In the days that followed, everyone had no worries about meat, and there was black fungus and some Chinese herbal medicine for vegetarians. Basically, every meal included both vegetarian and meat, and the nutrition was relatively balanced. Every meal could make us feel about 60% full. The only drawback was that no one could go out and had to stay in the house. After all, spring was approaching and all things were reviving. No one knew what species the gray powder would infect to attack us.

If there is another brown bear, a tiger, a leopard, a lion, or even another Bigfoot, we will be in big trouble. So when we know that the gray powder can have a direct and terrifying stimulation-leading catalytic effect on the subconscious of species, it is safer to stay in the house. In addition, even if we stay in the house, it does not mean that we can ignore everything.

Because we don't understand its function, the principle of invasion, etc., so even if we hide in the house, we have to conduct some inquiries and investigations on everyone one by one every once in a while, including myself. This is to observe everyone's subconscious micro-expressions in the process of asking questions. For example, when people are angry, they will frown, tighten their eyelids and tighten their lips, when they are afraid, their eyebrows will rise, and their nostrils will expand slightly. Through these subconscious expressions that people cannot control, we can understand whether there is any abnormality and whether there has been an invasion by gray powder.

It is indeed a bit cumbersome and troublesome, but it can be a solution to know whether there are any abnormalities in the first place and to nip in the bud any subsequent big troubles. Therefore, in order to prove their innocence, everyone will cooperate with the inspection.

Fortunately, there have been no follow-up related incidents since the bison incident. The gray powder has not appeared again, and our bodies have not shown any abnormalities. For nearly a month, we have all spent time in relative peace.

During this period, except for Yunwen who would occasionally accompany me to the tunnel to look for books to see if there were any records about the gray powder, the Song sisters were rather lazy and passive. They would usually stay in the room on the second floor during the day after I assigned them tasks and finished their assigned tasks, practicing their own crafts to pass the time, one tinkering with the herbs while the other continued to work on wood and do some carvings.

Since Sanfu swallowed the dragon scales, his body has grown faster and faster, basically one scale a day, and the scales on his body are also growing wildly. Sometimes when Yunwen and I are walking him, I accidentally touch his skin and can't tell whether he is a dragon or a horse. I can only say that his features are like a dragon, but his temperament is still that of a horse. Moreover, he is growing fast, and his grass intake has increased by nearly one-fold. The grass in the yard is no longer enough for him to eat, so occasionally I have to take him out for a walk and let him eat some wild grass, and then Yunwen and I will harvest a bundle and bring it back, so that the amount is enough.

Among the three girls, Bailu was neutral and she never mentioned to me my loss of control in those two days after I explained. She was afraid that I would leave in anger again, so she mostly obeyed me. Yingchun, on the other hand, was still relatively contemptuous of me. She just couldn't get over it. She often sneered at me or raised her upper lip to show her contempt for me. But I didn't want her to always admire me and make her feel unbalanced between me and Yunwen. This was perfect. I didn't have to go to her room No. 8 to find her more often.

In addition to beef, offal, etc. at every meal, the beef bones were also removed and used to make soup, and the cowhide was also used by Yunwen. When she saw that the clothes I was wearing were the clothes of the Dragon Seeker, which had cowhide as a layer inside, she also thought about making a similar one for me. She tried every way to make a set of couple outfits with me, and the nearly one month was enough time for her to do this.

Old clothes are modified by sewing with bone spurs and applying some plant dyeing techniques, and the resulting piece is pretty similar. Although the craftsmanship is very different, it really has that meaning. In addition, my robe is engraved with a howling mountain tiger, and the one she embroidered on her skirt is a flying crane. The so-called tiger and crane double shapes, I think this is the reason.

Yunwen's embroidery skills are really good. She takes apart old clothes and sews them, which really have some flavor. Her flower arrangement and embroidery skills are all good. Even if Yunwen were a lady from a wealthy family in ancient times, I think she would have become famous.

