Chi Wan’s party stood at the entrance to the Black Sand Beach. It wasn’t just their group of ten, but also a hundred elite soldiers, each with a military pack. They wouldn’t be going in; they would wait outside. If she didn’t come out, they would set off fireworks to guide her.
Chi Wan had decided to go in alone first to scout the situation. If there were no problems, she would bring the Ghost Pearls straight out. With her level of martial arts, few places could hold her, and too many people would just be a burden.
It wasn’t that more people were necessarily bad, but the poison of the Black Sand Beach was strange, and one could be poisoned without knowing how.
Honglin had said not to bring too many people. Otherwise, they could have just mobilized the army and leveled the Black Sand Beach. With twenty thousand troops advancing bit by bit, how large could the beach be in a place as small as Masi?
At worst, they could dispatch a hundred thousand soldiers, one for each hill, and occupy the entire Black Sand Beach. No matter what ghosts or evil spirits were there, they would have nowhere to hide and would all have to die.
But three people had seen the black shadows under the light. Why hadn’t Chi Wan been cursed? Was it because of her profound internal energy?
If that were the case, she didn’t believe it was a curse. “Poison” seemed more fitting. But when were they poisoned? They hadn’t even entered the Black Sand Beach yet. What kind of poison would cause a palm print to appear on one’s back?
Chi Wan had thought about it for a long time. She had even given them acupuncture, coordinating it with her internal energy, but the effect was minimal. The poison had dissipated a little at the time, and the black palm print had faded, but after a night’s sleep, its color had deepened again.
Unless she treated them without rest, but she had persisted for three days and three nights, and the poison still hadn’t been completely eliminated. Yu Jiuzhou wouldn’t allow it to go on any longer.
They couldn’t have one person recover while another died.
In the end, they decided to rest for a few days and then enter the Black Sand Beach to search for the Ghost Pearls. Perhaps the pearls had a miraculous effect on detoxification.
Despite this, Chi Wan still insisted on giving them acupuncture to ensure the poison didn’t spread, so the poison in their bodies was still contained within a very small area.
“The Black Sand Beach is only so big. I will leave marks along the way just in case. A day and night in Masi lasts for six shichen. To be safe, let’s count it as five. No matter what the situation is inside, I will start heading back after two and a half shichen.”
A round trip of five shichen would get her back just before dark.
Chi Wan decided to make several trips to understand the rules inside before seizing the Ghost Pearls in one go. The first trip would be mainly for reconnaissance.
“I’ll go with you. I’m already poisoned, so it doesn’t matter if I get poisoned again.”
Yu Xingchen stepped forward. None of them felt at ease letting Chi Wan go in alone. As for Honglin, she was ignored by everyone.
Xia Qu also stepped out. “I’ll go too. You know my skills, and I can also keep an eye on Honglin.”
“I’ll go too.”
“Me too.”
In a moment, several people had stepped forward. Not a single one wanted to wait behind. With their liege poisoned, they would find the antidote for her, even if it meant dying inside.
Chi Wan was speechless. Just as she was about to dissuade them, Yu Jiuzhou stepped out. “Me, Xia Qu, Xingchen, and you. The four of us will go together.”
“No.”
Chi Wan refused without hesitation. “There might not even be an antidote inside the Black Sand Beach. According to Honglin, the Ghost Pearl is one of the things that can get you into Mugu. The antidote is likely in Mugu. This trip is mainly to get the Ghost Pearls. Besides, the Black Sand Beach isn’t large. If something happens, I can get back quickly with my speed.”
Yu Jiuzhou was about to speak again, but Chi Wan shook her head firmly, her gaze serious.
Yu Jiuzhou hesitated for a moment. “I will wait for you outside. If you’re not out by dark, I will come in to find you.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely be back.”
Chi Wan took Yu Jiuzhou’s hand. Seeing this, everyone habitually turned their backs to them. Xia Qu casually knocked Honglin unconscious.
She leaned in and kissed Yu Jiuzhou’s lips. “Wait for me, Sister.”
She had been planning to make Honglin go in first, but the woman was now unconscious.
?
Chi Wan shot Xia Qu a glare. “Did you do that?”
“She has no tact.”
Seeing that Her Majesty and Her Highness were about to have an intimate moment, she should have known to turn around. Of course she had to be knocked out.
