Chapter 23. Shortened Distance; Floating in a Sand Storm

"WAAAAAHHHHHH !!!"

Xie Lian took his hand back and then fell silent.

It occurred to him that every time he saw or touched something thrilling in the dark, it was always the other party who shouted first while he remained silent. Fast response, very good!

The plants in this park are tall and bushy, it might be someone who has been hiding and crawling in weeds whose feet were felt and touched by Xie Lian before. When he touched it, the foot backed away and the weeds in front of him rustled, and someone shouted, "Don't hit me! Don't hit me! Gege, it's me!"

Xie Lian scanned the weeds and saw that someone who appeared later seemed to cry, "Don't hit me!" Tian Shen is a large-eyed and thick eyebrows. The boy saw Xie Lian recognize himself and heaved a sigh of relief. Xie Lian on the other hand did not feel the slightest relief, but became more alert, and raised his fine arm in a defensive position. Under these circumstances, it's usually more likely that this is an illusion created by something evil.

"Aren't you with the others still in the desert? How can you be here? Are you really Tian Shen?"

Tian Shen explained hurriedly, "It's me! I'm the real one! I'm not the only one; three other uncles also came. They are inside. Look, if you don't believe me!" He pointed into the palace, and of course, three men ran out and they were indeed people from the caravan. When they saw Xie Lian they froze in their steps and looked awkward. Xie Lian slowly got up and cleaned herself, "What happened?"

The traders looked at each other and no one spoke. Tian Shen then spoke after an awkward silence, "... Gege, after you left, uncle Zheng's pain lit up and really looked pathetic. We don't know how much longer to expect you to return and fear that you might get lost. A- Zhao-ge said to go straight to the kingdom of Ban Yue, so we think more hands that help everyone will be much better ... "

So what he meant was that the merchants regretted letting them go. They were afraid that Xie Lian would rob their guide after finding ShanYue's fern for themselves, so they sent people to follow them. Xie Lian imagined Fu Yao could not hold them, and might be too lazy to hold them. It was clear after the incident at Mount Yu Jun that Fu Yao did not care about stubborn people who did not want to listen to any reason. Xie Lian could understand where they were from but still felt rather helpless. He rubbed his forehead and said, "You're all too careless. Who knows what might happen in a fort like this and you still dare to keep coming?"

Tian Shen himself knew that what they had done explained that they did not trust Xie Lian and felt uneasy, so he did not make a sound while hiding in the grass before, as awkward as that. "Sorry, Uncle Zheng's condition looks apprehensive and we cannot sit still."

Not important. This is a life and death situation and in a completely natural alert state. So far in danger of antidote to prove that they are worthy friends. Xie Lian couldn't berate them for all this and sighed. "If you don't hit something strange when entering the area, then that is your luck. But how did you decide to look for ShanYue plants in the Palace?"

Tian Shen scratched his head and said, "We don't know where to start, but in the story, the gege in red told us that the queen took the leaves, right? The queen couldn't possibly leave the palace grounds, so I thought we would come and try our luck. . "

Xie Lian smiled, thinking they were thinking the same thing. At that moment, San Lang spoke from the side, "I found it."

Xie Lian turned to see San Lang stepping with his long legs towards him. In his hands were several turquoise leaves still with roots attached to the trunk.

The leaves are the size of a baby's palm, in the shape of a peach, slightly pointed at the ends, and the roots are thin and tiny. Without A-Zhao to confirm, Xie Lian knew without a doubt that it must have been ShanYue's fern. Without waiting for Xie Lian to say a word, San Lang took his injured hand and lifted it.

The hand that was pricked at first looked swollen, but after San Lang sucked the poison from the wound, the swelling significantly deflated even though it wasn't completely cleansed of the poison. With Xie Lian's wrist in one hand and ShanYue's fern in the other hand, San Lang closed his palm holding the plant, and in seconds when he reopened his palm, the fern had been crushed into powder without being seen San Lang had used force.

San Lang gently and firmly rubbed the powder into Xie Lian's hand, and he could feel a cool feeling and relief on his skin. "Thank you, San Lang." Xie Lian said.

San Lang did not respond, and after applying the powder he let go of Xie Lian's hand. Xie Lian couldn't help but think of his attitude and the strange atmosphere between the two of them completely off the mark, but didn't know how to ask about it without sounding strange. This is not something that others will notice and it is impossible to understand.

"Gege, is the fern working? Is this the right concoction?" Tian Shen asked anxiously.

Xie Lian approached and replied, "Much better. This must be the right concoction."

Hearing this, everyone was excited, "Hurry up! Let's find more!" Immediately, A-Zhao also raised a handful of leaves while shouting, "There's more here!"

The ShanYue leaf in A-Zhao's hands was much bigger and fuller than the small and sad one that San Lang had used before, but the shapes and signs were all correct, so everyone gathered around and happily exclaimed:

"All the fields are full of plants here!"

"Very much!"

