582 Chaos

"Okay, let's go and have a walk around," Chen Zhou said.

They had stayed in the village for some time. Although they were comfortable and relaxed there, they got a bit bored.

On Nanshan Hill, a man and a dog were walking. The dog was in front, and the man was behind.

San Xian was sniffing around. Wang Yao followed him slowly. He was looking for snakes.

Woof!

"Oh my! Another one!" Wang Yao exclaimed.

He found no snakes around the herbal field. Besides snakes, he couldn't even find a mosquito. It was because of the unique licorice roots he had in the herbal field.

In areas further away from the herbal field, Wang Yao had found a few snakes, which he presumed were attracted to the Spirit Gathering Battle Array. In addition to snakes there were also insects on the hill. The insects had started to wake up in late March.

It was clear that not only were the herbs and trees affected by the battle array but also the animals.

Snakes and insects are not necessarily bad things, Wang Yao thought.

He also found that those animals seemed to be scared of San Xian. The flying insects all stayed away from him. It was as if the dog had something horrible in his body. The insects were also afraid of Wang Yao.

It is probably because of the smell on me and San Xian!

He and San Xian had stayed in the herbal field for a long time. It was inevitable for them to have the smell of different herbs on them. Some of the licorice roots could kill insects, such as miasma.

Now, I have more protections here.

"Let's go San Xian. Let's continue," Wang Yao said.

He walked around Nanshan Hill and found quite a few animals.

"Our hill is under more protection now," Wang Yao said with a smile.

The effect of Spirit Gathering Battle Array was still expanding. It also affected the animals around the herbal field. The animals grew faster and became more intelligent.

…

In Ji, a young man finished drinking the last bit of decoction in his room.

I'm not sure if this is going to work, thought the tall and strong young man as he laid in bed. Maybe I should go to the hospital to get checked?

He didn't strictly followed the regime recommended by Wang Yao. He prolonged the interval of two doses of decoctions because he was doubtful. He thought the decoctions might work, but he was not completely convinced.

He had nothing to do at home, so he could only think. He decided to go to the specialist in the hospital. He had seen that specialist for some time.

"I'll run some tests. You'll get the results pretty soon," the specialist said.

The medical equipment used was very advanced nowadays.

"Have you had any operations lately?" the specialist asked as he was reading the report.

"No," the young man said.

"Have you taken any medications?" the specialist asked.

"Just a bit of herbal decoctions. What's wrong, doctor?" The young man could sense something abnormal.

"Herbal decoction? The tumor in your body has shrunk by two-thirds compared to last result," the specialist said.

"Really?" The young man was shocked.

"Yes. What herbal decoction did you take? It worked quite well!" The specialist was amazed. He had never come across such kind of situation before.

"A doctor in the village prescribed the herbal decoction for me," the young man said.

"Some folk medicine?" the specialist asked.

"I think so," the young man said.

"That's fine. As long as it works, you can continue to take it. However, I'm not sure whether the tumor will grow back," the specialist said.

"OK, thank you," the young man said.

He was very happy after seeing the specialist.

I should go to the village tomorrow. No, today!

…

It was nice and sunny in Dali.

"How do you feel?" Han Xing asked his youngest brother, who was lying in bed. He had just helped change the gauze wrapped around his brother. He found his brother's fingers moved slightly, which made him feel happy.

"Not too bad. The pain is better," his youngest brother said.

He suddenly felt extreme pain everywhere in his body. It was as if he was being butchered and thrown into salty water. He wished he was dead.

"We'll take you to the King Pharmacist tomorrow," Han Xing said.

"OK. I'll be fine, Brother," his youngest brother said.

He knew his brothers had done all they could to help him. He would put up with all the pain just for their effort.

…

The Li Family Creek was less than 6 miles from the Wang Family Village. Both villages were surrounded by hills. Li Family Creek was a much busier place because of the hot spring, which was apparently of high quality. Earlier, someone from the south came to invest in the hot spring and signed the contract. He built a resort soon after. The resort had a lot of visitors on weekends. The Li Family Creek villagers also grasped the chance to run accommodations and restaurants. They could earn much more by doing business than farming, but they didn't give up farming completely.

The hills around Li Family Creek were different from the ones around the Wang Family Village. Most of the hills were made of soil and mud. There were not many rocks on the hill, so the villagers could grow crops and grains.

On the hill, a man in his 50s was sitting on the ground smoking. There were two cows next to him eating hay because there was no green grass on the field yet.

"Ouch!"

The old man felt sharp pain in his bottom. He suddenly stood up, patted his bottom, and took a close look at the hay.

Was I bitten by a scorpion?

However, he found nothing, so he didn't pay much attention to what had happened. He just found a different place to sit down and continued to smoke.

His bottom was still painful and burning.

What is wrong with me?

He wasn't feeling well. He stood up and led the cows down the hill. His dark face started to turn red. He felt dizzy and weak.

When he reached the foot of the hill, he felt short of breath dizzy. He couldn't walk anymore.

"Gee!" He tried hard to breath and move forward.

His village was right in front of him. He saw houses and people.

Plump! He fell to the ground.

Moo! The cows were mooing.

…

Around 1 p.m., Li Shiyu came to Wang Yao's village with a truck full of trees. He left the trees at the foot of Nanshan Hill.

"This is not enough," Wang Yao said.

"Just let me know what you need. I'll get them for you," Li Shiyu said.

"This is the list of trees I need." Wang Yao handed him a list. He adjusted the number of different trees as he gradually planted them.

"OK." Li Shiyu took the list and drove off.

Wang Yao went back and forth carrying all the trees onto Nanshan Hill by himself.

In his village, the children of Li Zulai, who had just died, had gotten together. The autopsy result had come out. Their father died of heart attack.

"I think our dad was scared to death," Li Zulai's youngest daughter said.

"I agree. I heard there are snakes on the hill. They are Wang Yao's pets," one of Li Zulai's sons said.

"It can't be true," another son said.

"Why not?" his brother asked.

"Let's go to speak to him," the daughter said.

"Well, what evidence do you have?" the eldest son asked. "Who saw a snake around when dad fell at the foot of the hill? You are talking about rumors. Wang Yao wouldn't listen to us."

"What do you mean? Our dad just died for nothing?" asked the youngest daughter, who was married. She was not an easy-going woman.

"Dad didn't die for nothing. His doctor said he had angina," the middle brother said. He wasn't happy about the autopsy. He didn't think it had been necessary. He didn't want anyone to touch his dad's body, let alone cut it open.

"You!" The youngest daughter was upset.

She left the house. As she walked out the door, she became more upset. She walked toward Nanshan Hill. Since she had grown up in the village, she knew the area well.

It was windy and cold. There was no one on the street.

A woman wearing navy blue coat was walking by herself.

"What?" She was surprised to see Nanshan Hill from distance.

Although it was only early spring, the hill was already covered by green plants. It looked quite distinctive compared to the other hills nearby. She also felt Nanshan Hill seemed to be higher than the other hills.

She started to climb the hill, following the uneven path. On her way to the top, there were several big rocks, which were as tall as a human being.

"Where are all these rocks from?" the woman wondered.