Open a Clinic to Cultivate Myself - Chapter 454 - The Female Corpse in the Sunken Ship

It was completely quiet in the deep sea. Even the water was still. Stepping on the reefs and soil underwater, Ning Tao headed forward. He felt like he was traveling in a time that had long been exterminated, and he was the only person left in the whole world.

Nevertheless, such a sense of loneliness was nothing in comparison to the sense of loneliness felt when reciting the third line “There is no end in this sea of karma, I drift alone in its midst” of “Your Text”. It was nothing worthy of mentioning. Without reciting it, he could still effortlessly adapt to this environment.

He did not find the cave which Yang Sheng mentioned. Rather, the refined tactical flashlight had incidentally shone on a sunken ship. It was most probably a merchant ship of ancient times. The ship’s anchor had rusted and seaweed grew all over its broken deck. There were some deep-sea fish swimming around the seaweed and deck, escaping once they were alarmed by the light.

Once near that sunken ship, Ning Tao used this refined tactical flashlight and shone on a hole in the ship’s body. Behind that hole was a cabin, inside it laid a skeleton which was covered in algae. A few small deep-sea fish quickly swam away once the light shone on them, hiding into the cabin at the bottom.

In the end, because of those few fishes hiding, Ning Tao managed to shine his light on a pile of porcelain pieces and a few relatively intact chests.

Ning Tao approached the cabin below. With the water-resistant function of the Heavenly Gem Magic Garment, the water around him was immediately repelled, revealing an algae-covered rotten body of a ship. He pushed on it and a part of the wooden ship structure immediately collapsed, the rotten piece of wood fell to the ground, creating a hole which could accommodate one person.

Ning Tao entered with flexibility.

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There were some colorful pieces among that pile of porcelain pieces. Its colors were mainly yellow, blue, and white. Due to a lack of exposure to air, its colors remained relatively vibrant.

Ning Tao’s heart skipped a beat. “Could this porcelain be sancai? Is this a Tang Dynasty merchant ship?”

There were not many surviving sancai in the world. Each of them was immensely valuable. Unfortunately, it was meaningless even if these were all sancai because they were broken.

This was only a guess anyway. Based on Ning Tao’s historical knowledge, sancai was an upper-class burial item, after the nation prospered with the rise of the Tang Dynasty, and grand burials came into fashion. Commoners were not allowed to use such items for burial purposes. If this were a tomb, then these colorful porcelain pieces would most likely be sancai. Yet, this was a shipwreck, so he was uncertain.

Ning Tao’s sight very soon shifted to an intact chest. He approached one of the chests. There was a lock but it had more or less decayed. With a casual pull, the lock was broken effortlessly. He then opened the chest.

The box was filled with coins and had also rusted. Words could vaguely be seen on some of the coins. On it wrote “Kaiyuan Tongbao”.

Kaiyuan Tongbao was the currency of the Tang Dynasty. This was indeed a Tang shipwreck.

Unfortunately, these valuable cultural artifacts had largely decayed. Ning Tao tried to grab a coin but ended up lifting a whole lump. There was also iron dust falling off.

Ning Tao then opened the other three chests. One of them contained textiles that seemed like silk but once Ning Tao opened the chest, everything was ruined. The second chest was filled with bamboo ledgers but they were ruined once opened too. Even if they were intact, there was no way to interpret the writings on the ledgers. The third chest contained a few porcelainwares. There were porcelain bottles and plates. Perhaps due to the fillers in the chest when the ship sunk, they were saved from breakage and so these few porcelainwares had remained in one piece.

Ning Tao picked up a porcelain bottle carefully and wiped off the dirt from its surface with his hand. A clear and shiny surface of the porcelain was revealed. He turned the base of the bottle over and there were written the words: “Imperial Production Yue ware”.

Ning Tao was not particularly familiar with antiques but he understood what “Imperial Production” meant. This belonged to the royal family and their possessions were no doubt the best.

Ning Tao revealed a smile. It was the beginning of the battle. Neither Black Fire Company nor Genesis Biotech Company lacked money while he was the poorest among the three. He could at least be able to earn billions if he auctioned this Tang porcelain, right? Not long ago, a colored rooster cup from Ming Dynasty was sold at a sky-high price of more than two hundred million. It would be even more for a Tang Dynasty royal porcelainware. No wonder it was put inside a chest. This was enough to prove that these few porcelainwares were extremely valuable in the ancient era!

This was a completely unexpected gain. If he had not come here to look for The Authentic Ambergris, Ning Tao would not have discovered this shipwreck and found these few invaluable porcelainwares.

There were four pieces in total. Two plates and two bottles. It felt like they were a special combination.

Ning Tao carefully placed the two plates into his small medicine chest then stuffed a bottle into his clothes and held another one in his hand, and prepared to leave the shipwreck. At that point, he noticed a tightly shut cabin door.

Could it be holding any other treasure?

