"Sir, we are heading southwest, which is the opposite direction from the northern border. If I am not mistaken, you are going to the southern border, right? I really can't think of anything other than fighting that would require a general to hide his tracks and travel thousands of miles with his confidants..."
Mu Lin's words were suggestive.
"Lin Feng, has anyone ever told you that you are too smart? A smart person should understand that curiosity kills the cat."
"Okay, I won't ask anymore." Mu Lin shrugged. She would know sooner or later anyway.
Helian Yingzhu felt that she had said too many irrelevant things to Lin Feng, both what she should and shouldn't have said, so she took a deep breath, stood up, put on her clothes, put on her outer robe, and walked out.
It was midnight, and the moonlight was exceptionally bright, illuminating the surroundings dimly. The fire burned quietly, reflecting Zhao Tie's rough and hard profile. He was on duty outside, while the others were fast asleep in the makeshift tent, snoring loudly.
Helian Yingzhu waved her hand to let Zhang Long go to sleep, and sat down by the campfire, adding two pieces of firewood to the fire.
Mu Lin knew that Helian Yingzhu had returned to the camp, so he felt relieved and continued to enjoy the hot spring bath alone.
Because she had sealed her immortal power, she had lived like a mortal for the past few months and could only do everything by herself, including cleaning herself. It turned out that this cured her cleanliness to a great extent. After all, how could ordinary people afford to bathe in fragrant hot springs and change clothes every day? Even someone who loves cleanliness like Mu Lin could only follow the local customs.
It's a rare opportunity to soak in a hot spring so comfortably. If the skin doesn't get wrinkled after soaking for a long time, Mu Lin would be willing to sleep in the hot spring.
When Mu Lin returned to the camp, Helian Yingzhu was wiping her sword. Her eyes were calm and focused. The corners of her eyes were narrow and long, revealing a hint of sharpness.
Mu Lin suddenly thought of a person, a fairy who was almost choked to death by peaches. The two of them had similarities, both had androgynous looks, and similar free and easy personalities.
She became interested and sat next to Helian Yingzhu. Helian Yingzhu ignored her and carefully wiped the sword. After wiping, she slowly said, "You go in and sleep. I'll keep watch."
"I'm not sleepy. The weather is nice tonight. Can I tell you your fortune?"
Helian Yingzhu looked up at the sky. Although it was night, it was clear and cloudless. "Did you say you can tell fortunes... astrology?"
"No, I want to use the six-line copper coins to predict whether your trip to the south will be smooth."
Helian Yingzhu remained noncommittal.
Mu Lin took out three copper coins and a hexagram plate from his bag, put them in his hands, clasped his hands together, thought about what he was measuring, and let Helian Yingzhu touch the copper coins one by one, symbolizing that the measured information was integrated into the copper coins. He clasped his hands and shook them, then put them into the hexagram plate. After throwing them six times, a hexagram was formed, which was matched with the hexagram lines and then changed.
Mu Lin concentrated on the hexagram. After a moment, he looked up at Helian Yingzhu, with an unfathomable smile on his lips, and said meaningfully: "Good luck, you will get help from a noble person."
She motioned Helian Yingzhu to look at the hexagram plate, where three copper coins were quietly placed, clearly visible at a glance. But Helian Yingzhu gave up after taking a look. She couldn't understand these mysterious things, but she still felt a little relieved.
Regardless, this is good news.
Mu Lin put away the copper coins, stood up and was about to go back to the tent to rest, but suddenly his eyes fixed and he shouted, "Get out of the way!"
Helian Yingzhu's body reacted faster than her consciousness and she immediately dodged to the side. A long arrow flew through the air and instantly passed over the place where she had been sitting and pierced into the ancient tree. The tip of the arrow was three inches deep into the wood and the tail of the arrow was trembling slightly.
Sharp arrows flew at him. Mu Lin picked up a piece of wood and knocked down the arrows that were aimed at Helian Yingzhu. Helian Yingzhu shouted loudly: "Enemy attack!"
The snoring men put on their clothes and took their knives and fled out of the tent, but there was no movement outside. Helian Yingzhu walked out first with a sword in hand, commanding his subordinates to be alert and search around, but they didn't see anyone.
It's interesting that he stops immediately when the attack fails. Mu Lin smiled softly and began to guess the other party's intentions, but she didn't want to reveal the answer too quickly because it would be too boring.
They rode around the rolling mountains, crossed the rushing rivers, and, with their clothes changing from thick to thin, finally arrived at the outskirts of the southwestern forest.
The Southwest Forest is a rainforest, shrouded in gray miasma, and looks very much like the legendary land of death. Even with a little thought, you can tell that this forest is full of dangers.
Helian Yingzhu ordered everyone to leave their horses outside and walk in. Mu Lin looked at them with a look of death, and said leisurely: "The soil and water in Nanzhou are warm and hot, and there is miasma, which will kill four or five out of ten people. What's more, we are wearing thin clothes, and if we encounter poisonous insects, ants, leeches, giant pythons and beasts, we will be in danger of death."
"Don't be unconvinced. No matter how strong you soldiers from the north are, if you are not used to the environment here and have no experience in jungle survival, you will either die or be crippled if you go in."
