Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Thirst for Knowledge

That night, Xu Qing had a dream.

This was the first time in more than six years that he had lived in such a luxurious house, and it was also the first time in six years that he didn’t feel the cold at all. In addition, it was a rare night where he had a dream.

In the dream, the world wasn’t cruel, and the sky didn’t have the fragmented face of God. His parents were by his side, and he even had an older brother.

He was carefree and went to school with a group of playmates. After school, he returned to his warm home, ate a hot dinner with his family, and fell asleep soundly.

But the appearance of his family in the dream was a little blurry.

He really wanted to see them clearly, but their faces seemed to be shrouded in a layer of fog. Finally, when morning came, the dream ended and Xu Qing opened his eyes.

He stared at the ceiling and rested for a moment, seemingly forcing himself to wake up from his dream completely. Then he looked around silently…

This house made of grayish-black bricks had a table, chairs, a bed, and even a bathroom. The floor was still warm with heat leftover from the fireplace last night.

On the floor, there was a mat weaved from straw, and beside it was an empty bookshelf.

The house seemed simple, but in Xu Qing’s heart, this much was already very luxurious.

Xu Qing took a deep breath and walked towards the bathroom, dunking his hands in the water basin. He watched the dirt slide off his hands before lifting his hands out of the basin.

He lowered his head for a moment before wiping his body. But after that, he made himself dirty again and looked at his reflection in the mirror.

A large fur coat, a head of messy black hair, a small and dirty face, and a pair of clear eyes.

After checking himself in the mirror, Xu Qing turned around and looked out the window. The clarity in his eyes was swiftly replaced by coldness.

Outside the window, the blizzard had stopped. The morning sun reared its head, and as sunlight shone down, the final bits of snow left by winter slowly disappeared from the ground.

As the snow melted, green buds bloomed on the trees in the distance. It was as if they were telling everyone that spring had finally arrived.

Xu Qing walked out of his room and habitually glanced at Captain Thunder’s house. The dozen over wild dogs in the courtyard didn’t raise their heads, merely lazily sweeping their tails on the ground in greeting.

“I should give it a try.” Xu Qing muttered. His eyes gleamed with determination.

He pushed open the courtyard gate and walked out. His goal was clear: the tent where the convoy’s doctor was.

In the early morning, there weren’t many scavengers out and about in the camp.

As Xu Qing approached the convoy, the guards all looked over at him. Xu Qing could faintly hear sounds of studying coming from the doctor’s tent.

After hesitating for a while, Xu Qing stood silently outside the tent and waited.

The convoy’s guards all around him looked at him with scrutiny in their eyes. After watching him for a while, most of them retracted their gazes, but there were still a few who continued to observe him.

Xu Qing ignored them. The voices of studying students drifted out from the tent, and Xu Qing gradually became enraptured. At the same time, he realized that it wasn’t just studying he heard; the students were also being tested on their knowledge.

“Goldturn grass, also known as three-leaf pearl or cold-scattering grass, is a plant belonging to the sedge family. It takes a long time to grow, and it can be found in hillside forests and wet places in the wilderness. It’s distributed in both the Serene Highlands and Broadspirit Prefecture in the south of South Phoenix. Its effects include soothing the lungs to relieve coughing, mild detoxification, lightening bruises, curing venomous snake bites, and helping traumatic injuries. It can be used in combination with...”

The girl's voice was originally full of confidence, but she hesitated when she spoke to this point.

“In combination with what?” Grandmaster Bai’s imposing voice seemed to contain sternness as it drifted out from inside the tent.

“In combination with the rhinofire flower to refine medicine. By using the method of borrowing yang to transform yin, it can create a single drop of detoxification liquid, which is one of the basic ingredients for the Great Transformation Pill.” The girl seemed a little nervous, and she spoke very quickly, letting out a sigh of relief after she was done.

Outside the tent, Xu Qing became more and more serious as he continued to listen.

“Whiteback root, also known as… um. It is the root of a white mallotus tree. It is slightly astringent and a little bitter. It can be found in… uh, it can be used to heal the five internal organs…” When it was the boy’s turn to answer the teacher’s questions, he hesitated as he spoke, and in the end he stopped altogether. It was clear that he had forgotten.

Inside the tent, the boy was nervous and worried. He couldn’t remember, and looked pleadingly at the girl next to him for help.

The girl obviously knew the answer, but she didn’t remind him. In the end, the boy could only hang his head with a depressed look on his face.

Standing in front of them was Grandmaster Bai, who glanced outside the tent. The guards immediately stood at attention and asked for instructions.

Grandmaster Bai thought for a while before shaking his head slightly. Then he snorted coldly at the stammering boy.

“Tonight, you shall write the Classic of Plants and Vegetation from memory ten times!”

The boy really wanted to cry this time, but he didn’t dare talk back. He could only lower his head and wail internally.

After testing his two apprentices, Grandmaster Bai calmly began to give the day's lecture. His voice was a little louder and clearer than usual.

The boy didn’t notice anything, but the girl was naturally attentive, so she was a little surprised by this change. She blinked her eyes and suddenly looked outside the tent. At the end of her gaze was a small and skinny figure waiting under the sunshine.

Xu Qing, standing outside the tent, listened very carefully. Every word and sentence spoken by Grandmaster Bai was firmly memorized. Xu Qing feared missing even a single word, because for him, knowledge was extremely precious.

Just like that, time passed slowly. Grandmaster Bai’s lecture lasted almost twice as long as usual, and it only finished when the sun was high in the sky. Finally, once scavengers had started lining up outside the tent for his medical services, Grandmaster Bai ended the lecture and his hoarse voice rang out.

"Young man outside, you can come in.”

