Divine Tang Era

"I said, could you please stop staring at me? You're making me feel really awkward."

Xu Dan turned around and said to Yi Luo.

Since he was going to the wilderness to dig for herbs to earn money, he needed to prepare well. At the very least, he needed a book on wilderness spirits and minerals, so he came to the Three Provinces Study. Recently, when he was wandering around the city, he would occasionally come here to browse the books. He knew the family who owned the study. The owner of the study was named Qiu Jun, a Confucian scholar; his wife, Sheng Qingse, was a housewife; and their daughter, Yiluo, was a little kid, four years old.

The little thing doesn't know why, but every time it comes over, it stares at him angrily.

I don't think I've offended her at all. Could it be that I gave her a question the first time she came, something that embarrassed her? Is she still angry? Surely not! It's been so long, and she's still so irritable.

Upon hearing his words, Yiluo, embarrassed and annoyed, shouted, "Who's looking at you? I'm reading a book!"

Xu Dan laughed and said, "Which one are you looking for? I'll get it for you."

"Who cares?" Yi Luo put her hands on her ribs and looked up at the sky with arrogance.

Xu Dan stopped teasing her and picked up the books he wanted to buy to pay. Yi Luo glanced at them and quickly turned away. It has to be said that the books here are indeed very expensive; each one costs silver, and none are priced in copper coins. If you calculate it at one copper coin per book, buying one would cost at least a thousand, which is an astonishing amount.

No wonder books used to say that ordinary people were illiterate. Who would be willing to buy such an expensive book? I doubt many people could afford it.

After paying, Xu Dan said, "Master, can I rent books here?"

"Rent books?" Qiu Jun didn't understand what he meant.

Xu Dan explained, "I like to read in my spare time, but I don't really reread what I've read. It's a bit of a waste to have books sitting at home, so I was wondering if I could rent books here. The rental fee can be calculated daily or monthly. When I rent a book, I'll pay a deposit equal to the purchase price. If the pages are damaged or have stains, I'll buy the book. If not, then you can rent it to me for rent, how about that?"

"this..."

Qiu Jun had never encountered such a situation before and found it difficult to make a decision. "Let me think about it and I'll give you an answer later."

"it is good."

Xu Dan put away her book, raised an eyebrow at Yi Luo who was secretly watching her, and walked out of the store.

After he walked away, Yiluo made a face at his back, "Hmph, serves you right for bullying me. I'll keep an eye on you every time you come, and you'll know how powerful I am." Sheng Qingse, who had lifted the curtain separating the inner and outer sides, saw her daughter's lively and adorable appearance, exchanged a glance with Qiu Jun, and laughed.

Going to the wilderness to dig for medicinal herbs is undoubtedly a very arduous task.

This was a tough wilderness survival challenge.

Last time, when Xu Dan emerged from the underground cave and walked from the vast wilderness to Jingning, he was carrying a basket and a bunch of large and small bags. This time, with the storage bag given to him by the Mingfeng Pavilion Master, it wasn't so troublesome.

To find medicinal herbs in the wilderness, in addition to having knowledge of the relevant medicinal herbs, you also need a lot of tools.

For example, pickaxes, entrenching tools, cooking pots, firewood, tents, and so on.

Some items are not available on the market and need to be custom-made.

It's like an entrenching tool. Not only in Jingning, but throughout the entire Tang Dynasty, nobody sells them. So Xu Dan drew a simple diagram and went to a blacksmith to have one forged. He didn't need a complicated entrenching tool; something simple would do. With the diagram and some explanation, he forged a few scrap tools and got what he wanted.

There's also a pot for eating.

Cooking is difficult on the plateau; Xu Dan has been either boiling extremely thin slices of meat or grilling it over a fire throughout his journey. This time, he can't do that. He can buy some cooked food and put it in a storage bag, because the space is still, and it will still be hot when he takes it out.

However, he still wanted to bring a pot, just in case he needed it.

Of course, the pot can't be an ordinary pot; it has to be a pressure cooker.

In high-altitude areas, it's difficult to cook anything without a pressure cooker.

The process of making a pressure cooker isn't complicated, and the craftsmanship of the ancients wasn't as bad as modern people think; in fact, some techniques were quite ingenious. It's just that the best things were mostly in the hands of royalty and aristocratic families, rarely seen by ordinary people. Without seeing the gears and pliers in the museum, who would believe they existed thousands of years ago?

The most important part of a pressure cooker is the sealing ring; if it's not sealed tightly, it will leak steam. Although there's no sealing ring here, we have some leather and tendons, so it'll do alright.

Besides these, the most important things are tents and warm clothing.

