Chapter 2: Parents Both Dead, Only the House Remains

The “collection of wisdom eyes texts” totals one hundred and twenty-eight pages, recording the specific identification and processing methods for fifty-six types of common medicinal herbs and spiritual plants, along with twelve corresponding medicinal recipes.

In short, it can be summarized as—the production of eye drops and standard eye exercise movements.

It is said that the Yin and Yang Eyes of the Li family are an innate talent carried in their Bloodline; as long as one has the talent, it will manifest, and then following the family’s Cultivation Technique to Cultivate will yield twice the results with half the effort.

But Li Qiuchen has neither the talent nor the Cultivation Technique; he only has a few bottles of eye drops he prepared himself according to the book, and he persists in doing eye exercises every day.

After dripping “Eye-Brightening Water” into both eyes and applying “Green Grass Ointment” externally, then wrapping his eyes with a strip of cloth, Li Qiuchen began to sit in meditation.

Following Great-Uncle to worship the Medicine Master every day is a form of cultivation, and maintaining his eyes at home is also a form of cultivation.

Although none of it sounds very proper, he doesn’t have a sign-in System, so he can only accumulate bit by bit in this step-by-step manner, hoping that one day he might suddenly strike it lucky.

Of course, growing a Spiritual Root like Cherry Grass’s was out of the question.

Li Qiuchen isn’t even sure now if she is Cherry Grass or Cordyceps.

The Li family’s Cultivation Technique is lost, and he doesn’t know the correct way to Cultivate. This whole set of practices was based on what he heard from the villagers; he didn’t even know if he was practicing correctly. Anyway, he had persisted for the past few years, and there had been no effect.

However, today was quite different.

As soon as Li Qiuchen entered meditation, something indescribable slowly began to squirm within the world that should have been pitch black before his eyes.

It was a clump of roots that seemed like a living thing.

That was a Spiritual Root!

Three days ago, while he was buried in the soil, he had watched with his own eyes as those roots grew out of Cherry Grass’s body.

The appearance of that Spiritual Root was etched into his eyes, and now it had appeared in his dark vision.

So, is this how it’s used?

At this moment, Li Qiuchen had a sudden realization.

This ancestral Pupil Technique was like a digital camera for which one couldn’t find the manual and which had no memory card inserted.

Originally, he couldn’t even find where the shutter was, but thanks to the horrifying experience of being buried in the soil and watching Cherry Grass sprout with his own eyes, he had accidentally stumbled upon the shutter.

With a snap, the Spiritual Root inside Cherry Grass had been completely seen by him.

But he could only look; he couldn’t touch it.

With just one look, Li Qiuchen knew that from the moment the Spiritual Root grew, Cherry Grass was basically dead.

Although he didn’t know what a Spiritual Root was supposed to look like, based on stereotypes, it should be some kind of body organ that assisted in cultivation.

But the complete Spiritual Root appearing before him had a beauty that completely disregarded the host’s life or death; it grew out from the heart, with one root deep into the liver, two roots stretching down along the arteries, and a new sprout occupying the brain, bursting out from the facial orifices.

Whoever wanted such a Spiritual Root could have it; Li Qiuchen certainly wanted no part of it.

But what could he do?

He was just a weak child whose family Legacy was severed, leaving only eye care techniques, and the System was still disconnected with no news.

Great-Uncle was very anxious.

Any normal person knows that when normal crops are planted, it takes at least half a year to harvest; one cannot pull up seedlings to help them grow.

Cherry Grass sprouting was certainly worth celebrating, but even thinking with one’s heels, one would know that such a Spiritual Root also needed time to grow.

But Great-Uncle was still very anxious, as restless as an ant on a hot pan.

Hong Yang’s escape plan hadn’t even begun when he was called by Great-Uncle, who told him to bathe and burn incense for three days to break the Seal of the Crayfish General in the back mountain.

There is a Spirit Spring in the back mountain of Songlin Village; the spring water is clear and sweet, yet bone-chillingly cold. In the spring lives a nine-foot-long Crayfish Spirit; it is said that years ago it broke into the village to eat Young Boys and Girls, and was invulnerable to blades and possessed immense strength.

The previous village chief—Hong Yang’s parents—sacrificed their lives to Seal this Crayfish Spirit.

To explain to friends who don’t know what a ‘langu’ is: it’s a crayfish, the kind that can be prepared with garlic or spicy sauce.

In northern legends, the shrimp soldiers and crab generals in the Dragon King’s underwater palaces refer to crayfish like these and hairy-clawed crabs.

Crayfish rarely grow large; a nine-foot-long crayfish can be called a Godzilla-level behemoth, so the locals call it the Crayfish General. If a crab becomes a spirit, it would be a Crab Marshal.

When unsure of someone’s rank, there’s nothing wrong with addressing them by a higher one.

Hong Yang’s parents used their own lives to Seal the Crayfish General back then, and now Hong Yang has to use his own blood to break the Seal.

According to Great-Uncle, the plan is to kill the Crayfish General and take its essence to nurture the Spiritual Root for Cherry Grass.

“I don’t think that’s right!”

While eating noodles at night, Hong Yang had a solemn expression.

“If Great-Uncle had the means to kill the Crayfish General back then, why did my father and mother have to die?”

“Makes sense!”

They say that when a person is planning something bad, their brains and initiative are infinite.

