CHAPTER 366: CHAPTER 341: PHOENIX EGG

Su Jingchen listened to Yu Xiaolian’s excited inquiry and answered her solemnly, "It seems that such a possibility doesn’t exist.

The Longevity Gu is the king of all Gu worms, and it might not agree to other Gu worms entering its territory."

"But isn’t it asleep?" Yu Xiaolian asked innocently.

Su Jingchen remained silent; most of his knowledge about the Witch Clan came from miscellaneous books and travelogues, and as for the matter of the Longevity Gu’s slumber, the books lacked details.

If it weren’t for his interaction with Yu Xiaolian, he would have thought the Longevity Gu was something fabricated by the Witch Clan to brag.

Yu Xiaolian and Su Jingchen only had a superficial understanding of the Witch Clan, so they couldn’t discuss much at the moment.

Yu Xiaolian said goodbye to Su Jingchen and went to the small second-floor room to sleep.

Once in the small second-floor room, Yu Xiaolian caught sight of her desktop computer, furrowed her brow, and ran over to turn it on.

The computer booted up normally, but there was no internet, so she couldn’t search for information on Miaojiang Witchcraft. Feeling frustrated, Yu Xiaolian shut the computer down, took out her tablet, and watched the cached TV series for the eighty-eighth time until she was sleepy and fell asleep in bed.

The next day, when Yu Xiaolian came out from the space, she found Su Jingchen was not in the room. She checked her watch and saw it was only half past five in the morning; what was this guy up to?

Yu Xiaolian pushed the door open and saw both horses and the carriage were in place. If Su Jingchen had gone to town, he would have gone with her.

Su Jingchen must have gone to the restroom, Yu Xiaolian thought.

However, after waiting nearly half an hour, Su Jingchen still hadn’t returned, and Yu Xiaolian started to feel anxious.

She thought about putting on a cloak to go out and look for Su Jingchen but recalled his instructions yesterday, telling her not to go out alone under any circumstances. Yu Xiaolian stopped in her tracks, deciding to heed Su Jingchen’s advice and stay.

Fortunately, after another half hour, Su Jingchen returned carrying a bundle of dried branches.

Yu Xiaolian finally put her worried heart to rest and couldn’t help but complain, "Where have you been? You should at least tell me, you made me worry you were missing."

Su Jingchen hadn’t expected Yu Xiaolian to wake up so early. Moreover, he thought it wouldn’t take long to gather a bundle of firewood, so he went out.

Unexpectedly, while gathering firewood, he stumbled upon an important piece of information.

On the second day of February, the Witch Clan would celebrate a grand Festival of Bridge Worship, a significant event for the Miao Clan.

On this day, every household would boil red eggs for children, wishing them health and safety in the new year, grow like the early morning sun, and pray for many offspring.

Apart from boiling red eggs, customs also involve worshiping bridges, guideposts, Peace Bridge, and local earth gods.

"Peace Bridge," also known as "Life Bridge," is one of the objects of natural worship by the Miao people, regarded as an artifact that brings progeny, safety, health, and prosperity.

In addition to Peace Bridge outside, many homes set up tall slender wooden benches in the hall. These benches are not for sitting but for praying for children’s healthy growth, the "bridge," with the child being the master of this "Peace Bridge."

In the hall, along with this "bridge," there are bamboo and rice bags. The rice in the bags is "begged" by parents for the child, collected rice from over a dozen neighbors and placed in fabric bags with copper coins or coins, collecting life force for the child to keep like persistent green bamboo.

It corresponds with the outside bridge, meaning to bring children indoors and guide descendants home. Like the bridge worship, on the second day of February, incense paper, red eggs, and offerings must also be burned for this "Peace Bridge," praying for children’s lifelong health and safety.

"So, with all you’ve said, what are you trying to express?" Yu Xiaolian asked amidst confusion.

"Red eggs." Su Jingchen smiled meaningfully. "I’ve heard the Miao people prepare a large number of red eggs for the Witch Clan, and if someone finds phoenix eggs, the Witch Clan will give that person Immortal Powder as a reward."

"Phoenix eggs?"

These Witch Clan folks sure have bold ideas, wanting to eat phoenix eggs.

Su Jingchen laughed, "Phoenix eggs are eggs with two yolks within one eggshell.

The Witch Clan believes one yolk is male, the other female, hence the name Phoenix.

If I remember correctly, you have this kind of egg in your dimension."

Yu Xiaolian nodded like a chick pecking at grains, "Yes, but we call them double yolk eggs; never heard anyone call them phoenix eggs.

Why does the Witch Clan want double yolk eggs? What are they used for?"

Su Jingchen replied, "I heard the Witch Clan wants these eggs not for consumption, but what exactly for, I don’t know yet.

However, regarding the Immortal Powder, we are confident. There are ten days left until the second of February; see how many double yolk eggs you can gather?"

With other things, Yu Xiaolian would consume them immediately, and they would update and replenish right away, but eggs are different; they update once past midnight.

After explaining this to Su Jingchen, Yu Xiaolian quickly returned to the dimension to check how many double yolk eggs were there.

The larger ones generally are double yolk eggs. Yu Xiaolian picked through the egg basket and found only two extremely large ones, which were like two different sizes from other eggs.

Yu Xiaolian took the two eggs out, cracked them into a bowl, confirmed they were double yolk eggs, and then exited the dimension with the bowl.

"Here are two double yolk eggs, look."

"Hmm, then by the second of February, we can gather twenty phoenix eggs. Each ten phoenix eggs can be exchanged for a small bottle of Immortal Powder; we should be able to exchange for two bottles." After saying this, Su Jingchen began adding firewood to the stove to prepare breakfast.

Yu Xiaolian took out a sticky note pad and a black pen, "From now on, if you go out, leave a note for me using this, okay?

This morning when I saw you weren’t here, I was terrified; I thought something happened to you!"

Su Jingchen nodded, "This morning was my fault. I thought I could return shortly, but the big guy gathering firewood with me was quite simple-minded, so I chatted with him longer."

In fact, that big guy was willing to chat with Su Jingchen to find out information, but being new, asking questions without knowing was reasonable.

So the big guy couldn’t get useful information from Su Jingchen, whereas Su Jingchen extracted some from him.

Yu Xiaolian asked Su Jingchen, "What do we eat for breakfast?"

Su Jingchen said, "Let’s cook porridge!"

Cooking porridge wouldn’t arouse suspicion, and saying they carried rice and flour in the carriage wouldn’t raise doubts.

As for the original plan to go shopping in the nearby town, it’s no longer necessary. As long as nothing goes wrong, in ten days they can conveniently acquire Immortal Powder; they wouldn’t stay here for much longer.