Chapter 354: Wild Medicine

The Evil Filament is most adept at corroding treasures of "supreme rigidity and supreme yang."

For the Evil Filament, this "upper half" of the Ghost Root Tree is barely edible.

The Ghost Root Tree did not act out of momentary carelessness.

Its cunning technique evaded Xu Yuan's various artifices and Dafu.

Yet it discovered that this mass, resembling silk, had actually stuck to itself and come along.

For once the Evil Filament makes contact, it entangles, and the speed of corrosion is extremely fast.

The Ghost Root Tree could no longer shake it off.

Thus, the Evil Filament kept sprouting and winding, tightly wrapping the tree trunk and clogging those tree eyes.

It had no effect whatsoever on the Ghost Roots underground; the Ghost Roots could flee along with the upper half and the Evil Filament.

But under the wrapping of the Evil Filament, the entire Ghost Root Tree was extremely weak.

The Ghost Roots underground also gradually withered.

Xu Yuan used the Three Hairpins to gouge out a tree eye, suddenly realizing he did not know in which tree eye the "True Seed" lay.

Xu Yuan felt this was no big deal, so the Three Hairpins thrust out repeatedly.

Since they could not be distinguished, he would gouge out all thirteen eyes!

The Ghost Root Tree trembled weakly.

With every tree eye lost, it withered a bit more.

After all thirteen tree eyes were gouged out, this bizarre tree trunk withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, beginning to shatter with crackling and crashing sounds from the branches at the treetop.

Scattering into countless wood chips.

Xu Yuan looked down; underground, those Ghost Roots were still struggling.

Xu Yuan thought for a moment; in this Ghost Wushan, people were still searching for the Ghost Root Tree—this thing had better not die now.

The collapse of the tree trunk could no longer be stopped.

Xu Yuan had a sudden inspiration: try it; even if it fails, there is no loss.

Xu Yuan reached out and grasped the "Yin-Yang Guillotine," which he had not used for a long time.

After obtaining the Dragon-Slaying Sword, and later the Lightning Long Blade, plus his own Sword Pill, he used this "treasure" less often.

But the ability of this treasure to divide Yin and Yang could still come in handy many times.

Such as now.

Xu Yuan drew the blade and struck.

He perfectly sliced the Ghost Root Tree into "Yin" and "Yang" halves.

The Ghost Roots representing Yin and the tree trunk representing Yang separated cleanly.

Afterwards, Xu Yuan retracted the Evil Filament.

This evil thing took a bite.

Its power seemed to have improved.

But my Lord generally had no use for it, so he casually clenched his hand, transforming it back into a sinister pill and storing it away.

The tree trunk shattered completely.

The Ghost Roots rolled angrily and painfully underground, as if dozens or even hundreds of giant earthworms were about to burst from the ground to fight Xu Yuan to the death and avenge themselves!

Xu Yuan sneered: "I spared your life, yet you do not quickly roll away! Do you still want to come and die?"

If this thing dared to charge out, My Lord would mercilessly burn it to ashes with a mouthful of fire.

The Ghost Roots immediately felt guilty.

When whole, it was already not this fellow's match; let alone when it was only half of itself.

Moreover, most of its abilities lay in the tree eyes, and now all the tree eyes were in the other party's hands.

The Ghost Roots, fierce in appearance but cowardly within, thrashed a few more times underground.

As if issuing a threat: "Just you wait!"

Then it drilled deep underground, and the ground immediately calmed down.

The Ghost Roots had already fled several hundred zhang and dove another hundred zhang deeper underground—from the surface, its traces could no longer be found.

Only then did Xu Yuan nod in satisfaction.

He stored away the various artifices and prepared to meet up with the two mountain runners.

But he suddenly saw Dafu swaying and unable to stand steadily.

"Dafu, what is wrong with you?"

Xu Yuan picked up Dafu; Dafu's whole body was burning hot!

Dafu very much disliked being held in Fan Zhezi's arms, but at this moment he was too weak to stand steadily and had no strength to struggle.

