Transmigrating Into a Fantasy World: Signing in During Pregnancy, Reaching the Summit with My Childhood Sweetheart

13: Chapter 13: The Black Wind of Herb GatheringOld Sun’s words, “near the branch range of Black Wind Ridge,” fell into Liu Qingxuan’s heart like a cold, heavy stone. Fear coiled around her heart like vines, causing her breath to hitch. Black Wind Stockade! That name was a nightmare, a sword hanging over the head of every resident in Black Stone Town. The hideous face of that one-eyed bandit in the wild forest, the dripping wolf-like maw, and the killing intent that had nearly torn her and the children apart instantly surfaced in her mind.

She instinctively held Lin Mo tighter in her arms, as if doing so could draw a sliver of strength to combat the fear. Her gaze swept over Su Muxue, who was still asleep on the straw mat with a face so pale it was almost transparent, then looked at the pile of withered bone vine in the corner that symbolized their meager livelihood. Old Sun’s meaning was clear: to save Mu Xue and to survive, she had to take this risk. Without intermittent ointment and qi-boosting powder, Mu Xue’s arm and Foundation would be ruined, and the Profound Yin Cold Qi that could erupt again at any time was a sword overhead; without wages, even this thin porridge that barely filled their stomachs would become a luxury.

In his mother’s arms, Lin Mo clearly ”perceived” her racing heartbeat and the bone-deep fear. His tiny fists tightened quietly within his swaddling clothes. Black Wind Ridge... Black Wind Ridge again! Those damned bandits! Anger burned in his consciousness like a cold flame. He had to do something! The chaos dao body seed throbbed slightly, transmitting a faint but firm thought: ”Mother, don’t be afraid... I am here...”

Liu Qingxuan seemed to truly draw strength from that strange warmth in her arms. She took a deep breath, the cold air stinging her lungs, but it instantly cleared her chaotic thoughts. Fear could not change reality! For Moer, for Mu Xue, she had no way back!

She abruptly looked up, the trace of fear in her eyes replaced by a tragic resolve. Her voice was hoarse yet exceptionally firm: ”Shopkeeper Sun, I’ll go! Tell me what that ’blood-stopping herb’ looks like and where it is.”

Old Sun’s clouded eyes lingered on her face for a moment, seemingly surprised by her swift decision, but more so with a heavy understanding. Without another word, he turned to the medicine cabinet and carefully took a dried herb specimen from a drawer. The herb was about half a foot tall, with long, narrow leaves like willow, finely serrated edges, and a deep dark-green body. Its veins were dark red, like congealed blood.

”Here, this is ’bloodline grass,’ also known as ’blood-stopping herb’.” Old Sun handed the specimen to Liu Qingxuan. ”Remember its appearance. This herb loves the shade and mostly grows in shady rocky crevices on mountain slopes or damp places by streams. Near the western foothills of the Black Wind Ridge Foothills, there is a place called ’Heartbreak Ravine.’ It’s shady and damp there, and many of these herbs grew there in previous years. Only...” He paused, his voice dropping, ”the terrain there is treacherous with many snakes and insects. More importantly... it’s too close to the activity range of those bastards from Black Wind Stockade! Remember, do not go deep! Once you’ve gathered a basketful, return immediately! If you encounter danger, prioritize saving your life!”

”Heartbreak Ravine...” Liu Qingxuan murmured the ominous name, carving the appearance of the bloodline grass firmly into her mind. She nodded solemnly: ”I remember, Shopkeeper.”

Old Sun handed her a worn Wicker Basket and a rusted but still sharp short-handled wood-cutting knife: ”Take these. Be careful on the way.”

Liu Qingxuan carefully placed Lin Mo back in the corner covered with thick hay, letting him lie close to the still-sleeping Su Muxue. She knelt down and gave the two children a deep look, her eyes filled with reluctance and worry. She reached out, extremely gently stroking Su Muxue’s cold little face, then touched Lin Mo’s warm little hand, whispering softly: ”Moer, stay good and accompany your sister. Wait for Mother to return.”

Lin Mo struggled to open his pure eyes wide, looking at his mother. His little mouth made a cooing sound as if in response.

Liu Qingxuan felt slightly more at ease, picked up the basket and the knife. She took a deep breath and resolutely lifted the curtain to walk out. She had to set off before noon to return before sunset.

