Ask the Mirror Chapter 3: Collecting herbs

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There is no sun or moon in the mountains, and we only know the clues based on the changes in the weather.

In the blink of an eye, it’s summer time, flowers are blooming all over the mountains, and greenery has filled almost every corner. However, at the peaks of the eastern mountains of the Sky Rift Valley, there is still snow and ice and rock barriers.

Yu Ci stood on the edge of the cliff and looked far into the distance. All he could see was the vast clouds with no edge in sight. There was even more surging wind, howling like the sound of the ocean tide, pushing clouds and mist, slapping against the rock wall at your feet, seeming to drag the people on the cliff into the boundless sea of ​​clouds.

Is this the boundary between heaven and earth?

Knowing that this idea was absurd, Yu Ci couldn't help but think like this. Because starting from where he stood, the north and south stretched thousands of miles each, and they all looked like this, and the front seemed endless. This was something he had measured with his own legs and feet over the past few months, and it was definitely not false.

Although this boundless cliff has some bumps and valleys, when placed in a vast area that is thousands of miles long, it is as smooth as a mirror, just like a sword from the gods slashing down and dividing the earth into two halves.

"The Sky Rift Valley, the Sky Rift Valley... The springs flow out and lead to rivers, forming valleys. I wonder if one day, when the sea of ​​clouds dissipates, I can see the whole valley clearly?"

It's a normal thought, but during this period of time, he went up and down the boundless cliff hundreds or thousands of times. During this period, no matter whether the weather was cloudy or sunny, he never saw the sea of ​​clouds disperse.

It has been five months since Yu Ci arrived in Tian Rift Valley. During these days, he has been busy every day and has hardly had a moment of leisure. Yu Ci had the same experience as there were tens of thousands of herb collectors nearby. They also came for the shrimp grass, or to be more precise, they came for the considerable rewards promised by Bairi Mansion.

Bairi Mansion is the first-class powerful force in Cliff City, an important town in the Duanjie Mountains. It firmly controls the vast area within ten thousand miles of Cliff City. It is much stronger than the Shuangxian Sect that Yu Ci once stayed in. times.

Ten years ago, Bairi Mansion issued a long-term mission: to purchase the unique Shrimp Grass in the Sky Rift Valley without restrictions, regardless of age or quantity, and set a heavy reward for it.

The rewards include gold and silver, real estate, precious phantoms, and elixirs, which infinitely inspires the dreams of getting rich for all kinds of people around him. Over the past ten years, countless herb collectors, wanderers and even ordinary people have flocked to the area around the Sky Rift Valley, climbing up and down the cliffs regardless of the high mountains and the bottomless abyss, risking their lives in order to find the treasure in their hearts.

Yu Ci is also one of them. He wandered to Cliff City half a year ago and immediately fell in love with the same reward promised by Bairi Mansion, which was a unique sword made by the craftsman of the Mansion: the Sanyang Talisman Sword. This sword combines the strengths of both talisman and weapon-making, and its power is secondary. What is more valuable is the idea of ​​​​its formation. It may be an excellent reference for Yu Ci's talisman progress, which has hit a bottleneck.

In exchange for a Sanyang Talisman Sword, a thousand shrimp beetles are needed.

So Yu Ci also joined the army of medicine collectors. It was more than 20,000 miles from Cliff City to this place. It took a full month to walk on the road, and another five months to search for and collect herbs. It is conceivable that there must be even longer days to spend here.

"One thousand plants...may not be completed before winter comes."

Washing away these distracting thoughts, Yu Ci calmed down and took another step towards the edge of the cliff. Facing the strong wind that was blowing in his face, he closed his eyes slightly, cutting off breathing through his mouth and nose, and the true energy in his body began to circulate spontaneously. , slowly adjusting the rise and fall of Qi and blood. When the whole body's condition reached a higher level, he suddenly stretched out his hand, touched it in the void, and then wiped it in front of his nose. The sealed nose orifice also opened at this time.

This is the art of catching wind, a miscellaneous subject that Yu Ci mastered when he was wandering around. Drawn by the Wind Catching Technique, the mixed smells came in, and were immediately classified into categories by his mind, just like scouring the sand for gold, and the results were achieved in the blink of an eye. Yu Ci opened his eyes and grinned: "I'm lucky today."

