Chapter Four says grass

  The bonfire blazed brightly, the smell of wine and meat wafted through the air, the sound of people's voices was deafening, and the place illuminated by the firelight seemed like a different world from the dark and desolate mountains surrounding it.

  Yu Cini took the wine gourd from the medicine collector's hand and took a big swig without hesitation. This was the medicine collector's self-brewed wild wine, spicy and pungent when swallowed, yet with a medicinal fragrance, quite unique.

  Lu Bing's eyesight was indeed trustworthy, the people he met were mostly native medicinal herb collectors from Juebi City, who had been back and forth between Tianlie Valley and Juebi City for many years, and were skilled in harvesting Xiaoxu grass, also knew some of the roots of Baitianfu.

  It's really hard for such a group of people to commit crimes that harm others' lives and property, so safety is guaranteed.

  After a simple dinner, more than 20 people on both sides had nothing to do and started chatting aimlessly. Out of some consideration, both parties intentionally avoided the issue of their gains, but it was impossible to completely ignore them. As a result, after several turns, someone from the side of the Absolute Wall City began to talk about the secrets and anecdotes of the White Day Palace, and they laughed and chatted, which was quite lively.

  The topic went back and forth, eventually falling back on the subject of what medicinal value this herb actually has.

  More than half of the people present were professional medicine collectors, who knew some medicinal properties and could make wild guesses even if they didn't know. So you talked about your prescription, I talked about my Danwan, twenty or thirty people, divided into several factions, gradually from discussion to debate, and then to quarrel, the atmosphere was heated up.

  Just as several arguments were sticking together, someone suddenly shouted: "All nonsense, it's not that simple!"

  As soon as the words were spoken, everyone looked sideways. The one who shouted was from the side of the Absolute Wall City, seemingly named Li Hong, probably drunk, his face red at this time, and he himself might not even know what he had just said.

  His companion, seeing that he was drunk, hurriedly poked him to sober him up. But Li Hong was a proud man and was really drunk, seeing himself making a big splash, his enthusiasm became more and more high, and a big secret he had heard earlier also flowed out:

  "Don't be unbelieving, this shrimp whisker grass is normally combined with other medicinal herbs to treat headaches and fever. But for those big shots who have a lot at stake, in their eyes, even if we pick 180 of these, it's no different from the weeds by the side of the road. Why would they bother to hire us to pick them?"

  "After all, in our hands, this grass is just grass and can only be used as a folk remedy. But on the side of the White Day Official's residence, it can turn stones into gold..."

  When it comes to the crucial point, he becomes more serious and pretentious, but gets stuck here, feigning mystery. This attitude can only be annoying, but what can you do with a drunkard like him?

  At this time, the medicine collector who shared a wine gourd with Yu Ci smiled and said: "Li Laosi has a younger sister, married to a small servant in the White Day House, such rumors are most numerous about him..."

  Yu Ci found it interesting and wanted to know more. Just then, Li Hong felt he had kept them in suspense long enough and was feeling quite pleased with himself. Amidst the urging of many people, he laughed loudly and said:

  "It's not a big deal, actually, the reason why the White Day Estate acquired this shrimp whisker grass is that they can make a kind of medicinal water. As long as a large amount of shrimp whisker grass is soaked in it for a period of time, the best and most intact ones among them may be revived..."

  At this moment, seven or eight people doubted: "Is it a bubble?"

  "Hey, whether it's alive or not I don't know, but my brother-in-law once said that this strand of Shrimp Whisker Grass can absorb the medicinal properties of all the other herbs around it. If the medicinal energy is sufficient, this strand of Shrimp Whisker Grass will undergo a transformation, just like how caterpillars transform into butterflies, and turn into a new type of herb. At that time, the Shrimp Whisker Grass won't be called Shrimp Whisker Grass anymore, but instead... Fish Dragon Grass!"

  "What's Fish Dragon Grass?"

  The bonfire was quiet for a moment, then it became noisy. Everyone first asked Li Hong about the use of Fish Dragon Grass, but by this time, Li Hong's stomach had been emptied, and he could only say a few more words, starting to answer irrelevant questions. However, at this time, the atmosphere had already been heated up, people couldn't get a clear answer, so they began to indulge in their imagination, attributing all sorts of magical abilities to Fish Dragon Grass, and fantasizing about what benefits they would gain if they got hold of it.

