out of time

Chapter 21 The Thirst for Knowledge

That night, Xu Qing had a dream.

This is the first time he has lived in such a luxurious house in more than six years, and it is also the first time that he has not felt the cold outside, and it is also a rare night of dreams.

In the dream, the world was not cruel, the sky did not have the face of gods, his parents were by his side, and he even had an older brother.

And he went to school with a group of playmates without any worries, returned to his warm home after school, had a hot dinner with his relatives, and fell asleep soundly.

It's just the appearance of relatives in the dream, a little vague.

He really wanted to see clearly, but there was always a cloud of mist shrouded in it. Until morning, Xu Qing, who was lying on the bed, opened his eyes.

He looked at the roof, calmed down for a moment, seemed to wake up completely from a dream, and looked around silently...

In the gray-black brick and tile room, there are not only tables, chairs and beds, but also a bathroom. The floor is emitting residual heat, which is the residual heat from the stove last night.

On the ground, there is a futon made of straw mats, and there is an empty bookshelf beside it.

It seems simple, but in Xu Qing's heart, this is already very luxurious.

Xu Qing took a deep breath, walked to the bathroom, carefully put his hand in the water, watched the dirty hands slowly melt away, and quickly lifted them up.

After staring down for a moment, wiping and re-soiling his body, he looked up at himself in the mirror.

A large leather jacket, a head of black but messy hair, a small face full of dirt, and a pair of clear and innocent eyes.

Just watching, as Xu Qing turned around and looked at the window, the innocence in his eyes was replaced by indifference.

In the world outside the window, the wind and snow had stopped, the early sun raised his head, and as the sun was falling, the last snow of this winter also slowly disappeared from the ground.

On the trees in the distance, as the snow marks melted, a touch of green buds bloomed, as if to tell everyone that spring...has really arrived.

Xu Qing walked out of the room, and habitually glanced at Team Lei's house, and there were more than a dozen wild dogs in the yard, without raising their heads, but sweeping their tails on the ground as a greeting.

"We should do something." Xu Qing murmured in his heart, with a look of determination in his eyes.

So he pushed open the courtyard door and walked out. The goal was very clear, it was the tent where the team clerk was.

In the early morning, there were not many scavengers in the camp.

As Xu Qing approached the convoy, the guards there also glanced at him, and Xu Qing gradually heard the faint sound of reading from the doctor's tent.

After hesitating for a while, Xu Qing silently stood outside the tent, waiting quietly.

The guards of the motorcade all around had scrutiny in their eyes. After observing for a while, most of them retracted, but there were still a few, who still paid attention to him.

Xu Qing didn't pay attention to this, because as the sound of reading in the tent came out, he gradually became fascinated by it. At the same time, he also discovered that the sound of reading in the tent was not just about reading, but also included the assessment.

"Golden grass, also known as three-leaf pearl and Sanhan grass, is the whole herb of Cyperaceae, a single-eared water centipede. It is a perennial herb that grows in hillside forests and wet places in the wilderness. It is distributed in Lingyou and Guangling in the south of Nanhuang. Two states, the function can clear the lungs and relieve cough, clear heat and detoxify, dissipate blood stasis and reduce swelling, it has miraculous effects on poisonous snake bites and bruises, combined with..."

The girl's voice was originally full of confidence, but she hesitated as she spoke.

"Cooperate with what?" Inside the tent, Master Bai's majestic words seemed to possess sternness.

"Combined with rhinoceros sparks to be used as medicine, it can form a drop of poison-avoiding liquid by using yang to transform yin, which is one of the basic materials of Dahua pill." The girl seemed a little scared, and her speech speed was much faster, and she was relieved after speaking. tone.

Xu Qing was outside the tent, listening to this, becoming more and more serious.

"White back root, also known as...uh, is the root of Euphorbiaceae white catalpa. It is slightly astringent and slightly bitter. Its place of origin... works to cure the five internal organs..." Then came the young man, he hesitated as he spoke, and arrived. There was a pause immediately afterwards, apparently forgotten.

Inside the tent, the boy who was sitting with the girl was nervous and anxious, but he just couldn't remember, and looked at the girl for help.

The girl next to him obviously knew the answer, but she just didn't remind her, so the boy could only cry sadly in the end.

And Master Bai in front of them looked back at the outside of the tent at this moment, and the guards on the side immediately asked for instructions.

Master Bai thought for a while, shook his head slightly, and then snorted coldly at the stuttering young man.

"Write the Sutra of Grass and Trees silently ten times tonight!"

The boy was really about to cry this time, but he didn't dare to refute, so he could only lower his head and howl silently.

After examining the two apprentices, Master Bai calmly spoke out and began to talk about today's lesson, his voice was a little louder and clearer than before.

The young man didn't pay attention, but the young girl was cautious, a little puzzled, blinked her eyes, looked outside the tent, followed her gaze, and could see a thin and small figure appearing on the tent under the sunlight.

Xu Qing, who was outside the tent, listened more seriously. Every word and sentence that Master Bai said, he kept firmly in his heart, for fear of forgetting a little bit, because knowledge is extremely precious and longing for him. .

In this way, the time passed slowly, and Master Bai’s lectures on this day also exceeded the previous ones, almost doubled the time, until the sun was three poles, and there were scavengers outside the tent waiting to see a doctor, Master Bai ended the lecture, and the hoarse voice spread out.