With a smile on his face, he jumped down.

The Sky Rift Valley is created by the force of heaven. If you are long, you will not be able to see its end, and if you are deep, you will not be able to see its bottom. Yu Ci did not find the beginning and end of the valley, so naturally he could not find out the depth of the valley. He jumped off the edge of the cliff and passed through the clouds in a blink of an eye. The shadows of the branches and strange rocks growing between the cliffs flowed past him.

Using a little help from various obstacles, Yu Ci descended slower and slower, and finally spotted a rock beam protruding from the cliff and landed lightly on it. Here, the unique aroma of shrimp grass becomes stronger and stronger, but it will take some time to confirm the exact location through the heavy fog.

After staying on the stone beam for less than half an hour, the surrounding fog showed no sign of dissipating. However, Yu Ci had already locked his target. Without hesitation, he exerted force on his calves and shot his body towards the side like an arrow into the thick fog. Shoot away.

Leveraging strength on the cliff, he swept across a distance of seven feet in an instant. Just as he predicted, there were no obstacles in the middle. In the mist, the image of the giant pine leaning between the rock gaps became increasingly clear. Yu Ci Sliding up against the rock wall, he landed gently at the root of the tree, moving as lightly as a cat.

While falling, a strong wind blew in the canyon. The strong wind made the giant pines creak and caused the surrounding fog to flow rapidly.

Yu Ci used his eyesight enough to see through the light fog barrier, and he was very pleased to see that at the front of the giant pine trunk, among the layers of pine branches, there were dozens of hair-like shadows floating up and down. , it seems that they will be torn off by the strong wind in the next moment, but more of them are still wrapped around the trunks and branches of the trees.

That is the shrimp beetle.

Yu Ci must thank his biological parents for giving him a talent that is beyond ordinary people. It was the extraordinary sense of smell he used before. He is born with a keen sense of smell and can distinguish complex smells mixed together one by one. He can also notice the subtle smells that ordinary people ignore. He has relied on this talent a lot on weekdays, and in the Sky Rift Valley, he relied on this talent even more. Only with talent can one be able to accurately locate the shrimp beetle grass up and down in the boundless clouds and mist.

With the goal close in front of him, Yu Ci's mind became more and more stable. He did not rush forward to pick it, but took out the Illuminating Bronze Mirror from his sleeve, activated the green light spirit guide, and used it to draw talismans in the void.

The talisman is a written text condensed from the essence of five colors. It mixes all truths, controls the gods, and captures the power of clouds, objects, and stars. There are clouds and seals with thunder inscriptions, there are dragon and phoenix inscriptions, there are demon pictures and ghost patterns, all of them are taken to imitate the image and influence, and think it is used to communicate with the gods.

For more than ten years, Yu Ci has been studying the art of talismans day by day, and the "Shangqing Juxuan Xingshu Secret Teaching Talisman Scripture" scrolled from the Shuangxian Sect is his only source of systematic knowledge. Although there are nearly a thousand kinds of talismans in the Talisman Book, he is currently proficient in only a dozen, but he is already familiar with the various descriptions in the book.

The "Juxuan Xingshu Secret Teaching Talisman Scripture of the Shangqing Dynasty" records a total of three sets of talisman systems, namely, cloud seals and thunder scripts, dragon and phoenix scripts, and demon patterns and ghost patterns. Among them, the cloud seals and thunder scripts imitate the natural yin and yang of heaven and earth, the dragon seals and phoenix scripts draw on the agility of birds and beasts, and the demon patterns and ghost patterns draw on the fierce power of witchcraft and ghosts.

These three sets of talisman systems can all have their own patterns, but the truly superb talisman techniques are all about combining the three parties and taking their essence.

It’s a pity that Yu Ci’s cultivation is low and his Taoism is not deep. Even with a good source of spiritual guidance like the Illuminating Bronze Mirror, he can draw those ghost-drawing talismans flawlessly, but he still can’t induce those high-level talismans. Power. Now he can only learn some relatively simple and pure runes that focus on a single system, such as the one he is using now.

