Please bring your best friends to practice immortality

Chapter 458 The hinterland
The poisons used by the monks here are mostly snake venom, insect venom, tree and fern venom, etc. To be on the safe side, Pu Yanlan tried to find materials for all the detoxification pills she knew, and refined them one furnace after another. Then she asked Gu Shiyi for a drop of blood. Gu Shiyi laughed,
"I think my real dragon blood is really a universal blood. It can be used to improve realms, to transform, and even to detoxify!"

Pu Yanlan said,

"The first two are really useful, but the last one is the best when it comes to real phoenix or unicorn blood. But we don't have either now, so we can only make do with what we have!"

"Hey...you're still complaining about this!"

Gu Shiyi was so angry that he rolled his eyes. After thinking for a while, he went to pull Lao Ma out.
"You can't just take mine, try taking some of Lao Ma's too!"

After all, he has the bloodline of Xuanwu, right?
Pu Yanlan's eyes lit up.
"Oh, how could I have forgotten it!"

Old Ma was originally just an ordinary horse, but after so many years, the Black Tortoise bloodline must have been integrated into his body. Let's try to get a drop out, who knows, there might be new gains!

So the confused Old Ma was held down by Gu Shiyi, who cut a wound on him and took out half a can of blood. He did not dare to resist, but went back to Red Fox, covering his wound with his hands and crying in grievance!
Pu Yanlan used Lao Ma's blood and Gu Shiyi's blood to refine two batches of elixirs. After the elixirs were ready, she went outside to catch some poisonous creatures to test them. When she came back, she saw that Gu Shiyi looked a little strange.
"What's wrong? But the refined elixir can't detoxify?"

Pu Yanlan shook her head and nodded, took out two bottles of pills, pointed at one of them and said,

"This bottle can cure a hundred poisons, but this bottle... is more poisonous than a hundred poisons!"

Gu Shiyi's eyes widened.

"Which bottle is my blood?"

Pu Yanlan pointed to a bottle on the left.
"This bottle of yours can cure all kinds of poisons. I caught a live rabbit to test this bottle of Lao Ma. After the rabbit was poisoned, it died faster after taking the medicine. I simply fed this pill directly to several poisonous snakes and insects I caught, and the result... they all died!"

Gu Shiyi looked confused.
"Is the blood in the old horse poisonous?"

Pu Yanlan thought for a while and said,
"That's probably the case!"

Pu Yanlan then tried several other poisons, and all of them killed the people without exception. This time she was sure that Lao Ma's blood was really poisonous, so she carefully put away the bottle of elixir and did not dare to take it out easily!
When the elixir was almost refined, the two of them packed up and officially entered the Far West!
This far western land is mostly mountainous, with countless caves and numerous rivers, large and small, like winding pythons of varying sizes entwined on the earth. Therefore, the monks in the Central Plains call this place the far western land, but they themselves call it Python Plain.

The climate in this Python Plain has only two seasons: wet and dry. In the wet season, it rains for twelve hours every day. It is either heavy rain or light rain, or it is either light rain or rainstorm. Although there is no rain in the dry season, when the ground is exposed to the scorching sun, fog will evaporate. Because of the different terrains and the different plants and soil on the ground, the fog has different colors. White is the most common, and there are also various red, yellow, green, blue, and orange. The stranger the color, the more poisonous the fog is. Most of the poisonous creatures living there feed on fog. Many monsters that have become spirits practice by inhaling and exhaling fog!
The spiritual energy here is the same as that in the Central Plains, and is equally scarce. However, the cultivators here have their own methods of cultivation. There is a kind of tree that is several meters tall, called Jingkui. The tree can go hundreds of meters underground and absorb the spiritual energy of the earth. The tree does not bear fruit, but only leaves. There are countless pores on the leaves, which emit the spiritual energy from the ground. The cultivators here like to cultivate on this tree. Therefore, in this Python Plain, the cultivators fight for this kind of Jingkui instead of spiritual stones.

These things were rarely circulated in the outside world, and they were only known after Gu Shiyi and the others went deep into the heart of the Python Plain and made inquiries from many sources.

The people in this far western land dress in such a way that the men wear short shirts and long trousers, while the women wear a blouse with a short floral skirt underneath. The cloth is wrapped around the waist several times, or even dozens of times, only reaching the knees. The lower parts of the legs are wrapped with cloth as leggings, and daggers, swords and other objects are inserted into the leggings, which can be pulled out at any time to fight with others.

The people here are good at archery, and everyone carries a bow and arrow. Gu Shiyi and Pu Yanlan adapt to the local customs and dress like the locals, wearing a tight sleeveless top and a short skirt, and their legs are wrapped with cloth above the knees. Gu Shiyi is tall, and this wrapping reveals her long legs. Pu Yanlan is fair and tender, and her exposed arms are not as dark as those of the local girls, but rather dazzlingly white.

