Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 567: The Secret of Mica Hiding Poison

Tao Mining City is located near Taoguluan in the east of Huanglong Mountain Range.

Taogu Ridge is quite mysterious. It is obviously not a fairy mountain or a sacred place, but peach blossoms are in full bloom all year round, and the gorgeous peach blossoms on the trees fall to the ground from time to time.

Many of them even follow the streams, letting their subtle fragrance float among the mountains and fields.

If it were in other places, the peach trees all over the mountains, the peach petals accumulated over the years, and the sedimentation of spring water in the mountains would sooner or later accumulate into peach blossom miasma all over the mountains.

But Taogu Ridge is different. After the peach blossom petals here settle and ferment, they do not produce miasma or accumulate evil spirits. Instead, they turn into a sea of ​​fragrant light, embellishing the entire mountain like a fairyland, and are loved by many literati and poets.

Therefore, Taokuang City was originally called Taolin City, and the name was changed because pearl mica mines were later discovered here.

Mica and Polygonatum sibiricum are both magical medicines from immortals. According to the records in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", they have the mysterious effects of removing evil spirits, calming the five internal organs, improving essence and improving eyesight, replenishing the body, curing the five kinds of fatigue and seven kinds of injuries, and eliminating deficiency of Qi, etc.

Many medical classics and Taoist scriptures clearly record that long-term consumption of mica can make the body light and radiant, prolong life, and even lead to enlightenment and ascension.

But mica is different from Polygonatum. It is a special mineral formed by the gathering of the earth's spiritual energy. It is easily affected by external forces and thus has many varieties.

Among them, the best ones are the blue mica, red pearl mica, Chengyun mica and other mica that conform to the four seasons and five elements. If taken with secret methods, they can extend life by one to five thousand years.

The inferior grade is mica, such as spotted mica and ground mica, which grow in the turbid air of the earth's veins. If not handled properly, they may cause gonorrhea or even kill people.

Pearl mica is of the above-average type, with a mild medicinal effect. Long-term use can strengthen muscles and bones, unblock meridians, protect against burns in fire and drowning in water, and allow the patient to live 500 years.

The discovery of such treasures has transformed Taolin City from an unknown small town into a first-class and prosperous mining city in the entire prefecture.

The gathering of wealth naturally brings about the gathering of popularity.

According to Chu Tai's original guess, there shouldn't be any problems in such a place.

But when he walked in, he further discovered that the influence of the statue of the God of Wealth on all living beings was much greater than he had imagined, even more serious than Cangyan City.

The market town of Taokuang City covers an area of ​​about one thousand acres from the outside, but when you go inside, you will find that the entire market town has been protected by the Hutian technique, and the actual area is far larger than what you see from the outside.

The buildings inside are even more varied, with various colors spliced ​​together without appearing abrupt, and various hawking sounds can be heard everywhere.

At the same time, there were also a lot of quarrels echoing around.

Chu Tai searched for the past. Chu Tai didn't need to listen carefully to feel the huge, chaotic and twisted cause and effect condensed in this place.

As soon as he walked in, Chu Tai found that at least hundreds of pairs of eyes were scanning him. Some of them looked at him for a moment and then withdrew one by one, some continued to observe secretly, and some looked at him as if he was looking at fish on the chopping board.

Greed, sarcasm, ridicule, as well as a hint of envy and jealousy, were faintly visible in these looks.

Chu Tai was silent for a moment and took a step back.

A vendor immediately greeted him, "Is this your first time visiting our Taokuang Xianfang? I think you are here for the pearl mica. Come, come, I will tell you where to buy the best quality mica."

As he spoke, the vendor, who was clearly holding goods in his hands, walked towards Chu Tai enthusiastically.

As he took a wrong step, Chu Tai looked at the thing in his hand and said with a smile: "Put it down first, if it falls on the ground, I can't afford to pay for it."

As he spoke, he once again avoided the vendor's waving hand, took a wrong step, walked into the crowd, and disappeared.

In an instant, many monks who were still observing secretly withdrew their gazes, and the vendor who spoke first turned pale and returned to his stall to pack up his things and prepare to leave.

At this time, a female cultivator seized the opportunity to come forward to make a deal, and insisted that the merchant sell her a piece of high-quality pearl mica at half price.

