Chapter 39: A Patch of Green Moss (Part 2)

  Five young men and women wearing coarse linen robes held choppers, carrying small bundles of firewood on their backs, lazily walking along the mountain path. These people were none other than the five individuals who had been beaten by Lin Xiang and left with severe injuries after bullying Qing Yun last time. After recovering from their wounds, they were sent to chop wood as punishment by Yi Yu. Although they were punished and forced to do menial tasks, their teeth, which had been knocked out, had been reattached with spiritual medicine and were now even whiter than before, not leaking a single word when speaking.

  "Damn that cheap thing!" Princess Xiu cursed all the way, wielding a light iron skin knife that weighed no more than two taels, randomly chopping at the branches and grass by the roadside. Filthy language kept spewing from her mouth. Since she was young, where had she ever suffered such humiliation? The dignified princess of the Qiuchao family was actually beaten and lost all her front teeth! And it was in front of hundreds of fellow disciples! Especially after the incident, Qingyue didn't receive any punishment, but the five of them were punished to come and do chores as firewood-cutting disciples! This was a crude task that only newly entered miscellaneous disciples would do!

  "Damn that little slut! If she fell into my hands, humph! Princess Xiu's face twisted in a scowl as she cursed: "I'll make her know what it means to be unable to live or die! This little slut, she, she, she has really infuriated me! Humph, but she actually climbed onto Lin Gongzhu's high branch and hugged Lin Gongzhu's thigh! Detestable little slut! Now even if an ancestor of the imperial family wanted to help us vent our anger, they would have to be wary of that Lin Xian's seven parts, it's really infuriating me to death!"

  Five people stopped in front of the thatched cottage where Qing Hu was hiding. Jiexiong's mistress let out a delicate, timid sigh and said softly: "Sister Xiu doesn't need to be angry, Qing Hu just got lucky! Think about it, she's just a lowly clown, how could Lin Shuang possibly really like her? With Sister Xiu's looks and talent, with Sister Xiu's birth and family background...how could she possibly lose to a low-born ugly girl?"

  Miss Ya said in a low and humble tone: "Isn't that so? Even the Great Ancestor Master said that Your Highness is a once-in-a-century genius in cultivation! With your roots, qualifications, appearance, and talent, hehe, even if Lin Xian is a true master of alchemy, how can he resist Your Highness's kindness?" Miss Ya 'hehe'd with a smile: "If Your Highness can achieve a good relationship with Lin Xian and become a pair of dual cultivation partners, then Your Highness will be..."

  The princess's face turned red with excitement, she proudly raised her head and said: "This makes sense. Among the tens of thousands of new disciples under Yuanzong, who can compare to me? Not to mention that ugly girl Qingxiao. Lin Xiang, humph! Lin Gongpu! If I go ask the old ancestor to introduce me to Lin Gongpu, this matter...". The princess's eyes spun rapidly, she was so excited that her whole body trembled: "With Lin Gongpu's support, it will be easy for my third brother to take the throne."

  In the grass nest, Qingyun hid and stared at Xiugong through the gaps in the leaves, not understanding what she was thinking. Listening to her words, it seemed that she wanted to get close to Lin Xiao, but somehow it also involved the replacement of their imperial throne? With Qingyun's knowledge, she couldn't figure out the key point, she just instinctively felt that Xiugong wanting to get close to Lin Xiao made her feel very uncomfortable, with an inexplicable strange emotion churning in her heart, sour and aching, and a kind of instinctive vigilance!

  On the small path, the conversation of the five people suddenly turned to Yuanyan Dan.

  "Beauty Pill! The Beauty Pill that can keep a woman youthful forever! Lin Gongzhu's personally refined Beauty Pill! Heaven! The 71 pills of Beauty Pill sold in the pharmacy, even the cheapest one was exchanged for 15 top-grade spirit stones and a low-grade treasure flying sword! I must... with Lin Gongzhu..." Princess Xiu's teeth were tightly clenched, her face flushed even more.

  The young mistress's face also flushed with red clouds, and she sighed almost in a moan: "Nourishing Face Dan! There is actually such a magical elixir in the world! Seventy-one grains of Nourishing Face Dan were snatched up in just one short moment! It's said that Patriarch Yi stood in front of the pharmacy door laughing wildly for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and then ordered Medicine Mountain's manager to open up a thousand acres of medicine fields on Medicine Mountain specifically to cultivate Zi Ye Lan!"