When Hong Yang made up his mind to run away, his originally slow brain actually began to sharpen.

Li Qiuchen thought to himself, you only just realized this… well, it’s not too late.

“Old Uncle, how exactly did my parents die back then?”

Hong Yang also knew he wouldn’t get any answers from Li Qiuchen, so he turned to ask Boss Guan.

“I’m not too sure. It’s possible that the Crayfish General ambushed Great-Uncle first… or perhaps after being sealed for ten years, its strength has diminished significantly, and Great-Uncle feels he’s up to the task now.”

Boss Guan’s answer was very vague.

“I don’t believe it!”

Hong Yang gritted his teeth and said to Li Qiuchen, “How about we sneak over there tonight to take a look? I just want to know how much power that Crayfish General still has. If the Seal is broken and Great-Uncle can’t subdue it, won’t the village be finished?”

“Okay!”

Li Qiuchen nodded.

While Hong Yang was lowering his head to gulp down noodles, he and Boss Guan exchanged a subtle look.

In the dead of night, Li Qiuchen climbed up from the heated brick bed, took the wood-chopping axe from his house, and tiptoed out of the door.

Hong Yang had already been waiting for him at the village entrance for a long time.

He brought a fishing net and a sharp deboning knife; the two of them left the village by the moonlight and made their way up the back mountain.

The back mountain is a Forbidden Land, and children are usually not allowed to go near it.

But such rules are really just words; no one takes them seriously.

Adults always like to scare children.

If we’re talking about Forbidden Lands, everywhere outside the village is a Forbidden Land and unsafe. When heavy snow Seals the mountains, the old wolves and bears can find their way into the village and eat whatever they see.

Usually, when farming, if one dares to leave a baby at the edge of the field, they could easily be carried off by wild beasts.

The Spirit Spring in the back mountain isn’t large, just a small pool of about two hundred square meters.

The water Great-Uncle uses for tea and for watering the Spiritual Root is all fetched from here.

From dozens of yards away, one could feel a faint chill, but upon getting closer, there was only a pool of clear water with no apparent mystical qualities.

This wasn’t Li Qiuchen’s first time here; to manage the Medicine Garden left by his family, he also needed the spring water from here to transplant herbs growing by the pool.

He also came to fish, feel for clams, and catch crayfish.

Hong Yang stood by the water in silence for a moment, then turned to ask Li Qiuchen, “How do you think we can see that Crayfish General?”

Did you think that Crayfish Spirit would jump out on its own before you came?

Li Qiuchen tentatively suggested, “Try shedding some blood?”

“Wouldn’t that break the Seal?”

“If simply shedding some blood could break the Seal, then there would be no need to bathe and burn incense for three days, right?”

“That makes sense!”

Hong Yang had a sudden realization; he pulled out his knife and made a cut on his arm, the blade slicing a foot-long opening with a rip, and blood gushed out.

The fresh blood flowed into the pool, and a moment later, strings of bubbles rose from the depths. A black shadow slowly emerged from under the water.

What first appeared before the two children’s eyes was a pair of huge yet slender dark-green crayfish claws, supporting a massive head as it surfaced.

A nine-foot-long Crayfish Spirit, according to the villagers, could already be considered a Dragon Seed; there was no problem at all calling it a lobster.

The Crayfish General stood upright in the water and spoke in human tongue: “What for?”

Hong Yang was completely stunned.

This thing can talk?

He was scared witless, his mind going completely blank, forgetting why he had come in the first place.

Seeing him stammering and not daring to speak, Li Qiuchen quickly asked, “Crayfish General, we came here to ask you, how were you sealed by someone ten years ago?”

“Huh?”

The Crayfish General rolled its eyes, looking utterly confused. “What? Seal? Me?”

“You two little brats, are you sleepwalking in the middle of the night?”

Hong Yang froze for a moment, then calmed down and hurriedly asked, “I heard Great-Uncle say that ten years ago there was a couple in the village who sacrificed their lives to Seal you…”

“Is that what he told you?”

The Crayfish General chuckled after hearing this. “That old bastard doesn’t have a single word of truth in him. I smell a familiar scent on you, kid; you must be the brat left behind by those two, right?”

“Ten years ago, your parents were also tricked by that old bastard into coming to catch me. In the end… haha, that couple was eaten clean by the old bastard. I didn’t get a single hair, yet I’ve been carrying this huge blame for nothing.”

Hong Yang was dumbstruck.

What do you mean my parents were eaten by Great-Uncle?

Looking at his shocked and dazed expression, the Crayfish General sneered twice, glanced at Li Qiuchen, and slowly retreated back into the pool.

No Seal… my parents were eaten… Hong Yang suddenly turned his head, staring at Li Qiuchen and shouting, “Then what Seal am I supposed to break in three days? Great-Uncle… is he also planning to eat me?”

Li Qiuchen sighed, “Don’t you feel that your brain has been getting sharper and sharper lately?”

Hong Yang’s face was pale, his eyes filled with terror.

“What about you? Have you Cultivated your Li family’s Pupil Technique?”

Li Qiuchen nodded, “There has been a little progress.”

Great-Uncle was right; we have all reached the age to sprout.

And of course, it is also the time when we are most tender and delicious.

People who have lived through famine years know that elm seeds and toon sprouts are best to eat when they just grow out.

Young Boys and Girls are the same for monsters.