"So you're saying your people from the Immortal Herb Sect took those three Great Jin commoners back to Western Liang on the ferry through the Underground River Ghost Cave?"
"Hmph! They left yesterday!"
Lü Bufan crouched beside the purple-robed woman, whom Simen Baihua had trussed up tightly with a strange length of beast sinew, and sighed...
Just like that, Liuzi was gone, carried off in utter confusion as a medicine slave by some Immortal Herb Sect from the Western Liang Kingdom in the Western Regions.
"Will you get him killed?"
The little girl had also driven three long golden needles into the purple-robed woman's back, seemingly another means of using the Cultivation-Sealing Art.
Enduring the pain, the purple-robed woman sneered. "They're just a few ordinary mortals. As long as they behave, who would bother killing them? What, is one of them your friend?"
Lü Bufan nodded.
"You're something of a cultivator yourself. Why do you care so much about an ordinary mortal?"
Lü Bufan shook his head. "Does cultivating and becoming a Great Cultivator or a Great Martial Artist mean you're no longer mortal?"
"Absurd! Cultivation means severing your mortal roots and cutting the threads of karma, seeking immortality and great freedom! Once you set foot on the path of cultivation, there's no turning back. How could you still count as mortal?"
Lü Bufan could offer no reasoned argument. He simply fell silent.
The purple-robed woman gritted her teeth and looked at the big black dog still getting high on the ground some distance away, and at the little girl crouching cautiously beside him, holding a lizard as she studied him closely...
The purple-robed woman asked quietly, "What's the story behind that black dog of yours? Why didn't eating the Folded-Ear Mushroom King poison him to death? And... why does he look like he's having the time of his life?"
Lü Bufan had already told this lie once, so this time it rolled right off his tongue... "Big Black is very mysterious. He came down from Two-World Mountain! I don't know the details either... Anyway, don't provoke him! If he goes berserk, we'll all die!"
"What? Two-World Mountain! You're the one who's lost his mind... Anything that can come out of the Wild Spirit Land is... is... Your sect dared take in a mighty demonic beast from the Wild Spirit Land?"
Lü Bufan nodded. "The sect didn't dare. That's why they threw us all out... Big Black just likes wandering around with me."
The purple-robed woman froze, then said quietly, "You're lucky to be alive... Sooner or later, the Immortal Sect and Guardian City will find out. When that happens... Heh, boy... There's no grudge between us, and I wouldn't dare touch this little brat now. How about letting me go?"
"What's in it for me?"
"I..."
The purple-robed woman studied the dull-looking teenage boy. Guessing that even seduction might not work on him, she cut straight to the point. "That friend of yours who went to Western Liang with my fellow disciples-how about I help send him back?"
Lü Bufan lowered his head and thought...
Having Liuzi back would certainly be best, but did he have anywhere Liuzi could live in peace? Ask Master Huang Jiu to settle him somewhere... Send him to that Martial Artist Sect a thousand miles away?
Back to the village...
The village wasn't peaceful either. Who knew when immortals might clash and crush him and Liuzi to death with a single sneeze...
The purple-robed woman seemed to see his dilemma and said softly, "Originally... we couldn't have cared less about three mortals lying at the valley entrance waiting to die! But that little fellow you mentioned, Liuzi, actually struggled up and bit a White Phosphorus Snake to death! That ruthless streak... my senior sister liked it very much."
"Weren't you taking them as medicine slaves?"
"That was because the little bastard said that if we were going to save them, we had to save all three, or he'd rather die than come with us! My senior sister only wanted to knock him down a peg..."
Lü Bufan suddenly looked quietly at the purple-robed woman before him and asked softly, "You mean your senior sister took a liking to Liuzi? Will she accept him as a disciple?"
"Yes. That boy has resentment and defiance in his heart! His temperament suits my senior sister... Actually, you don't need to worry about whether he lives or dies. Or rather, his life and death depend on his own choices. But I could tell... he was actually quite willing to leave with the Immortal Herb Sect and have a chance to learn some skills!"