I am probably sick... Dafu thought in his heart.

I really should not have been greedy...

Xu Yuan's brows furrowed straight; he also saw that Dafu was sick. Could it be because he ate something from the tree knot?

Instinctively, he felt this "illness" must be related to the Pus Crow or Qiu Ningtai.

"If it cannot be cured, we can only go and beg Qiu Ningtai."

Xu Yuan carried Dafu back.

On the way, they passed a cliff.

Dafu suddenly opened his eyes, struggled fiercely from Xu Yuan's embrace, and threw himself to the cliff edge—he jumped off the cliff!

Xu Yuan frowned; although he knew Dafu would certainly not die from falling off a cliff, what was he doing?

Xu Yuan stepped on his Fire Wheels and followed down.

Dafu was somewhere in the middle of the cliff, chipping at the rock with its flat beak.

On this cliff face grew a kind of purplish-red small grass that Xu Yuan had never seen before.

Dafu was too weak to exert strength; after chipping twice, the rock did not budge.

Instead, Dafu's whole body went soft and weak; its two large webbed feet could not hold the stone, and it slid downward.

Xu Yuan quickly caught it.

Dafu struggled a few times, then helplessly gave up, truly having no strength left.

It tried hard to hide the pair of strangely shaped small hands it was born with under its wings, not wanting Fan Zhezi to see them.

Then it pointed at those small grasses with the tip of its wing.

Xu Yuan understood, urged Huo Lun'er to fly over, and the Sword Pill scraped across the cliff face, digging out all those small grasses.

The roots of the small grasses were deeply embedded in the cracks of the stone wall.

Root stems like beans grew on the roots.

They emitted a strong medicinal scent.

Dafu pecked one, swallowed it, then let out a long breath, tilted its head, and fell asleep.

Xu Yuan flew back to the cliff and looked down to observe Dafu.

Its high fever was receding.

Xu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

He carefully stored the remaining medicinal herbs.

This should be a precious medicine he had never seen before.

Later, he would feed it to strengthen his own medicine pill.

His resistance to the illnesses of Ju Ya and Qiu Ningtai would thus increase by a few degrees.

The purpose of this mountain entry was successfully achieved; after finding Bai Laoyan and Gao Guanzi, Xu Yuan prepared to leave the mountain and return immediately.

That True Seed had not yet reached the most mature state described by that my lord.

This was because the Ghost-Needle Wood had not swallowed a great cultivator.

But Xu Yuan did not feel regret.

How could everything be perfect?

The Ghost-Needle Wood was already extremely cunning; having found it with such difficulty, he naturally could not let it go, otherwise he might never find it again.

Moreover, that my lord was watching hungrily from nearby.

This "True Seed" was the key to whether one could advance to the Fifth Rank, so naturally it had to be secured.

Being too greedy might result in drawing water with a bamboo basket—nothing gained.

Xu Yuan would not make such a mistake.

By the river, a battle had just taken place.

On the ground and on the surrounding giant rocks, some traces remained.

But the battle was not fierce; the disparity in strength between the two sides was vast, and the weaker side was defeated very quickly.

Firewood knives, axes, bows, arrows, and other items lay scattered aside.

Gao Guanzi and Bai Laoyan were deathly pale; each was wrapped in a lump of dark yellow viscous fluid, with only their two heads exposed.

They looked as if... they were insects wrapped in two lumps of resin.

Above their heads, the group of six-winged strange insects had split into two groups.

One part hooked the viscous fluid with their insect legs and fluttered their wings in flight.

The other part raised their buttocks, continuously replenishing the viscous fluid to ensure the two mountain runners could not break free.

My lord said to the Rank Dan Xiu under his command, "How is your recovery?"

"In another half an hour or so, it will be about right."

My lord nodded: "Go first to that forest just now; when you can use your nose, we will continue searching for the Ghost-Needle Wood."

My lord turned and walked away, and those strange insects all followed.

Suddenly, he saw someone walk out from the forest nearby: "Release the two of them, and this my lord can let bygones be bygones!"

(End of this chapter)