To the southwest of Mengyin City lay the rolling stretches of Malian Mountain. It was midsummer, and the mountain was lush and green.
A boy with a bamboo basket on his back was climbing Malian Mountain.
If I want to neutralize the residual poison in her body quickly without leaving any aftereffects, I have no choice but to fight poison with poison. Malian Mountain is lush with plants, so there must be plenty of poisonous insects.
It was Zhang He. He had hurried straight to Malian Mountain to find an antidote for his mother. Mother Zhang was frail, and if the poison in her body was not neutralized soon, it would leave lasting damage.
At last, Zhang He reached the halfway point. After getting his bearings, he headed toward the shady side of the mountain. In summer, the mountains swarmed with mosquitoes and insects. He had set off in such a hurry that he had not had time to prepare properly, and now his head was covered in bites. His arms and other exposed skin were even scratched by sharp, thorny vines, leaving streaks of red. Whenever sweat trickled over them, the bites and scratches itched and stung.
"Mm, this spot is flat, and it's on the shady side of the mountain, where the yin energy is strong. This is the place." Zhang He set down his basket. A clattering sound came from inside.
He cleared away the ground in front of him, smoothing it out, then took a live rooster and a sharp knife from the basket. With a swift stroke, he slit the rooster's throat and splashed its blood around the flat patch of ground, drawing a circle with a small opening.
Next, he took out a clay pot and poured out some pale yellow powder. He drew another circle beside the chicken blood. He had bought the ingredients in the city and prepared the mixture himself. He had not expected to find such a wealth of herbs here, but the ones he needed had to be gathered in the mountains.
My cultivation may be gone, but I still have my knowledge. I haven't used this Poison Summoning Technique in ages, and I'm a little rusty. I wonder if it'll still work.
The Poison Summoning Technique was one of the basic introductory lessons Zhang He had learned when studying poison arts at the Tang Sect. He had not used it in a long time, and now that he was picking it up again, it felt unfamiliar.
Zhang He squatted inside the circle, lit a torch, and slowly heated the pale yellow powder. Yellow smoke spread through the air, bringing with it a rank stench that was almost nauseating.
As he heated it, Zhang He kept an eye on his surroundings.
The yellow smoke was heavy and stayed together as it slowly drifted into the damp undergrowth.
A rustling sound came from the plants all around him.
"Good, it still works!" Zhang He couldn't help feeling delighted. Just then, he saw poisonous insects of every color crawling toward him from all directions.
Anyone else would have been horrified at the sight of so many poisonous insects, but Zhang He found them strangely familiar.
Zhang He took out the clay pot he had prepared earlier and used a long pair of chopsticks to pick up the insects, dropping them in one by one. He selected only five kinds of poisonous insects and rejected all the rest.
Only when the pot was completely full did Zhang He withdraw his spiritual sense. Without his summons, the insects scattered at once.
"I've gathered the five elemental poisonous insects. The rest is easy. I brought the supplementary herbs too, so I can refine the Five Poison Beads right away!"
Zhang He sealed the pot and held a torch beneath it, heating it directly.
"Crackle, crackle!"
A violent commotion came from inside. The poisonous insects had sensed danger and were struggling.
A moment later, the insects stopped struggling. After waiting a little longer, Zhang He opened the pot. The insects had all vanished, replaced by a layer of blackish-red powder that gave off a strange fragrance.
Zhang He nodded with satisfaction and took several prepared herbs from his basket. He had bought some in the city and picked others along the way up the mountain. He crushed the herbs, mixed them with the blackish-red powder in the pot, then kneaded the mixture into blackish-red beads about the size of soybeans. A strange fragrance wafted from them.
These were the Five Poison Beads Zhang He had set out to make. They had a mild toxicity, but if swallowed, they would not harm the body and would soon be expelled. If they encountered other toxins, they could wrap around them and carry them out of the body.
Fight poison with poison: the Five Poison Beads were an antidote.
