Knife splashing

Chapter 390: A Kind Beast in the Cave

The cave is dark and the spring water is dripping.

After passing through the deep pool and waterway, there is a cave. It is true that it is very narrow at first, but then it becomes passable. After walking a few dozen steps, it suddenly becomes clear.

After passing through a narrow area, the space immediately becomes larger, and as far as the eye can see, it is filled with dense stalactites.

Under the light of the fire, the patterns looked jagged and bizarre.

Li Yan had been to Shennongjia in his previous life and knew that the terrain here was complex and there were many caves, but the cave in front of him still shocked him.

It was scattered in all directions, like a maze. Even if he used all his magical powers, he could not explore how far it was.

It seems like the entire mountain area is covered with caves.

The good thing is that there are people leading the way.

Several "Jingren" had entered the cave in advance, jumping and skipping in front. Although they were small, their speed was not slow at all.

They were not afraid of the darkness. In this underground cave, it was almost like going home, and they led everyone forward.

Turning left and right, passing through caves, everyone couldn't even tell which area they were in.

Li Yan became alert and winked at everyone.

Although these "Jing people" posed almost no threat to them, they still had to be careful in Shennongjia after all.

Before they knew it, they had been walking for half an hour.

After crawling through a narrow cave, fresh air suddenly blew towards us and we heard the whistling of the wind.

Not only that, Li Yan also smelled a strange smell.

There is a stench of wild beasts, but more of the smell is of incense.

Then, everything in front of me became clear.

This is a huge prototype cave, a bit like a volcanic hole. The surrounding rock walls are covered with honeycomb holes and are densely populated with "Jing people".

There is no cover on the top of the cave. There is a circular entrance that is 100 meters long. You can see the bright moon in the night sky. The mountain breeze whistles, making the air in the cave fresh.

The moonlight poured down from the cave entrance, shining on a huge creature.

When everyone saw this, their scalps tightened.

In the center of the cave, there was a huge creature squatting. It looked like a tiger or a leopard, up to eight meters long, with white fur all over its body, beautiful black stripes, and a pair of long fangs.

The giant was obviously injured, with a huge tear in its abdomen, oozing black pus, and a series of potato-sized pustules.

Seeing them come in, the giant slowly raised its head.

His pupils are emerald green, his eyes are clear, and he looks a little tired.

"White...white tiger?"

Sharifei swallowed and stuttered a little.

Li Yan frowned slightly and became alert.

This thing looks a bit like a saber-toothed tiger. According to Zhou Lizheng, there is this strange beast in Shennongjia, known as "Guoshan Huang", and it is incredibly fast.

Because it will not actively hurt people, it is regarded as the guardian beast of Shennongjia by the surrounding people and is called "Mountain King Bodhisattva".

But "Guoshanhuang" is yellow, and the one in front of me doesn't match it.

Only Wang Daoxuan suddenly thought of something. His eyes lit up and he said in a trembling voice, "It's 'Zou Yu', the living 'Zou Yu'!"

"It is mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas that it is as big as a tiger, with all five colors, and a tail longer than its body. It is called Zou Yu (zōu yú), and riding it can travel a thousand miles a day..."

Sharifei was a little nervous, "Is it dangerous?"

Not to mention him, even Li Yan heard of it for the first time.

Wang Daoxuan shook his head quickly. "The transformation of Guan Ju and Lin Zhi is the style of a king. The virtue of Que Chao and Zhu Yu is the style of a prince. This is an ancient benevolent beast that does not eat living things. It will respond to those with the virtue of utmost trust."

Sharifi was confused, "What? What does it mean?"

Wang Daoxuan's eyelids twitched, "He eats grass."

After saying that, he hurried forward, bowed and said in a serious manner: "Fellow Daoist, thank you for letting us take shelter here for a while."

Li Yan also sensed something.

This thing was actually called auspicious by the ancients. It looks ferocious, but it eats grass. Only people with integrity can see it.

Looking at the other party's big fangs, although he had doubts in his heart, Li Yan still led everyone forward and bowed to express his gratitude.

As for Wu Ba, his face was filled with excitement. He hurriedly unloaded his luggage, ran over in three or two steps, kowtowed continuously, with tears in his eyes.

The giant "Zou Yu" looked at Wu Ba with a softer look, its mouth slightly opened, and a series of sounds came out from its throat, which were exactly the Shangfang language.

Wu Ba also quickly looked up and responded in the upper language.

Lu Sanze translated in a low voice to everyone.

"This divine beast is the mountain god that protects this area and is also one of the gods worshipped by the Man-Xiao tribe. He is asking Wu Ba..."

"When the people of the Tiansheng Cult attacked the Renxiao tribe, he wanted to go to rescue them, but he was besieged with firearms and had to recover from his injuries for a long time..."

"Roar!"

At this moment, "Zou Yu" suddenly roared with a look of pain, and all the pustules on his abdomen burst.

Immediately, a large number of white twisted nematodes emerged.

"It's 'Jiao Gu'!"

