The originally bright red and plump earthworm lay before his eyes. It had become shriveled, but Chen Yu couldn't figure out how this king earthworm, which had died long ago, pried open the bamboo tube and ran out.
Now that he had run out, why was he lying on the wall in a daze, motionless?
From the looks of it, it seems like he is really ‘dead’ this time.
Is it possible that he didn’t die before?
He picked the opponent up with a wooden stick, made sure not to move, then moved it to his eyes and observed carefully. Then he found that the appearance of the stick in front of him seemed a little different from the first.
Same color, same fleshy crown, only two rows of small claws appear on the belly.
It's very fine and close to the side of the body. If you don't look carefully, you really can't find it.
"this……"
What has the good earthworm become now?
Once again, he felt miraculous about the effect of the spiritual machine, and after this experience, Chen Yu really couldn't think of how to deal with this thing for a while.
You can live even if you die, but you can't just bury it.
That's not right. Maybe it was still changing before? In fact, it's not dead, but it just looks a little stiff?
I'm not sure, and I feel a little worried in my heart, because no one knows whether the inspiration can turn the corpse into something like a zombie.
After thinking about it, he went to the kitchen to get a handful of dry thatch.
Just set it on fire.
Although this is the first animal experiment material, it is better not to keep unsafe things. He still has ideas. If he really wants to experiment, there will be many opportunities in the future.
As for using it for fishing...
That is absolutely impossible. Before, I could only attack if I was dead, but now it's better, I can still jump twice even if I'm dead. God knows if I can just run away if I put him in the water.
After taking another look at the dried earthworm, Chen Yu was about to light it with a fire stick when he suddenly noticed something seemed to be stuck to its tail.
White, like scattered threads.
He lowered his head and approached cautiously. Then he looked at it and realized that those lines were some kind of hyphae.
Could it be that the reason why earthworms can continue to move and even escape from the bamboo tube is because of the hyphae in their bodies?
Like a parasite?
Chen Yu vaguely remembered that there seemed to be some special parasites in the wild in his previous life that could allow the parasite's receptors to remain active even after death.
Just looking at the broken bamboo tube, he couldn't help but be speechless. He couldn't imagine what kind of parasitic hyphae could exert such a great power.
But in any case, if this is the explanation, it would be more reasonable than zombies and the like.
It’s also much more reassuring.
"Earthworm zombies are still parasitic mycelium. You will know after you cut them open and take a look."
Holding the handle of the knife, Chen Yu wrapped a layer of linen cloth around his hand as a precaution, and then pressed it on one end of the earthworm.
I just felt that it was hard under my fingers, not like a living thing at all.
The dagger fell, and the sharp tip gently pulled away the cortex. Until this moment, the earthworm did not move. It seemed that it was really dead.
Just as he was thinking about it, with a single blow of the knife, it turned out that the entire cortex had been broken open. Chen Yu looked over, and the next moment, his pupils suddenly shrank:
Densely packed white silk threads are entangled inside, forming ball-shaped clumps. Each strand of silk thread is connected to the cortex, spreading from top to bottom and filling the entire chamber.
"...", it's a bit disgusting.
Chen Yu frowned, and could see that as the covering skin was pierced, under the sunlight, the silk threads filling the interior of the earthworm corpse were still trembling, as if they were alive, and the balls of threads were constantly expanding and contracting, as if they were breathing.
Is it really some kind of parasite?
He didn't know whether the threads in front of him were mycelium or something else, but there was no doubt that the earthworm had been eaten by it or them.
So no longer hesitating, the fire folder clicked.
bake!
The fire was bright, and the silk threads fell into the fire together with the earthworm's remains, and were engulfed and roasted by the tongue of flames, and finally turned into a puddle of mud with a crackling sound.
He shook his head and sighed, wasting another idea.
Chen Yu threw the linen cloth and bamboo tubes that had come into contact with the earthworms into the fire and burned them together. The dagger in his hand was also roasted for a while, and then he held it in the large water tank at the entrance of the courtyard, stifled it twice, and rubbed it gently to clean it.
After cleaning up and dispersing the remaining traces of smoke and burnt, he looked around to make sure nothing was missing.
"It's safer to use it on plants."
God knows what these things are that grow in the bodies of earthworms, but Chen Yu doesn't want to take the risk, so he simply burns them all.
"I always feel that the way those threads are knotted together looks a bit familiar."
He was still thinking about it, feeling like he had seen something similar somewhere.
That’s right! The spiritual network that was formed in the soil before!
Chen Yu thought about it and found that the two were indeed similar, but this time it was more like a living thing, and each node was not a light point but a solid thread.
