Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

"Xing, you are a wise man with many ideas and strategies. Please help me think of a solution." Zhi Zhuan asked Xiaoxing.

Xiao Xing nodded and looked around, his eyes fell on the fire at the entrance of the cave again, he slapped his head and shouted, "Got it!"

Xiaoxing picked up two burning firewoods from the fire, came to the cave entrance, and threw them at the snakes outside. They happened to hit two snakes, which were burned and jumped everywhere.

"Cave Master, I have an idea. We can throw these burning firewood outside the wall and form a fire belt. This will stop the snakes." Xiaoxing excitedly said to Qiu while gesturing.

"Set up a fire isolation zone!" Qiu's eyes lit up when he heard it, and his worries disappeared. He praised again and again: "Great idea, it really is a great idea. Xing, you really deserve to be our 'Smart Star', you are really great!"

There was a lot of firewood stored in the cave, so Qiu immediately ordered people to fetch it, light it, and then throw it three or four feet outside the wall, forming a fire belt in front of the cave. Faced with the blazing fire, the snakes could only retreat, suspend their attacks, and wander around outside the fire belt to watch.

A black snake spirit found that it could not cross the fire zone, so it swam to the Snake King and reported: "My king, humans have started a fire at the cave entrance. The fire is very fierce. If you get close to it, you will be injured. If you touch it, you will die. We cannot cross it. What should we do now? Please make a decision, my king."

The snake king also saw the raging fire and of course understood how powerful the fire was. He twisted his long body and said, "Monkey-like humans are indeed cunning. My people, stop attacking for now. Wait until the firewood is burned out and see what else they can do to stop us."

"Yes, my king." After receiving the order, the snakes coiled up with the snake king in front of the cave, waiting for the fire belt to go out. No more talk about it for now.

After the group of snakes in the fire zone were eliminated, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The danger was temporarily lifted, and Qiu immediately led Dong, Xiaoxing, Zhi, Chen, and a group of people to the venue to visit the injured.

There were 25 warriors bitten, and they kept groaning and screaming due to the unbearable pain. Among them, the situation was the most serious, because the poison was too deep, and he actually fainted.

Xia's wife Xue'er sat beside him with her one-year-old child, crying sadly: "Xia, please wake up, you can't die! Wuuwu..."

Xiao Xing quickly ran to Xia's side, shouting: "Xia, what's wrong with you? Wake up!"

But no matter how Xiaoxing shook and called out, he remained unconscious.

"Sister Xue'er, it's all my fault. I didn't take good care of my brother." Xiaoxing hit his head in self-blame.

"Xing, how can you be blamed for this? We can only blame the Snake King and the Nian Beast. They are the real culprits." Xue'er was a smart and sensible person. She came to comfort Xiaoxing.

At this time, Qiu Hezhi and Dong Yizhong also came over. Seeing this, they were sad and regretful.

Chen then squatted beside Xiaoxing, looked at Xia's wound and said, "Xia was bitten twice by a mountain snake, so the poison was too severe."

"Cave Master, the injured warriors Xia Heri, Damao and Xiaomao must be treated quickly." Zhi said.

"Yes, Cave Master, please help me and the others." Xiaoxing begged hurriedly.

"To treat it, we need medicine. But there is no snake medicine in the cave now!" Qiu sighed.

"Cave Master, where is the snake medicine? Let's go get it now." Xiaoxing asked hurriedly.

"To collect snake medicine, we must go to Baicao Valley, which is a hundred miles away." Qiu stroked his white beard and said, "There is a magical herb there that can cure all kinds of snake venom. It is very effective. We call this magical herb 'Bai Du Xiao'. Now if we want to treat the injured people like Xia Heri and Miao, we must go to Baicao Valley to collect 'Bai Du Xiao'."

"Since we have such a magical herb, what are we waiting for? Let's go now." Xiaoxing seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, he stood up and said anxiously.