The Woodshed became quiet once again, leaving only the faint breathing of the two sleeping children.

Lin Mo immediately withdrew all pretense. The perception of his Chaos Dao Body expanded fully like an invisible spider web, quickly spreading out of the Woodshed and locking firmly onto his mother’s departing figure. Ten zhang... twenty zhang... Liu Qingxuan’s aura grew further and weaker in his perception, finally disappearing at the end of the road leading to the west of the town.

Danger! A massive sense of unease enveloped Lin Mo. The bandits of Black Wind Ridge, the treacherous terrain, and the snakes and insects Old Sun mentioned... His mother was just a weak woman with no strength to truss a chicken! He couldn’t let her face it alone!

He had to be faster! Stronger!

His consciousness instantly sank into the Lesser Body Tempering Technique! The painful memory of the Bone Tempering Stance from last night was still fresh, but he didn’t hesitate at all! Guiding his blood and qi, his will condensed like a needle! Target—the Right Ulna!

Buzz! The familiar, piercing pain, like a red-hot iron skewer piercing through bone marrow, struck again! Lin Mo’s tiny body jerked violently in the hay, and cold sweat instantly soaked his swaddling clothes! But he gritted his teeth (on a conscious level). The chaos dao body seed spun frantically, repairing the damage while forcibly guiding that weak blood and qi to wash over and hammer that small section of bone over and over again!

Pain! Heart-wrenching pain! But after every bout of intense pain, it was accompanied by a faint sense of solidity deep within the bone! His control over power was laboriously improving amidst this self-torturing agony!

[Ding! Proficiency in ”Lesser Body Tempering Technique (Remnant)” +3!] [Ding! The strength of the Host’s Right Ulna has slightly increased! Physical Body basic strength +0.03%!]

An unknown amount of time passed, just as Lin Mo felt his spirit was about to be torn apart by the intense pain and his consciousness was becoming blurred.

”Ugh...” A faint groan came from beside him.

Lin Mo immediately retracted all cultivation aura and his pained expression, returning to his quiet infant appearance.

Su Muxue woke up. Her pale green eyes held the confusion of just waking as they slowly opened. Clear pain still radiated from various parts of her body, especially her left shoulder and right arm, but that bone-deep coldness and the terrifying feeling that her Soul was about to be frozen and cracked had disappeared. She felt a faint but real warmth in her body, supporting her weak vitality. She rolled her eyes blankly and first saw the quiet little infant in the swaddling clothes beside her, watching her.

Their eyes met. The thin layer of icy fear in Su Muxue’s eyes seemed to melt a bit more. She remembered these eyes. When she was in the most pain and fear, these eyes had given her a strange sense of peace. She tried to move her left hand, which could still function, reaching out toward Lin Mo extremely slowly and with a hint of timidity.

Her fingers were slender and cold, carrying the weakness after her injury, as she gently touched the back of Lin Mo’s small hand peeking out from the swaddling clothes.

Lin Mo did not dodge; instead, he struggled and clumsily opened his tiny palm, trying to ”catch” that cold finger.

Their fingertips touched. An extremely faint, gentle warmth originating from the chaos dao body seed quietly transmitted through Lin Mo’s fingertips. At the same time, Lin Mo clearly ”perceived” the Profound Yin Residue coming from Su Muxue’s fingertips—the bone-chilling cold that was still being suppressed deep down by the fire cloud fruit’s medicinal power. The two auras touched and parted, not clashing, but instead forming a strange and subtle sense of balance.

Su Muxue’s pale green eyes lit up. The faint warmth from his fingertips made her feel very comfortable, as if it had dispelled a bit of the cold inside her body. On her pale lips, that extremely faint but real curve appeared again.

”Mo... er...” She imitated Liu Qingxuan’s pronunciation, uttering the two words extremely clumsily and indistinctly. Her voice was hoarse and weak, yet it carried a strange intimacy. She seemed certain that this tiny infant was her ”younger brother,” her only warm anchor in this cold, strange world besides that gentle ”Mother.”

Lin Mo’s heart stirred slightly. He cooed in response, his little face struggling to squeeze out a toothless smile befitting an infant.

