Chapter 25: The Dao of Poison: Corpse-Destroying Powder

As this voice fell into Xu Qing’s ears, his eyes widened abruptly.

His breathing grew rapid, and his mind roared; being able to enter the tent to attend lessons was something he had dreamed of, and in his current excitement, he took a deep breath and bowed deeply toward the tent.

"Many thanks, Master!"

Xu Qing said these four words with great sincerity.

It was a long while before he stood up and left the tent.

That day, he did not see Master Bai’s figure when he looked back, but he heard Master Bai’s criticisms of the young boy and girl from inside the tent.

Ignoring this, Xu Qing was already filled with intense excitement.

Upon returning to his residence, he immediately informed Captain Lei of the matter, and Captain Lei was also very pleasantly surprised; especially seeing how happy Xu Qing was, his smiles became more frequent, and he felt a sense of emotion in his heart.

Although the child before him had not told him the reason for his frequent trips to the forbidden zone during this period, he knew that the other was searching for that life-extending Heaven Fate Flower for his sake.

Such a child, who was both affectionate and righteous and had saved his life, how could he not cherish him in this cold world? It was just that he felt a pang of heartache whenever he saw Xu Qing return exhausted.

Seeing Xu Qing happy now, Captain Lei was also happy, so that day, Captain Lei cooked a rather sumptuous dinner for Xu Qing, during which he repeatedly urged him to respect his teacher and the Dao, to be respectful to Master Bai, and so on; Xu Qing took it all to heart very earnestly.

Even after finishing his meal and returning to his room, Xu Qing’s mood remained in a state of excitement.

Thinking that he could go into the tent to attend lessons tomorrow, Xu Qing felt expectant while also tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

In his anxiety, he suddenly thought of the scene when he was in the slums, meeting the schoolteacher for the first time with the other children.

So he opened his leather pouch to organize it, finally taking out a newer pouch and placing most of his spirit coins inside, along with many of his White Pills.

In Xu Qing’s understanding, knowledge was priceless, and giving away all his savings was nothing.

But he had to consider Captain Lei, so he kept half.

After doing this, he let out a long breath, silently closed his eyes, began his breathing cultivation, and waited for dawn.

For Xu Qing, this night was somewhat long.

Until the first rays of the sun rose into the sky, Xu Qing unusually changed into a new set of clothes, washed his hands clean, and then walked out of the room.

Just as he was about to leave, he was called back by Captain Lei, who never woke up early during this period.

After Captain Lei gave him meticulous instructions, Xu Qing nodded tirelessly, listening earnestly; finally, Captain Lei helped Xu Qing straighten his clothes and handed him a leather pouch.

"You cannot go empty-handed to attend lessons in the tent."

"I have some," Xu Qing said softly.

Captain Lei glared, but seeing the persistence in Xu Qing’s eyes, he put away the pouch and returned to his room to take out a flask of wine.

"I know Master Bai likes to drink; take this with you."

This time Xu Qing did not refuse; after taking the wine flask, he left the courtyard. After walking a few steps, he turned back, waved at Captain Lei standing there, and ran a few steps, heading straight for Master Bai’s tent.

Watching Xu Qing’s back, Captain Lei smiled.

"This child, I didn't even see him this happy when we were distributing Seven-Leaf Grass."

Mixed with feelings of happiness and nervousness, Xu Qing arrived at the spot outside the tent where he had stood for over a month; he took a deep breath and knocked on the tent door.

"Come in."

Hearing Master Bai’s voice, Xu Qing lowered his head to check his clothes, tugged hard at his lapels to make them look neater, and only then slowly pushed open the door, seeing Master Bai and the young boy and girl sitting inside, in addition to the guards.

When Xu Qing looked at them, they were also looking at Xu Qing.

Compared to Master Bai’s calm expression, the boy and girl’s expressions were much richer; the boy, known as Chen Feiyuan, looked unconvinced, while the girl, Ting Yu, was mostly curious.

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze, bowed deeply to Master Bai, and then took out the prepared pouch and wine flask, imitating the practice from the slums, and offered them with both hands.

Xu Qing, who did not look up, did not see that at this moment, a hint of gentleness appeared in Master Bai’s calm eyes.

Master Bai did not take the pouch, but only took the flask of wine and, in front of Xu Qing, took a sip, as if it were some kind of ritual.

"Let us begin the lesson." Putting down the wine flask, Master Bai spoke slowly.