"Don't be impatient, listen to me." Qiu gently stroked Xiaoxing's shoulder and continued, "This 'Bai Du Xiao' is very similar to another kind of poisonous grass. One tastes sweet and can cure snake venom; the other tastes very bitter and is extremely poisonous. If people eat it carelessly, their lives will be in danger. So when picking 'Bai Du Xiao', you must distinguish carefully. Both of these grasses are herbaceous plants, the whole plant is red, no more than a foot high, the leaves are like goose feet, with fine teeth on the edges, and they grow opposite. The difference is..."

"Cave Master, I have collected 'Bai Du Xiao' before, and I know how to identify it. Let me take you there." Dong waved his hand and interrupted Qiu.

"Well, since you know 'Bai Du Xiao', you can teach everyone how to identify it." Qiu turned to look at Dong and continued, "The poisonous snakes are trapped in the cave now. I will stay in the cave to guard it. The task of collecting snake medicine will be handed over to your two patrol teams."

"Yes, Cave Master! The situation is urgent, let's set off now." Xiaoxing and Dong agreed, and immediately organized the patrol team members. Everyone prepared weapons and dry food, and were ready to go.

"Dong, Xing, this time the mission of collecting the 'Hundred Poison Eliminator' medicine is very important. We must not only use it to heal the wounded, but also use its magical anti-poison properties to defeat the poisonous snakes and rescue everyone in the cave." Qiu said here, glanced at all the team members, and then said solemnly: "This heavy task is now handed over to you. I hope you can face difficulties and complete the task as soon as possible."

"Yes, Cave Master, we will make sure to complete the task as soon as possible!" All the team members responded loudly.

The entrance to the cave had been occupied by the Snake King and his army, so there was no way out. So everyone crawled out from the tunnel at the back, then took the road from the back mountain and advanced towards Baicao Valley in the southeast direction.

Among the group, only Dong had been to Baicao Valley twice to collect "Baiduxiao", so Dong took the lead and led everyone to take the road. They climbed over mountains and ridges, cut through thorns and thorns, and moved forward with difficulty without avoiding dangers and obstacles. Xiaoxing was concerned about the safety of his subordinates, so he kept urging them along the way. Dong saw that he was taking over the responsibility of commanding everyone, which made him even more unhappy, but he couldn't get angry, so he had no choice but to endure it.

The group walked for a long time without stopping, and came to the foot of a big mountain. Dong stopped and said, "We have been walking for a long time, let's take a rest, and then we can continue walking."

As soon as Dong Gang finished speaking, Xiao Xing immediately objected: "Brother Dong, it's getting late, let's not rest, let's continue on our journey!"

"Xing, we've been walking for most of the day and our feet are so sore. If you don't want to rest, just go first by yourself." Dong Bai glanced at Xiao Xing, sat down on the ground and took a rest.

Seeing this, team members from West, North, Central, Tree Root, and Leaves also sat down to rest.

"Brother Dong, our sore feet are okay, but Xia Heri, Damao, Xiaomao and others are not only in unbearable pain, but their lives are also in danger! The sooner we go back to collect herbs, the sooner we can save their lives." Xiaoxing argued and persuaded them to continue on their way.

"Do we have to work ourselves to death to save them?" Dong seemed very disgusted. You know, Xia and Xiaoxing have the best relationship, but not with Dong. Last time when the rabbits entered the cave to attack, Xia complained to the cave owner, saying that they dozed off during patrol, causing the rabbit king to escape. Qiu was furious and scolded Dong, which made Dong lose face. Therefore, this time when Xia was injured and asked for medicine, Dong was positive on the surface, but in his heart it didn't matter.

"Brother Dong, the last time we went to look for the Qiong beast, we ran for two consecutive days and I never heard you say you were tired. Today, we have only walked for more than a day, why are you complaining of being tired?" Xiaoxing asked angrily.

"Last time the water flooded Huanghuagang, it was urgent. This time, the situation is different. Although they are injured, they can recover as long as they collect herbs. Why not take a rest?" Dong said so, but he thought in his heart: You are not the cave master or the elder, why should I listen to you? Then he said, "Our feet are so painful that we can't walk. If you can't wait, please go first."