Is there any connection? I can’t say for sure.
Vaguely, it seems that there are some essential characteristics of spirituality in it.
But after thinking for a long time, he couldn't figure out the reason, so he had to put the matter aside for the time being and wait until he had the opportunity to explore it again later.
…
Pour the rice grain into the vat, and the large vat that was once clean and visible to the bottom suddenly becomes full.
Compared with the last time he went down the mountain, he bought more this time. Five bags of rice, about 250 kilograms. According to his current appetite, he can probably eat for about three months.
Eat three kilograms of rice a day.
It's really delicious.
In fact, Chen Yu's food intake is nothing compared to other martial artists. After all, his level is slightly lower. Even if he practices martial arts non-stop every day, the consumption of his own energy and blood is not that high. But even so, he works hard every day.
As I continued to practice, my food intake increased unknowingly. It was much larger than at the beginning, and it was much higher than that of ordinary people.
A large appetite is not a problem, just eat more meat.
However, even though Taoists in this world do not have many prohibitions on eating meat and practicing martial arts, Chen Yu rarely indulges in meat.
Without him, there is really not much meat in Yunhe Temple. There is only half a fan of cured dried chicken hanging on the wall. At most, it will be gone after one meal.
The reason why I didn't bite it before was just to keep it in my mind - it's good to look at it when you go in and out of the kitchen every day to satisfy your craving.
Ever since, the only way to replenish the consumption of martial arts training was to eat dry food.
It's not that Chen Yu didn't want to go hunting in the mountains, but practicing martial arts requires perseverance, and one or two wild animals obviously won't solve the problem.
Furthermore, the predecessor didn’t leave any hunting skills worth learning, so he would probably just stare and worry in the woods.
It seems it's time to raise some chickens and ducks.
He secretly sighed that after going down the mountain twice, he went to the villages at the foot of the mountain to inquire. But nowadays, ordinary farmers at the lower levels of the world have a hard time keeping alive. How can they have free time to raise chickens and ducks? As for the county town? There are fragrant chickens and lively chickens.
Just don't think about it.
The lives of these little guys are very fragile. If you don't pay attention, they will be killed and injured, and all your money will be lost.
But it's not impossible.
Chen Yu thought that he could take time to visit Yungu Village next time. Since the old man he met at the foot of the mountain had some spare time to herd cattle, it meant that his family still had some spare time, and he might have chickens.
As for the current moment, Chen Yu glanced at the cured chicken hanging on the side, which was a gift from a family when his predecessor went down the mountain to cook.
Only half was left, and the other half was eaten by the predecessor on the same day.
I swallowed, but still didn't move it.
"Fishing! Let's go fishing tomorrow!"
It was urgent to improve the food, so Chen Yu dug out a large bowl of white rice. There was no meat, so he could only fill his stomach with this.
To be honest, Master Chen Daguan's life is actually far better than that of most people in the mountains. Not to mention Guangyong Mansion, it is still peaceful at present. However, several surrounding states are in a mess, and rogue bandits and chaotic parties have made everything uneasy.
.
Earlier in the teahouse, he had heard that a natural disaster had occurred in the Zuofengsai area further north. In addition, the Eight Heavenly Kings of Yunyan, which had just been exterminated last year, had resurrected and looted non-stop. Now the whole place was full of victims of the disaster.
Corpses were left on the road, and cries filled the fields.
In comparison, he at Qingtai Mountain can still manage enough rice, so what is there to be dissatisfied about?
…
"Is the white root ripe?"
After having lunch and taking a comfortable bath, Chen Yu came to the back of the hospital and stood by the medicine garden, looking at the white stick in front of his feet that had covered most of the ground, and even the last leaf was almost completely pulled down.
He raised his eyebrows.
The throbbing in the sea of consciousness became more and more obvious, only slightly weaker than the first time.
Turning his eyes, he could vaguely feel something under the soil jumping and jumping, as if he was about to break out of his shell at the next moment.
After thinking for a while, Chen Yu squatted down and gently dug up the soil in the surrounding medicinal fields with a hoe.
Gradually, you can see that the leaves that had shrunk underground have withered and rotted, and the surrounding soil has turned into powdery, extremely fine. Further down, a round, snow-white rhizome is exposed.
He pinched the root and lifted it hard, just like pulling out a radish. There was a click sound, the connection between the stem and the roots broke, and the whole thing fell off, and Chen Yu lifted it in his hand.
Looking at the middle of the tuber, at the round center, there is a glimmer of crystal covered by the thick cortex.
It sways gently, like clouds and mist, rolling and moving inside.
Remember to point out any typos, all you beautiful and handsome guys!