Slaying Snakes with Poison, Harvesting Moon Shadow Mushrooms

After struggling for a few moments, the Datura Snake adapted to the agony of its blinded eye. It opened its remaining eye, glaring at Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng with a ferocious, murderous gaze.

"It seems we must decide who lives and dies here today! Xiao Feng, can you still hold on?"

Looking at the bloodthirsty Datura Snake and the already poisoned Xiao Feng, Xiao Qing realized there was no running away. Only by finishing off the foul serpent before them could they survive.

"Awoo!"

Xiao Feng responded to Xiao Qing, brimming with fighting spirit.

Before the words had even faded, the Datura Snake's massive tail whipped out like a steel lash. Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng retreated rapidly, barely dodging the strike.

Under Xiao Feng's control, the Wind Shadow lunged toward the snake's head, attacking its body frantically.

Having lost its precision, the Datura Snake relied solely on scent and sound, yet it nearly crushed the Wind Shadow in a single bite.

Xiao Qing reached into his cloth bag and pulled out the oil-paper-wrapped poison packets. The scales of the Datura Snake were too tough for him to pierce, but the lining of its mouth was a weak point.

The prerequisite was getting the poison into its maw; he needed that split second when the snake opened its mouth wide.

The opportunity arrived. The Datura Snake lunged and missed again, roaring at Xiao Feng with its mouth agape in fury.

In that very second, Xiao Qing's slingshot was pulled to its limit. Three poison packets flew out in a triangular formation, landing precisely inside the gaping, unclosed maw.

Direct hit!

The moment the poison entered its mouth, the injured beast erupted into a final frenzy. Its body swept across the ground like a fallen tree, and the heavily poisoned Xiao Feng could no longer evade the attack.

Xiao Qing shoved Xiao Feng aside, but he was struck in the side, sent flying through the air until he slammed into a tree.

His ribs emitted an ominous, brittle crack, and the searing pain nearly caused him to black out.

Xiao Qing gritted his teeth and scrambled up, pulling out the Prism Ball and aiming it at Xiao Feng. A surge of light emerged, and Xiao Feng's form turned into a stream of light, diving into the sphere.

Although the Prism Ball could not cure the poison, it could sustain Xiao Feng's final breath, allowing him to hold on until Xiao Qing could concoct an antidote.

Xiao Qing leaned against the tree trunk to stand; now, he was the only one left to face the Datura Snake.

The Datura Snake raised its head, its lone eye locking onto Xiao Qing.

With Xiao Feng no longer there to distract it, all of its killing intent was focused on this human.

There was still some time before the poison took effect, and Xiao Qing needed to stall. Fortunately, he could manifest the Wind Shadow five times in quick succession.

The Wind Shadow appeared to his left. The Datura Snake, blinded by bloodlust, ignored it entirely; seeing the shadow remain still, it lunged forward directly.

Xiao Qing seized the chance to dash to the right, but the snake's tail anticipated his path. He was forced to stop abruptly, his feet gouging a shallow pit into the rotting leaves.

The moment the Wind Shadow was crushed, Xiao Qing felt his body lighten, his speed increasing dramatically.

Enough!

Although the speed buffs could not stack, the fifty percent increase for five minutes was enough for Xiao Qing to dance around the Datura Snake until the poison took hold.

Time stretched thin between every lunge and evasion.

Xiao Qing began to count: he counted his own heartbeats, the intervals between the snake's attacks, and the time remaining for the poison to act.

The notes said it would take thirty breaths, but at least fifty had passed by now.

Why hadn't this Datura Snake collapsed yet?

Suddenly, the Datura Snake's movements faltered. It began to convulse violently, its body twisting and rolling, crushing a patch of shrubs. Xiao Qing leaped onto a tree branch and saw the snake's mouth festering; the poison was working, but it was corroding rather than paralyzing.

In its death throes, the Datura Snake attempted to spray one final jet of venom at Xiao Qing.

But Xiao Qing had been monitoring its movements the entire time. The moment he saw the snake stir, he lunged backward to put distance between them.

As the venom hit the ground with a sizzling hiss, the Datura Snake's life reached its end.

Xiao Qing's poison had long since corroded most of its internal organs; the only reason it had been able to continue attacking was the sheer force of its will to kill him.

As the Datura Snake died, Xiao Qing sensed new experience points flowing into the Prism Ball.

