Chapter 24: Child, You Answer

Only when Xu Qing returned to his dwelling at this moment did he let out a long sigh of relief.

He felt that what he had done was not quite right, but his thirst for knowledge left him with no other choice.

And he also understood that his little trick had likely already been seen through.

"I must repay this in the future."

The youth whispered to himself, keeping this matter in his heart. He did not know what he could offer in return, but that was what he thought, and perhaps there would be an opportunity later.

Fearing he would forget, Xu Qing took out a bamboo slip from his leather bag and used an iron stylus to carve the name Master Bai onto it.

Looking closely, besides Master Bai, there was also Team Leader Lei on this bamboo slip, and as for the top, there were three other names.

Those three names were all people who had helped him during his time in the slums; even if it was only a little, he kept them firmly in his heart.

Just like that, after carving the name, Xu Qing took out another bamboo slip and, recalling the content he had heard in this lesson, recorded it bit by bit.

He even took out the bamboo slip from the previous lesson to recite it silently, and upon confirming he had memorized everything, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

"I now know twenty-seven types of medicinal herbs."

Xu Qing was very happy; this mood lasted the entire day, and he was in high spirits even while cultivating.

Thus, he woke up very early the next day, and after selling some Seven-Leaf Grass, he bought a medicinal herb similar to the Destiny Flower and headed to the outside of Master Bai’s tent, as was his routine.

It was the same spot as yesterday, the same standing there silently waiting while paying attention to the lesson inside, and just as before, when the lesson ended and Master Bai walked out to inquire, Xu Qing brought out the herb with nervousness and trepidation to ask his questions.

Looking at the herb, Master Bai gave a light cough, and while shaking his head, he actually spoke up to inform Xu Qing about the information regarding the herb he had bought.

This allowed Xu Qing to invisibly learn about yet another herb, which made his satisfaction and gratitude even deeper. After bowing and leaving, he looked back from a distance, just like yesterday, and saw Master Bai standing in place, nodding at him.

This scene was reflected in Xu Qing’s eyes and carved into his mind.

Just like that, half a month passed.

Almost every day, Xu Qing would take various medicinal herbs and ask questions after listening to the lesson outside Master Bai’s tent.

The herbal knowledge he heard grew more and more, and later he even heard quite a bit about methods for blending herbs.

This gave Xu Qing a huge harvest, and the bamboo slips he had recorded numbered in the dozens.

Master Bai never mentioned Xu Qing’s "stealing" of lessons, and he patiently answered his inquiries about herbs every day.

To the point that in the end, not only did the guards get used to the appearance of this child in a fur coat every morning, but even the young man and woman in the tent developed a deep impression of him.

Once, when it was raining heavily outside and both Master Bai and the young man and woman thought Xu Qing would not come, Xu Qing walked over through the rain wearing a straw raincoat.

Neither wind nor rain could stop him.

This left a very deep impression on Master Bai and his two disciples.

So, when one day arrived for the lesson and Xu Qing uncharacteristically did not appear on time, the young man and woman both looked outside frequently.

It seemed they were surprised that the dirty little scavenger hadn't come today.

It was not until Xu Qing’s weary figure was reflected on the tent that the young man and woman withdrew their gazes.

The reason for the delay was that every day, in addition to coming to Master Bai’s place for lessons, Xu Qing would enter the forbidden zone to search for the Destiny Flower and Scar-Removing Stone, while also honing himself by hunting exotic beasts.

But the search process was not very smooth.

He had yet to find either of these two items, and Xu Qing once again deeply experienced the dangers of the forbidden zone.

Even though he was at the fourth level of the Sea Mountain Technique and possessed the keen judgment and observation of an old scavenger, allowing him to save his life or even hunt in the outskirts of the jungle, he still occasionally encountered crises.

That one time he was late was because he had encountered an exotic beast that had emerged from the depths; he had barely escaped with his life, running for an entire night before returning in the morning.

After returning, he did not rest but instead listened to the lesson silently.

Besides this, during these days, Xu Qing had another small harvest, which was the insurance that Bone Blade had once proposed.