Resigned, Chi Wan could only use a silver needle to wake Honglin. Honglin looked around, confused. What had just happened? After a moment of recollection, she glared at Xia Qu. “You hit me?”
Xia Qu: “I did not.”
Look at that innocent face. If Chi Wan didn’t know the truth, she would have been fooled too.
Honglin clenched her fists, looking ready to fight Xia Qu. Chi Wan immediately said, “Let’s go. The sooner we go, the sooner we return.”
Honglin snorted. “Return soon? Don’t be too optimistic.”
She admitted Chi Wan was formidable, but the Black Sand Beach was no ordinary place. Although it wasn’t as large as other perilous lands, its dangers ranked among the top three.
“Enough nonsense. Let’s go.”
Chi Wan waved to Yu Jiuzhou, then tugged on the rope tied to Honglin and walked into the Black Sand Beach without hesitation.
During the day, the sand of the Black Sand Beach was still black, and the nearby seawater was tinted black by the sand.
“So ugly,” Chi Wan commented after a look around.
Honglin rolled her eyes at her. “Is Your Excellency here on a tour?”
“Since we’re here, why not appreciate it?”
Chi Wan looked around curiously. “Weren’t there supposed to be vengeful souls? I don’t see any.”
“Don’t say that!” Honglin glanced around nervously, nearly scared to death by her. What was wrong with this person? Wasn’t it good that things were peaceful? Why did she have to go looking for them?
Was it that mystical?
Chi Wan was affected by Honglin’s nervousness and quickly looked around. There was nothing.
“Alright, let’s pick up the pace.”
She trudged through the sand, one deep step after another, but her speed increased steadily. Honglin was still able to keep up.
Seeing that Honglin’s speed was not slow, she recalled the chase that night. “Faster.”
It would be best if they could get the Ghost Pearls on this trip, so they wouldn’t have to come back a second time.
She ran swiftly along the route, but after a short while, a thick fog suddenly rolled in. The fog was black, and a small wooden boat floated in the sea. The sea breeze blew, causing the boat to knock against the beach with a dull, unsettling sound. The black fog grew thicker and thicker.
Honglin spoke in a low voice, “Do you see this black fog? This is the curse of the Black Sand Beach. The fog is filled with vengeful souls, so it’s useless to enter even during the day. It’s just that the black fog spreads outward at night. It has already passed the boundary marker. The people of Masi fear the Black Sand Beach and never come near, so they haven’t discovered that the fog has crossed the marker. In the morning, the fog recedes back to the center of the beach. We are about to enter the black fog.”
In other words, the place where they had stood last night was already filled with black fog. This black fog was the poison.
Chi Wan’s brow twitched. She threw a silver needle into the fog, and it immediately turned black. The fog was indeed poisonous, but whether it was a curse or a poison was yet to be determined.
She took out a mask and put it on, then looked at Honglin. “Do you need one?”
Honglin was speechless. “I’m human too.” She had been planning to tear a strip of cloth from her clothes to tie around her face.
“Oh.”
Chi Wan tossed her a mask. “You’ve taken my things, so you’d better lead the way honestly. Otherwise, my silver needles don’t have eyes.”
She had a gun. If she wanted to kill Honglin, the other woman couldn’t escape.
Honglin looked at the rope tied around her waist. She wanted to escape, but could she?
The two of them walked into the black fog together. Inside, it was eerily quiet. But not being quiet would have been just as eerie. Black sand, black fog, even the seawater was black.
Hmm? The hairs on the back of Chi Wan’s neck stood up. A series of faint, rustling footsteps came from behind her. Could vengeful souls have footsteps? If not for her keen hearing, she might not have been able to distinguish them at all. The sound was almost identical to the rustling of the sea breeze against the sand. If her ears weren’t so sharp, she probably wouldn’t have heard it.
She drew her saber and slashed behind her. She saw a person… covered in black fur? Her slash cut off a good deal of the creature’s fur, revealing its gray-green skin. The thing looked human, but its shape was somewhat bizarre, making one’s skin crawl.
Surprisingly, this person had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. It was both disgusting and terrifying. She remembered the dense shadows she had seen that night and immediately became vigilant. There had been many black shadows, not just one or two. There was only one “person” in front of her now, which meant there were more in the dark.
Honglin’s snake-like pupils constricted, and a sense of foreboding rose in her heart. “Damn it! We’re surrounded by monsters.”
“Aren’t they vengeful souls?”
“You just made one bleed.”