The finger guides the blue light spirit guide to draw extremely abstract shapes in the void. The upper one is a bird pattern, and the lower one is a tiger pattern. The surrounding rows are spread out, and the center is finished with an inflected seal pattern. When all the runes were drawn, the green light patterns in the void all lit up, and then quickly condensed and shrunk until they became an exquisite rune the size of half a palm, and then they became still.

Yu Ci stretched out his hand and pointed, and the talisman flew out immediately. The flight trajectory was very strange, using Yu Ci's finger as the axis, flying in a circle. The circle became larger and larger, and the talisman flew farther and farther, until it was completely submerged in the thick fog, and Yu Ci withdrew his hand.

This is the five-direction psychic talisman. It is one of the most complex talismans at this stage that Yu Ci learned from the "Shangqing Juxuan Xingshu Secret Teaching Talisman Sutra". Although it is mainly about dragons, chapters and phoenixes, it also slightly touches on the systems of clouds and thunders and demons and ghosts. Yu Ci practiced this talisman for five years before he could use it.

This talisman has no offensive power, but it can use the person as a reference to detect the violent activities of all living creatures within a radius of five miles, and feed it back to the soul of the caster. It is incredibly sensitive, and Yu Ci uses it as a warning.

After all preparations were completed, Yu Ci stepped forward. Like walking on a one-step bridge, slowly reach the top of the giant pine.

The shrimp grass is already within reach. Yu Ci was not in a hurry. He took out the prepared stone box from his sleeve and carefully placed it in a recessed branch formed by several intertwined pine branches. This was a naturally formed stable platform, but Yu Ci still did not want to worry about it. Don't worry, use another talisman to fix it, and that's it.

Then he leaned down and carefully picked the shrimp grass.

The grass blades are only as thick as a hair. When they are wrapped around the tree trunks, they are entangled with the uneven bark and will be torn off if you are not careful. Due to the medicinal properties, the roots must be removed together when picking. Therefore, Yu Ci had to sort out and untie the entangled grass leaves one by one until the roots were found before pulling them out.

This kind of work is a complete grind. It tests your patience and is most afraid of accidents.

Fortunately, Yu Ci was lucky today. For more than three hours, without any external interference, Yu Ci successfully picked this piece of shrimp grass and preserved it roughly intact, with about a hundred or so roots. Pick and place them as you go, placing them one by one in the stone box aside.

As told to Xuanqing that day, shrimp beetle grass can absorb the spiritual energy of Yimu and is incompatible with the spiritual energy of gold, so it cannot be contained in metal or wooden boxes. We can only use the stone box that was sent by the steward of Bai Ri Mansion. In the stone box, there was a shallow layer of shrimp grass, and there were three to five hundred roots. This was all he had gained in the past four months.

When these herbs are brought back to the steward of Bairi Mansion, they must be divided into categories according to their condition and completeness. The value is always discounted by 30% or 20%. As for the discount, Bairi Mansion will naturally accept it. This is the usual practice, and a casual person like him can't do anything about it.

After doing all this, the sky had darkened, and the half-setting sun was weakly shining its afterglow into the clouds and mist. Yu Ci put away the stone box and put away all the magic spells. With the help of those side branches and the rock gaps, , climbed up the hundreds of feet of mountain wall like an ape. When they reached the cliff, a strong wind blew, and they realized that their middle clothes were soaked with sweat, and the coolness was soaked in, which was definitely uncomfortable.

That’s all for today’s work. Yu Ci was also tired, so he found a place leeward, adjusted his breathing for a while, and waited for his clothes to dry in the shade before setting off. After a few falls, he disappeared into the vast mountains behind him.

After more than five months of traveling around the Sky Rift Valley, Yu Ci's destination changed at any time. The place he arranged in advance yesterday was more than a hundred miles away, and it took nearly an hour to go back and forth on the road alone.

But it’s worth traveling these extra miles. In the past few months, Yu Ci has seen more than once that people who came here to collect medicine fought with each other until they died because of a few shrimp beetroots. It is so ferocious and tragic that it is difficult to imagine it without being personally involved. As the saying goes, people die for money and birds die for food. That's it.

Yu Ci is not a person who is afraid of trouble, but since he has had a hard day, he naturally wants to find a safe place to rest and recuperate. How can he have so much free time to deal with those greedy people?