Ning Tao’s heart skipped a beat. The rotten deck boards creaked below him. He walked very carefully, but there was no helping his legs sinking in sometimes.

The door had no lock, its knob was also spoiled. Ning Tao pushed and the entire door collapsed, revealing the space behind.

Water was automatically repelled away.

The refined tactical flashlight shone inwards and the scenery inside the cabin came into view.

A woman lying on a bed, immersed in the water also appeared in the light. Ning Tao was stunned.

The woman appeared to be asleep. Her corpse had no sign of decomposition. Her skin still looked so fair and smooth, like it was bouncy and dewy. She was beautiful and elegant, her figure was slightly plump, yet it felt perfect. Any more flesh would make her look too fat, any less would be too skinny.

This was a Tang merchant ship so this woman must be a Tang woman. What had shocked Ning Tao was that, even if she was a woman from the late Tang, that would at least be 1,100 years of history. How had her corpse been preserved until now?

Ning Tao suppressed the shock inside him and carefully approached the woman. In the process, he activated his state of seeing and smelling. Right after, his sight fell on the female corpse’s mouth. He saw wisps of spiritual energy but it was not coming out of her mouth. Rather, it was entering her mouth. His nose also captured the scent of fresh spring from the spiritual energy but there was no stench of decomposition.

Ning Tao came to the bedside and placed the porcelain bottle down. He reached out to squeeze open the female corpse’s mouth. A green pearl appeared. It was about the size of a pigeon egg and was crystallized all over. It was the thing that had absorbed the spiritual energy of the bottom of the sea and preserved the corpse!

“Could this be… the Spirit Gathering Pearl?” Ning Tao could not suppress the excitement inside him.

The Spirit Gathering Pearl was definitely a legendary treasure in the cultivation circle. It could gather spiritual energy of heaven and earth, helping practitioners to cultivate. It had already been a treasured gem in the spiritual age when spiritual energy was in abundance because everyone would want their cave abode to have even more spiritual energy. It was like how modern people would never think they have enough money to spend. In this spiritual-energy-deficit era, its value would be immeasurable!

Ning Tao reached out to the female corpse’s mouth but only when he was about to reach in, he suddenly changed his mind.

He was very clear that once he took the Spirit Gathering Pearl out of the corpse’s mouth, the corpse would decompose. For the Spirit Gathering Pearl to be in the mouth of this female corpse, she must have an extraordinary identity. She could have either been royalty of the Tang Dynasty or she could be a——practitioner!

After considering for a few seconds, Ning Tao took the Blade of the Solar Eclipse out and said to the female corpse. “I’m sorry, I just want to know whether you had left any last words.”

After speaking, he carefully pierced the Blade of the Solar Eclipse into the female corpse’s arm and activated The Whisperer with spiritual power, capturing any voice which could possibly be in the space.

There was no reaction at first but after a few seconds, a choking cry appeared in Ning Tao’s head: “Your Majesty, Yuhuan has to leave now… I’ll serve Your Majesty again in my next life…”

Ning Tao’s jaw dropped.

Yuhuan, was it the Yang Yuhuan of the Four Beauties?

According to official historical records, Yang Yuhuan had died at Maweiyi but there were many alternative versions in unofficial history. Some said she had faked her death and became a nun until she died of old age. Some said she traveled east to Japan as there were also legends of her in there, making her into a deity of spring plowing.

With this, it seemed like none of those versions were right because she was lying right here.

Suddenly a woman’s crying voice appeared in Ning Tao’s head again: “I, Taizhen, am indignant… That evil dragon ruined my ship and cursed me to an unpeaceful death… I just want to look for that Time-suspending Tower… I’m not accepting of this…”

Ning Tao was shocked once again.

Taizhen?

Ning Tao suddenly recalled some relevant descriptions in his history books. Yang Yuhuan was a nun once and was a Taoist priest. Her Taoist name was “Taizhen”!

Also, the Time-suspending Tower. Was it not seventh on the rank of top ten evil magic tools? He had already seen two of the tools from the rank. The first was the Soul-devouring Urn which was ranked tenth and the second was the Picture of the Six Samsara Realms which was ranked sixth.

This to him was an absurd story. Not only did Imperial Consort Yang not die at Mawei Hill. Nor did she flee to Japan with Japan’s Tang diplomatic envoys to become some deity of spring plowing, but she had come to this oceanic region to look for the seventh most evil magic tool, the Time-suspending Tower!

The Time-suspending Tower was a magic tool that could stop time within a specific parameter. What did she want it for?

Neither the Blade of the Solar Eclipse nor The Whisperer was able to capture any more remnants of memory and voice of the spirit. Those two words had probably been preserved because of the Spirit Gathering Pearl. Otherwise, he would not have been able to capture anything.

Ning Tao did not give up. He took out the small porcelain bottle containing the Ancestor-seeking Elixir and took the elixir out, sniffing it as he held it in his hand.

Bam!

An image of the past appeared in his vision.