IWYTBW - Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Good Luck at its Limit is Bad Luck.
Yi Zhen pulled out his original copy of the Book of Poisons and quickly flipped to the page on the Jade Cloud Wisteria. As a model student, he had already memorized the entire book, but the act added to the atmosphere.
“Jade Cloud Wisteria, the vine body is as clear as purple glass, the leaves are like jasper, with curled cloud patterns...” Yi Zhen compared them one by one. “When a leaf is broken, a faint white center seeps out, with a fragrant liquid...”
He hurried over, reached out, and broke off a green leaf. Sure enough, there was a milky white core at the stem of the leaf, from which a drop of fragrant liquid slowly seeped out. “...When humans and animals eat it, they will suffer from severe abdominal cramps and die a painful death; when insects and snakes eat it, their muscles and bones will become stronger, and their scales and skin will gradually shed...”
He looked down and saw the Bone-Eroding Spirit Scorpion, with the Three-Smile Butterfly on its head, no longer running around excitedly. It was standing obediently at his feet, looking up at him expectantly.
Yi Zhen handed the leaf in his hand to the Bone-Eroding Spirit Scorpion and broke off another one for the Three-Smile Butterfly to stand on. The two little creatures immediately began to suck on the liquid with great concentration.
“It really is the Jade Cloud Wisteria… ” Yi Zhen’s mood was complicated. Even though it was ranked low, this kind of treasure, like the Jade Toad’s Saliva, which could be used to nurture poisonous creatures, was extremely rare and hard to come by. How could he encounter it here?
[It is indeed the plant recorded in the Book of Poisons. ] Tai’a said. [It seems to be the origin of this fog. ]
Yi Zhen felt like he had been hit by a huge pie that had fallen from the sky. He hurriedly rummaged through his Mustard Seed Pouch. Luckily, before he came, he had thought that he might find some rare treasures on this planet. Rong Hongxue had just provided him with a new set of armor, so Yi Zhen used the remaining 60,000+ Star Coins to wholesale thirty liquid nitrogen cryo-boxes, equipped with UV sterilization.
Thanks to high technology, if it were traditional jade boxes used to store rare medicinal materials, it would cost hundreds of thousands. Now, with mass-produced liquid nitrogen cryo-boxes, the quantity and quality of his treasure hunting would be greatly improved. Hooray!
Yi Zhen impatiently took off the armor, pulled out a box from the Mustard Seed Pouch, his hands smooth and cold. He also took out a thin, jade-like slicing knife and gently lifted a branch of the Jade Cloud Wisteria, swiftly slicing with his other hand. The cut was smooth and clean, and the crystal-clear purple vine with its lush green leaves fell into the opened cryo-box, quickly accumulating a layer of white frost.
Yi Zhen quickly coiled it into a circle and closed the lid with satisfaction, securing his treasure.
This Jade Cloud Wisteria must have been growing for many years, standing alone with numerous branches. Yi Zhen wasn’t greedy. He counted. There were fourteen branches on the main vine. He took ten of the thicker ones, leaving the main vine and the remaining four branches for sustainable development.
Of the thirty empty boxes, ten were immediately filled. Yi Zhen felt refreshed and invigorated, as if he were walking on air.
[The fog is thinning.] Tai’a said.
Yi Zhen sensed it, and the concentration of the surrounding purple fog had indeed decreased. “The Jade Cloud Wisteria should be the epi- center of the fog’s production... It’s only natural that it would thin after I took most of the branches.”
Reluctantly bidding farewell to the Jade Cloud Wisteria, Yi Zhen’s brain finally emerged from the “hahaha I’m rich!” debuff aura and began to think about the key issue.
He sent a message to Li Youdeng: [Safe], and then asked Tai’a, “Do you know why the Jade Cloud Wisteria would appear here?”
[I must refuse to answer this question, Player,] Tai’a said. [As a guidance system, I have no right to answer any questions regarding the world’s plot. ]
Yi Zhen: “Alright, I’ll think about it some more. Something that should belong to another system suddenly appears here... Could it be because of my influence that the two systems are starting to merge? No, that’s too... But when you think about it, it doesn’t seem entirely impossible...”
After walking for a while, Yi Zhen sensed another change in the fog’s concentration. He immediately stopped talking and focused on finding the source.
