The Long Journey to Immortality

This saved Han Lu and Wen Erya, who were unfamiliar with the area, a lot of time.

After all, only Han Lu among the two could use her divine sense to search.

Without a guide, even if the two knew a general area, it would be difficult for them to find this not-so-precious medicine as easily as the local doctors.

The doctor gave them directions, and after searching for about fifteen minutes outside Changxi City, the two found the "brain-awakening herb" that they had only ever seen on paper before.

Chapter 488 Tracing the Root Cause

Han Lu received a herbaceous plant, no thicker than her middle finger, from the doctor who was acting as her guide.

The plant is predominantly green with white tips, and its strange, tuberous roots at the bottom have a touch of purple.

As a local doctor in Changxi City, this doctor spoke of the Brain-Awakening Grass with great familiarity, feeling that this was a good opportunity to "show off" in front of two powerful cultivators.

He began to explain to Han Lu and Wen Erya the application methods and specific therapeutic effects of this herb.

These things were not fully recorded in the documents given to the two by the Imperial Hospital, so Han Lu did not stop the other party from talking non-stop while examining the brain-awakening herb in her hand.

Wen Erya, meanwhile, observed her surroundings, using magic to stimulate her five senses, hoping to find a clue in the vicinity with her eyes or nose.

"The place where the brain-awakening grass grows is deep in the mountains. Normally, even hunters and woodcutters would not come here."

"It is said that a doctor who got lost in the mountains a thousand years ago accidentally discovered this herb that can only be found in Changxi."

"The upper part can be crushed and taken orally. Holding it in the mouth can clear heat and detoxify, and relieve lung diseases."

"The lower part of the tuber is used to make medicine. In Changxi City, there are seven pharmacies that have traces of the brain-awakening herb."

"The Brain-Awakening Grass is a unique medicinal herb in Changxi City. My master once used the Brain-Awakening Grass to make a decoction that saved countless patients who were seriously ill and had fainted."

……

The doctor boasted for a long time, describing his mentor, who had gone to the epidemic area to provide support, as a miracle doctor of our time.

Finally, he added, "Two immortals, is it because this Brain-Awakening Herb is very effective in treating the plague that you have come here to find this herb?"

Han Lu nodded and said, "I'm not sure, but many patients who have recovered have indeed taken a decoction made from the brain-awakening herb."

"That's why we thought of coming here to see if the herbs had worked."

After saying that, Han Lu took out some silver from her storage bag. "Thank you. You can go back now. My senior sister and I want to look around here a bit more."

Upon hearing that the herb "brain-awakening grass" might be useful in treating the plague, this young man, who was born and raised in Changxi, couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

In addition, he received money from Han Lu and Wen Erya that was equivalent to three years of his work, and he laughed out loud when he left.

After the bystanders left, Han Lu began to talk to Wen Erya.

"Senior sister, have you discovered anything?"

Wen Erya did not answer directly. Instead, she rode her flying sword into the air, searched around for a while, and then landed back beside Han Lu, saying, "It feels no different from the barren mountains of that small mountain village you went to before."

“It seems there are fewer plants here…” Wen Erya looked around, “but perhaps it’s because of the season.”

Having only intervened halfway through the matter, Wen Erya had obtained a lot of information from Han Lu, but it was still somewhat vague and she couldn't grasp the key points.

Upon hearing this, Han Lu asked, "Does Senior Sister mean that the vegetation here has become sparse because it may be due to the influence of a potential source of plague?"

“It’s possible,” Wen Erya emphasized. “Perhaps it’s just the season, or perhaps it’s because the locals are all cutting firewood and logging in this area.”

“We’re not locals, so you can’t be sure about these things.”

Given the gravity of the matter, Wen Erya did not want to casually suggest a statement that might mislead Han Lu and lead her astray.

Hearing this, Han Lu felt a little regretful for sending the guide away so early.

But since he was already gone, Han Lu was too lazy to chase after him over such a trivial matter.

Han Lu was the backbone of this operation. After obtaining the Mind-Awakening Grass, she had a general goal and direction.

"Senior sister, look," Han Lu pointed to the tuber of the brain-awakening grass in her hand, "doesn't the purple color on the tuber resemble the color of blisters on the body of a patient infected with the plague?"

It was only after Han Lu's reminder that Wen Erya noticed this, "It's somewhat similar, what Junior Sister means is..."

"Senior sister, this is what I'm thinking..."

Han Lu said, "Could it be that the virus source contaminated the shallow groundwater here, causing the surrounding vegetation to become a source of virus transmission?"

"Although this plague will not harm plants, it will infect them and make them carriers."

"And after the migratory birds ate these infected plants, they carried the virus far away to the Southern Dynasties by flying."

This whole thing seems to have many flaws, yet it's still a plausible guess.

Wen Erya asked questions about these flaws one by one, and Han Lu answered them one by one.

"If the water source is polluted, why aren't the nearby residents affected?"

“There are no villages or towns nearby,” Han Lu recalled the surrounding geography and analyzed, “but a large river called Qujiang flows next to Changxi City, and the residents living nearby usually drink fresh water taken from Qujiang.”

"A small amount of virus seeping into the river through groundwater is like throwing a pebble into the ocean; it doesn't cause any ripples and can't pollute the Qujiang River, which has a huge flow rate."

"Therefore, the mortals in the vicinity were not infected with the plague."

