204: Breathing Rift

Doctor A Lei's donkey ears perked up vigilantly. After looking around, he whispered, "This is not the place to talk. If you two trust me, you can follow me to my medicine hut for a chat."

Little Green Snake flicked its tongue, its small eyes glinting with suspicion.

"Who knows if you're in cahoots with this old swindler?"

"Little Green Snake..."

The Rat Spirit gently tugged her tail, then nodded slightly to Doctor A Lei.

"Please forgive my companion, Doctor, she's a bit blunt."

"No worries."

Doctor A Lei laughed heartily, revealing his neat, large teeth. "It's good to be cautious. How about this: my medicine hut is at the east end of the market, with a sign that says 'Lei's Medicine Shop' at the entrance. You two can wander around first and come find me when you feel it's safe."

With that, he picked up the old field mouse spirit, who was still playing dead, and strode away.

Once they were far away, Little Green Snake immediately coiled around the Rat Spirit's arm.

"Hey, do you really trust thisSilly Donkey (silly donkey)? I bet he's eyeing your soul stabilizing pearl!"

The Rat Spirit gently stroked the pearl on her chest, a hint of tenderness flashing in her eyes.

"I don't think he's a bad person. Besides..."

She lowered her voice, "If it really concerns Lord Lin Hu, we should at least investigate it thoroughly."

"Hmph! You're too kind!"

Little Green Snake angrily flicked its tail.

Ever since Rat Chestnut got into trouble, the Rat Spirit's personality had changed a lot.

Before, she and Rat Chestnut often robbed the rich to help the poor and punished evil to promote good.

They had done a lot of jumping around and causing mischief.

Now she seemed to have completely transformed into a gentle, understanding elder sister.

Little Green Snake flicked its tail, still unable to understand.

"Rat Spirit, are you sick?"

The Rat Spirit chuckled, changing the subject.

"Shall we go check out the medicine hut first? If there's really a problem, escaping shouldn't be difficult with the Amulet Lord Lin Hu gave us."

"Alright, alright!"

Little Green Snake reluctantly slid off her shoulder. "But let's be clear, if anything feels off, I'm spraying poison mist immediately!"

"Okay, okay, whatever you say."

The Rat Spirit dotingly patted the snake's head.

***

Lei's Medicine Shop was much tidier than expected.

Various herbs were drying at the entrance, emitting a faint, pleasant aroma.

Doctor A Lei was grinding herbs in the courtyard. Seeing their arrival, he immediately put down the mortar.

"You two are here!"

He greeted them warmly, then noticed the Rat Spirit's wary gaze and wisely stopped three steps away. "Please follow me to the backyard."

The backyard was even more secluded, with a stone table and stools under an old locust tree.

Doctor A Lei poured them each a cup of floral tea: "This is my homemade calming honeysuckle tea. Please, have some."

Little Green Snake sniffed it suspiciously, and only after confirming it was non-toxic, took a small sip.

The Rat Spirit, however, asked directly, "Doctor A Lei, what was this thing you discovered that you mentioned earlier?"

So mysterious, it couldn't be some secret treasure, could it?

At the mention of this, Doctor A Lei's expression grew serious: "Three days ago, when I was gathering herbs in Black Wind Ravine, I noticed the miasma there had suddenly thickened considerably."

He pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle from hisHuai (bosom), carefully unfolding it.

"Even stranger, I found this at the bottom of the ravine."

It was a pitch-black leaf.

"An Iron-Eating Tree leaf?"

The Rat Spirit blurted out, looking at the leaf's shape.

A hint of surprise flashed in Doctor A Lei's eyes: "Madam, you have good eyesight. But this isn't an ordinary Iron-Eating Tree..."

He flipped the leaf over, revealing a spiderweb-like pattern of blood-red veins on the back.

"This is a special variant. From what I've observed, it seems to have been affected by some kind of pollution."

"Pollution?"

Little Green Snake flicked its tongue, leaning in to observe. Suddenly, all its scales bristled. "This leaf... it's absorbing my demonic power!"

