“Wa ...
Xie Lian withdrew his hand, speechless for a moment.
He found that whenever he saw or touched something in the dark, faced with such a horrifying scene, he would often not even say a word before the other party started screaming.
The bushes in the garden were tall and dense. Just now, someone had been sneaking among them when Xie Lian touched their calf. Their leg swiftly withdrew, and the grass rustled in front of them. Someone shouted, "Stop, stop! It's me, brother!"
Xie Lian took a closer look. He was completely surprised to find that the person yelling, "Stop, stop!" was none other than Tiansheng, the young man with thick eyebrows and wide eyes. Tiansheng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw he'd been recognized. However, after seeing it was him, Xie Lian didn't let out a sigh of relief. Instead, he grew even more wary. He raised an arm in front of him and demanded, "Aren't you staying with the others to tend to the injured? Why are you here? Are you really Tiansheng?" Appearing under these circumstances, he looked more like some other entity impersonating him.
Tiansheng hurriedly said, "It's me! It's really me! Not only am I here, but my three uncles came with me! They're inside, if you don't believe me, just look!" He pointed toward the palace, and sure enough, three people soon ran out of the dilapidated hall. They were none other than the group of merchants from earlier. When they saw Xie Lian, they were all startled, then embarrassed. Xie Lian stood up, patted the hem of his white robe, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
When he asked this, the merchants fell silent and embarrassed. After a long pause, Tiansheng muttered, "...Not long after you left, Uncle Zheng's poison flared up again. It was so severe, and we... didn't know when you would return, and we were worried you wouldn't be able to find him, or that you would be back too late. Brother Zhao said that if we followed that road, we could find the Half Moon Kingdom, so we thought that with more people, we could find him faster, so we came here too..."
After all, he still regretted it. He was afraid that Xie Lian and the others would find the Shanyue Grass and run away with Ah Zhao, so he chased after them. Xie Lian could fully imagine that if Fu Yao couldn't persuade them, she might just not bother to stop them. From the last incident with Junshan, it can be seen that for those who are stubborn and don't listen to advice and rush to death, Fu Yao will not bother to save them. Xie Lian can understand them, but he is also helpless. He rubbed his brows and said, "You are too brave. You know what might be in this city and what might happen. How dare you come here like this?"
Tiansheng probably knew that doing this clearly showed that he didn't trust them, and he felt a little guilty. He didn't dare to say anything while lying in the grass. Perhaps he felt embarrassed, so he said, "I'm sorry, but human lives are at stake. I got anxious and..."
There was nothing that could be done. It was only natural to be compassionate when it came to matters of life. Furthermore, being willing to risk one's life to obtain the herb for others was a sign of loyalty. Xie Lian couldn't say much, so he sighed, "You didn't encounter anything on your way into this ancient city. You're truly lucky. Anyway, how did you know to go to the Imperial Palace to find the Good Moon Grass?"
Tiansheng scratched his head and said, "We don't know where to find it either. But didn't the story that the red-clothed brother told about the Queen picking the Good Moon Grass? The Queen can't just leave the palace casually, right? So I was thinking, could I try my luck in the palace?"
Xie Lian smiled, thinking that this reason was exactly what he had in mind. At this moment, San Lang said, "I found it."
He looked back and saw Sanlang walking towards him on his long legs. In his hand was a handful of green leaves with some roots still attached.
The leaf was about the size of a baby's hand, with a very thin, peach-shaped root and a pointed end. Somehow, Xie Lian felt he didn't even need to ask Ah Zhao for confirmation; this had to be the legendary Good Moon Grass. Before he could say anything, San Lang had already grabbed his injured hand.
His hand had been stung and was horribly swollen. After Sanlang sucked out the poison, the swelling had subsided considerably, though the poison hadn't yet been cleared. At this moment, Sanlang held his injured hand with one hand and, with the other, grasped the Shanyue grass. He closed his fingers, seemingly exerting no force, but when he opened them again, the leaves had crumbled into a pile of green dust.
He carefully smeared the green powder on the back of Xie Lian's hand. Feeling a gentle coolness slowly spreading from the wound, Xie Lian said, "Sanlang, thank you very much."
Sanlang didn't answer. After applying the herbs, he let go of his hand. Xie Lian felt something was amiss with his attitude and the atmosphere between them, but he didn't know how to ask. No matter how he asked, it didn't seem right. Others, however, didn't care at all, and couldn't grasp the subtleties. They eagerly asked, "Brother, is this herb useful? Did you find the right one?"
Xie Lian came back to his senses and said, "Much better, it should be right."
Hearing this, the others were very excited and said, "Hurry up, look again." Soon, Ah Zhao also raised a handful of green leaves and said, "I found it here too."
The handful of leaves of the Shanyue grass in his hand were much larger than the pitiful little piece that Sanlang had just found. Everyone saw that the shape and characteristics were correct, and they all rushed over, exclaiming in surprise: "What a big piece here!" "So many!" "Hurry up and pick more." "Can we sell more when we pick more?"
They were busy gathering herbs. Xie Lian turned back, glanced at the back of his hand, and after a moment's deliberation, he said to San Lang, "I think you searched the area they were looking for just now. Didn't you find it then?"