"But we don't know the place, and we don't know how to identify 'Bai Du Xiao'. How can we get there?"

"Baicao Valley is on the back of this mountain. As for how to identify 'Bai Du Xiao', I don't remember clearly. You can just taste it and you'll know, right?" Dong impatiently dismissed Xiao Xing.

"Okay, even without you, we can definitely collect herbs and bring them back." Xiaoxing, who was anxious to collect herbs and bring them back, led his teammates out of anger and resolutely went up the mountain ahead of Team Dong and others.

When everyone reached the top of the mountain panting, it was already dusk, and the afterglow of the setting sun dyed the world red. Without taking the time to appreciate the scenery, everyone hurried over the mountain and came to the legendary Baicao Valley.

This is a large valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. The valley floor is deep and flat, with abundant water and lush grass. Everyone went down to the valley to see that there were indeed all kinds of exotic flowers and plants, which really deserved the name of Baicao Valley.

"Everyone, quickly scatter and look for the 'Bai Du Xiao' grass. Whoever finds it first will get the first credit." Xiao Xing waved his hand and took the lead to go into the valley to search.

According to the cave owner's brief description, everyone began to pick the 'Hundred Poison Elimination' grass. Xiao Xing walked a short distance into the valley and found a red wild grass that was less than a foot tall and had leaves like goose feet and opposite each other. He happily pulled it up and said loudly: "I found the 'Hundred Poison Elimination' grass!"

"I also found the 'Bai Du Xiao' grass!" On the other side, Chen also pulled up a small grass and raised it up and said.

Soon after, Feng, Yun, Lei, Dian and others claimed that they had found the 'Bai Du Xiao' grass, and pulled it up to show Xiao Xing.

"Everyone, take a piece of the herbs you picked and compare them to see if there are any differences?" Xiaoxing said.

Everyone gathered the '100 Poison Eliminating' grasses they had picked together for comparison. From the front, all the grasses were similar in color, shape, and size, but when they were turned over, four of them were different from the others. The leaves of the other grasses were red on the front and green on the back, but those four were also red on the front and black on the back.

Xiao Xing frowned, looked at the four plants with black leaves, then looked at the others with green leaves, and said worriedly, "I don't know which of these two plants is the antidote, and which is the poison?"

"Xing, if you pick the wrong one, the consequences will be disastrous," Feng added.

The others didn't know either, and looked at each other. Chen scratched his head and said, "The cave master only said that the sweet taste is the 'Hundred Poison Elimination' grass, and the bitter taste is the poisonous grass. Now if you want to distinguish them, you have to try it yourself."

"Don't try it!" Yue shouted, "If you taste something poisonous, your life will be in danger. I think it's better for us to wait here for Brother Dong and the others to come."

Xiao Xing looked up at the sky. The light in the valley was getting dimmer. He said worriedly, "It will be dark soon. We have to collect the herbs before dark and return overnight. If they don't come by dark, we will miss the big event."

"That's right." Lei followed up, "Brother Dong and the others are dawdling. I don't know when they'll rest."

The situation was urgent, and there was no other way. Xiao Xing took the two herbs in her hands and said resolutely: "In order to collect herbs and save He Ri and the others as soon as possible, I will try it myself."

"No! Xing, this is too dangerous!" Chen quickly stopped him.

"What if you get poisoned? You are our wise man!" Feng followed.

"Yes, we can't try it recklessly. Let's wait for Brother Dong to come!"

The others also objected.

"We can wait, but Brother Xia and the others can't! The longer we stay here, the more danger they will be in. And everyone in the cave is hoping that we can go back and collect herbs as soon as possible to defeat the poisonous snake." Xiao Xing said this, looking at the herbs, secretly putting life and death aside, and continued firmly: "My brothers, if I am poisoned, don't worry about me first, but hurry up to collect herbs and save them. Even if I die, it will be worth it."

After saying that, Xiao Xing picked up a herb with a black back and was about to taste it. At this moment, someone in the distance asked in confusion: "Xing, why are you all gathered together instead of picking herbs quickly?"