Chapter 167 - 159: Purple Silk Vine Leaves
Chapter 167: Chapter 159: Purple Silk Vine Leaves
Bai Zhi froze, only then realizing her slip of the tongue. ’Sigh... a person really can’t let their guard down. The moment you relax, you start misspeaking.’
She gave a dry laugh. "I was just joking. Why so serious?"
’Joking? She didn’t look like she was joking just now.’
Hu Feng didn’t press the matter, and Meng Nan was in no state to ask. His heart was pounding, and he kept trying to reassure himself. ’Even though this forest looks eerie, it’s definitely just a normal patch of woods. There are absolutely no big tigers in here. Absolutely none.’
Hu Feng led the way, with the Jin guard protecting the rear. Bai Zhi and Meng Nan were positioned between the two. This formation was enough to make one feel at ease, even when trekking through the deep mountains and old forests, and not so afraid.
At least, that was the case for Bai Zhi. On her second trip into the mountains, she was noticeably less panicked and fearful than the first time.
Meng Nan followed behind Bai Zhi, tightly gripping the dagger at his side. With every step forward, his face seemed to grow another shade paler.
"Are... are we there yet?" The deeper they went, the more his skin crawled, as if a great tiger was lying in wait for him just ahead.
Bai Zhi looked around. "We’re close. It’s somewhere around here. This is the area where I saw it last time."
The Jin guard asked, "Everywhere in this forest looks more or less the same. How can you be sure that the place you saw it last time is around here?"
Bai Zhi pointed to some wild plants by the path. To the Jin guard, they were just weeds, but to Bai Zhi, they were a type of cooling medicinal herb. "This is Light Silver Grass. When I was here last time, this was the only spot I saw it. I found the Purple Silk Vine Leaves right after I saw the Light Silver Grass, so it can’t be wrong."
Seeing how certain she was, Meng Nan felt a little more at ease. ’Looks like we don’t have to go any deeper. And it looks like I won’t be running into any great tigers today.’
After a few dozen more steps, Bai Zhi suddenly stopped. She pointed excitedly at a large tree to their front-left and said, "Look, that’s the Purple Silk Vine!"
The other three looked where she was pointing and saw a massive, ancient tree entwined with dense, purple vines. The leaves on the vines were triangular and came in two colors, pinkish-purple and deep purple. Peeking out from between the leaves were small, purplish-red flowers. Despite the lack of direct sunlight, the small flowers were blooming exquisitely, a testament to their incredible vitality.
Meng Nan stared for a moment but couldn’t see anything special about it. "What kind of medicinal herb is this? What does it treat?"
Bai Zhi stepped forward, plucked one of the leaves, and brought it to her nose to smell. It was the right scent, but far richer than the ones she remembered from her modern life. ’The growth-promoting effect should be much better, too. Maybe the potatoes will be ready in less than thirty days.’
"These are Purple Silk Vine Leaves, and they aren’t used to treat illnesses. I need them for farming. Don’t just stand there, everyone—help me find the root of this Purple Silk Vine. Once we find the main root and sever it, we can easily pull these vines down from the tree without damaging the leaves."
The surrounding trees were all covered in vines, so the four of them split up. Each person chose a tree and began to trace the vines wrapped around its trunk, following them back to find the root.
Each of them gripping a different vine, they traced the twisting paths until they all converged in front of an earthen slope. The separate vines they held all merged into a single main stem as thick as a man’s arm.
That incredibly thick main stem stretched back behind the earthen slope. It seemed the main root of the Purple Silk Vine was just beyond it.