By the time he returned to the stone cave, the sky had already darkened somewhat.
The cave was sparsely furnished, with a stone bed and a stone table.
Xu Changqing sat beside the stone bed, then began sorting through Jiang Yuan's belongings one by one.
The first was a roll of beast hide.
He unfolded it. Various spirit plants had been sketched upon it in charcoal, with brief notes written beside them.
This was the Records of a Hundred Herbs Jiang Yuan had drawn himself, documenting his journey of following in the Azure Emperor's footsteps and tasting a hundred herbs.
For instance, Crow Poison Grass had black veins on the underside of its leaves. Its sap contained a virulent poison; if consumed by mistake, the poison would strike straight at the heart meridians.
Silverthread Grass had silver veins on the undersides of its leaves, and its sap could neutralize Crow Poison Grass poison.
Beside every spirit plant he had tasted, Jiang Yuan had noted its color, scent, growing environment, and the reactions after consumption.
Some spirit plants had a red cross drawn beside them, along with dangerous warnings such as "stomach pain for three days," "foaming at the mouth," and "nearly went blind."
These... were records bought with his life.
Xu Changqing read through the Records of a Hundred Herbs from beginning to end. At present, it recorded a total of thirty-seven spirit plants.
Though it was still far from the goal of a hundred kinds.
He had to admit, however, that such spirit deserved encouragement and admiration.
He closed the beast hide and placed it in the most conspicuous spot on the stone table.
Then he picked up another item.
It was a bamboo slip.
The words on the bamboo slip had been carved with a knife, each stroke