Oh, right. How could a soul bleed?
As soon as they finished speaking, the rustling sound around them grew louder. The air instantly became cold and oppressive. Logically, their route was supposed to be relatively safe. How could they have encountered monsters?
When Honglin’s ancestors entered, they hadn’t encountered any monsters, which was why Honglin believed the Black Sand Beach was filled with vengeful souls. She never expected them to be monsters.
“Do we get the Ghost Pearls from them?”
Chi Wan studied the monster before her with a grave expression. Did she have to cut this monster open and take out the Ghost Pearl like opening a clam for a pearl?
It wasn’t impossible. As long as she could get the Ghost Pearls, she would do whatever it took.
Honglin shook her head. “No. Follow the path to the end, and you’ll see the Ghost Pearls.”
“Then let’s hurry.”
Worried that killing the monster in front of them would provoke more, Chi Wan decided to speed up and run deeper inside. Finally, after a quarter of an hour, they reached a stone wall. The wall was high, about twenty meters, and was covered with dense holes. The Ghost Pearls were inside.
“Climb up and search each one. Not every hole will have a Ghost Pearl,” Honglin shouted in her raspy, unpleasant voice.
Suddenly, the sea breeze turned sharp, and the rustling sound grew louder. It sounded like many people, but it definitely wasn’t people. More and more monsters were approaching.
Chi Wan flew up to one of the holes without hesitation. “Honglin, you hold on. I’ll come down and save you after I find ten Ghost Pearls.”
She tied Honglin to a nearby rock.
“Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear all those monsters?” Tying her here was like feeding her to them.
The next second, Chi Wan threw down a gun.
Seeing the gun, Honglin stopped cursing Chi Wan. With this gun, even if she couldn’t hold off the monsters, she could shoot the rope and escape.
This person wasn’t so bad after all. She hadn’t completely left her to fend for herself.
No, wait. What kind of good person would tie her to a rock, treating her like a dog!
One by one, the monsters revealed themselves. Ten, twenty, more and more. Honglin immediately opened fire. The loud bang, coupled with a monster being killed in one shot, made the surrounding monsters hesitate and take a step back.
One shot had intimidated them, but as more monsters arrived, their eyes gleamed with ferocity. It seemed the gunshot had attracted even more monsters, and it had also stirred their savage nature.
Hearing the gunshot, Chi Wan glanced down and quickened her search for the Ghost Pearls. She suspected Honglin had fired deliberately, just as she had deliberately given Honglin the gun.
Just then, she saw a pearl glowing with a black light inside a hole. It looked like a black pearl, but its texture was different. She reached in and took the Ghost Pearl in her hand, feeling its matte surface. For something naturally formed to have such a texture, it would surely be highly sought after in the world of curios. It even looked a bit like a Dzi bead, a Daluo.
Daluo beads were oval, not perfectly round, with an overall elliptical shape that wasn’t entirely regular. Some parts were flat, giving it a unique texture.
The Ghost Pearl was just like that, only without a hole drilled through it. It was black with a hint of orange-red.
She placed the Ghost Pearl in the pouch at her waist and immediately went to find the next one.
The Ghost Pearls were quite hard to find. Out of a hundred holes, there might not be a single one. She searched nearly two thousand holes before finding ten pearls. Just then, the sound of a flute rose, its melody strange and eerie, sending a chill down her spine. She had heard this tune before; it was the one Honglin used to summon the Nine-Eyed Snakes.
Hmph, didn’t Honglin say there weren’t many Nine-Eyed Snakes left?
A liar, indeed. She even had a snake-charming flute hidden on her. It probably wouldn’t have worked on the ship; even if she had summoned the snakes, she was locked in an iron cage, and the snakes couldn’t have bitten through it to free her. But now was the perfect time. Escaping in the chaos was a good option.
However, Chi Wan had already obtained the Ghost Pearls. She was curious to see what the other woman would do.
Strangely, the monsters on the ground hissed at her as she stood on the cliff face, but they made no move to come up and attack her. They seemed afraid to approach the stone wall.
Chi Wan thought for a moment, then continued to climb the wall. After about five minutes of searching, she finally found another Ghost Pearl.
There must have been tens of thousands of holes in the entire cliff face. Based on the ratio of pearls to holes, it was nearly two hundred to one. The pearls were so hard to find. With tens of thousands of holes, there were probably only a few dozen Ghost Pearls in total. It was a good thing she was the one here. An ordinary person would never have been able to collect so many pearls in such a short time.
