Chapter 156 Rescuing Someone

As the illusion shattered, Fang Nian returned to reality. He knew that his mind must have been influenced by something, which was why he had plunged into such a deceitful fantasy.

After steadying his state of mind, a surge of burning hot blood suddenly filled his mouth, and crimson fluid trickled down the corner of his lips. Yet, the moment it spilled, a faint smile suddenly appeared on Fang Nian’s face.

Soon after, his vision began to clear. The cave walls and the subterranean river reappeared before his eyes. To his surprise, however, the figures of the others were completely gone from the cavern; besides himself, there was only the roaring, torrential river.

Furthermore, Fang Nian discovered that he was seemingly no longer where he had first entered the illusion, but had been transported to an unfamiliar location.

"How did I fall into a hallucination? Given my current abilities, ordinary things shouldn't be able to control my body so easily. It must be some kind of special substance."

After pondering for a moment, Fang Nian suddenly snapped back to his senses, his gaze fixing on the surrounding walls.

"Why is it so bright here? Sunlight never reaches these caves year-round, so how could it be this luminous? Could it really be... Is this Soul-Dissolving Moss?"

Bryophytes belong to the lowest tier of higher plants. They bear no flowers or seeds, propagating instead through spores.

They can serve as indicator plants for monitoring the degree of air pollution. There are approximately 23,000 species of bryophytes worldwide, with around 2,800 species found in China.

Regarding the origin of bryophytes, there is still no consensus. Some believe they originated from green algae, citing reasons such as sharing the same photosynthetic pigments, identical stored starch, and sperm cells that each possess two flagella of equal length at the apex.

The protonema formed during spore germination is also very similar to filamentous algae, and the structures of the oogonia and antheridia in green algae can be compared to the archegonia and antheridia of bryophytes.

Another perspective suggests they degenerated from psilophytes. Psilophytes appeared in the Silurian period, whereas bryophytes appeared in the middle Devonian, tens of millions of years later than psilophytes.

In terms of evolutionary sequence, they likely originated from a common ancestor. However, up until 2017, both of the aforementioned views still lacked sufficient evidence and awaited further research in the future.

While in college, Fang Nian had once studied this type of plant for a period and had even discovered a specific kind of moss known as Soul-Dissolving Moss.

This moss species has a gametophyte-dominant lifecycle, with the sporophyte attached to the gametophyte. However, the gametophyte structure is simple, lacking true roots and vascular tissue; it thrives in shaded, damp environments and requires water during sexual reproduction.

Consequently, it struggles to further adapt and develop on land, which is why this Soul-Dissolving Moss generally survives only in locations with abundant subterranean water sources.

The powder of this moss possesses immensely powerful hallucinogenic properties, capable of controlling the minds of humans and animals alike, which is how it earned its name.

Thinking up to this point, Fang Nian dwelt on it no longer, as he had more important matters to attend to. Now that he knew the preceding events were entirely false, it meant that none of the others were actually dead. Their disappearance must also be attributed to poisoning by this Soul-Dissolving Moss.

Therefore, he had to find a way to locate them now; he needed to check on their condition.

With this in mind, Fang Nian looked around. Although the glow of the moss allowed him to see a little bit of his surroundings, the light was still too dim. His field of vision did not extend beyond two meters, making him practically no different from a blind person.

Thus, Fang Nian reached behind his waist to retrieve the unused torch from earlier, ignited it with a fire starter, and the scene that sprang into view left him utterly stunned.

For the place where he currently stood was not the sharp bend he had seen previously, but a straight river channel. Both ends of the channel were pitch-black voids—deep and utterly devoid of any visible end.

In addition to this, Fang Nian saw that countless nymph-like creatures were gathering right beneath his feet, frequently breaking the water's surface and churning upward in massive waves, moving much like a conscious swarm of insects.

Fang Nian knew that the moment he fell in, he would instantly meet the same fate as that man and be reduced to a desiccated corpse.

Fang Nian frowned, then lowered his gaze to inspect his feet, relieved to find that aside from himself, there were no other corpses in the river. This put his mind at ease, indicating that the others had not fallen in.

Wasting no more time, and noticing numerous iron rings ahead, he began to climb swiftly, pressing forward to search.

However, after covering less than fifty meters, Fang Nian caught sight of a familiar figure—a woman, none other than Cai Yan, also known as Cai Wenji, who had become separated from him earlier.

At this moment, her feet had largely lost contact with the iron rings on the cave wall. The only thing supporting her body was a red silk ribbon tied around her hand, while her fingers desperately clutched an iron ring set into the upper wall of the cave.

Fang Nian’s brows knitted slightly, and his tension spiked. He could clearly see that the ribbon would snap before long, and directly beneath her were countless nymphs.

At the sight of this, leaving no time for hesitation, Fang Nian's body instantly propelled forward. Taking three steps in two, he leaped across by pushing off the rock face, and then flew through the air to catch the falling Cai Wenji in his arms.

With his other hand, he drew a previously purchased dagger and drove it fiercely into the wall, leaving the two of them dangling precariously from the cliff face.

Fang Nian gripped the copper dagger embedded in the rock tightly with his left hand, while his right arm wrapped securely around the unresponsive Cai Wenji’s waist as they hung suspended against the wall, with the torch wedged between his legs.

Checking Cai Wenji's body temperature with his hand, Fang Nian felt reassured upon finding she was still alive. It was likely that, much like himself, Cai Wenji had inadvertently inhaled the moss's powder, plunging her into an illusion and completely robbing her of control over her own body before she plummeted downward.

Yet Cai Wenji could be considered fortunate to have run into Fang Nian. Had he arrived even a little later, this legendary beauty of such exquisite allure would undoubtedly have become dinner for the nymphs.

Even so, Fang Nian could not simply hold her and hang here indefinitely.

After all, the copper dagger had been thrust into the stone wall in a rush, and it likely wouldn't hold out for long. He had to wake her up first. Judging by the severity of Cai Wenji's poisoning, however, her condition was clearly much worse than his own had been moments ago. To rouse her, he feared he would have to resort to the very same method he had used on himself.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Fang Nian noticed that the nymphs writhing beneath his feet had suddenly gone into a frenzy. Yet this was not the agitated swimming born of a craving for food, but rather sheer panic; the creatures were scurrying in all directions, colliding with one another, and swimming at breakneck speed. In the blink of an eye, they completely vanished from beneath the feet of the two.