Stone-in-the-Grass

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Chapter 27: Stone-in-the-Grass

Upon breaking through to mid Qi Refining, cultivators could awaken a special mental power known as divine sense.

An ordinary fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator's divine sense covered a radius of roughly one foot. At the fifth layer, this increased to three feet, and at the sixth layer, five feet.

As the saying went, within five feet, nothing escaped perception.

A sixth-layer Qi Refining cultivator using divine sense could dodge talisman bullets with bodily movements alone.

As for late Qi Refining cultivators, the reach of their divine sense underwent a transformation according to their talent. The greater their talent, the broader its range.

An ordinary seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivator's divine sense covered a radius of roughly ten feet, increasing to twenty feet at the eighth layer and thirty feet at the ninth.

Yet under the combined enhancement of the Nine-Breath Qi Ingestion divine ability and the Nine-Breath Chaos Treasure, Chen Beiwu's divine sense had undergone a terrifying qualitative transformation. Its range far surpassed that of cultivators at his level, reaching a full fifty feet.

It was no exaggeration to say that, in range and strength of divine sense alone, even Cheng Yun, a ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, fell short of Chen Beiwu. But that was not the most frightening part.

Perhaps because Nine-Breath Chaos was of such a high level that it could shroud the heavens and capture fortune, the divine sense Chen Beiwu had nurtured also possessed an absurd trait: Concealment. His perception was extraordinarily covert, almost impossible for cultivators at his level to detect.

You dared run a honey trap right under my divine sense. If you don't die, who should? Chen Beiwu shook his head speechlessly, casually picked up the storage bags from the ground, and turned toward the thick smoke.

Within the smoke and dust, a female corpse missing an arm had been stripped of flesh and blood, revealing a nail flecked with traces of blood.

What a vicious artifact! Chen Beiwu's pupils contracted slightly.

With his discernment, he could naturally tell that Lin Yu had not died from Iron Egg's ambush, but from the backlash of her own artifact.

"Seal!"

Without hesitation, Chen Beiwu applied an Artifact-Sealing Talisman and carefully put away the Soul-Seizing Nail.

This artifact was sinister. Until he understood exactly how to use it, he would not employ it lightly.

"Time to go, Iron Egg."

After briefly clearing away the traces of battle, Chen Beiwu immediately departed using Wind Manipulation, lest he run into other cultivators.

Inside a rocky cave dozens of miles from the battlefield, Chen Beiwu cut off a large chunk of Illusion Weasel Wolf meat and handed it to the impatient Iron Egg, then began sorting through his spoils.

These bandit cultivators were so poor! Chen Beiwu shook the storage bags, finding it rather hard to understand.

People always said murder and arson earned you a golden belt. Why had these bandit cultivators carried so few spirit stones? Their three storage bags contained only ninety-seven low-grade spirit stones altogether-not even a hundred.

There was, however, a heap of worn and broken talismans and artifacts, bottles and jars of unknown contents, assorted books and jade slips, and miscellaneous scraps of gold and silver.

After sorting out some useful talismans and artifacts, Chen Beiwu turned his attention to the labels on the pills.

Well, they were a jumble of demonic scribbles. He could not recognize a single character.

But that did not matter. Even if Chen Beiwu could read, he would never take pills of such dubious origin.

He was no alchemist. He could neither determine how much pill toxin they contained nor tell whether anyone had added poison.

Unless those bottles and jars contained particularly valuable pills worth catching lab rats to experiment on.

There's no rushing this after all. I still need to learn to read first. Chen Beiwu shook his head and took out a jade slip to study.

He rode the wind along precipitous mountain walls, gliding through swirling clouds and mist.

Relying on his divine sense to cross mountain after mountain, Chen Beiwu reached a steep cliff and stopped, a flicker of surprise appearing on his face.

He had discovered a rare spirit medicine called Stone-in-the-Grass.