Not everyone could climb as if they were flying.
Down below, Honglin hadn’t expected her to be so fast and was concentrating on controlling the snakes. Surprisingly, the Nine-Eyed Snakes were truly effective against these monsters. Any monster bitten by a Nine-Eyed Snake quickly dissolved into a pile of fur. Its insides must have been absorbed, leaving only the outer fur and skin to fall to the ground. It was a disgusting sight.
Chi Wan didn’t hurry down. She was observing the state of the Nine-Eyed Snakes. After devouring the monsters, the snakes were rapidly growing larger. No wonder Honglin’s ancestors said the Nine-Eyed Snakes could devour vengeful souls. If the vengeful souls were these monsters, then it made perfect sense.
The legendary vengeful souls were monsters covered in fur. These monsters were dripping wet, clearly having come from the sea.
She gazed out at the sea and saw hair floating on the surface. These sea monsters really did lurk in the water, but it seemed they couldn’t leave the Black Sand Beach.
The seawater near the Black Sand Beach was black, and the sky was obscured by black fog. Everything in sight was black. The longer one stayed, the more one’s mood would be affected, possibly leading to hallucinations.
The monsters grew more numerous, a dense, crawling mass. Several thousand must have come ashore. Never mind several thousand monsters, even slaughtering several thousand pigs would be exhausting.
Hearing another gunshot, Chi Wan descended gracefully. To be so ethereal in such an environment… Honglin sneered and fired a shot at her.
“There are no bullets left.”
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have chosen this moment to come down. She wasn’t wary of the monsters, but of Honglin.
Honglin furiously smashed the gun on the ground. She had never used a gun before, let alone one from Great Zhou. All she knew was to pull the trigger to shoot. She had wanted to take the opportunity to kill Chi Wan.
But Chi Wan’s martial skill was too high for her to kill. Who would have thought the other woman would give her a gun? It was a golden opportunity. The gun should have had six bullets, but she had only fired five times.
Chi Wan opened her palm, revealing a bullet. “What a surprise.”
Honglin was truly infuriated. How could someone be so infuriating? Jiang Weiyang had helped her so much, yet her emotions had remained stable. But with Chi Wan, she was about to die of anger.
“I can’t kill you, but you can’t escape the monsters’ encirclement either. With so many monsters, you’ll die sooner or later.”
Chi Wan paid no mind to Honglin’s words. She watched the Nine-Eyed Snakes devouring the monsters, a plan forming in her mind. “You attracted the monsters, didn’t you?”
“You have a way to attract the vengeful souls, both to feed your Nine-Eyed Snakes and to kill me. You just didn’t expect the vengeful souls to be monsters, and so many of them. After all this, these few dozen snakes must be all you have left, right? A few dozen snakes against several thousand monsters, with even more in the sea. Even if the Nine-Eyed Snakes eat until they burst, they can’t finish them all.”
Honglin admitted she had miscalculated. But this person beside her seemed to know everything, yet pretended not to, only revealing it after she had fired the gun. It was clearly to humiliate her.
“So what? I can’t get out, and neither can you. Your two friends are outside waiting to die. You’ll all be buried with me.”
Damn it all. If she hadn’t used up her family’s inherited Ghost Pearls, she would have already obtained the jade plate and entered the Void. She wouldn’t have needed to come back here. Based on her last experience in the misty forest of Mugu, she was sure she could have succeeded this time. But now, surrounded by so many monsters, she felt she couldn’t escape. All her efforts were for naught.
Honglin angrily kicked a nearby rock, her body tensing for a moment from the pain. “Aren’t you going to think of a way out?” she demanded. “If you have any trump cards, use them now. Otherwise, once my snakes are eaten to death, you won’t live either.”
Chi Wan didn’t seem anxious at all and was even in the mood to argue with her. Could it be that she had a trump card?
Of course she did. But Chi Wan simply opened her palm again, revealing a Ghost Pearl. “Tell me, besides getting into the misty forest, what other uses do Ghost Pearls have? For example, can they purify this black fog?”
From up on the cliff, she had seen clearly that these monsters had a respiratory system on their backs. The black fog was what they exhaled. They breathed in air and breathed out secondhand smoke. No wonder the black fog was poisonous.