  At this time, the wine friend next to him handed over the gourd again, inviting him to drink together, and asked with a smile: "If you have this immortal grass, I don't know what you want to exchange for it?"

  What kind of immortal grass is this? This person is almost drunk.

  Yu Ci gave him a glance, ignoring the painful expression on his wine friend's face. He downed the earthy liquor in one gulp, and the fiery aroma wrapped around the medicinal scent, rushing to his head. Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming urge to laugh and burst into a long, hearty laughter.

  "Who can exchange for Laozi's eternal youth?"

  The bonfire suddenly fell silent, and then burst into laughter and strange cries. Nine out of ten people thought Yu Ci was joking. Although they hadn't known each other for long, Yu Ci not only looked handsome but also had great strength, and his attitude towards others was quite generous. Everyone felt good about him, so they responded with kind laughter, pushing the atmosphere to a **.

  However, there were also people who could sense Yu Ci's true thoughts, at least they understood that Yu Ci's aspirations were not ordinary. Lu Bing on the opposite side raised his gourd to gesture towards this side, and Yu Ci smiled in response, everything was unspoken.

  The warm atmosphere continued, but Yu Ci herself withdrew from it, staring at the jumping bonfire with a slightly dazed expression: He must have been drunk too to speak the truth so easily.

  Or has his inner desire reached this point?

  At a young age, Yu Ci did not understand the true meaning of "long life", but he clearly knew the price of longevity - the piles of white bones under the Double Immortal Palace were the best interpretation.

  At first, it was just fear, but as the years and courage grew, the fear gradually faded, leaving only a deep scar that remained in the heart. Moreover, the divine power of summoning wind and rain, flying in the sky and escaping on land, was like a seed deeply buried in the scar, sprouting, growing, and eventually becoming a towering tree deeply rooted in the heart during the long days of wandering.

  Unconsciously, the thing called "long life" has already merged into his body's blood, becoming an instinct. Instinctively pursuing it, without thinking about so-called "meaning", because long life itself is a collection of all meanings.

  Yu Ci understood it this way.

  The liquor stirred up his desire, he strongly wanted to rush into that world, with surging blood and intent on bursting through the invisible barrier, but always fell short by a hair's breadth - he had already heard the lid above his head clanging loudly.

  Since entering the Bright Void Upper Stage, the "Spiritual Orifice" has been opened in the obscure, and I have felt my own divine soul. This feeling has grown day by day, and in these days at Heaven Rift Valley, it has reached a boiling point, as if the cauldron is about to overflow.

  Yu Ci knew this was a sign of breakthrough, but unfortunately lacked a catalyst. With only the current strength, it still fell short by a bit. Fortunately, he had ample patience and tenacity to accumulate power at this level until the moment of breaking through.

  When he was lost in thought, the people by the bonfire had already come out of his "long life fantasy" joke and returned to their most concerned issues, but after a heated discussion for half a day, they still didn't understand whether it was shrimp whisker grass or fish dragon grass that was truly useful. For a long time, no one could get to the point, and the crowd began to lose interest, just as the atmosphere was about to turn cold, someone suddenly let out a cold laugh:

  "Who cares about its origin, what matters is how much it's really worth."

  This remark was indeed straightforward. Yu Ci also came back to her senses, thinking that Li Hong was going to make another grand statement, but soon realized it wasn't the case. This person's words were powerful and sonorous, with a voice like gold and iron, vastly different from Li Hong's ambiguous tone earlier.

  He shifted his gaze and suddenly came to himself, realizing it was Yan Daoshi.

  This person also belongs to the group of people from the Absolute Wall City, but he is not a professional medicine collector. Instead, he joined halfway and has some similarities with Yu Ci's situation. He wears Taoist robes, claims to be a Taoist priest, but has a rough face, a ring of whiskers around his chin, piercing eyes like bells, and an extremely sharp gaze. Yu Ci had previously estimated that among this group of medicine collectors, only this person's cultivation is the most outstanding, probably also being above the ordinary level, surpassing others by a notch.

  Everyone's eyes were focused on him. Someone laughed: "Can this grass compare with the Three Yang Symbol Sword?"

  At the time of his self-introduction, Yan Daoshi frankly stated that his goal was San Yang Fu Jian, which is the same as Yu Ji, hence this saying.

