Chapter 77 There's a very big cypress tree in front of Chapter 77...

There was a large cypress tree in front, growing on the edge of a cliff. There were few weeds under the tree, only withered leaves, and it looked quite spacious.

Long Buxi reached out and led Cheng Ying there.

When the two reached the tree, Long Buxi picked up a dry leaf from under the tree and examined it. After confirming that there were no poisonous insects hiding under the leaf, he spread a clean leaf on the ground and gestured for Cheng Ying to sit down.

Cheng Ying sat down without any hesitation. Seeing that Long Buxi was still standing, gazing at the distant mountain peaks, she leaned against the tree trunk and asked, "Aren't you going to rest for a while? Aren't you tired?"

He had just recovered from a serious illness, and after climbing a mountain path for half a day, he spent the same time chopping tree branches, vines, and weeds with a Miao knife. He must have been very tired.

But he showed no signs of fatigue on his face, nor did he intend to sit down and rest. His stamina was something Cheng Ying greatly envied.

Cheng Ying's legs weren't fully recovered yet. Even though she hadn't done anything, she was exhausted after following him up the mountain for half a day. All she wanted to do was find a place to lie down and rest, and she didn't want to go anywhere else.

“I’ve been searching for herbs and insects that can be used to make Gu poison in the mountains since I was a child. I often spend several days and nights in the mountains. I’ve only walked for half a day now. I’m not tired at all.”

Long Buxi withdrew his gaze, noticing the fatigue on her face. He took off the crossbody bag he was carrying and handed it to her. "Drink some water and eat some dry food. The road ahead will be even more difficult. If you really can't walk anymore, tell me and I'll carry you to the Valley of the Dead."

The crossbody bag was Cheng Ying's mail carrier. Inside were a military water bottle filled with water, several flatbreads made by Long Buxi, some dried meat he had somehow gotten, and some candied fruit, all placed in a large bamboo bowl covered with a bamboo lid. It was quite heavy to carry, so Long Buxi took her bag and carried it himself.

"Okay." Cheng Ying didn't stand on ceremony. She opened her backpack, took out a military water bottle, gulped down a few mouthfuls, and handed the bottle to Long Buxi, "You should have some too."

Long Buxi stared at the moist mouth of the kettle, her eyes darkening as if she had thought of something. "No need. There's spring water everywhere on the mountain. I'll just drink the spring water. You can drink your own water."

Cheng Ying asked, "Do you not like drinking water? Or are you disgusted that I've already drunk from it?"

"No, that's not it. A lot of the water in the mountains has leeches and parasites. I'm fine drinking it, but you'll get sick. I'm telling you to keep the water for yourself." Long Buxi shook his head with a smile.

Cheng Ying then put the kettle away, muttering, "Isn't your body different from mine? We're both human, so how can you be immune to parasites and leeches?"

“It’s different. I’m different from you.” Long Buxi said in a low voice, “I’ve been with Gu worms since I was a child. Before I cultivated Alan, I was poisoned by Gu a lot. In order to get rid of the Gu, I used a lot of medicines and methods. My body has become immune to all poisons. Ordinary parasites can’t hurt me.”

Alan was dozing on his shoulder. When he heard him mention its name, it opened its tiny eyes, squeaked twice at him, then closed its eyes again and went back to sleep.

Cheng Ying felt a pang of heartache upon hearing this. "Do people born into the Miao ethnic group have to cultivate Gu worms from a young age? Why were you infected with Gu? Was it because you were accidentally bitten by a Gu worm while playing, or was someone else bewitching you?"

"Not all Miao people know how to practice Gu, nor do we play with Gu from a young age. Gu practice varies from person to person. If you like it, you practice it; if you don't like it, you don't. There is no mandatory requirement."

"The Gu poison I was afflicted with when I was a child was given to me by my mother. Before she died, she was the most skilled Miao woman in Gu magic in our village. She believed that her children must learn all her Gu magic in order to gain a foothold in the village, so I have been accompanied by Gu worms since I was a child." Long Buxi lowered her eyes, concealing the surging emotions in them.

As far back as he can remember, his mother forced him to deal with Gu worms.

At that time, he was just a little boy and didn't understand what Gu worms were. He just saw those dark-colored, poisonous scorpions, centipedes, snakes and other poisonous creatures as very scary. He didn't want to play with them or touch them and cried a lot because of it.

At this time, his beautiful and gentle mother would become terrifying and twisted, like a madwoman, yelling at him and constantly whipping him with a bamboo whip, forcing him to practice Gu poison and deal with poisonous creatures. Even if he was bitten all over by those poisonous creatures and fainted from poisoning, she would still make him practice Gu poison.

Sometimes his father couldn't stand it and would protect him, telling his mother not to pressure him.

The mother then started crying and screaming hysterically, saying that she didn't want to force him, but they had given birth to a freakish son, and everyone in the village looked at their whole family like monsters. They all wanted to kill the eldest son and drive their family out of the village.

She didn't want her eldest son to die, and she was also afraid that she and her husband would suddenly die in an accident, leaving no one to care about their eldest son's life or death. So she forced her younger son to practice Gu poison and make him take care of her eldest son.

But later, her beloved eldest son went mad and, taking advantage of her weakened state after using the blood curse, bit her to death.

Her husband witnessed her horrific death, and in his anguish, he took an axe and killed her eldest son before mutilating himself to death, leaving him alone to clean up their mess.

