Chapter 298: The Delicate Mind of Wang Qingyuan

At Qingyue Market, inside the Wang Family General Store, Wang Qingyuan was sitting behind the counter, looking through ledgers.

Suddenly, a man's voice rang out, "Shopkeeper, do you have any houttuynia cordata that's over a hundred years old?"

Wang Qingyuan looked up to see a middle-aged man in his thirties standing in front of the counter.

The man had a full beard and a ruddy complexion. Judging by his aura, he was clearly a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"Houttuynia cordata over a hundred years old? Yes, we do, but it's quite expensive, 200 spirit stones per plant."

Many houttuynia cordata plants were cultivated in the underground caves of Yunzhou. They were already sixty or seventy years old when planted, and now they had grown to over a hundred years, suitable for refining healing elixirs.

Houttuynia cordata has a yin medicinal property and can be used to treat fire-attribute poisons.

"How many do you have? I'll take them all," the middle-aged man said in a deep voice, a flicker of joy in his eyes. He seemed very wealthy.

"All of them? The store is currently out of stock. The new batch of houttuynia cordata won't arrive for at least four months."

The middle-aged man frowned and asked, "Four months? That long? Can you get it faster? How many will there be?"

"As soon as possible! I can't say exactly how many; it depends on the inventory."

"Alright, then. I'll take whatever quantity you have, as long as it's over a hundred years old. Four months is fine. Here's a deposit; I'll pick up the goods in four months." The middle-aged man took out two mid-grade spirit stones and placed them on the counter.

Wang Qingyuan readily agreed, accepted the spirit stones, and personally wrote out a receipt.

After the middle-aged man left, Wang Qingyuan took out a green scroll, opened it, and examined it, a puzzled expression on his face.

"He doesn't look like him, but his accent is off. It can't be such a coincidence, can it? Never mind, I'll still inform Eight Uncle and let him decide."

On a towering peak in the White Dragon Mountain Range, Wang Changsheng and three others stood on the summit, with the Twin-Pupil Rat perched on Wang Changsheng's shoulder.

They had been in the White Dragon Mountain Range for over half a month, encountering only some first-tier demonic beasts and gathering spirit herbs that were a few decades old. They hadn't come across any second-tier demonic beasts, let alone spirit herbs over a hundred years old.

"This shouldn't be happening! Aren't the demonic beast resources in White Dragon Valley quite abundant? We've been here for over half a month and haven't encountered a single second-tier demonic beast. It's truly strange," Wang Changfeng said with a frown. He had been full of fighting spirit, but the lack of second-tier demonic beasts felt like a bucket of cold water poured over him.

"Perhaps our luck is just bad! Let's go deeper; maybe we'll find some second-tier demonic beasts there."

Wang Changsheng had always relied on the Twin-Pupil Rat to find spirit herbs. Typically, places with hundred-year-old spirit herbs also had second-tier demonic beasts. However, after more than half a month in the White Dragon Mountain Range, the Twin-Pupil Rat hadn't found a single hundred-year-old spirit herb.

"First Uncle, Ninth Uncle, let's keep searching for a while. If we still don't find anything, we'll just move to another location. The cultivation world is vast; second-tier demonic beasts can't possibly be extinct," Wang Qingshan suggested.

Wang Changsheng nodded. "That's all we can do. Let's keep moving forward!"

The Twin-Pupil Rat leaped from Wang Changsheng's shoulder and quickly dashed down the mountain. Wang Changsheng and the other three quickly followed.

Five days later, the four of them appeared in a narrow mountain valley, flanked by steep rock walls.

The Twin-Pupil Rat ran ahead, moving extremely fast.

"Everyone, keep up! The Twin-Pupil Rat must have found spirit herbs over a hundred years old this time; otherwise, it wouldn't be this excited."

Not long after, they reached the end of the valley, where a cave about three meters wide appeared before them.