Stone-in-the-Grass was a second-tier spirit medicine that grew in cracks between rocks. Its roots resembled clusters of translucent crystals, and its leaves were only the size of copper coins.

The fronts of its leaves bore the patina of ancient bronze, while their backs were covered in white lotus patterns, making it easy to identify.

;psme&;psme&

Foundation Establishment cultivators could consume it to stabilize their foundations, strengthen their meridians, and improve the efficiency of body tempering.

Qi Refining cultivators who ate it, however, might be too weak to withstand its nourishment, causing parts of their meridians and dantians to petrify.

Moreover, this spirit medicine was adept at concealing its aura. Once mature, it would split apart, scatter its seeds, and disappear, without producing any unusual phenomena or fragrance. As a result, it was exceedingly rare.

On the Immortal Alliance Official Website, its price was even higher than that of bloodface vine. It could fetch at least six hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Chen Beiwu had never expected such good luck-to encounter a second-tier spirit medicine while simply traveling.

Back then, he had spent seven days and nights sightseeing at the Immortal Alliance's Purple Radish Mountain without encountering a single second-tier spirit medicine. Every one he could see was inside a Nature Reserve designated by the Immortal Alliance.

Those spirit medicines were entirely within sight but beyond reach. Almost nobody dared entertain designs on them.

Cultivators bold enough to sneak in and gather them were practically begging for a sentence. They would end up wearing silver bracelets and enjoying a life of digging in the mines.

This young girl has pretty good luck, finding a spirit herb like this.

Following Chen Beiwu's gaze, a young girl in hemp clothing and straw sandals stood on the dark rock face.

She carried a bamboo basket on her back and held an herb shovel, carefully tapping at the crack between the rocks with a series of crisp sounds.

It was only because this herb-gathering girl was there that Chen Beiwu had discovered the Stone-in-the-Grass, hidden in the rock crevice beyond the detection of divine sense.

But fortune and misfortune relied on each other. A mere mountain girl could not bear the weight of such a spirit herb!

This herb is so pretty. It looks a lot like the Blue-Crystal Exotic Herb described in the book. Selling it should definitely cover Dad's medical fees.

At that thought, the herb-gathering girl took a deep breath and quickened her tapping against the rock.

The wild mountains were far too dangerous at night, so she needed to finish gathering herbs and descend before the hour of the rooster.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss!"

Just then, an unusual sound from her right sent a chill through the girl's heart.

She turned and saw a strange snake with a triangular head and copper-red eyes, flicking its forked tongue in warning.

A Five-Scarlet Snake! The girl's expression immediately darkened.

The Five-Scarlet Snake was notorious in these wild mountains for its deadly venom. So fierce was its poison that medicine could scarcely cure it.

Why was it called Five-Scarlet? As the name suggested, anyone bitten by this venomous snake would have blood surge upward, turning their face scarlet as blood, before finally bleeding from five orifices and dying.

I finally found an exotic herb. I can't run away!

Mo Li gritted her teeth, forcibly suppressed her fear, and drew a packet of powder from inside her clothing with her right hand.

Since she dared come into the mountains alone to gather herbs, she naturally had means of protecting herself. Otherwise, the village's thugs and scoundrels would have set their sights on her long ago.

When Mo Li still refused to retreat, a vicious gleam appeared in the Five-Scarlet Snake's eyes. It hissed, and its body became a streak of red light darting through the air.

"Get away from me!"

Mo Li threw the powder with all her strength, striking the jaws of the snake lunging straight at her.

It still isn't enough?

Seeing that the snake's jaws continued toward her without losing momentum, a trace of despair appeared in Mo Li's eyes.

She squeezed her eyes shut in fear and quietly waited for death.

How strange. Why doesn't it hurt at all?

Mo Li cautiously opened her eyes. What greeted her was not the foul-smelling Five-Scarlet Snake, but an unfamiliar face so handsome that words could scarcely describe it. She stared, utterly spellbound.

(End of chapter)