Even without Long Buxi mentioning his childhood, Cheng Ying could guess how much hardship he had endured. She reached out and gently took Long Buxi's hand, feeling deeply guilty. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you about the Gu worms."

Long Buxi squeezed her hand back, "It's okay, it's all in the past, I don't care anymore."

Don't you really care?

If he really didn't care, why did his eyes look so sad when he talked about his childhood?

Cheng Ying wisely refrained from pressing the matter further. She opened the bamboo tube, took out two fried cakes and two pieces of dried meat, and shared them with Long Buxi.

She didn't know what kind of meat the jerky was made of, but it was very chewy and fragrant, with the flavors of Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers, which suited her taste perfectly.

Cheng Ying puffed out her cheeks and struggled to finish the jerky, then casually remarked, "This jerky is really delicious. I wish I could eat it every day."

Long Buxi silently memorized it. That night, when they were sleeping in a cave, he took advantage of Cheng Ying's sleep, leaving A Lan to guard Cheng Ying, while he took the Miao knife and disappeared into the woods outside the cave.

He reappeared two hours later, carrying a wild boar weighing over 100 pounds on his shoulder. He placed it in front of the cave and slowly dissected it with a knife.

When Cheng Ying woke up, it was already dawn.

She was awakened by the rich aroma of roasted meat.

Long Buxi sat in front of the cave entrance and lit a fire. Next to the fire stood a bunch of skewers of wild boar meat, skewered on more than ten branches about half an arm's length thick.

The meat skewers sizzled and dripped with oil, emitting a rich meaty aroma.

Cheng Ying's mouth watered. She walked over and saw a pile of wild boar meat that had been butchered next to Long Buxi. She asked in surprise, "Where did this meat come from?"

“After you fell asleep last night, I went into the mountains and hunted a wild boar.” Long Buxi handed her two skewers of grilled meat. “Eat up, eat as much as you want, I’ll grill more if you’re not full.”

Cheng Ying took the kebab, took a bite of meat, and her eyes widened immediately.

The roasted meat was grilled to perfection, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a rich, oily aroma. The aftertaste had the unique chewy texture of wild boar and a distinctive wood-roasted fragrance. Most importantly, the roasted meat was salted and seasoned with Sichuan peppercorns and chili powder, making it spicy, numbing, and smoky—absolutely delicious!

After ravenously finishing two skewers of grilled meat, Cheng Ying couldn't help but ask Long Buxi, "It's so late at night, why aren't you sleeping? You went out to hunt wild boar. Could you even see it? How did you manage to kill that wild boar all by yourself? Where did you get the salt, peppercorns, and chili peppers?"

After watching her finish eating, Long Buxi handed her two more sizzling, oily skewers of grilled meat. "Last night there was a moon, and the moonlight illuminated the mountains and forests very brightly, providing excellent visibility. I have Gu worms to help me; some of these Gu worms are nocturnal animals and can accurately locate wild boar herds. At night, wild boars have weaker vision and move more slowly, making it easy to hunt one. The seasonings are something I always carry with me; it's a habit I developed from years of collecting herbs and searching for insects. If I can't get back to the village in the wild, I'll hunt for food on the spot."

No wonder he was able to hunt a wild boar so easily; it turns out he had the help of Gu worms.

With those Gu worms around him, he's practically invincible.

However, Cheng Ying still checked his body again, and seeing that he had no injuries and was not lying, she was relieved and happily ate her kebabs.

In this era of food and clothing shortages, Cheng Ying, who loves meat, has only eaten meat a handful of times in the past three months, and half of those times were at Long Buxi's house.

With so much barbecue to eat, she didn't hold back at all and ate heartily without any restraint. She also made sure to barbecue some meat for Long Buxi so that he could have some too.

An hour later, Cheng Ying, having eaten and drunk her fill, collapsed against the cave wall and burped.

Long Buxi silently cut the remaining meat into strips, dried them over a fire, wrapped them in layers of banana leaves he had picked from somewhere, and put them in Cheng Ying's parcel. These dried meats would be their provisions for the rest of the journey.

Before leaving, Cheng Ying saw the wild boar bones and limbs hanging at the cave entrance, still full of meat, and said regretfully, "Aren't we going to throw all these bones away? It's such a waste to just leave them here. When I was little, my grandparents treated my mom, sister, and me poorly. I could only eat meat a few times a year. My mom would go to town and buy lots of bones that didn't require meat coupons, and make bone broth for my sister and me. That bone broth was so delicious."

Long Buxi threw the bones into the woods not far from the cave: "We still have a long way to go. We can't take these bones with us. Leaving them here will attract wild beasts to eat them. It's safest to just throw them away. If you think it's a waste, I'll hunt a wild boar and send it to your house when we get back."

Cheng Ying blinked. "Didn't you say you weren't going to leave the village?"

Long Buxi bent down and picked up a small banana leaf to wipe the oil stains off his hands, saying, "Normally, I don't leave the village, but I have to go to your parents to propose marriage and also bring you wild boar meat. I don't want to go out, but I have to."

Cheng Ying laughed, "What's with this talk of proposing marriage? It's all so formal, like something out of ancient times. Do you think you can just kill a wild boar like that? If it were that easy, wouldn't the mountain people have made their fortunes by hunting wild boars? You might end up getting seriously injured instead of hunting one, which would be a huge loss."

"It's difficult for other people to hunt wild boars, but that's their problem, not mine. I'll hunt one for you if I say so."

Long Buxi had an extremely confident smile on his face, which made Cheng Ying believe it even if she didn't want to, so she stopped worrying about it.