Finally, there is the progress we have made in our recent investigation on ash powder in the past month. I can still secrete some of it at the beginning of the month. I took it to Yunwenmei's house and lit the oil bowl. We observed it together for a long time. Yunwen said that the ash powder has the smell of incense burner, which is refreshing. I also found that it can emit a special smell under the baking of flames.

But in addition to the smell from the incense burner, I can also smell some special mineral odors. As for the origin, the presence of the furnace and the minerals reminds me of the old Taoist priest in the mountains of my hometown. He has a huge alchemy furnace there. Sometimes when I pass by, I will smell it. It is similar to the smell of this ash powder.

Yunwen and I also looked through the authentic books in the tunnel. Those books had been gnawed by rats and were full of holes. Yunwen read them from top to bottom. Although the meaning was not coherent, she still found some appropriate information through guesswork and sorting.

For example, there is a text recorded above, which tells a story about a protagonist called Lingchi Divine Toad. It says that the Milong Camp spread out a net-casting investigation in groups on the island. In a mysterious cave, they learned about the Lingchi Divine Toad. Among the investigators, one of them saw the mountain god in his dream. He told the member that the divine toad was sent down from heaven to scare away evil spirits, so that the member could not enter the cave again to destroy the cultivation of the divine toad and make the island lose its defense.

Most of the information in the subsequent story has been lost, leaving only some clues. For example, the thing guarded by the divine toad was something that Tianque accidentally lost, and he was afraid of causing any changes, so he let this person guard it.

The story ends here. Although it is not a very interesting mythological story, it at least gives us two clues. First, the Lingchi Toad was sent by Tianque, which is another way of saying the Heavenly Palace. Anyway, it is the world where celestial beings live, which shows that the Lingchi Toad has a great origin. But when I saw it later, it had blood pupils and swallowed dragon scales. It was obvious that it had selfish desires and might have forgotten its original intention.

Secondly, the thing guarded by the divine toad was lost by Tianque, and the location guarded by the spirit pool is the secret cave area near the ghost ship. This means that the thing it is guarding must be nearby. It can be seen that it can suppress the ghosts with the five elements with one move, so its function is either to guard the ghosts, or to guard the manipulator behind the ghosts.

It is obvious that the Sea Monster arrived at this coast in the 16th or 17th century, and it can be seen from the cave wall of Four Seasons Mountain that the toad was on this island more than 3,000 years ago. This shows that the pirate ghost on the Sea Monster was not the toad's mission. Excluding one possibility, there is only one possibility left, that is, it is guarding the thing that controls the ghost.

Ghosts often have ash powder on their bodies after death, so the ash powder is the manipulator. By connecting all the things together, it can be explained in one sentence that the ash powder came from the lost Tianque and was guarded by the divine toad, so it has a very great origin.

In a blink of an eye, more than a month has passed. The ground outside is not so cold anymore, and spring is getting closer.

That day, we all just got up and sat around to eat breakfast. It was the same dishes, bone soup, beef, black fungus, and wild vegetables. No one was picky and just ate it like that.

During the dinner, Yunwen said, "I calculated that tomorrow night is New Year's Eve. Do you want to celebrate the Spring Festival like the people in the civilized world and have some fun?"

"Nothing good ever happens during the holidays, so let's just forget it." Yingchun said.

"Yes, those mermaids suddenly appeared on the night of last New Year's Eve. It seems that nothing good happened during every festival before. Why not just forget it and paste two Chinese characters for "Fu" using plant dyes to get some good luck." Bai Lu also said.

What he said made sense, and I had no power to refute it.

But Yingchun had not forgotten her jealousy. When she heard Bailu's opinion, she immediately sang a different tune and said, "We have things to do at night, but nothing to do during the day, so we still have to celebrate. Why can't we just celebrate at night and during the day? And if something happens at home, we can just go for a walk outside. Anyway, I'm bored to death because of some fictitious broken ash powder. Let's take the first day of the new year as a spring outing."