  Yan Daoshi grinned: "Three Yang Symbol Sword? That's not a good deal, I only know that ten Fish Dragon Grass can be exchanged for one Cold Jade Heart Cleansing Pill."

  When these words came out, everyone in the circle was bewildered and thought Yan Daoshi's words were inexplicable. Only Li Hong, who seemed to have sobered up a bit, began to pretend again, putting on a thoughtful look: "Hanyu Xixin Dan, I think I've heard of it somewhere?"

  "That must be at the White Day Estate."

  Yan Daoshi opened his mouth: "The White Day Mansion can produce hundreds or thousands of San Yang Fu swords every year, and the Han Yu Xi Xin Dan is only in the hands of the mansion owner, with only three or two grains left. It must be carefully collected and stored in a secret room, guarded by special personnel, for fear of being stolen by thieves... Hehe, that's what it means."

  "Hiss!"

  The scene of dozens of people inhaling cold air together was quite spectacular, but Yu Ji seemed a bit distracted. For some reason, when he saw Yan Daoshi's smile, he felt very uncomfortable in his heart, and a special smell also surged into his nostrils. Before he could figure out what it was, Yan Daoshi smiled again:

  "But, after all, the Hanshu Xin Dan is a rare and unattainable thing. Compared to the Three Yang Symbol Sword, which can be exchanged for just a thousand stalks of shrimp whisk grass, I'd rather take things one step at a time."

  Huh? What does he mean?

  Yu Cimeng keenly grasped the change in Yan Daoshi's tone, that abrupt insertion of a single "I" was indeed very strange. Intelligent people weren't just him alone, Lu Bing also raised his head and looked over with puzzled eyes.

  At this moment, the smell at the tip of his nose was extremely strong.

  "Be careful!"

  Yu Ci suddenly let out a loud shout, and while the others were still in a daze, he suddenly fell backwards, lying flat on his back. A moment later, a scorching red light flashed before his eyes, and a wave of flames rushed over, baking the skin on his forehead hard.

  Then came a series of miserable cries, followed by Yan Daoshi's unscrupulous and maniacal laughter.

  "Scoundrel!" It was Lu Bing's voice, accompanied by the clanging of swords.

  Yu Ji rolled again and flew out several feet away. Only then did he jump up from the ground, during which his miserable cries never ceased.

  As I looked up, what entered my line of sight was the tragic scene of corpses scattered all over the ground. Next to the bonfire, the people who had been discussing heatedly just a moment ago were now mostly lying dead on the ground. The medicinal herb collector who had just shared wine with him was now split in two, still not dead yet, struggling and groaning on the ground. The massive wound's cross-section was charred black like charcoal, without a single drop of blood flowing out, but it was even more terrifying than a scene splattered with blood.

  It was all caused by Yan Daoshi.

  This person was laughing loudly, with a red glow spitting out of his hand. At first glance, it looked like a glowing short stick, round and blunt, but upon closer inspection, the light condensed into a sharp sword-like aura. As the light radiated outward, waves of fire surged forth, sweeping across the ground, igniting grass and trees without any wind, quickly forming an enormous, fluctuating ring of flames.

  Inside the ring of fire, Lu Bing's face twisted like a mad demon as he launched a frenzied attack on Yan Daoshi. The long sword in his hand emitted a cold glow, not an ordinary item, its momentum was like a raging storm, taking one's breath away. However, Yan Daoshi didn't seem to care, his feet didn't move an inch, the red tassel in his hand slightly shaking as he easily deflected Lu Bing's life-threatening sword light.

  Moreover, Yan Dao Shi still had a spare moment to turn his head around and face Yu Ci with a smile: "You're quite vigilant, Master Dao only had a thought, and you've already detected it. Otherwise, that small white face of yours would have been split in two by me..."

  Yu's eyebrows stood up, this villain was too arrogant.

  Of course, Yan Daoshi indeed had arrogant capital. His clever and skillful swordsmanship was obviously far beyond Lu Bing's standard. However, Yu Cijun was not afraid at all, his face was cold and calm, although he had no advantage in weapons, he still brought out the Qingguang Lingyin, preparing to rely on the method of talismans, and join forces with Lu Bing to attack this Liao.

  Yan Daoshi saw him being very calm, and suddenly burst out laughing, shouting:

  "Off with you!"

