826 Digging up Medicinal Herbs (1/2)
Ordinary disciples like Su Wan'er and Wang Qian were not allowed to head into the cities. Once they left the mountain ranges where the sect was, they would be punished, and severely punished at that. If they showed progress in their training one day and joined the upper levels of the sect, then they would have some freedom.
Because the ancient martial arts sects were so strict, people with wild thoughts or evil intentions would find it very difficult to stand this kind of lifestyle in the deep mountains. Hence, many of these sect traitors who had defected from their sect appeared every year. After all, not everyone could endure such hardships and focus solely on practicing, living away from the material world.
The people who were greedy, lustful and ambitious could not stand the life of poverty within the deep mountains. Once they made some progress in their training, they would defect from the sect and head to the outside world to do as they pleased. It was precisely because of this that, although the Huatian Palace's rule was strict, the Executors of the Four Major Palace Halls had always been busy. The number of defectors from the various ancient martial arts sects that were executed by the Huatian Palace every year was no fewer than five thousand.
Many ancient martial arts sects would not recruit people from the outside. There were even sects that did not accept people from the outside at all. They would mostly seek out disciples internally, for instance, among the offspring of the disciples within the sect. These children had never come in contact with the outside world, so they would not be fascinated by it.
Wang Qian was usually also very busy. She was just a disciple of the lowest level. Normally, aside from practicing, she still had a lot of chores. However, Wan'er was already in a precarious situation and would very likely be banished from the sect. Therefore, Wang Qian had resolutely decided to drop everything and do her best to help Wan'er complete the task. Luckily, she had just completed her own seven day period of gathering medicinal herbs, so she was free for the next few days. She could either get others to help her out with ordinary chores or just reject them.
”Wan'er, are you actually bringing him along?” Wang Qian saw Mo Wen following Wan'er, and she could not help but frown. She had disagreed with Mo Wen coming along yesterday. After all, gathering medicinal herbs was a technical job. Having more people did not mean higher efficiency. Even with her help, she did not have a lot of confidence in helping Wan'er overcome this hurdle. By bringing Mo Wen along, wasn't that adding to their burden?
”Sister Wang Qian, Big Brother Mo wants to help me. Also, he is incredible. He can detect the scent of medicinal herbs from far away,” Wan'er said softly. She grabbed and swung Wang Qian's hand playfully, putting on a look as she pampered this sister of hers.
In reality, Wan'er had no confidence in Mo Wen. After all, gathering medicinal herbs was no ordinary job. Those who did not know how to do it could not do it at all. She was also not certain whether Big Brother Mo was truly proficient in medicine. However, she could sense his good intentions. He truly wanted to help her. There weren't many people that were kind to her, and she did not want to hurt his ego.
”Alright, let's hope that our luck today will be better. Otherwise, you will be in seriously big trouble.” Wang Qian sighed as she looked helplessly at Wan'er. She did not look kindly upon Mo Wen. If it wasn't for him, Wan'er would not be in such a dire situation. Wasn't it enough that Wan'er had not asked him to repay her? Did he still have to come along and hold them back?
Wan'er said that he could detect the scent of medicinal herbs from ten kilometers away! Even bragging like this was going too far. Only Wan'er would believe such a tall tale. Wang Qian did not believe at all that Mo Wen truly knew how to gather medicinal herbs.
”Don't worry. With me around, our luck will certainly be good,” Mo Wen said with no self-awareness, seemingly not noticing Wang Qian's dissatisfied expression. He looked as though he could solve everything.
”I hope so.” Wang Qian rolled her eyes at Mo Wen. She snappily cursed inside, ”Who would believe you?”
”Alright. Let's go.”
Wan'er dragged Wang Qian along as she walked forward with big steps. She could tell that the atmosphere between Big Brother Mo and Sister Wang Qian was not quite right.
The Taihang Mountains were located in the eastern region of Hua Xia. The mountain range spanned many provinces and was an important geographical border for Hua Xia Country. Such a huge primeval forest naturally hid many ancient martial arts sects. The Five Tigers Sect occupied only a small area in the Taihang Mountains, but even so, this area was large enough for an ordinary person to be unable to cover entirely even if they wandered around for three months non-stop.
Wan'er was very familiar with the surrounding mountain forest. She had lived in this area since she was little. Gathering medicinal herbs was a common job for her, so she could very skillfully determine where there would be medicinal herbs.
Both Su Wan'er and Wang Qian kept walking forward, seemingly having no intention of stopping. It seemed as though they were not searching for medicinal herbs, but instead were rushing to somewhere.
”Where are you two going?” Mo Wen said casually as he followed them.
They had already walked for more than thirty kilometers. The two of them had actually not stopped even once, focusing instead on making their way. Unfortunately, the two of them had low cultivation and could not maintain their Qinggong to make their way through the mountain forest. They could only walk. Otherwise, in more than two hours, they could travel at least a hundred kilometers.
”Of course, we are going to find medicinal herbs. Do you know anything about gathering medicinal herbs? Did you think that gathering medicinal herbs was easy? That we could simply come across precious medicinal herbs and collect them just like that?” Wang Qian said snappily.
She had said that Mo Wen had come along purely to cause trouble and that he did not know anything about gathering medicinal herbs at all. Otherwise, people who usually gathered medicinal herbs would know that it was impossible to gather medicinal herbs around the entrance to the sect. The medicinal herbs that had once grown there had most likely been gathered up by other people long ago. Right now, it was winter, not spring. Within a radius of fifty kilometers around the Five Tigers Sect, there were almost no medicinal herbs to be gathered.
”Big Brother Mo, are you tired?”