Ye Qiu remained calm.
In truth, he’d already seen the cave’s contents before Xiao Zhan’s exclamation.
“Kid, found some treasure, eh?” Master Longbrow hurried forward.
The next second, his face shifted.
Inside the cave were a dozen corpses.
Though decayed, their clothes were remarkably intact—uniforms of the Great Eastern Army, with weapons and packs nearby.
Clearly, these were Great Eastern soldiers.
“If I’m not mistaken, those uniforms are from the Kanto Army,” Master Longbrow said.
“Kanto Army?” Xiao Zhan blinked. “Doesn’t that mean they’ve been dead nearly a century?”
Master Longbrow replied, “That’s a question for the little brat. He’s the doctor.”
Ye Qiu entered the cave, crouching by a corpse. He reached to tear its uniform for a closer look at the bones.
But as his fingers touched the fabric, it crumbled to dust.
A jet-black skeleton appeared in Ye Qiu’s view.
“Both of you, be careful. These bodies died from poisoning,” Ye Qiu warned, spotting the cause instantly.
He examined the skeleton closely.
Moments later, he said, “This person died roughly eighty to a hundred years ago.”
Master Longbrow frowned. “That timing matches the Great Eastern invasion of our country.”
“The Kanto Army, dubbed the flower of the imperial forces, was the strongest unit, stationed in Kanto Prefecture. But that’s thousands of kilometres from here.”
“Strange. Why are they here?”
Xiao Zhan said, “During their invasion, besides looting and killing, the Japanese stole plenty of treasures. Could there be something valuable in this cave?”
Master Longbrow’s eyes lit up. “Little brat, shall we go check?”
“Alright!” Ye Qiu agreed instantly.
Even without Master Longbrow’s suggestion, he’d planned to explore.
Ye Qiu’s interest stemmed from using his Heavenly Eye earlier at the cave entrance. One spot was shrouded in haze, unclear to his vision, piquing his curiosity about what lay inside.
Xiao Zhan worried, “Boss, you said they died of poison. Won’t we get poisoned too?”
Ye Qiu smiled, “No need to worry. Old man, give Xiao Zhan a talisman.”
Master Longbrow handed Xiao Zhan a talisman. “Keep this under your tongue. It’ll prevent poisoning.”
“Thanks, Senior,” Xiao Zhan said, trusting the talisman’s power and placing it under his tongue without question.
Instantly, a sour, foul taste filled his mouth.
“Senior, how long since your last bath?”
“Not long, just over a month.”
Good grief!
Xiao Zhan nearly gagged.
Ye Qiu, exasperated, patted Xiao Zhan’s shoulder in comfort, then led the way deeper into the cave.
Master Longbrow and Xiao Zhan followed closely.
As they ventured deeper, more Kanto Army corpses appeared—over a hundred, all poisoned.
After about two hundred metres, Ye Qiu stopped.
“Boss, why’d you stop?” Xiao Zhan asked.
“Found something good,” Ye Qiu said.
Master Longbrow craned his neck, eyes darting around. “Where?”
Ye Qiu leapt into the air, plucking a plant from the cave’s rocky wall.
It looked almost identical to a scallion, except longer and thicker—about fifty centimetres, as thick as a cup, vibrant green, radiating vitality.
Xiao Zhan laughed, “Boss, what’s so good about this? It’s just a scallion!”
Before Ye Qiu could respond, Master Longbrow snapped, “You know nothing! That’s no scallion—it’s rock onion.”
Rock onion?
What’s that?
Xiao Zhan looked confused.
“Rock onion is a rare medicinal herb that only grows in caves. Extremely scarce and valuable,” Master Longbrow said, eyeing Ye Qiu’s find with envy.
Xiao Zhan shrugged, “Just an onion. How valuable can it be? More than ginseng?”
Master Longbrow said, “You’re not wrong. It’s worth more than ginseng.”
Xiao Zhan was stunned.
Master Longbrow continued, “Take that rock onion in the brat’s hand. One that thick and long is at least two hundred years old. It could fetch the price of a five-hundred-year-old ginseng.”
That valuable?
Xiao Zhan couldn’t believe it.
Ye Qiu tucked the rock onion into his Qiankun Bag. “Old man, didn’t expect you to know rock onion. Not bad.”
“Nonsense. Dragon Tiger Mountain’s archives are full of records on rare herbs. I’ve read them all,” Master Longbrow said, then glared at Ye Qiu. “What’s that supposed to mean, ‘not bad’? You think I’m clueless?”
Ye Qiu laughed, “My mistake. In my eyes, you know the heavens above and the earth below, omniscient.”
Master Longbrow could tell Ye Qiu was mocking him, snorting coldly. “Where rock onions grow, the qi is rich, and life thrives. There must be more good stuff here.”
“Little brat, let’s agree: the next good find is mine.”
“I trekked all the way from Dragon Tiger Mountain, expecting some grand tomb, only to find you’ve been stringing me along. You owe me compensation.”
“Fine, I’ll compensate you now,” Ye Qiu said, darting off and returning quickly.
In his hand was a lingzhi mushroom, as big as a washbasin.
“This hundred-year lingzhi is yours,” Ye Qiu said, tossing it to Master Longbrow.
“That’s more like it,” Master Longbrow grinned, catching it gleefully.
Lacking a Qiankun Bag, and with the lingzhi’s size, he tied it to his back with a cloth strip.
The trio pressed deeper.
Soon, Ye Qiu found more century-old herbs, tossing them all to Master Longbrow.
Ordinary century-old herbs no longer interested Ye Qiu.
“Little brat, you’re good to me,” Master Longbrow said, beaming like a chrysanthemum.
As they walked, a hazy white mist appeared ahead.