Wen Erya then asked, "What about the herbivores nearby? There must be quite a few wild animals here that feed on the local vegetation, so they might also be susceptible to the plague."

“Perhaps,” Han Lu pondered for a moment before answering, “this disease only infects humans and birds?”

"Or perhaps there are other wild animals nearby, like deer or rabbits, that have been infected with the plague? Senior sister, why don't we search around?"

Both of them were action-oriented, and Han Lu and Wen Erya immediately split up to search.

With the help of the animal eyes, Han Lu's efficiency in finding things was much higher than Wen Erya's.

In a short while, she found four herbivores out foraging on the thin layer of ice and snow. None of them showed any signs of the plague.

Everything seemed to have reached a dead end, and Han Lu began to wonder if her series of conjectures were fundamentally flawed.

Wen Erya is unlike Han Lu.

At this moment, she, who had just been repeatedly questioning the flaws in Han Lu's thinking, began to look for reasonable reasons for Han Lu's theory.

“Junior sister, perhaps those birds simply carried the plague bacteria instead of actually being infected with the plague?” Wen Erya proposed another idea. “This virus is simply harmful to mortals.”

"This explains why no wild animals in the area were infected with the plague."

Han Lu nodded slightly, "That makes sense. The migratory bird I found that day only had an illness on its surface, and it recovered its health after I used a healing spell once."

"Perhaps it really is just carrying the plague around without actually getting sick itself."

A few words opened up a lot of my thinking.

Han Lu and Wen Erya discussed it and decided to search the vicinity for a while longer to see if there were any convenient routes to pollute shallow groundwater.

This might be a breakthrough.

Chapter 489 Spirit Deer

However, this is ultimately just a deduction, a relatively reasonable solution that the two came up with when faced with difficulties.

Doing it doesn't guarantee results, and even if there are results, they might not be good results.

However, Han Lu and Wen Erya did indeed begin their search meticulously following this line of thought.

As the backbone of the two, Han Lu began to assign tasks to the team.

"Senior sister, search around and see if there are any caves or valleys nearby that lead underground."

"Based on our deduction, the source of the plague did not spread a large amount of pollutants. If it were on the surface, it probably wouldn't have been able to spread the virus through the thick layer of soil."

"Therefore, the source of pollution should be near the groundwater source."

Han Lu's analysis made sense. Wen Erya nodded slightly and said, "Junior sister is right. Let's do it your way."

We have a general direction, but it's not so easy to do.

Wen Erya is only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and can only rely on his five senses when searching.

Winters in the Northern Dynasty were much colder than those in the Southern Dynasty. The mountains and forests outside Changxi City were covered with a thick layer of snow, which made it difficult for Wen Erya to use her eyes to search for possible caves and valleys on the ground.

Although Han Lu is somewhat better off, possessing beast eyes that can expand her divine sense and allow her to search beyond some obstructions, the distance her divine sense can spread is still too small, and her search efficiency is not very high.

Various factors affected their efficiency.

The two outstanding cultivators from the Zhengyi Sect encountered a setback at this point, and it took them two hours to barely determine that there was a 70% chance that the area contained a source of pollution.

If we were to confirm each one individually, who knows how much time that would take.

“How about this,” Wen Erya suggested, “since there are only seven places, we can split up and handle them separately. If I make any new discoveries, I’ll just send you a paper sword to come over, how about that?”

Han Lu shook her head and said, "That won't do. What if some ferocious monster lives in a cave and accidentally spreads the plague? It would be dangerous for us to split up."

"Is it possible?" Since the plague does not infect cultivators, Wen Erya did not think there was any danger involved.

Han Lu said quite seriously, "Better safe than sorry."

"Besides, we're not in a particularly hurry. With the suggestions and methods I proposed, the epidemic situation in the affected area should be brought under control in the next two days. Even if it takes us three or four days to find out the true source of the plague, we still have enough time."

Upon hearing this, Wen Erya assumed that Han Lu was so nervous because she had found some clues that might be related to demonic beasts when she used her Beast Eyes detection, so she followed Han Lu's instructions.

Indeed, Han Lu did discover the possibility of monsters living in a few places while flying at low altitudes, which is why she made that suggestion.

Although she trusted Wen Erya's combat abilities, according to the tropes in novels and plays, there might be some extremely powerful monsters lurking in these deep mountains and forests.

Even if Wen Erya is powerful, Han Lu doesn't think that she, who is only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, can handle such a danger.

Without her by her side to protect her, Han Lu was worried about Wen Erya continuing her actions alone.

The two huddled together again, and after a brief discussion, decided to first go to the two valleys and deep caves that Wen Erya had found, and then explore the five suspicious places that Han Lu had found.

Led by Wen Erya, the two arrived at a deep cave no more than 700 meters from the meeting point.

Beside this deep burrow, you can see some shallow footprints and the shadow of an animal trap.

Clearly, this is a well-known animal den in the mountains, and hunters who occasionally come here to hunt will choose to place their traps here and wait for their prey to come to them.

The two tacitly cast a protective spell, then each summoned a white orb of light for illumination before entering the deep cave that stretched downwards for an unknown number of meters.

This deep burrow, much warmer than the outside world, has indeed become a wintering ground for many wild animals living in this area.

The cave paths were winding and twisting, and animals could be found in almost every suitable place to stay and overwinter.

Large herbivores live on the periphery as guards, while smaller herbivores search for fungi and moss inside the cave to supply the entire cave community.