Everyone is very familiar with this thing. Master Tu was hit by it twice and almost lost his life. He didn't expect to see it again in Shennongjia.

Sha Lifei seemed to be thinking about something, and whispered, "Brother Yan, the 'Jiao Gu' that the East Lake Patriarch got, couldn't it be from Shennongjia?"

"Heal the wound first and ask later!"

After Li Yan finished speaking, he motioned for Lu San to come forward to communicate.

Lu San didn't waste any words. He just muttered something to himself before and after he came up, communicating with him in the traditional Chinese language. Wu Ba also chimed in to give his assurances.

"Zou Yu" looked at everyone, then nodded, rolled over with difficulty, completely exposing the wound on his abdomen.

When everyone saw this, their scalps suddenly went numb.

The wound was much deeper than expected, and one could even vaguely see the internal organs, which were also covered with poisonous insect pustules.

Fortunately, this divine beast had strong vitality, and used some unknown method to force the poisonous insect into one place, allowing it to barely stay alive.

Hearing the painful groans of "Zou Yu", the densely packed "Jing people" on the surrounding stone walls all ran out.

Although they were a little scared when seeing outsiders, they quickly gathered together and formed three large teams. Under the leadership of the wizard wearing a jade mask, they knelt down and burned various spices and dried mushrooms.

For a moment, the entire cave was filled with mist.

This is the oldest form of sacrifice.

It is mentioned in "Zhou Li" that one should offer sacrifices to the Lord of Heaven with yīn, offer sacrifices to the sun, moon and stars with firewood, and offer sacrifices to the Si Zhong, Siming, Wind Master and Rain Master with yǒu.

"禋思", "实柴" and "槱廖" are all about burning items for sacrifice, which are the prototypes of incense and candles in Taoist temples today.

The ancient ethnic group "Jingren" still retains this custom.

Li Yan could clearly smell the power of the incense gathering and being completely absorbed by the "Zou Yu" lying on the ground, and the pain was relieved.

At the same time, Lv San also finished communicating, opened the luggage behind Wu Ba, and took out a gourd from it. The medicine in the gourd was the "Jiao Gu Pills", which were made by Li Facheng, the descendant of the Medicine Saint, and were specially used to remove poison.

After giving "Zhou Yu" a few pills, the giant beast immediately curled up its body, its muscles trembling in pain, but the white nematodes in its body also scrambled to crawl out.

hum!
Lu San patted the magic gourd, and a swarm of poisonous bees rushed out, eating the poisonous insects, and even sucked away the black pus on the wound of "Zou Yu".

After the poisonous insect was eliminated, "Zou Yu"'s spirit suddenly improved, and his abdominal muscles contracted to shrink the wound.

The densely packed "Jing people" around were equally excited, chattering and jumping around, and carried out gourd ladles from the cave, which were filled with paste-like green medicine juice with a fragrant aroma.

They worked together and quickly applied the green medicine on the wound of "Zuo Yu".

When Li Yan and others saw this, they also smiled.

No wonder these "Jing people" live and serve the gods; they have a unique culture and have formed a symbiotic relationship with the gods.

In "Classic of Mountains and Seas", there is a mountain god on every mountain. I believe that the "Jingren" tribe at that time was also very prosperous.

After applying the medicine, "Zou Yu"'s spirit improved greatly, his eyes were clear, he spoke in Chinese, and talked with Lu San.

Soon, everyone understood the whole story.

"In Shennongjia, there are also different territories. The Man-Xiao tribe was captured, and the 'Zou Yu' was injured, so there was a vacuum in this area..."

"Those people from the Tiansheng Sect were accompanied by powerful masters, and they also relied on firearms to capture monsters and spirits in the mountains, and practiced evil magic after killing them..."

"The reason why the Shenkui tribe is so powerful is because its leader is a white Shenkui of a different species named Bai Gong. He is very powerful and is also a mountain god."

"Originally, several parties worked together to drive away the demons from the Tiansheng Sect, but the people from the Tiansheng Sect awakened a poisonous dragon, and several mountain gods were injured as a result."

"The leader of the gods, 'Bai Gong', snatched a powerful magic weapon from a Tiansheng Sect master. I don't know what bewitched him, but he also began to practice witchcraft and secretly devoured other mountain gods. Only 'Zou Yu' was able to escape."

"Now, the leader of the gods, 'Mr. Bai', has become even more powerful. He has conquered several barbarian tribes one after another and fights with the Tiansheng Sect every night..."

After hearing this, everyone finally understood the situation in Shennongjia.

Lu San also breathed a sigh of relief. "It's very dangerous over there now. 'Zou Yu' doesn't recommend us to go in. He can also tell us the exact location of the poisonous dragon."

"That's daring!"

Sharifei was immediately happy when he heard this, "Anyway, our mission is to find the hiding place of the poisonous dragon and tell the Zhenwu Palace so that they can deal with it."

After saying that, he quickly took out the map from his luggage.

After seeing this, Lu San shook his head and said, "Zou Yu doesn't know how to read a map. He said he would take a rest and let us read it ourselves tomorrow."