Doctor A Lei quickly put the leaf back into a specially made jade box.

"Three days ago, I found this in an unnamed rift valley north of Black Wind Ravine. It was originally a common herb-growing area, but now..."

"The entire valley has become a forbidden zone for living creatures."

The Rat Spirit noticed that the lightning-white hair on Doctor A Lei's forehead was now faintly glowing.

"Doctor, have you been to that rift valley?"

"Only to the edge."

Doctor A Lei wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "That rift valley... it 'breathes'. Each time it 'exhales', the rocks at the bottom of the valley melt like wax, revealing what's underneath... what's underneath..."

"What is it?"

Little Green Snake pressed.

Doctor A Lei's pupils contracted violently.

"I can't describe it clearly. It's like countless black blood vessels entangled together, or perhaps the nerve network of some giant creature."

"I want to go see!"

Little Green Snake suddenly propped up its upper body, its mung bean eyes sparkling with excitement. "A breathing rift valley? That sounds thrilling!"

The Rat Spirit grabbed its tail. "Are you crazy? Didn't you hear Doctor A Lei say how dangerous that place is?"

"What's there to be afraid of!"

Little Green Snake shook off the Rat Spirit and nimbly darted onto the Rat Spirit's shoulder.

"We'll just take a peek from afar and leave! Besides..."

It flicked its tongue, leaning close to the Rat Spirit's ear. "Don't you want to confirm the situation in that rift again? What if it's useful to Lord Lin Hu?"

"But..."

"Let's go, let's go!"

Little Green Snake was already twisting its body and scurrying up the mountain path. "Before it gets dark!"

A quarter of an hour later, the three demons were lying on a cliff edge, with the eerie rift valley below.

The afterglow of the setting sun cast a bloody hue over the rift valley, and thin, veil-like black mist drifted within it.

"See, see, I told you there was no..."

Little Green Snake's words suddenly caught in its throat.

The rocks at the edge of the rift valley were, as Doctor A Lei said, slowly "melting."

It wasn't liquefaction from high temperatures, but rather like wax being kneaded by an invisible hand, twisting into incredible shapes.

Even more terrifying, the black veins revealed after the rocks receded were now pulsing rhythmically like a heart.

"Thump... thump..."

A dull thud came from deep underground, making the three demons' chests feel tight.

The Rat Spirit was horrified to discover that the grass blades under her claws were withering at a visible rate.

"We have to go!"

Doctor A Lei lowered his voice, the lightning-white hair on his forehead flashing wildly. "It's about to 'inhale'!"

Just then, Little Green Snake suddenly froze: "Do you... do you feel... it's about to come alive...?"

What kind of hellish joke was this?!

The Rat Spirit followed her gaze and almost screamed.

—On the surface of those black veins, countless tiny protrusions were slowly emerging, like... like eyes about to open!

"Run!!!"

Doctor A Lei scooped up the two demons, slung them onto his back, and took off running.

Behind them, there was a deafening roar of cracking rocks, and a bone-chilling coldness surged like a tide, chasing at their heels.

"We're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to die!"

Little Green Snake clung desperately to Doctor A Lei's neck, its scales turning pale with fright. "Is that thing still chasing us?"

The Rat Spirit clutched the soul stabilizing pearl tightly, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck her: "I don't know, go to the Lord Chu Ping Temple!!"

The moment the three demons tumbled into the temple gate, a terrifying roar came from behind them.

The Rat Spirit bravely looked back, only to see a wisp of black mist violently shrink back, as if burned, half a foot outside the temple threshold.

"Phew..."

Doctor A Lei collapsed to the ground, his donkey ears flattened with fright. "Finally... we're safe."

"Surprised? Thrilled?"

Little Green Snake lay limp like a noodle, but still couldn't resist being defiant. "I told you we should go see it, this trip was really an eye-opener..."

The Rat Spirit slapped her on the head.

"Shut up! You almost got us all killed!"