Lin Yue furrowed her brows upon hearing this. Looking toward the courtyard and seeing that no one had noticed her, she immediately grabbed Sanya and Siya and ran toward the back mountain.
“Second Sister, Mother's home. Why are we running up the mountain?” Sanya asked, puzzled.
Lin Yue pulled the two of them to squat behind a patch of wild grass and handed Siya the eight copper coins she had earned from selling the eggs.
“Siya, take this money and head back. Tell Mother I spent the other two copper coins on meat buns and ran into the mountains to pick wild fruit, refusing to come back. Got it? Next time, I'll take you to eat meat buns.”
These two—one twelve and the other eight—were at the prime age for being easily duped.
Having eaten the meat bun, Siya was already Lin Yue's loyal little fan. Hearing Lin Yue's words, she immediately said obediently:
“Second Sister ate meat buns and went to pick wild fruit.”
Lin Yue nodded and sent her on her way, using the two withheld copper coins to bribe Sanya.
Eating the flatbread, Sanya's stomach let out an uncooperative growl, and her resolve collapsed.
Lin Yue stashed her copper coins and hurriedly ran up the mountain. She didn't return until the sun was about to set, naturally getting scolded by the adults. Fortunately, she returned carrying a basket of wild vegetables and freshly picked sour wild berries, which counted as useful work, sparing her from being denied dinner.
Lying in bed, Lin Yue thought about today's events and couldn't help fretting.
Hiding like this was no solution. She had to make money faster and leave as early as possible.
The next day, Lin Yue couldn't sleep and woke early. Swiping the family's woodchopping machete and a back basket, she slipped out of the courtyard through the back door and followed the winding path into the mountains to search for mountain goods.
In the mountain forest, ferns grew luxuriantly, reaching shoulder height. The pine trees were exceptionally thick and tall, with gnarled, twisting roots.
Rustling came from the treetops. Lin Yue looked up alertly as the shadow of a bird swept past overhead—the silhouette was so vast it completely eclipsed her body.
Greed and curiosity mingled in Lin Yue's eyes.
When she first came up this mountain, she had sensed the abnormality of this world. It was not a tropical rainforest climate, yet the trees were even more lush and colossal than those in the rainforests of her previous life.
This might not be an ordinary ancient world.
For her, that might be a good thing.
Lin Yue continued walking forward. Suddenly, the flapping of wings sounded somewhere ahead. Focusing her gaze, she saw a pheasant fly from the grass into a tree, vanishing without a trace after a few flutters.
Excitement surged in Lin Yue's heart. Shifting her gaze to that patch of grass, she picked up a long stick and gently parted an opening. Instantly, her eyes lit up as a dazzling clutch of eggs greeted her sight.
Lin Yue tapped around the grass with her wooden stick several times. Seeing no lurking snakes or insects, she set down the basket, tore up a few handfuls of dead leaves to cushion the bottom, and pocketed those bird eggs, each as large as a duck egg—a full twelve of them!
Lin Yue immediately cracked one and ate it. The egg had a strong raw smell, but swallowing it meant nutrition.
The surroundings were quiet and deserted. Turning her head to look back at the path she had come from, it appeared eerily gloomy. Only then did she realize she had ventured quite deep. Refraining from going any deeper, she took a different route back.
Lin Yue used the long stick to probe the way when she suddenly poked something soft. Right after, with a rustle of leaves, a black line slithered rapidly toward her.
Alarm bells rang in Lin Yue's mind. Sweeping her long stick across as she stepped back,
the black spicy strip traced an arc through the air, landed in the grass two zhang away, and swiftly rustled off into the distance.
Lin Yue's tense nerves relaxed. Cold sweat beaded on her back, and her heart beat like a war drum, refusing to calm down for a long time.
When the snake slithered toward her, she had clearly seen its triangular head marked with bright red dots; it was very likely venomous.
If she had taken a bite from that, she really would have capsized in the starter village.
Lin Yue steadied her composure and continued probing the way forward.
As her stick brushed past a patch of grass, an abrupt splash of vivid crimson was revealed, standing in stark contrast to the green leaves.
