825 Gathering Medicinal Herbs (1/2)

Although gathering medicinal herbs was a difficult task, it was not too harsh a job to be given. It was just a method to prevent the disciples from slacking off. If they did not slack off, they could usually complete the task.

For someone like Su Wan'er, who still could not complete the task after leaving early and returning late, there certainly was a problem, because she was not the type to slack off.

After inquiring further, Mo Wen found out that Wan'er's task was far heavier than the others. Also, she had to consecutively gather medicinal herbs for a month. Although nature was a treasure trove and there were countless medicinal herbs in the mountains, there were quite a few ancient martial arts sects in the Taihang Mountains. To sustain so many sects, no matter how abundant the Taihang Mountains' resource of medicinal herbs was, one day it would be exhausted.

Also, these ancient martial arts sects declared an area of a hundred-kilometer radius around their sect as their personal territory, preventing other ancient martial arts sects from gathering medicinal herbs there. The Five Tigers Sect was situated in an area where the distribution of the ancient martial arts sects was relatively dense. There were quite a few large sects around them. The territories of these sects held higher priority, and they did not allow the disciples of other sects to gather medicinal herbs there. This caused the area that Wan'er could gather medicinal herbs in to shrink by eighty percent.

The Five Tigers Sect was not a small sect. The area for gathering medicinal herbs that they covered was not small either. But right now, it was winter. The number of medicinal herbs was far less than in spring when all things grew. Moreover, every day when Wan'er gathered medicinal herbs, she had covered all the places she was familiar with. The difficulty of searching for medicinal herbs would also increase every day.

Trying to complete the task every day by relying only on the Five Tigers Sect's area was rather difficult. The only thing Wan'er could do was to travel a greater distance and go deeper into the primeval forest of the Taihang Mountains. That distance was too far; just travelling to and fro would take up a lot of time. These few days, Wan'er had tried her best to travel further, but it was still very difficult for her to complete her task.

The sect had its rules. The Five Tigers Sect had a rule that during the time the disciples were in charge of gathering medicinal herbs, if they did not complete the standard task five times, their cultivation would be crippled and they would be chased out of the Five Tigers Sect. This punishment was very harsh, but in reality this sort of situation rarely occurred. It was because the Five Tigers Sect duration for gathering medicinal herbs was seven days. After seven days, they would rotate. To not complete their task for five out of seven days showed that the person was especially lazy and irresponsible. Being chased out of the sect was still reasonable.

But Wan'er's current situation was special. Not only was her task heavier, equivalent to twice as much as usual, but the duration for her to gather medicinal herbs was thirty days. Wan'er was vague about why that was, only saying that she made a mistake and was punished by the sect.

Mo Wen was also very clear that Wan'er being punished was because of him. It was just that the kindhearted Wan'er did not mention it. Mo Wen frowned. Under normal circumstances, he would just take Wan'er along with him when he left. But his current injuries had yet to recover and it was not convenient for him to leave. Also, he had killed a Blood Kindred's Pinnacle Grand Earl. Maybe right now there were Blood Kindred out looking for him to seek revenge. While his cultivation had yet to recover, hiding in the Five Tigers Sect and treating his injuries was actually not a bad choice.

”Big Brother Mo, you'd better rest. I'll go back now.”

After venting her heart's frustrations, Wan'er's suppressed emotions lightened up greatly. She wiped away her tears and stood up to leave. She had had a long day and her body could not take it anymore. Tomorrow, she had to get up early once again to gather medicinal herbs. There was not much time for her to rest.

”Wan'er, tomorrow I'll accompany you to gather medicinal herbs,” Mo Wen suddenly said after pondering for a while.

”Huh?”

Wan'er was stunned for a moment, then her little face revealed a troubled look. She had guessed that Mo Wen wanted to help her, but gathering medicinal herbs was a technical task. People who had not gathered medicinal herbs before would certainly be unable to do so in the mountains. It was hard to say whether Big Brother Mo could differentiate between medicinal herbs. An extra pair of hands would not necessarily be helpful. Sometimes, it would instead become a burden.

”Big Brother Mo, I can handle it on my own. Also, Sister Wang Qian is willing to accompany me. You are injured, so it would be better if you did not come,” Wan'er said bitterly. She did not know how to turn down Mo Wen's offer.

”What's the matter? Don't you trust your Big Brother Mo? If it's gathering medicinal herbs, I am a specialist. I've followed adults to gather medicinal herbs since I was three and can differentiate between all kinds of medicinal herbs. When I was seven, I went gathering medicinal herbs alone. I can smell the location of medicinal herbs from ten kilometers away,” Mo Wen said with a smile.

He was not exaggerating. He had been born in a highly respected medical family and had learned medicine from a young age. Gathering medicinal herbs was just the most fundamental skill. However, he could not really detect the scent of medicinal herbs from ten kilometers away. He was not the Heaven Roaring Celestial Dog, but he did have Deified Soul Power. The area that his deified soul could cover if focused in one direction was more than ten kilometers.

”Big Brother Mo is so incredible!” Wan'er's eyes were wide open. He could smell the location of medicinal herbs from ten kilometers away? Was he making it up?

However, she could not detect any signs of lying from Mo Wen's face. Wan'er was innocent and pure, but she had an exquisite heart. She could acutely discern the feelings of others. She could tell whether others were lying by looking into their eyes and whether they had good or bad intentions towards her.

”If you don't believe me, you can bring me along tomorrow for me to try it out. If I am a burden to you, you can continue gathering medicinal herbs on your own and I will return to the sect myself,” Mo Wen said with a smile. He had spoken so exaggeratedly that only Wan'er would believe him. However, he had indeed not been lying.

”I… I did not… mean it that way…” Wan'er lowered her head. Her face turned slightly red.

”Alright, go back and rest now. I will follow you down the mountain tomorrow morning,” Mo Wen said with an unquestionable tone.

Although currently his cultivation had yet to recover and his body still had a lot of problems, it was already fine for him to go about ordinary life. His body was strong. No matter how severely injured he was, not just anyone could simply harm him. Ancient martial art practitioners below the Golden Elixir Realm most likely could not even penetrate the defense of his flesh.