"I thought it would take at least two or three days to gather the poisonous insects and make the Five Poison Beads. I never expected there to be so many here. I got them done in a single day!" Zhang He packed everything into his basket. It held several other herbs for different purposes as well.
Zhang He headed down the mountain.
On the way, Zhang He was soon astonished.
"The herbs here are incredibly abundant..."
On the way up, Zhang He had been focused on hunting poisonous insects and refining the Five Poison Beads, so he had paid no attention to the roadside. Now that he had finished refining them and was in high spirits, he had time to admire the scenery on his way down—and immediately noticed something that left him stunned.
At first, he found a few medicinal herbs and thought he had struck it rich. But as he continued down the mountain, he found many more useful herbs growing freely among the mountain plants, as common as weeds.
After picking a great many herbs, Zhang He's eyes lit up.
"These are all indispensable ingredients for making a low-grade Body-Tempering Potion. I only need to find a few more supplementary herbs, and I'll be able to brew it!"
Zhang He slowed his descent. He deliberately took a few detours, searching for herbs he could use along the way. By the time he reached the foot of the mountain, evening was approaching and the sun had already set.
As soon as he turned a corner, he heard someone up ahead.
"Young man, could you please come help me? My young master has suddenly fallen ill, and the carriage has broken down. Please help me carry him back. I'll reward you handsomely."
A tearful voice suddenly came from up ahead. A middle-aged man stood beside a luxurious carriage that had tipped over at the roadside. One of its wheels had come off, and a young man in brocade lay unconscious on the ground. The man kept watch over him, not daring to leave his side.
"Suddenly fallen ill?" Zhang He walked over and was taken aback to see that the young man's face had turned black and his breath reeked of decay. His symptoms were just like his mother's when she fell ill.
Could he have been bitten by one of those strange poisonous insects? Zhang He's heart tightened. He hurriedly bent down and saw a bite mark on the back of the young man's hand. Sure enough!
"Your young master was bitten by a poisonous insect." Zhang He's thoughts stirred. He wasn't sure how effective the Five Poison Beads he had just made would be, so he might as well test them on this fellow.
"A poisonous insect?" The chubby middle-aged servant's eyes lit up. He slapped his thigh and cried, "It really does seem that way! My young master was fine a moment ago, then suddenly cried out in pain. Young man, please help me carry him back. We'll definitely reward you handsomely."
"Mengyin City is over thirty li away. If we carry him back, your young master will be dead long before we get there." Zhang He shot back. He took a few of the freshly made Five Poison Beads from his basket. "These pills can cure a hundred poisons. Give him one and see how he does. He should show a reaction in about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea."
Seeing the middle-aged man hesitate, Zhang He said nothing. He reached out, took the few beads back, and said coldly, "You don't know a good thing when you see it!"
The middle-aged man panicked. He hurriedly grabbed Zhang He and put on a smile. "Young man, how many of these pills should he take?"
Zhang He's expression softened a little. He couldn't be bothered to waste words with the man. "One at a time. If there's no reaction after half a cup of tea, give him another."
The middle-aged man knew there was no time to hesitate. With no other choice, he decided to try the remedy, giving the young man one bead.
Zhang He watched from the side. Just as he had expected, a moment later, a rumbling sound came from the young man's stomach. Before their eyes, the blackness drained rapidly from his face, which grew rosy again. His eyelids began to twitch, as though he were about to open them, while the rumbling in his stomach grew louder and louder.
"Once he wakes up and has a bowel movement, he'll feel much better. If he still feels unwell, give him another one." Zhang He knew the Five Poison Bead had worked, so he didn't linger. He hurried toward the city.
The middle-aged man shouted after him, but Zhang He ignored him. The servant was too busy looking after the young man to do anything else, and could only watch Zhang He disappear into the distance.
"I let our lifesaving benefactor leave! When the young master wakes up, he'll definitely punish me!" The middle-aged man looked utterly miserable.
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