5: Chapter 5 Why Take the Risk?

Xia Shaoxin took one miasma-repelling pill every day.

This medicine was truly miraculous.

When Bug Catchers walked through Dawu Mountain, even with anti-miasma medicines like calamus water, they would still experience symptoms like mild chest tightness, shortness of breath, weak legs, and irritability after two or three days.

After taking the miasma-repelling pill, his breathing was smooth and his mindset stable, just as if he were active in Liushu Ao.

Having wandered around Dawu Mountain for six days, he had no mood to waste time on uncertain encounters in the roadside grass, so he inspected his own hunting grounds.

A hunting ground could generally only grow one or two exceptionally large Poisonous Insects, and Xia Shaoxin's goal was to trap these highest-quality Poisonous Insects.

Hard work pays off, and his luck was good; he didn't waste too much time and could basically catch the largest one.

He obtained a total of twenty-five high-grade Poisonous Insects and sacrificed them all on the spot.

In previous years, it would take twenty days to finish inspecting these hunting grounds.

Because he only came in for sacrifices this time—one was enough—the speed was fast, and most of the time was spent walking.

If it weren't for the paths being covered by weeds, he could have been even faster.

Everything he could get in previous years, he had gotten; the only regret was not catching a Five-colored Scorpion.

That kind of Poisonous Insect was naturally rare, so it was normal not to encounter one.

At this moment, he still had four miasma-repelling pills in his hand and had unknowingly arrived at a hillside.

This was the limit for Bug Catchers entering the mountain. Looking up, the valley ahead was gloomy and dark, with dense purple miasma floating above the forest; not a single wisp of white air could be seen.

That was the core area of Dawu Mountain, where it was said no Bug Catcher had ever been.

A surge of ambition rose in his heart: "How about I go and take a look at that part of Dawu Mountain?"

"Maybe I can discover a brand new Poisonous Insect!"

Taking a deep breath, he held a stick in his left hand to beat the grass, gripped his knife in his right, and walked resolutely down the hillside.

He hadn't walked far when a gust of wind rose in the distance of the grass, accompanied by a wailing sound.

He focused his eyes and saw, shockingly, a large poisonous snake interwoven with yellow and green spots—a King Cobra! It was stepping on the tips of the grass blades, flying towards him.

The pores all over his body stood up instantly.

He had sacrificed a King Cobra before, but it wasn't as big as this one.

The King Cobra was naturally ferocious, and this one could actually speed across the grass, just like the legendary Yao Beast.

His heart tightened. It was right that no one came to the core area of Dawu Mountain; had he encountered a Yao Beast after taking only a few steps down?

In a panic, he threw away the wooden stick and reached into his medicine basket. Just as he touched the powder to suppress poisonous snakes, the King Cobra had already lunged in front of him.

He dodged to the side. The King Cobra charged too fast, so he dodged the snake's head, but its tail swept over like a whip, striking his thigh and causing a burst of sharp pain.

His hand had already grabbed a handful of medicine powder, which he threw with all his might. The force was just right; the powder turned into a white line, hitting the King Cobra's head squarely.

The snake was intelligent; it suddenly turned its head, stood up halfway, and kept flicking its tongue, its scarlet eyes emitting a bloodthirsty light.

He secretly cried out, "Not good."

Three days ago, when he caught that mutant King Cobra on the outskirts of Dawu Mountain, he had used all his strength and was bitten. Fortunately, he carried an antidote with him, so he didn't die.

Today's one was even more ferocious and of higher quality; it was definitely a rare find in decades.

But changing his perspective, this wasn't a King Cobra; this was money!

Exerting his Divine Might, he raised his sword and slashed. Just as the King Cobra bit over, he struck its head, making his wrist ache.

The King Cobra took a sword strike and became even more furious, slamming its whole body over. Xia Shaoxin braced his sword and slashed at the snake's head; the sword happened to get stuck horizontally in the snake's mouth.

The giant snake was enraged and violently shook its head, lifting his body three feet off the ground.

He gripped the sword hilt tightly, not daring to let go. The giant snake coiled its body, wrapping him from head to toe, with only the hand holding the sword exposed.

The King Cobra was like a giant boa constrictor, squeezing him until he couldn't breathe.

Man and snake rolled on the ground.

Fortunately, he was carrying a large bamboo basket for medicine, which happened to offset the giant snake's constricting force.

If not for this, with his Physique, he definitely couldn't have held out.

Fortunately, the Bug Catcher's medicine powder was no ordinary thing. As the medicinal power gradually took effect, the King Cobra fell into a coma, though it still wrapped Xia Shaoxin tightly.

He silently recited the Sacrificial Incantation, but it had no effect.

He couldn't help but smile bitterly. Was it because he had already sacrificed a King Cobra, or because this King Cobra didn't belong to him?

Fortunately, he had the medicine basket on him; the King Cobra was as hard as a stone, but the medicine basket was elastic.

Unable to squeeze the giant snake, he had to squeeze the medicine basket.

Xia Shaoxin struggled desperately, felt the dagger on his body, and finally reached out from the side of the medicine basket, stabbing wildly at the giant snake.

The poisonous snake's fluids were extremely foul-smelling; only a Bug Catcher could stand it.

The medicine powder worked very well; Xia Shaoxin had hollowed out the snake's belly, and it still hadn't woken up.

But the giant snake's constriction was even better, tightening like a wooden barrel. After a long time, he finally poked a large hole in the snake's body and managed to crawl out.

Looking back at the King Cobra, he was stunned.

The giant snake's belly had been hollowed out, cut in half at the waist.

