Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 1213 - 1210_1

The next day, the prominent Poison Duel Competition hosted by the Li Clan started. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

Xiao’er and her group arrived early at the foot of the Li Valley mountain and lined up to enter the valley with their passes.

A total of one hundred and thirty people participated in this Poison Duel Competition.

Most of them were locals from Li County, with only a small portion coming from other places.

Each participant in the Poison Duel was allowed to bring along a maid or a servant boy.

Some poor families found this unfair, especially when it came to finding medicinal materials.

However, the Li Clan pointed out that the maid and servant boys were only responsible for safeguarding their masters and were not allowed to help find medicinal materials. Should any instance of aid be reported and proven, they would be disqualified from the competition!

The participants agreed to the conditions. The real reason being that in the vast mountains, finding poisonous substances could be a mutually beneficial struggle, an extra hand meant an extra ounce of strength, who would argue about it!

As a result, despite not having passes, Zhao Yong and Fang Shun were still allowed to enter the valley.

As soon as they entered the valley, Xiao’er noticed poison herbs and medicinal materials everywhere along the path.

Medicinal materials were less common, while poisonous plants were predominant.

These plants should have been grown deliberately by the people of the Li Clan for their usage.

"My god! There are so many poisonous herbs. In the future, I am going to buy a mountain and plant a variety of poisonous herbs on it, build a house on top of the mountain and live there. It would be so convenient!"

Shangguan Xuanyao thought to himself after hearing this: Are there any houses with back mountains in the Imperial City? His Sixth Imperial brother is already occupying one, and the Prince An Mansion is also occupying one!

The rest of the houses don’t seem to have back mountains!

Even if they do, these houses are too small and do not comply with the mansion standard!

Shangguan Xuanyao couldn’t help but inquire: "Do the herbs have to be planted on the mountain? Can’t they be planted in the garden?"

"Of course, some medicinal herbs can only grow in specific dark and damp conditions on the mountain!" Xi’er retorted decisively.

After hearing this, Shangguan Xuanyao glances at his Sixth Imperial brother, wondering if he would be willing to swap mansions with him at that time?

"Sixth Brother."

"Hmm?" Shangguan Xuanyi, walking at the front with Xiao’er, turned back to look at him upon hearing his name.

"Do you like the mansion given to me by the Emperor Father?"

"Of course!" Shangguan Xuanyao’s mansion is indeed very exquisite.

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Xuanyao felt hopeful!

He couldn’t help but test the waters again:

"Do you like it?"

"It’s alright! Why? You want to sell it to me?"

It’s perfect, the two mansions are adjacent. His family has many children, he could buy it and put the children next door, making sure there’re only two people in his world: himself and Xiao’er!

Of course not! If he sells the mansion, where will he and Xi’er live after they marry?!

"No! If you like it, I would like to swap mansions with you!"

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Xuanyi responded, unimpressed: "Don’t even think!"

What a dreamer!

The mansion was decorated with Xiao’er, especially the garden! Each flower and tree were personally designed and planted by Xiao’er!

In the entire Imperial City, who wouldn’t praise his invaluable garden!

What a great calculation! He dares to contemplate swapping mansions with me!

Shangguan Xuanyi decided to ignore Shangguan Xuanyao. He grabbed Xiao’er’s hand and sped up, pulling away from them.

Shangguan Xuanyao knew Shangguan Xuanyi wouldn’t agree and decided to consult his Uncle Wang.

However, he couldn’t ask directly!

Uncle Wang has wide-ranging hobbies! He needs to find a way to win over the Prince An Mansion!

Feeling resolute, Shangguan Xuanyao hurriedly caught up.

After entering the valley, there was a spacious platform, enclosed with flower-engraved guardrails. Below the guardrails, a clear stream trickled along.

Stepping onto the platform, they could see a waterfall in the distance, winding and convoluted, like a piece of white silk fluttering in the wind.

Even though it was deep autumn, the mountain was full of lush greenery, with only a couple of trees showing red leaves here and there.

Looking at the surrounding scenery, Xiao’er only thought of six words: the scenery here is like a painting!

Many desks were placed on the platform, and on each desk, there were the Four Treasures of the Study and a bowl of water.

As soon as they stepped onto the platform, there was a woman dressed in white who ushered them to a specific location to sit down.

The four of them happened to sit in a row side by side.

Not long after they were seated, the competition began on time.

Because the timing of the competition was noted on the pass, there was no waiting for latecomers! Therefore, everyone reported quite on time. Those who were late were turned away at the entrance of the valley.

The first round of the competition was poison identification.

The girls dressed in white distributed a vial to every participant, and inside each vial was a pill.

An elderly man dressed in white with a full head of white hair who appeared quite venerable and wise, said after everyone received the pill: "The vial contains a small amount of venom. Please analyze the main components of the venom, write it down on paper, and provide the antidote recipe. The time limit is one hour. Now, the competition begins!"

Xi’er removed the vial’s stopper, brought the opening to her nose and took a sniff. There was a scent of green grass with a faint hint of floral aroma. She then poured the venom into the bowl of clear water, and after observing it for a while, she started writing.

Her pen moved quickly, in less than 15 minutes, she was done with both the venom analysis and antidote recipe.

In the entire field, she was the fastest to start and finish writing.

Xiao’er also sniffed the scent of the venom before pouring it into the clear water. She observed as a wisp of purple appeared the moment the venom touched the water, but it disappeared quickly, almost fast enough to trick one into thinking they had a fleeting hallucination; shortly after, the entire bowl of water turned blue.

Xiao’er behaved as one watching carefully, waiting until most of the people had started writing before she did the same.

In fact, the components of the venom had already been analyzed by the golden python. It knew more about poisons than Bai Tian and the rest due to its venomous lineage.

Even without the golden python, she also knew because she had also crammed knowledge about poison.

She always believed, what she learned would be hers!

Previously, she didn’t feel the need for knowledge about poison, therefore she didn’t bother learning. However, since she decided to participate in the Poison Duel Competition, it proved its necessity. Since there’s lots of time in the space, Xiao’er decided to cram.

Actually, Shangguan Xuanyi and Shangguan Xuanyao were simply here to accompany Xiao’er and Xi’er, admittedly worried for them.

However, Shangguan Xuanyao had played with Xi’er since childhood and had inadvertently picked up quite a bit about poisons.

By chance, he had previously seen Xi’er prepare a poison which turned a wisp of purple before disappearing when mixed with water. He remembered it well, so after performing the same actions as Xi’er, he started writing.

As soon as Shangguan Xuanyi knew that Xiao’er was determined to participate in the Poison Duel Competition, as a dutifully devoted partner, he naturally had to be by her side. Over the course of the journey, whenever he had time, he went to the study in the space to read books. World Poison Encyclopedia! Comprehensive Analysis of Animal and Plant Poisons! Encyclopedia of Poisons! He read all the books on poison, only lacking hands-on poisoning experience.