Chapter 4248 — A Rare Opportunity

Wang Feng, standing off to one side, looked just as shaken; by now he too must have grasped what the two words "infant ginseng" truly meant.

"Indeed. I am now at the late Golden Core stage, no great distance from perfection, and must begin preparing ahead of time to condense my Nascent Soul. To condense it swiftly, one cannot do without the Nascent-Condensing Golden Pill—and infant ginseng is the chief ingredient in refining that very pill!" Chu Bubai said with an unabashed smile at the others.

"But…" Guo Dengtao's breathing was heavy, yet he was cautious by nature and had not let the words "infant ginseng" go straight to his head. He hesitated. "A top-grade natural treasure like infant ginseng—never mind whether the Rufeng Forest truly has any, even if it does, it would surely be in the deepest core. There could not possibly be any on the forest's outskirts."

"Well said. Infant ginseng would certainly not appear on the outskirts, which is precisely why I came here resolved to press into the depths. Do you dare come along? Rest assured—so long as we go together, whether or not we find the infant ginseng, no matter how much we ultimately gain, every last natural treasure shall be divided equally among us, share and share alike!" Chu Bubai pledged with an utterly sincere face, swearing to it as though by oath.

"Infant ginseng is indeed a prize men dream of…" Guo Dengtao exchanged a glance with Wang Feng and still hesitated. "Everyone wants infant ginseng, but I have heard tell that in the past, those who came to this Rufeng Forest—even parties that ventured into the deep mountains—well, even late-stage Golden Core masters never once came out alive. This is a place of certain death. With our meager strength, we stand even less chance…"

"True enough. Infant ginseng is fine, but you need a life to go fetch it with!" Wang Feng chimed in from the side. "With the little strength the few of us have, going into deep mountains like that would only make our deaths come faster and uglier!"

This was no alarmist talk. The spirit beasts on the outskirts were weak; those in the depths were strong. The group had so far not even left the outer reaches, and already they had encountered a Golden Core Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast. If they pressed deeper, who knew what they might run into?

This was the South Island, the stronghold of the spirit beast clans. Even though the Rufeng Forest lay at its very edge, should a Golden Core perfection beast—or even a Nascent Soul spirit beast—pop out at random, that would be far beyond anything those present could handle.

"Yes, and there is another point. Even if we were lucky enough to find infant ginseng and escape this place with our skins intact, if we cannot refine it into a Nascent-Condensing Golden Pill, it is of no use to us whatsoever. Surely we cannot commit such waste as to simply hawk it on the market?" Guo Dengtao said, heavy with worry. "The Nascent-Condensing Golden Pill is a sixth-grade elixir; I reckon only an alchemy god like Zhang Lifeng could refine it. Ordinary alchemists are hopeless to ask. With the connections we have, where would we find a top-tier alchemist like that to help us?"

Chu Bubai could not help but frown. He had assumed that the fatal allure of infant ginseng would be enough—that the moment he raised it, the others would grow hot-headed. Yet to his surprise, Guo Dengtao and Wang Feng, plain-looking as they were, could keep such level heads. To enumerate so long a list of objections was plainly to say they did not wish to go.

As for Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, neither said a word. They simply sat to one side listening quietly, watching coldly from the sidelines.

"The alchemy problem is actually easy enough to solve…" At this, Feng Hongyu, seated beside Chu Bubai, suddenly spoke up in support. "I hear a Tian Dan Pavilion opened on Middle Island not long ago, one that specializes in refining and selling all manner of top-grade elixirs, and now and then sells fifth- and sixth-grade pills besides. They ought to be the ones to ask. I have a relative who lives not far from the Tian Dan Pavilion…"

"…" Wei Zhao was struck speechless at this, torn between laughter and tears, and had to force his expression into neutrality to keep from giving anything away. The owner of the Tian Dan Pavilion was sitting right across from you—you had spent all this time disdaining and belittling it—and now you fancy you can go ask the Tian Dan Pavilion to do you a favor?

Still, Feng Hongyu's words did make Guo Dengtao and Wang Feng's eyes light up, and their formerly hesitant expressions plainly softened into temptation.

In truth, Wei Zhao himself was rather tempted at this moment—after all, who did not wish to advance to the Nascent Soul stage?

Here on Cloud-Tier Island, a Foundation Establishment expert was merely a beginner at the threshold, a Golden Core expert one who had entered the hall, and only at the Nascent Soul stage could one truly count as a somebody—even on Middle Island, such a one would be a top-tier expert whose name was known.

"Your concerns are not without reason, but in my view the deep mountains are not as dreadful as you imagine. It is not as though going in means one is certain never to return. To be frank with you all, on that occasion when I was stranded here in the Rufeng Forest by mishap, the place I found myself in was in fact the deep mountains!" Seeing his chance, Chu Bubai struck while the iron was hot and dropped a bombshell.

"What? Brother Chu, you have been into the deep mountains?" Guo Dengtao and the others were instantly astonished. When Wei Zhao had asked earlier, Chu Bubai had said only that he had been stranded in the Rufeng Forest for a time by mishap; he had never said it was the deep mountains. That was a level of danger not to be mentioned in the same breath.

"Indeed. Last time I came with others, there was a bit of an accident—we not only missed the window when the miasma dispersed, but were forced to linger in the deep mountains for a while—and in the end we still came away whole. You see, then, that though the deep mountains are dangerous, they are not as absurdly terrifying as outsiders say. So long as one knows the routes well, it is in fact quite safe." Chu Bubai consoled them.

"Is that truly so?" Guo Dengtao and Wang Feng were indeed moved. If Chu Bubai truly had a way to bring them out alive, then even were it a dragon's pool and a tiger's den, they would charge in—for this was no ordinary prize, but infant ginseng, something that drove even Nascent Soul experts wild!

"Of course. Still, I must say the ugly part first: the depths are certainly more dangerous than the outskirts where we now stand. Risk and reward always go hand in hand. Even with the best of routes, to wish for not the slightest danger is utterly impossible—and frankly unrealistic." Chu Bubai went on.

Had he simply kept luring them on toward the deep mountains, they would all have grown suspicious; but by saying what he did, he made them feel instead that he was honest and reliable, and all the easier to follow.

Sure enough, after these words, Guo Dengtao and Wang Feng's guard dropped markedly, and they were already itching to try. If it was truly as Chu Bubai said, then this really was a rare opportunity.

Following Chu Bubai, they might well get a taste of the broth; on their own, perhaps they would never in this lifetime set eyes on a top-grade natural treasure like infant ginseng, let alone have a share of it. (To be continued) R466