Chapter 196
Chapter 196
The medicinal herbs growing in the King Serpent’s territory were truly extraordinary.
If they took this Paris polyphylla out of the mountains and made it into antidote pills, the medicine could cure most snake venoms, including venom from Gu snakes.
And there was far more than one plant.
“Shen Qingzhu, look! Pretty flowers!”
Jiang Yunsui wandered around and discovered a beautiful flower shaped like a white butterfly. Its roots, stems, and leaves were all pure white, utterly flawless, like fine white jade.
Shen Qingzhu’s eyes widened.
“Snakebone Flowers!”
Another special medicinal herb that had nearly vanished from the world.
When Jiang Yunsui saw how much he liked them, she led him to the rest.
There were not many, perhaps three taels in total.
Snakebone Flower was also used in antidotes. It countered more than snake venom. As long as the poison was not something as rare as Ji Yan’an’s, the herb could cure it.
They searched the area, gathered every rare medicinal plant they could find, and returned.
As soon as the cart was ready, they harnessed the two dogs and departed.
Along the way, they collected the useful materials they had dissected from the Centipede King.
When they passed the region containing the Monkey Wine, however, everyone faced an agonizing decision.
Leaving it behind felt unbearable.
They wanted to take it, but they had no containers large enough to hold wine.
“Only Wushan Cavern people live here,” someone said. “They must have clay jars, but stealing those jars will be a problem.”
“Could we poison them?” Fat Chef asked.
“They specialize in poison,” Shen Qingzhu replied. “They’ll detect any ordinary toxin the moment it appears. If we alert them, we’ll be discovered and unable to take any of this away.”
“I’ll steal them! I’ll steal them!” Jiang Yunsui volunteered.
Everyone pressed a hand to her head.
Their movements were so perfectly synchronized that Jiang Yunsui’s head suddenly bore far too much pressure, nearly flattening her against the ground.
After someone caught her by the collar and set her upright, the others looked a little embarrassed.
Before Little Mushroom could glare at them in fury, Song Jin offered a sensible plan.
“Remember the flower fragrance and mushroom spores that trapped us in an illusion?”
“Shen Qingzhu can counter many poisons and detect them with ease, yet even he fell victim that time.”
Shen Qingzhu did not argue.
The flower fragrance alone was not poisonous, making people lower their guard. The spores were finer than dust, colorless, odorless, and invisible to the naked eye.
Even he had succumbed when the two combined.
“We can try that,” he said. “If everyone at Wushan Cavern falls into an illusion, moving through the stockade will become much easier.”
Besides, no one would imagine that a person could collect mushroom spores.
Naturally, the difficult task fell to Jiang Yunsui.
Shen Qingzhu dried the Moonwatch Flowers over heat, ground them into powder, and made incense.
Then he tested it on someone.
The unfortunate subject was Fat Chef, who was snoring in his sleep.
He fell into a hallucination without ever waking. His expression changed wildly, smiling one moment and trembling in terror the next.
Song Jin tried slapping Fat Chef.
Excellent. He could not be awakened.
The others exchanged looks.
“It works.”
They gave Jiang Yunsui the incense and escorted her near Wushan Cavern.
Their arrival enraged the Wushan Cavern fighters, and a large group chased them into a furious battle.
Of course, Shen Qingzhu’s party was no easy prey.
Jiang Yunsui seized the opportunity to slip into the Wushan Cavern stockade.
Nothing obstructed her.
The people here truly worshiped a Serpent God. Jiang Yunsui saw snakes everywhere, only slightly fewer than in the King Serpent’s territory.
Once inside the stockade, she followed Song Jin’s instructions, found a concealed spot, and lit the incense.
She passed many Wushan Cavern people along the way, but Little Mushroom could not understand a single word they said.
The faint floral fragrance spread.
Some people noticed it, but the scent itself contained no poison. Flowers, grass, and trees grew all around their homes. After confirming that the fragrance was harmless, the Wushan Cavern people ignored it.
Jiang Yunsui moved to a new location from time to time, scattering mushroom spores before she left each one.
One person after another began falling into hallucinations.
Anyone trapped in the illusion sank into sleep.
At last, someone noticed that something was wrong and hurried to find the High Shaman.
“High Shaman, disaster! Many people outside have fallen asleep. We can’t…”
Before the man could finish, he collapsed to the ground and began sleeping.
The High Shaman stared in silence.
His face darkened as he rose.
“Someone go investigate…”
He hurried outside. Not only people, but animals and snakes had fallen asleep.
“Bring the antidote pills.”
Even after taking them, no one showed any sign of waking.
The High Shaman ordered his people to determine what had poisoned everyone.
The situation felt familiar, but he could not immediately place it.
Then he noticed the floral fragrance in the air.
He had smelled it before. He too had been careless, identifying no poison in the scent and dismissing it.
The moment he remembered which flower produced that fragrance, his expression changed dramatically.
“Moonwatch Flower!”
He shot to his feet. “Cover your mouths and noses!”
It was already too late. They had inhaled large quantities of both fragrance and spores.
One after another, the people behind the High Shaman collapsed.
Dizziness swept through his own head, and illusions appeared before his eyes. He bit his tongue to remain conscious.
Once Jiang Yunsui completed her task, she ran to find Song Jin and the others.
They were easy to locate. The moment she left the stockade, she heard a suona.
The people of Wushan Cavern controlled Gu through music, but today they had suffered an unprecedented defeat.
At that moment, they wished they could smash every suona in existence.
How could such a shameless instrument exist?
Oh, and the gong too.
Jiang Yunsui ran behind her companions, revealed herself, and shouted, “I’m back!”
Ji Si turned, scooped her up, and fled.
Song Jin and the others withdrew just as decisively, without the slightest reluctance.
The Wushan Cavern fighters could not decide whether to pursue them.
They wanted to give chase because they had been provoked and could not swallow the humiliation.
They did not want to because fighting these people gained them nothing.
The intruders clearly had extensive experience dealing with venomous snakes and insects. Those two Nuqing Roosters in particular were their natural nemeses.
“Don’t pursue them. Return first.”
When they reached the Wushan Cavern stockade and saw clansmen sprawled everywhere, their world seemed to collapse.
How long had they been gone? Why had the entire clan been poisoned?!
“It must have been those outsiders!”
“I’ll kill them!”
The leader among the Wushan Cavern fighters was steadier than the rest.
“Come back. Saving our clansmen comes first.”
But after they awakened only a few people, they too unknowingly sank into hallucinations.
The air still carried the drifting floral fragrance and spores.
Those they awakened soon fell asleep again.
After calculating the timing, Song Jin’s party swaggered openly into Wushan Cavern.
“Is anyone still awake?” Song Jin called.
He opened a folding fan, wearing an infuriatingly smug smile.
Jiang Yunsui strutted like a victorious little rooster, chin high and acknowledging no one.
“Is anyone here?” she echoed.
Shen Qingzhu gave her a light smack. “You’re a child. Stop copying everything adults do.”