Lü Bufan fell silent.
After a long while, Lü Bufan raised his head and told the purple-robed woman, "I can let you go, but..."
The purple-robed woman nodded. "Right now, I just want to get as far away from you and that dog as possible! Don't worry. I'll look after that little bastard when I return, but I won't breathe a word about today! After all, I don't want my sect knowing I tried to lay hands on this little brat in Great Jin..."
Lü Bufan suddenly smiled. "You were only trying to scare that little brat, weren't you?"
"...How did you know?"
Lü Bufan studied the purple-robed woman closely. "There was no killing intent coming from you then... I could feel it. Besides... you held back when you struck me! You definitely wouldn't have seriously injured me... So you're not that kind of bad person!"
"You couldn't feel a damn thing!"
"Don't worry! I'll persuade the little girl not to talk nonsense when she gets home. At least I'll stop her from running home to complain to her father..."
The purple-robed woman thrust out her ample chest. "I don't want my sect to know, but I'm not afraid of that heartless, faithless bastard finding out! Even if he knew, he wouldn't dare make a fuss... Hmph!"
Lü Bufan smiled...
Only now did he feel reassured.
Lü Bufan muttered with the little girl for ages. Whatever method he used, she came over with a stiff expression and made the purple-robed woman swallow a pill... Then she released the furious woman.
"Go on! Once you're back in Western Liang, remember to come find me for the antidote within three months. Otherwise... Hmph, your guts will rupture, your belly will rot, and your soul will decay until you die! Cruel, isn't it? Remember to bring presents... Lots of fun things and tasty treats! Then I'll spare you... Off you go!"
The purple-robed woman sat in meditation for a while to recover some of her cultivation, then snorted coldly, turned, and left.
But as she walked out of the cavern, the purple-robed woman glanced back at it with a strange expression...
Little brat! Your father personally fed me this harmless Soul-Nourishing Pill twenty years ago... And you dared trick me by calling it poison? Hmph, hmph... Then in a few months, I'll come knocking openly with presents in hand! Let's see how that wretched father of yours and the tigress at home explain this...
Still unaware that she had sparked a disastrous fire in her father Simen Jingye's own backyard, the little girl was pulling Lü Bufan over to crouch beside Big Black.
Nervously, the little girl extended a finger and gently poked Big Black's belly...
"Amazing! A hallucinogenic drug refined from a Folded-Ear Mushroom King works wonders even against seventh realm cultivators! Never mind eating it raw... I bet even a ninth realm Great Cultivator would end up half-dead and mad for half a lifetime!"
Lü Bufan leaned over to examine Big Black's expression and eyes. He felt the fellow was probably just enjoying the pleasure the Folded-Ear Mushroom King brought him...
"You said it yourself. Big Black might be a top-tier demonic beast from the Wild Spirit Land... Well... maybe he has extraordinary innate gifts."
"Mm... But supposedly, folded-ear mushrooms used to be called Nether Spring Laughter. They weren't originally spiritual medicines of the mortal world! At some unknown point, they started appearing in hidden underground caverns where traces of dragon qi remained."
"But immature folded-ear mushrooms aren't much use, and they attract all sorts of deadly venomous snake spirits that linger nearby... Their medicinal effects are obscure, and there aren't many secret formulas that can use them, so hardly anyone pays them much attention."
The little girl spoke with easy confidence, looking thoroughly learned.
Lü Bufan nodded. "How's that lizard of yours?"
The little girl sighed. "I still don't know how long it'll take to wake up... It inhaled quite a lot of the Folded-Ear Mushroom King's hallucinogenic poison gas. If it didn't already have a little illusion divine ability, it probably would've died in its dreams."
Big Black opened his mouth on the ground, and suddenly another blood-red mushroom with strange markings rolled onto his tongue!
The little girl cried out, "There's more! He's still eating them!"
