Chapter 1648: Death Mushroom
Though the aura exuded from Xiao Gu was very obscure, the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Maiden and the other Saints naturally could sense it, and knew that this was a Saint!
But a noble Saint would actually be repeating words after someone, and had an expression of naivety and playing cute. Was that really appropriate?
Ling Han chuckled, and replied, “His personality is a little weird.”
It was indeed quite weird; they had never seen a Saint like this.
“His, personality, is…” Xiao Gu began to repeat words again, looking very dim-witted.
Long Xiangyue couldn’t help but laugh. This Saint was really unusual; what other Saint would not be putting on airs, and showing their great might? It was only Ling Han, the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Maiden, and other such newly established and young Saints that were more amicable.
But no matter how good-tempered they were, they were not like Xiao Gu. Did he even treat himself like a Saint?
“Hohoho.” Xiao Gu also laughed. It was like a sponge now, absorbing everything around it, and learning whatever it could.
“Come on, let’s go to the next mountain.”
They circled around the mountain, while Ling Han related the scene he had witnessed at the summit, which stunned the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Maiden and the others. Xiao Gu was expressionless, though. Every word that Ling Han spoke, it would repeat very patiently.
It was not bothered, but Ling Han and the others were annoyed. Having someone repeat all the words that you had already heard by your ear, how could that not be annoying?
But by the fourth day, Xiao Gu was finally no longer repeating words, and had instead become selective—it would not repeat words if it had heard something similar before, but for words that it had never heard before, it would repeat them excitedly.
Ling Han did not explain the origins of Xiao Gu. He thought that there was no need for it. Though Xiao Gu possessed the strength of a Saint, it was as innocent as a child in his eyes. He did not want others to show an unusual reaction towards Xiao Gu upon finding out about its origins.
This was very good.
The area that Ling Han and his group were presently traveling naturally had been traversed by a great many people before, so they did not find any Saintly medicine. Instead, they found a few torn pieces of clothing, which should have been left behind when the cultivators that entered encountered Demonic Beasts, and were unfortunately eaten.
There were not many Demonic Beasts like the black panther, but there was more or less a pattern to it, and that was that there would be one per mountain.
Over a month later, the mountains no longer appeared in front of their eyes. Instead, there was a boundless plain, where a large river was flowing. The sound of the water was thunderous, as loud as floodwaters.
This really was a massive river, as wide as a thousand miles, and boasting an unknown length. It flowed here from a very far location, and large mile-high waves would occasionally rise. That scene was really quite astonishing.
There were also living creatures in the river. There were large fishes that had sharp horns, large crocodiles with six legs and the tail of a bird, and also turtles that floated out of the surface of the water, their size eclipsing the skies, as if they bore a massive mountain on them.
These living creatures were all incredibly powerful, but none of them left the water and attacked them. All of them stayed leisurely and carefree in the river.
Ling Han and the others also had no intention of going into the water to provoke these powerful Demonic Beasts. This river was very strange, with patterns of great dao surging in the waters. If they barged in rashly, it was possible that it would cause extremely serious damage to them.
They walked along the course of this river. Going by the usual line of thought, anyone would want to know what was there at the end of this great river. Thus, the Empress and the others were possibly at its source.
On this journey, 10 days very quickly passed. There were also slight changes to the plain. The variety of vegetation increased, and there were also animals now, both strong and weak. But no matter their strength, none of them had gained intelligence, and they were incredibly vicious.
Gradually, they also found herbs here, but their grade wasn’t very high, ranging from the Spiritual Ocean Tier and Shattering Void Tier to Mountain River Tier and Heavenly Body Tier, but from Eternal River Tier onwards, there were very few, and not a single one in the Saint Tier at all.
Xiao Gu had never seen these animals before, and when he saw one, he would run over and hug it. When he got bored, then he would release it. Sometimes, he would even be hugging a wild bull, or a giant elephant that was more than 10 times his size. The sight was very amusing.
After another three days, an empty black land suddenly appeared before them. It was about a mile in diameter, and it was exuding a rotten stink from afar, causing one to feel dizzy upon a single sniff.
In the very center of this open area, there was a piece of rotten meat. It was completely black, and if one did not look clearly, they could not possibly notice it. And it was precisely this that was the source of the stink.
“That is… Death Mushroom!” Ling Han exclaimed in shock after a moment.
That piece of rotten meat was actually not genuine rotten meat, but rather a Saintly medicine named Death Mushroom. It was said that only a single Saintly medicine like this could be nurtured from within the body of a Saint King after his death.
However, Saints represented the will of the heaven and earth. After their death, their spirits should also return to the heaven and earth, yet if they nurtured such a Saintly medicine from their corpses, it would be spurned by the heaven and earth. Thus, Death Mushroom was incredibly poisonous, and even Saint Kings had a very high chance of dying if they consumed it directly.
That would be equivalent to taking a Saint King into one’s body. How were they supposed to block it if their bodies exploded from within?
However, one only had to refine the poison in the Death Mushroom, and this would be an incomparable Great Herb. Even among Saintly medicine, it was one of the very best.
…Godly medicine from Level 17 to Level 20 could be called Saintly medicine, and what Ling Han had previously obtained were basically all Level 17 Small Saintly medicines, and the Death Mushroom was a Saint King Great Herb. The martial intent of this Saint King from when he had been alive was contained in it, and there was great value in studying it even to Saint Kings.
However, this kind of Great Herb was not easily plucked.
It was too poisonous!
In the diameter of a mile, not a single blade of grass was growing. Nothing could grow, and even if a Saint King approached, it was possible that the poison would invade his body, and he would then be in great trouble.
That was because the Death Mushroom was hated by the heaven and earth, and had a curse on it. This was something that even Saint Kings had to be wary of. You wouldn’t be able to overcome everything else just because you were a peak stage Saint King.
But where had the dead Saint King gone?
The Death Mushroom was directly nurtured from the corpse of a Saint King, and grew from absorbing all the essence of a Saint King. Then, the skeleton that the Saint King had left behind should have been visible here.
Ling Han and the others exchanged looks, all of them confused. Xiao Gu, meanwhile, did not take it to heart at all. He was only interested in novel things. As for corpses, he obviously had seen one for innumerable years.
“How can I collect this Saint King medicine?” None of them went to ponder further about how this Death Mushroom had been nurtured. They didn’t care even if it had fallen from the sky itself; what was important was how they were supposed to harvest it.
The Notionless Saint shot out a palm strike, his Origin Power condensing into a large hand that grabbed out at that Death Mushroom. But in the process of the large hand stretching out, it was continuously corroded by the black Qi that rose up in this place. It was already completely corroded before it had managed to grab the Death Mushroom.
And this led to a lashback too. The Notionless Saint grunted, and raised his right hand. He could see that there was actually a dark area on his palm. There were strange patterns flickering on it, and this black Qi was presently spreading upwards from his palm.
The Notionless Saint hurriedly tried to stop it, but it was a feat that was impossible to accomplish. He decisively slashed out at his own right arm by using his other hand as a blade. Pu, blood sprayed out, and his right hand was severed at the elbow.
This arm fell, but it had already turned into ash before it had even reached the ground.
The intensity of the poison was clearly incredible!