Chapter 10 “Spirit contract with a spirit beast”
When the next day came around, Ling Yue found her mother and gave the details of yesterday’s scuffle and agreement with Ye Qing: “Mother, I don’t want to go to the martial hall anymore, child wishes to enter the mountain for a month.”
She originally thought what awaited her would be a series of scolding, but without a single word, Ye Huang Yu went inside the home and brought out a baggage containing three days’ worth of food rations and a bottle of liniment. (liniment, a alcohol used for rubbing on bruises to relieve pain)
“Ling Yue, you are old enough now, whether it’s a grudge or not is up to you. Your martial art may have grown very quickly in the past months, but without seeing actual combat, it will remain useless. This here is the baggage I prepared for you on your trip. Mother won’t ask for much, as long as you can come back in one piece after a month and defeat Ye Qing in the clan’s assessment competition then I’ll be satisfied.” Each and every word Ye Huang Yu said was branded into her daughter’s heart.
“Mother, if I meet a young wild beast in the mountains, what methods can I use it to domesticate them?” Before Ling Yue left for the mountains, she suddenly remembered to ask this question.
The small fox in her dimensional space was very lovely, but it’s too sensitive to danger. Plus, there’s no way she can catch that little fur ball with that running speed.
Yesterday she deliberately left a bowl of goat milk for the little thing, but it wasn’t touched in the least. Seems the little guy obviously doesn’t favor stuff like that.
Then maybe, she can think of alternative ways to domesticate it.
Ye Huang Yu was practically perennially in the mountains so it’s only expected that she would encounter a lot of wild animals during her runs. Back then she would sometimes bring home some small rabbits of that sort for Ling Yue to keep as pets, but because of Ling Yue’s mental state, Ye Qing and his gang would always rob her of the small critters and roast them to eat.
Seeing this happen time and time again, Ye Huang Yu can only stop doing that in order to keep her daughter from being sad.
“An adult wild beast cannot be domesticated by ordinary means, but if you encounter a young cub, then you can try feeding it some chopped grass or raw meat. However, wild beasts are after all animals, they are unable to understand human nature so it’s pointless to domesticate them anyways. If you encounter a cub of a spirit beast though, then that’s different.” Ye Huang Yu casually replied.
“What’s the difference between a wild beast and a spirit beast?” Ling Yue remembered the little fox’s speed and reflex, truly not something a general animal can compete with.
“Spirit beasts can understand human nature, and they can enter into a spirit contract with man. However, only those big secular schools would have records of how to enter into a spirit contract. Within the borders of Da Xia, there are few spirit beasts in the country and most are of noble blood, meaning they will never actively enter into a contract willingly.” Ye Huang Yu had lived for almost thirty years and the only time she’s seen a spirit beast was in the big cities of Da Xia.
From her mother’s mouth, Ling Yue learns that the spirit beasts of Da Xia were divided into nine levels – nine being the highest and one being the lowest. For Autumn Maple Town, the wild beasts to roam the wilderness in this region usually consist of animals in the low to intermediate level.
“Ling Yue, when you enter the mountain you are only permitted to be active in the outer perimeter of the mountainside, never are you to go up the peak.” She warns her daughter.
In the face of intermediary level beasts, a third level constitutional cultivator can still handle it without much effort. But at the peak where it’s sparsely populated with high levels of wild animals, it’s unknown what may be lurking up there.
After getting some more warnings and advice, Ling Yue finally packs up her bag and left the northern manor.
But before entering the mountain, Ling Yue made one last stop to the medicinal shop.
Ever since she broke through to the third rank of the constitutional domain, the vitality condensing liquid no longer had an effect on her.
She also knows, the older the vitality condensing grass, the more valuable it becomes. This was especially true for the ten year strands grown in the wild. Yet, in her dimensional space “Red Mist Sky”, letting a plant grow in there for a day equals to a year outside.
Using this advantage, she’s been hoarding quite the number of spirit grasses for the past month, perfect for sale at this time.
Inside the medicinal shop, the shopkeeper that received Ling Yue on her first visit was currently staring at the door in a daze like state. Since that day half a month ago, he’s been doing this nonstop in hopes of seeing the little fortune star again.
And now, upon seeing the familiar figure that he’s been waiting all this time for, this shopkeeper immediately dashed to the front in order to welcome Ling Yue.
“Guest, you’ve come. Are you also here today to sell your Vitality Condensing Grass?” Towards the attentiveness of the shopkeeper, Ling Yue found it sort of strange.
“I have here ten strains of fifteen years old, twenty strains of ten years old, and the remaining are all three to four years old.” Ling Yue places the product in front of the shopkeeper.
Fifteen years, ten years… The shopkeeper did not bother inspecting the product and immediately took out the money for her.
“Shopkeeper, you gave me ten percent more than what we’ve agreed upon.” Counting it again, Ling Yue confusingly asks.
“The extra ten percent is for you. As long as you have more Vitality Condensing Grass in the future, we will continue to take them all.” The shopkeeper was smiling so hard right now that his eyes could barely be seen anymore.
Just looking at the spirit grasses would light up this shopkeeper’s eye. Compared to the extra ten percent he gave Ling Yue, it’s nothing when he resells it in the big city because the profit will double or more.
This extra money may not seem like anything to the shop, but to Ling Yue, it’s a whole different story.
For this, she’s now earned an extra 2 silver, plus the last time, she now has a total of twenty two silver.
Not saying anything unnecessary, Ling Yue purchased some bug repellant powder and was just about to leave when she overheard someone talking.
“Shopkeeper, the Qingmu fruits inside the shop is not enough. Without it, we won’t be able to produce enough liniment.” The shop assistant makes an urgent face as he said this.
Liniment was a very commonly used wine for bruises, its production was nothing special and any general medicine store can do it. It’s just that one of the ingredients used for the wine was called Qingmu fruit.
“Then we will temporarily not sell liniment. It’s not like you don’t know, Qingmu fruit is only grown in the area of Seven Star Mountain. And recently, the herb gatherers near the ridge vicinity have been attacked by wild beasts. Some have even died as a result. Against those odds, who would want to go gather herbs?” The shopkeeper was also worrying about this problem in his heart.
Hearing this, Ling Yue takes note of the Qingmu fruit in the shop assistant’s hand and secretly memorized its appearance.