After entering the vast mountain forest, the night quickly fell and the vision became darker and darker, but Yu Ci's leaping speed did not slow down at all. The unique scent of the mountain forest blew past his nose. He could distinguish the hidden and approaching dangers from the mixed scents of thousands of scents. He could change the road in time and avoid many troubles.

Seeing the destination in sight, Yu Ci was startled and then slowed down.

Where he was, the trees had become sparse, replaced by rugged rocks, black and thin, looking extremely desolate in the dark night. Because of this, the afterglow of a bonfire several miles away could shine through the gaps in the trees and flicker in his eyes. What was clearer than the firelight was the "human scent" blown by the mountain wind. In addition, although Even though it was extremely weak, Yu Ci could still capture the unique aroma of shrimp beetle.

If it were through the stone box, even if Ren Yuci was extremely capable, he would not be able to smell the odor at this distance. There is only one possibility in this case, and that is that someone opened the stone box and observed or counted the box. Shrimp grass stored in.

Yu Ci was certain that there were more than fifteen people there. If the owner of the stone box could do this without any scruples, then this group of people should be in a group and come here to pick herbs. Here in the Sky Rift Valley, it is considered a relatively large-scale team.

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but scratch his head. He could go around it, but the worst part was that the hiding place he put great effort into setting up yesterday was not far from the group of people. If he went around it, he would probably have to sleep in the wilderness tonight.

As he was thinking about it, his expression changed slightly. Just as he was facing the wind, he didn't notice that seven or eight more people were approaching from the side. They were only half a mile away from where he was. He retracted his left hand into his sleeve and held the Illuminating Bronze Mirror.

Unfortunately, he was kidnapped two days ago. The fine sword he bought with hardware in the cliff city broke during the battle. He lost the sharp weapon. If he encounters another encounter, he will be in trouble. To suffer a loss.

But soon, his sensitive nose discerned some information: he seemed to be an acquaintance!

The people over there finally discovered Yu Ci. How can a distance of half a mile be called a distance? Even in the dark night, it only took two or three breaths for the two parties to meet each other. The group of people who were walking out of the forest were startled, and the atmosphere became tense at any time. But soon, someone started laughing over there.

"Ha, brother Yu, I haven't seen you for a long time, you look pretty good."

They are indeed acquaintances. Before the other party spoke first, Yu Ci could identify those people by their aura. The person who spoke was Lu Bing, the leader of this group of people. A few months ago, the man who knocked on the empty door outside the barren mountain view was a fastidious person. Yu Ci had a good impression of him. .

Lu Bing was originally a wanderer. He had a cultivation level at the peak of long-breathing. His whole body was full of real power, and his power could split a tiger and a leopard. Apart from the lack of telepathy, there is no real difference between him and the Mingqiao realm, and he is quite famous in the world. This time he also took over the task of Bairi Mansion, gathering more than a dozen comrades to come to the Sky Rift Valley to collect herbs. This was a rare team combination here.

After meeting each other by chance that night, we walked together for a few days and became somewhat friends with each other. Yu Ci took two steps forward, clasped her fists and smiled: "Brother Lu, and everyone else..."

While talking, Yu Ci glanced over and saw that the number of people in the team was less than half of the original number, and frowned.

Those who are not here may be in bad luck.

You must know that picking shrimp grass is not easy. When going up and down the cliffs, you must always be careful of strong winds and fog, and beware of poisonous insects, raptors, ferocious beasts and the like. If you are not careful, your corpse will be gone. fate. What's more, why is the Sky Rift Valley just a place for gathering medicinal herbs?

As they spoke, the two sides got closer. Lu Bing saw what he was thinking, but a wealthy person like him had already taken life and death lightly, so he just laughed and shifted his attention:

"Brother Yu, it's better to meet by chance than to meet by chance. In front of the light is a group of brothers we have met recently. They are all cheerful people. It's dark in the woods, and there's no point in walking alone. Why don't we get together together? ?"

Yu You's planned shelter was occupied, and he was worried about how to arrange the night. After hearing the words, he followed the trend and agreed. However, his left hand has been gently pinching the edge of the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror, always keeping a little wary, and he thinks the other party is the same.

In the Sky Rift Valley for several months, those who didn’t have this thought would probably be dead.

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