Xu Qing was startled, instantly waking up from his learning-induced reverie. He inhaled deeply and carefully entered through the tent flap. Silently standing to one side, he seemed to feel a little guilty.

Normally, he wouldn’t act like this, but today he eavesdropped outside for such a long time even though he had come to ask a favor. In the slums, this would be considered contemptuous behavior.

As if sensing Xu Qing’s nervousness, Grandmaster Bai spoke slowly.

"What’s the matter?"

As his words rang out, the girl next to him looked at Xu Qing with curiosity.

She had a small impression of this kid in front of her. She remembered that a few days ago, he had come to see the doctor with an old man on his back.

“I greet Grandmaster Bai.” Xu Qing imitated Captain Thunder’s actions from before and bowed deeply to Grandmaster Bai.

After hesitating, he said that he wanted to ask about the Destiny Flower, pulling out five White Pills from his leather bag and placing them in front of Grandmaster Bai.

The normal fee would be a single White Pill, but Xu Qing felt that since he had listened in on the previous lecture, one pill wasn’t enough. In fact, he felt that even five was still a little lacking.

Thus, he took out ten spirit coins and put them together with the White Pills.

After doing this, his heart finally settled down.

Grandmaster Bai looked deeply at Xu Qing, then he slowly spoke to the girl next to him.

"Tingyu, you answer."

The girl straightened her back with a serious look on her face and spoke in a clear voice.

“Destiny Flower, also known as life-renewal blaze or the divine spirit grass, is a variant of the Revival Tree, a divine-grade plant. According to the records, there are seventy-three variants of the Revival Tree, but only this first variant can be used as medicine. The Destiny Flower can grow anywhere in a forbidden area, but nobody knows what causes it to grow, and it is extremely rare."

“It can allow lost limbs to regenerate and grant one a second life. Aside from wounds to the soul, it can heal all manner of injuries.” As she spoke, the girl quickly picked up a book. After flipping through it, she opened it up to a certain page and showed Xu Qing the picture.

"It looks like this."

The picture in the book was a flower that didn’t look extraordinary at all. Only the serrated edges of the leaves stood out, as well as a strange symbol in the center that seemed to be formed from silk.

Xu Qing looked at it carefully, and after memorizing it, he bowed deeply to Grandmaster Bai and the girl. He turned around and was about to leave when Grandmaster Bai’s calm voice came from behind him.

“This herb can only be found by luck, and it’s always guarded by powerful mutated beasts. Remember not to overestimate yourself.”

Xu Qing bowed again upon hearing this, and after leaving the tent, he hurriedly ran through the camp.

After returning to the residence as fast as possible, he immediately pulled out a bamboo slip from his leather bag. Using his iron skewer, he engraved everything the girl had said about the Destiny Flower onto the bamboo slip, as well as carving the picture that was in the book.

After thinking about it, he also engraved the contents of the lecture that he had eavesdropped on.

In the end, he looked at the bamboo slip densely packed with tiny writing and felt very satisfied. Xu Qing carefully put the bamboo slip away as if it were a great treasure.

“It would be great if I could listen in again.” Xu Qing muttered. He began to think of ways that would allow him to keep eavesdropping on Grandmaster Bai’s lessons. After a while, he put away his thoughts and began cultivating.

That night, Xu Qing waited in the house until Captain Thunder came back. When Xu Qing told him that he was going to the forbidden area, Captain Thunder opened his mouth to stop him but hesitated.

In the end, he nodded and told Xu Qing about his experiences in the forbidden area.

Just like an old grandfather watching his grandson leave the house, Captain Thunder spoke in great detail.

He continued speaking all through the night, only stopping once it was dawn. After Xu Qing noted everything down, Captain Thunder gave him another leather bag. This bag contained various medicinal powders that Luan Ya had left behind.

By the time Xu Qing finished studying the powders’ specific uses, it was already morning. Xu Qing bade farewell and left the camp, running swiftly through the wilderness before arriving outside the forbidden area not long later.

The moment he stepped through the boundary, the warmth of the outside sun was instantly cut off, and a sinister chill invaded his whole body. Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed with vigilance as he leapt through the air into the jungle.

After several breaths, his figure disappeared without a trace.

This was the second time Xu Qing was stepping into the forbidden area jungle, and he was no longer completely unfamiliar with it.

But the more familiar he was, the more his caution grew. As he sped forward, he made sure to pay attention to the flowers and plants around him. Soon, he arrived at the place where the Thunder Team had taught him to spread mud on himself. He copied Luan Ya’s previous actions, spreading powder and getting rid of the insects before scooping up the mud and smearing it all over his body.

A whole day soon passed uneventfully.

Xu Qing didn’t encounter the bewilderment fog on this trip, and although there were some powerful mutated beasts, his abundant caution allowed him to avoid them.

As he went, he also closely observed the flowers and plants, looking for the Destiny Flower.

Soon, he came to the place where he encountered black-scaled wolves last time. Looking around, he could still see traces of the Thunder Team's previous arrangements. The ground was littered with wolf corpses all over, and by now, most of the wolves had turned into rotting bones.

After carefully observing the rotting corpses, Xu Qing found that there were no bite marks, and the corpses were being left to rot naturally. He let out a sigh of relief.

This indicated that mutated beasts most likely wouldn’t come here.

Thus, Xu Qing found a spot nearby, intending to spend the night here and move on after dawn came.

As soon as night fell, the jungle turned pitch-black. Xu Qing jumped into a crevice in a tree to hide and looked toward the direction of the valley with the seven-colored grass. Going further in that direction, there was the temple complex.

He didn’t enter the forbidden area this time solely to look for the Destiny Flower. If he had the chance, he also wanted to find a scar-removing stone for that little girl.

"I’ll go and have a look." Xu Qing muttered.

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