Outside of Time

That night, Xu Qing had a dream.

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

In the dream, the world was not cruel, there was no remnant of gods in the sky, his parents were by his side, and he even had an older brother.

And he went to school carefree with a group of playmates. After school, he returned to his warm home, had a hot dinner with his relatives, and had a good sleep.

It's just that the appearance of relatives in the dream is a little blurry.

He wanted to see clearly, but there was always a mist shrouding it until early morning, when Xu Qing, lying on the bed, opened his eyes.

He looked at the roof and relaxed for a moment, as if he had completely woken up from a dream, and looked around silently...

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

On the ground, there was a futon made of straw mats, and 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, and looked at the stained hand slowly discoloring, and he quickly raised it.

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

Wearing a wide leather jacket, black but messy hair, a small face covered with dirt, and a pair of clear eyes.

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

Outside the window, the wind and snow have stopped, the rising sun is rising, and the sunshine is shining. The last snow of winter is slowly disappearing from the ground.

On the trees in the distance, as the traces of snow melt, a green bud blooms, seeming to tell everyone that spring... has truly arrived.

Xu Qing walked out of the room and glanced at Captain Lei's house out of habit. However, there were more than a dozen wild dogs in the yard, without raising their heads. They just swept their tails on the ground as a greeting.

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

So he pushed open the courtyard door and walked out, with a clear target, which was the tent where the team leader 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 coming from the doctor's tent.

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

The surrounding convoy guards looked at him with scrutiny. After observing, 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 came from the tent, he gradually became fascinated by it. At the same time, he also discovered that the sound of reading in the tent was not just pure reading, but also included assessment.

"Golden grass, also known as three-leaf pearls and cold grass, is the whole grass of the Cyperaceae plant, Water Centipede. It is a perennial herb that grows in hillside forests and moist places in the wilderness. It is distributed in Lingyou and Guangling in the south of Nanhuang. The two states can relieve the lungs and relieve coughs, clear away heat and detoxify, dissipate blood stasis and reduce swelling, and have miraculous effects on snake bites and bruises. Together..."

The girl's voice was originally full of confidence, but as she spoke, she became a little hesitant.

"What are you cooperating with?" In the tent, Master Bai's majestic words seemed to be stern.

"It can be used as medicine to refine with rhinoceros sparks, and the yang can be transformed into yin to form a drop of poison-avoiding complete liquid. It is one of the basic materials of the Dahua Pill." The girl seemed a little scared, and she spoke a lot faster, and she felt relieved after speaking. tone.

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

"White back root, also known as... uh, it is the root of Catalpa catalpa, a plant of the Euphorbiaceae family. It is slightly astringent and slightly bitter. It is produced in... It is good at treating the five internal organs..." Then came the young man. He hesitated as he spoke. He paused immediately afterwards, obviously forgetting.

In the tent, the young man sitting with the girl looked nervous and anxious at the moment, but he 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 him, so the young man could only cry sadly in the end.

Master Bai in front of them turned back to look outside the tent, and the guards on the side also immediately looked for instructions.

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

"Write the Herbal Sutra ten times tonight!"

The young man really wanted to cry this time, but he didn't dare to refute, so he could only lower his head and wail silently.

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

The young man never paid attention, but the girl was attentive and a little confused. She blinked and glanced outside the tent. Following his gaze, she could see a thin figure appearing on the tent under the sunlight.

Xu Qing, who was outside the tent, listened more carefully. He kept every word and sentence spoken by Master Bai firmly in his heart, for fear of forgetting even the slightest bit, because knowledge was extremely precious and desired for him. .

Time passed slowly like this. On this day, Master Bai's lectures were longer than before, almost twice as long. It was not until three o'clock in the morning when scavengers began to appear outside the tent waiting to see a doctor that Master Bai ended his lectures, and his hoarse voice came out. out.

"Young man outside, come in."

