Chapter 134: My Brother Is a Scion of the Gods

I must say, those birds are quite resilient; to think they have actually managed to hold on until now. It is truly worthy of everyone’s admiration!

Early in the morning, while everyone else was away battling the corpse beetles, Ruan Qingwu found a spacious, flat area to set up her alchemy furnace and began refining basic pills, such as hemostatic and healing pills. The venom of the corpse beetles was highly toxic, and she had brought very few antitoxin herbs, meaning she originally lacked the materials to refine a proper antidote. However, after learning of her intention, She Shiyi and his companions voluntarily provided her with a batch of herbs specifically used for detoxification. It must be said that while the Snake-folk could be a bit arrogant, the antitoxin herbs they cultivated themselves were of exceptionally high quality. Ruan Qingwu thanked them profusely.

Qing Zhen walked over after hearing this and said, "I have heard that the higher the quality of the antitoxin herb, the more it needs to be fed with deadly poison?"

"That is correct. These herbs are fed with snake venom by our clan. Such high-quality antitoxin herbs cannot grow well in ordinary soil. Our tribe has herb shops in both Wuding City and Wendu City, specializing in the sale of various antitoxin herbs," She Shiyi replied.

"Ah, look at my memory; I forgot that you also raise venomous snakes," Qing Zhen said.

"Our own bodies also produce snake venom, but the antitoxin herbs we cultivate ourselves are usually reserved for trading high-value, special items. The various antitoxin herbs we sell to the outside world are fed with the venom of common snake-beasts," She Shiyi explained. "The detoxifying effect is relatively weaker, but it is still enough to neutralize the corpse poison carried by such low-grade corpse beetles."

"So that’s how it is. My family owns a small town and I have a few small shops; would I be able to purchase some antitoxin herbs from your tribe in the future?" Qing Zhen asked.

"You want to open an herb shop?" She Shiyi asked, surprised.

"I just figured that since I have a few shops sitting empty, it’s not right to leave them idle—I might as well start a business. Besides, my father is capable, but my mother is simply not cut out for business. She is a wonderful brewer, but she only brews when she’s in the mood. If I hadn’t been chasing after her to brew every year since I was old enough to understand, she would have bankrupted her own brewery long ago. My sister is the same type. In the future, she will have to find a man who is good at managing family assets, otherwise, they would both starve. My father’s intention is to prepare a larger dowry for my sister so she won’t go hungry after she marries."

Hahaha, She Shiyi laughed in a low voice. "So, as a brother, you plan to help her save up some dowry?"

"Exactly."

"Alright, that’s easy to arrange. This here is my trusted subordinate; whenever you come to our Rattlesnake Tribe in the future, just look for me directly. Or, you can have one of the reputable merchant caravans passing through our territory send a message to me, specifying how many pounds of antitoxin herbs you want. When the time comes, I will instruct my steward to collect the message and have the caravan bring the herbs back for you. As for the payment, you can settle it with the caravan when they return, and they can bring it back to me."

"Oh, that idea is truly feasible!" Qing Zhen said, immediately becoming interested. "Good, let’s do it this way. If a caravan can transport goods back and forth, that would be wonderful. Otherwise, if I were to go to your tribe, the distance is too far for my family to be at ease, and if I were to transport goods, it’s not easy to find high-level experts to guard the caravan along the way. But would the merchant caravans even be willing to help us carry goods?"

"If the caravans traveling the Eastern Wilderness wouldn't take such business, who would even be willing to trade with them in the future? If you don't trust other houses, look for Ba Lie. His family’s clan has the most merchant caravans under its command."

Ba Lie, upon hearing this, walked over and wiped the sweat from his forehead after a long session of killing corpse beetles. "What is this about finding me?"

Qing Zhen repeated the conversation he had with She Shiyi.

"Does your tribe truly have so many merchant caravans?"

"Our Dire Lion clan built our foundations on merchant caravans. Back then, we were a hegemon in the Eastern Wilderness; no one dared to clash with us. To ensure the peace of their own tribes and avoid being plundered by us, they would pay tribute to us every year. But what was that bit of tribute worth? Haven't we all seen how the nobles in Wendu City live? So, our ancestors thought it over and established a massive merchant caravan that traverses the entire Eastern Wilderness. All the caravans of the Dire Lion clan are part of our tribe's grand caravan. We all rely on the tribe's backing to do business successfully. I personally have five small caravans under my name. Shen Qingzhen, if you want to transport goods, I can have my caravans slightly modify their original routes to pass through the Rattlesnake Tribe," Ba Lie said.

