Chapter 28: An Old Tale of Cyan Vine
Chapter 28: Chapter 28: An Old Tale of Cyan Vine
A month passed. The internal strife within the Zhou Family raged on, but none of it affected Lu Zhao. He was like a trophy, waiting to be claimed.
The Zhou Family was fine, but a problem had arisen at Cyan Rattan Stream. All four of the family’s Honored Guest Elders had gathered by the Dark River.
"Mr. Chen, have you noticed the strange movements of the snakes? Over the past half-month, their numbers have been at least fifty percent higher than usual. At the three marked points in the North Stream, the Snake Sheddings were over three fingers thick yesterday," Lu Zhao said.
"More than just strange movements! The day before yesterday, I was on patrol and saw the Dark River’s water level drop suddenly. Seven Ink-Scale Snakes crawled out of a rock crevice and even dared to charge into a Gold-Devouring Ant nest." His Adam’s apple bobbed. "This is madness. It’s not their usual behavior."
Chen Moyang replied excitedly.
CRACK!
Yin Jiu snapped a Snake Bone in his hand, and dark green marrow dripped into a Pottery Jar. "The Entry Tier Snake King has been away from its nest for three days." The eyeholes of his mask swept over the others. "It used to appear only once a month or so. Now, we hear its hissing from the bottom of the stream every night."
Lu Zhao turned to Liu Fengchun, who was leaning on his staff. "Elder Liu, you’ve been stationed here for six years. Have you ever seen anything like this?"
"Six years!"
A faint light swirled in the Jade Eyes of his Snake-Head Staff as Liu Fengchun sneered, "When I first arrived, there were only a few Bone-Eroding Orchids. Look how many there are now."
"But this is the first time I’ve ever seen these serpents go this crazy." His withered fingers traced the carvings on his staff. "However, I did hear Elder Zhou mention something once about a snake tide twenty years ago. It was called..."
"The Cyan Vine Snake Disaster."
"The Cyan Vine Snake Disaster? What’s that?" the three of them asked in unison.
But Liu Fengchun just shook his head irritably. "That old fox only told me half the story. He just sighed and said, ’As long as the root lives, the snakes will never rest.’" He slammed the head of his staff on the ground. "If you want to know, go ask him yourself!"
A foul stench rose from the rotting soil of the medicine field, where Zhou Qixing was hunched over, plunging the roots of a Bone-Eroding Orchid into a snake’s corpse. When the four of them broke through the mist, he didn’t even look up. "If you startle the Bone-Eroding Orchids while they’re feeding, you’ll be the ones to deal with it."
Chen Moyang hurried forward. "Elder Zhou, the snakes have been moving in swarms recently, and we’ve suddenly seen a lot more Tier One Early Stage Snake Kings, which used to be rare. We’re worried something is wrong, so we came to ask for your guidance."
"A Tier One Early Stage snake is hardly a Snake King. You’ll soon see a real, mutated Tier One Middle Stage Snake King."
Then, his branch-like hand suddenly jabbed toward the cliff face. Deep within a crack, the marks of a sharp blade remained, and one could faintly make out the traces of something snake-like having been coiled there.
"This place was originally called Coiling Dragon Stream," Zhou Qixing said, his voice as raspy as a grindstone. "A hundred years ago, a Tier Two Coiling Dragon Cyan Vine grew here. Its bark was impervious to Magical Artifacts, and its sap could corrode Golden Iron."
Zhou Qixing kicked away a large rock at his feet, revealing something that looked like black vine tendrils. "Back then, several of the Zhou Family’s Foundation Establishment Ancestors joined forces to set up the Three Talents Burning Mountain Formation. It took them a month just to burn through the main root, and it also caused the originally Tier One High-Grade Spiritual Spring to become what it is today."
After speaking, he plunged his withered fingers into the rock and pulled out a web of Bronze Silk Threads. "See this? As thin as a hair, yet it twists through rock like iron. This is the very tip of the remaining root! Although the main root was refined into a Tier Two Spiritual Artifact, seventy percent of the other root systems are still buried underground, and they’ve been rotting for over a hundred years."
Lu Zhao’s pupils contracted. "So the Ink-Scale Snakes’ mutation..."
"Exactly. Monsters bred from the rotten roots!" Zhou Qixing sneered. "The Cyan Rattan Root Remains contain Wood Spirit Essence. After the Ink-Scale Snakes devour it, their bloodline mutates, allowing them to break through the shackles of Tier One Middle-Grade."
"Otherwise, for a Non-Tiered bloodline like theirs, Tier One Lower Grade would be their absolute limit. How could a Tier One Middle-Grade Snake King possibly appear?"
