Xiao Yi Xian of Qingshan Town

Xiao Yan followed several mercenaries into the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.

The rich scent of medicinal herbs greeted him, and the customers at the counter had already cleared a path. A young woman in a pale white dress was hurrying out from the back room.

She had delicate, lovely features, with a light green sash tied around her waist and a herb sieve still in her hand.

"Put him over here. Slowly."

She pointed to the long couch beside the window, then handed the sieve to an assistant and bent down to examine the injured man.

"Xiao Yi Xian, hurry and take a look! Old Zhou was bitten by a snake. He could still talk a moment ago, but now he won't respond no matter how much we call him!"

"When was he bitten?"

"A little over an hour ago. We wanted to find some herbs nearby, but he kept getting worse, so we had to hurry back with him."

Xiao Yi Xian asked no more questions and cut open the cloth wrapped around the injured man's leg.

Two tiny fang marks came into view.

The flesh around the wound had already swollen, and a blue-black discoloration was spreading up his calf. Some dark red plant juice clung to the surrounding skin.

Her gaze sharpened, and she looked up at the mercenary.

"What did you put on him?"

"Some vine leaves we pulled from the woods. We crushed them and applied them, thinking we could stop the bleeding first..."

"Was it a dark red vine with fine thorns along the edges of its leaves?"

When he nodded, Xiao Yi Xian immediately frowned.

"That was blood-eroding vine. A little contact normally might not cause any trouble, but he was poisoned by a Blue-Scaled Snake. Applying that would only make the poison act faster."

The mercenary went pale.

"I... I didn't know..."

"Don't panic yet. Bring a basin of clean water and some clean cloth."

Xiao Yi Xian spoke quickly, but her hands remained steady.

She first cleaned the plant juice from around the wound, then treated it with medicinal powder before asking the assistant to fetch several herbs.

Standing behind the crowd, Xiao Yan watched for a while and had already formed an opinion.

She had identified the poison accurately and hadn't panicked while treating it.

But the poison had already taken hold deep inside the injured man. Waiting for the herbs to finish simmering might take too long.

Sure enough, Xiao Yi Xian glanced at the injured man's increasingly blue lips and turned to urge:

"Bring two extra stalks of dew-condensing grass. Pick mature ones!"

"All we have left are the ones we just dried!"

The assistant answered in a rush.

Xiao Yi Xian pressed her lips together and was about to speak when someone beside her suddenly chimed in.

"I have some dew-condensing grass."

She turned and saw a youth with a longsword on his back already approaching.

A wooden box rested in his palm. Its lid was open, revealing two pale blue-green herbs with their roots intact.

A faint jade-like sheen glimmered along the edges of their leaves.

Xiao Yi Xian's eyes lit up.

"These are mature enough!"

But Xiao Yan didn't immediately hand the herbs to the assistant. Instead, he looked at her.

"You plan to suppress the snake venom with dew-condensing grass, then use the other herbs to neutralize the blood-eroding vine's poison?"

"Yes. But we need to hurry. He won't last much longer."

"I can help extract the medicinal liquid. You keep tending to his wound."

Xiao Yi Xian was slightly taken aback.

"You're an Alchemist?"

Xiao Yan smiled and set the wooden box aside.

"I do know how to prepare a few medicinal liquids."

Seeing that he wasn't joking, Xiao Yi Xian wasted no more time. She quickly picked out the necessary herbs and explained her intended treatment.

After listening, Xiao Yan nodded.

The next instant, a wisp of flame rose from his palm.

Several startled murmurs immediately sounded around them.

Xiao Yi Xian stared for a moment as well, then withdrew her gaze and bent down to hold the injured man steady, letting nothing else distract her.

The herbs slowly curled within the flames.

Xiao Yan moved his fingertips slightly, removing the impurities one by one until only several globules of differently colored medicinal liquid remained.

With his current abilities, extracting these ordinary herbs was naturally no challenge.

A moment later, the globules blended together in sequence, finally becoming just under half a bottle of clear medicine.

"Done."

Xiao Yi Xian accepted the jade bottle and checked its contents before helping the injured man sit up and slowly drink the medicine.

Not long after swallowing it, the injured man began coughing.

He spat out a mouthful of murky blood with a foul, bloody odor, and his tightly shut eyes finally opened a crack.

"Water..."

Hearing that hoarse plea, the mercenary waiting beside him nearly jumped.

"He's awake! Old Zhou's awake!"

"Don't crowd around him. Give him some air."

Xiao Yi Xian let out a soft breath of relief and finished bandaging the wound.

