Chapter 825: Gathering Medicinal Herbs
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
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.
“Oh.” Wan’er stuck out her tongue. She discovered that in front of Mo Wen, she could not even bring herself to resist, only nodding her head obediently.
…
Early in the morning the following day, Wan’er came to deliver Mo Wen breakfast and medicinal soups as usual. The sky was just turning light, and the forest was still pitch black. Wan’er woke up very early every day, especially recently, getting up just before dawn.
Normally, Wan’er did not want to disturb Mo Wen’s rest and would leave after quietly placing his breakfast and medicinal soups.
But today, Wan’er discovered that Mo Wen’s room was lit up. An oil lamp sat on the table, and Mo Wen sat beside it.
“Big Brother Mo, you’ve got up so early,” Wan’er said in astonishment. Usually, Mo Wen would be sleeping.
“Aren’t I following you to gather medicinal herbs today?” Mo Wen said with a smile. He did not need to sleep at all. The reason why he sat beside the table so early was to tell Wan’er that he was already prepared. Hence, she did not need to worry about him not getting enough sleep and did not need to worry about waking him.
“Big Brother Mo, you and Sister Wang Qian are both good people.” Wan’er’s little face revealed a very sweet smile.
Being called a good person by Wan’er made Mo Wen shake his head in amusement. Could he be a good person? It was just that he was not a bad person. From a certain point of view, although Mo Wen was the Miracle Physician, he was not suited to be a doctor. He did not practice medicine in order to help the people; Wan’er was a suitable person to be a doctor.
If he had not been born into a highly respectable medical family, but a family of immortal cultivators, he would absolutely only have the Way of Immortals in his heart and would not practice medicine.
After having a simple breakfast, Mo Wen went out with Wan’er.
The area that ordinary disciples stayed in was located on the tall cliffs on one side of a valley. Hence, they had to descend the mountain every time they left the house. The valley was the area where the Five Tigers Sect’s inner-sect disciples, core members, and upper echelons stayed. Looking down from the cliff, one could vaguely see the scenery in the valley. The valley was not big, but it was like spring all year round. The environment was rather nice and the buildings were styled magnificently, with delicate carvings and exquisite architecture.
The Five Tigers Sect was a very ancient sect. It had some history and some fame around the region of the Taihang Mountains. Their most famous skill was the Sect Ending Sabre of the Five Tigers. This sword technique was not a very profound martial arts teaching. It was just a fundamental sword technique, but it was practical and suitable for low to intermediate level disciples. There were many in the martial art circle that knew how to use the Sect Ending Sabre of the Five Tigers, but the most authentic was the Five Tigers Sect’s sword technique.
The entrance to the Five Tigers Sect was situated at the entrance of the valley. It was constructed from many large boulders. On top of the boulders, the three characters of the Five Tigers Sect were written rather domineeringly. Mo Wen and Wan’er had to pass through this domineering entrance if they wanted to descend the mountain. Right now, there was a silhouette standing below the entrance.
It was none other than Wang Qian. She was not wearing a dress, but rather sturdy coarse clothes. This sort of clothing was suitable for walking in the mountain forests.
“Sister Wang Qian.”
Su Wan’er waved at Wang Qian from afar. Aside from Mo Wen, this time Wang Qian also decided to accompany Wan’er to gather medicinal herbs. She intended to help Wan’er get through this hard time.
Wang Qian still decided to help Su Wan’er even though she was also an ordinary disciple and needed to complete tasks and chores. For life in the mountains, everything depended on themselves. Planting, breeding, weaving, carrying firewood and fetching water all needed to be done by themselves. The upper echelons and the inner-sect disciples that were focused on training would not do such chores, hence they could only let the ordinary disciples carry out this hard labor.
Every ancient martial art sect had a strict rule about not letting their daily lives come in contact with the outside world. This rule had continued for centuries. No sect dared to defy this rule. It was because this rule was set by the Huatian Palace.
The sects could have their own properties outside and they could run companies too. However, they couldn’t import the resources and manpower from the outside world into the mountains. Besides, the disciples from the ancient martial arts sects could not go to the cities easily. If they had relatives in the outside world, they could visit home once every three years, and for no more than ten days each time.
It was because if the Huatian Palace did not impose such a restriction, the balance of the world would be destroyed. Most likely the ancient martial arts sects would be known by the world and they would not be able to remain hidden in the deep mountains. The order of society would be affected too.
Therefore, even though there were many ancient martial arts sects, ancient martial art practitioners that were active in the cities were few. Those who were active in the cities were either people with deep and profound cultivation who had a certain level of freedom, or people with good family backgrounds who weren’t under strict control of the sects. Another type of people were the traitors who had abandoned their sects and ignored the sect rules, escaping to the cities to enjoy wealth and comfort.