Chapter 37: The Underground Blind Earthworm Arrives to Purify the Body

  The earliest record of the underground blind earthworm should be in the Yellow Emperor period. The book says: "The Yellow Emperor obtained the virtue of the earth, and the yellow dragon earthworm appeared." The "earthworm" (yin) referred to here is the giant underground blind earthworm seen by Liu Yi and others today. As for what the yellow dragon recorded is, it still needs to be studied. It is estimated that it should also be a kind of organism growing underground, and from the color point of view, it should be a variant of the golden tortoise beetle.

  The underground mole cricket is a symbol of the prosperity of the dynasty, representing the virtue of earth, one of the five virtues, meaning the merit of the earth. In ancient times, there was also the saying: "Mole crickets appear, wise kings emerge."

  It is often said that great virtue supports all things.

  The "thick virtue" here is not essentially referring to the so-called "moral integrity" of inner cultivation, if understood in this way it would be too narrow. It should refer to the "virtue of the land". Only vast and boundless land does not mind whether you have morality or not, whether you are evil or good, nor does it care whether you are human or beast. After the death of all living things, they are all embraced by its vast bosom.

  She doesn't care if you build skyscrapers on her, or drill for oil in her heart, she just endures all this in silence. Her heart is vaster than the ocean's, because the ocean is also in her arms, and is a child of the earth.

  The earth represents not only the heavy morality but also the symbol of the people.

  Because the people plant crops in the thick earth, they build houses on the land to live and multiply. Therefore, it is said that those who gain the thick earth gain the world, and those who lose the thick earth lose the world. Here, "thick earth" refers to the hearts of all the people. It can be seen that great virtue not only carries things, but also carries a country!

  Liu Yi thought to himself: "Why did the little antelope lead us here? Could it be that the entrance to the sacrificial site is inside this stone cave?"

  He looked around and didn't find any entrance like a cave or hole, which made him wonder.

  At this time, the underground blind earthworm leaning against the cave wall seemed to have sensed that a living person had broken in, raised its entire upper body, and turned its body around.

  The little Tibetan antelope seemed to dislike the ugly earthworm, gave it a sideways glance, bleated twice, and then turned its head towards Liu Yi and the others. The mischievous look on its face was as if waiting for a good show to begin.

  Liu Yi and the other two people had become accustomed to seeing strange things on their journey, so they were not surprised by the appearance of a giant earthworm. Moreover, since this was the path that Cangyang Xiao Ke had taken, it should be safe. Ma Liu Ka was even looking forward to being invited by the earthworm for a drink, when suddenly, Cangyang Xiao Ke let out a loud cry from beside them.

  The three people's hearts were in unison, just about to dodge, when they saw that the front end of the giant earthworm's mouth sprayed out a yellowish sticky substance that was like neither soil nor mud, forming a fan shape that enveloped the three of them. Even Liu Yi, with his exceptional martial arts skills, had nowhere to hide.

  These "yellow mud" basically filled the entire space.

  The little Tibetan antelope had already hidden in a corner of the wall when the big earthworm sprayed yellow mud.

  Malacca tried to get rid of the yellow mud stuck on his body while summarizing and shouting: "As long as the goat cries, it's absolutely not good!"

  The other two nodded in deep agreement with his words.

  That mud was some kind of substance that not only couldn't be pulled off but also had a decomposing effect. As the crowd violently shook their bodies, they saw that the clothes on their entire body were stuck with mud and fell off one after another. The three of them instantly became white lotus flowers.

  "My goodness!" The three of them exclaimed in unison, subconsciously making a "covering their crotch" gesture at the same time.

  "Ah, compared to this big worm, the red tentacles outside were gentle, and they even left us a set of clothes. Now that's good, we won't have to go naked to worship the Sun Mother!"

  Liu Yi turned his head to look at him, only to see him muttering to himself, shaking his head and swaying his body back and forth, as if he was afraid someone was sneaking a peek beside him. His comical appearance made one want to laugh out loud.

  Professor Zhou said, "The earthworm is also known as the 'earth dragon' and is praised for its ability to purify the soil. Its body contains a special enzyme that can break down proteins, fats, and fibers. I estimate that the yellow mud that corroded our clothes was a variant of this enzyme. But what's the point of it decomposing our clothes?"

  "Isn't it obvious?! The red tentacles outside do the first round of checks, this giant centipede does the final check, and prohibits us from carrying weapons in!" Ma Liuji shouted on the side.

  Liu Yi found it unbelievable, but judging from the behavior of the octopuses and earthworms, they seemed to be acting as security inspectors, performing a body search.

  As he thought of this, he looked at the big earthworm and saw that after doing all this, it lazily crawled to one side. The mud heap where it was exposed a dark hole.

  The little Tibetan antelope saw the situation and seemed unwilling to stay here for a long time, so it jumped up and leaped into the cave in two strides.

  Liu Yi bent down to pick up the few items that had fallen on the ground, closely following Professor Zhou Tao and Malacca, and jumped into the cave one after another.

  The hole is not very high from the ground, about one meter or so, and it looks like a living passage dug out by an earthworm. The soil is extremely soft and sticky, making it difficult to walk.

