He did not know how much time had passed when the last of the coldwater grass juice was finally refined.
The fire poison inside Lu Ze was finally suppressed, turning into wisps of docile, dark red Qi that settled deep within his dantian.
He let out a long breath of stale air, tinged with a faint, fiery tang, and his stomach cramped.
He took out a piece of hard, dried meat and chewed and swallowed it bit by bit, washing it down with water dripping from a crack in the rock.
Only after putting something in his stomach did his trembling ease a little.
He leaned against the rock wall and watched the sky outside gradually darken.
"I can't stay here. The smell of blood is a death warrant in the Magical Beast Mountain Range."
Lu Ze braced his hands on his knees and stood.
He staggered along a hidden fissure beside the waterfall, heading deeper into the cliff.
Qingshan Town, early morning.
The autumn rain had just stopped, and a chill hung in the air.
Xiao Yi Xian stood behind the counter, holding a small silver knife as she prepared a freshly delivered stalk of Snake Egg Grass.
"The roots and stem of this herb are mildly poisonous. When preparing it, you must remove every trace of the white membrane beneath the skin, or it will cause unrelenting diarrhea when used as medicine. His knife work was extremely steady."
With a gentle flick of the silver knife against the root, the white membrane peeled away intact, thin as a cicada's wing.
Xiao Yi Xian continued preparing the herbs as Lao Li entered from the rear courtyard, carrying a bowl of freshly cooked mixed-grain porridge.
He kept his voice very low:
"Something's not right in town today."
Xiao Yi Xian did not hear him and simply placed the peeled Snake Egg Grass in a bamboo tray beside her.
"What do you mean?"
"The Wolf Head Mercenary Group sealed all three roads into and out of town first thing this morning."
Lao Li swallowed and wiped the wound on his forehead with his sleeve.
"They said an outsider stole something from their leader last night, and now they're checking everyone one by one."
"How are they checking?"
"They aren't stopping people house by house. Everyone coming or going has to roll up their sleeves so they can check for wounds."
"And," Lao Li leaned closer, "they've stationed men outside both clinics in town.
"When I went to dump the herb dregs in the back alley just now, I saw two men in blue uniforms prowling around the alley opposite us."
Xiao Yi Xian's silver knife paused slightly, its tip leaving a mark on the wooden board.
"Someone who's injured will definitely buy medicine."
She spoke softly, pushing the prepared Snake Egg Grass aside and picking up the next stalk.
"Right. The owner didn't come back last night. Could they..."
"The owner is in seclusion."
Xiao Yi Xian interrupted him, her tone mild. "Lao Li, the herb-gathering team won't be going into the mountains today. Have everyone stay in the rear courtyard. Don't go out."
Lao Li assented but did not leave, his gaze drifting toward the herb storehouse.
"If they-if they come to buy medicine, serve them as usual."
Xiao Yi Xian set down her silver knife, picked up a clean cloth, and began wiping the counter.
"If they ask about the owner, tell them he's in seclusion. But if they try to force their way in..."
She raised her head, her clear eyes devoid of emotion.
"The Myriad Medicine Pavilion may be a small temple, but the herb storehouse in the rear courtyard has just been fertilized."
Lao Li shuddered, nodded repeatedly, and retreated to the rear courtyard.
Xiao Yi Xian continued wiping the counter, her movements slow and meticulous, not overlooking even the carved crevices along its edges.
Deep within an unnamed cliff in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Lu Ze felt his way through the fissure in the cliff face.
The fissure was so narrow that only one person could squeeze through sideways, and the farther he went, the darker it grew.
Yet the air grew steadily warmer.
It carried the smell of dry earth and a faint, rank musk.
After he passed through roughly a thousand feet of narrow passage, the space before him suddenly opened up.
It was a natural, shallow cave, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
The ground was flat and dry, and a fist-sized puddle lay in one corner.
Lu Ze walked over to the puddle, cupped some water, and took two mouthfuls. The water was clear and cool, with a hint of mineral astringency.
He leaned against the cave wall and slowly slid into a sitting position.
The swelling in his left arm had begun to subside, but the ache of torn muscles still pierced him to the core. The wound running around his back had formed a dark brown scab that tugged slightly with every breath.
Though the fire poison inside him had been suppressed, the burns along the inner walls of his meridians remained. Every full circulation of Dou Qi felt like countless red-hot needles roaming through his blood vessels.
He needed time. He needed absolute quiet and time to repair this body on the brink of collapse.
Lu Ze closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, and began practicing "Answer to the Beggar Under the Mulberry."
Just then, the extremely faint snap of a dry branch came from far outside the cave.
The sound was particularly clear outside the silent Dragon Cave.
Immediately afterward, an extremely faint trace of Dou Qi drifted through the cave entrance on the night breeze.
Lu Ze's eyes flew open, and his right hand silently gripped the Emerald Water Sword at his waist.
Rustle!
An extremely faint scraping sound came from outside the cave.
It could not be a wild beast. A beast's footsteps would not have that deliberately muted rhythm.
Lu Ze silently gripped the Emerald Water Sword at his waist with his right hand, but the moment he moved, piercing agony shot through the torn muscles of his left arm, making him suck in a cold breath.
With his current Dou Qi, he could barely even maintain Do Not Scrutinize Me.
Let alone unleash the Grass Character Sword Art.
The footsteps outside stopped less than thirty feet from the entrance.
"Boss, is there really someone here?"
A rough voice spoke in a hush.
"Let's go in and look first. The leader said he couldn't have gone far."
Another, cold voice answered. Two faint but distinct fluctuations of Dou Qi probed through the entrance. They were two One-Star Dou Zhe.
Lu Ze did not choose to retreat. Falling back to the end of the cave would leave him at a dead end.
Enduring the excruciating pain in his left arm, he reached with his right hand for a sharp, rock-sized fragment of stalactite beside him.
The fragment had been wedged in a crack in the rock wall. He had accidentally knocked against it while resting, loosening it somewhat.
A mercenary medic in a dark red uniform poked his head into the cave and looked around, the torch in his hand illuminating the puddle.
The instant he lifted his foot, Lu Ze shoved the loose stalactite fragment hard with his right hand.
Crash!
The fragment broke free of the rock wall and struck the peering mercenary squarely in the face.
"Aah!"
The mercenary screamed. His nasal bone shattered, blood gushed wildly, and he toppled backward into the other mercenary.
"Useless!" the mercenary behind him cursed furiously, drawing his long saber and charging in.
But the moment he rushed through the entrance, his fallen companion and the rising dust obscured half his vision.
In the darkness, a hand smeared with mud and blood clamped over his mouth from the side. Immediately afterward, an icy refined-steel dagger sliced through the artery in his neck without resistance.
Squelch.
Warm blood sprayed across Lu Ze's face. Gritting his teeth, he used every ounce of strength in his body to twist the dagger several times in the man's neck.
The mercenary's body convulsed violently a few times before quickly collapsing to the ground.
Lu Ze let go and gasped for breath. Those few simple exchanges alone had exhausted what little strength he had left.
His vision kept darkening, and the wound on his left arm split open again, blood dripping from his fingertips.
Only after resting against the rock wall for a quarter of an hour did he barely recover a little strength.
He walked over to the two corpses and deftly searched them, finding two gold coins, several hard mixed-grain cakes, and a hand-drawn sketch of the surrounding terrain.
On the sketch, the location of the underground river's exit had been marked with a red circle.
Before you continue