See for yourself?
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what this meant, but now that the mission had been accomplished, there was no need to rush, so they simply set up camp and rest.

The cave is quite large and well ventilated.

"Jingren" and "Zou Yu" did not need it, but they needed a fire to keep warm and heat up their meals. After obtaining consent, they lit a bonfire immediately.

When they entered the mountain, they prepared dry food, which was nothing more than some biscuits, dried meat and the like, as well as a bag of mooncakes that Zhou Lizheng forced into their mouths.

As soon as they started baking the pancakes, many "Jing people" came over following the smell, carrying kiwis, chestnuts, walnuts, grapes and other things.

Even the sleeping "Zou Yu" opened his eyes.

Sharifi was delighted, and quickly heated up the extra cakes and sent them out. He also carried a bag of mooncakes and ran to "Zou Yu" happily, "Mountain God, the Mid-Autumn Festival is two days away, so it's a good time for you to try some mooncakes."

Knowing that "Zou Yu" was a vegetarian, he became much bolder and took the initiative to approach him.

To everyone's surprise, this "Zou Yu" quite likes mooncakes. He eats one in one bite, and his eyes are narrowed while eating, just like a big cat.

However, after eating half a bag, he let out a low roar, asking the drooling "Jingren" to share the rest, and then he took out another thing.

It was a piece of bark, with medicinal herbs wrapped inside.

Before it was opened, Li Yan stood up, his eyes lit up, "It's a precious medicine!"

Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, and there was no doubt that Shennongjia was rich in precious medicinal resources. He had never seen any of them along the way, and he did not expect that they were hidden by the "Jing people".

Carefully open the bark, and you will find a whole herb inside. The leaves are diamond-shaped, with black berries on them, like colored glaze, and the roots below are short and thick, wrapped in soil, like ginseng...

"It's a bead on the head!"

Sharifei's face was full of excitement, and he quickly took out a booklet from his luggage. It was the elixir collection task assigned to them by the Taoist master Wang Jingxiu from Mount Wudang.

Open it and check it out, it is exactly the same as the drawing.

Sha Lifei chuckled and touched his big bald head. "Wang Laodao said that there are four treasures in Shennongjia. A pearl on the top of the head, a bowl of water by the river, a brush of King Wen, and a flower with seven leaves."

"It's really easy to get it..."

The herb Jingren gave was called "Tyrrhinum affine". It can be used to relieve spasms and pain, stop bleeding and detoxify. Because of the berries on the top, it is called "a pearl on the top of the head".

This is a magical medicine, so its effects are naturally extraordinary.

Just for this small plant, Wang Jingxiu was willing to pay 20,000 taels. The key point was that after it was refined into a pill, he could use the medicine to pay off the debt.

Thinking of this, Sharifi rolled his eyes and said flatteringly, "Brother Lu San, please talk to the Mountain God and ask him to give us all the spiritual medicines he found. We can discuss anything."

"If you want to eat pancakes, I'll get you a few hundred kilograms. It's bitterly cold here, so it wouldn't be bad to find someone to build a temple for you..."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Lu San cursed in a low voice, but still stepped forward, looked respectful, and started communicating in the upper language.

After some discussion, Lu Sancai shook his head and said, "Don't even think about it. The mountain gods will not let go of the precious medicine in Shennongjia. They will pick it when the time is right."

"'Zou Yu' collected these over the years, but he used them all up when he got injured. The other mountain gods' collections are probably already taken away by the leader of the gods..."

"Bastard!"

Sharifei was heartbroken, but there was nothing he could do.

However, the previous "duck" meat, plus the trillium, was an unexpected gain. Combined with the task that was about to be completed, they could be said to have reaped a lot of rewards.

After this little episode, everyone lay down to sleep, took turns to keep watch, and made fire to keep warm, and spent another night.

The next morning, the sky was slightly bright.

The sunlight shines down through the cave above, creating mottled light and shadows inside the cave.

Looking at the long-lost sunshine, Wang Daoxuan was in a particularly good mood. He stroked his beard and said, "This cave should be on the top of the mountain, so it is not covered by clouds..."

In the center of the cave, after a night of rest, the wounds on "Zou Yu"'s body finally healed completely.

He let out a low roar, shook his body, climbed up, and squatted on the ground. Under the sunlight, his black and white hair seemed to sparkle with golden dust, revealing the demeanor of a mountain god.

Lu San said quickly: "'Zou Yu' will use the power of the mountain god to let us see the distance. It asks who will come first."

"I'll go first."

Li Yan walked forward without fear.

He has various means to protect his soul, which is the safest way.

"Zou Yu" didn't waste any words. He slowly lowered his huge head and gently touched Li Yan's forehead.

In an instant, Li Yan seemed to be flying.

Wandering in thought!

Before he could be surprised, his sight changed rapidly, passing through the cave, through the clouds, through the dense forest, and he saw the surrounding mountains, rivers and lakes...

(End of this chapter)