They didn’t dare approach the stone wall, and there was no black fog inside the holes in the wall, which meant the Ghost Pearls could counteract the black fog. Yu Jiuzhou was afflicted by the poison of the black fog. If so, could the Ghost Pearl directly detoxify it, without having to go to the misty forest?
Honglin gave her a surprised look, not expecting her to have figured out so much in such a short time. “Someone carrying a Ghost Pearl can prevent poison from invading their body, but it cannot cure someone who is already poisoned.”
“How are Ghost Pearls formed?”
Were they natural stones, or were they created by something?
“I don’t know. They’re like stalactites or jade, just naturally occurring. Doesn’t your traditional medicine say that for any poison, an antidote can be found within ten paces? These Ghost Pearls counteract the poisonous fog. It’s that simple.”
Alright, that was indeed simple. It could probably be explained with chemistry, but Honglin likely wouldn’t understand.
Chi Wan had another question. “Then is there anything that can suppress the poison of the black fog?”
The journey to Mugu was long. Without stopping, it would probably take three to five months. If the poison acted up halfway, knowing there was an antidote in Mugu would be too late.
Honglin glared at her angrily. “If you don’t make a move soon, all my snakes will be dead.”
“Speak!”
Chi Wan’s voice was a cold command. She didn’t believe Honglin would tell the truth unless she was in a desperate situation.
The two of them were at a standoff for a moment. Seeing that the Nine-Eyed Snakes were beginning to be overwhelmed and burst, she quickly said, “The gall of a snake, used together with a Ghost Pearl, can suppress the poison of the black fog.”
“The gall of a Nine-Eyed Snake?”
“Yes!” Honglin said through gritted teeth.
No wonder she hadn’t said anything. There were so few Nine-Eyed Snakes left. Honglin must have also been poisoned by the black fog after entering, so she wanted to use the remedy for herself to last until they reached Mugu.
Having learned what she wanted to know, Chi Wan flew forward with satisfaction. Whether it was snakes or monsters, she decapitated them directly, then took off her Daoist robe to wrap up the bodies of the Nine-Eyed Snakes.
Worried that the snakes’ heads could still bite, she either crushed them or chopped them into multiple pieces.
Honglin’s heart bled with pain. Her snakes, they were all her snakes! Snakes her family had raised for years. This trip to the Black Sand Beach had destroyed them all.
As she was grieving, Chi Wan’s cold voice rang out. “Still not leaving?”
Chi Wan had already carved a bloody path. Her white clothes were stained with the blood of the monsters.
What a formidable person. No, she wasn’t human. What human could cut a bloody path through thousands of monsters? Seeing more monsters coming ashore from the sea, she quickly ran in Chi Wan’s direction.
By now, Chi Wan had already broken through the monster encirclement. Honglin ran even faster, but the monsters, terrified of Chi Wan, all rushed towards her.
“Hey! Save me!”
Honglin thought she was fast, but with so many monsters swarming her, she still had to ask for help. Although she disliked Chi Wan, why should she die here when she could escape? What was begging for help in comparison?
Before the words had even left her mouth, a rope looped around her neck, and she was airborne. By the time she realized what was happening, she had already flown out of the encirclement. But it was so tight! She could barely breathe.
Honglin grabbed the rope around her neck, about to pull it off, but Chi Wan started running, dragging her along. Seriously? Tying her up like a dog was one thing, but could she stop pulling? If she hadn’t grabbed the rope with her hands, her neck would have been snapped.
It was only because Chi Wan saw her grab the rope that she sped up. She couldn’t just let the monsters tear Honglin apart.
Outside the Black Sand Beach, the group was waiting anxiously. Time ticked by, second by second. Four and a half of the five agreed-upon shichen had passed. In another half shichen, the deadline would be reached.
Xia Qu stuck a stick of incense in the sand. When it burned out, half a shichen would have passed.
Yu Jiuzhou stood ramrod straight outside the boundary marker, her eyes fixed on the inside of the Black Sand Beach. For as long as Chi Wan had been inside, she had stood there without eating or drinking, without moving a muscle.
Xia Qu and the others had taken turns trying to persuade her, but to no avail. Besides, they were just as anxious, wishing they could rush in immediately to see if something had happened.
When the incense was half-burned, Xia Qu shouldered a pack, ready to charge in at any moment.
Seeing this, Yu Xingchen also put on her pack, and the others followed suit.
