Yang Lie and his companions gradually shrank into small black dots against the sky. Chen Moxuan spoke:
"Don't touch these storage pouches just yet. Let's finish butchering the beast meat first. Once the two junior brothers' spirit-seeking mice return, we'll have them sniff around and check whether anything's been tampered with."
Though he doubted the other side would go so far as to sabotage the bags, Chen Moxuan always assumed the worst in others. That cautious mindset was one of the reasons he'd survived to become a squad leader.
Before long, Ji An's golden-brown spirit-seeking rat scurried out of the underbrush, a carrot-sized crimson ginseng clamped in its jaws.
It laid the ginseng at its master's feet and squeaked proudly for praise.
"Well done."
Ji An flicked out a beast-pellet. The rat leapt up and swallowed it whole.
He then sent it darting off again to inspect the storage pouches.
The beast-pellet, crafted with a secret recipe, could slowly purify the rat's bloodline. The effect was subtle, but as it accumulated over time, its spirituality would inevitably deepen.
Jiang Qiuyue glanced at the ginseng and smiled.
"That's blood-nourishing ginseng. Judging from its size, it's probably over a decade old, one of the main ingredients for Shen Yuan Pills. It could fetch a dozen spirit stones.
Not bad at all. Compared to that, Junior Brother Tian's spirit-seeking rat seems to have completely lost its knack for finding herbs."
Searching out spiritual herbs was painstaking work. Except during certain seasons, most herbs blended seamlessly into their surroundings, easy to overlook without meticulous searching. Worse still, the hunt often meant running into venomous snakes or spirit insects, making the task even more dangerous.
Chu He jeered:
"Senior Sister isn't quite right. Maybe it never had the knack to begin with, so you can't say it lost anything."
Tian Yulei scratched his head and muttered weakly:
"Maybe my beast just doesn't carry enough of the spirit-seeking bloodline. It leans more toward combat… but it can still find herbs sometimes."
Truth was, he had no idea why his rat had grown dumber the longer he kept it. Fierce, yes, but lacking wit.
Just then, Ji An received feedback from his own beast. He turned and reported:
"Captain, the storage pouches are clean."
He strode forward, seized the three pouches with a thread of force-control, and tossed them to Chen Moxuan.
"Boss," Jiang Qiuyue suggested, "why not let Junior Brother Ji take his rat and scour for more herbs? There may be other surprises waiting. This was the apes' territory. By nature, they drive out other spirit beasts, so now is the perfect time to gather."
"That works. Go with him, but stay close. Once we've packed these bags, we'll join you."
At that moment, the brownish-yellow rat emerged from some hidden corner, proudly carrying a fist-sized earth beetle in its mouth.
Jiang Qiuyue burst out laughing, nearly doubling over.
"Junior Brother, isn't that an unranked insect? Oh, wait, it's a soil-element bug! I hear earth-attribute beasts love those."
Tian Yulei's face went dark as ink. He gave his own beast a swift kick.
Utter humiliation!
The squad combed through Cangyun Ridge, but in the end, they only found eight usable spirit herbs.
With spirit herbs, age was everything; if the years weren't enough, the value dropped drastically. So the group didn't bother harvesting immature ones.
If it had been rogue cultivators instead, they probably would have stripped the land bare.
Chen Moxuan sketched out a simple map, marking the general locations of the unharvested herbs. Someday, those notes might come in handy.
After returning to Mo Cliff Mountain's market town, they rented a cave-dwelling. Ji An fed his spirit-seeking rat a beast pellet and ordered it to stand guard, then collapsed straight into sleep.
Out hunting monsters, one had to stay tense every single day.
Even at night, with restrictive wards protecting them and sentries taking turns on watch, no one dared sleep too deeply.
Many carnivorous beasts prowled in the dark, wolves especially, always moving in packs. If surrounded, it was deadly.
When Ji An awoke again, it was already the afternoon of the next day.
The others were long since up. Compared to past expeditions, this trip had been short; by their standards, relatively easy.
In twos and threes, they split up to sell their spoils at different shops, and by sundown, the last of the goods had been dealt with.
At the end, they regrouped at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, this time taking only an ordinary room.
Once wine and dishes were ordered, Chen Moxuan spoke:
"Junior Brother Ji truly is our lucky star. First time hunting with us, and such a huge haul.
Let's tally up the earnings first, then settle the personal expenses afterward."
He reported:
"Junior Brother Ji, Junior Sister Qiuyue, and I sold seventy-five Jade Spirit Fruits. At eight spirit stones apiece, that's six hundred.
Add in two Blood-Nourishing Ginsengs, fifteen spirit stones each, and thirty more. Altogether, we made eight hundred sixty-two."
"Heh heh."
Tian Yulei chuckled stupidly, a bit of drool slipping from the corner of his mouth. He quickly wiped it away, coughed twice to cover his embarrassment, and went on:
"Our side sold off hides, meat, and beast blood. All the hides and blood went for ninety-six spirit stones.
We scoured every tavern in town to sell the meat. Still have seventy or eighty catties left, but we managed forty-seven spirit stones. That makes one hundred forty-three total."
"That brings us to a total of one thousand and five spirit stones. Seven days out and back, and we broke a thousand. I'll be grinning in my sleep!"
Jiang Qiuyue's eyes sparkled like stars. Normally, each of them only cleared around fifty stones a month, but this was in a whole different league.
"Hold the smiles, we still need to calculate the expenses."
Chen Moxuan put on a serious face, though the grin tugging at his lips couldn't quite be suppressed.
"Junior Brother Ji, how many Water Curtain Talismans did you burn blocking the Ape King?"
"Six."
"And the rest of you? Did anyone use personal talismans?"
Chu He and Tian Yulei shook their heads.
"None."
"I used one Cold Wind Talisman," Jiang Qiuyue admitted.
Chen Moxuan nodded.
"I didn't use any. We'll reimburse Qiuyue fifty spirit crystals for the talisman.
As for Junior Brother Ji's twenty middle-grade Geng Metal Talismans and six Water Curtain Talismans… Such powerful Geng Metal Talismans, we'll price them at fifty-five spirit crystals apiece. That comes to an extra fourteen stones for him.
Any objections?"
"None," Ji An shook his head. That rate was better than selling them to Wei Songnian.
"No objections," Jiang Qiuyue added softly. Then she asked, "The Water Curtain Talismans we bought last time… weren't they yours, Junior Brother Ji?"
"Very likely!"
Chen Moxuan chuckled.
"All right, we'll leave talisman talk for another day. Time to divide the spoils!
That leaves nine hundred ninety. As usual, we'll hold back thirty as squad funds.
This time, Junior Brother Ji's contribution was outstanding, and he got an extra ten.
The rest split evenly, one hundred ninety each. If no one disagrees, I'll distribute now."
Everyone laughed:
"No objections, split it!"
Ji An tucked two hundred fourteen spirit stones into his pouch, a quiet satisfaction swelling in his chest.
Three thousand stones would earn enough contribution points to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill. With the right approach, in a year or two, he could be there.
Once the stones were shared, the dishes began arriving. They raised their cups and drank together.
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