A Chaotic World 267 Wondertrap Mountain

Rather than following the Iron Claw Brigade to Bog Town, Lu Tianzi was far more interested in the healing arts of Beiwei Jinguo.
For someone like him who dabbled in the field of herbalism, this was a rare opportunity to improve on his existing knowledge. So there was no way that he would let it pass him by just like that!
On top of that, there was also Beiwei Jinguo's destination – Wondertrap Mountain.
After hearing so much about it, Lu Tianzi could not help but want to check it out for himself. In any case, if Jue and the rest of the Iron Claw Brigade were able to enter and leave safely, it should not be able to pose too much of a threat to himself.
The mountain path was long and winding, with various species of vegetations and herbs that grew by the side.
As the group of three walked along the mountain path, Lu Tianzi started off by asking Beiwei Jinguo questions regarding the Viper Sprout.
Thankfully, Beiwei Jinguo did not disappoint.
From the features of the Viper Sprout plant, to the lethality of its poison, to the properties of the antidote, Lu Tianzi chained the questions one after another, and Beiwei Jinguo was able to answer them all accordingly.
Lu Tianzi then went on to state his own alternative viewpoints regarding the properties of the antidote, wanting to hear Beiwei Jinguo's opinions on them.
Initially, Beiwei Jinguo was rather irritated by Lu Tianzi's expression of his own ideas, seeing it as Lu Tianzi trying to challenge him in the field of his expertise.
After all, Lu Tianzi had just been asking him questions, and he was just answering them accordingly. So why would Lu Tianzi suddenly come up with answers of his own?
But as Lu Tianzi continued to share more of his ideas, the irritation that Beiwei Jinguo was feeling gradually diminished, replaced by a sense of genuine surprise.
That was because Beiwei Jinguo eventually realised that Lu Tianzi's views were not the nonsense that he had originally expected.
Instead, there was depth and logic to everything Lu Tianzi said, spoken in a manner that only someone who was learned in the field would be able to replicate.
Feeling as though he had met a soulmate, Beiwei Jinguo started to enthusiastically share his own ideas without withstraint as well.
Many of these were not concepts that had been tried and tested, but mere ideas that could or could not work, formulated through his own understandings of the various plants in existence.
Of course, Beiwei Jinguo only shared concepts that he believed had a high possibility of working. Otherwise, there was simply no point in sharing them.
Lu Tianzi was intrigued even further by these novel ideas, and started giving his honest comments on them.
Just like that, the duo shared more and more of what they knew.
The topic moved quickly from the Viper Sprout to other plants, even covering those that Lu Tianzi had never heard of before.
Even though Beiwei Jinguo was only at the Intermediate Essence Condensation realm, the trove of knowledge in his head was the real deal. He actually knew of many different plant species that Lu Tianzi had never heard of in his life.