  As soon as the voice fell, Yu Ci saw a red line extending from the void. He opened his mouth, but before he could make any sound, he saw the sky filled with shattered sword lights, Lu Bing and his treasured sword simultaneously splitting apart, crashing onto the burning grassland, life extinguished.

  Yu Ci's hand, which was drawing symbols in her sleeve, suddenly froze.

  All the screams and groans had disappeared, except for Yu Ci, more than 20 people who picked herbs were killed by Yan Daoshi, and the murderer was not satisfied yet, he turned his eyes that had already turned red to Yu Ci's face.

  "Little white face, why don't you come up?"

  Yu Ji found out that he had seriously underestimated Yan Daoshi.

  In terms of physical cultivation, after reaching the peak of Long Xi's realm, the difference between him and Ming Yuan's realm was not significant. Lu Bing had also refined his swordsmanship, and his combat strength was not much inferior to others. However, such a character was easily cut down by Yan Daoshi with just one slash of his sword. While it was true that the strange and sharp Fire Sword played a role, Yan Daoshi's own cultivation must have exceeded Yu Ci's expected standards.

  Beyond the bright and clear stage, isn't that just becoming a divine cultivator?

  Yu Cijian didn't say a word, retreated with a sudden movement, and leaped three zhang.

  Yan Daoshi spat and didn't rush to take action, taking big strides to chase after him.

  Yu Zhi had already taken note of the terrain before retreating, and the place where he fell was exactly where the mountain trend turned. With a loud crash, the gravel under his feet flew out, and his legs were almost exhausted, propping up his body to turn at an angle, turning towards the back of the layered rocks with even greater speed.

  Yan Daoshi burst out laughing: "Can you run away?"

  As they spoke, he hurried past the corner and turned his face, but let out a surprised cry.

  Within sight, there are only distant dark forests swaying tree shadows, and Yu Ci's figure has disappeared.

  Yan Daoshi's eyes widened even more, and for a moment, he was at a loss. Although it was the middle of the night, his line of sight extended to about a mile away, and the woods on this side that could hide people were probably around this distance too. That little white face, although agile, wouldn't have such quick methods.

  From here to the dense forest, the road is flat and almost without any rocks or trees blocking the way. If you want to hide, there's a good chance of being discovered. Yan Daoshi was stunned for a while, but then he coldly snorted:

  "You think you're clever, but don't think you can deceive me?"

  He closed his eyes, and under the control of his divine soul, a layer of invisible power swept through an area of ten square meters in a wave-like manner. Soon, his eyes lit up.

  Suddenly, he exerted force under his foot, and with a loud rumbling sound, a boulder beside him was kicked over, revealing a cave entrance half a person's height behind it. The cave was naturally formed, but the boulder in front of it had been moved from elsewhere and decorated with thatch and dwarf trees on the outside, making it look like part of the mountain at first glance. In reality, one could squeeze into it from the depression below, where the tree clump was.

  This setup completely deceives people's eyes. Only someone like Yan Daoshi can sometimes judge without using his eyes!

  However, Yan Daoshi still had a question he didn't understand. That little white face clearly looked like a passerby, so how could he have set up such a secretive place as if he had foreseen it?

  The doubts could not be answered, but the more they were so, the stronger his murderous intent became. Without hesitation, he lowered his head and dove into the cave.

  Even if you turn from a young and tender face into a big wastrel, you will still not be able to escape Lord Dao's first sword strike!

  The cave was dark and dim, but it couldn't withstand the glow of Yan Daoshi's crimson fire sword. He took a few steps forward, and suddenly the space inside became spacious. There were indeed signs of human habitation inside, and Yan Daoshi even saw scattered objects on the ground.

  However, at this moment, his face changed slightly, because he clearly felt the gentle breeze in front of him, and there were two more wind directions coming from different routes!

  This cave actually has three exits, one of which he came in from, and two others. Who knows where Yu Ji went?

  "What a mouse that digs holes..."

  Yan Daoshi was both angry and amused: "If it were someone else, you would have really escaped, but unfortunately, you ran into me, Dao Master!"

  He didn't want to waste any more time, so he closed his eyes and let his spirit drive him again, scanning the two cave entrances. The remaining aura left by Yu Cijiu was like a faint flame, revealing itself. Yan Daoshi quickly confirmed one of the cave entrances and rushed after it in large strides.

  Tomorrow's special topic will be removed, and book friends will lose a shortcut to find this book. Remember to collect it! Of course, I also want red tickets!