"Would that be too much trouble? Would it cause you a huge loss?" Qing Zhen asked hurriedly.

"No, what loss is there in changing a route?" Ba Lie laughed. "Besides, if the caravan goes directly to your side, it might be a chance for our caravan to purchase some local specialties and make a big profit."

Qing Zhen blinked. Come to think of it, maybe they really could make a profit. Their territory might not look like much, but they had the Panlong Lake, and inside the lake was an underwater grand dojo—it was quite impressive.

"Alright, then it’s settled. She Shiyi, send me eight hundred pounds of standard antitoxin herbs to start with. The average quality will do."

"That’s fine. When I get back, I’ll have someone prepare eight hundred pounds of standard herbs for you, and I’ll also send you ten boxes of our tribe’s unique high-potency antitoxin herbs."

"Understood. How many spirit stones will that be? I’ll go back and prepare them," Qing Zhen said.

"Does your family still have any Jiangyuan Fruit?" She Shiyi suddenly asked.

"Seventh-grade ones are definitely gone. At most, there are ninth-grade ones, and eighth-grade ones appear occasionally. My sister usually treats them like black potatoes and cooks them as a side dish," Qing Zhen said.

She Shiyi: "..."

Ba Lie also had a strange look in his eyes. Although they were also from powerful tribes, they were not so extravagant as to eat Jiangyuan Fruit as a daily vegetable. However, thinking of that person's status as a descendant of a god, eating Jiangyuan Fruit as a vegetable was not actually that outrageous.

"As for the Jiangyuan Fruit, I don’t know how much is left at home, but I will try to get you as many as I can. My family also has mutated golden shells and blue beauty clams; I'll pack some of those for you as well," Qing Zhen thought for a moment and said. He hadn't seen how many Jiangyuan Fruits were left, but there seemed to be plenty of golden shells and blue beauty clams.

"That works, that works! Once I send the herbs, you can decide what to give," She Shiyi said with a smile as soon as he heard about the blue beauty clams.

"Fine, I definitely won't let you lose out." Qing Zhen was actually quite accepting of bartering; if he really had to come up with spirit stones, it would be quite difficult.

"Qing Zhen, when are you opening your shop? I will definitely come to support your business when you do!" Ruan Qingwu said, her eyes rolling as she spoke. The Rattlesnake Tribe's antitoxin herbs were highly sought-after goods. Her grandfather couldn't even secure a quota of a few pounds each year. The trade between the Dao Court and the alien tribes was unified, and quotas were distributed according to the importance of the various Dao Masters within the Dao Court. Although Ruan Qingwu’s grandfather was the most famous alchemist in the entire Dao Court, he could not get every good medicine he wanted. Many rare herb quotas were extremely limited.

"Alright, I'll tell my manager to sell you ten pounds at a time," Qing Zhen said with a generous and bold air.

"Ten pounds?" Ruan Qingwu was so angry her nose was almost crooked. "You order eight hundred pounds from them at once, and you’re only going to sell me ten pounds?"

"Ten pounds is not a small amount. I only ordered that much, so it has to last me three months! Aside from you, I’m only letting others buy three roots each," Qing Zhen said with a righteous expression.

"Profiteer!" Ruan Qingwu muttered indignantly.

"Wholesale is by the pound, retail is by the piece; there's nothing wrong with that," She Shiyi said, supporting Qing Zhen.

Ba Lie pursed his lips and smiled. Shen Qingzhen was Shen Qinghu’s own brother, so it was no surprise that everyone held him in high regard.

*Boom, boom, boom...*

Suddenly, a massive roaring sound came from beneath the earth. *Crack, crack*—a giant fissure appeared horizontally in the direction of the large stone gate. That fissure cut them off from the gate, effectively splitting the area.

"Qinghu, Qing Xiaohu, what is going on?" Qing Zhen hurriedly stood up and called for his sister.

Qinghu ran over quickly. "What?"

"Look, a giant fissure has appeared on the ground," Qing Zhen said, trembling.

Qinghu walked over and kicked the direction of the crack. With a loud *bang*, the fissure closed again. Qing Zhen was left speechless and stunned.

"The spirit gold and divine gold in this underground palace have been absorbed, so the ground has become brittle. Don't worry about it. It’s not our home anyway," Qinghu said.

"Sister, will it collapse completely?" Qing Zhen asked in alarm.