"The poison hasn't been completely cleared yet. He needs to stay here for observation. Don't go into the mountains over the next few days, either. Let the wound heal first."

The mercenaries nodded repeatedly, their gazes full of gratitude as they looked at her and Xiao Yan.

"Thank you both! How much does the medicine cost? We'll pool the money right now!"

Xiao Yan waved a hand.

"Look after him first. Don't crowd him so much that he faints again right after waking up."

They hurriedly moved aside, and laughter finally brought some life to the previously gloomy medicine shop.

It took a little while to get the injured man settled.

Xiao Yi Xian washed her hands and came over to Xiao Yan with a cup of tea.

"Thank you for your help just now."

"You'd already identified the poison and knew how to cure it. I just helped save a little time."

Xiao Yan accepted the cup and lowered his head to take a sip.

"By the way, my name is Xiao Yan."

"Xiao Yi Xian."

After introducing herself, the young woman saw him looking over and smiled softly.

"That's what everyone in town calls me. You can call me that too."

Xiao Yan nodded without asking further.

As his gaze passed over her, however, he couldn't help recalling that familiar name.

The woeful poison body.

The young woman before him was still happy over saving a mercenary. None of the things she had experienced in the original story had happened yet.

There were some things it wasn't appropriate to bring up rashly right now.

"You're not from Qingshan Town, are you?"

Xiao Yi Xian's voice brought him back from his thoughts.

"I only arrived today. I meant to buy some herbs, but before I even got a proper look at the sign, I'd already followed the people carrying the stretcher inside."

At that, Xiao Yi Xian's smile deepened.

"Then we were lucky."

She put away the herbs left over from earlier, then asked, "Are you planning to head into the mountains?"

"I'll look for some herbs along the way, then go to Stone Desert City to see my two older brothers."

Xiao Yan took a list of herbs from his Storage Ring and handed it over.

"Can I find these nearby?"

Xiao Yi Xian took it and glanced through it, then pointed to two entries.

"The shop has these two. The blue-pattern root you listed grows in the mountains too, but people often mix it with another root that has no medicinal properties when selling it. Pay attention to the cut surface when you buy it."

As she spoke, she fetched two short pieces of root from beside the counter and placed them together for him to examine.

Xiao Yan studied them carefully for a moment, then nodded.

"I really haven't seen this one before."

"You know how to refine medicine, but you can still mistake herbs?"

"Knowing how to refine medicine doesn't mean I've seen every blade of grass under the heavens."

Xiao Yan smiled. "If I really knew them all, I wouldn't need to ask you."

Xiao Yi Xian was amused by his answer and pointed out several more things that were easy to confuse.

The two stood beside the medicine cabinet, chatting back and forth, and got along quite well.

When Xiao Yan asked where the local herbs grew, Xiao Yi Xian explained in considerable detail. When questions arose about preserving certain medicinal properties, Xiao Yan held nothing back either.

By the time the assistant had gathered all the herbs on the list that were in stock, the two had become much more familiar with each other.

"You're still missing purple-leaf orchid."

Xiao Yi Xian returned the list to him and thought for a moment.

"There's a cliff east of town. I saw a few plants there several days ago, but the path is difficult, so most herb gatherers don't want to go there."

"A cliff?"

Xiao Yan's hand paused slightly as he took the list.

The Magical Beast Mountain Range, a cliff, Xiao Yi Xian gathering herbs...

Putting those things together immediately reminded him of the treasure cave from the original story.

But remembering that such an opportunity existed didn't mean he knew exactly which rock face concealed the cave.

He would have to go and look first.

Seeing him lost in thought, Xiao Yi Xian reminded him:

"Magical Beasts often appear there. If you don't know the mountain paths, you'd better go with a herb-gathering party."

Xiao Yan put away the list and smiled. "Are you planning to go again soon?"

"Tomorrow. There are some herbs I need to replenish anyway."

"Then can you bring me along?"

Xiao Yi Xian glanced at the longsword on his back, then recalled his skill at extracting medicinal liquid earlier. A hint of amusement appeared in her eyes.

"Sure. But once we're in the mountains, you have to follow my directions."

"No problem. If we really run into a Magical Beast, I'll hold it off."

The young woman nodded softly.

"Then it's settled. See you at the town entrance first thing tomorrow."

P.S. Very few people read this book. It earns only a few yuan a day—not even enough to cover the electricity bill. But I'll keep writing it; I just can't put too much thought into it. Please read it for a bit of fun, and don't expect too much from me!!!!