Bone Blade was living quite well.

Ever since he bought insurance from him last time, he would come to buy it every time he entered the forbidden zone; although the mist never appeared again and Xu Qing never had to take action.

But Bone Blade remained persistent, and somehow word spread, leading to a few more people coming to buy insurance from him.

Out of caution, Xu Qing mostly ignored them, only agreeing to those few he had previously saved.

This caused Xu Qing’s income to increase, and combined with his harvest from hunting in the forbidden zone, his life slowly began to improve.

Although Team Leader Lei could no longer go on missions, the rent Xu Qing paid was very high; even if Team Leader Lei refused, Xu Qing insisted, leaving Team Leader Lei with no choice but to accept.

Team Leader Lei spent most of this money on food, which meant that every time Xu Qing returned from the forbidden zone, he could eat hot meals.

Team Leader Lei even bought Xu Qing some clothes.

These clothes were all brand new; Xu Qing couldn't bear to wear them, so he folded each one neatly and placed them in the cabinet, feeling happy whenever he took them out to look at them.

And the daily mealtime was the moment Xu Qing felt most warm.

Because not only was the food good, but Team Leader Lei would often, like an elder in the family who enjoyed talking about neighborhood affairs in their old age, tell him about the trivial matters within the camp.

During this time, Cross and Lanya also returned, kept Team Leader Lei company for a while, and then left again.

It could be said that this period was the most satisfying time Xu Qing had felt in six years.

He had hot food to eat, new clothes, the company of Team Leader Lei, his cultivation base was improving, and his knowledge of herbs was still increasing.

So, amidst this satisfaction, he cherished everything he had now, and his listening to the lessons outside the tent was exceptionally earnest.

Until this day, under the morning sun, Xu Qing, standing outside the tent, heard Master Bai questioning the young man inside.

"Chen Feiyuan, tell me about the herb known as Night Corpse Morning Glory."

Chen Feiyuan was the name Master Bai used for the youth, which Xu Qing had learned over the past month, and he also knew the girl’s nickname was Tingyu.

Hearing Master Bai’s question, the youth couldn't quite answer; he stammered a bit and then couldn't continue.

Xu Qing couldn't see into the tent, but he could imagine the mournful face he had seen in his peripheral vision many times when the tent flap opened.

"Incompetent. Tingyu, you answer." Master Bai’s voice was very stern as he called on the girl to answer.

But this time, the girl was clearly also ill-prepared.

"Night Corpse Morning Glory, also known as Poison Mountain Root Spotted Chrysanthemum... Teacher, I, I forgot." The girl said this and fell silent.

The tent immediately went quiet; clearly, Master Bai’s anger was brewing. Just then, Master Bai’s voice, carrying undisguised irritation, echoed out.

"Child, you answer."

Xu Qing, outside the tent, was stunned and subconsciously spoke immediately.

"Night Corpse Morning Glory, also known as Poison Mountain Root Dove-Chrysanthemum, is the vine stem and root of the Asteraceae plant *Vernonia patula*. It is a woody vine that grows in corpse-shadowed mountain gullies, cold and damp streamsides, or jungles. Its taste is astringent and pungent, slightly warm upon entry, with a sense of decay. It has the miraculous effect of dispelling wind and releasing the exterior, but it is poisonous in excess; it is a typical yin-yang bipolar herb." Xu Qing stopped there.

"What are the symptoms of an overdose?" Inside the tent, amidst the slight resentment of the young man and woman, Master Bai asked again.

"The symptoms of poisoning are abdominal pain, dizziness, and hallucinations; if not treated, death occurs within a quarter of an hour." Xu Qing, outside the tent, felt nervous in his heart but answered immediately without the slightest pause.

"How do you detoxify it?"

"One can use methods of inducing vomiting and gastric lavage, supplemented with egg whites and Red Thorn Flower pistils, treating the symptoms at noon when the sunlight is intense. The treatment time must not exceed half an hour, for three consecutive days."

Following Xu Qing’s answer, although Master Bai remained expressionless, the young man and woman beside him had their eyes widened in surprise.

