Asafoetida

Around 8 o'clock, the group packed their bags again and set off.

Because Qi Chu had a very specific purpose this time, he didn't collect any other medicinal herbs even though there were some around, he just told Su Ziyang Qi Chu them.

Along this journey, the plant I encountered most often was Solomon's Seal.

Su Ziyang discovered that Bones was indeed a herb-gathering dog.

Even without human guidance, the Bones can accurately dig out the Solomon's Seal from the ground.

Moreover, Su Ziyang discovered that what this guy dug out were all large ones.

They tossed out the big ones, and with a crunchy Bones, ate them in two bites.

"Let me tell you, Bones. You can't exhaust the resources. You can only eat the big ones, don't let the small ones harm the rest, understand?"

Qi Chu taught the Bones as he walked.

"Woof~"

Traveling through the mountains, the heat and exhaustion made their Bones the source of joy in the team, with patrols taking turns at the front and back.

Every now and then, it rubs against your leg, acting all cute and playful, and seems quite happy.

"Woof~!!!"

The normally cheerful Bones suddenly became alarmed and emitted a warning sound in one direction.

"Watch out, there's a bear!"

Qi Chu's vigilance was frighteningly high. The moment the Bones roared, Qi Chu took the crossbow bolt off his back.

I've set my sights on one direction.

Two hundred meters away, the roars of bears could be heard.

"It doesn't seem like they're after us."

Mr. Mengfei gripped the vajra tightly in his hand and said softly.

"What are you fighting with?"

Fairy Li pulled a baton from her backpack, swung it around with a whoosh, and then lowered her body to whisper something.

Su Ziyang was somewhat bewildered by the posture of the three people, wondering how he had become a newbie in this circle.

When you see a bear, shouldn't you try to stay away from it?

Why did these three people simultaneously pull out their weapons and touch them?

Moreover, Su Ziyang was speechless when he saw the steel baton that Fairy Li had pulled out from who-knows-where.

Judging by this posture, he's going to fight the bear for three hundred rounds?

"Hey, where are you three going?"

Su Ziyang called out softly from behind.

"Go check it out! See what the jungle tyrant is fighting with! Aren't you curious? We've been looking for spirits and monsters since we entered the mountains, but we haven't seen any animals yet. Hurry up, keep up!"

After Qi Chu finished speaking softly, the three of them, carrying the Bones, crouched down and crept forward in a fighting stance.

Helpless, Su Ziyang pulled out a Swiss Army knife from his backpack and followed suit.

The group was on a gentle slope, and the place where the bear howled was in a depression.

The four people and one dog lay down on the slope, using the grass and trees as cover to look down.

Oh my god!

Su Ziyang exclaimed in a low voice.

A black bear is fighting a huge wild boar with tusks.

The wild boar charged headlong into the attack, while the black bear stood up and began slapping the wild boar repeatedly.

However, the black bear's claws were clearly ineffective against the wild boar, but the wild boar's tusks managed to tear a large gash in the black bear's belly.

The triangular incision was everted, revealing red flesh and blood.

The black bear howled in pain, swinging its claws even more fiercely, repeatedly slapping the wild boar's back.

Although the wild boar had high defense, it couldn't withstand such a large attack and kept retreating. Seizing an opportunity, it charged fiercely at the black bear's belly.

Having just suffered a major loss, the black bear saw the wild boar using the same tactic again, so it quickly dodged to the side and swung its paw at the boar's side.

This swipe of its claws broke through the wild boar's defenses, causing it to howl in pain.

Whose side are we on?

Su Ziyang looked at the three of them and whispered something.

"I'm not helping anyone, I'm just watching the show."

Qi Chu said quietly.

Animal fights are very savage and primitive, relying almost entirely on primal instincts.

"Wow, look at that white thing, isn't it Bones?"

Su Ziyang looked at the wild boar's back with great surprise and lowered his voice to say something.

"Yes."

Mr. Mengfei gave an affirmative answer.

The battle lasted for about five or six minutes. Both of them were injured and exhausted.

Su Ziyang discovered that the two large animals did not seem to have any life-or-death hatred for each other.

Both the bear and the boar were injured, so they stopped fighting in perfect unison.

What do these two mean!?

Fairy Li gripped the baton tightly in her hand and asked Qi Chu softly.

