Chapter 107: Problematic Longevity Pill
Hearing the price of the low-grade longevity pill, the fox slipped and fell from Shen Yijin's shoulder into Shen Yijin's arms.
Its eyes widened. "Three hundred gold for a low-grade longevity pill from the Medical Pill Pavilion? This wandering merchant is selling fake pills, right? This price is only enough to buy a small pill."
Other things are fine, but the elixirs from the Medical Pill Pavilion are well-known in the world of immortal cultivation. Even the quality of their lower-grade elixirs is better than the mid- and high-grade elixirs sold in other places.
If this is really a pill from the Medical Pill Pavilion, any mortal who takes a lick of it can extend his life by ten years!
"It's the real thing." Bei Lanshan snorted coldly, "It's just that it's not a low-grade longevity pill. It's just the waste pills left over from the longevity pills made by the Medical Pill Pavilion. Wandering merchants like to buy these things at low prices, and then resell them to ordinary people who don't know much about it at high prices."
Bei Lanshan had always looked down upon these wandering merchants. He had once kindly advised mortals not to buy the rotten medicine sold by wandering merchants, but ended up being scolded by the mortals instead.
From then on, he never meddled in other people's business again.
There are a lot of impurities and mild toxins in the waste pills. These impurities and toxins are difficult to excrete from the body even for cultivators. For ordinary people, buying waste pills and eating them is tantamount to taking chronic poison.
It seemed like he had added ten years to his life, but in fact he had accelerated his own death.
The fox heard this for the first time, and he said indignantly: "They are so bad, we should stop them!"
After saying this, the fox was about to run over to expose the true identity of the wandering merchant.
It jumped up from Chen Yijin's arms, and just as it was in the air, Chen Yijin grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and grabbed it back: "Don't meddle in other people's business, the villagers won't believe you. Don't forget the purpose of our trip down the mountain. If the villagers remember our appearance, it will be difficult to find out anything from the village."
The fox pouted and was not very happy.
Shen Yijin gave her some merit power, and the fox felt better instantly.
“You actually have the power of merit!” Bei Lanshan looked suddenly at the fox in Shen Yijin’s arms, his eyes full of regret.
Merit is not so easy to obtain. Chen Yijin actually used these precious merits to feed the fox. It was such a waste of resources.
Bei Lanshan lowered his head with regret: "After we go back, can you give Yunrong some merit? Merit is similar to incense offerings, and should be able to replace incense to maintain Yunrong's life."
Merit was hard to come by, and Bei Lanshan also knew that it was a bit unreasonable to ask Chen Yijin to use his merit to maintain Hu Yunrong's life. No cultivator would agree to such a request, no matter how much reward was offered.
When Bei Lanshan thought that Shen Yijin would definitely reject him, he heard Shen Yijin say, "Of course, but my cultivation path is different from Hu Yunrong's, so I may not be able to provide her with much help. I think the incense of a mortal is more suitable for her."
Bei Lanshan was surprised: "You are willing?"
“Hu Yunrong is also my friend. Merit is used to save friends, so of course I am willing to do so.” Shen Yijin said.
Hu Yunrong is Bei Shitao's mother, so of course Shen Yijin has to save her.
Bei Lanshan was very touched: "I am so grateful for your kindness. When Yunrong gets better, if you encounter any problems, just come to me. I will help you even if it costs me my life!"
Shen Yijin smiled: "Okay, I hope you won't forget this sentence in the future."
Chen Yijin actually hoped that Bei Lanshan a thousand years later would really be like what he said now, but unfortunately, Bei Lanshan a thousand years later did not repay her, but instead kept scheming against her.
The arrival of the wandering merchants made the villages at the foot of the mountain lively, and the streets were full of people, which made it much more difficult for Shen Yijin and others to search for clues.
After squeezing on the street for an hour, several people were exhausted and sweating, but they didn't find any clues.
"Did we come out at the wrong time? Should we come back at night?" The fox was so tired that he spread out on the ground like a fox cake, sticking out his tongue to cool down. Bei Shitao wiped the sweat off her face and disagreed, "It's too dark at night, what can we see clearly?"
The fox wanted to say that there was no difference from daytime, but when the words came to his lips, he remembered that Bei Shitao was just an ordinary person, so he had to shut up in disappointment.
After squeezing for an hour, it was not entirely in vain.
Shen Yijin took a bottle of pills and waved them in front of everyone: "Although there is no actual evidence, I guess that the plague in the village should be related to this pill."
The pill in Shen Yijin's hand was exactly the inferior waste longevity pill sold by the wandering merchant.
Among the people present, except for Shen Yijin who knew a little about elixirs, the others knew nothing about elixirs.
Bei Lanshan took the medicine bottle, took out a pill, put it to the tip of his nose and sniffed: "This tastes similar to the low-grade longevity pills I've eaten before. What's the problem?"
“There’s an extra medicinal ingredient in it, and this medicinal ingredient is extremely poisonous to animals.” Shen Yijin said.
If a mouse accidentally eats it, it will die within a second.
It just so happens that the smell of this medicinal herb is particularly attractive to animals. Rats have a keen sense of smell and they take advantage of the night to sneak into the homes of people who have bought the elixir and eat it. After the death of the rat, the villagers felt sorry for the elixir they had spent three hundred gold coins to buy, so it is not impossible that they cooked and ate the rat.
During the famine, not to mention dead rats, the villagers also ate tree bark and soil.
What's more, this rat that ate three hundred golden pills is not ordinary.
Bei Shitao understood what Shen Yijin meant: "The villagers think that the mice also have the effects of the elixir after eating the elixir. As long as they eat the dead mice, they can also prolong their lives?"
Although she understood what Shen Yijin meant, Bei Shitao still found it outrageous.
The rat died after eating the elixir. Doesn't this prove something? Why don't the villagers think that they might also die if they eat the dead rat?
Bei Lanshan has a say on this point: "The villagers have been raised in poverty since they were young, and they all think they are lucky. Rats will die if they eat the elixir, but they won't."
The villagers were poor and tried to save as much as possible on food, clothing and other daily necessities. They felt sad to see three hundred gold pieces wasted.
Although rat meat tasted a bit bad, it was not inedible, so the villagers just ate it.
There are many viruses and bacteria on mice, and you never know which one is infected.
The villagers would at most get stomach upset if they ate the rats poisoned by the elixir, but the infected rats would cause plague.
Bei Shitao frowned: "Then how can we stop the villagers from eating the dead rats?"
There are rats everywhere in the village. They can't go door to door to intercept the rats and prevent them from stealing the elixir, right?
Bei Lanshan hesitated and said, "How about letting the cat catch it?"
The cat he was talking about was not an ordinary cat in the village, but a civet cat.
Civets can tell whether mice are healthy or not and will not mistakenly eat sick mice.
There happened to be a group of civet cats on the mountain, and Bei Lanshan wanted to ask them to come down to help.
Shen Yijin: "You can try. Then go and invite us, we will wait for you in the village."
Bei Lanshan shook his head repeatedly: "I can't go. They definitely won't come if I ask them to!"
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