“I can’t wait any longer. There’s only a quarter of an hour left. Her Highness wouldn’t cut it this close. I’m going in to provide support.”
“I’ll go too.”
“We’ll all go.”
Hearing them, Yu Jiuzhou finally turned around slowly. “Wait.”
An agreement was an agreement. She had promised Chi Wan. If Chi Wan couldn’t come out, she would not live on alone.
No one dared to disobey her command. Their liege said to wait, so even if they were just one step from entering the Black Sand Beach, they had to wait outside the line.
Time passed, second by second, and the incense finally burned out.
Yu Jiuzhou took a step forward. “Let’s go in.”
Just then, a figure flew out from inside. No, it was thrown out, landing heavily on the ground.
Before they could get a clear look, they heard a familiar voice. “Quick, get out of here!”
It was Her Highness the Prince!
Yu Jiuzhou’s body stiffened. Chi Wan was out. Just as she was about to respond, she was pulled into a warm, familiar embrace. She looked up and saw the face she had been thinking of every moment.
Chi Wan held Yu Jiuzhou with one arm and a rope with the other, rushing away from the Black Sand Beach. Everyone present was a veteran of the battlefield. They reacted quickly, immediately following behind her.
Even those who reacted a bit slower saw the black fog and the dense shadows hidden within it chasing after them from the Black Sand Beach. Seeing that, even the slowest knew to run.
The thundering sound of the monsters was like a thousand-strong army in pursuit, along with the poisonous black fog.
They ran for what must have been ten minutes before the black fog behind them stopped spreading. The monsters couldn’t come out of the fog and could only roar. The deafening sound was unlike any beast, like a combination of ghostly wails and wolf howls that made one’s blood run cold.
The black fog was spreading. Perhaps to keep the spread a secret, these monsters usually only exhaled fog at night. This time, they had been exhaling fog while chasing them, causing it to spread during the day. If it wasn’t dealt with, perhaps in a hundred or a thousand years, all of Masi would be swallowed by the black fog.
It took a long time for everyone to calm their pounding hearts. They considered themselves worldly, but the scene just now had shaken them to the core.
Xia Qu walked over and asked, “Your Highness, are you injured?”
Chi Wan shook her head. “No, it’s monster blood.”
Yu Jiuzhou had already checked her over and, seeing that it was all monster blood, hadn’t asked anything.
Seeing their concern, Chi Wan patted the pouch of Ghost Pearls at her waist. “I’m fine, and I got the Ghost Pearls.”
No one had expected her to get the Ghost Pearls in a single trip. Returning safely without needing to go in a second time was a good thing.
They knew Her Highness’s skills were excellent, but they hadn’t expected her to be like an immortal, accomplishing something they had been agonizing over for so long.
Now that they had the Ghost Pearls, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look back at the black fog.
“Terrifying monsters.” Even though the sun had set and the sky was dim, and the black fog obscured the view, they could still see the shadows of the monsters.
After watching for a while, they prepared to return to the ship. The next step was to head to Mugu.
Huh? They seemed to have forgotten something. Xia Qu looked around. “Where’s Honglin?” She couldn’t have died in the Black Sand Beach, could she?
Chi Wan pointed to the person who had been knocked unconscious, a look of innocence on her face. A moment ago, Honglin had almost been caught by a monster, so she had thrown her out. Who knew she would misjudge the force and knock her out? Of course, it might have been intentional, but if she didn’t say so, who would know?
That woman, Honglin, had even shot at her inside the Black Sand Beach. It was a good thing there were no bullets. In any case, she was going to retaliate and let Honglin know that shooting at her was a mistake.
The group returned to the ship. Chi Wan and Yu Jiuzhou went to bathe and change first. She had been carrying Yu Jiuzhou while running, and the other woman’s clothes were also stained with a lot of blood.
It was a good opportunity for them to be together and scrub each other’s backs. There was so much black fog in the Black Sand Beach; although she wasn’t poisoned, she had been contaminated.
It was a pity. Her internal energy had been stagnant at the Great Accomplishment stage for a long time. She was just one step away from Great Perfection, but she couldn’t seem to reach it. For the past five hundred years, no one in this world had achieved Great Perfection of internal energy. Perhaps she would never reach it in this lifetime.
Great Perfection of internal energy was probably like Zhang Sanfeng; no one knew how long he lived, only that he lived for a very long time.