This time, the purple mist was dense. Yi Zhen waved his hand, and the mist immediately condensed into tiny water droplets on the back of his hand, dripping down his fingers. After walking for a while, Yi Zhen was soaked as if he had been pulled out of a river. His clothes were soaked with poisonous water, and his forehead, hair, and eyebrows were covered in small, glistening water droplets.
Fortunately, the Jade Alchemy of the Eastern Sea had greatly strengthened his body, preventing him from being affected by the purple mist. When he reached the center, Yi Zhen found the same vacuum zone as before. He hurriedly squeezed in, only to be stunned again.
There was only a cluster of three orchids growing inside. The leaves were a verdant green, the petals snow-white, and the centers a tender yellow. They looked no different from other orchids. Yi Zhen frowned and slowly approached, carefully parting the petals.
His fingers passed through the entire flower... The unique characteristic of this flower was immediately revealed. It seemed to be made of thin threads. Yi Zhen felt as if he were brushing through a girl’s soft, silky hair. Its petals and stamen rippled with a wave of white.
—The 36th most poisonous plant in the Book of Poisons, the Myriad Wonders Heavenly Orchid.
This flower was colorless and odorless, but its petals and stamens were the main ingredients of the deadly poison “All Methods Return to One” Powder. It went by many whispered names, but as they all suggested, those who were poisoned by ‘Absolute Regression’ would have all their meridians shattered, and all their martial arts cultivation would be reduced to nothing within three quarters of an hour. It was one of the most feared poisons in the martial world.
First the Jade Cloud Wisteria, and now the Myriad Wonders Heavenly Orchid... Am I really in a time-travel situation? When I leave the poison swamp, will I see an inn and martial artists with swords at their waists? Yi Zhen thought in a daze.
But a person had to be decisive! It wasn’t his style to leave good things behind and just think. Yi Zhen knelt on the ground and carefully dug with his bare hands for half an hour. Finally, he dug out the entire Myriad Wonders Heavenly Orchid without damaging the roots and placed it in a cryo-box.
They say one should be content with a small fortune. Now that he had suddenly become so rich, was he about to face bad luck?
[The concentration of the surrounding fog has decreased again,] Tai’a said.
“Ah, yes,” Yi Zhen looked around and clapped the dirt off his hands. “I wonder what other treasures there are further ahead.”
As if understanding his words, the Three-Smile Butterfly let go of the leaf it had sucked dry and flew onto his shoulder, gently flapping its wings.
“What is it?” Yi Zhen asked. “Do you have something to tell me?”
The Three-Smile Butterfly fluttered in a certain direction. Yi Zhen grabbed the Bone-Eroding Spirit Scorpion and placed it on his shoulder, following curiously.
After more than ten minutes, Yi Zhen realized something was wrong. The purple mist was denser than anything he’d encountered before. It was like a smooth, yet suffocating, silk, tightly wrapping around anything that dared to move through it.
Yi Zhen stopped chewing the oxygen tablets. He completely sealed off his breathing, relying solely on his internal energy. The Three-Smile Butterfly was also struggling to fly. Its wings were soaked with scale powder, and each time it flapped, its wings stuck together. Yi Zhen quickly reached out and scooped it onto his right shoulder.
An ant struggling in a sticky spider web, a mosquito rolling in drawn-out honey—that was how Yi Zhen felt now. When the morning fog rose, everyone said that the hazy fog reflecting the golden sunlight was as beautiful as a fairyland. But he never imagined that one day he would feel suffocated by a fairyland-like fog, as if trapped in a quagmire.
The Three-Smile Butterfly had already crawled into the Mustard Seed Pouch. The Bone-Eroding Spirit Scorpion was also struggling to hold on. Yi Zhen reached out his hand, like a blind man without a cane, groping his way forward. His internal energy was completely useless, and only his mental power was barely functional. All the way, he extracted the concept of poison, accumulating it in a large glass jar.
Yi Zhen’s fingertips finally reached that deadly dividing line.
He squeezed through with all his might, like a commuter during rush hour squeezing onto the subway, determined to get on this train or lose his attendance bonus for the month. Finally, he tumbled onto the soft mud.
Yi Zhen felt a chill, a prickling, snow cold chill.