He was just making small talk. After he started talking, he also felt that this sentence was quite boring. Sanlang shook his head and said, "Don't use the grass there."
Xie Lian asked curiously, “Why?”
Unexpectedly, before Sanlang could explain the reason, he heard a scream: "Go away!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, their movements faltering as they asked, "Who's yelling?" "I'm not yelling!" "It's not me..."
At this moment, I heard that voice again, saying shrilly: "Go away, you stepped on me..."
Now, everyone noticed that the sound came from right under their feet!
In an instant, the few people gathered there picking the Good Moon Grass dispersed. Xie Lian was already accustomed to taking the lead at such moments. When others retreated, he would step forward. So, he walked over to the place where the screams came from, stretched out his hand, and slowly parted the dense grass. This push made several people's breaths freeze.
I saw a man's face buried under the grass and in the soil.
In this piece of land, there was actually a living person buried under the soil, with only his face exposed!
This scene was truly bizarre, and several merchants instantly hugged each other and screamed in fear. Xie Lian then expertly consoled them, "Don't panic. Everyone, calm down. It's just a face. No big deal. Who doesn't have a face, right?"
The face chuckled and said, "Scare you? Alas... I often scare myself too."
After Xie Lian briefly comforted the others, he half-knelt down and carefully examined the face buried in the ground.
It was a man's face, flat when not smiling, but full of wrinkles when smiling. It was hard to tell whether it was old or young, ugly or handsome. He stared at it for a long time, unable to make out what it was, so he asked directly, "Who are you?"
The face buried in the earth asked, "Who are you?"
Xie Lian said, “A passing caravan.”
Tumaimian sighed and said, "Alas. A passing caravan. I was once a passing caravan owner. But that was fifty or sixty years ago."
After he said that, the picture became even more bizarre.
This person has been buried in the land of this abandoned ancient city for fifty or sixty years. Is he still a human being?
A businessman asked timidly, "Then...then why did you come here...ah?"
Tumaimian coughed a few times and frowned, saying, "I... I was captured by the Banyue soldiers. I accidentally entered the city and was caught by them. They buried me in the ground and turned me into fertilizer for these Shanyue grass..."
It turns out that these Shanyue grasses are grown using living people as fertilizer, no wonder they are so plump!
Several merchants quickly tossed their handfuls of Shanyue Grass to the ground, feeling they'd just been ripping into a corpse. Xie Lian couldn't help but glance down at the back of his hand, only to hear Sanlang say, "That piece is fine."
Xie Lian thought about it and realized what was going on. No wonder Sanlang had searched this patch of land before going back to another, only to find a tiny patch of Shanyue grass. He'd probably seen the buried patch before, simply ignored it, and searched elsewhere until he found a clean patch of herbs in a remote area, grown without human fertilizer, and then applied it to his face.
Xie Lian said, "Thank you so much."
Saburo shook his head, his expression still sullen.
He had been acting this way ever since he was stung by a scorpion-tailed snake before entering Half Moon Ancient City. When they were together a few days ago, he'd been calling him "brother" all the time, but now, he'd stopped calling. Furthermore, while the young man had seemed to be completely resistant to contact on their first day, after spending a few days together, that didn't seem to be the case. But now, aside from just administering the drug and applying the medicine, Sanlang seemed to be avoiding physical contact with him as much as possible. This truly puzzled Xie Lian, and he felt a bit unaccustomed to it.
At this time, the man with the buried face spoke again: "I haven't seen a living person in many years. You...you all stand here and let me take a good look, okay?"
Everyone looked at each other, unanimously agreeing that it would be best not to do what he said. After a while, seeing no one respond, the man with the buried face murmured, "Why, you don't want to? Alas... what a pity..."
Xie Lian turned his head and said, "What's a pity?"
Tumaimian said, "Ever since you came in, there's something I've been very concerned about, and I've been wanting to confirm it with my own eyes. That's why I want you all to stand here and let me see. I want to get a good look at you all, one by one."
Xie Lian asked, “What’s the matter?”
Tumaimian said, "There's a person among you... I met him fifty or sixty years ago."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's hair suddenly stood on end.
It is impossible for any ordinary person here to be over 50 years old. If there is one person in this group who has seen this buried face 50 or 60 years ago, then this person must not be a human.
Xie Lian's gaze swept across each face, starting with Ah Zhao and ending with Tiansheng. Some were slightly startled, some were terrified, some were confused, some were dumbfounded. Everyone's reaction was perfectly reasonable. If anyone's reaction was out of character, it would be Sanlang's complete lack of reaction. However, for this young man, perhaps no reaction was the only normal reaction.
Xie Lian glanced at San Lang, who showed no reaction, then turned around and asked, "Who is this person you're talking about?"
The man with the buried face said, "You... come closer and I will tell you."
If Xie Lian had believed it 80% the first time it said that, after this one, his trust in its words had dropped to only 50%. How could he be sure this monster wasn't just trying to trick people into getting close so they could suddenly attack?
Xie Lian, of course, wouldn't listen. He stood up and backed away. The man with the buried face said, "You really don't want to know who that person is? He'll kill you all."
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