Chapter 25

【Recite the Sito website three times silently. Do you remember it? If not, I'll ask again in the next chapter. It's best to share it on Facebook.】

Although it had been five years since he last came to this mountain, in his youth, he and his village companions would enter and leave the mountain many times each year. They were well aware of where the large wild beasts were located.

Therefore, Zhao Xinyu felt no unfamiliarity with this mountain. As he entered the mountain, he felt a bit regretful that he couldn't bring Heifeng back this time. If Heifeng were here, he would dare to explore many places that he once dared not enter.

Unlike Pengcheng, the mountain he was in now was still slightly cold, but there were already patches of green on the ground. The deep parts of the mountain were lush with towering ancient trees that had survived for many years.

After venting his frustration, Zhao Xinyu calmed down, wiped away his tears, and entered the mountain. After walking for a distance, he couldn't help but shake his head.

He saw that the small path they used to walk on had almost disappeared, covered with wild grass. This was only because he was very familiar with the path into the mountain. If it were someone else, they wouldn't be able to find the path. The path had clearly not been used for a long time, indicating that no one had entered the mountain for a long time.

Indeed, most of the young people in the village now worked outside, and the remaining villagers were mostly elderly and children. There were very few people who entered the mountain.

As he passed through a patch of shrubs with tender buds and purple-red stems, Zhao Xinyu's heart stirred. This shrub is called vinegar willow, or "sour-sour" as the villagers call it.

It is a perennial wild shrub commonly found in the arid northern regions. Besides preventing wind and sand and conserving soil, the fruit of the vinegar willow is a favorite of the village children. Every autumn, the children would go into the mountains in groups to pick the sour-sour fruits, which were refreshingly sour and fondly remembered.

He had been thinking of a use for the large piece of barren land that had started to retain water in the Lu River, but after seeing the sour-sour, he immediately had an idea. He could plant the vinegar willows around the barren land to prevent soil erosion into the Lu River. When the sour-sour fruits matured, they could be used to make juice.

Deciding to act, Zhao Xinyu took out a spade from his spatial storage and began transplanting the vinegar willows. He knew that, like strawberries, he only needed to transplant a few plants. With the help of his spatial storage, a large number of vinegar willows would soon grow.

After passing through the vinegar willow shrubs, Zhao Xinyu entered a forest of ancient trees that would require at least three people to encircle. Stepping on leaves at least one to two meters thick, he shook his head. If it were summer, he would see wild mushrooms everywhere in the forest.

While wandering through the forest, Zhao Xinyu suddenly saw a patch of green where there were no leaves. His eyes lit up. Dandelions, which were wild vegetables that people in the village ate in spring and summer, were rich in nutrients and were still popular today due to their medicinal properties.

During his years in Pengcheng, he occasionally saw dandelions being sold on the streets, but the prices were too high for most people to afford. Dandelions can grow almost anywhere, which made Zhao Xinyu think of his vegetable garden.

To his surprise, when he transplanted the vinegar willows, his spatial storage didn't change. However, when he transplanted the dandelions, his spatial storage changed slightly.

Next, he found another wild vegetable, bitter herbs. When he transplanted the bitter herbs into his spatial storage, it changed slightly again.

As he continued to search, he found several wild herbs. Each time he transplanted a new herb into his spatial storage, it changed slightly.

When Zhao Xinyu passed a cliff, he paused. He heard the chirping of young birds. Having spent much of his childhood in the mountains, he was puzzled. It was early spring in their area, and the chirping of young birds was rare at this time of year.

With a hint of curiosity, Zhao Xinyu turned into the area below the cliff. A few minutes later, he found two small, blood-covered birds in a patch of grass. The birds had pale yellow, hooked beaks and were covered in gray-brown down. They were lying in the grass, chirping weakly.

Looking up at the cliff, he saw a nest about seven to eight meters above the ground. These two unknown birds must have fallen from the nest.

Shaking his head, Zhao Xinyu knew that if the young birds were well-fed, they wouldn't move around. The fact that they had fallen from such a height and survived was a stroke of luck.

Looking around, Zhao Xinyu sighed. He knew that even if the parent birds returned, the young birds would likely die. He bent down to pick them up and saw that one of the young birds had a twisted leg. He reset the leg and gave them some water from his spatial storage, then placed them inside. He wasn't sure if they would survive, but he didn't want to see them die at the bottom of the cliff.

After walking a few hundred meters, Zhao Xinyu found two dead large birds in a rocky area. The birds were about 1.2 to 1.3 meters long, with black-brown heads and reddish-brown, willow-shaped feathers. The tips of their feathers were golden yellow, and their tail feathers were gray-brown. Having lived for over twenty years, he had never seen such large birds, let alone known their names.

Looking back at the cliff, Zhao Xinyu understood why the young birds had fallen from the nest. They must have been hungry and fallen out of the nest while waiting for food.

Since he didn't know the cause of the large birds' deaths, he didn't pay much attention to them. He bypassed the dead birds and continued deeper into the mountain.

In a valley with rocky cliffs, there were many natural caves of various sizes. Near some of the cave entrances, he saw animal droppings. Seeing the droppings, Zhao Xinyu's expression became serious. He took out a spade from his spatial storage because he saw the droppings of large animals, which were not too old.

After scanning the area and seeing no movement, he bent down and entered a cave about 1.2 to 1.3 meters high. After walking about seven to eight meters, the cave suddenly became higher and wider.

He felt along the left wall and continued forward in the dark. After a few dozen meters, he found a small pit and pulled out a lighter that had been there for a long time.

As the lighter clicked, the dark cave lit up. Zhao Xinyu lit a half-burned candle and saw that the ground was covered with a thick layer of dust, indicating that his grandfather hadn't been there for a long time.

Sighing, Zhao Xinyu scanned the empty cave and finally focused on a pile of rocks. He moved the rocks aside, revealing another cave entrance. He returned to get the candle, and his eyes instantly filled with tears. In the cave, which was about twenty square meters, there were at least fifty jars of wine, each about ten kilograms. The bottom jars were covered in dust, and on top of them was an old wooden box.

Tears streaming down his face, he opened the wooden box and saw an ancient medical book, "Jingui Yaolue," which was yellowed and blackened. He took out the thick book, and his brows furrowed, his eyes filled with confusion.

He had learned traditional Chinese medicine from his grandfather since childhood and was proficient in "Jingui Yaolue." The book is divided into three volumes: the first volume covers cold injuries, the second volume covers miscellaneous diseases, and the third volume contains unique formulas. Therefore, "Jingui Yaolue" is known as the "ancestor of all formulas" in traditional Chinese medicine. However, he had never heard his grandfather mention "Jingui Yaolue" before.

Flipping through "Jingui Yaolue," Zhao Xinyu couldn't help but smile bitterly. He saw that some of the formulas were familiar to him, such as the formula for the ointment he made, which came from "Jingui Yaolue."

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