It was still the review first; Ting Yu and Chen Feiyuan seemed to be competing with Xu Qing, clearly having done their homework last night, as their answers were very crisp; after answering, they immediately looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing did not look at them, but instead looked at Master Bai, answering the other’s review one by one, very comprehensively; after this, Master Bai nodded and began the formal lesson.

Xu Qing listened extremely earnestly; he cherished the opportunity to enter the tent and did not lose focus for a single moment throughout the process.

Chen Feiyuan and Ting Yu were the same, which made Master Bai feel a bit of amusement in his heart.

Just like that, another ten days passed, and Xu Qing had grown accustomed to attending lessons in the tent, but his level of earnestness had not diminished in the slightest, and the knowledge he gained became increasingly abundant.

However, compared to him, Chen Feiyuan returned to his old ways after a few days, while only Ting Yu continued to compete with Xu Qing, being extremely earnest.

After class, the two would talk a bit more, but it was mostly Ting Yu curiously asking about life in the camp, while Xu Qing was taciturn, only answering with a few simple sentences.

As for Chen Feiyuan, he remained unconvinced by Xu Qing from beginning to end and barely spoke a word.

Xu Qing did not care about this; he was not good at socializing to begin with, so he would leave as soon as class ended to head to the forbidden zone. The reason Xu Qing went to the forbidden zone every day now included the study of plants.

Before he understood plant knowledge, all the flowers, plants, and trees in the forbidden zone looked no different to him, but now it was different.

Xu Qing could often discover some medicinal herbs he recognized, and every such discovery deepened his understanding of plants significantly.

However, Xu Qing also slowly discovered that most of the plants in the forbidden zone were evil and poisonous, with few righteous-yang medicinal herbs.

Therefore, his research on medicinal herbs was focused on poison from the very beginning.

As those poisonous plants were gathered by him, he also built a simple hut in the small canyon to serve as a pharmacy for studying poisonous plants.

Relying on his constitution that could neutralize toxins, Xu Qing was very bold in his research on poisonous plants; after trying various combinations and mixtures, he finally concocted an unknown poison.

This poison was a mixture of eight poisonous plants, with snake venom added, concocted from these nine substances.

The toxin contained strong corrosiveness; Xu Qing had tested it, and a single drop falling into flesh could turn the corpse of a mutated beast used for the experiment into blood within five breaths.

But it was only that fast on corpses; for living things, for some reason, the time would increase significantly.

Even so, Xu Qing was already very satisfied with this first type of poison he had concocted in his life.

After drying it into powder, he named it Corpse-Destroying Powder.

As for the righteous-yang medicinal herbs, although they were rare, by using the method of yin and yang poles, Xu Qing still managed to simply concoct some semi-finished medicinal liquids.

A small portion of it was mixed with Seven-Leaf Grass and possessed some effect in suppressing foreign substances; Xu Qing had once taken it to ask Master Bai if it could be combined with his prescription to have a better effect on Captain Lei.

Master Bai told him that apart from the Heaven Fate Flower, everything else was useless, and his prescription would eventually lose its effect.

The facts were indeed so; even though Captain Lei took his medicine on time every day, the weakness in his body was still visibly appearing. Xu Qing watched this, feeling silent in his heart.

Until this day, when the two were eating, after Captain Lei hesitated to speak, he still told Xu Qing that he felt he was no longer suited to stay in the scavenger camp and was preparing to buy residency in a nearby city in the near future.

"Kid, I know your path will never stop at this small camp; your future will be much further, so I won't ask you to come with me to retire."

The moment he heard this, Xu Qing, who was eating, paused his movements; after a long while, he lowered his head, remained silent for a long time, and asked softly.

"Will you come back?"

"Of course, I will come back occasionally." Captain Lei smiled and raised his hand, touching Xu Qing’s head for the first time, feeling emotional in his heart; he did not want Xu Qing to continue risking his life in the forbidden zone jungle for his sake.

Xu Qing instinctively wanted to dodge, but after looking at Captain Lei, he did not move, allowing Captain Lei’s hand to land smoothly on his head; as he stroked it gently, Captain Lei smiled.

"Besides, you can come see me anytime."

Hearing this, Xu Qing nodded heavily.

That night, Xu Qing opened his eyes many times while cultivating, looking toward Captain Lei’s room.

This emotion was only silently buried in Xu Qing’s heart several days later; every day, besides going to Master Bai’s to attend lessons, he spent more time in the forbidden zone, diligently searching for the Heaven Fate Flower.

It was just that this flower, as Master Bai said, was something one could only encounter by chance, not by seeking.