Just then, Su Muxue’s stomach let out a soft ”gurgle.” Her small face turned slightly red, and her pale green eyes looked in the direction Liu Qingxuan had left, then at the broken clay pot containing rice water in the corner, her eyes revealing longing.

Lin Mo understood immediately. He ”sensed” the outer room. Shopkeeper Sun seemed to be dozing behind the counter.

An opportunity! With a slight thought, another tiny pinch of the ”root consolidating and essence nurturing powder” in the System space vanished. A ripple, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, appeared on the surface of the cold, thin rice water remaining in the clay pot, before instantly returning to stillness.

Su Muxue struggled to sit up to reach the clay pot, but the splint on her right arm and the sharp pain in her left shoulder made her let out a groan of pain, and she fell back onto the straw mat weakly.

Lin Mo saw this, and his small brow furrowed almost imperceptibly (under the cover of the straw mat’s shadow). He struggled to twist his body toward the clay pot, making short, urgent babbling sounds.

His movements caught Su Muxue’s attention and also disturbed Shopkeeper Sun’s light sleep in the outer room.

Shopkeeper Sun lifted a corner of the cloth curtain, his cloudy gaze sweeping inside. He saw that Su Muxue was awake and staring longingly at the clay pot, while Lin Mo was babbling in the same direction.

”Hungry?” Shopkeeper Sun’s voice was raspy from just waking up. He walked in, looked at the cold rice water in the clay pot, and frowned. He went to the small clay stove in the outer room, poured the remaining rice water into a small pot, added a little water and a few grains of rice, and placed it over the still-warm charcoal fire to reheat.

Soon, the warm rice water was brought back in. Shopkeeper Sun glanced at Su Muxue, who was struggling to get up but couldn’t, then at Lin Mo on the pile of hay, and finally handed the bowl to Su Muxue: ”Can you drink it yourself?”

Using her uninjured left hand, Su Muxue somewhat clumsily but firmly took the broken clay bowl, which was slightly heavy for her. She held it carefully, first moving closer to Lin Mo. She scooped up a little warm rice water with a wooden spoon, mimicked Liu Qingxuan’s manner by clumsily blowing on it, and then tremblingly held it to Lin Mo’s mouth.

Lin Mo cooperated by opening his small mouth and sipping. The warm rice water, carrying an extremely faint medicinal taste (root consolidating and essence nurturing powder), slid into his stomach and was quickly absorbed by the Chaos seed.

Seeing Lin Mo ”drink it down,” Su Muxue’s pale green eyes curved, seemingly very satisfied. Only then did she begin to take small sips herself. As the supplemented rice water entered her stomach, the faint medicinal power that nourished blood and stabilized Origin Qi quietly spread once more, slowly repairing her damaged Foundation and allowing her cold body to feel a long-lost trace of warmth.

Shopkeeper Sun watched this scene silently, his cloudy gaze scanning back and forth between Lin Mo and Su Muxue. Especially after Su Muxue drank the rice water, the extremely faint, almost imperceptible return of color to her face caused his withered fingers to unconsciously twirl his beard, his eyes thoughtful.

---

Meanwhile, to the west of Black Stone Town, a rugged mountain path wound upward, gradually disappearing into a desolate landscape of jagged rocks and sparse, withered trees. The air was thick with the rank smell of soil, rotting leaves, and some kind of wild beast’s excrement. The wind whistled through the gaps in the jagged rocks, making eerie sounds like ghosts wailing.

Carrying a Wicker Basket and gripping the rust-stained wood-chopping knife, Liu Qingxuan walked with extreme caution, her heart pounding with fear. The path Shopkeeper Sun had pointed out had long since disappeared; she could only rely on her intuition, heading toward the increasingly gloomy mountain hollow to the west. Beneath her feet were loose gravel and tangled tree roots; a slight lapse in concentration could lead to a fall. The surroundings were terrifyingly silent, with only her own heavy breathing and heartbeat thundering in her ears. She kept looking back, always feeling that behind those jagged rocks hid the greedy eyes of the Black Wind Stockade bandits.

Fear was like a cold venomous snake coiling around her nerves. She could only tightly clutch the rough wooden handle of the wood-chopping knife; that bit of cold sensation was her only reliance. Lin Mo’s peaceful sleeping face and Su Muxue’s pale little face constantly flashed through her mind, becoming the only motivation sustaining her forward progress.

