Chapter 120: Wu Taisui

Despite what he said, I still found it strange. This underground palace was a relic of the Shang-Zhou period, meaning those Lotus Bodhisattvas must have been here for at least three thousand years. If Jiang Qiaozi merely worshipping them affected his children, what would happen to Lu Ayao after he blew them up with explosives?

On second thought, if the curse only manifested in the next generation, Lu Ayao didn’t have much to fear for now. As long as he didn’t get married or have children, the problem would be solved.

He Yu leaned in again. “I have another question. Why can Xiao Yao’s blood neutralize your corpse poison? That’s toxin from a thousand-year-old infant corpse. For a normal person, forget blood, even if you cut out their heart and ate it, it wouldn’t cure this.”

After he spoke, Lu Ayao rolled up his sleeve. In the dim light of the flashlight, I could see the hideous wound on his arm was no longer as black. This proved my blood really did have an effect, or at least it could control the speed at which the toxin spread.

“I remember having hallucinations back in Hubei,” I said. “In the vision, I saw a jade coffin. Mycelium shot out from it to drag me inside. I think I swallowed a lot of it back then. I wonder if it has anything to do with that.”

Lu Ayao thought for a moment before saying, “It probably isn’t the mycelium. The mycelium in Hubei isn’t much different from what’s here. They are both man-made anti-theft measures for the tomb chamber. The changes in your body might be related to something else.”

We all held our breath as he took a deep breath. “This thing is pitch black. In common terms, it’s called a Wu Taisui^[1].”

He Yu slapped his thigh upon hearing the name. I had never heard the term, so I didn’t have much of a reaction. I simply asked, “That name sounds pretty mystical. What is it used for?”

He Yu was so anxious he started sweating. “A Wu Taisui is different from a regular Taisui. Although both grow underground, the legends of the Wu Taisui are even more miraculous. Legend says it’s the heart of Empress Earth^[2], capable of curing a hundred illnesses and neutralizing ten thousand poisons. Heavens, so this thing actually exists? I always thought my ancestors were just making it up!”

“The jade coffin in Shennongjia was a trap coffin with no body inside. Moving the coffin lid would disturb the mycelium within. However, it’s very likely that a Wu Taisui grew inside that jade coffin. When the mycelium entangled you, it must have accidentally brought the Wu Taisui out with it. Let me see the wound where the snake bit you earlier.” Lu Ayao reached out toward me.

I was stunned for a moment before hurriedly rolling up my sleeve. Then I remembered falling from that high stone pillar and bleeding all over while crawling through the tunnels. Compared to all that, the snakebite was hardly worth mentioning. Besides, so much time had passed that the damn thing had probably healed already. What could he possibly see?

Sure enough, when I rolled up my sleeve, my arm was covered in a mess of new wounds. They were layered one on top of the other, and the marks from the venomous snakebite were buried underneath, completely impossible to find.

When Lu Ayao and He Yu saw the wounds on my arm, they both frowned simultaneously. Feeling embarrassed, I scratched my head and quickly explained, “I must have scraped myself when I fell from the stone pillar. It doesn’t hurt anymore, though, and it’s stopped bleeding.”

I tried to pull my hand back, but Lu Ayao gripped it tightly. I gave it a couple of tugs, but when it didn’t budge, I gave up. I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but both he and He Yu looked confused to varying degrees.

Chen Canghai leaned over to look. Seeing my wound, he asked, “The wound still looks like this after all this time? If we work backward, the original injury should have been about twice as deep as it is now. Logically, it should have cut an artery. Did you perform any first aid on yourself after you fell?”

I blinked and shook my head. I had the strange feeling that Tian Xiaoqi had asked me the same thing before.