"With these large animals, unless one side eats the other's cubs, which could lead to a fight to the death, they're generally fine; the fight will end after a while..."

As soon as Qi Chu finished speaking, the wild boar had already trotted away and disappeared into the jungle.

The black bear had an injury to its stomach and walked slowly, but it eventually made it away.

"Okay. That's it. No more shows to watch."

Mr. Mengfei put down the vajra in his hand and then said softly.

Qi Chu winked at Mr. Mengfei, Mr. Mengfei glared at Qi Chu and asked, "What are you going to do? Kill a bear, or a pig?"

"Nonsense, do you think I have that much killing intent? Let's follow this bear and see how it heals itself. If it can't manage on its own, we have to help it. The gash on its stomach is too big; a small piece of its intestines is sticking out. Otherwise, it'll be in big trouble!"

Mr. Mengfei gave Qi Chu a thumbs-up, then climbed up the gentle slope.

"Bones, follow the scent, go slowly!"

Qi Chu slapped Bones the dog's head, Bones charged down first, with the four of them following closely behind.

Although the black bear was injured and walked slowly, that was relative.

In the dense forest, the bear moved much faster than Su Ziyang and his group. Fortunately, with Bones leading the way, they were able to vaguely see the traces of the black bear's tracks.

The group continued following the Bones, and Su Ziyang couldn't remember how long they walked.

The black bear kept walking until it stopped at a place that looked like a tree hollow, made up of a bunch of crooked trees.

Judging from the entrance to the cave, this should be where this bear usually lives.

The trees at the entrance of the cave had become so shiny from the bear rubbing against them that it was starting to itch.

"Shh, don't make a sound. Hide well. Let me see!"

Qi Chu gently pointed in the direction where the bear had stopped.

What is this?

Su Ziyang was the first to see the black bear carrying something out of its den.

"It looks like a person!"

Fairy Li also whispered.

"This beast hasn't eaten people, has it?"

Mr. Mengfei was startled when he saw what the black bear had taken out, and then he took out the vajra and held it tightly in his hand.

Qi Chu frowned deeply when he saw what the black bear had brought out.

His original intention was to help the black bear, to see if he could stitch up its wounds or something, but judging from the current situation, if the black bear had eaten a human, then the nature of the situation completely changes.

Humans are different from other animals.

Humans are very intelligent beings. If animals eat humans, their eyes will turn red, and they will become more irritable and violent. Furthermore, they may become addicted to eating humans.

Once these animals develop a craving for food, they will try every means to eat people.

This is very dangerous, and if this continues, the animal will most likely have already fallen into demonic ways.

If that's the case, Qi Chu wouldn't mind doing justice for Heaven.

So Qi Chu took the crossbow bolts off his back again.

"Let's take another look. Although it's a tattered garment, it doesn't seem to belong to a person."

Su Ziyang observed carefully; from the moment the black bear took the thing out, Su Ziyang eyes never left the object in the bear's mouth.

The group fell silent, simply watching to see what the black bear was about to do.

The black bear pawed at the human-shaped object in its mouth, then used its paws to rummage through the strip of cloth.

After searching for a long time, I pulled something out of there.

This thing resembles a tree root; it's broken and tattered, but it's multicolored.

The black bear held the thing in its paws, sniffed it for a long time as if it were very reluctant to part with it, then broke off a small piece with its paws and bounced it on its wound.

After just a few rubs, the black bear's belly wound really stopped bleeding.

"Is this not cannibalism?"

Fairy Li gripped the baton in her hand, her small face showing great tension as she looked at Qi Chu.

Qi Chu stared at the object in the black bear's hand, breathing rapidly, and said, "No, no! Look again, look again!"

Qi Chu gestured for the others to stare at the black bear, which rubbed against him while letting out low howls and roars.

After treating its own wound, it put the piece of flesh and blood-stained thing into its mouth and ate it...

After eating this, the black bear clearly regained a lot of its strength.

It then stuffed the object in its hand into the piece of clothing, casually wrapping it up with its paw.

It carried it back into the tree hole.

This time, the bear didn't come out of the tree hole again; it seems to be resting.

"Mengfei! I know what that black bear is holding!"

Qi Chu gripped Mr. Mengfei's wrist excitedly and said.

"What?! Don't shout, bro! If that thing comes out, we'll have to run again!"