”Heartbreak Ravine... bloodline grass...” she murmured, alertly scanning her surroundings. On the shaded slope, the vegetation was indeed much denser and moister than on the sunny side, with moss covering the rocks and some shade-tolerant ferns growing tenaciously.

Suddenly, her gaze froze! Not far ahead, in a crevice between the rocks, a cluster of long, narrow, dark green leaves poked out, their edges finely serrated, and their veins a striking dark red!

bloodline grass! Liu Qingxuan was overjoyed, momentarily suppressing her fear. She walked over quickly, knelt down, and carefully pried away the gravel at the edge of the crevice with her wood-chopping knife, trying not to damage the roots. She dug out several stalks of bloodline grass and put them into her basket. Having made a catch, her spirits lifted slightly, and she began to search the vicinity more carefully.

One stalk... two stalks... ten stalks... the bottom of the basket was gradually covered with a layer of dark green and dark red herbs. Liu Qingxuan’s tense nerves also relaxed slightly as she focused on her search.

Just as she was fully concentrated on pushing aside a patch of dense ferns to dig up an exceptionally well-grown stalk of bloodline grass deep in a crevice—

”Shasha... sss...”

A hair-raising sound of scales rubbing against dry leaves rose without warning from deep within the ferns at her feet!

Every hair on Liu Qingxuan’s body stood on end! A cold chill instantly surged from her tailbone to the top of her head! She snapped her head up!

There, a venomous snake as thick as an arm, its entire body covered in black and yellow ringed patterns, was slowly raising its triangular head from the ferns! Its cold snake pupils flickered with a cruel, eerie light, and its scarlet tongue, like a calling card from the god of death, flickered in and out rapidly, making a skin-crawling ”hissing” sound! It was less than three feet from Liu Qingxuan’s calf! Its slightly arched body indicated it was about to launch a fatal attack!

”Ah—!” Extreme terror made Liu Qingxuan let out a short scream, her body freezing in place, her mind going blank! The wood-chopping knife in her hand became incredibly heavy, and she couldn’t lift it at all! The shadow of death instantly loomed over her!

Inside the medicine shop’s Woodshed. Lin Mo, who was ”watching” Su Muxue clumsily feed him a second spoonful of rice water, suddenly had alarm bells ringing in the depths of his consciousness! A strong palpitation from the depths of his Bloodline and a bone-chilling sense of crisis swept over him like a tsunami! It was his mother! His mother had encountered a fatal danger! The feeling was so clear, so close to death!

”Mother—!” Lin Mo let out a silent roar in the depths of his consciousness! Immense fear and anger instantly shattered all reason! He could no longer care about hiding! Driven by his intense will to protect, the chaos dao body seed erupted with unprecedented light!

Buzz—! An invisible and intangible aura, yet carrying the most primitive chaotic pressure, centered on Lin Mo’s tiny body and erupted like a giant rock thrown into a calm lake! This aura was weak, yet it carried an ancient will originating from the beginning of Grandmist that stood above all mortal life! It penetrated the wooden walls of the Woodshed, ignored the barriers of space, and like an invisible sharp arrow, charged violently toward the foothills of Black Wind Ridge to the west of town!

Target—locked onto those cold snake pupils!

The venomous snake, just about to launch its attack, saw its cold vertical pupils suddenly contract into a thin line! An indescribable, massive fear originating from life’s instincts instantly seized it! It was as if it had encountered a prehistoric behemoth at the top of the food chain! Its high-raised head suddenly froze, and its arched body, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, instantly went limp! Its cold snake pupils were filled with unprecedented terror and confusion, and it even forgot to flicker its scarlet tongue, which just hung there stiffly!

It was completely intimidated by this sudden, space-transcending, terrifying pressure! Its instinct to attack was frozen, leaving only the most primitive fear of wanting to flee!

This moment of freezing gave Liu Qingxuan a line of survival!

Following the extreme terror, her survival instinct instantly exploded! She didn’t know why the venomous snake had suddenly frozen, but she seized this critical moment! Using all her strength, she suddenly rolled backward! At the same time, the wood-chopping knife in her hand subconsciously—