Helian Yingzhu did not hesitate much, as she had already considered this, "No matter what, we must pass through this forest."
Helian did not explain the reason. The family generals all looked ready to die. They were all carefully selected to be Helian Yingzhu's personal guards. It was their duty to obey orders and they trusted her unconditionally.
Mu Lin felt a little soft-hearted, and suddenly said, "Sir, I am proficient in medicine and martial arts, and I am the only one who can possibly come out alive. Please leave the matter to me and I will do it."
Helian Yingzhu frowned and looked at her, very much disagreeing.
"You are the commander. Weighing the pros and cons and making the best use of everything, this is the best arrangement."
The others looked at Mu Lin with wide eyes. They didn't expect that she would dare to talk back to the general like that.
"Lin Feng, come with me."
Helian Yingzhu looked solemn. "Do you know the Korta tribe? It is rumored that they live in the plains behind the southwest forest. What we need to do is to find someone from the Korta tribe..."
Mu Lin roughly understood. The mother of Emperor Heng of the Great Qi Dynasty, Empress Dowager Helian, was poisoned by the southern Xinjiang Gu, and the imperial doctors were helpless. Legend has it that this Gu poison was invented by the famous southern Xinjiang poison doctor. Helian Yingzhu came to southern Xinjiang to find this Korta poison doctor on a secret order. This is currently the only way to find an antidote.
It was very dangerous to cross the forest. Helian Yingzhu probably took a fancy to Mu Lin's knowledge of medicine, so she recruited her to the inn.
Mu Lin was a little curious, "What kind of poison?"
"The imperial physician said it was the Dangerous Moon Heart Burning Gu. We must get the antidote within 27 days to draw the Gu out of the body. Otherwise, the Queen Mother's condition will worsen. Not to mention the pain of having her bones cut out and her heart burned, by then, no medicine will work and there will be great turmoil in the court."
"What's the name of the poison doctor from Southern Xinjiang? How old is he? What does he look like?"
"The poison doctor in Southern Xinjiang has a strange personality and gave himself a Chinese name, Jiang Mingyue. Jiang Mingyue became famous in the Southern Region twenty years ago. I guess he is at least forty years old. As for what he looks like, no one in the outside world knows, because everyone who knows has died in his hands."
"Such a nice name, but the person is so cruel..." This contrast did not make Mu Lin think that this person must be a pervert.
"Without further ado, give me some of your clothes... Stop looking at me like that. I need to be armed before entering the forest. Wearing so little, I'll be killed by mosquito bites, okay?"
"When can you come back? We can't wait too long. The journey took ten days, and the return journey will take at least seven days. We have reserved three days in case of any accidents, so you will have no more than seven days."
"Three days is enough. If I am not back on the third day, you can proceed according to the original schedule. It won't take too long."
"Okay, I'll leave it to you."
Helian Yingzhu only kept one set of clothes for changing, and gave the rest to Mu Lin. Mu Lin wrapped himself tightly, soaked the cotton cloth and covered his mouth and nose, and walked into the gray forest without hesitation.
"Sir, do you think he can do it?"
"Trust her and set up camp right here now."
Looking up, she could not see the sky; looking down, she could only see moss. The light in the airtight forest was dim, humid and hot. Mu Lin walked for a while and was soaked in sweat. No matter what material the clothes were made of, it was uncomfortable to be covered with sweat. She thought about it and simply took off all the extra clothes.
A breeze blew by, and Mu Lin felt refreshed all of a sudden, and the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
A giant gray-black python coiled on an ancient tree, its dark red vertical pupils staring at Mu Lin who was moving. Mu Lin felt a chill on her back, subconsciously turned around, and looked up at the ancient tree, just as the giant python spit out its tongue at her.
Mu Lin met the python's gaze and smiled at it. Her eyes were not sharp at all, but rather gentle and peaceful. However, the python's pupils shrank, and it suddenly closed its eyes, shrank its body and ran away.
Wherever Mu Lin passed, no matter how big or small, dangerous or not, no creature dared to approach her. An immortal without immortal power is still an immortal, and not all creatures dared to offend the Immortal King.
Mu Lin felt refreshed and walked faster, but his feet were slippery and the ground was bumpy. Mu Lin had stepped in the mud several times in a row and could not walk faster.
Fortunately, it was the dry season, so Mu Lin wouldn't get caught in a shower every few miles, otherwise she would go crazy. But now Mu Lin was not far from going crazy, because she was already half covered in mud.
Mu Lin felt that the light around her had become dimmer. She had promised Helian Yingzhu that she would only have three days, and she estimated that most of the day had already passed. However, she could not see the end no matter how hard she looked, and it seemed like it would be a long time before she could get out.
Mu Lin was walking forward on the exposed, tangled tree roots. Suddenly, he felt a chill in his heart, and he instantly exerted force on his waist, and suddenly bent his upper body backwards, making an incredibly flexible waist bend.
At the moment Mu Lin bent down, a spear brushed past her chest. Just a little bit more away, Mu Lin would have been nailed to the tree trunk behind her.
Mu Lin stood up straight and looked in the direction where the spear came from. Two blurry figures gradually became visible, and voices could be heard as they walked towards him.
"Hey, there's someone here!"