Chapter 1391 - 702: The Strange Xiaohecang

Who is she referring to? Ning Xiaoxian blinked, not understanding her words, and the Black Wolf beneath her shook its fur and ignored it.

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For the next three days, everything was calm and peaceful. Although figures of cultivators often appeared around the Black Blade Army, no direct confrontation occurred even once.

Faced with this situation, Chi Bihu’s expression became more serious. If the opponent was not giving up resistance, then they were likely digging a big pit in front, waiting for the Black Blade Army to fall into it. He naturally leaned towards the latter possibility.

This time, the Black Blade Army’s march was not like the territorial conquest in Tuqing State; it aimed directly at the mountain gate of the Washing Sword Pavilion, intending to strike directly at the root. Therefore, they didn’t pass through populated areas along the way. However, now the army stopped outside a town named Xiaohecang to set up camp. The reason was simple: after three days and nights of fast marching, the demon soldiers needed to stop and recover their strength; secondly, two hundred miles ahead was the famous Ghostly Tears Stone Forest.

After hearing the spies’ report, all the generals agreed that the first attack or ambush by the Washing Sword Pavilion would most likely take place in the Ghostly Tears Stone Forest—its terrain was too advantageous for the enemy not to use it for some tricks.

The Ghostly Tears Stone Forest’s terrain was low. Known as a "stone forest," its basic landscape was originally flat and open ground, now fractured and crisscrossed by giant stone pillars and stone bamboo like sharp teeth. In such a place, it was impossible to maintain the original formation while marching, and who knew how many hiding spots it had—it was perfect for an ambush battle. What? You say fly over it? The Ghostly Tears Stone Forest stretches over a hundred plus miles; a Sword Cultivator Sect like the Washing Sword Pavilion excels at long-range attacks, and being shot down like a living target wouldn’t feel good.

Now, the issue is how to fight this battle and what initial moves the opponent will set up?

The tents were just set up, and Chi Bihu immediately gathered the generals for a meeting. Ning Xiaoxian listened for a while, felt she could make no sense of it, and knew she lacked talent in military matters, so she excused herself early without contributing anything useful to the military meeting.

She had barely wandered around the camp for a few seconds when someone came to find her. This person was the army’s Pill Master, who besides refining elixirs, also handled medical work in the army. He was also a Pill Master from the Immortal Plant Garden named Zhai Mo. Ning Xiaoxian was the Garden Director of the Immortal Plant Garden; on the second day in the Black Blade Army, Zhai Mo and several other Pill Masters came to pay respects to their superior. During these days of marching, they exchanged insights about the Alchemy Dao, and several Pill Masters benefited greatly, while she learned quite a bit about emergency battlefield techniques.

Zhai Mo respectfully bowed, then presented a ground-drilling vine and Red Ginseng: "Lord Ning, look here."

Ning Xiaoxian took them and looked at them for two eyes, then laughed: "They are well-preserved, the vine leaves are lively, even the soil smells fresh." The ground-drilling vine is a material for refining the Clearing Void Pill, an elixir that cures all poisons, but it has a large temper and demands rich nutrients from the soil. It’s rare for Zhai Mo to take care of it amid sudden military movement.

Zhai Mo coughed lightly and said: "I didn’t preserve this; I just bought it in Xiaohecang Town moments ago."

She restrained her smile and said: "What?"

"It’s absolutely true." Zhai Mo said, "How dare I deceive you? As soon as the army set camp, I hastened to walk around inside Xiaohecang and indeed found many stalls selling Spirit Grass. I randomly chose a shop and bought some items; the shopkeeper recognized me as a Pill Master and then brought out this ground-drilling vine for me. He knows the value, right off requesting two thousand Spirit Stones."

A seemingly mundane little town could surprisingly cultivate Immortal Spirit Grass? She raised a brow, intrigued: "We’ve just arrived here, why did you haste into Xiaohecang?"

Zhai Mo hurriedly said: "Before joining the Hidden Stream, I once heard a friend mention a town named Xiaohecang within the Diyun State, producing various Spirit Grass with excellent efficacy. At that time, I was already planning to join the Hidden Stream, the Bashe Forest contains all sorts of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, doesn’t it? So, I didn’t take it to heart. Now that the army happened to camp here, I remembered it, and upon inspection, indeed there are many rare Spirit Grass in the mortal world here. Please look at this red sage."

She held the red sage in her palm and sniffed it, then gently pinched a small opening on its body with her fingernail, observed two eyes, and couldn’t help moving with emotion: "This is a red sage only ten years old, yet it has fifty years efficacy? Hmm, this is a top-grade Danshen." She is skilled in the Alchemy Dao, naturally adept with herbal medicine, detecting discrepancies upon smelling, identifying, and examining the interior.

"Indeed, I find it strange too. Apart from the soil in our Immortal Plant Garden and the Power of Ba Snake from Lord Divine Monarch, I’ve never heard of anything else capable of accelerating the growth of Spiritual Medicine."

"How much did the shopkeeper charge for this red sage?"

Zhai Mo replied: "Two hundred Spirit Stones. That’s nearly identical to the market value of a fifty-year top-grade red sage in the Cultivation World."

So, the people here have been cultivating and selling herbs for a long time and are quite knowledgeable, right? Ning Xiaoxian thought for a moment and said: "Let’s go and have a look." The army would wait at least two more hours before moving, and the chosen campsite had an open terrain where one could see far and wide, making it unlikely for the Washing Sword Pavilion to attempt a stealth attack.

The rules of the Black Blade Army are stringent; demon soldiers are not allowed to leave the camp without permission, or they’ll be sentenced to death. It’s not that Chi Bihu fears these vicious demons might run into human settlements to eat people, but rather for the strict need to keep guard against the enemy. However, for Pill Masters and generals, they are allowed to go out in batches, which is why Zhai Mo dared to go to Xiaohecang to hunt for treasures.