"Young man outside, come in."

Xu Qing was startled, awakened from the unfulfilled thoughts, took a deep breath, carefully opened the tent door with a guilty conscience, walked in and stood silently by the side, a little embarrassed.

Originally, he wouldn't do this, but he came here today for consultation, and he eavesdropped outside for a long time. The latter's behavior is very disgusting in the slums.

As if seeing the nervousness of the young man, Master Bai slowed down his voice and spoke lightly.

"What's the matter?"

As his words spread, the girl beside him looked at Xu Qing curiously.

She had a little impression of the child in front of her. She remembered that a few days ago, the child came to see a doctor with an old man on his back.

"I've met Master Bai." Xu Qing bowed his head, imitating Team Lei before, and bowed deeply to Master Bai.

After hesitating, he said that he wanted to consult about the Destiny Flower.

After speaking, Xu Qing took out five white pills from the leather bag and placed them in front of Master Bai.

The consultation fee is normally one white pill, but Xu Qing felt that he had heard the other party's lecture, and one white pill was not enough, even five would be a little less.

So he took out another ten spiritual coins and put them together with Bai Dan.

After doing this, his heart settled down.

Master Bai took a deep look at Xu Qing, and then slowly opened his mouth to the girl beside him.

"Tingyu, you answer."

The girl straightened her body, looked serious, and spoke in a crisp voice.

"Destiny Flower, also known as Xumingyan, Divine Spirit Grass, is a heterogeneous variation of the sacred plant Fumu. According to records, there are 73 species of this variation, but only the first one can be used as medicine, and can grow in any area in the restricted area. Irregular and rare.”

"Gong can regenerate broken limbs, rekindle life, and can treat all kinds of diseases except for spiritual injuries." As she spoke, the girl quickly picked up the book beside her, and after flipping through a few pages, she revealed a picture of a man with a pattern drawn on it. Page.

"It looks like this."

The pattern drawn is a flower and plant that looks nothing out of the ordinary, except that the sawtooth on the edge of the grass blade is a bit obvious, and there is a strange symbol formed by a silk thread in the middle.

Xu Qing looked carefully, and after remembering it in his heart, he bowed deeply to Master Bai and the girl, turned around and was about to leave.

Before leaving, Master Bai's faint voice came from behind him.

"This grass is hard to come by, and it is often accompanied by powerful beasts, so you can do it yourself."

Hearing this, Xu Qing bowed again, and after leaving the tent, he galloped quickly in the camp.

After returning to the residence as quickly as possible, he immediately took out a bamboo piece from the leather bag, and carved the Flower of Destiny and the totem described by the girl on it with an iron pick.

After thinking about it, he also engraved what he heard today.

In the end, he looked at the bamboo pieces densely packed with countless small characters, and felt very satisfied, and carefully put them away as if he had found a treasure.

"It would be great if I could still listen." Xu Qing murmured, and began to think about how to continue to listen. After a while, he put away his mind and began to practice.

That night, Xu Qing waited until Team Lei returned from his trip and told him that he was going to the restricted area. Team Lei hesitated to speak after hearing that.

But in the end he nodded and told Xu Qing about his experience.

Like an old man at home watching his son go out, Team Lei explained in great detail.

It wasn't until dawn that he finished speaking. After Xu Qing wrote it all down, Captain Lei gave him a leather bag, which contained various medicinal powders left by Luan Ya.

After understanding the specific function, Xu Qing bid farewell and left the camp at the moment of early morning, galloping across the wilderness, and soon arrived outside the restricted area.

The moment he stepped into the boundary, the warmth of the sun outside was cut off, and a cold feeling penetrated his whole body. Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, and with vigilance, his body turned into a scar, and went straight to the jungle.

After a few ups and downs, they disappeared without a trace.

It was the second time that Xu Qing stepped into the forbidden jungle, and Xu Qing's familiarity with this place was different from before.

But the more he was like this, the more cautious he was. While jumping forward, he also paid attention to the flowers and plants around him, and soon arrived at the place where the mud was at the beginning, imitating Luan Ya's previous actions, scooping up the mud and smearing it on his body. move on.

Time passed, and soon the whole day passed.

Xu Qing didn't encounter the fog during this trip. As for the powerful alien beasts, they were avoided as much as possible under Xu Qing's caution.

On the way, he also pays attention to the flowers and plants, looking for the destiny flower.

At this moment, he arrived at the place where he encountered the black-scaled wolf. Looking around, he could still barely see the arrangement at that time, but the wolf corpses were all over the ground, and now most of them had turned into rotten bones.

After carefully observing the rot on these corpses, Xu Qing was relieved to find that there were no signs of biting, but natural rotting.

This shows that there is a high probability that there will be no strange beasts here.

So he found an area nearby, intending to spend the night and wait until dawn before moving on.

Soon as the night fell, the jungle was pitch-black. Xu Qing hid in a tree gap and looked towards the direction of the Horse Chestnut Canyon. Farther away in that direction was the group of temples.

When he entered the restricted area this time, besides looking for the Destiny Flower, he also had another idea, which was to find a stone for the little girl to remove the scar.

"Go and have a look." Xu Qing murmured.

(End of this chapter)