Chapter 431: Is It Really That Mysterious?

Mu Yuanzhi asked curiously: "How miraculous? What is this?"

Gu Rongjin also became interested, moved in to look, but it was completely dark and he couldn't see anything clearly.

Cao Cixiu smiled as he put away the waterskin, saying: "It's better for the princess not to know."

Upon hearing that, Gu Rongjin disparagingly walked away.

It's definitely not a good thing.

"Why is Xiao Yichen jumping around like that? Did he really eat fake Azhi?" Mu Yuanzhi found it both bizarre and utterly disgusting.

Insane!

Everyone's expressions showed they had seen through Xiao Yichen's cannibalism but chose not to expose it.

Even if it was done while losing rationality from qi deviation, the fact remains a fact and cannot be ignored.

Gu Rongjin: "How can we completely eliminate Xiao Yichen? Lord Cao, why not just douse him with a chilling splash?"

"I'd like to, but he's too evasive, and I have only a little of this good stuff left." Cao Cixiu said.

Mu Yuanzhi asked again: "Is this bottle of yours only effective against Xiao Yichen?"

"No, dousing anyone with it will rot their skin and flesh." Cao Cixiu corrected.

Mu Yuanzhi: ……

"It's so dangerous, carrying it on you without fear of leakage..." Gu Rongjin admired.

Cao Cixiu: "I naturally have a way; Young Master Gu need not worry, it won't harm others."

As long as he doesn't want to.

"Let's return to the issue we were just discussing; we won't figure out Xiao Yichen's situation anytime soon, we need to leave here and go back to the front mountain." Pei Si said, "Just now the princess said the Classic of Mountains and Seas records a kind of ancient legendary plant called danmu and yansu grass that can cure all poisons; having them might allow us to resolve the toxic plants causing mutations beneath the Dead Sea."

"Oh? What do they look like?" Cao Cixiu asked Mu Yuanzhi.

"I'll draw them." Mu Yuanzhi asked them: "Who has paper and brush?"

"I do." Pei Si produced a handkerchief and a box of rouge.

Mu Yuanzhi: "……That'll do."

Although she had never used rouge to draw on a handkerchief before, she would do her best!

Thus, under everyone's gaze, Mu Yuanzhi concentrated, dabbing rouge with her fingertip and carefully painting on the handkerchief.

"I've never seen them either; these are just illustrations from the Classic of Mountains and Seas I've seen, and I don't know if they're accurate." Mu Yuanzhi said.

"Exactly, didn't we also find them last time in the Black Sea?" Gu Rongjin said.

After Mu Yuanzhi finished drawing, Cao Cixiu took it in hand, saying, "Let me ask and see if there are any."

"How do you ask? Can those animals even recognize a drawing?!" This is so miraculous it's almost catching up to human intelligence.

"Who knows? Anyway, it's a method."

Thus Cao Cixiu took the handkerchief to search, while Gu Rongjin and Pei Si had already memorized the appearance of those two plants; the four of them walked, searched, and asked, but found nothing.

"Doing this is no different from looking for a needle in the ocean." Gu Rongjin sighed.

"I'm still thinking of other ways."

Gu Rongjin knew Mu Yuanzhi wasn't speaking now, but he felt anxious inside, thinking of going outside to look for a Qilin.

But they had no idea what to do; blindly searching was a makeshift solution, and they still had to guard against Xiao Yichen.

At that moment, Cao Cixiu suddenly stopped, he fished out a strangely shaped dagger; Mu Yuanzhi saw the dagger engraved with a weird rune, and before she could see it clearly, she saw Cao Cixiu slash his right palm with the dagger, then drip the blood onto his left hand.

A strange thing happened: patterns resembling tree rings appeared on Cao Cixiu's left palm, concentric circles of bloody markings clearly visible.

What is this?

Gu Rongjin wondered in his heart whether Cao Cixiu had become a tree spirit—why would a person's palm show tree rings!

Although both harbored doubts, neither spoke; they simply waited quietly for Cao Cixiu.

Pei Si, however, seemed unfazed, and helpfully explained: "These are the tree rings of coffin wood."

"?"

What does that mean?

They heard but didn't understand.

Pei Si continued, smiling, to explain: "It's the tree rings from the coffin board he was born in."

"I get it." Gu Rongjin nodded.

"What did you understand?" Why doesn't she understand.

"Look, Lord Cao smeared the blood of the tree rings onto the caterpillar on his shoulder!" Gu Rongjin immediately changed the subject.

Only then did Mu Yuanzhi notice the caterpillar resting on Cao Cixiu's shoulder looked somewhat familiar.

Could it be the very one she had driven away earlier?!

I see—it was that strange caterpillar that went back and told Cao Cixiu, allowing them to find the place!

She had wrongly blamed it!

"Is Lord Cao giving the caterpillar an eye-opening?"

Although Mu Yuanzhi doesn't understand this sort of sorcerous mysticism, she instinctively blurted out that answer.

Pei Si nodded.

This…… is it really that mysterious?

Even though she herself is reborn, and even though she has seen the National Teacher's even more mysterious techniques, seeing this still shocks her.

No matter how they discuss behind him, it doesn't affect Cao Cixiu; he remains focused on his task.

After smearing the blood, the caterpillar crawled onto Cao Cixiu's handkerchief, circled a few times, then fell with a soft pat to the ground and quickly wriggled in a direction.

"If we're not careful we'll lose sight of it!" Gu Rongjin followed closely behind Cao Cixiu.

Mu Yuanzhi: "No worries, Lord Cao can hear them speak anyway."

Cao Cixiu ahead said: "If it's too far, you can't hear it; you have to be very close."

"But after opening the eyes, it's definitely better than before, right, Ah Xiu?" Pei Si said.

"Yes, Your Highness is smart."

How fast can a caterpillar go? Mu Yuanzhi today really broadened her horizons; I don't know if it's because the eyes were opened, but it quickly leapt ten li, and they needed to run to catch up.

Mu Yuanzhi couldn't run anymore, so Gu Rongjin carried her on his back using lightness skill.

"How much longer?" Pei Si asked Cao Cixiu.

"Soon, it said it's not far ahead." Cao Cixiu said.

Will there really be the legendary plants from the Classic of Mountains and Seas here?

No one knows whether a caterpillar can recognize it.

After walking for about half an hour, they arrived at a vast meadow; here the view is endless, and steep cliffs can be seen.

The Back Mountain truly is a cave heaven, completely different from the Front Mountain, also fraught with danger; no wonder the ancestral masters forbid casual entry, otherwise those with low cultivation easily go in and never come out, Mu Yuanzhi thought.

The caterpillar kept leaping; Cao Cixiu stayed close behind it, and then they saw Cao Cixiu stop at the edge of the cliff, looking down.

"Could it be under the cliff?" Mu Yuanzhi asked hesitantly.

Gu Rongjin disagreed: "What's the big deal? As a martial artist, you shouldn't be afraid of this height, right? It's not like you're jumping down. If Cao Gongzi is scared, I'll go up!"

He employed a bit of the goad tactic, full of tricks.