"If the root remains sprout, they release an odor that ordinary people can’t smell, but the Ink-Phosphorus Snakes are extremely sensitive to it. What the Snake Kings are fighting for is this very opportunity—a new sprout must be breaking through the soil at the bottom of the stream right now!"
The eyeholes in Yin Jiu’s mask betrayed his confusion. "Why doesn’t the Zhou Family just remove all the root remains? Or transplant the new sprout?"
Zhou Qixing let out a rattling sound from his throat and slapped his withered palm against the rock wall. "Remove the roots? You think this is like digging up yams?"
The Bronze Fossil didn’t budge, and the Rebound force was strong enough to rip his sleeve. Lu Zhao jabbed his Iron Carving Saber at it, and the tip struck the rock layer, sending sparks flying—the Bronze Silk Threads had fused with the black rock.
"The root remains stretch for miles, buried deep in the Earth Veins." Zhou Qixing stamped his foot on the ground. "It took a Foundation Establishment Cultivator a month just to sever the main root. How much effort would it take to remove all the roots, and what would be the profit?"
"Besides, the Spiritual Qi in these root fragments has already dispersed. They can’t be considered Spiritual Objects anymore, so no one pays them any mind."
"However, the newly sprouted shoot is bound to have a piece of root attached that hasn’t lost its Spiritual Qi. The Snake King’s belly might have one as well, since that’s not something a mere Tier One Middle Stage Snake King can digest quickly."
"But after a hundred years, most of the Spiritual Qi would have dissipated anyway, so it wouldn’t even count as a Tier Two Spiritual Object. It’s not worth reporting it and going through all the trouble to find it."
He grabbed a withered vine from the edge of the medicine field. "Transplant it? How do you know my Zhou Family hasn’t tried? We did, several times, but the results were poor."
"Thirty years ago, the medicine hall tried with one shoot. They used up a whole gourd of Tier One High-Grade spiritual water, but it was still half-dead. Its Spiritual Qi was weaker than a Tier One Lower Grade Spirit Plant."
"Once this Cyan Vine leaves this place, it’s nothing but trash!"
"As for cultivating it here... with the Spiritual Qi having dropped to Tier One Lower Grade, the best we could possibly grow is a Tier One Middle-Grade Spirit Vine. What use is that to the Zhou Family?"
Chen Moyang murmured, "No wonder."
Zhou Qixing turned his hunched back to them and walked into the depths of the mist. "As for the snake tide in a few days, just endure it. With the Array in place, what is there to fear from these mere Ink-Phosphorus..." His voice slowly faded into the dense fog.
Suddenly, Zhou Qixing’s figure solidified at the edge of the medicine field, the churning mist reflected in his murky eyes. "When the new sprout appears, the snakes will move as one."
He turned around, a solemn expression on his wrinkled face. "A Tier One Middle Stage Ink-Scale Snake’s Poison Sac is worth Ten Spirit Stones. Its shedding is worth eight Spirit Stones, and its Snake Bones are worth another seven or eight."
His withered hand opened. "The young sprout is of little value to the Zhou Family, but to a Qi Cultivator, it’s a decent Body Refining Pill. It should also be worth a few dozen Spirit Stones.
"As for the root remains that haven’t lost their Spiritual Qi," he glanced at Lu Zhao, "they should be a decent type of Puppet Material and also worth a few dozen Spirit Stones."
Liu Fengchun’s Snake-Head Staff hummed. "Elder Zhou, are you telling us to take the risk?"
"Whether you want to take that risk is your business. I don’t have much Lifespan left, so I won’t be joining in on the fun."
Zhou Qixing picked up the blood-dripping Mulan Pot Plant. "But if you want to fight for this opportunity, remember two things: the young sprout will be in the strongest Snake King’s nest, and do not underestimate the snake swarms. These aren’t the snakes we usually encounter. There will be hordes of Tier One Lower Grade ones."
"Those few Tier One Middle Stage Snake Kings that stay in the depths of the Dark River will also come out. You’re not a bunch of greenhorns, so I don’t need to say more."
The four stood in deathly silence amidst the foul wind. The Spirit Light on Chen Moyang’s Array Disc flashed rapidly. A centipede rustled and crawled within Yin Jiu’s sleeve. Liu Fengchun’s hand gripped his Snake-Head Staff tightly.
Lu Zhao stared at the cliff wall, his mind completely occupied with the matter of the Cyan Rattan Root Remains.
He recalled the description of a Puppet from the Tier One Puppet Inheritance.
Vine Snake (Tier One Middle-Grade Puppet): Requires one Tier One High-Grade Spirit Vine and over a hundred pounds of Cyan Spirit Iron. Its body is extremely tough, able to withstand strikes from Middle-Grade Spiritual Artifacts. It can spit a beam of Wood Attribute Spirit Light that reaches a thousand feet and can battle a Tier One High-Grade demon beast in close combat.