As it was, even those at the Great Accomplishment stage were rare. Including herself, there were only three known individuals. There might be some old recluses in hiding, but internal energy was still internal energy, a martial art, not cultivation. At most, it was on par with the martial arts levels in novels like Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, and The Return of the Condor Heroes. In fact, unless one had exceptional talent and a fortuitous encounter, it was difficult to raise one’s internal energy to the Great Accomplishment stage. Most people would be stuck at the profound level their entire lives, let alone Great Perfection.
Chi Wan had imagined what level Great Perfection of internal energy would be. Probably on par with Xiaoyaozi or Zhang Sanfeng, but who could say for sure?
She had thought about reaching Great Perfection. After all, she was already so formidable at the Great Accomplishment stage. If she reached Great Perfection, wouldn’t she be even more powerful? But she also knew that Great Accomplishment was already her limit.
More than improving her own internal energy, she wanted to raise Yu Jiuzhou’s to the Great Accomplishment stage. Unfortunately, no matter how she conditioned Yu Jiuzhou’s body or nourished it with her own internal energy, the other woman’s cultivation level was stuck.
Moreover, she had a feeling that if her internal energy reached Great Perfection, or if Yu Jiuzhou’s reached Great Accomplishment, they might not need to go to Mugu to deal with the poison. The treatment she had been giving them recently, combined with acupuncture, was actually quite effective. All she needed was a final push to expel the poison completely, but her internal energy couldn’t last that long. If she reached Great Perfection, she could directly force the poison out of their bodies.
Fortunately, although getting the Ghost Pearls had taken some effort, she hadn’t been injured.
When the two of them came out from their bath, the galls from the Nine-Eyed Snake corpses she had brought back had already been extracted and placed on ice. Ever since they discovered that saltpeter could make ice, Great Zhou had enjoyed an abundance of it. Like fresh produce, the snake galls needed to be preserved with ice.
In the past few days, Chi Wan had also found many medicinal herbs, looking for one that could counteract the poison. Some were useful. Combined with moxibustion, acupuncture, cupping, scraping, and herbal foot soaks, the poison could be expelled bit by bit.
The most disgusting thing was that this poison would spread and grow on its own. Expelling it was exhausting, and overnight, the poison would return.
While bathing just now, she had carefully examined the palm print on Yu Jiuzhou’s back. It was much fainter than Yu Xingchen’s. This was the result of her frequently nourishing Yu Jiuzhou’s body, combined with the other woman’s own profound internal energy.
Yu Xingchen and the others also cultivated internal energy, but they were older. Even with the manuals Chi Wan provided, they couldn’t achieve much. The minor accomplishment stage was their limit. Yu Jiuzhou had been able to reach the profound level because Chi Wan guided her with her own internal energy every day.
Seeing the two of them emerge, Chun Gui immediately came forward. “Your Majesty, Your Highness, Honglin has been locked up again. But when she woke up, she demanded the Ghost Pearls and snake galls. I didn’t give them to her.”
“Prepare them. I’ll take them down to see her.”
Chi Wan decided to see how Honglin would use these two items before doing anything else.
She went down to Honglin’s cage alone, carrying the snake galls and Ghost Pearls. Seeing her, the corner of Honglin’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch. She had gotten out, but she had also nearly been killed.
“You want me to test the poison?” Honglin saw through her intentions.
Chi Wan didn’t deny it. She even placed a pot of tea next to the cage. “Pour your own water.”
Honglin: “…” Look at the state she was in. How was she supposed to pour her own water? At least she was still alive.
With no other choice, she dragged herself to the edge of the cage, stuck her hands out, and swallowed a snake gall. Then she soaked a Ghost Pearl in water for a moment and drank the water.
Chi Wan frowned. “The Nine-Eyed Snake is extremely cold in nature. By swallowing the gall directly, do you want to turn into a little ice person?”
Honglin gave her a disdainful look. “I’m a snake person. What’s there to fear from the cold?”
And she called herself a physician. She didn’t even know this.
Chi Wan thought for a moment. “Will using it with milder herbs affect the gall’s efficacy?”
“Yes.”
So it had to be eaten directly. Then how could one alleviate the coldness brought by the snake gall? The Ghost Pearl was also cold in nature. It was icy to the touch, and holding it tightly was like holding a block of ice, chilling to the bone.
An ordinary person’s body wouldn’t be able to handle consuming two such cold items, yet they couldn’t be taken with other herbs.