But at this moment, he didn’t have time to worry about anything else. He quickly tore off the sticky, wet, and dripping outer robe, then the inner lining and the chest and hand guards. Then he pulled out a towel, poured a bottle of clean water on it, and carefully wiped away the remaining traces of poison from his head, face, and body.
Only when the entire towel was stained various shades of purple did Yi Zhen put on a clean undershirt, re-wrap his hands, and put on a new outer robe. Finally, he looked up.
Before looking up, he had imagined many possibilities, but he had maintained a calm attitude of “I’ll take whatever I find.”
Before the fisherman Urashima Tarō followed the turtle to the resplendent Dragon Palace, he was just an ordinary, kind villager. Any one of the countless treasures in the underwater palace would have been something he had never seen before in his life. So, whether he danced with joy or was intoxicated with delight, he also had a peaceful mentality of “I’m already here, so I might as well make the best of it.”
After looking up, Yi Zhen was shocked.
A Dr-Dragon Princess! This country bumpkin Urashima Tarō had encountered a Dragon Princess as soon as he arrived!
Before him, a field of large, snow-white flowers bloomed. Each stem was as clear as crystal, and the pale purple calyxes radiated long, thin white petals. The inner flowers were round and flawless. From afar, it looked like a heavy snowfall under the moonlight.
—The 18th most poisonous plant in the Book of Poisons, the Night Snow Epiphyllum, the companion flower of the Three-Smile Butterfly.
Yi Zhen could hardly believe his eyes. He rushed forward, wanting to touch it with his fingers, but ultimately refrained. Apart from the nectar, the rest of the Night Snow Epiphyllum was a holy medicine for detoxification. He had been through fire and poison, so he didn’t want to dirty its pristine petals.
The Three-Smile Butterfly was like a fish back in water, excitedly rolling among the flowers, sipping from one, shaking another. Yi Zhen was also like a fish back in water, clipping one here, pulling one there.
Epiphyllums could be propagated by cuttings. Of course, in the interstellar age, there must be more advanced methods for growing flowers. But Yi Zhen was an outsider. He could only follow the instructions in the Book of Poisons, selecting thick and sturdy branches to cut and store in cryo-boxes, waiting to revive them and plant them later.
The fully-grown Night Snow Epiphyllum was taller than a person. Despite Yi Zhen’s abilities, he couldn’t move an entire plant. He could only select as many branches as possible and pick the flower buds for the Three-Smile Butterfly.
By the time all thirty cryo-boxes were filled to the brim, Yi Zhen reluctantly stopped. Only at this moment did the joy of his harvest slowly recede, overtaken by a growing sense of confusion and unease.
“Twenty-six Night Snow Epiphyllums, each one worth a fortune,” Yi Zhen muttered. “In a martial arts system, this could be enough to destabilize a small nation.”
[What are you thinking, Player?] Tai’a asked.
“I don’t know,” Yi Zhen said. “Whether the two systems are merging, or... if these were left here by someone, I have no idea, and I don’t know where to find the answers.”
As he had been wreaking havoc, the surrounding purple mist had simultaneously begun to thin. The signal that had been blocked by the thick fog recovered somewhat, and his optical computer lit up, suddenly displaying more than a dozen messages.
Li Youdeng: [She Xin and I escaped successfully. We’re now outside the poison swamp area. No one has come after us yet. How are you?]
Li Youdeng: [Hey, hey, hey, we heard the sound of mechas moving. Are you okay?]
Li Youdeng: [This is She Xin’s new optical computer! He changed his number again, no wonder we couldn’t contact him... When you come out, remember to add him as a friend.]
[User “I am She Xin” requests to add you as a friend.]
Yi Zhen quickly scanned through them, going straight to the bottom.
Li Youdeng: [Yi Zhen, if you’re safe, get out of there quickly!! There are huge battleships fighting in the sky above, they’re having a fucking aerial battle!! There are too many people coming, we’re leaving first. Come to these coordinates and meet up with us ASAP!!]
Li Youdeng: [Damn, three transport ships that were picking up eliminated contestants have crashed.]
Li Youdeng: [The planetary garrison is firing, although I don’t know who they’re fighting... Be safe, Yi Zhen. She Xin and I are currently]
—The last message Yi Zhen received ended abruptly.
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