Chapter 2299: Thirty Breaths

He was too weak; his voice faded if he spoke too long. He paused to rest. “As a result, the water mirror in the small grotto suddenly blurred,” he continued. “For a full twenty days afterward, it displayed no images. Even when it eventually recovered, the images were incomplete. It wasn’t until new stone-skin grass grew all over the mountain half a year later that it returned to its original state.”

“Where is this grass spirit located?”

Xu Wenqin hesitated before saying, “It’s on the cliff directly opposite Hundred Streams. Other stone-skin grasses have red tops, but this one has a white top. Also, it’s very timid; it will shrink into a rock crevice at any rustle or stir. You won’t be able to find it then.”

“A very detailed explanation,” He Lingchuan nodded. “Thank you, Elder Xu.”

“Oh, right,” Xu Wenqin reminded him, “our sect has placed a barrier over Mount Xunyang, which also prohibits escape arts. Even mountain spirits can’t enter, much less you, so there’s no way to hide from the sect’s eyes and ears. Furthermore, if this stone-skin grass spirit is pulled out, the sect will immediately receive an alert.”

Everyone exchanged glances. How were they supposed to proceed now?

Liu Qingdao said, “There’s no Imperial Dew falling tonight.”

The situation in the demon realm had changed, so the period of Imperial Dew outbreaks had ended.

Was there a trick to disable the stone-skin grass spirit without uprooting it?

Ling Guang’s monkey eyes darted around, and he suddenly interjected, “What does the stone-skin grass spirit like to eat most? It can’t just be morning dew, can it?”

Plants that became spirits wouldn’t be satisfied merely with wind and dew, just like humans.

Some plant spirits, in fact, developed a particular interest in flesh and blood.

“Honey,” Xu Wenqin said. “A few days ago, I personally delivered a large bucket of honey to it.”

Ling Guang then asked He Lingchuan, “How long do you need the water mirror to be dysfunctional?”

“Thirty breaths will suffice,” He Lingchuan stated with certainty. “With the help of the Great Evolution Heaven Orb, I just need a little time to calibrate.”

Thirty breaths wasn't a long time. The problem was preventing the Qixia Sect from discovering Cang Yan tampering with things right on their doorstep. It wouldn't be difficult for He Lingchuan to approach, as he could use the Great Evolution Heaven Orb to evade the stone-skin grass spirit's perception, but his actions during the setup would inevitably attract attention.

Ling Guang immediately turned to Dong Rui and asked, “Do you still have the black spot disease sample from the man-eating flower with you?”

Black spot disease? Dong Rui hissed, then reached out and vigorously rubbed the monkey's head. “Excellent idea, Ling Guang, you’re so clever!”

Liu Qingdao guessed part of their plan. “You want this grass spirit to get sick?”

Dong Rui pulled a small green jade vial from his pocket and weighed it in his hand. “Although our man-eating flowers in Jucheng are powerful, they also have natural enemies, and this black spot disease is one of them! It can quickly infect the leaves and roots of grass. I’ve treated it many times, but I could never completely eradicate it; it’s a stubborn disease.”

He Lingchuan, however, worried, “It won’t kill the stone-skin grass spirit outright, will it?”

He only wanted the stone-skin grass spirit to stop working temporarily; he didn’t want to kill it, as that would still alert the Qixia Sect.

“Do you think I don’t know what I’m doing?” Dong Rui retorted. “This is an early-generation sample of black spot disease, so its potency is weaker.” When it came to medication, Dong Rui had always been more thorough than him. “There’s a saying: ‘Your poison, my honey.’ Black spot disease is most lethal to flowering plants. Stone-skin grass doesn’t flower, so the damage won’t be as severe. Besides, I often experiment with stone-skin grass and know its tolerance, so I’ll dilute the poison’s concentration.”

He looked at He Lingchuan and said seriously, “The biggest challenge, instead, is how to perfectly control those thirty breaths.”

He Lingchuan smiled. “Leave it to me.”