Even so, Beiwei Jinguo did not hold anything back, telling Lu Tianzi everything there was to know.
Because of that, although both of them benefitted from hearing out a different viewpoint, Lu Tianzi was certainly the one who gained a little more out of these exchanges.
Lu Tianzi had a very solid foundation in the field of herbalism.
From what he already knew, Lu Tianzi had been able to deduce a set of logic that could be applied to any new plants that he came across, allowing him to figure out their general properties at least up to a relatively high level of accuracy.
However, his knowledge was still limited to plants that he had actually been exposed to.
If there was a certain species of plant that he had never heard of in his life, there was simply no way for him to consider it as a possible ingredient when prescribing medicine or concocting new poison.
This was just like how it was impossible for someone to think of making clothes with tiger skin when the person did not even know of the existence of tigers in the first place.
Through this discussion, however, Lu Tianzi was exposed to a whole new world of different plant species, learning all their individual properties from Beiwei Jinguo.
This meant that he was now able to link all his newly and previously obtained information together, allowing him to think up brand new concoctions that he would never have been able to imagine in the past.
Still, there were certain limits to the discussions.
Beiwei Jinguo had introduced himself as a poison master earlier, and this aspect truly showed when he spoke.
Even though Beiwei Jinguo was knowledgeable about many different plant species, all these plants that he knew were types that possessed some form of poisonous attribute.
It could be that they contained poison in their bodies, or that they became poisonous only after being mixed with another material. They could also be antidotes for a certain type of poison out there.
One way or another, they were always connected to poison.
Lu Tianzi was not complaining though.
In his eyes, there were three main uses to the field of herbalism – medicine, cultivation aids, and poison.
As two of the three main uses, poison and medicine had many different uses, both in and out of combat.
Being able to reinforce his knowledge regarding these two aspects was good enough for him!
During this period, Nanlan Qianxue remained silent and listened on from the side.
Not to mention that she was not interested in the subject at all. Even if she was, she would not have been able to join such a discussion of such level. Thus, she simply did not bother.
Along the way, there were countless forked roads that led in other directions.
If Beiwei Jinguo did not have in his possession a map that depicted the exact route to take, the group of three might have had to make multiple detours on their journey towards Wondertrap Mountain. After all, none of them had ever been there in the past.
The terrain around them slowly changed as they kept moving, and the mountain path that they were on eventually ended, forcing them to trudge through rocky lands.
Despite being martial artists, it still took them about a day before they came to a stop before a gentle stream.
"According to the map, this stream marks out the boundary of Wondertrap Mountain," Beiwei Jinguo said after double-checking his map. "After we cross this river, we would have stepped into Wondertrap Mountain."
"So this is Wondertrap Mountain…" Lu Tianzi nodded as he took in the sight before him.
The environment contained a high density of World Origin Energy, a perfect environment not only for cultivation, but also for the growth of wild plants and beasts.
From its dark reputation, one would imagine Wondertrap Mountain to be a treacherous land. However, the scene before him looked to be the complete opposite.
If anything, it was a place of pristine beauty.
Beyond the stream, the vegetations were lush while the trees grew tall and strong. Beautiful flowers bloomed in a myriad of colours, as though giving life to the land of greenery. Small birds flew from tree to tree, singing the melodious song of nature.
No matter how Lu Tianzi looked at it, he could not link this peaceful scene to the treacherous description that he had heard from Jue of the Iron Claw Brigade.
Lu Tianzi could not help but let out a smirk.
No wonder the place was named Wondertrap Mountain. It truly was a trap for unsuspecting travellers!
Huuuu-!
Beiwei Jinguo let out a deep long breath.
This was his destination from the start. But now that he had arrived, he could not help but feel a sense of nervousness.
Would he be able to do well?
Or would he eventually succumb?
"Getting cold feet?" Lu Tianzi teased. "You do know that you can still turn back, don't you?"
"Tch! Who is getting cold feet?" Beiwei Jinguo retorted, slightly annoyed that Lu Tianzi had seen through his thoughts. "You can turn back if you want, but I am going in!"
"Hahaha, all right, all right," Lu Tianzi laughed. "Let's go then."
"Fine!" Beiwei Jinguo let out a bitter smile before leaping forward.
The stream was relatively narrow. With a single leap, the three of them easily crossed over to the other side.
With how narrow the stream was, there was obviously no immediate difference between its two banks.
However, the difference started to show soon after they ventured deeper into the forests.
"Stop!" Beiwei Jinguo raised his hand as he stopped dead in his tracks.
He had been confidently leading the way into the forest. The moment he stopped, Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue who were behind immediately did the same.
Lu Tianzi let out a meaningful smile for a moment, but he quickly surpressed it to put on a serious face. "What is it?"
"Take a look at the brown flower ahead," Beiwei Jinguo pointed forward.
Looking over to where Beiwei Jinguo's finger was pointing at, Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue could indeed see a very small brown flower growing out of the trunk of a tall tree at the height of a metre off the ground.
With its relatively small size and colour similar to its surroundings, the flower melded in well enough that it was difficult to spot it even though it was actually right in front of them.
After confirming that the duo had caught sight of the flower, Beiwei Jinguo continued, "That is a flower named Nine Steps Fall. Just as its name suggested, anyone who comes into skin contact with the flower would feel their consciousness fading after the time needed to take nine steps. If left untreated, they would eventually lose their consciousness and might even die after an hour's time. Take care not to go near it when walking past."
"Understood," Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue nodded.
In fact, Lu Tianzi had already spotted the flower earlier. The Nine Steps Fall was one of the plants that Beiwei Jinguo had told him about earlier. From what he had heard, Lu Tianzi easily identified the flower ahead.
However, Lu Tianzi did not say anything because he wanted to see if Beiwei Jinguo would be able to put his knowledge into practice and notice the deadly flower.
In the end, Beiwei Jinguo was as alert as he had imagined.
For an Essence Building realm martial artist to confidently identify the flower from such a distance, Lu Tianzi was actually quite impressed by Beiwei Jinguo's sense of awareness.
Of course, if Beiwei Jinguo strayed too close out of carelessness, Lu Tianzi would have made a move to stop him as well.
Just as he was thinking that, Lu Tianzi suddenly sensed a certain creature hiding behind the dense vegetation, slowly creeping its way towards them.
"Get ready, something's coming from the left," Lu Tianzi warned Nanlan Qianxue through voice conveyance.
Nanlan Qianxue furrowed her brows before sending out her perception in that direction.
The moment the hidden creature felt Nanlan Qianxue's perception sweep over it, it immediately realised that it had been discovered. Thus, the hidden creature no longer bothered to continue hiding, choosing to directly leap out towards them.
This creature looked similar to an oversized rat the height of a man, complete with blood red eyes and razor sharp fangs. It snarled as its body shot through the air, headed straight for Beiwei Jinguo.
Beasts had naturally good instincts. With just a single look at the group of three, it was able to identifiy Beiwei Jinguo as the weakest, and wanted to take him down before anything else.
"Wh?!" Beiwei Jinguo could not help but exclaim in shock.
He did not know what beast it was, but there was no doubt that if those giant fangs were to ever reach him, he would be severely injured if not killed instantly!
But his worries were unfounded.
Sword light flashed, and the Frost Jade Sword drew a beautiful crescent in the air.
Before Beiwei Jinguo even realised what happened, Nanlan Qianxue had already stowed her sword away into her spatial ring once more.
Thud-!
The huge body of the monster rat fell to the ground into a pool of its own blood, its head landing a few inches away from its neck.
It was a beast at the Essence Condensation realm, but it was not exactly the strongest at that level. In a single slash, Nanlan Qianxue had decapitated the monster rat, ending its life once and for all.
"This…!" Beiwei Jinguo blurted out subconsciously. "How strong!
He was not even exaggerating. This lady here was far stronger than anyone he had ever seen!
Then again on hindsight, it was only natural for her to be this strong. It was always the quiet ones who had the most depth to them.
Back then in the inn where they first met, she was also the only one who spent the entire time meditating, unfazed even when someone was dying right before her.
With how focused and hardworking she was in her cultivation, it would be strange if she was not capable of at least this much!
It seemed like he had made the right choice in travelling with the two. Without her around just now, he would surely have fallen to the fangs of that monster rat!

Chapter end

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