Lü Bufan and the little girl immediately covered their mouths and noses, turned, and fled.
From a safe distance, the little girl used two medicinal pouches to cover both her and Lü Bufan's mouths and noses completely, then watched in horror as the big black dog curled his tongue around a deadly poisonous Folded-Ear Mushroom King...
Then he smacked it into his mouth and chewed it carefully!
Big Black's expression turned blissfully high again...
His eyes grew hazy, and even his soul seemed to tremble with pleasure!
"Oh my goodness! By the True Immortal of Spirit Beasts... He's... he's using Folded-Ear Mushroom Kings as mind-bending drugs to get high! He's... he's really... really so cool!"
Lü Bufan looked utterly blank. All he felt was that Big Black was making a disgrace of himself.
Lü Bufan couldn't be bothered with Big Black anymore. Go get high by yourself! Making a complete spectacle of yourself... Some mysterious expert you are! You're just a wastrel drifting through life in a drunken dream...
Lü Bufan craned his neck and peered down beside the great hole Big Black had punched through when he split the ground.
It was pitch-black... But Big Black really was impressive. The rocks turned up from the ground glowed with a lustrous sheen and were extraordinarily heavy when lifted!
They were the hardest stones Lü Bufan had ever seen in his life.
Lü Bufan turned to the little girl, who was still mesmerized by Big Black, and asked, "Could there be anything else good down there?"
Without turning her head, the little girl replied, "Probably not? A Folded-Ear Mushroom King is already a rare heavenly material and earthly treasure. It only grows deep underground where no one has ever set foot. There won't be anything else! Even if there were, it'd all have been poisoned to death..."
Lü Bufan asked doubtfully, "Couldn't there be some valuable treasure or something?"
"What? Gold and silver? Don't tell me you don't even know the rule that spirit treasures never emerge together? Two naturally formed treasures have never appeared in the same place!"
"What if there's a treasure that wasn't naturally formed?"
"Bullshit... If an expert had been here, would they have left behind that priceless Folded-Ear Mushroom King? That treasure is worth over ten thousand spirit stones!"
With a rough understanding of the value of spirit stones, Lü Bufan asked in astonishment, "Over ten thousand? You're saying this poisonous mushroom is worth over ten thousand spirit stones? The kind refined through immortal arts that the Immortal Sect uses for cultivation!"
"That's right!"
"He's already eaten five or six poisonous mushrooms in a row!!!"
"That's why your Big Black is so amazing!"
"Holy shit! He's not amazing... He's squandering a fortune!"
Fuming, Lü Bufan climbed down the hole, wearing the poison-warding medicinal pouch the little girl had given him over his face...
What if Big Black missed a poisonous mushroom? Over ten thousand spirit stones... hundreds of thousands of taels of gold! How many good things could that buy? How much grain could it get?
Lü Bufan landed softly in the second level of the cavern, then discovered to his surprise... that the surfaces of the stalactites here actually gave off a soft green glow!
Though dim, it allowed Lü Bufan, whose Martial Warrior cultivation was at the peak of the second realm, to just barely make out his surroundings.
The cavern was low, but deep and winding.
Holding his short sword, with several makeshift torches strapped to his back, Lü Bufan slowly walked deeper into the cavern alone.
Several hundred yards away, a stone platform as translucent as precious jade still held a trace of that faint fragrance from Big Black's mouth.
It was probably where the Folded-Ear Mushroom Kings had grown.
Pressing the medicinal pouch tightly over his mouth, Lü Bufan searched painstakingly around the natural stone platform. Sure enough, not so much as a hair remained.
Big Black had carried them all off in his mouth.
Unwilling to give up, Lü Bufan spent another long while examining the lustrous natural stone platform.
In the end, he discovered that it was actually joined to the entire cavern and was harder than the heavy short sword in his hand...
Big Black surely wouldn't spare this sort of thing a glance. Helpless, Lü Bufan continued farther inside to see whether he could find anything else worthwhile.