Chapter 130

This person is none other than the Tian Shu Sect's top expert, Ye Zhiqiu's Senior Disciple—Lu Xingfeng.

On the night of his coup attempt, he was first severely wounded by Ye Zhiqiu and lost an arm. He tried to summon the Snake God to threaten the Tian Shu Sect's thousands of disciples and force Ye Zhiqiu to submit, but was then defeated by the combined efforts of Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi.

In the end, he fell outside the Ancestral Hall into Zhuiyingjian.

Thanks to his strong Internal Skill, he didn't die, and has been scraping by in the depths of Zhuiyingjian, exposed to wind and dew, clinging to life until now.

He's almost forgotten how many days have passed since he fell; every day and night, he faces constant danger of losing his life, and he can only do everything possible to stay alive.

Nowadays, he wraps himself in animal skins, his hair and beard grown long and filthy, resembling a savage.

His body is covered in festering wounds that emit a revolting stench; although he can search for herbs to cope, in this environment and with his condition, it only slightly slows the march toward death.

He is unwilling to die like this, but he also knows he has reached his limit.

Perhaps in an hour, perhaps tonight, at most three to five days, he will ultimately die from his wounds and illness or starvation, or become a beast's meal.

Just now he came here intending to find a place to hang himself, to actively end his life.

But he saw snakes slithering out one after another; deep down he still had a survival instinct, and subconsciously he thought of avoiding the poisonous snakes, thus noticing the abnormality of the snake swarm.

Lu Xingfeng stared at the direction the snake swarm departed, muttering to himself: 'Such a sudden phenomenon—could it be… could it be that Heaven is guiding me, wanting to give me a way to live?'

Thinking this, hope to survive reignited in his heart; gritting his teeth, he dragged his broken body, limping painfully as he followed.

——

Ning Jinli summoned countless snakes by the riverbank and quickly found the needed Purple-Belly Gold-Spotted Snake among them.

However, this kind of snake is rare even within Zhuiyingjian.

Only one is found among hundreds or thousands.

Moreover, it is tiny—about the thickness of a thumb and less than half a meter long.

"Come on, come over." Ning Jinli crouched and beckoned to the newly discovered Purple-Belly Gold-Spotted Snake.

The other snakes obediently lay around; the small Purple-Belly Gold-Spotted Snake left the swarm, crawled to Ning Jinli's feet, and slightly raised its head.

Ning Jinli picked up the snake, brought it close, and examined it carefully; it basically matched the drawing by Lu Jue Ming.

To be safe, she also took several all-around photos with her phone, so she could have them verified later.

Although it is an exactly identical parallel universe world, here and her side differ by over two thousand years, and the natural environment varies greatly; if she directly brought the snake over, it might well die.

So, after taking the photos, she took out the purified water bottle she had brought from the warehouse beforehand.

It was a brand-new bottle produced by the factory, with a capacity of four liters, unused and very clean.

"I don't know how much snake venom will be enough," Ning Jinli muttered while unscrewing the cap, "Anyway, just get as much as possible."

"Come on, spit your venom into this."

She held the plastic bottle with one hand and placed the snake's mouth at the bottle's opening with the other.

The snake obeyed her, opened its mouth, and expelled the venom from its venom glands.

Two strands of viscous venom slowly flowed down the bottle's mouth, but they stopped before reaching the bottom.

"That's all?" Ning Jinli frowned, "Can you spit out a bit more? Please."

The little snake tensed its body, opening and closing its mouth; it was clearly trying hard, but unfortunately its venom was indeed exhausted, and squeezing hard yielded nothing.

"Alright, thanks for your trouble." Ning Jinli had no choice but to put it back on the ground.

Since waiting for it to produce new venom would take too much time, Ning Jinli had no choice but to continue summoning more snakes.

As batch after batch of snakes poured in from all directions, the number of Purple-Belly Gold-Spotted Snakes appearing also increased.

Although it's a one-in-a-thousand find, the sheer quantity was as numerous as cow hairs.

Within the next half hour, Ning Jinli actually filled the four-liter purified water bottle with nearly two-thirds of venom.

"That should be enough…"

Ning Jinli screwed the cap tight, waved at the snake swarm, and said, "Thanks for your hard work, thank you, you may all disperse now!"

The snake swarm then receded like a tide.

At this very moment, the inconveniently mobile Lu Xingfeng finally arrived nearby.

The dense, wave-like surging snake swarm frightened him so much he dared not breathe, let alone move forward; he could only lie behind a stone and gaze into the distance.

Due to the distance and his poor condition, he could only make out a vague figure on the riverbank.

He could barely see that the person seemed to be holding something in hand; he couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman, let alone make out appearance or clothing.

"Is… is someone there? Are there other people here?" Lu Xingfeng instantly became excited.