Xu Qing was startled and woke up from his unfinished thoughts. He took a deep breath and opened the tent door carefully with a guilty conscience. After walking in, he stood aside silently, feeling a little embarrassed.

Originally he would not do this, but he came today for consultation and eavesdropped outside for a long time. The latter behavior is very disgusting in the slums.

As if he could see the boy's nervousness, Master Bai slowed down his voice and spoke calmly.

"What's the matter?"

As his words came out, the girl on the side looked at Xu Qing curiously.

She had some impression of the child in front of her, remembering that he came to see a doctor a few days ago carrying an old man on his back.

"I've met Master Bai." Xu Qing lowered his head and bowed deeply to Master Bai, imitating the way Lei Dui had done before.

Then he hesitated and said that he wanted to consult about the Destiny Flower.

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

The normal consultation fee is one white pill, but Xu Qing felt that he heard the other party's lecture. One white pill is not enough, even five are too little.

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

After doing this, he finally felt at peace.

Master Bai took a deep look at Xu Qing and slowly spoke to the girl beside him.

"Tingyu, you answer."

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

"The Destiny Flower, also known as the Life-Sustaining Flame and the Divine Grass, is a variant variation of the sacred plant complex. According to records, there are seventy-three species of this variation, but only the first one can be used as medicine and can grow anywhere in the restricted area. Area, irregular, rare in quantity.”

"Gong can regenerate severed limbs and rekindle lives. Except for injuries to the soul, it can treat all kinds of diseases." As she said that, the girl quickly picked up the book on the side and flipped through a few pages, revealing a pattern painted on it. Page.

"This is what it looks like."

The pattern depicts a flower and grass that looks nothing out of the ordinary, except for the jagged edges of the grass blades, which are somewhat obvious, and there is a strange symbol formed by a silk thread in the middle.

Xu Qing looked carefully and remembered it in his heart. He bowed deeply to Master Bai and the girl, turned around and left.

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

"This grass is hard to come by, and it is often accompanied by powerful beasts. You should take care of yourself."

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

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

Then I thought about it and wrote down everything I heard today.

In the end, he looked at the densely packed bamboo pieces with countless small characters. He 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 listening. After a while, he put away his mind and started practicing.

That night, Xu Qing waited until Captain Lei came back from an outing and told him that he was going to the restricted area. Captain Lei hesitated after hearing this.

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

Just like an old man at home watching his son go out, Captain Lei spoke in great detail.

He didn't finish talking until almost dawn. After Xu Qing wrote everything down, Team Lei gave him another leather bag containing various medicinal powders left by Luan Ya.

After understanding the specific function, Xu Qing said goodbye and left the camp in the early morning, galloping in 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 body. Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, with vigilance, his body turned into a scar, and went straight to the jungle.

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

Stepping into the forbidden jungle for the second time, Xu Qing's familiarity with this place was no longer the same as before.

But the more this happened, the more cautious he became. While jumping forward, he also paid attention to the flowers and plants around him. Soon he arrived at the place where the mud was. He followed Luan Ya's previous actions and picked up the mud and smeared it on his body. move on.

Time passed and the whole day passed quickly.

Xu Qing did not encounter any fog during this trip. Although there were powerful beasts, Xu Qing was cautious and avoided them as much as possible.

On the way, he also paid attention to flowers and plants, looking for the Destiny Flower.

At this moment, he arrived at the place where he had encountered the black-scaled wolf. Looking around, he could still barely see the layout. It was just that the wolf corpses on the ground were mostly turned into rotting bones.

After carefully observing the decay on these corpses, Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief when he found that there were no traces of bites, but natural decay.

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

So he found an area nearby and planned to spend the night and continue his journey after dawn.

Soon as the night fell, the jungle became pitch black. Xu Qing hid in a gap in the trees and looked in the direction of the Seven-leaf Clover Canyon. Further in that direction was the temple complex.

This time he entered the restricted area. In addition to looking for the Destiny Flower, he also had another idea, which was to find a stone for the little girl to remove scars.

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