"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
Xie Lian pulled back his hand, speechless. He realized that whenever he saw or touched something in the dark, he would stay silent, but the other party would scream first. Shouldn't he be the one who's scared?
The bushes in this garden were tall and dense. Just now, someone had been hiding sneakily in the bushes and Xie Lian accidentally touched their calf.
The leg quickly pulled away, and the bushes rustled as someone shouted, "Don't hit, don't hit, it's me, brother!"
Xie Lian looked closely and was surprised to find that the person shouting "don't hit" was the thick-browed, big-eyed young man, Tian Sheng.
Seeing that Xie Lian recognized him, Tian Sheng sighed in relief.
However, after recognizing him, Xie Lian didn't relax but became more cautious.
He raised an arm to block in front of him and said, "Weren't you supposed to stay with the others to look after the injured? Why are you here? Are you really Tian Sheng?"
In this situation, it seemed more like something else was pretending to be him. Tian Sheng quickly said, "It's me! It's really me, and not just me, three uncles came with me too! They're inside, see for yourself!" He pointed towards the palace, and sure enough, three people ran out from the dilapidated hall. They were some of the merchants from earlier. When they saw Xie Lian, they were all startled and then looked embarrassed.
Xie Lian exhaled and stood up, dusting off his white clothes. "What's going on with you all?"
When he asked this, the merchants were sheepish and didn't respond.
After a moment, Tian Sheng hesitantly said, "Not long after you left, Uncle Zheng's poison flared up again. It was bad... We didn't know when you'd come back, worried you might not find us or return too late. Brother A-Zhao said we could find the Half Moon Kingdom if we followed the path, so we thought more people would help find it faster, so we came too..."
In short, they regretted it.
They were afraid Xie Lian and the others would find the benevolent moon grass and leave with A-Zhao, so they followed. Xie Lian could imagine that if Fu Yao couldn't persuade them, he might have just given up trying to stop them. People who are determined to do what they want, even if it leads to danger, are hard to stop.
Xie Lian said helplessly, "You guys are really brave. You know what might be in this city, what might happen, and you still dare to come?"
Tian Sheng, knowing that this showed a lack of trust in them, felt a bit guilty. That's probably why he was hiding in the bushes, embarrassed. He said, "Sorry, when it's a matter of life and death, we got anxious and..."
There's nothing to be done; when it's a matter of life and death, it's natural to be cautious. And being willing to risk danger for others to get medicine shows a sense of loyalty. Xie Lian couldn't say much, so he rubbed his forehead and said, "You were lucky not to encounter anything on your way into this ancient city. But how did you know to come to the palace to find the benevolent moon grass?"
Tian Sheng scratched his head and said, "We didn't know where to look. But didn't the red-clothed brother's story mention the queen picking the benevolent moon grass? Queens can't leave the palace randomly, so I thought maybe we should try our luck at the palace."
Xie Lian thought this kid was clever; he guessed right. Just then, San Lang said, "Found it."
Xie Lian turned around to see San Lang holding up a green leaf with some roots still attached.
The leaf was about the size of a baby's palm, with fine roots, shaped like a peach, and a pointed tip. Without needing A-Zhao to confirm, Xie Lian instinctively knew this must be the legendary benevolent moon grass. Before he could say anything, San Lang had already taken his injured hand.
The hand, previously swollen from a sting, had reduced significantly after San Lang had sucked out the poison.
Though the poison wasn't completely gone, the swelling had subsided a lot. Now, San Lang held his injured hand with one hand and the benevolent moon grass with the other.
He closed his fingers, and without much effort, the leaf crumbled into a pile of green powder. He carefully applied the green powder to the back of Xie Lian's hand, and Xie Lian felt a gentle, cool sensation spreading from the wound. He said, "San Lang, thank you."
San Lang didn't reply. After applying the herb, he let go of Xie Lian's hand. The atmosphere between them was strange, and Xie Lian felt something was off but didn't know how to ask. It seemed inappropriate to bring it up. Others didn't notice the subtlety, and Tian Sheng eagerly asked, "Brother, do you feel better? Does the herb work?"
Xie Lian came back to his senses and said, "Much better, it should be the right one."
Hearing this, the others were thrilled and said, "Quick, let's find more." Soon, A-Zhao also held up a bunch of green leaves and said, "I found some too."
The leaves A-Zhao found were much larger than the small piece San Lang had found earlier. Everyone saw that the shape and features matched and rushed over, exclaiming, "There's a big patch here!" "So many!" "Quick, pick more." "Can we sell them if we pick a lot?"
While they were busy picking herbs, Xie Lian looked at the back of his hand and, trying to make conversation, said to San Lang, "The place where they're picking, you seemed to have looked there earlier. Didn't you find anything then?"