Seeing that figure walk off into the distance, Lu Xingfeng scrambled after it, rolling and crawling.

He couldn't care about anything else.

Anyway, as long as he could see a living person, it might mean that the other could take him out of this damned place!

By the riverside, Ning Jinli carried the freshly collected snake venom, strode into the Spacetime Portal, hurrying to get the venom for medicine-making, and failed to notice Lu Xingfeng far behind her.

And in Lu Xingfeng's eyes, the vague figure he had just seen vanished into thin air!

By the time he finally managed to reach the riverbank, there was not even a trace of a person left.

The snake swarm had long since scattered, and the place seemed as if nothing had happened at all.

"Could what I saw be… an illusion?"

Lu Xingfeng stood frozen, his pupils trembling violently: "No… it's not an illusion… I definitely saw a living person!"

"Where are you! Where are you!"

"Come out! Come out!"

Lu Xingfeng widened his eyes and roared repeatedly in all directions.

But there was no sound in reply.

The hope that had barely appeared shattered in an instant; he couldn't accept it, collapsed to his knees and wailed loudly.

Only after crying until he was nearly out of strength did he gradually calm down.

Wait…… what I saw was, that person was right here, and suddenly disappeared…… How can a living person just vanish into thin air?

Is it a ghost?

Or an Immortal?!

Lu Xingfeng, tears streaming, kowtowed and said, "Whether you are a ghost or an Immortal, I beg you…… point me a clear path, take me out! I…… I really don't want to die here, neither human nor ghost! I'm unwilling!"

Suddenly, he noticed faint footprints on the ground.

Although the muddy ground churned by the swarming snakes was a mess of marks, one could still barely make out that someone had indeed stepped there.

Then those faint footprints extended forward a few steps before abruptly stopping.

"That's it!" Lu Xingfeng exclaimed, looking up to the sky, "It must be an Immortal! The Immortal just returned to heaven, so…… that's why they vanished instantly!"

"Immortal above! Please have pity on me, take me away from this place!"

"In the future I will sincerely make offerings!"

Lu Xingfeng was devout beyond measure, begging and kowtowing at the same time.

Even though there was still no movement, he didn't stop; he believed that as long as he kept kowtowing and praying, the Immortal would surely appear again!

On the other side, after Ning Jinli collected the venom of the purple-bellied gold-spotted snake, she immediately sent it to the pharmaceutical R&D lab of the medical company.

Is this enough?

She put the large bottle down on the table with a clang, "If it's not enough, I'll go get more."

Lu Jue Ming stared at the large water bottle with a four-liter capacity before him, dazed for several seconds, "Miss Ning, this big bottle…… is all of it?"

"Yes," Ning Jinli said, pulling out her phone and opening the photo she had just taken, "Take a look—is this the kind of snake? I shouldn't have gotten the wrong one, right?"

Lu Jue Ming looked astonished, stared at the photo for a moment to identify it, then nodded, "You didn't get it wrong; this is indeed the purple-bellied gold-spotted snake."

Ning Jinli let out a long breath, "Good, good…… By the way, you still haven't told me whether it's enough or not."

Lu Jue Ming's cheeks twitched, he could hardly contain himself, "Actually…… just two milliliters is enough……"

Ning Jinli: ……

Lu Jue Ming's expression was complex; once again he suppressed the strong curiosity welling up in his heart.

It's one thing that Ning Jinli could find, in such a short time, a snake that had clearly been extinct for hundreds of years, but she actually brought back over three liters of its venom.

How much venom can a single poisonous snake produce?!

She collected that much?

It's simply unbelievable, simply…… terrifying.

How on earth did she manage to do that?

Heaven knows how great a shock Lu Jue Ming received.

Lu Jue Ming quietly calmed his emotions, opened the bottle cap, and carefully extracted a drop with a test tube, "Miss Ning, given that this snake venom is an important ingredient in several secret formulas of Shennong's Materia Medica, and…… the purple-bellied gold-spotted snake is theoretically extinct, the value of just this single drop is already immeasurable."

Ning Jinli laughed and said, "Then don't waste it, anyway I've given all of this to you—how you study and refine it is entirely up to you."

"Yes, Miss Ning." Lu Jue Ming took a deep breath, "I've already prepared the other medicinal ingredients needed; now I'll start making the medicine."

"Alright, then I won't disturb you. Let me know when it's done, and I'll send it over to Grandfather Zheng's side." Ning Jinli said this and decisively left the lab.

Just as she was planning to go to the office to wait, Shangguan Ying also suddenly called her.

"Jinli, there's something I need your help with," Shangguan Ying said bluntly, "Where are you now? I'll send a car to pick you up; we'll discuss the details after you arrive."

Ning Jinli said, "I'm at the medical company."

"Good, the car will be there within ten minutes."

From Shangguan Ying's tone, the matter was obviously urgent.

