Open A Clinic To Cultivate Myself Chapter 243 Still In Frigh

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In the Sword Pavilion Cave.

Qing Zhui was curled up in Ning Tao's arms, incessantly s.h.i.+vering. Her face was pale not only because of the oppressive aura of Sky Clinic, but also thanks to the fright caused by that “blood-red tide of insects.”

In fact, she was not the only one. Both Yin Molan and Bai Jing were still in trepidation. Those blood-red insects resembling spiders with dragonfly's wings had caused terror in the depths of their souls.

Ning Tao's cultivation was the lowest of the four, yet he was the first one to recover. He clasped Qing Zhui tightly in his arms, consoling her and using his special spiritual power to help her recover. “It's all over now, it's all over. Don't worry.”

Qing Zhui buried her face in his chest, like a child suffering a great fright.

“What are those insects?” Bai Jing finally came to herself. She was now rather polite to Yin Molan. “Do you know, Senior Yin?”

Yin Molan gave a wry smile and shook his head. “I've never seen them before. It's the first time in centuries since I was so frightened. But the stench was that of rotting corpses. I guess those insects may have something to do with corpses. Perhaps they have been reared by the Feminine-moon people using corpses.”

“From where did they fly out?” Ning Tao asked, “Did any of you see?”

Yin Molan answered, “No, but probably from the rebound in the formation, after Miss Bai and you attacked it three times. The formation released all those insects. As to where they had come from, I guess probably from the formation's eye.”

These were all guesses. They did not know whether their guesses were correct.

For some strange reason, Ning Tao remembered the archaeological team, as well as Tang Zixian and Tu Wenji. Did they manage to locate that deep chasm? Thinking back over what had happened, even if the archaeological team had located the chasm and traversed the Shennongjia primitive sites safely, they would still meet with death!

Qing Zhui lifted her head from Ning Tao's chest. Her voice was still a little weak. “Brother Ning, I'm feeling much better now.”

Only now did Ning Tao release her. His action was very gentle.

“If we can't break that formation, I won't visit that place again,” Bai Jing said.

Yin Molan said, “That formation is ma.s.sive. It's not easy to break it. Now, I'm beginning to believe that the stone building had really been cleaved by a sword deity using sword Qi. He or she must have been attacked there. “But I don't know if that formation outside the city had been set up by that sword deity, or by the Feminine-moon people.”

Ning Tao thought for a while before saying, “Maybe there's a person who knows something.”

Yin Molan s.h.i.+fted his gaze to him. “Who?”

Ning Tao answered, “Tang Zixian. On the surface, the archaeological team seems to be funded by Tu Wenjin. But Tu Wenjin is only her subordinate and under her command. She had been funding the team before she met me. This means that she knew of the existence of the Feminine-moon people. She may have known some of their secrets. Her target is the Feminine-moon people's city—perhaps something hidden in the formation. It looks like I must visit Shennongjia again.”

“I'm going with you,” Bai Jing said.

Ning Tao shook his head, “No, I'm going alone. That place's too risky. I can move fast and won't be in any danger.”

“But…” Qing Zhui wanted to accompany Ning Tao, yet she could not defy his wishes. She wanted to speak yet had to hold her tongue. She looked aggrieved.

Bai Jing said, “Sister, stay and help me set up the charity organization first. It will be a big task.”

Although Qing Zhui was still somewhat unwilling, she finally nodded. The charity organization would affect the clinic fees, and the clinic fees would, in turn, affect Ning Tao's family and life. It was indeed a matter of paramount urgency.

Yin Molan said, “Brother Ning, you can visit Shennongjia. I will continue investigating Tang Tianfeng. I will surely give you a satisfactory answer.

“Send me all the photos you people took. I will look at them all together,” Ning Tao said.

Yin Molan took out his cell phone, his face downcast. “But there's no signal here.”

Bai Jing could not help but interrupt him. “Why are you so stupid? Can't you use Bluetooth?”

Yin Molan shrugged his shoulders. “Don't know how to.”

While Bai Jing and Qing Zhui were sending Ning Tao the photos, Yin Molan suddenly seemed to have seen something. He stuffed the cell phone in Ning Tao's hands and walked over to the spiritual field. His eyes were staring straight ahead at the mosses there and seemed to be lighting up.

“Brother, these mosses… what kind of spiritual materials are they?” Yin Molan asked.

At the moment of his arrival, he and Bai Jing had waited halfway up the mountain for Ning Tao, at a defunct stone formation. They did not enter the Sword Pavilion Cave. It was the first time he had seen these moss spiritual materials.

Ning Tao answered casually, “I don't know either. I discovered them at the bottom of a deep chasm at Shennongjia.”

He was not concealing any secret. Even if he was, he had good reasons to.

Yin Molan's sight s.h.i.+fted to the side of the mosses. He became instantly agitated. “Good heavens, Flowers of the Night! You even have this spiritual material, you parvenu!”

The Flowers of the Night had already wilted. But they could not fool Yin Molan's eyes.

“I picked these at Shennongjia too. But they're dying here,” Ning Tao said.

