Lyu Dongfang's sister?
Wasn't that Hu Manni of the Ma family, Ma Lanhua's granddaughter?
Come to think of it, Hu Manni actually had some connection to her other cover identity, “Mountain Lord.”
These thoughts flashed through Nan Zhi's mind in an instant, but she didn't let any of it show on her face. She merely said indifferently:
“You want to trade your single life for two? This deal doesn't seem very profitable for me. If I remember correctly, the Liu family and your Lyu family are enemies. That little fat boy is like fire and water with you, yet you're asking me for medicine for an enemy?”
“Ma Guniang, I won't lie to you. I admit I've always disliked Liu Guansheng. Our families have some messy ancestral history that's too tangled to unravel.
But when it comes to a matter of life and death, unless someone is truly evil or there is a blood feud between them, no one would genuinely wish for another person to die.”
“He might be really annoying, but he's never done anything truly bad in his life. Seeing him lie there, barely breathing, makes me feel awful too. After all, he's someone I know. I can't just stand by and watch him die.
Even if Liu Guansheng doesn't acknowledge this favor once we get back, I don't care. We all do foolish things in life. I'm not begging you on his behalf to act like a saint. I just want to feel a bit better when I look back on this in the future.”
This guy actually saw things quite clearly.
He hadn't made any hypocritical claims, simply stating that saving them was for his own peace of mind.
Nan Zhi appreciated Lyu Dongfang's honesty. Moreover, for Hu Ban'er's sake, she wouldn't just watch Hu Manni die here anyway. It was only a few Blood Supplementing Pills, so giving them was no big deal.
However, she had to change her approach. Otherwise, in the eyes of others, “Ma Guniang” would become an easy target that anyone could come and beg.
“There should be three pills left in that bottle. You don't need to ask me whom you give them to, but you must exchange something for them.”
Nan Zhi took out a piece of Sun-Burning Stone and some Metal Essence Mud, speaking unhurriedly: “This is Sun-Burning Stone and Metal Essence Mud. One thousand jin of Sun-Burning Stone or one hundred jin of Metal Essence Mud can be exchanged for one life-saving pill.”
“Really?!”
Lyu Dongfang keenly noticed that Nan Zhi hadn't specified a limit on the quantity, and his breathing involuntarily grew heavy:
“If we have extra, does that mean the other injured people can also—”
“I will accept as much as you bring, without limit on the quantity you can exchange, but you must not pass off low-quality materials as good ones.”
Leaving it at that, Nan Zhi stopped looking at Lyu Dongfang's expression. With a tap of her toes, she leapt gracefully like a crane. In the blink of an eye, she landed atop the grand altar, which stood over ten zhang high.
Sun-Burning Stones were scattered everywhere along the lake. As long as the exploration team could avoid that giant centipede—which didn't seem particularly intelligent—gathering enough Sun-Burning Stones and Metal Essence Mud wouldn't be an issue.
This would also temporarily free up her hands, saving her and Hongluo from exhausting themselves gathering the materials. All she had to do was pay a few low-grade Blood Supplementing Pills, which were already overflowing from her inventory.
A win-win situation.
...
According to the information provided by the exploration team, the demon beasts living in the secret realm seemed to avoid the grand altar like the plague. Even that Golden-Winged Flying Centipede refused to approach it easily while hunting.
Thus, there was likely something special about this altar.
On the eight sides of the altar, eight lotus stone lamps blazed furiously, their firelight illuminating the surroundings almost as brightly as day. Standing at the edge of the altar, Nan Zhi began to observe it closely.
This towering altar showed no signs of human craftsmanship, looking as though it were a massive, natural boulder that had sprouted directly from the ground.
Aside from the patterns carved on the sides of the stone platform, there were also recessed grooves about half a meter deep on the altar's surface, running from the outside all the way to the center.
And the mummified corpse, which was emitting an incredibly rich and exotic fragrance, lay flat on its back right in the center of the altar, completely motionless.
“No, this scent is too strong. It's almost sickeningly sweet.”
Nan Zhi wanted to get closer to examine the corpse, but the overwhelming fragrance made it almost impossible to keep her eyes open. She had no choice but to take out a handkerchief woven from Spirit Swallowing Grass to cover her nose and mouth as she slowly drew near.
—Hongluo was incredibly capable. Back when they were passing the time inside the fish's belly, Nan Zhi had used fish bones and Spirit Swallowing Grass to demonstrate how to knit a sweater. The little hedgehog had picked it up in no time, and had even taken the initiative to try more complex designs.
Sweaters, scarves, small vests, waistcoats, skirts, and handkerchiefs—the difficulty had gradually increased. In the end, she had even taught herself how to use a sharp bone to peel open the core of the Spirit Swallowing Grass, extracting the toughest and softest fibers to knit a large blanket for Nan Zhi.
This was the very blanket Nan Zhi had used earlier to hide from the giant centipede's senses.
The closer she got, the more intense the scent became. Nan Zhi felt as if her nose was on the verge of losing its sense of smell entirely.
Fortunately, she was finally able to get a clear look at the corpse's full appearance.
It was an exceptionally bizarre male corpse, one that could hardly even be called "human."
He wore a loose, green Han Dynasty robe draped over his shriveled chest. His limbs, on the verge of weathering away, were as skeletal as chicken claws, with only a thin layer of skin clinging to the bones.
The outline of his ribs was starkly visible, and his abdomen was deeply sunken, forming a massive cavity.
He wore no special ornaments, and even the black hair on his head lay loosely scattered across the ground.
Yet, none of these were the main point.
The head of this corpse was not a human skull at all. Instead, it was a massive, conical, light-green grasshopper head.
A corpse with a human body and a grasshopper head?
So...
Nan Zhi remained silent for a long time before tentatively speaking: “So... you are Ka... Kamen Rider?”
—Suspected discovery of a mummified Kamen Rider specimen; Kamen Rider fans rejoice.
...
This corpse was indeed a dead object, completely devoid of life. Even on the system map, the surrounding area was entirely clean, save for a cluster of small green dots representing the official team, interspersed with a single small red dot indicating hostility.
It was strangely clean.
Logically speaking, there were plenty of demon beasts in this secret realm, and the exploration team had paid a heavy price just to make it this far. Why was this particular altar the only place completely free from demon beast incursions?
It couldn't possibly be because they feared the influence of Kamen Rider (?), could it?
And what was the origin of this corpse with the head of a Chinese grasshopper?
Why did it emit such a strange fragrance?
And why did that strange fragrance attract massive swarms of demon beasts?
With a golden lotus hovering above her head, Nan Zhi slowly flew up into the sky, only stopping once she could see the entire layout of the altar.
“If the grooves on the altar are connected and viewed as lines, this entire altar is actually a massive formation. And the spot where our locust-bro is lying happens to be the formation eye.”
Stroking her chin in deep thought, she carefully recalled the contents of the 《Encyclopedia of Formations》. Diagrams of various formations flashed through her mind like turning pages, until they suddenly stopped on a specific page.
“Such a massive teleportation formation! Who on earth created this?”
Nan Zhi couldn't help but exclaim in shock.
Rate on N.U.
