Chapter 360: Rat
C358 – Eating Poisonous Plants
Posted on May 10, 2019 by AzureOrchid92
Shao Xuan never expected that this old man could get rid of his commanding tone. On most days, he was probably used to call on people and could not change the habit immediately. Being made to say a word of “please/help” should be rare.
Seeing the old man excitedly pointing at something, Shao Xuan turned to the direction he was referring to.
Another kind of grass was on the wall, but this grass looked very ordinary. It has no pattern, like the grass just under Shao Xuan’s feet, however, the leaves were slightly narrower and a little longer.
“What kind of grass is that, what’s its use?” Shao Xuan asked.
“I don’t know.”
Shao Xuan: “…You don’t know then what are you so excited about.”
“Of course it’ll make me excited! I’ve never seen that kind of grass before.” The old man stared straight at the mountain wall, urging Shao Xuan, “Hurry!”
Shao Xuan shook his head, deciding not to follow the old man command to hurry. However, the uphill climb to where the grass was only took a moment to reach for Shao Xuan. There was not much difficulty and Shao Xuan never encountered problems along the way. Same as before, Shao Xuan used the old man’s knife to dig down the grass to its roots, then threw it to the old man afterwards.
Except for some of the herbs often used in the tribe, as well as the recorded plants, Shao Xuan was not familiar with many other plants. Especially on this side of the sea, he did not know most of the plants. Shao Xuan could not tell what was special with this grass, so he wanted to see how the old man treated it.
He saw the old man give it a careful observation, then smelled it. He cut off a leaf afterwards, then bit a little at the leaf’s tip, and carefully tasted it.
“How does it taste?” Shao Xuan asked.
The old man shook his head. “No taste. It’s very strange, not even the usual taste of grass.”
“What else do you think?” Shao Xuan asked again.
“I have an idea. There’s this kind of… a bad feeling.” The old man commented.
You felt something bad about it, but you still kept eating?
Shao Xuan saw the old man ate a whole leaf, then the old man’s face began to twitch. It was not one of suffering, but his muscles were really having uncontrollable convulsions. His complexion also turned into a bizarre blue gray.
Poisonous!
“SPIT IT OUT!” Shao Xuan hastened him. Looking around, he took down a branch and peeled off its outer skin. He’s going to make the old man vomit.
The old man, who was quickly turning gray, saw Shao Xuan with a branch, going for his throat. He knew what the other was planning to do, so he turned his head to avoid the outstretched branch. He raised an arm to block Shao Xuan. “Nn.. go.. I-I’m okay!”
Shao Xuan took a moment to react. The old man was blocking him and moving away.
All right, I’ll go and walk away. Shao Xuan thought: I’m not the one who’s poisoned. I’m not feeling anxious.
He thought the old man would spit it out on his own or take out some herb he had hidden to detoxify it. However, the old man’s actions just made Shao Xuan surprised.
The old man’s gray a face wrinkled deeper because of the pain. The muscles on his whole face looked squished together, looking like it was very uncomfortable. After stumbling for two paces, the old man sat down against the wall of the mountain.
“Hey, old Ju, are you really all right? Shouldn’t you eat something to detoxify it?” Shao Xuan advised.
The old man did not speak. He only laid down his hands softly and sat there motionless. He did not speak, only closed his eyes. If not for the slight ups and downs of his chest, at first glance, it would really make people think he’s dead.
His breath was getting weaker.
Shao Xuan stared at the old man, thinking, is this old man going to die?
He had not seen him eat anything or vomit. He just continued to choke on the poison. Did this mean he was going to die? But wasn’t it taking too long?
Suddenly, Shao Xuan saw some black stripes appearing on the old man’s body, like leaves extending towards his face and arms. On the exposed skin outside his clothes, there appeared a black tattoo all over his body.
Totem patterns?
There was a fire in Shao Xuan’s mind. This fire was the source of strength within the old man’s body. The difference was that there was a vague shadow in the fire, like a grass or something, that he could not see clearly as it was surrounded by the fire.
Blue and red flames intertwined, far from appearing weak, but burning more and more. The flames swelled and expanded. The faint shadow within the fire, as if a weak seedling, rose and grew.
Looking at the old man’s tattoo, he saw that the original black tattoo gradually turned into a bright green. The old man’s gray face also began to subside. The dead air was expelled, replaced by a very strong breath of life.
When the grayness of the old man’s face completely disappeared, the green tattoo also faded. Everything once again became his usual appearance. By just looking at the old man’s appearance now, no one would think that the old man just ate a piece of poisonous grass and was almost poisoned. If Shao Xuan had not seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed it.
No wonder he wasn’t afraid, and even so vigorously pushed him away. He actually has an ability to save himself, so Shao Xuan finally calmed down.
The old man released a long breath, then opened his eyes. He took a closer look at the seemingly inconspicuous grass that was still in his hand with bright eyes.
Seeing the old man carefully put the grass away, Shao Xuan asked, “You are really all right?”
“I’m all right. What’s a little poison.” The old man really didn’t care. His tone was light and he never took the usually dangerous situation to heart.
That was how the old man was. If it was someone else, he would be poisoned and die.
“From the foot of the mountains to the present, I have tasted more than a hundred kinds of grass. There’s also poisonous grass, and this strain is not even the most poisonous.” The old man said casually.
Getting a glimpse of the old man’s eyes flashing with pride, Shao Xuan who wanted to say something, stopped himself.
The old man thought Shao Xuan would be amazed. He waited and waited but when he looked up, the old man found that Shao Xuan had already stepped forward and left. He knew he needed his help, so he hurriedly chased him. He still expected Shao Xuan to help him get the grasses. In his travel before meeting Shao Xuan, he also saw a lot of strange grass, but he couldn’t get them himself and even broke an arm at one time. He could only give up then. But it’s different now, having someone to help him pick the grass was a great benefit.
Because of the old man’s concerns, Shao Xuan did not follow the shortest route. Sometimes, he would go over a mountain to find some plants, but the general direction has not changed, though the distance became farther away.
Shao Xuan followed the old man, collecting some poisonous plants and herbs, encountering a lot of plants. It was rare for him to encounter a person who would listen to his ramblings, so the old man did not concern himself with the time. He would also talk about the locations of various herbs and other places he knew of more.
From the old man’s words, Shao Xuan did not only learn a variety of medicinal plants, but also some tribes and the locations of the cities. On the whole, this trip was still worth it.
The old man told Shao Xuan that one could judge something from the direction of some flying insects, such as what changes were taking place in the plants there. The insects have different preferences, so they would save a lot of time if they looked for those.
“Of course, in addition to these flying bugs, we could also look for some other beasts, such as…” The old man was going to point to a small bird, ready to continue his speech, when his ear quickly shook. The old man’s eyes flashed, ignoring the bird, and looked at another place. At the same time, his hand signaled Shao Xuan not to make a noise.
Shao Xuan saw that there was a cluster of low grass, which was the densest grass around, where the old man was looking.
Behind this grass, there was an animal hidden, similar to a mouse with gray fur. It listened carefully to the movement in its surroundings and only poked out its head after a time to sniff the air. Then, in a flash, it jumped out and ran.
“Come on, follow it!” The old man suppressed his excitement and whispered to Shao Xuan.
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