"It might collapse once we leave this area," Qinghu said, looking up. The reason this underground palace was so stable was mainly due to the remaining divine gold particles. Once she absorbed those, the palace naturally couldn't persist. No matter what intentions that thing had, she had effectively dug up its roots. She suspected that in the future, it would surely be at odds with her until the end. However, even if she had uprooted its foundations and excavated its ancestral home, the sovereign did not regret it. She didn't know which god-clan had created this ruined city, but its only use was likely the ability to absorb divine gold to repair the Wind-Breath Ship.

Qinghu turned back and accelerated the absorption of various spirit gold and divine gold particles. Qing Zhen followed her.

"Qinghu, if this place collapses, how will we get back to the surface?"

"Fourth Brother, no one else might be able to get out, but we definitely will," Qinghu said, turning to look at him with certainty. "I control the earth; I can just split a crack above our heads, and you can use a wind gust to send us up, right?"

Qing Zhen paused. "That's right, it's quite simple. Why was I so worried just now?"

"Yes, it's quite simple. Why *were* you so worried?" Qinghu echoed.

Qing Zhen: "..."

As Qinghu increased the intensity of her absorption, the spirit and divine gold re-condensed, and small metal strips rained down at Qing Zhen’s feet. Qinghu separated the divine gold she needed and tossed the unwanted portion to She Shiyi to distribute. She then threw the remaining divine gold to the Wind-Breath Ship. The ship absorbed another pile of divine gold strips and grew a circle larger. Even the mysterious patterns on its body began to clearly emerge.

"Suppress the patterns. Solidify the foundations first; why are you in such a hurry to condense the Divine Prohibitions?" Qinghu ordered in a stern tone. The clear patterns on the ship immediately vanished.

*Bang, bang, bang*—a slight vibration came from inside the ship.

Qinghu was satisfied with the ship's obedience and went back to accelerating the absorption of the gold.

*Boom, boom, boom...*

As Qinghu absorbed the gold particles layer by layer from beneath the earth, giant fissures continuously appeared on the ground and the surrounding stone walls. They gradually moved toward the frontline where the Stone Spirits and corpse beetles were battling. Fissures appeared more and more frequently around and behind them.

Just as Qinghu and her group were about to reach the front line of the fierce battle between the corpse beetles and the Stone Spirits, the ground of a ruined room suddenly collapsed. Following that, a group of pitch-black people, looking as if they had rolled in a mud pit, emerged.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" She Shiyi immediately stepped forward to question them. Ba Lie, Hei Zhan, She Qi, Shou An, Helan Che, and others stood behind She Shiyi in unison. At the slightest hint of trouble, they were ready to take down these black-faced intruders.

Before the group of black figures could speak, Qing Zhen rushed over and hugged a pitch-black head. "Big Brother! I finally see you; I knew you were okay!"

Someone, covered in black slime except for his eyes and mouth, said helplessly, "Do I look like I'm 'okay' to you? Hurry up, let me find a place to change clothes and wash up."

"Alright, alright! Come, let's go this way."

"I say, Shen Qingzhen, why do you only see your big brother and not me at all?" Another figure among the black group, similar in height and build to the eldest Shen brother, spoke up.

"Oh, you all look like this—who can tell who is who?" Qing Zhen retorted. "My brother and I share a blood bond; I can recognize him from far away. As for you, I couldn't guess even if I had ten or eight more chances."

"Shen Qingzhen, you brat, are you doing this on purpose? I'm your Big Brother Ning Qi."

"If you say so. I'll wait until you wash your face before deciding. Come, Big Brother, let's go over there." With that, he dragged his brother away. The remaining black-faced figures looked at the crowd that had been observing them like black monkeys and quickly scattered.

In just over an hour, everyone had cleaned themselves up and reappeared before Qinghu and the others.

She Shiyi took one look at Qing Jin and immediately said, "Shen Qinghu, is your big brother also a descendant of a god?"

"How did you figure that out?" Qinghu asked, puzzled.

"It really is a god-descendant. His bloodline must not have awakened yet. I knew it! With such perfection and such an aura, how could he not be a descendant of a god?" She Shiyi said.

"So you guessed it just by looking at his face," Qinghu realized.

"Isn't looking at his face enough? Such beauty can only belong to a descendant of a god," She Shiyi said with an air of "it goes without saying."

Qinghu nodded. "Fine, I admit it. My brother, with his peerless beauty, is indeed a descendant of a god."