had probably been in this place for a few decades - no more than that. A silk book that had been in this environment for hundreds of years would not look like this.

The silk book was folded and placed, so Xie Yuchen couldn't see what was in it right away. He opened it carefully and said to Chi Yu, "It looks like this thing was brought by this dead guy."

Chi Yu hummed, seeming to be very clear about this.

So Xie Yuchen asked: "Its identity is unknown, and perhaps it has little to do with the Sun Tomb itself. Why are you so sure that the content on it is related to what we are investigating?"

"Your assumption is totally unnecessary now."

Chi Yu walked to the broken jade, used his trekking pole to pull at the corpse's clothes, and picked out a copper coin. "You have seen it before, and that's why we came here."

The crisp sound of the evil-averting coins falling from his clothes attracted Xie Yuchen's attention, and his movements became slower.

"How's it going? Does it look familiar?"

Xie Yuchen looked at the Bagua coin with the back facing up, thought for a moment, and said cautiously: "I don't know much about Taoist culture, but after returning from Quanzhou last time, I went to supplement some relevant knowledge."

"But if you ask me if this coin with the meaning of thunder and fire killing ghosts on it looks familiar..."

Xie Yuchen asked Chi Yu, "I think you don't want to tell me that this jade corpse is actually the Taoist priest who left from under the Tianhu Lake? It seems that the two of us have only seen this thing together at that time."

This idea sounds a bit far-fetched and a bit absurd, but it is most in line with the reminder given by Chi Yu.

So when Chi Yu nodded slightly at him, the first thought that came to Xie Yuchen's mind was: As expected.

Well, although he tried his best to avoid Chi Yu's influence on him, it seems that he could not escape this subtle influence.

The human subconscious is really scary.

Xie Yuchen opened the last corner of the silk book, looked at the contents on it, and sighed.

A thin piece that looked even older fell from it and was caught by him quickly. Xie Yuchen looked left and right but couldn't see anything special.

But he's gotten used to the feeling.

Because every time he got mediocre feedback, either this thing was really useless, or this thing did not fall into the category that ordinary people could easily understand.

And there just happened to be such an "unusual" person next to Xie Yuchen, and this thing was also given to Xie Yuchen by him.

Therefore, this part of the work should actually belong to Chi Yu, and Xie Yuchen only needs to be responsible for interpreting those simple contents that are suitable for ordinary people to understand.

Thinking of this, Xie Yuchen looked up and called out, "Chi Yu."

Chi Yu responded, walked over and took the slice handed to him by Jie Yuchen.

[Ritual Fragment: This is a story about an immortal. He hid his past in history, waiting for someone with a destiny to uncover it. This part tells about... Can't you read it yourself? ]

Chi Yu looked at the content on the introduction and blinked.

When the commission started, there was a mention of ritual fragments in his additional objectives.

Chi Yu was originally still wondering what kind of ritual this "ritual" was referring to, but now that he thought about it, it had to be something related to longevity.

However, how did this Taoist priest get these things and why did he choose to go to the Sun Tomb? Probably we can only find the answers from the silk book he left behind.

Although Chi Yu himself did not have a strong desire for knowledge, he was here with Jie Yuchen to investigate the relevant information. Helping Jie Yuchen solve the mystery was part of his job, and Chi Yu was not completely opposed to this process.

Chi Yu quickly browsed the information on the wafer, put it into the system backpack, and looked at Xie Yuchen.

Xie Yuchen is carefully interpreting the notes left by the Taoist priest.

He felt Chi Yu's gaze and paid some attention to it: "Are you done there? Did you find anything?"

Chi Yu nodded: "It's some content about the ceremony, which is incomplete."

"About what ceremony?"

"Longevity."

Xie Yuchen sighed, not surprised. "I knew that these people don't care about anything else except the pursuit of immortality."

"I don't know." Chi Yu replied casually.

He always seemed a little careless about this kind of question, so he quickly chose to skip it and asked Xie Yuchen: "So what do you think of the notes it left behind?"

“It’s almost been interpreted.”

Xie Yuchen said as he moved closer to Chi Yu and spread out the silk book for him to see: "It says that after leaving Tianhu Lake, the Taoist wanted to retrieve the Chu Silk Book that was placed in the jade box."

"But the blood corpse's ability has greatly increased after a hundred years of evolution, and the person the blood corpse hates the most is him, so he dare not act rashly. Fortunately, he remembered the contents of the Chu Silk Book, so he simply gave up the idea and left Tianhu directly."

"During his long journey, the Taoist suddenly discovered that his body seemed to have undergone some bad changes - he had sought immortality by scheming the 'reproduction' of cicadas and thunder from heaven, so every night in his dreams, he could hear the loud chirping of cicadas and thunder."

Xie Yuchen looked at Chi Yu: "Also, his skin gradually began to show symptoms of jadeification."

Chi Yu's eyes did not fluctuate at all. His expression remained calm as he looked at the silk book, so Xie Yuchen continued to speak:

"The Taoist priest was panicked by this unexpected vision. He accelerated his tour and found a miraculous piece of clay in a tomb in Shanxi."

"The slice records some information about the longevity ritual. It says: The benefit of this ritual is that you don't have to sacrifice a part of yourself, and you can keep your body intact."

"But once this process begins, it cannot be stopped. You either succeed or die. Because when the form of life is transformed into another state, the energy it needs to satisfy will also change."

"When the previous lifestyle can no longer meet the needs of the body, it will naturally change to remind you what to do to save it."

Xie Yuchen said, "When the Taoist continued to watch, he was horrified to find that his previous actions had completed the first part of the ritual by accident - he had indeed entered immortality, but he had also embarked on a wrong path from which he could not turn back."

"The Yuhua Pool created by the Taoist priest is only the first level of the immortal's promotion. After the cicada molt, his body enters a cycle. According to records, if the conditions for entering the next cycle cannot be met before the end of this cycle, the Taoist priest will completely transform into a cocoon, that is, jade."

"The Taoist priest therefore frantically searched for rare treasures that could help him survive. He barely made it through the first round, and racked his brains to survive the second round, but in the end, the Taoist priest collapsed in the Sun Tomb."

Xie Yuchen put down the silk book: "——Because the Fountain of Youth in the Sun Tomb has long been dried up, he has found the wrong place."

Chi Yu smiled without any emotion: "What a pity."

"You don't look like you feel sorry for him." Xie Yuchen also laughed, "And after reading the Taoist's notes, I have another question I want to ask you."

So Chi Yu looked at him: "What's the problem?"

"When we were at the bottom of the Heavenly Lake, you said that it was just a transformation, and how could we gain true immortality?"

Xie Yuchen asked: "So from that time on, did you foresee that he would end up like this?"