He had been too ruthless!

"This snake belongs to me now; can it be sacrificed?"

He immediately recited the incantation, but there was still no reaction.

It was evident that this dead King Cobra was the same species as the one he sacrificed a few days ago.

The Shangqing Profound Mirror only accepted one sacrifice for each type of medicinal material.

"What a loss!"

He had no choice but to remove the snake gallbladder.

The snake skin was tough, but unfortunately, it was ruined and wouldn't fetch a good price.

In Dawu Mountain, snakes were a species that gave Bug Catchers a headache.

Their strength was too great, making them hard to catch, and even if caught, they were hard to carry.

If killed, in the environment of Dawu Mountain, it was hard to make them into dried goods, which was almost equal to a waste.

He could only take things like the snake gallbladder, snake skin, and snake teeth to sell for money.

Xia Shaoxin cut off some snake meat and ate it raw.

Snake meat was a very good tonic, but the poisonous snakes of Dawu Mountain were different; they had to be eaten raw. If cooked, the whole mountain would smell fishy, and no one could eat it.

Bug Catchers all practiced martial arts, and raw snake meat had a very good effect on improving one's Physique.

The bitter, fishy taste rushed straight to his crown, and Xia Shaoxin changed his mind.

He hadn't walked many steps, and a King Cobra that could fly on the grass had already appeared. In the depths of Dawu Mountain, where the poisonous miasma was densest, there might be unknown, more valuable Poisonous Insects, but they must be even more powerful.

To take advantage of the miasma-repelling pill, he needed a stronger body to venture deep into Dawu Mountain.

Xia Shaoxin felt he was just a hothead, too reckless.

"The miasma-repelling pill only keeps me from being eroded by the poisonous miasma; it doesn't increase my strength. If I encounter an even stronger Poisonous Insect, my Physique won't be able to hold up."

He had already obtained twenty-five high-grade Poisonous Insects, which could be converted into two hundred and fifty, with an estimated value of hundreds of thousands.

This harvest was much more than in previous years; it used to take over a month, but this time it only took a few days.

"I'm calculating this based on ten of each type; without the Shangqing Profound Mirror, I couldn't get so many of each. Calculated this way, the miasma-repelling pill actually isn't that cost-effective."

He spent two days coming out of Dawu Mountain.

He lay at home for a good day and thought of a new problem.

Conversion consumes Qi and blood; he could only convert one type per day. He needed to convert twenty-five types, which would take about a month.

The high-imitation medicinal materials produced by conversion could only exist for one month; after one month, they would return to their original state.

That is to say, he must hand in the medicinal materials before they revert to their original state.

Time-wise, it was enough, but did he dare to do it?

The Gu Bureau opens for business for two or three months in the summer and would not immediately transfer the collected Poisonous Insects to the imperial court.

If the Poisonous Insects worth over a hundred thousand coins changed their appearance in the Gu Bureau's warehouse, what a huge mess that would be.

The Gu Bureau would definitely investigate desperately.

"No, handing in live ones is easy to be found out; better to kill them and hand in dried goods!"

Dried goods are worth half.

Another problem emerged: did dried goods also have a one-month shelf life?

Thinking of the two remaining miasma-repelling pills in his pocket.

Would they lose their medicinal effect after a month?

He decided to conduct an experiment.

This time entering the mountain, the most expensive one was the Golden Earth Dragon, so he went to the river and caught ten swamp eels; only this looked the most similar.

He first put the swamp eels into a jar, then carried the jar back to the bedroom, closed his eyes to meditate, and the Shangqing Profound Mirror appeared in his Sea of Consciousness.

He silently recited the incantation. Although his eyes were tightly closed, the surroundings suddenly became bright, and he cast his "gaze" into the jar.

Noisy sounds suddenly rang out around him, starting like the buzzing of mosquitoes, then getting louder and louder, like ghosts wailing and wolves howling. After waiting for a long time, a beam of light shot out from the center of his eyebrows, illuminating the inside of the jar.

The swamp eels grew rapidly, becoming golden all over.

With a loud boom, the sound of the jar shattering came to his ears.

He opened his eyes in a panic; the room was full of Golden Earth Dragons scurrying everywhere.

He scrambled to draw his sword and slashed around wildly.

Now he couldn't care about worrying whether to hand in live ones or dead ones; the ten Earth Dragons, all with their blood-red maws wide open, were tearing at each other.

Fortunately, these converted Earth Dragons had very low attack power, just like large swamp eels.

Xia Shaoxin used all his strength to kill the last Golden Earth Dragon. Looking around, the room was no longer habitable; the floor and walls were covered in fluids.

His head felt dizzy, and he collapsed on the floor, falling into a deep sleep.

He didn't know how long he had slept. After waking up, it was already late at night, and his nose was filled with a fishy stench.

He hurriedly got up; the blood of those ten Golden Earth Dragons had long since drained, covering the floor, sticky and messy.

He picked them up one by one and sent them to the next room, which was a room specially used for air-drying Poisonous Insects.

He looked up at the sky and suddenly felt something was wrong. Looking at the moon phase, three or four days must have passed.

"Did I faint for that long this time?"

He went to his parents' room to continue sleeping. When he woke up, it was already broad daylight. His stomach was extremely hungry, so he made something to eat and wolfed it down.

He waited peacefully for a month, and the Golden Earth Dragons did not change.

The miasma-repelling pill also did not lose its effect; it was still a magical pill worth five thousand coins.

The experiment was a success!

Xia Shaoxin looked at the wall and laughed alone: "Heh, can one thousand taels stump me? I'll earn this redemption money for you right now!"