A World Within the Cave

The advent of high-yield crop genes freed the lower classes from hunger and led to a population explosion.

The sheer size of the population makes it difficult for society to function as it used to.

The Scarlet Alliance State has entered into large-scale chemical manufacturing processes, and many medicines are now mass-produced through chemical reactions, gradually replacing traditional methods of medicine making and treatment.

This is not because traditional methods of medicine and medical treatment are ineffective, but rather because these methods are insufficient to meet the medical needs of a massive population.

Over the decades, many traditional doctors have left the profession, but concepts such as medicinal diet and health preservation have remained, still offering a glimpse into the past.

Countless people have flocked to the new pharmaceutical industry, while tradition is being forgotten. People like Zhang Xuezhou, who make medicine from herbs, are extremely rare.

Perhaps because of the lack of light, or perhaps because Zhong Rang was not an expert in herbs, Zhang Xuezhou glanced over and saw that a patch of plants was growing at the end of the snake den.

This isn't just one or two plants, but rather large swathes of them.

Perhaps due to the influence of the Qin Meng Secret Stone, or perhaps due to the special effects of the fire meteor, plants adapted to the environment have grown in this dark underground place.

Regardless of their species or medicinal properties, any plant that grows in a place Spiritual Qi will absorb some of the earth's energy to grow.

This is just like the spirit fish that the Daoist Ran Deng caught. They were the same kind of fish, but through some kind of destiny, they became different and had the benefits of a great medicine after being consumed.

Environmental factors have a significant impact, which is also the method used by the Yin-Yang School to find and identify medicinal herbs.

Unable to remove the Qin Meng Secret Stone, Zhang Xuezhou's eyes darted around, and he was already rummaging through the snake's droppings at the plant.

"It looks a bit like Solomon's Seal?"

Many of these plants have short stems with almost no leaves, but they have well-developed roots underground and extremely thick tubers.

Zhang Xuezhou pulled up a plant and felt that its root system was like a net, with the longest root being nearly two meters long, and there were also hard stem tubers the size of a palm.

He scratched the stem with his fingernails, then took off his gas mask, held the scratched area close to his nose, and sniffed it.

A scent, both unfamiliar and somewhat familiar, filled Zhang Xuezhou's nasal cavity, greatly increasing his certainty that this plant was used in medicine.

He looked at the swathes of plants beneath his feet, and pondered the depths of other passages and caves, realizing that a medicinal garden had already been nurtured within the snake pit.

If these plants could be harvested and their medicinal properties identified, it would undoubtedly be a treasure trove.

The medicinal herbs that Zhang Xuezhou can currently purchase all come from major pharmacies. These pharmacies do not source their herbs from wild harvesting, but rather from large-scale artificial cultivation.

His elixirs also stopped at the Spirit-Forging Pill; no matter how he combined them, he could hardly advance any further.

At that moment, Zhang Xuezhou's eyes lit up, feeling as if he had found a treasure trove to improve his elixirs.

Not to mention the different growing environments of artificially cultivated and wild medicinal herbs, there are even huge differences in the years they grow.

Based on Zhang Xuezhou's current assessment, he believes that the plant he has identified as belonging to the Polygonatum odoratum has likely grown for decades or even longer.

Even if it grows deep in the mountains and forests, this kind of medicinal herb can still be considered an old medicine.

As the Spiritual Qi grows, this medicinal herb has entered the category of great medicine, with effects several times greater than old medicines, and even possessing more unique functions.

"Damn it, we can't sabotage it. Committee Member Zhang, do you have any explosives or heavy weapons?"

Zhang Xuezhou carefully plucked three medicinal herbs, while Zhong Rang, who was nearby pondering the Qin Meng Secret Stone, was somewhat anxious, having tried various methods but still unable to destroy the stalactites that were growing from their roots.

"Without!"

Zhang Xuezhou waved his hands repeatedly.

He brandished the Infinity Gun on his arm and then touched the Infinity Blade on his back.

The Infinite Gun was designed several years ago specifically for hunting alien beasts; it is completely ineffective against ferocious beasts.

The Infinite Blade is similar to a small Law Treasure. It relies on Zhang Xuezhou's control of the Soul Jade to achieve flight and cutting. Its function is similar to Wang Haoran's 'Martial Cry'. It is suitable for long-distance control and attack. Its drawback is also obvious: its power is relatively weak and it can only attack weak points.

Aside from these two items, Zhang Xuezhou had nothing else of value. He rarely even used these two weapons at the moment, relying more on their deterrent capabilities for targeted attacks.

It would undoubtedly be very difficult to extract anything from Zhang Xuezhou.

After a brief response, Zhong Rang was clearly disheartened.

"Then we have to go," Zhong Rang said dejectedly. "If the Snake King returns, there's no way to escape from here!"

"I've heard that if you apply a thick layer of Qinmeng Secret Stone to it, it won't work. Why don't you give it a try, Committee Member Zhong?" Zhang Xuezhou said.

"What do you mean? You mean to say?"

Zhong Rang just expressed his doubts when he quickly realized what was going on.

Regardless of whether it would work or not, he violently grabbed several long pythons and bled them, turning the massive stalactite bright red.

After doing this, he ignored the dirt and wiped up the gray, white, and black snake droppings on the ground.

Given that neither the Qin Meng Secret Stone nor its destruction could be carried away, concealment was clearly the only option.

The recovery effect is weakening!

Zhong Rang could not only feel the effects of the Qin Meng Secret Stone himself, but the snake from which he had just drawn blood also had wounds.

Seeing the pythons, half-dead from the beating, twitching on the ground, unlike the three strange snakes that had recovered from their injuries, Zhong Rang couldn't help but feel a surge of joy.

As long as the concealment is effective, he will then have to rely on luck to see if the Snake King will clean up, whether he can still find the Qin Meng Secret Stone in the darkness, or whether the injuries he sustained from the conflict with the ferocious beasts will be difficult to heal.

If either of these possibilities is realized, it might give him the opportunity to re-enter the snake pit and obtain the Qin Meng Secret Stone.

"Even the most beautiful things, smeared with excrement and urine, will most likely be overlooked. Outside the snake pit, there is a lot of snake blood, snake corpses, and filth. This smear of excrement and blood will further cloud the snake king's judgment, and may even disgust it, unless the snake king's wisdom is not as suspicious as that of humans..."

Zhong Rang muttered to himself.

As Sixth Sequence individual, Zhong Rang worked with extremely high efficiency, completing the task single-handedly without Zhang Xuezhou having to lift a finger.

Compared to his previous frustration, he was clearly much more at ease now.

If it was impossible before, the current actions at least bring some hope.

"Where did you get this information?" Zhong Rang said, "When I first saw the Qin Meng Secret Stone, I never even considered the possibility of reversing its application!"

"I met Committee Member Zhou in Qinmeng before, and he told me about these things!"

"Zhou Xin?"

"Right!"

Zhang Xuezhou responded extremely quickly, and the source of the information was stable and reliable, Zhong Rang feel that the chances of success had increased by another ten percent.

Looking at the Qin Meng Secret Stone, which had been sealed as quickly as possible in a short period of time, he felt that everything had been done to the limit.

The next step is to wait and see if the Snake King, injured in the battle with the ferocious beasts, can still find the Qin Meng Secret Stone after returning to his snake cave, or if he is too naive and misjudges that his home has been raided, thus leading to a more serious conflict with the group of ferocious beasts.