Ning Jinli could only brief Lu Jue Ming, telling him to deliver the finished medicine to Professor Zheng's side when it was ready, then she hurried downstairs of the company.

Not long after, a black sedan came speeding like the wind and lightning.

Even armed special police were clearing the way ahead and behind.

The driver hurriedly got out, opened the car door, "Miss Ning, please get in."

Ning Jinli got in without a word, waited for the driver to start the car, then asked, "Where are you taking me?"

"The airport," the driver replied, "and then a special plane will take you abroad."

Ning Jinli blinked, "Going abroad? To which country and place? What am I supposed to do?"

The driver said, "Sorry, Miss Ning, this is confidential; I only know this much, and I'm only responsible for getting you to the airport—over there they've arranged a special plane to pick you up."

Ning Jinli was completely dazed.

After all, this was truly too sudden.

She didn't even know what she was supposed to do.

If she didn't trust Shangguan Ying, she would have jumped out of the car and fled.

"Can I make a few phone calls? Otherwise, if I suddenly disappear, someone will worry." Ning Jinli said.

The driver nodded, "Sure."

Thus Ning Jinli called Su Yi and Zheng Houcheng in turn, saying she was going abroad for a trip.

An hour later, the car arrived at the airport.

Ning Jinli boarded a special plane, and aside from the captain, flight attendants, and air marshals, she was the only passenger.

The plane took off quickly, and only then did she learn from the cabin crew her destination—Kuche Bogezhen.

Upon hearing the place name, Ning Jinli was greatly surprised and blurted out, "Isn't that the site of the worst nuclear power plant explosion in history?"

"Yes, Miss Ning." The flight attendant placed food and drinks before her, "Miss Ning, we'll arrive at that airport in about nine hours; please have something to eat and rest well."

Ning Jinli's head buzzed.

As she knew, that nuclear power plant explosion happened decades ago, causing a terrible radiation leak, so even to this day, Kuche Bogezhen and its surrounding areas remain a human no‑go zone.

That's really strange.

A human‑restricted zone saturated with nuclear radiation, and it's far abroad; logically it should have no connection with one's own country.

Why would Sister Ying ask her to go over and help?

Help with what?

Ning Jinli, while eating, began to ponder.

Considering that Sister Ying knows she has been practicing the Tian Xuan Heart Method, and Sister Ying also seems to know this technique, then…

"Could it be that they're asking me to go over and absorb the remaining nuclear radiation in the restricted zone?" Ning Jinli muttered to herself, "No… If it were just that, there'd be no need to be so urgent; it must be something else."

Ning Jinli couldn't figure out a reason, and she also knew that the people on the plane certainly, like that driver, were unaware of the inside story.

She decided to stop speculating altogether.

After finishing her food and drink, she closed her eyes and slept to restore her spirit and sharpen her edge.

At the moment Ning Jinli's chartered plane took off—

Somewhere near Kucheboge Zhen.

The sky was thick with dark clouds, and the lush vegetation on the ground had already covered the ruins.

A few people wearing special helmets and combat suits moved through the vegetation‑clad ruins, quietly approaching the barbed‑wire fence.

Then, ignoring the faded warning sign on the fence, they easily cut a hole through the rust‑stained wire and passed through one by one.

"Wait… let me rest a bit, I'm too tired," someone in the team panted, making the request.

The others halted, and light laughter sounded from beneath their helmet visors.

"What are you laughing at?" the man who made the request plopped onto the ground.

A few mercenaries, in front of him, began conversing in some obscure foreign language.

The man, laboriously removing his helmet visor, coldly reminded, "Before departure Professor Bruce told you that I'm leading this operation, and I also emphasized that you all know English, so you must converse in English."

The mercenary squad leader smoothly took off his helmet, walked up to the man, and in a slightly stiff tone said, "We were only talking about the weather."

The man finally managed to remove his heavy helmet.

The mercenary squad leader pulled two cigarettes from his pocket, lit one for himself, handed the other to the man sitting on the ground, and lit it for him.

The man lowered his head, took a big drag, exhaled thick smoke, and said, "I understand your language; you're mocking my stamina."

The mercenary squad leader's beard‑filled face clearly froze for a moment.

The man added, "I'm not one of you long‑trained mercenaries; managing to trek two days with you, avoiding checkpoints, and reach this place is already quite good for me."

"Sorry, Mr. Ning. Please forgive us," the mercenary squad leader apologized.

The man slowly lifted his head, revealing a gaunt, scraggly‑bearded face, his eyes dark, and, puffing on his cigarette, cursed, "Damn it, if that incident back then hadn't gone sour, I wouldn't have fled to M Guo, taken on a mission to seek shelter, crossed the ocean to this cursed place… Ning Jinli, you little whore, you've made my life miserable…"