Chapter 18

What kind of secret garden does the Tasmanian devil have? This made Xiaohai extremely curious.

After the Tasmanian devil recovered its strength, it slowly got up and led Xiaohai and Xiaoqi toward its secret place.

At first, the forest was filled with a pungent and decaying smell of leaves, which made one want to vomit. However, the further they went, the less intense this strange smell became.

By this time, it was already light, and a ray of sunlight struggled to penetrate the primeval forest, adding a bit of vitality to the gloomy and terrifying forest.

The Tasmanian devil, whose essence had been drained, temporarily lost its ability to run and moved very slowly. It took them about twenty minutes to reach the destination.

It was a cave, hidden in the dense forest, making it hard to discover. This was the Tasmanian devil's lair.

Upon entering the cave, they expected it to be filled with the stench of stored food, but to their surprise, it was quite clean and felt very cool inside.

Lake Yanaxi was always warm, especially in this cave within the primeval forest. Entering it felt like stepping into an air-conditioned room from the scorching summer outside.

Food stored here would not rot for a long time.

Moreover, the Tasmanian devil told Xiaohai that during hibernation, it could go without eating or drinking for a long time and excreted very little. Even if it couldn't hold it any longer, it would go outside to relieve itself, never dirtying the cave.

Xiaoqi was not convinced. What was so special about that? Any dog could do it.

Since defeating the Tosa fighting dog, Xiaoqi had been very confident, but he never forgot the near-death experience with the Tasmanian devil. This made him unable to let go of his grudge against the Tasmanian devil.

After all, he was a divine dog, and losing to the Tasmanian devil was an indelible disgrace.

When they emerged from the cave, the view suddenly opened up, and a natural meadow appeared before Xiaohai.

The grass here was lush and verdant, surrounded by strange rocks and small clusters of shrubs. The sound of flowing water could be heard, indicating a source of fresh water nearby.

What surprised Xiaohai even more was that the meadow was filled with various precious herbs.

Ginseng, angelica, polygonum multiflorum...

Oh my God, my dear God, this place is like a natural herbal garden!

Some of the herbs had been growing for several decades, making them extremely valuable. If taken outside, they would surely cause a frenzy.

Looking at the Tasmanian devil, it seemed to have already considered this place its private territory. It picked up a ginseng root with its mouth, chewed it briefly, and swallowed it without hesitation.

What a waste! This is a complete waste! Xiaohai could immediately tell that the ginseng had long, tough roots, sparse and long, with small, grain-like bumps called "pearl points," indicating it was genuine wild ginseng!

If taken outside, it would be worth a lot of money, but now it was being eaten as a snack by the Tasmanian devil?

After eating the ginseng, the Tasmanian devil regained much of its strength. Its consciousness entered Xiaohai's mind: "Master, take whatever you like from here."

The Tasmanian devil was repaying Xiaohai for sparing its life.

In fact, Xiaohai had already decided to take some. He took out his travel bag and selected over a dozen precious herbs to put inside.

He wasn't greedy and didn't take too much. Taking too much would surely raise suspicions if he took it outside. Since he now knew about this secret herbal garden, he could always come back whenever he needed more. Besides, the Tasmanian devil would guard it for him, and no one would dare to destroy it.

The Dragon Spirit Pearl was truly a great thing, allowing him to have a prehistoric beast as his guardian.

The Tasmanian devil, having regained much of its strength, ran to a cluster of shrubs and soon pulled out something, playing with it enthusiastically.

It seemed this was part of its daily routine here.

Xiaohai was very curious about the Tasmanian devil's toy. When he went over to look, he was almost speechless.

It was a small incense burner, made of copper, with an ancient and elegant appearance, likely quite old.

Xiaohai quickly took the incense burner from the Tasmanian devil. It was somewhat heavy. He turned it over and could barely make out the characters on the bottom, which read "Made in the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty."

This was a Ming Dynasty three-legged copper incense burner with a bridge-shaped handle!

Xiaohai knew nothing about antiques, but he had seen a similar incense burner at a friend's house, made during the Qing Dynasty. His friend's father, who collected antiques, had this three-legged copper incense burner, which looked similar to the one Xiaohai held. It was said to be worth about 30,000 yuan on the market.

A Ming Dynasty one? It would likely be even more valuable. Unfortunately, it was missing the lid, which would significantly reduce its value.

How bizarre, the Tasmanian devil was playing with an antique worth tens of thousands of yuan?

Xiaohai examined the incense burner from all angles, his eyes wide open. "Where did you find this?"

"There's a small stream over there. I found it while drinking water."

"Quick, take me there."

Under Xiaohai's command, the Tasmanian devil led him to a small stream. The water was clear, and fish could be seen swimming in it.

Xiaoqi immediately got excited and barked at the stream.

The Tasmanian devil jumped in, moved swiftly, and soon caught a fish, which it presented to Xiaohai in a pleasing manner.

Xiaohai wouldn't eat raw fish, and the Tasmanian devil wasn't very interested in fish either. After playing with it for a while, it threw the nearly dead fish back into the stream.

Xiaohai was pondering the origin of the incense burner. Perhaps there was something unknown hidden in this primeval forest.

For example... treasure...

Following the stream, they soon found themselves surrounded by shrubs and rocks, with no path to continue. It seemed impossible to find the source of the stream.

Xiaohai felt a bit disappointed. He had wanted to find out where the incense burner had drifted from, but with no path, he had to put this idea aside.

Actually, it wasn't a big deal. The incense burner might have drifted here from a distant place by chance.

Besides, he already had a natural herbal garden. He shouldn't be so greedy.

Realizing this, Xiaohai smiled and returned the incense burner to the Tasmanian devil. Without the lid, it was worth less than half its original value. Why should he take away the Tasmanian devil's only toy?

Suddenly, a sparrow landed on Xiaohai's shoulder. Xiaohai recognized it as the sparrow he had once enlightened.

Xiaohai now had the ability to communicate directly with animals. He sent a thought, and the sparrow told him that the Turtle Spirit and Xiaosen were very worried about him, fearing he had been eaten by the forest creatures. The sparrow had risked coming to find out where Xiaohai was.

Xiaohai felt touched. These animals were much more loyal than people outside.

He had an idea and said to the Tasmanian devil, "Let's go see my friends together!"