Upon hearing this, the merchant decisively refused. The female cultivator continued to shout and insisted that the merchant sell the goods to her at a low price, otherwise she would not let the merchant leave. She even deliberately held the goods in her hands to allow her magic power to penetrate into them.

"This mica has already infected my magic power. You can't sell it anyway, so why don't you just give it to me at the price I offer? At least you can break even."

The merchant was so angry that he was about to say something, but when he saw the people next to him looking at him with ill intentions, his face turned pale. He was about to agree, but the female cultivator lowered the price again. In the end, he sold the mica for less than a quarter of the price.

The female cultivator was overjoyed. She immediately handed over the money and ran happily to the side.

The merchant, who was in a hurry to leave, collected the money and was about to leave when he suddenly thought of something. He took out the money the female cultivator had handed over and angrily cursed, "You evil-minded woman, you actually used the medicine money to trick me!"

Having said that, he packed up his things and left the place angrily.

Two breaths after the merchant left, a new small shop was immediately built. A monk occupied the place and began to shout everywhere.

The female cultivator who had previously used the medicine money to make the deal returned to her original place in anger.

At this moment, the palm of her hand that had been holding the mica turned slightly blue, and wisps of black air surrounded her. It was obvious that the mica, which was of high quality, also had problems.

She looked around and saw that everyone was looking at her. She also turned pale and quickly ran away.

Chu Tai, who was hiding on the side and restraining his own "fate", watched this farce and then followed the woman to some dark corners of the market.

Along the way, the woman kept cursing. When she arrived at a place similar to a pharmacy, she asked an old lady inside to help her with her medical treatment.

"Hey, our little black spider also has failures? And you came alone, which is not like you."

The woman called Little Black Spider spat upon hearing this and said, "Don't laugh at me, Granny. I just did it casually this time. I targeted a newbie at first, but I didn't expect that the other party had good skills. I could only settle for the next best thing and wanted to get a piece of mica from the merchant who couldn't help but cheat him first."

"I didn't expect that the counterfeiting technology of those guys has improved again. They were able to compress the toxicity of the mica into the inside, and then apply a layer of pearl mica on the outermost layer as a camouflage."

"This technique sounds easy, but it can actually fool our little black spider?"

Granny Axian teased the woman while treating her. The woman didn't say much, but took out the mica and put it on the table. "Look, this is it. It's very real. I can't see any flaws at all."

Granny Ah Xian, who had helped the woman force out the poison, picked up the mica, frowned slightly, and said with an unpleasant expression, "There is nothing wrong with this mica. It is indeed top-quality pearl mica, and it is also top-quality mica that has been accumulated for more than 800 years. Little Black Spider, you are not mistaken."

Chu Tai followed him in and looked around. Countless hidden magical prohibitions were spread everywhere like spider silk. After taking a quick look, he found a place to stand and took a look at the mica.

Chu Tai, who had never used truly top-quality pearl mica and had only seen relevant records in books, was unable to tell whether the mica was real or fake for a moment, but he could see that the mica was a bit strange, with a sense of strength on the outside but weakness on the inside, and a sense of confusion as if it were spliced ​​together.

"How is that possible? I was clearly infected. And the poison in it is indeed mica. I can't be wrong."

The little black spider's rebuttal did not change Granny Axi's initial judgment.

"You should know how mica is created, and you should also know that there is a situation where formed pearl mica can also have problems."

"Hey! Hey! This is impossible! Pearl mica is named this way because of its formation method similar to pearls. To have this effect, it is only possible that there are toxins inside from the beginning, and then layers of condensed mica substances cover it, forming this special situation. If this is really the case, then doesn't it mean that under the pearl mica vein..."

The little black spider seemed to have thought of something, and she retorted with shock on her face, as if she didn't want to admit anything, but soon she seemed to have thought of something again, and her eyes became excited.

"Mother-in-law, if what we guessed is true, there has always been turbid gas precipitating under the pearl mica veins, then can we prepare a batch of antidotes recently, and then buy those poisonous mica that will be misunderstood at a low price? After purification, we can sell it?"

"With this in and out, we can at least make a lot of money."

But Granny Axian broke the woman's fantasy.

"Little Black Spider, why do you think we can earn this much money? I said before that this pearl mica is real, but I didn't deny the fact that it has been processed as you said. The essence inside the mica has been taken away, and what's left is an empty shell. The only medicinal property is the outermost layer that was re-applied later."

