Wild cultivation begins with wielding the Taiyin talisman.

After a long while, Ning Che slowly stepped forward, reached out and took the yellowed booklet, his fingertips tracing the curled pages as he slowly turned the pages.

The numbers were recorded in great detail, with each entry marked with quantity, price, and date. The earliest record was from six years ago, precisely the time when Li Laogen was transferred to the Rat Swamp Outpost.

He flipped to the back.

In the first two years, the quantity of each purchase was relatively normal, about ten or twenty plants. Starting in the third year, the quantity suddenly increased, with some transactions even exceeding one hundred plants. By the fourth and fifth years, there were large-scale purchases almost every month. The largest single purchase was a full one thousand plants.

"Will planting the herb cause miasma?" he asked Zhong Hongyao.

Zhong Hongyao pondered for a moment and said, "No, it's just that when it's planted, it attracts all the miasma from the surrounding area. This kind of medicine lives by neutralizing all kinds of poisons in the world, and these are nutrients for it."

He understood, closed the booklet, and asked again, "What does the mountain guardian who comes to collect herbs look like?"

The old man recalled: "He wasn't tall, and was probably in his thirties. He spoke politely and always wore a gray outfit with a short sword at his waist. Oh, and he had a mole on his left cheek."

Ning Che noted down these characteristics, but couldn't quite place them. He knew very few people among the mountain guardians.

The old man stood by the table, one hand resting on the edge, his knuckles sharply bent. The light from the oil lamp shone on his face, making his wrinkles resemble a dried-up riverbed. He didn't look at Ning Che, but only at the bundles of herbs in the corner.

Ning Che followed his gaze. Several large bundles of Bai Jie Cao were neatly stacked, the ropes tied tightly, and the leaves peeked out from the gaps in the coarse cloth, glowing with a dark green luster in the lamplight. He stared at them for a moment, then stood up, walked to the corner, and moved the bundles of herbs aside one by one.

The old man's fingers, which were resting on the edge of the table, tightened.

When the third bundle was moved, a small cloth bag was revealed behind the haystack.

It was about the size of a palm, made of coarse cloth with crooked stitches, tied with an old hemp rope. Ning Che took the cloth bag out and placed it on the table. He untied the hemp rope, revealing a dozen or so Hundred-Remedy Herbs inside.

"There's still some left. How about you sell them to me?"

The old man's lips moved, but no sound came out.

"Keeping it for yourself?" Ning Che retied the cloth bag and placed it on the table. "You know the miasma is getting worse, and it's bound to harm your health, right?"

The old man remained silent.

Ning Che untied the cloth bundle, counted out half of it, and placed it on the table. Then he rewrapped the rest, tied it tightly, and put it back in the corner.

"We'll take half of this, and you can keep the other half. It's not a purchase, it's an exchange. We'll give you a prescription; if you follow it, it will be even more effective. How about that?"

As he spoke, he gestured to Zhong Hongyao with his eyes. Zhong Hongyao understood, took out a piece of paper, and quickly wrote down the prescription.

The old man took the prescription and nodded.

"You should hurry," he said softly. "It's almost dawn; the herb collectors will be here soon."

Ning Che handed the few Hundred-Remedy Herbs to Zhong Hongyao, who took them and put them into her bag.

As the two reached the door, Ning Che suddenly stopped and turned back, saying, "If all goes well, we'll deal with the demon in the Rat Swamp, and then we won't have to worry about miasma accumulating when we plant the Hundred-Remedy Grass."

The old man didn't answer. He just squatted in the corner, hiding the small bag in a secluded spot. Moonlight streamed in from the doorway, illuminating his gray hair like withered branches of a tree.

The two walked out of the stone house, crossed the open space, and onto the dirt path. Zhong Hongyao suddenly spoke, "When did you find out?"

"He would unconsciously look at the bundles of herbs in the corner. If a person keeps looking at a certain place, there is probably something there that he cares about."

Zhong Hongyao nodded, seemingly lost in thought. The two of them walked into the white mist, one after the other.

Behind me, Caixia Village stood bathed in moonlight, its tiled houses indistinct, like a silent behemoth. On the stone tablet at the village entrance, the four characters "Suppress Demons and Bring Peace to the People" were gleaming white in the moonlight.

As they walked out of the village, Ning Che glanced at the stone tablet inscribed with "Suppressing Demons and Bringing Peace to the People" as they passed by.

Who wrote this calligraphy?

"I don't know." Zhong Hongyao glanced at it as well. "But this character is very good, it has a sharp and powerful artistic conception, it must have been written by a master."

Ning Che didn't say anything more and quickened his pace to hurry back.

After walking for about half an hour, the surrounding ground began to turn muddy again. Zhong Hongyao's pace slowed noticeably, and her breathing became heavy. Ning Che glanced back.

"Would you like to take a break?"

"Need not."

After walking for another fifteen minutes, her pace slowed down even more.

Ning Che stopped, facing forward with his back to her, and bent down.

"Come up."

"...What?"

"I'll carry you on my back."

Zhong Hongyao stood there for several breaths before hearing footsteps behind him again, but this time they weren't approaching; instead, they quickened. She walked past him, her pace much faster than before.

"No!" she refused forcefully, her voice rising slightly.

Ning Che straightened up, looked at her back, shook his head, and followed her.

As dawn broke, the outline of the outpost came into view. Ning Che saw Lin Ye sitting on the stone stool by the door, holding a dead rat in his hand, swinging his leg listlessly.

Seeing the two return, Lin Ye threw the rat aside and stood up.

"How is it?"

"I brought back some herbs, not many." Ning Che handed the bag to Zhong Hongyao behind him. "Let her tell you the rest."

Zhong Hongyao took the cloth bag and glanced at him.

Ning Che had already gone inside.

He needs to study that formation; time is still tight, and hopefully he has some talent in it.

But halfway there, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask, "By the way, that mountain guardian, the woman in her thirties with a mole on her left cheek, who uses a short sword, does anyone know her?"

The three looked at each other and shook their heads.

Ning Che wasn't surprised. These people were all newcomers and had been ostracized by the older members, making them practically marginalized. They probably knew only a handful of people.

He went upstairs, pushed open the door, opened the window, and collapsed onto the bed.

Thanks to the miraculous effects of the Moon Rabbit Breathing Technique, his body was still not particularly tired. However, constantly suppressing his inner turmoil had left him somewhat exhausted, and he just wanted to lie in bed and do nothing.

The morning light brought a sense of warmth.

There were no mattresses, the wooden planks were uncomfortable, and the conditions were as bad as when we first woke up in Shizhu Village.

He didn't find it difficult at all; after stretching his body, he closed his eyes contentedly.

Perhaps only a few breaths have passed, or perhaps quite a while has gone by.

Ning Che suddenly opened his eyes, turned over, took out the book "Essentials of Basic Array Formation" from his pocket, and began to read it by the morning light coming in through the window.