In the high-altitude areas, the weather is unpredictable, sometimes sunny, sometimes rainy, sometimes sleet, and sometimes hail.

Therefore, a good tent and warm clothing are extremely important. Fortunately, these things can be bought in the city, so Xu Dan didn't need to have them custom-made, saving a lot of trouble. With all sorts of things prepared, Xu Dan decided to head out.

During the meal, Yunniang said with a worried look, "The dangers in the wilderness are not only monsters and ghosts, but also people. You must be careful when you go out."

Xu Dan reassured him, "Don't worry! I've walked all the way from the wilderness to Jingning, I know all the dangers there."

"That's good." Yun Niang nodded in agreement, but the worry in her eyes was almost overflowing.

The next morning, after finishing his cultivation, Xu Dan tucked a short sword into his waistband, wielded the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, and carried a basket full of things on his back, bidding farewell to Yun Niang and her daughter before heading out of the city. Only after his figure disappeared did Yun Niang and Xiao Que'er reluctantly turn around and close the door.

The black bear wanted to go with them, but its owner thought it was too small and told it to stay home and play with the little magpie.

As he walked outside the city, Xu Dan looked into the distance. He had come from the west, and the jade dragon stones there had long been dug up, so he decided not to go there.

Looking around, I felt the left side was better, so I strode over there.

There were many people digging for medicinal herbs and treasures in the wilderness, and the closer they got to Jingning City, the more there were. However, the ground nearby had already been thoroughly searched, so there was nothing of value to be found. Xu Dan glanced around a few times and then quickened his pace. The further he went, the less Jingning City could be seen, and the fewer people remained in the wilderness.

"Oh, a centipede."

Suddenly, Xu Dan spotted a medicinal herb, quickly put down his basket, and took out a pickaxe to dig it up.

The herb *Centella asiatica* has the function of clearing the meridians and reducing heart fire, making it a good medicinal material. Xu Dan dug it up, looked at it with satisfaction, and then put it into his storage bag. Sure enough, his idea was right. To dig for something, you have to find a secluded place; if a bunch of people are gathered together, what's the point of digging?

Put away the pickaxe, shoulder the basket, and continue on your way.

The basket on his back was to avoid attracting attention, lest anyone know he had a storage bag and, seeing him as small, try to steal it. It's always best to be cautious.

After walking for a while and looking around, Xu Dan found no one nearby. He then focused his gaze forward, and the black pupils on the outside of his eyes overlapped with the purple-gold pupils inside, converging into focus. The distant scenery immediately came into view.

In an instant, clouds of mist appeared on the desolate grassland, which were clearly objects where the vital energy of living beings gathered.

Living beings, created by heaven and earth, are reflected in the void by gas.

It is invisible to ordinary people; only those with exceptional talent or those who cultivate the ability to observe qi can discover it. These qi are generally divided into several types: one is white qi, which represents ordinary things, extremely common and the most ordinary.

In the vast universe, among countless races and billions of living beings, most are just ordinary and unremarkable, a veritable "vast expanse of white." In the workplace, some people call someone who knows nothing a "newbie," which means the same thing. Ordinary, common, ordinary people, you and me, the masses.

The second is yellow, which represents wealth and prosperity.

Bright yellow signifies great wealth; golden yellow signifies immense wealth and great fortune, indicating prosperity and success.

The third element is green, which represents vitality and longevity.

The fourth color is red, a color of celebration. Pale red signifies peace and good health. Crimson red indicates an extreme excess of Yang energy. When Yang reaches its peak, Yin follows; when prosperity reaches its extreme, decline follows—a truly ominous sign. Purplish red, on the other hand, is auspicious, a sign of promotion and advancement.

The fifth auspicious color represents purple energy, good fortune, nobility, and holiness, signifying success in examinations and a life of great joy.

If one becomes an official, one's career will be smooth, one will be promoted and ennobled, one's children will achieve great success, and everything will be prosperous.

There is also black aura, which is a sign of premature death, and it is divided into two types: malevolent black and jet black.

Jet black is an aura of impending death. In Southern Fujian, there is a saying, "Life is nothing," which means a bleak life. Adding black to it means there is no light ahead and life is nearing its end. Dark black, also known as purplish black, is the blackest of blacks, a sign of malevolent spirits surrounding the body, indicating imminent ruin and death.

There was also a grayish tinge, a sign of decay.

As the saying goes, "A gray life."

The ash refers to firewood ash, which is the ashes left after firewood is burned. The loss of life is tragic enough, but to be burned to ashes is like adding fuel to the fire. Therefore, ash represents decadence, pessimism, illness, and other signs of decline.

Of course, these are not fixed; they vary from person to person and from time to time.