Chapter 2304 Unique Killer Herbs
With the Black Hex Raven Tears safely stored away, Lin Mu could be a bit more relaxed and see how the others were doing.
He first went up to Crown Princess Shang and Ziran, who seemed to have already obtained a few things.
"Oh? Looks like you've picked out some stuff." Lin Mu said as he looks at the herbs around them.
"Right on time. We were almost done." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Ziran and I have picked out potential herbs that can either be used directly or after a little processing as poisons." She said while pointing at them.
"We have eight herbs that you can use directly, and three that will have to be processed further." Ziran spoke. "So what are they?" Lin Mu asked, glancing at them. "Though I know these seven." He recognized the more common ones he had read about.
"This is the Liver Splitting Datura." Ziran pointed at the herb that had small hairy spines all over its stem and leaves. "Everything from its body contains poison which is powerful enough to destroy the liver of an Immortal. Even Body Cultivators will have a hard time dealing with this if the poison dose is high enough." "Oh?" Lin Mu hadn't expected it to be this good. "What about those three?" he pointed at the small group that was kept separate.
"These three are the ones that need further processing." Crown Princess Shang answered. "They aren't poisonous in their current state and can just be used as normal herbs." She added.
Ziran showed Lin Mu the first among the three herbs, which was a small potted flower that had no leaves. It was just a lone white flower hanging from a bare stem. It had five petals along with an equal number of yellow stamens hanging from its center.
"This is the Barren Field Lily." Ziran introduced. "On its own, this herb isn't poisonous to any animals, or humans, but it does cause the area around it to become barren, hence the name." He explained.
"Huh, so it prevents the growth of any other plants around it?" Lin Mu was intrigued. "Even other Immortal herbs?" "Yeah, it has the uncanny ability to do that." Ziran nodded. "Sometimes it is used as an ingredient for pills that provide resistance to the Wood Element." He added.
"That makes sense." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And what's this? Looks like a raisin." "It's a Ballooning Melon." Ziran answered.
"Huh? This small thing is a melon?" Lin Mu was surprised, as the current appearance was that of a tiny raisin that was attached to a twig.
"Indeed. It can absorb a massive amount of fluid, rapidly ballooning to a large size." Ziran answered.
It was rather interesting to Lin Mu, and he wondered how it was used. Crown Princess Shang knew what he might be thinking and quickly spoke up.
"Due to its absorbent properties, it is also used in pills to balance the Water elemental energies." Crown Princess Shang spoke. "It can absorb the excess water elemental energy and is added in case of an emergency overflow of it due to some ingredients or mistake made during the refinement process." She explained.
"But it can also kill, if injected." Ziran added. "By absorbing the water from one's body?" Lin Mu could guess.
"And blood." Crown Princess Shang added. "Though most of the deaths caused by it were accidents by those that didn't know what they were consuming was a Ballooning Melon and not a normal raisin." "Won't they know from the Taste?" Lin Mu inquired. "Or do they taste the same?" "Well it just tastes sour. So one might just think its a sour raisin of some kind." Crown Princess Shang added. "And they sometimes grow with grapes and get mixed in, thus causing the issue." "I see…" Lin Mu nodded.
"As for the final one," Ziran picked up the herb in his hand. "This is the Exploding Fire Balsam." "Exploding?" Lin Mu raised his brows and assessed the herb.
It was a thirty centimeter tall herb that was kept in a pot, having a slender stem with a few leaves and branches. On some of the branches, its fruits hung, that seemed to be oval and bulging from their central part.
"Don't worry, its safe right now." Crown Princess Shang assured. "It only explodes with a heavy impact." She added.
"Yeah, its a lot more resilient than one might think." Ziran added. "Plus, it's only the fruits that are explosive. The rest of the plant is harmless." "I see… so how are these used as a poison?" Lin Mu asked, as that was the reason why they had obtained these.
"Barren Field Lily when refined, can be turned into a strong poison that works against plants. Basically, an Immortal Herbicide." Crown Princess Shang replied. "The Ballooning Melon can also be processed and refined to create a powder that has a very strong drying and desiccating properties. Its powder is often used by assassin and other such organizations to erase the traces of their kills since it can dry out a corpse within seconds. A dry corpse is a lot easier to burn and dispose off than a normal one after all." She explained.
"The Exploding Fire Balsam as lot more straightforward." Ziran spoke this time. "It can be used to create explosive pills." He stated.
Hearing that, Lin Mu could guess how these three would be used.
"So you are hoping their properties would be applicable against the Chimera Plant too." Lin Mu replied. "Indeed. Even if we don't have skills that can directly harm them by infiltrating the inside of the plant, these might just work." Ziran nodded his head. "We just need to deliver a mixture of these directly into the Fruiting Body and it might just work." "That sounds good." Lin Mu could see the potential. "Of course, we'll make a few different variants and see which one works out. All eleven herbs will be utilized in it." Crown Princess Shang added.