Upon hearing this, the little black spider immediately fell to the ground and muttered, "So there is no chance at all?"

"Even if there is, and you have eaten part of it, how long do you think you can live? Moreover, do you think those masters above will allow people to know the truth? How many masters control this pearl mica vein? How many people are supported by this vein itself? Now you ask those people who have made a lot of money to give up this cash cow, isn't it asking for their lives? Unless..."

"Unless what?"

The little black spider was very curious and leaned forward slightly. Granny Axi slapped her and said with a smile: "Although we have some friendship, it is not good for me to tell you so bluntly about such things. Do you want to express your opinion as well?"

"Mother-in-law, I just lost a lot today, so I really don't have much money. How about this, I buy another batch of medicine gold, and you give me this information as a discount?"

"Discount? Little Black Spider, your wishful thinking is going to smack my mother-in-law in the face. You asked me for the best price a few days ago, and now you want me to give you a discount? Don't even think about it!"

As he said this, he was about to chase the woman away. The woman begged several times but to no avail, so she had to give him some money as a reward.

But Granny Ah Xi still didn't say anything. Little Black Spider frowned: "Granny, do you want to break your promise?"

"I, your mother-in-law, have never broken my promise over the years. It's really difficult for me to ask for help since there are other people here who haven't paid yet. How about you help this monk who entered the government pay the money as well?"

As she spoke, Granny Axian looked towards Chu Tai, and a faint Buddha light emerged. A monk walked out in front of Chu Tai, clasped his hands together, bowed to Granny Arnold and said, "As expected of the former Master Zhu Mu, you are really alert. I have only been here for a short time, but you have already noticed me."

"Just arrived not long ago? Hehe, little monk has violated the precepts! I, Grandma, have noticed your presence three days ago, and you dare to say that you have just arrived?"

"For people of your age, three days is just a short time. Haven't I just been here for a short time?"

The monk's answer made Granny Ah Xian's face darken. She waved her hand and said, "Come on, I know why you came here, so I want to make some money from this little girl. As long as you pay your share, I will tell you what you want to know. How about that?"

Hearing this, the monk fell into a brief contemplation, nodded in agreement, but then he heard Granny Axian offer a price nearly eighty times that of the little black spider.

"Does grandma think I'm easy to bully?"

The monk was very unhappy with this exaggerated price difference.

"I've already said that the little black spider's share is earned separately, and your share is the normal price. And do you think you can find relevant information? Come on, without my help, you can't find what you want, and they can't really let you find it. So..."

The mother-in-law rubbed her fingers together, and the monk finally agreed and handed a purse to her.

"That's straightforward! As expected of a direct disciple of the Yellow Dragon Sect, your family background is rich."

"Please tell the news to my mother-in-law and stop talking about these messed up things."

The monk reminded her, and the old lady who had already looked at the money bag said cheerfully, "No problem, no problem. Little Black Spider, the only way to get those old men to give up their money tree is to have someone take over this rotten tree. Otherwise, they will just pretend and dress up the tree in splendor, not caring how many people actually died because of the tree. And now, they have found a suitable person to take over..."

After that, the old woman handed a torn piece of paper to the monk and said, "What you want to know is in it. The rest I can't tell you, and I don't know. Okay, I'm going to rest now."

Seeing Granny Axiong trying to chase the guests away, Little Black Spider immediately showed an unhappy expression: "Granny, where is the news I want?"

"The little money you paid is only enough for this little information. Let's go!"

As she spoke, the grandmother waved her hand, and countless magic prohibitions appeared around her to drive the little black spider out. After watching, the monk looked back at the grandmother and said, "Master Zhumu, may I ask where the rest is?"

"I told you, I can't tell you the rest, and I don't know why you are making things difficult for your mother-in-law."

"Mother-in-law, you are making things difficult for me. You only gave me half of the information. How can I report to you?"

Hearing this, Granny Ah Xian smiled and said, "I really can't give you the remaining half. If you really want it, I can show you a way. There you will find the second half."

Afterwards, Granny Axian asked the monk to leave in a few words, but just as she was about to close the door, she suddenly found that the torn paper she had given to the monk appeared in another person's hand.

Chu Tai glanced at Granny Ah Xian and said, "Master Zhumu, may I ask where the rest is? You don't have to try to fool me. I don't intend to listen to your nonsense. After all, it's not difficult to get this information out of your head."

(End of this chapter)