The Twin-Pupil Rat rushed into the cave, but after a short while, it darted back out and climbed onto Wang Changsheng's shoulder.

"Be careful; there might be a second-tier demonic beast inside," Wang Changsheng cautioned. He tucked the Twin-Pupil Rat back into his spirit beast pouch, cast a protective shield on himself, and walked in.

Wang Changfeng followed closely, and Wang Changyue brought up the rear.

The cave was dark and damp. After walking less than a hundred steps, Wang Changsheng felt a chill as the temperature dropped significantly.

After turning left and walking another hundred steps, the cold intensified. A thin layer of white ice coated the rock walls. The four wound through the cave for a short while, and then a natural ice cave, several hundred feet in size, appeared before them.

The ice cave was formed by thick layers of ice, with white ice chunks of various sizes scattered everywhere.

In the lower-left corner of the ice cave, there were over a dozen small, snow-white plants.

"These are Profound Ice Grass. It looks like they're over a hundred years old."

Wang Changsheng released his divine sense, scanning the entire ice cave but finding no demonic beasts. He then released an ape puppet and strode towards the Profound Ice Grass.

Just as the ape puppet approached the Profound Ice Grass, there was a tremendous roar, and a giant white centipede burst out from beneath the thick ice layer.

The white centipede was five to six meters long, entirely snow-white, with a row of gleaming, sharp legs along its underside.

It opened its mouth and spewed out a large cloud of white chilling mist, which struck the ape puppet, instantly turning it into an ice sculpture.

The white centipede quickly coiled around the ice sculpture, its sharp legs brutally hacking at it until the sculpture shattered into pieces.

With several whooshing sounds, several giant fireballs, the size of water vats, shot forward and smashed into the white centipede. A series of thunderous explosions erupted, and rolling flames engulfed the centipede's form.

Wang Qingshan made a hand seal, and three green flying swords flew out from his sleeve, swiftly transforming into a giant green sword about three meters long, which then slashed towards the sea of flames.

A strange shriek echoed, and a large expanse of white chilling mist emerged from the sea of flames. The flames rolled back and extinguished, revealing the white centipede's form.

The white centipede was covered in a thick layer of ice, like a white armor protecting its entire body. The giant green sword shattered the thick ice layer, striking the centipede's hard shell with a dull thud, leaving only a faint sword mark on its surface.

A house-sized golden iron ball shot forward and slammed violently into the white centipede's back. With a tremendous crash, over a dozen cracks appeared in the thick ice layer beneath the centipede, and a small section of its hard shell caved in. The white centipede let out a sharp, strange shriek.

Wang Changyue released her second-tier Fire Cloud Queen Bee. The queen bee opened its mouth and spewed a thick stream of crimson flames, striking the white centipede.

Rolling flames engulfed the white centipede's body. The centipede emitted a series of miserable, strange shrieks, and the thick ice layer on the ground melted into water, quickly turning into a vast expanse of white mist.

Wang Qingshan made a hand seal, and the giant green sword shone brightly as it slashed towards the white centipede's head.

With a tragic shriek, the white centipede's head was severed by the giant green sword.

Wang Changsheng raised his hand, and the Soul Collecting Bottle shot out, hovering above the white centipede. It spewed a black mist that enveloped the centipede's corpse. An egg-sized green light orb flew out from the corpse and was swept into the bottle by the black mist, disappearing from view. Wang Changsheng made a hand seal, and the Soul Collecting Bottle quickly flew back into his sleeve.

They did not rush into the ice cave. Instead, they shattered all the ice layers, ensuring there were no other demonic insects before entering.

Half an hour later, they emerged from the cave, broad smiles on everyone's faces.

After nearly a month of searching, they finally had some gains.

Upon exiting the valley, Wang Changsheng released the Twin-Pupil Rat and fed it a green nut. The Twin-Pupil Rat consumed the nut and quickly darted towards the dense forest nearby. Wang Changsheng and the other three followed closely, and soon, they disappeared into the dense woods.