Xiao Qing slid down from the tree, the agonizing pain in his ribs forcing him to his knees upon landing.

He forced himself to walk to the snake's carcass, used his dagger to dissect the head, and extracted the venom sac—a vital component for the antidote.

Then, he turned and ran deep into the forest. There was a stream there; he needed to wash his wounds and think.

The stream water was bone-chillingly cold.

Xiao Qing submerged his face in the water, forcing himself to stay clear-headed, then pulled out his notebook and flipped to the page regarding the Datura Snake.

"Datura Snake venom: curable within twelve hours. Requires three items: first, the snake's venom sac, dried and ground into powder; second, the Moon Shadow Mushroom, ground together with the venom powder; third..."

The remaining ingredients were common; not only were they in his bag, but Xiao Qing also knew where to forage for them.

Only this Moon Shadow Mushroom was missing from his bag, and in all his time in the Star Dou Forest, Xiao Qing had never even seen one.

Fortunately, the notebook contained records of the Moon Shadow Mushroom's appearance and growth habits, or Xiao Qing would truly be lost in the dark.

"The Moon Shadow Mushroom grows in dark, damp pits. Its cap is blue-white and translucent, and its gills emit a faint glow in the dark. When mature, the Moon Shadow Mushroom releases a special scent to attract spirit beasts to spread its spores."

"When harvesting, one must leave one-third of the root; do not harvest the whole thing. The roots of the Moon Shadow Mushroom are highly toxic, and taking too much will affect the efficacy of the antidote."

Following the description in the notes, Xiao Qing began to search along the stream for any potential deep pits.

On the first day, he scoured every depression along the lower reaches of the stream.

He encountered three Venom-Fang Leopards and was forced to take a detour; he ran into a patch of Man-Eating Vine and had to burn two of his garments just to escape.

Seeing that his search downstream yielded no results, Xiao Qing immediately turned back to search upstream.

Xiao Qing discovered a pit beneath a cliff and slid down in excitement, only to find common Fluorescent Mushrooms.

As Xiao Qing climbed back to the surface in disappointment, the weather turned against him, and it began to rain.

Xiao Qing could not dodge in time; he was drenched in the rain for half an hour, caught a chill, and developed a fever.

Fortunately, Xiao Qing carried medicine with him, which he swallowed down with the water from his canteen.

By the next morning, the sky had cleared and Xiao Qing's fever had broken, though the continuous trekking and the sudden illness left his body feeling quite weak.

Chewing on bitter Refreshing Grass, Xiao Qing searched the area around the pit for new, deeper craters.

The habitat of the Fluorescent Mushroom was similar to that of the Moon Shadow Mushroom; if he could find Fluorescent Mushrooms here, he would surely find Moon Shadow Mushrooms nearby!

At high noon, while eating some dried meat, Xiao Qing suddenly caught a peculiar scent—it smelled just like the mint-flavored sparkling water he had drunk in his past life.

Could it be the Moon Shadow Mushroom!

Xiao Qing could no longer be bothered with his meal; following the scent, he found a massive pit obscured by weeds nearly two meters tall.

Pushing aside the weeds, Xiao Qing gazed into the deep pit.

The pit was three zhang deep with shallow water pooled at the bottom, and in the shaded area of the pit wall, a faint glow was flickering.

It was the Moon Shadow Mushroom! Not just one, but a small cluster, with six or seven caps huddled together.

Xiao Qing's heart raced; he had finally found them! With the Moon Shadow Mushrooms, he could concoct the antidote.

He uncoiled his rope, secured it to a Hemlock tree, tied the other end around his waist, and slowly descended.

Because the canopy overhead blocked the sky, the light at the bottom of the pit was very dim.

Fortunately, Xiao Qing carried a torch; relying on its light, he stepped onto the damp soil and walked slowly toward the Moon Shadow Mushrooms.

Just as he was carefully cutting the mushroom stalks, ensuring he left one-third behind, the torchlight caught something in his peripheral vision on the other side of the pit.

It was a cluster of plants with seven leaves spread out like a fan, each leaf speckled with emerald-green phosphorescent spots, and in the center of the foliage stood a flower stalk topped with an unopened bud.

Green Phosphorus Seven-Leaf Flower.

Xiao Qing harvested three Moon Shadow Mushrooms, wrapped them in oil paper, placed them in his cloth bag, waded through the shallow water at the bottom of the pit, and approached the strange flower.