Lin Yue's gaze froze. Gently parting the filament-like green leaves blocking her view, a red lingzhi shaped like a welcoming pine appeared before her eyes.
It was an exceptionally vibrant, brilliant red growing on a chunk of decaying wood, looking as though it had been soaked in blood.
Blood lingzhi?
Doubt flashed in Lin Yue's eyes. This lingzhi was dazzlingly red, as if radiance were about to spill from it, possessing the lacquered luster and concentric ring patterns typical of lingzhi.
Only its color was excessively vibrant.
Lin Yue pondered over it. If it wasn't a new species, the only scientific explanation was heavy metal accumulation.
Yet having transmigrated, she still hoped for more fantasy-like possibilities.
After thinking for a moment, she pinched her nose and used the long wooden stick to gently tap the blood lingzhi, attempting to awaken that slumbering spirit.
The lingzhi had not attained sentience.
A trace of disappointment showed in Lin Yue's eyes. She had immortality; cultivating to become an immortal would be the best outcome.
She looked toward the rotten wood. When lingzhi was toxic, it was usually caused by mold or its growing environment. The surface of this one-chi-long rotten wood was blackened and greasy, as if it had soaked at the bottom of a lake. Looking at its cross-section, a faint redness showed through the black.
Like blood—as eerie as the crimson-azure vine.
Lin Yue bent down, gathered some dead leaves to conceal it, and covered up the surrounding traces. Only after making sure nothing would give it away did she leave.
Lin Yue hid five of the eggs for herself and took the rest home. She caught a scolding at dinner, but because there were bird eggs that could be sold for money, the matter was dropped.
Ever since returning from the mountains, Lin Yue, yearning to change her fate, kept dwelling on that blood lingzhi, so she went to ask the old physician, Doctor Chen.
According to his description, red lingzhi came in both dark and pale shades, but he had never seen one so bright red—that existed only in legends. However, he had once acquired a two-hundred-year-old red lingzhi.
Two hundred years?! Hearing an age that defied her comprehension, Lin Yue was utterly stunned.
In her past life, the growth cycle of a lingzhi was only about a year; after a long time, it would lignify and lose all medicinal efficacy.
It was impossible to grow for two hundred years.
There were too many baffling things about this world.
Deliberating for a moment, Lin Yue asked Doctor Chen, “Are there people in this world who can fly?”
Doctor Chen was startled, a look of reminiscence surfacing on his face. He said that when he was young, he encountered a fierce tiger on a mountain trail and thought he was certainly dead. Yet just then, a knight-errant leaped out: skilled in martial arts, burly and tall, dashing and handsome, fighting the tiger with a broadsword. He leaped a zhang high... A true extraordinary man!
Lin Yue widened her eyes and repeated, “Can they fly?”
Doctor Chen's expression was excited. “He leaped a zhang high...”
Lin Yue blinked and asked patiently, “Can they fly?”
The sixty-year-old Doctor Chen stroked his beard, looked at the girl before him—whose expression was earnest yet aloof—and remarked with a sigh:
“They aren't people folks in backwaters like ours can meet. This little town, you see, sits in a hollow among the mountains. This side of the mountain is peaceful, but the other side of the mountain is far from peaceful!”
With that, Doctor Chen buried his head in sorting medicinal herbs, murmuring softly, “Here isn't bad either. Plain and peaceful... It's quite nice...”
If Doctor Chen had looked up at this moment, he would have seen the girl's burning, bright gaze.
According to what Doctor Chen said, this knight-errant at least knew martial arts, and with century-old lingzhi around, this was at least a wuxia world.
Not mundane mortals—very good...
Lin Yue wheedled and cajoled to ask about the value and effects of the blood lingzhi. In short, it was expensive, exceedingly expensive, with effects like prolonging life and unblocking the meridians and collaterals.
Hearing this, Lin Yue grew cautious. Since its value was so high, could she use it to strike a deal with the Lin family in exchange for letting her leave?
Yet in the next breath, she rejected the idea.
Rate on N.U.