  The young lady of Jingyuan lowered her head and smiled softly: "Lin Gong, it's all right."

  The princess's face changed, and the thin iron skin knife in her hand was suddenly placed on the neck of the clean princess. She shouted: "Don't forget your identity! Lin Gong, is this palace!" The clean princess's body shook violently, and she knelt down to the ground, pressing her hands on the feet of the show princess, and her forehead knocked heavily on the small road. Only then did the show princess nod in satisfaction, laughing softly: "This is my good sister. Hum, some things are not for you to touch, just learn to be smarter!"

  Qing Yue shrunk into the grass nest, staring blankly at the sinister and sarcastic smile that emerged on the face of Jing Guo Zhu, who was kowtowing with great force. The usual timid and delicate Jing Guo Zhu, who would shriek at the sight of a bug, how could she have such a terrifying smile? Qing Yue's body trembled slightly as she closed her eyes, not daring to look again at Jing Guo Zhu's frightening smile. That smile made Qing Yue instinctively think of the snow-white but extremely poisonous snake she had encountered on Medicine Mountain when she was young.

  Xiu Gongzhu severely scolded Jie Junzhu, only then did she coldly snort in satisfaction, and brought Jie Junzhu, Ya Xiaojie, and the two attendants along, grumbling and complaining as they headed towards Hou Shan.

  Qingyue waited until the princess and others had walked far away, probably about two or three miles. She then crawled out of the grass nest with a thud. After randomly patting off the dust and grass fragments on her body, Qingyue looked up at the sun in the sky and exclaimed: "It's bad, it's bad, Xiaoqing~~~~"

  He set off at a rapid pace, hurrying towards the nearest airship docking point.

  Just then a flying boat landed, Qingchu showed his identity card and boarded the flying boat. He stood on the flying boat, jumping up and down anxiously, muttering to himself.

  Alas, this flying boat was heading in the direction of Yao Mountain, but it would only go halfway before turning back. Qing Chu had to wait for another half an hour at another stop, waiting for another direct flight to Yao Mountain to land, before continuing on her way. However, now Qing Chu didn't even have the energy to jump up and down, she just sat blankly on the deck of the flying boat, weakly humming: "Poor little Qing, this time, how much will you be left with? Alas, why don't you listen at all? Why can't you remember what I told you?"

  The flying boat landed in front of the Medicine Mountain, and Qingyun jumped off the flying boat, stumbled forward a few steps, and rushed into the Medicine Mountain.

  Li Le sat at the entrance of the courtyard, smoking a dry tobacco pipe and watching the clouds drift by. He looked at Qing Gun in surprise as she rushed into Yao Shan, and asked one of the disciples standing next to him: "Strange, doesn't that figure look like Qing Gun? But how did Qing Gun become so beautiful? It's only been a few months since we last saw her... Hmm, you go ask that kid who checked her waist token just now, who is she?"

  Qing Yun didn't know what Li Le was muttering about, she rushed into the Medicine Mountain with familiarity, circling around several valleys and quickly turning over two large mountains, then drilled into a hidden crevice on a cliff and finally arrived at a secret cave.

  In the cave, the air is very heavy, and there is a mountain cave with a diameter of about 100 meters, covered with a thin layer of pale green moss. In the center of the cave, there is a square water pool with a side length of several feet, filled with fragrant spring water that is refreshing to the nose. There are also several natural water ditches in the cave, which connect to an underground river on the other side of the stone wall. The river water has a faint medicinal smell, and the water ditches are covered with dense green moss. Originally, the river water was murky and mixed with various colors, but after flowing through the water ditches, it becomes clear and transparent, and the medicinal smell disappears without a trace.

  The moss in the ditch extracted the essence of medicinal juice from the river water, transformed it into a drop of thick and pungent mucus, transmitted it through the thin layer of green moss on the ground, gathered it into the central pool inside the cave, and thus the color of the spiritual spring water in the pool became even more concentrated.