The two of them walked in the small mountain town called Longdu, attracting the attention of many men. However, the local women are hot-tempered. Many native villages are headed by women, and women have a very high status. Therefore, it is rare to molest women in the street here. But there have been reports of men molesting handsome guys in the street, and there have been cases where a strong woman took a fancy to a young man and started fighting with him. If she lost, she would turn around and leave. If she won, she would carry the man on her shoulders and take him home. That night, all the people in the village would sing and dance to send the man to the bridal chamber!
After entering this place, Gu Shiyi originally wanted to dress up as a man as per the usual practice to seek safety. However, she found that the young man dressed up by Pu Yanlan was fair, tender, handsome and cute, which made him more attractive. On the other hand, she herself had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a tall and thin figure. It would have been fine if some local women came up to chat with her, but some even came to fight with Gu Shiyi. The two realized something was wrong and decisively changed back into women's clothes!
The two found a small house in the city of Longdu and rented it, but they did not dare to easily reveal their identity as outsiders. Gu Shiyi had a headache, "The monks here are very xenophobic. Not to mention exchanging natural treasures, most of them would immediately turn hostile and drive us away if they knew we were outsiders. There is no market here for trading, so if we want to find the things we want, I'm afraid it will take some effort!"

Pu Yanlan also frowned.
"But Brother Mu's body can't wait any longer..."

Gu Shiyi thought for a while and said,

"We can't get anything through legitimate means, so why don't we...steal?"

Pu Yanlan smiled bitterly and said,

"We can steal it even if we want to. We don't even know where these things are. How can we steal them?"

Four kinds of materials are missing. One is the thousand-year-old spiritual bamboo liquid. There are bamboos everywhere in the extreme west. Thousand-year-old spiritual bamboos have been produced here. One drop of spiritual bamboo liquid requires ten thousand-year-old spiritual bamboos, at least three drops. Another is the fruit grown on the spirit puppet tree. It was said before that this tree only grows leaves but does not bear fruit, but it does bear fruit. However, if it bears fruit, it means that the iron tree has blossomed, which is a sign of death. So they have to find a way to find the dying spirit puppet. The other two types are: one is the spirit of a thousand-year-old python, which is easy to find, and the other is the chalcedony flower grown under the cave, which is also easy to find. The first two are the most difficult!
For example, the Spirit Puppet Tree had long been occupied by various sects in the area, and they all viewed it as an eyeball. How could they let two outsiders enter it? What's more important is that the fruits of the Spirit Puppet Tree are its seeds, which are reserved for the sect's disciples. How could they give them to outsiders? The two of them had to either steal secretly or rob openly. There was no other way!
Gu Shiyi and Pu Yanlan stayed here for half a month and roughly understood the situation of each sect here. They felt that this matter was even more difficult to handle. This extreme western land is the smallest among the human race, the demon race and the monster race, with a radius of only tens of thousands miles. However, in such a small area, there are no less than a hundred sects, and most of them are based in local villages. Almost every village is a sect. Ordinary people hunt and collect herbs, while cultivators are worshipped in the village. Moreover, wars break out in these villages from time to time, and the fights are life-and-death. If the loser, the whole village will be enslaved, and if the winner, the winner will occupy the opponent's Jingkui Tree. Adult men and women will be slaves, and underage children will be used as medicine men for poison testing!
It's just as cruel here as it is in the Central Plains!
Pu Yanlan said,

"I have already taken these ninety-nine steps. This is the last step left. I cannot give up..."

She thought for a while and said,
"Brother Mu's situation is indeed critical, but I see that there are more spiritual herbs and medicines here than in the Central Plains. I will refine a furnace of life-extending pills for him and let him take them first... After that, I will get the spirit essence and the chalcedony flower first, and then find a way to get the ten thousand year spirit bamboo liquid, and then inquire about the news of the spirit puppet fruit..."

After a pause, he said again,
"Eleven, you don't have to rush. Although the Jingkui Fruit is indeed not easy to obtain, there are constant fights among the sects here, and the Jingkui Tree keeps changing hands. Maybe we can really find an opportunity!"

Gu Shiyi thought for a while and nodded.
"Sure! Let's do it!"

Yan'er is still calm, unlike me... once things become urgent, I will also get anxious!

The two decided to go to the heart of Mangyuan, where the largest sect in Mangyuan, Aba Sect, was located. There was also the largest city in Mangyuan, called Aba City. The two disguised themselves as a pair of sisters who had come to live with their relatives and came to Aba City.

This Aba City was built on a high mountain. The entire city extends from the foot of the mountain to the top. Ordinary civilians can only live below the halfway point of the mountain. Only the great masters who practice Taoism can enter the upper part of the mountain. The two paid the city entry tax in front of the city gate and entered the city. They found that the prosperity here is no less than that of the cities in the Central Plains. However, this city was built on the mountain, and the mountain is really steep. There is a step every three steps and a bump every five steps. One street can have hundreds of steps up and down. The local people set up stalls on both sides of the street to sell all kinds of mountain products.

Gu Shiyi looked at it and recalled the situation when they went to the ghost cave.

"Yan'er, do you think this place looks like the small mountain town we visited in the ghost cave?"

Pu Yanlan nodded and said,

"Yes, quite similar, but the city here is bigger and has a larger population..."