[Mo Dao Zu Shi Fanfiction] I Raise A Ying in Yiling

As for how to get Lady Yan, who was a secret agent for the imperial court, to help her, it was naturally not based on the superficial relationship she had with Lady Yan and her father from the Wei Dynasty.

The reason she was so sure that Lady Yan would help her after she went to her for help was that she could find the Resentment-Dispelling Herb!

As its name suggests, this herb has the power to dispel resentment. Wherever it exists, no resentment remains within a half-inch radius, even if it has infiltrated the body. This effect is incredibly useful not only to cultivators who focus on spiritual energy and consider resentment their greatest enemy, but also to ordinary people who haven't cultivated. Possessing it can protect one from most demons, monsters, and walking corpses that feed on resentment, thus ensuring that even unarmed civilians are not harmed or killed by suddenly appearing evil spirits.

Most importantly, this herb is very ordinary-looking and extremely well-hidden. Unless someone demonstrates its effects in person, even the most powerful cultivator will not be able to detect its existence. In other words, as long as the person who possesses it does not reveal it, they have no need to worry about being discovered and killed for stealing the treasure.

As the saying goes, where there are venomous snakes, there is always an antidote within seven steps. This antidote was discovered by Wei's father by chance when Wei Chaoyan was five years old, during a dangerous incident. That year, Wei's mother's old illness relapsed, and she was bedridden and unable to get up. Wei's father searched for doctors in the vicinity and could find them, but they all gave the same diagnosis: critical condition.

In his desperation, Wei's father remembered the miraculous medicine that had saved Wei's mother when they first met. He couldn't find that medicine now, but he recalled that the doctor had mentioned a herb with similar effects that could be found deep in the mountains near the Yiling mass grave if he was lucky. If he could find that herb, even if using it directly in medicine would destroy some of its efficacy, he could still pull Wei's mother back from the brink of death.

In a desperate attempt to escape, Wei's father rushed into an old forest on the edge of a mass grave, ready to take a gamble. During a frantic escape from the evil spirits lurking in the woods, he accidentally tumbled down a well-hidden hillside. In his tumble, his hand inadvertently grabbed a clump of wild grass in an inconspicuous patch of grass in the shade at the bottom of the slope. Because he was holding this clump of grass, Wei's father got up and ran for a while before inexplicably realizing that the evil spirits were no longer chasing him.

Relieved, Wei's father managed to venture deep into the old forest unharmed with the wild grass he had fortuitously obtained. He managed to gather a few medicinal herbs he needed, but in his haste to take the herbs back to save people, he simply made a discreet mark on the hillside where he found the miraculously effective wild grass and left.

After successfully rescuing Wei Niang, Wei's father finally had time to recall the wild grass that had played such a crucial role. With Wei Niang's help, and after two years of research on the wild grass, Wei's father discovered some things about it.

First, this unknown wild grass has the effect of dispelling resentment. A single plant can only dispel a very small range, and at least five plants are needed to achieve a range of about half an inch. At the same time, it is extremely well hidden.

Secondly, this wild grass is extremely picky about its growing environment. In other words, it only exists in the deep forests of the mountains bordering the Yiling mass grave, and cannot be planted or transplanted elsewhere. Moreover, the number of this wild grass is not large, and it mostly grows in clusters hidden in the shady weeds on small hillsides, with a maximum of only ten plants in a clump.

Moreover, this wild grass is extremely exclusive. If a few of these wild grasses grow here, then there will be no other places with them within a radius of dozens of miles.

At the same time, Wei's father also discovered that although this wild grass was delicate, it was easy for people to use. In other words, it did not have the characteristic that ordinary spiritual materials and plants could only be used by mortals after being processed and forged by cultivators.

So, Wei's father and mother decided to inform the emperor about the existence of this resentment-repelling herb (yes, Wei's father named this herb resentment-repelling herb, which is simple and clear, and its function can be known at a glance o(￣ヘ￣o)) through Yan Niangzi, with whom they already had a good relationship, and expressed their willingness to trade the resentment-repelling herb they had collected to the emperor for a price of one hundred taels of silver per plant.

Upon learning of this, the emperor was overjoyed after verifying the authenticity of the resentment-repelling herb. With its existence, he no longer needed to live in constant fear that he might one day be inexplicably killed by a suddenly appearing evil spirit. He could also use it to secretly exchange for more benefits with certain immortal sects.

Originally, he wanted to get rid of Wei's father and the others who knew about it so that he could control the resentment-repelling grass by himself. However, after understanding the willful nature of the grass and fearing that his attempt to kill to silence them would fail and instead alert the immortal sects and families near Yiling, he reluctantly gave up this tempting idea after much deliberation and agreed to Wei's father's request: to exchange money for goods!

Every year, Wei's father must ensure that he collects at least three plants of the Resentment-Expelling Herb for trade. At the same time, all of Wei's father's external communications must go through Lady Yan to prevent him from leaking information to others (of course, there are definitely people from the Emperor monitoring Wei's father).

This is their family's biggest source of income each year (obviously, all this money has been spent by Wei's father and his family; how they spent it will be detailed later), and it is also the greatest guarantee of their friendship with Lady Yan.

As for the existence of the resentment-repelling herb, why was their family almost destroyed by an evil spirit a year ago? Why did Wei's father and the others lose their lives at the hands of an evil spirit half a year ago?

It's true what they say, when bad luck strikes, even drinking water can be a problem! A year ago, when Wei Niang gave birth, Wei's grandmother came to her house to help Wei Niang during her postpartum period at Wei's father's request. Resentful that Wei's grandmother was there to help Wei Niang without bringing her young son (who happened to be caring for Wei's second aunt's one-year-old fifth son), the second aunt came to Wei Chaoyan's house and caused a huge scene. In the midst of the argument, she accidentally knocked down clothes made of resentment-repelling herbs that were hanging to dry in the yard. Before Wei Chaoyan could retrieve them, a passing dog snatched them away and they were never found again!

Just as it was time for Wei's father to go deep into the old forest to collect the resentment-repelling herb, Wei's mother took out the clothes, washed and dried them before giving them to Wei's father to wear. However, Wei's mother went into labor half a month early, and in their busyness, Wei's father and Wei Chaoyan forgot to bring in the clothes that had been drying.

Who would have thought that such a thing would happen in just half a day? That was the only garment in the family made from the Repelling Resentment Grass! In the four years since the discovery of the Repelling Resentment Grass, Wei's father had only collected twelve plants. After deducting the four plants used for research and the five plants traded to the emperor, their family only had three plants left. They used them all to make this garment, just so that Wei's father would be safer when collecting the Repelling Resentment Grass.

Unfortunately, the clothes were finished, but Wei's father only wore them once before they were gone, which made Wei's mother, who was still in postpartum confinement, so angry that she almost vomited blood.

With the help of the passing Zezang couple, they finally survived the damned evil spirit. After half a year of recuperation, Wei's parents went directly to Yiling Town to discuss with Yan Niangzi that the exorcism herb should be traded later this year. After the discussion, they also bought some things, but unfortunately, they encountered the evil spirit again on their way back to the village and were eventually defeated and died at the hands of the evil spirit.

With Wei's father and the others dead, the source of the resentment-repelling herb is lost. Originally, Wei Chaoyan did not intend to take the risk (she knew the approximate location of the resentment-repelling herb; Wei's father had mentioned it before, but not the specifics, and she knew how to distinguish between genuine and fake resentment-repelling herbs). However, now that things have come to this, in order to get Yan Niangzi's help, she has no choice but to use this as a bargaining chip.