After speaking, he felt his question was rather pointless. San Lang shook his head and said, "Don't use the herbs from there."
Xie Lian was puzzled, "Why?"
Before San Lang could explain, there was a scream, "Get off!"
Everyone was stunned, pausing their actions, and asked, "Who screamed?" "It wasn't me!" "Not me either..."
Then the voice said eerily, "Get off, you're stepping on me..."
Only then did everyone realize the voice was coming from their feet!
In an instant, those gathered around the benevolent moon grass scattered. Xie Lian, already used to stepping up in such situations, moved forward while others retreated.
He walked to where the scream came from and reached out to slowly part the dense bushes. As he did, several people held their breath.
Beneath the bushes, buried in the soil, was a man's face.
Someone was buried in the ground with only their face showing!
The scene was truly eerie, and several merchants hugged each other in fright. Xie Lian calmly reassured them, "Don't panic. Stay calm. It's just a face. It's nothing to worry about. Everyone has a face, right?"
The face chuckled, "Did I scare you? I scare myself sometimes."
Xie Lian crouched down to examine the face buried in the soil.
It was a man's face, flat when not smiling, with many wrinkles when he did. It was hard to tell if he was old or young, ugly or handsome. After looking for a while and not figuring out what it was, Xie Lian asked directly, "Who are you?"
The buried face replied, "Who are you?"
Xie Lian said, "A passing merchant group."
The buried face sighed, "Ah, a passing merchant group. I was once part of a passing merchant group too. But that was fifty or sixty years ago."
With that, the scene became even more bizarre.
This person had been buried in the soil of this abandoned ancient city for fifty or sixty years. Could he still be human?
A merchant nervously asked, "Then... why are you here... sir?"
The buried face coughed a few times, wrinkling his face, "I... I was caught by the Half Moon soldiers. I accidentally entered the city, and they captured me, buried me in the soil, and turned me into fertilizer for these benevolent moon grasses..."
So these benevolent moon grasses were grown using humans as fertilizer, no wonder they were so lush!
The merchants quickly threw down the handfuls of benevolent moon grass, feeling like they had been grabbing corpses. Xie Lian couldn't help but look at the back of his hand, but San Lang said, "Those herbs are fine."
No wonder San Lang had looked at that patch of land earlier but hadn't picked those lush benevolent moon grasses. He probably saw the buried face and guessed that the herbs were grown using human fertilizer, so he ignored them and moved on until he found clean, naturally grown herbs to apply to Xie Lian.
Xie Lian said, "San Lang, you were thoughtful, thank you."
San Lang shook his head, still with a serious expression.
Since being stung by the Scorpion-Tailed Snake before entering the Half Moon Ancient City, he had been like this. A few days ago, when they were together, he would call Xie Lian "brother" all the time, but now he didn't call him at all. Except for sucking out the poison and applying the herb, San Lang seemed to be avoiding physical contact with him, which puzzled Xie Lian. He couldn't figure out San Lang's attitude and felt a bit uneasy.
At this moment, the buried face spoke again, "I haven't seen living people in years. Could you all come closer so I can take a good look?"
Everyone looked at each other, agreeing it was best not to do as he asked. After a while, seeing no response, the buried face muttered, "You don't want to? What a pity..."
Xie Lian turned and asked, "What's a pity?"
The buried face said, "Since you came in, there's something I've been very, very curious about. I've been wanting to confirm it with my own eyes before telling you, so I asked you all to come closer so I could take a good look at each of you."
Xie Lian asked, "What is it?"
The buried face chuckled eerily, "Don't be scared when I say it... One of you, I saw fifty years ago."
At these words, a chill ran down everyone's spine.
If one of them had been seen by this buried face fifty years ago, they would be at least sixty or seventy now. But the oldest-looking person here didn't seem over forty. How could this be?
Unless... that person wasn't a "person"!
Xie Lian's gaze swept over each person's face, from A-Zhao to Tian Sheng, seeing surprise, fear, suspicion, and shock. Everyone's reactions were perfectly normal. If anyone's reaction was unusual, it was only the completely unresponsive San Lang. But for this young man, having no reaction was probably the normal reaction.
He turned back and asked, "Who is this person you're talking about?"
The buried face's muscles twitched, revealing a bizarre smile, as if trying hard to appear trustworthy but failing to hide the sneer from within. He said mysteriously, "You... come closer, and I'll tell you."
When he first said that, Xie Lian believed him about eighty percent. But after this sentence, it dropped to fifty percent.
How could he know this creature wasn't trying to lure someone close to attack suddenly?
Xie Lian naturally didn't listen, standing up and stepping back. The buried face hurriedly said, "Don't you want to know who that person is? He will kill you all, just like he killed us!"