  After the clothes of the three were decomposed by the "yellow mud", even if they jumped into a black hole or covered their lower body, they later found that the black hole was pitch black and couldn't see anything. They let go of their hands and slowly moved forward along the wall of the cave, feeling their way forward. After a while, a faint light appeared in front of them, and they saw that Xiao Ke, the little antelope, had slipped into a small opening that emitted light.

  Three people followed closely behind and turned around to find that it was a stone slab road, and they didn't know how long they walked before seeing stone steps in front of them, with the light growing stronger.

  When the three of them emerged from the underground cave, they were stunned by a huge tree in front of them. What kind of tree was this? It was estimated that hundreds of people would not be able to surround it even if they joined hands. Then the three of them realized that perhaps the large roots they had seen underground belonged to this giant.

  The three of them looked at each other, saw the honest and innocent look on each other's faces, and burst out laughing. Then they quickly ran to a big tree, picked a large bunch of leaves, pulled out many grasses from the ground and wove them into a rope, strung the leaves together, made clothes like those worn by ancient people, wrapped around their lower body, making themselves look like Peking men.

  "After doing all this, Zhou Tao stared at the tree and said: 'The position we are in should be above 4,500 meters above sea level. In such a terrain, it shouldn't have grown such large leaves... Tsk tsk, the geographical environment here is too wonderful...'"

  The scenery in front of me is quite different from Death Valley, where death lingers everywhere. Here, however, the flowers and grass are lush, birds sing and fragrant flowers bloom, with fruit ripening on the trees. The warm glow of sunset envelops the entire valley, like a beautiful autumn oil painting.

  The icy wind and snow of the White Bone Plains, the warmth like spring after crossing the Floating Void, the torrential rain in the Black Water Marshes, Red Sand, and Crimson Sea like summer, and now the beauty like autumn, made Liu Yi feel that this journey was like a person's life, only by experiencing confusion and helplessness, filling with hope, going through great hardships, could one reap the fruits.

  "This should be the last stop!" Liu Yi thought to himself.

  "Are we in heaven? This valley of death is really beautiful!" exclaimed Ma Liuji.

  Liu Yi looked at the sunset, which was as red as blood, and knew that darkness was about to fall. He wanted to urge Cang Yang to lead the way and try to reach the sacrificial site before darkness fell, but found that Xiao Ke was actually lying on the ground, eating grass, and didn't look like he was going to move forward at all.

  Liu Yi and the others were also feeling hungry, but looking at the bright red fruit on the big tree that looked like a pear, they didn't dare to pick it and eat it. Seeing Xiao Ke eating grass with gusto, they also planned to catch some wild game to fill their stomachs.

  Malacca saw Liu Yi go to a nearby stream to catch fish, and walked listlessly to Xiao Ke's side, sat down with a plop, and snatched the grass from his mouth: "Old brother, share the blessings, I'll try some!"

  He actually started chewing on the grass leaves, "Pfft, pfft", the grass was extremely bitter, "It's disgusting!", Ma Liuji exclaimed, and swallowed a mouthful of saliva mixed with the juice of the grass. Suddenly, he felt his body relax completely, and he couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. Then, he snatched another blade from Xiao Ke's mouth, leaving Xiao Ke looking at him with a tilted head, as if watching an idiot.

  This time he savored it slowly, the entrance was still so bitter and astringent, but during the chewing process, he gradually felt extremely sweet, until finally, his mouth was full of fragrance.

  Professor Zhou Tao, who was standing nearby, caught a whiff of the fragrance and walked over. He pulled out one of the plants from the ground and examined it for a long time before exclaiming in surprise: "This is 'Gouhuicao'! I never knew such a divine herb existed in this world?"

  Malacca asked hastily, and Professor Zhou Tao said: "In ancient China, apart from the book 'Ben Cao Gang Mu' that records medicinal plants, there is another strange book called 'Fei Cao Gang Mu'..."

  Liu Yi walked over from a distance, dragging two variant white carp: "Not Gramineae? Never even heard of it!"

  Professor Zhou stroked his beard and said, "It's normal if you haven't heard of it. This book was discovered by me when I was doing field research in a mountain cave, where it was carved on the stone wall. The plants recorded inside are not ordinary grasses, but rather mythical plants from legends, such as the Ginseng Fruit from Journey to the West. There aren't many species recorded, only eighty kinds. This grass in front of us is called 'Qu Chu Cao', and according to the text, it has a stem like a thumb, eight leaves, and resembles a short sword. Take a look, is that right?"

  Professor Zhou handed the grass to Liu Yi, who took it and examined it carefully. Indeed, as Professor Zhou had said, he asked curiously, "What's the use of this grass?"

  As soon as the words fell, Malacca sprang up and rushed into the dense grass, followed by a shocking and earth-shaking sound. Without asking, it was clear what he was doing, and then a foul smell wafted out.

  Professor Zhou nodded slightly and said, "Qu Chu Cao, as the name suggests, is to remove turbid Qi from the body. Long-term consumption can purify the body and mind. In Taoism, this herb is called Sheng Xian Cao, taking it can make one an immortal!"

  "Can't be that evil, right?" Liu Yi muttered to himself, though he didn't believe it, but still felt the grass was extraordinary, so he thought of taking some back as a specimen. Thinking this way, he pulled out a handful of grass and wove it into a rope, tying it around his waist.