  The green axe rushed into the cave, and the thin green moss and the green moss in the water ditch all danced happily. At the same time, a sound like a baby's cry came from the pool inside the cave. In the midst of the "waah" crying sound, the surface of the pool rippled gently, and a cluster of thumb-sized purple-green moss slowly emerged from the pool.

  Qing Huo covered her mouth, and let out a sharp cry: "Heavens! Little Qing! Last time I saw you, you were already two feet tall, how did you shrink to this size today?"

  A cry like a baby's faintly came out from the moss: "Waaah, bad guys... they chopped me up... one piece, two pieces, three pieces... I ran with all my might, but they ran faster than me... one piece, two pieces, three pieces. I was chopped into 1,080 pieces, and only this small piece escaped back..."

  Qing Yun's face twitched a few times, she stared blankly at the small cluster of green moss, tears falling 'plop, plop' down.

  "Little Qing! You're so pitiful!" Qing Chui cried for a while, then slowly wiped away her tears with her sleeve and walked to the edge of the water pool, squatting down. She gently poked at the duckweed floating on the surface of the water with her fingers. "But you get cut by the mountain patrol brothers every two months, I'm used to you growing bigger and smaller all the time. As long as you're not killed on the spot... it's fine!"

  That clump of cyan moss hummed in a wronged tone, lightly circling around the water pool. It resentfully muttered: "It doesn't hurt, but it's uncomfortable... Waaah, I finally grew that big and was chopped into pieces! I just wanted to absorb a few drops of purple lingzhi spirit liquid, so petty... Not letting me absorb... They're all bad people, bad people... They didn't let me absorb the spirit liquid and even cut me... They're all bad people... Only Qing Chu is a good person!"

  Gently stirring this small piece of moss, Qing Chui sighed and said: "Xiao Qing, you obediently hide here, the medicinal power brought by Yin He from Dan Tang's waste liquid is enough for your cultivation, why do you have to run to Yao Shan every two months to steal food? Zi Ling Chi is a top-grade spiritual medicine, and the brothers who patrol the mountain are most wary of that place.

  "I don't know..." The cyan moss hummed softly: "So hot, so scorching, so unbearable... I want to absorb the spiritual liquid of the purple spirit mushroom!"

  "What's wrong? What's wrong?" Qing Liang looked at Xiao Qing with confusion, unable to understand what was wrong.

  Xiao Qing spun around frantically in the pool, wailing "I want the spiritual liquid of Zi Ling Chi! I want the spiritual liquid of Zi Ling Chi! It's so hot and unbearable! I want the spiritual liquid of Zi Ling Chi! Waaah, it's so hot and unbearable... I want the spiritual liquid of Zi Ling Chi!"

  Suddenly, a spark of fire flashed across Xiao Qing's body, and the cave was instantly filled with a pungent smell of burning. The green grass on the ground in the cave was all transformed from Xiao Qing's body, and a large piece of green grass was burned into black ash by the suddenly rising flames. Xiao Qing let out a miserable cry: "Wuuu~~~~~~~Qaaa~~~~~~~It hurts, it burns, it's unbearable!"

  The water in the pool surged violently, and Xiao Qing was tumbling about in the pool like a headless fly. The green moss on the ground of the cave was being burned into black ash piece by piece, only to be reborn again. The smell of scorching filled the air. As the green moss continued to regenerate, Xiao Qing's body was slowly shrinking bit by bit.

  "This, this!" A flame burst out from under Qing's feet, scaring her into jumping up and frantically slapping at the hem of her skirt and pants that had caught fire. She looked at Xiaoqing, who was letting out sharp cries of pain in the water, and suddenly a thought flashed through her mind. She shouted loudly: "Lin Gege! Lin Gege must have a way! Xiaoqing has taken too much medicine!"

  Qing turned around and rushed towards the entrance of the cave, shouting loudly as she ran: "Xiao Qing, hold on a bit, whatever you do don't get burned to death! I'll, I'll go call for help right away!"

  Rushing out of the cave, Qing Huo's hands were busy rummaging through his waistband, and finally he pulled out a piece of jade carved into a leaf shape. With force, he crushed the leaf into powder.

  A faint green light shot up into the sky and flew straight towards the direction of Lin Xiang's residence.