"What is a yin-yang bipolar herb?" Master Bai asked again.

"Yin-yang bipolar means it possesses both righteous and evil methods in one body; the righteous yang is the medicine, and the evil yin is the poison." Xu Qing answered without hesitation. These were all things he had heard during this time, and having recited them many times, they were already deeply ingrained in his heart.

"How does this plant manifest that?" Master Bai’s questions came faster.

"Taking this Night Corpse Morning Glory as an example, when combined with Square Leaf, its yang effect can be doubled, primarily for soul injuries, and it also has a slight soothing effect on foreign substances. But if combined with Soft-Hair Flower, its yin effect increases greatly; the toxicity is so high that an ordinary person who mistakenly consumes it will die within thirty breaths."

"How is Soft-Hair Flower processed?"

"What is the use of Square Leaf root fibers?" Master Bai asked faster and faster. The nervousness in Xu Qing’s heart gradually decreased, and he answered just as quickly.

Just like that, the old man and the youth, separated by the tent, asked and answered; as time passed, a stick of incense had actually burned away.

Master Bai asked a great many questions, many of which were only answerable by synthesizing lecture content from days apart, yet Xu Qing answered them all fluently.

And the young man and woman had gone from their initial surprise to being shocked, staring blankly at the figure reflected on the tent.

Until finally, to the astonishment of the young man and woman, Master Bai asked the last question.

"What is the effect of a medicinal liquid prepared from three one-year-old Night Corpse Morning Glories, combined with six three-year-old Cloud-Passing Clusters, plus nine ten-year-old *Kyllinga nemoralis* of the Cyperaceae family?"

Once this question was asked, the expressions of the youth and the girl changed rapidly, and their breathing became hurried, as this no longer involved simple herbs, but blending.

This question was also the one that made Xu Qing silent for the longest time in this examination. He pondered for a full thirty breaths before taking a deep breath and speaking in a low voice.

"Evil cannot suppress righteousness; yang is prosperous and yin is declining. Combined with the righteous effect of the Cloud-Passing Grass, it can raise the detoxification effect of the *Kyllinga nemoralis* to an astonishing degree." After Xu Qing finished speaking, his eyes widened, vaguely realizing something.

"This is the seventy-percent foundation formula for the Great Transformation Pill among detoxification pills. By adding three more herbs and simmering over a gentle fire for seven hours, it can be refined." Inside the tent, Master Bai’s voice came out calmly.

"I have tested you so much, do you have any questions you would like to ask?"

Xu Qing’s spirit was jolted, and his breathing quickened.

Over the past month, he indeed had many questions he didn't understand, but after all, he was only eavesdropping. Although Master Bai was kind and didn't stop him, he didn't feel it was right to disturb the other party’s lecture, so he had no way to ask.

Hearing Master Bai speak now, Xu Qing hurriedly organized his thoughts and asked immediately.

"Master Bai, both Flame-Cable Hemp and Yang-Sprout Thorn have similarities in origin and efficacy; what is the difference between these two?"

"Why can't Spirit-Stopping Flowers be picked during the day?"

"The juice of the Square Leaf clearly has the effect of dispelling evil, so why can't it be used together with the Fate-Eye Branch, which also dispels evil?"

Xu Qing’s questions were asked one by one, and Master Bai answered them one after another, each one explained in great detail.

And Xu Qing seemed as if he would never finish asking. Until time had passed, far exceeding the class time, and under the "looking at a monster" gazes of the young man and woman, Xu Qing glanced at the sky, feeling unsatisfied, and had to end his inquiries.

He felt that this day had been an indescribably huge harvest for him; most of the questions in his heart had been answered, and he even had a sense of thorough understanding.

This made his thirst for knowledge even stronger, and he prepared to go back and carve all of this down.

Just as he was about to leave, Master Bai’s somewhat weary voice came from inside the tent.

"From now on, you don't need to stand outside, and you don't need to bring those messy herbs. Starting tomorrow, come into the tent for the lessons."

This chapter is 3500 characters. Brothers and sisters, it’s nearly 8000 characters again today.