Chapter 21: The Thirst for Knowledge

That night, Xu Qing had a dream.

This was the first time in more than six years that he had lived in such a luxurious house, and it was also the first time he had not felt the cold outside. At the same time, it was a rare night with a dream.

In the dream, the world was not cruel, the sky did not have the remnant face of a god, his parents were by his side, and there was even an older brother.

And he was carefree, going to school with a group of playmates, returning to a warm home after school, eating a hot dinner with his relatives, and sleeping a beautiful sleep.

It was just that the appearance of his relatives in the dream was somewhat blurry.

He really wanted to see clearly, but there was always a fog covering them, until dawn arrived. Xu Qing, lying on the bed, opened his eyes.

He looked at the ceiling, relaxed for a moment, as if he had completely awakened from the dream, and looked silently at his surroundings...

In the gray-black brick and tile room, not only were there tables, chairs, and a bed, but there was also a washroom. The ground radiated residual warmth, which was the remnant of the fireplace heat from last night.

On the ground, there was a straw-woven cushion, and to the side, there was an empty bookshelf.

It looked simple, but in Xu Qing's heart, this was already very luxurious.

Xu Qing took a deep breath, walked toward the washroom, carefully placed his hand in the water, and watched the dirty marks on his hand slowly dissolve in color. He raised it quickly.

He stared down for a moment, wiped it on his body, and after making it dirty again, he looked up at himself in the mirror.

A large fur coat, a head of black but messy hair, a small face full of grime, and those clear eyes.

It was just that as he looked and looked, as Xu Qing turned around to look at the window, the clarity in his eyes was replaced by indifference.

Outside the window, the wind and snow had stopped, the morning sun rose, and in the sunlight, this last snow of winter was also slowly disappearing from the ground.

On the trees in the distance, as the snow tracks melted, a touch of green buds bloomed, as if telling everyone that spring... had truly arrived.

Xu Qing walked out of the room, habitually glanced at Lei Ting's house, and the dozen wild dogs in the courtyard didn't even lift their heads, just swept their tails on the ground, which counted as a greeting.

"Should do something," Xu Qing murmured in his heart, a touch of determination appearing in his eyes.

So he pushed open the courtyard gate and walked out. His goal was very clear: it was the tent where the caravan physician was located.

In the morning, there were not many scavengers in the camp.

As Xu Qing approached the caravan, the guards there also swept their gazes over him, and Xu Qing gradually heard the faint sound of reading coming from the physician's tent.

After hesitating for a moment, Xu Qing stood silently outside the tent, waiting quietly.

The gazes of the caravan guards around were filled with scrutiny. After observing for a while, most of them withdrew, but there were still a few who continued to pay attention to him.

Xu Qing didn't care about this, because as the sound of reading came from the tent, he slowly became engrossed. At the same time, he also discovered that it wasn't just simple reading in the tent, but also included examinations.

"Golden Button Grass, also known as Three-Leaf Pearl, Scatter-Cold Grass, is the whole plant of the Cyperaceae plant Single-Spike Water Centipede. It is a perennial herb that grows on hillsides under forests and in damp places in the wilderness. It is distributed in Lingyou and Guangling states in the southern part of Nanhuang. Its function is to promote lung health and relieve cough, clear heat and detoxify, disperse stasis and reduce swelling. It has miraculous effects on snake bites, falls, and injuries. Combined with..."

The girl's voice was originally full of confidence, but as she spoke, she became somewhat hesitant.

"Combined with what?" Inside the tent, Master Bai's majestic words seemed to possess sternness.

"Combined with Rhinoceros Fire Flower for refining medicine, borrowing Yang to transform Yin, it can form a drop of anti-poison full liquid, which is one of the basic materials for Great Transformation Pill." The girl seemed somewhat afraid, her speaking speed became much faster, and after finishing, she let out a long sigh of relief.

Xu Qing, outside the tent, listened to these and became more and more serious.

"White Back Root, also known as... uh, it is the root of the Euphorbiaceae plant White Oak, slightly astringent and slightly bitter, origin... function to treat the five internal organs of..." Then it was that young boy. As he spoke, he became hesitant, and toward the end, he stopped directly, clearly having forgotten.

Inside the tent, the young boy sitting with the girl was now full of nervousness and very anxious, but he couldn't remember it, and looked at the girl for help.

The girl beside him clearly knew the answer, but she just wouldn't remind him, making the young boy finally only able to cry with a sad face.

And Master Bai in front of them turned his head to look outside the tent at this moment. The guard to the side immediately looked for instructions.

Master Bai thought for a while, shook his head slightly, and then snorted coldly at the stammering young boy.

"Copy the Grass and Wood Scripture ten times tonight!"

The young boy was truly about to cry this time, but he didn't dare to refute, only able to hang his head and wail silently.

And after examining the two apprentices, Master Bai calmly transmitted his words and began to talk about today's lesson. His voice was a bit louder than before and much clearer.

The young boy didn't notice, but the girl was careful. She was somewhat puzzled, blinked her eyes, glanced outside the tent, and following her gaze, she could see the thin figure appearing on the tent under the sunlight.

Xu Qing, outside the tent, listened more seriously. He firmly etched every word and every sentence Master Bai said into his heart, fearing that he would forget even half of it, because knowledge was extremely precious and he was thirsty for it.