Yin Molan said, “That's not surprising. A Flower of the Night needs very special conditions to survive. It must be reared in dark places where there is no sunlight the whole year round. And the spiritual energy must be plentiful. The temperature of the soil must be around 30 degrees Celsius. I saw this flower 300 years ago, but not once after that. Because the conditions for their survival are harsh, they are exceptionally rare.”

In the end, Ning Tao handed his cell phone to Bai Jing and walked over to him. “Senior Yin, what else do you know about the Flower of the Night?”

Yin Molan replied, “The Flower of the Night is also called the Vision Restoring Flower. If you mash and juice it, you can restore a blind man's sight when dripped into his eyes. You can still mash them now. If they have completely wilted, you can only use them to refine pills. But you can still mash and extract the juice and use the juice for refining pills.”

So the Flower of the Night had such uses. They were not recorded in the “Compendium of Spiritual Materials”. Actually, the book t.i.tle had already explained itself. A compendium would only be an introduction to spiritual materials. Its explanations would be rather elementary, generic and spa.r.s.e.

Yin Molan's descriptions made Ning Tao's heart flutter with excitement. He started to uproot a few of these half-wilted flowers, brus.h.i.+ng spiritual soil off their roots. Then he put them into his little medicine chest.

He was planning to mash and juice these flowers once he returned to Sky Clinic. He would keep the juice in porcelain vials for later use. He prized not only the flowers' value in refining superior pills but also their ability to restore a blind man's sight.

Yin Molan's eyes s.h.i.+fted again to the mosses. “When I'm out, I will ask around and find out what these spiritual materials are.”

Ning Tao said, “Thank you for the trouble, Senior Yin. If I manage to refine pills with them, I will surely keep some for you.”

Yin Molan smiled and said, “You're no outsider, so there's no need for such politeness. I hope these mosses and Flowers of the Night are ingredients in refining the Ancestor-seeking Elixir. That way, I won't need to find them again.”

Ning Tao started to sigh inwardly. They had only collected two ingredients in the elixir prescription, equivalent only to its one-fifth or one-sixth. It would not be easy collecting all the ingredients in the prescription. The woman in red was one lead. But she lived in the tenuous time zone of the past. They could not communicate with her or even reach her. So how could they break free from this tricky situation?

Bai Jing and Qing Zhui also walked over. Bai Jing handed Ning Tao his cell phone. “I've sent all the photos to your phone.”

Ning Tao kept his cell phone. “Then let's part here. I'm going back to the clinic to mash and juice these flowers. Then I will visit Shennongjia.”

Qing Zhui watched Ning Tao, the expression in her eyes tender. “Brother Ning, although you have the convenient door, you must still be careful.”

Ning Tao felt warmth envelop his heart. His voice, too, was tender. “You take good care of yourself too.” Then he said to Bai Jing and Yin Molan, “Be careful too, the two of you. Don't forget that Bai Sheng is still alive.”

Bai Jing and Yin Molan nodded their heads at the same time.

After returning to Sky Clinic, Ning Tao mashed and juiced the Flowers of the Night. Then he kept the juice stored in three porcelain vials. He placed one of them in the medicine chest and the other two on the storage rack for future use. After that, he rode “G.o.d's Will” to an electronics store in Guan City and bought for himself a laptop and a color printer. He brought all these items to his and Qing Zhui's rented apartment.

He kept himself busy and printed all the photos. Ning Tao counted them and the number came up to 41. Discounting similar photos, there were still 36 of them. By adding the few photos he took when he was first at Feminine-moon City, he came to a tally of 43. These 43 different photos represented 43 stone eggs. Yet they were only a fraction of the stone eggs in this ma.s.sive formation.

Ning Tao arranged the 43 photos on his bed, studying them. One by one, the runes entered his eyes and into his brain. Instantly, these yet to be deciphered runes were stored in his brain. He tried to find some pattern in them but gave up after a few tries. He did not even know a single rune, so how could he trace a pattern? Before these runes, he was like a toddler still learning how to read from pictures.

Ning Tao kept all the photos and went back to Sky Clinic. He put them in a drawer of his study table. It was, after all, a rented apartment. They would be in trouble if the landlord saw these photos.

After a little preparation, Ning Tao opened the convenient door and walked in.

The moment he exited the convenient door, he found himself in a forest at Shennongjia. The cold moonlight shone on his head and the distant mountain peaks could not be clearly discerned. The night breeze ruffled the forest, making mournful noises. From the gra.s.s came insect chirpings. They seemed to be chirping about daily trivialities.

Ning Tao emerged from the forest in the mountains. He entered the valley where the archaeological team had been encamped.

The river was still flowing turbulently, but the camp of the archaeological team was nowhere to be found. Even the helicopter had disappeared. He did not know if it had returned or was at somewhere else. The sh.o.r.e on which the team was encamped had some rubbish and the scent of humans.

Ning Tao picked up a bottle of mineral water on the ground, unscrewed its cap and sniffed. Within an instant he had realized this was Tang Zixian's bottle. Her odor kept extending to the fringe of the valley, together with the odor of the other archaeological team members.

Ning Tao lifted his head and stared at the distant horizon, where the lofty mountains were. He began to knit his brows. “They couldn't have gone to that deep chasm, could they?”

Under the clear moonlight and in the cold wind, Ning Tao went after them, following their odor.