Mr. Mengfei didn't know why Qi Chu was so agitated, and could only offer quiet words of advice.

"Awei, that thing the bear is holding is awei."

Qi Chu completely ignored Mr. Mengfei's words and became even more agitated.

"Ferula"?

Mr. Mengfei didn't react at first. He muttered something, then his eyes widened. "Holy crap? You're saying this thing is asafoetida?"

Why are they so excited?

Fairy Li was a little confused, so she turned to ask Su Ziyang.

Asafoetida is a medicinal herb.

Su Ziyang said softly.

"Nonsense, do you think I don't know those are medicinal herbs?"

Fairy Li jabbed Su Ziyang with her baton.

"Hehe, let me explain." Qi Chu pulled Fairy Li and Su Ziyang over and said, "There's a saying: 'Scutellaria baicalensis is never fake, and Asafoetida is never genuine.'"

"It means there's no need to fake Scutellaria baicalensis, but there's no such thing as genuine Asafoetida, because all the Asafoetida on the market is fake."

Mr. Mengfei was clearly also extremely excited, and he chimed in with his explanation.

Fairy Li and Su Ziyang watched as the two excited individuals explained Awei to them, and they remained silent, simply listening attentively.

"This stuff is like azurite; there's a lot of asafoetida on the market, but it's not real asafoetida. Real asafoetida has the power to transfer souls and spirits, and can bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded. But no one has ever seen real asafoetida; it's something you can only come across by chance!"

Qi Chu rubbed his hands excitedly. "Let me tell you, you've really seen something amazing today. I've only ever seen this once before, at my master's place. He had a piece about the size of a finger in his hand. I remember a woman came to him seeking treatment; she was dying, I don't know what illness she had. My master fed her a small piece, about the size of a fingernail, and she came back to life!"

"We've found such a huge piece today! If we could get our hands on it, that would be amazing!!!"

Qi Chu clapped his hands repeatedly.

"Then why is this thing so rare? Could it really be human flesh? I think that bear dug it out of those tattered clothes!"

Fairy Li was still quite worried that this thing might be human flesh.

"No! But this thing is definitely related to people!"

Qi Chu squatted down and began loading arrows.

"This thing is a type of fungus. A type of fungus that grows on dead people. It has very difficult growth conditions."

"First, this person is someone who, even if buried in the ground, wouldn't grow back. This dead person must have been an opium addict, and he must have come from a wealthy family, been in relatively good health, and died a natural death, not from opium use."

"Also, this thing is related to the coffin. The better the coffin, the greater the chance of it growing. Generally speaking, this thing should grow out of the mouth, and then after a few years, it will grow into the stomach."

Qi Chu explained very clearly. Su Ziyang rolled his eyes, raised his hand, and said, "Report, I have something to say!"

"Spit it out!"

Mr. Mengfei rolled his eyes at Su Ziyang.

"Isn't this just a humanoid cordyceps? No, it should be called an insect-human! No, it should be called a fungus-human."

Su Ziyang corrected them several times, but after Su Ziyang said that, the group exchanged glances and felt that he made a lot of sense.

That's absolutely right!

Cordyceps is a fungus that parasitizes an insect, grows on it, and then the insect dies.

It's just a matter of replacing the insects with humans and the fungi with different species; the principle is similar, and there's not much difference.

"So, after taking this asafoetida medicine, its effects will enter the soul, mostly causing sleep, similar to the effect of a sleeping pill. We don't need to harm the bear. Who can go in and steal the asafoetida?"

After Qi Chu finished speaking, everyone present, except for Su Ziyang, turned their gazes to Su Ziyang.

Why are you always looking at me?

Su Ziyang felt his scalp tingle.

"You're young, you run fast. We're all old, our legs aren't as nimble as they used to be."

Mr. Mengfei and Qi Chu exchanged a glance, and instantly agreed on their story.

"No? I can't even catch up with the two of you when you run! Master, when you beat me, where's the power? 'Smack, smack!' Where's the skill? Unleash it!"

Su Ziyang glanced at Mr. Mengfei.

"No, how can you not respect your elders at all? We're both your elders, how can you bear to watch us go into such a dangerous place? What if something happens?"

Mr. Mengfei spoke with righteous indignation, leaving Su Ziyang speechless.