Liu Qingdao was a little worried. “You’re going to act personally, this…”

Ten years after the nation’s founding, Cang Yan boasted countless powerful experts, and the Emperor himself hadn’t personally entered a battlefield in a long time.

“Can you use the Great Evolution Heaven Orb?”

Liu Qingdao shook his head. Since True Man Qianhuan’s demise, only Emperor Jiuyou could control the Great Evolution Heaven Orb.

Just then, Xu Wenqin, whose form was composed of smoke, began to lose solidity and started to disperse.

“He’s fading.” Ling Guang had been monitoring his injuries. Seeing this, he immediately pulled a soft needle from his pocket. A medicine pouch was attached to the needle’s tail. He then inserted the needle tip into a medicinal film and forcefully squeezed the soft gel from the pouch into the film.

This needle was a gift from Old Madam Zhu: extremely fine, hollow, and with a pouch attached to its end, making it convenient for medics to administer medicine.

“This is Dragon Tiger Ointment!” Ling Guang said. “Let’s see if it can forcibly prolong his life a bit longer.” But Ling Guang was not optimistic. “Elder Xu’s entire body is almost petrified. I’m afraid the mycelia will absorb this medicine’s potency more fiercely than he will.”

Dragon Tiger Ointment, as its name suggested, was a potent and aggressive medicine. An ordinary person would explode and die from just a drop, but even after injecting the entire pouch, it still couldn’t sustain Elder Xu’s last breath.

He Lingchuan glanced at Dong Rui, who knew what he wanted to ask and preemptively said, “We’ve reached the foot of Mount Xunyang; we should go to the surface now.”

Ahead was the barrier set up by the Qixia Sect. If the Snail Toad tried to forcefully infiltrate, it would definitely trigger an alarm.

“Elder Xu, hold on!” He Lingchuan pressed Elder Xu’s shoulder on the ground. “Once your body collapses, Old Liu will provide Juluo wood for your spirit to temporarily reside in.”

Xu Wenqin struggled to hold on. His face blurred, and he urged, “Quick, quick!”

His body was like a mud fort on a beach during high tide, on the verge of being washed away.

The Snail Toad also leapt onto the surface, by a small stream. The vegetation here was dense, with mugwort and reeds growing three meters high, completely obscuring the stream bank. Stone-skin grass, however, typically did not grow by water.

He Lingchuan tapped the Great Evolution Heaven Orb on his chest and leapt out of the Snail Toad.

From the moment he jumped out, the passengers in the Snail Toad could no longer see him.

The man vanished into thin air.

A strong wind suddenly swept across Mount Xunyang tonight, making the trees and shrubbery sway wildly and rustle.

Emperor Jiuyou was hidden in the wind. Not even the stone-skin grass scattered across the mountainside detected his arrival, even though he had just walked past them.

The Great Evolution Heaven Orb concealed his form and scent.

Dong Rui and Ling Guang worked together, swiftly preparing the black spot disease liquid and pouring it, along with aphid honeydew, into a small bamboo section.

The honeydew’s scent was much more potent than honey.

He then beckoned.

“Come.”

The bat demon puppet emerged from behind him, snatched the bamboo section in its mouth, then leaped out of the Snail Toad and flew into the air.

Its mission was to find the stone-skin grass spirit.

Liu Qingdao looked at Xu Wenqin, his fists clenching secretly inside his sleeves.

Eighty percent of Elder Xu’s body had been petrified, and his internal organs were almost completely dysfunctional. Only his heart continued to beat weakly. In truth, his life force was already extinguished, but he was also a ruthless man, continuing to forcibly sustain his body by burning his soul power as fuel.

Sustaining life with one’s soul brought unimaginable pain. Liu Qingdao also admired him somewhat.

Thus, ten, twenty, then fifty breaths passed…

A full one hundred and twenty breaths.

Finally, he exhaled a long breath. A small whirlwind seemed to sweep through the Snail Toad’s interior, and the smoke dissipated into the air.

He passed away.

The prostrate body of Xu Wenqin trembled slightly, and his head also rapidly petrified. Now, he could be tapped from head to toe, producing a hollow, wooden sound.