Chapter 4083 — Now We're Rich
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Yet he had no complaints. Huang Xiaotao and the others had been to Hucai Tianwu Mountain several times before and knew the place fairly well. By following them, Wei Zhao could familiarize himself with the surrounding environment all the faster.
"Ten li ahead, there's a spirit herb thicket. A rough visual estimate puts the total number of spirit herbs there at a hundred stalks at least!" Chen Muzhuang gathered everyone together and shared the intelligence.
The group was instantly delighted. A thicket of over a hundred spirit herbs was a treasure rarely seen. If they could successfully gather it all, perhaps half of this mission would be completed ahead of schedule.
"Then... did you spot any powerful spirit beasts nearby?" Huang Xiaotao was delighted, but she did not let it cloud her judgment.
Chen Muzhuang shook his head. "Not for now. From past experience, there are certainly spirit beasts around, but there shouldn't be many, at most one or two. Perhaps they just happen to be out patrolling their territory at the moment."
Beside him, Cong Zhima nodded in agreement. "Right, right. There definitely won't be too many spirit beasts, otherwise Senior Brother Chen up there would surely have spotted some traces. With only one or two spirit beasts, this is practically spirit herbs delivered right to our door, Captain Xiaotao!"
Seeing the eager, expectant looks the others fixed on her, Huang Xiaotao did not hesitate for long, and decided on the spot, "All right, we can't let this chance slip. Since we've run into it, let's take the gamble. Junior Brother Chen Muzhuang, you approach from above and carefully monitor every movement around. Junior Brother Cong Zhima and Brother Ling Yi, you two go gather. I'll keep watch at the side for you and hold off any spirit beasts that might appear."
"Right!" the others answered in unison, and without another word set to work.
The journey passed without incident. Wei Zhao followed Cong Zhima quickly toward the spot Chen Muzhuang had indicated, and what secretly filled Wei Zhao with doubt was that along the way, to say nothing of powerful spirit beasts, they did not see even a single ordinary small wild animal. The situation was truly somewhat odd.
If Wei Zhao had been acting alone, given his cautious nature, he might first have found a nearby spot with a broad field of view and observed for a while before doing anything.
But now they were operating as a team, and Wei Zhao was merely an outsider temporarily brought in, with no right to speak. He could only quietly heighten his vigilance and keep following them.
Soon, Cong Zhima and Wei Zhao reached the spirit herb thicket. Looking out, the whole area before them was covered in all kinds of high-quality spirit herbs, as plentiful as cabbages going for a pittance, scattered everywhere across the ground.
"Brother Ling Yi, we're rich now!" Cong Zhima could not help swallowing hard. If all these spirit herbs were gathered and brought back, even if they failed to complete that bounty mission, just selling these herbs alone would be worth at least a thousand spirit jade. Split evenly, his share would be at least two or three hundred. That was a huge sum!
With that, Cong Zhima hurriedly set about gathering, but Wei Zhao was not so impatient. Instead, he took his time and looked around.
Suddenly, beneath the shade of a tree not far from the spirit herb thicket, a strangely shaped fruit tree caught Wei Zhao's attention.
The tree was only a little taller than a man, utterly inconspicuous amid the surrounding dense forest of giant trees dozens or even hundreds of zhang tall. Its trunk was crooked and twisted, and there was no telling whether it had grown so gnarled and misshapen because it had been unable to absorb sunlight for years on end.