"Pick a lot! Let's pick a lot! Do you think we can sell this?"

The traders were busy picking potions with a noise, and Xie Lian watched from where he stood, never moving from that place. He examined his hand and thought for a moment before turning towards San Lang, "You searched the same area before, right? Didn't you find it at the time?"

It was clear Xie Lian was trying to force a conversation, and after asking a question, she herself felt rather pathetic. But San Lang shook his head, "You shouldn't use ferns there."

"Why?" Xie Lian asked curiously. Before San Lang could answer, they heard someone screaming,

"GO!"

Everyone stop.

"Who said that? Who yelled?"

"Not me?"

"That's not me either ..."

Then they heard the voice again, screaming, "Go away! You're stepping on me."

The voice came from under their feet!

In an instant, the crowd scattered from the field of the small fern. Seeing this, Xie Lian walked over. He is used to being the leader in those matters. He approached the bush where the scream came from and removed the thick weed. Everyone's breathing stopped.

Under the weeds, in the mud, is the face of a man.

In a field like this, a living human being is buried in the mud with only a face visible on the surface!

It was a horrible picture, and some traders held each other and screamed. Xie Lian comforted them in a skilled and trained way, "Don't panic. Everyone is calm. It's just a face, nothing extraordinary. We all have faces, don't we?"

The face chuckled, "Oh, do I frighten you? Sigh. I often scare myself too."

After convincing the others, Xie Lian knelt down and examined the face in the mud.

This is the face of a man without doubt; quite flat when he doesn't smile, but full of wrinkles when he does it. Xie Lian could not confirm whether he was old or young, and could not say whether he was handsome or not. He could not think of so many things from this face, so he simply asked, "Who are you?"

The face in the mud asked back, "Who are you?"

"We are passing merchants." Xie Lian replied.

The muddy face let out a long breath, "A passing merchant. I used to be part of the caravan too, but that was fifty ... sixty years ago."

The situation is becoming increasingly strange.

Is a man buried under the ruins of an old fort for more than fifty to sixty years still a human?

One of the traders shakily asked, "Then ... then. How do seniors like you ... come ... here?"

The mud face cleared and ruined his face. "I ... I was captured by Ban Yue's army. I accidentally entered the city. They captured me and buried me here, and made me fertilizer for their ShanYue ferns."

No wonder the ferns in their hands are big and full! They are fed with living humans!

The traders immediately dropped all the plants in their hands as if they were touching a corpse. Xie Lian couldn't help but glance at his hand too, but heard San Lang say, "That one is fine."

Xie Lian is now conscious. That's why even though San Lang had seen through this field before, he left it to pick up a small fern that had almost withered from elsewhere. He might have seen what was on the ground but ignored his face completely. The potion he used in Xie Lian's hand was a potion he found in an area that was far more remote but clean from evil and strange things.

"Thank you." Xie Lian said.

San Lang shook his head but his face was still gloomy.

Since Xie Lian was stung by a scorpion snake, San Lang behaved like this. A few days ago he always said everything is this gege, that gege, but now he hardly calls him gege anymore. When they first met, San Lang avoided his touch and looked tired of making contact with Xie Lian, but that seemed to have disappeared after spending so much time together. Now, aside from sucking poison and applying herbs, San Lang once again avoided touching it, and that made Xie Lian feel strange. He was not used to this distance.

The mud face began to speak again, "I haven't seen a real human in years. Can ... can you come closer and let me see you all properly?"

All traders looked at each other, everyone thought they would not want to do what he said. After a while, seeing no one stepping forward, the muddy face muttered, "What? What. You don't want to? Huh ... what a pity ..."

"Is that embarrassing?" Xie Lian asked.

"There's been something bothering me since you all came," The muddy face said, "So I want to confirm with my own two eyes. I want to see each of you and everyone clearly to confirm something."

"To confirm what?" Xie Lian pressed on.

The muddy face answered, "There is someone among you I have seen before ... fifty to sixty years ago."

Everyone there shivered with fear to make their hair stand up.

There are no humans in this group who are over fifty years old. That means whoever this person is here is not human.

Xie Lian gave a sweeping look at everyone there, from A-Zhao to Tian Shen. Some are shocked, some are scared, some are trembling anxiously, some are speechless and confused. Everyone's reaction is normal and reasonable. If someone had to show a strange one, it would be San Lang. But for him, there is no reaction which is a normal reaction.

Xie Lian took an extra look at San Lang expressionlessly and turned to a muddy face, "Who is this person you are talking about?"

"You ... come closer, and I'll tell you." Mud face said.

Xie Lian trusted him eighty percent when he first asked the mud face. The second time Xie Lian tended to trust him less. Who knew that this monster would only lure them closer before doing evil deeds? There was no way Xie Lian would pay attention to people like him.

Xie Lian pushed himself from the ground to leave before the mud face raised his voice, "Do you really not want to know who that person is? He will kill you all!"