Chi Wan pondered for a moment and understood. “You’re right. Snakes aren’t afraid of the cold. Some snakes even have warm blood, but those are usually venomous. As long as there’s an antidote, it’s fine. It can even achieve the effect of fighting poison with poison.”
Honglin: “?” What was this person muttering about?
Chi Wan took the Ghost Pearl from the teapot and said, “I’ll have someone bring you water soaked with a Ghost Pearl, along with a snake gall. But there are too few snake galls to last all three of them for the entire journey, so I will prioritize my friends, unless you can find more Nine-Eyed Snakes.”
Coincidentally, she also needed the blood of the Nine-Eyed Snakes. She wondered how much blood she could get from the snake corpses.
Most importantly, she needed to pressure Honglin to find out if she had any more Nine-Eyed Snakes left. Otherwise, it would always be a problem.
Just as Chi Wan was about to go up, Honglin suddenly called out to her. “Hey! What’s your name?”
“Chi Jinzhao.”
Who was Chi Jinzhao? She had never heard of the name.
Honglin thought for a moment. “There are no more Nine-Eyed Snakes, but you can use them sparingly. Soak the snake gall and Ghost Pearl in wine together.”
Then why did you eat it raw?
Chi Wan looked at Honglin coldly. Honglin met her gaze with her snake-like eyes, unafraid. “I can eat it raw. A normal person can’t.”
It was a good thing she had been cautious and hadn’t let Yu Jiuzhou and Xingchen take these things first.
She snorted coldly. “You’d better pray they’ll be alright. Otherwise, I’ll pull the scales off your body one by one and then soak you in saltwater.”
She had plenty of ways to torture people. After all, she had been in charge of the Imperial City Division for a time.
Honglin wasn’t angry. She was thinking that with Chi Wan’s martial skill, and with the help of these people, she had a feeling that this trip to Mugu might actually succeed. She had never said that the poisonous mist of the forest was the only obstacle to finding the elixir of immortality and the jade tablet.
She hoped these people wouldn’t die too soon, especially Chi Wan. Such a good fighter.
Chi Wan was also thinking. Someone like Honglin, devoid of human emotion, only cared about achieving her goal, regardless of the consequences.
When she went upstairs, Yu Jiuzhou was looking through a book, her brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
“What is it?” She walked over and put an arm around Yu Jiuzhou’s shoulders.
“Monsters.” Yu Jiuzhou handed her the book. “Jiang Weiyang just brought this back from the Masi royal palace.”
Hmm?
With just one glance, Chi Wan was completely captivated. The Masi royal palace actually had records about the monsters. Then why didn’t they eliminate them, instead allowing the black fog to spread?
It turned out that the monsters were formed from a type of seaweed from the bottom of the sea. Human corpses in the ocean nourished this seaweed, which then enveloped the corpses and controlled their movements, turning them into monsters. But why did they have six fingers and six toes?
The book didn’t record the reason, only speculating that something might have attached itself to them.
As for the Ghost Pearls, the book stated that they were naturally formed, but the specifics were unknown. It only said that the Ghost Pearls had poison-warding effects. She could test how many types of poison the Ghost Pearls could ward off, or if they could ward off everything.
Then, she discovered something important in the book. The Ghost Pearls were consumable. They weren’t like stones that remained the same size no matter how long they were soaked. The Ghost Pearls could be consumed, like sugar dissolving in water. They would slowly melt away, though the process was much longer. Alternatively, the Ghost Pearls could be ground into powder for internal use. If not soaked in water or ground into powder, they would not be consumed. It sounded not much different from a pearl.
A consumable item. No wonder there were quite a few of them.
This Honglin was truly interesting, always telling half-truths. It was a good thing Jiang Weiyang had obtained the relevant records from the Masi royal palace.
Jiang Weiyang had gone to the Masi royal palace to tell the Queen of Masi about the spreading black fog and to ask if the palace had any records from over the years. It turned out they did.
Since the Ghost Pearls were also consumable, giving one to Honglin was enough. She would definitely keep the rest for herself.
For the upcoming trip to Mugu, they would definitely have to bring Honglin along. Hopefully, Honglin would behave. She could also develop some poisons to force Honglin to be honest.
Their lives were at stake, so of course she couldn’t let her guard down. But if a small place like the Black Sand Beach had so many monsters, she had no idea what Mugu would be like.
She didn’t believe that Mugu only had a misty forest.
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