Just like that, time passed slowly. Master Bai's lecture today also exceeded the past, lasting nearly twice as long. Until the sun was high in the sky and scavengers began to wait for medical treatment outside the tent, Master Bai ended the lecture, and his hoarse voice came out.

"The young boy outside, come in."

Xu Qing was startled and awakened from his unfinished interest. He took a deep breath, carefully opened the tent door with a guilty conscience, walked in, and stood silently to the side, somewhat constrained.

Originally, he wouldn't be like this, but he had come to consult today and had been eavesdropping outside for a long time. The latter behavior was very annoying in the slums.

Seeming to see the young boy's nervousness, Master Bai's voice softened, and he spoke calmly.

"What is it?"

As his words came out, the girl to the side curiously sized up Xu Qing.

She had some impression of this kid in front of her, remembering that a few days ago, the other party had carried an old man to see a doctor.

"Greetings, Master Bai." Xu Qing lowered his head, learned from Lei Ting's previous appearance, and bowed deeply to Master Bai.

Then, while hesitating, he said he wanted to consult about the Destiny Flower.

After finishing, Xu Qing took out five White Pills from his leather bag and placed them in front of Master Bai.

The consultation fee was normally one Bai Dan, but Xu Qing felt that he had heard the other party's lecture, so one Bai Dan was not enough, and even five were a bit less.

So he took out ten spirit coins and placed them together with the White Pills.

After doing this, his heart finally settled down.

Master Bai looked deeply at Xu Qing and spoke slowly to the girl beside him.

"Ting Yu, you answer."

The girl straightened her body, her expression solemn, and she spoke in a crisp voice.

"Destiny Flower, also known as Life-Continuing Flame, God Grass, is an exotic change of the divine plant Rebirth Wood. This mutation has seventy-three types according to records, but only the first type can be used as medicine. It can grow in any area within the forbidden zone, has no pattern, and its quantity is rare."

"Its function can regenerate severed limbs, reignite life, and treat all diseases except for injuries to the divine soul." As she spoke, the girl quickly picked up the book to the side, flipped through a few pages, and revealed the page with the pattern drawn on it.

"It looks like this."

The pattern drawn was a plant that didn't look extraordinary, except that the serrations on the edge of the leaves were somewhat obvious, and at the same time, there was a strange symbol formed by a silk thread in the middle.

Xu Qing looked carefully and etched it into his heart. After bowing deeply to Master Bai and the girl, he turned to leave.

Before he left, Master Bai's calm voice came from behind him.

"This grass is hard to find; it is often accompanied by powerful beasts. Take care of yourself."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing bowed again. After leaving the tent, he galloped rapidly in the camp.

After returning to his residence at the fastest speed, he immediately took out a bamboo piece from his leather bag and used his iron skewer to carve the Destiny Flower and totem described by the girl onto it.

Then, after thinking about it, he also carved down the content he had heard today.

Finally, looking at the bamboo piece with countless small characters, he felt very satisfied in his heart and carefully put it away like a treasure.

"If only I could go listen again," Xu Qing murmured in a low voice and began to ponder how he could continue to listen. Half an hour later, he withdrew his mind and began to cultivate.

That night, Xu Qing waited for Lei Ting to return from outside and told him that he was going to the forbidden zone. Lei Ting wanted to speak but stopped when he heard this.

But ultimately, he nodded and told Xu Qing his own experience.

It was just like an elder in the family watching a descendant go out; Lei Ting spoke extremely detailed.

Until it was almost finished and Xu Qing had remembered everything, Lei Ting gave him another leather bag, inside which were various medicinal powders left by Luan Ya.

After understanding the specific functions, at the moment dawn arrived, Xu Qing said goodbye and left the camp. While galloping in the wilderness, time passed quickly, and he arrived outside the forbidden zone.

The moment he stepped into the boundary, the warmth of the sunlight outside was cut off, and a sense of chill drilled into his whole body. Xu Qing's eyes narrowed, filled with vigilance, and his body turned into a remnant trace, heading straight for the jungle.

In a few leaps, he disappeared without a trace.

Entering the forbidden zone jungle for the second time, Xu Qing's familiarity with this place was different from before.

But the more so, the more cautious he became. While jumping forward, he also paid attention to the flowers and plants around him. Soon, he arrived at the place where the silt was before, learned from Luan Ya's previous actions, scooped up the silt to smear on his body, and continued forward.

Time passed, and soon a whole day went by.

This time, Xu Qing did not encounter fog. As for powerful beasts, although there were some, they were all avoided as much as possible under Xu Qing's caution.

On the way, he also paid attention to flowers and plants, looking for the Destiny Flower.

At this moment, he arrived at the place where he had encountered the Black-Scaled Wolves before. Looking around, he could barely see the layout at that time, but the wolf corpses all over the ground had now mostly turned into rotten white bones.

After carefully observing the rot on these remains and finding no signs of tearing, but rather natural decay, Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

This showed that there was a high probability that no beasts had come to this place.

So he found an area nearby, planning to spend the night and continue forward after dawn.

Soon, as night fell and the jungle was pitch black, Xu Qing hid in a tree crevice, looking toward the direction of the Seven-Leaf Grass canyon. Further away in that direction was the temple group.

Entering the forbidden zone this time, besides wanting to find the Destiny Flower, he also had another idea, which was to find a stone to remove scars for the little girl.

"Let's go take a look," Xu Qing murmured. ===== CHAPTER 22 =====