"The first day of an adventure is when your heart beats like the wings of a butterfly."
Ruan Xiaomen, "The Bamboo Chronicles of a Good-for-Nothing"
***
Her destination was to the north.
The Poisonfeather Bird described in the final jade tablet was apparently located in the Huangshan Mountains. It was most paramount that she reach the Poisonfeather Bird because…
Shanqiao sighed. 'Father had made the Jaded Tongues out to be a most precious artifact, but to say so would be… overestimating it…'
Regardless of her hesitation, she was headed towards the Huangshan Mountains.
Thankfully, the first tract of her journey shouldn't be too difficult. After all, she was walking along the roads and the spirit beasts within the Caili Mountains were only up to par with Second or Third Rank cultivators.
If the spirit beasts were of the Second or Third Rank, then it would be enough for the Basic Attack Formation Array I and II to fend them off.
"Hmm…"
As she walked, she read a volume on edible and medicinal plants. It was the first of two volumes that Ma Liaowen had given to her as a gift.
According to the book, some medicinal plants were edible. However, the majority of them were used for medicine, and medicine was quite an ambiguous term.
Ruan Shanqiao suddenly knelt and picked up a plant. It was beautiful emerald green which turned a translucent jade at the ends.
This was the medicinal plant called Lesser Yuan plant. It nourished Yuan energy for cultivators. However, the lesser known quality was its strong anti-inflammation properties. It was helpful in dealing with deeper wounds.
The Lesser Yuan plant was one of the few medicinal plants which could be used in excess without leading to death. Most plants held a medicinal property when used in excess causes death. This was the double-edged sword of medicine. Although efficient when treating illnesses, when placed in the wrong pair of hands, it could easily become poison.
However, at the moment, Shanqiao disregarded it all and hid behind a nearby tree to spread a mashed up Lesser Yuan plant onto her chest injury. Hopefully it would speed up her recovery. She had strained one too many times, and so it was red and prone to infections. That was what she was most concerned about.
She continued trudging forward. It was quite monotonous. Whenever she found the Lesser Yuan plant she would pick it and store it in her bag for later use. The book that the head monk had given had long since been put away. The random stone here and there had tripped her up one too many times.
An hour before the sun set, she finally reached the meadow in the middle of the Caili Mountains. It was one of the few features within this portion of the map that was distinctly drawn. It even had a drawing of deer and rabbits, probably to indicate the frequency at which spirit beasts descended to the meadows.
This theory proved to be truly immediately.
A small rabbit hopped in front of her, chewing happily on the grass. It was a Second Rank spirit beast called the Caili Mountain Rabbit. It had been named so vaguely because they only had two characteristics. One, it was a rabbit, and two, it lived in the Caili Mountains.
Even so, it was a Second Rank spirit beast and could easily outrun a non-cultivator like Shanqiao. Currently, the rabbit had approached the delicious grass 2 cun away from the girl, blatantly demonstrating how much it looked down upon her.
It was unfortunate for this rabbit to have come across this seemingly harmless human today. Shanqiao had been walking shortly after the sun came up and soon the sun would set. She was quite hungry, no, very very hungry. And she would do anything to obtain food.
To Ruan Shanqiao, this rabbit was like the reincarnation of braised beef dancing tantalizingly in front of her. She wanted to catch it, kill it, roast it, and eat it. After all when it came to rabbits, roasting was the best method of eating it.
She nearly drooled watching it munch away at its delicious grass. Quietly she pulled out her newly made bamboo sword.
Then, she slashed with a practiced speed the Basic Attack Formation Array I. From the array three arcs of lightning flashed towards the rabbit… and missed.
"Tch." <(￣ ﹌ ￣)>
The rabbit had avoided the attack… barely. Its wide eyes stared at its singed white fur with great grief. The nasty human had turned its most treasured white fur into black.
However, the rabbit had no time to grieve. Shanqiao had already approached and attacked again. This time, the air currents formed the Basic Attack Formation Array II with much greater speed than before.
Before the delicious rabbit had even a chance to roar at the insolent human, it had been shocked to death by her attack.
Shanqiao immediately proceeded to prepare the rabbit.
Just as she finished, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the rustling of grass and long white ears peeking out from the green.
'Rabbit!' (☆▽☆)
Once the sun had set, she had caught five other rabbits and had prepared them for roasting impeccably.
"Hmmm…" Shanqiao hummed as she set up a protective array.
To be honest, she didn't know the exact effect of the array, but she assumed that it would be helpful. She stuck the rocks into the ground in the exact pattern shown in her notes.
"This should be it!" she smiled as she turned back to the fire and her rabbits.
They were roasting very nicely.
Just the smell by itself induced drool. With her eyes still fixated on the cooking rabbits, Shanqiao mashed up some more Lesser Yuan plants to spread across her injuries.
Swallowing subconsciously, she no longer could withstand the temptation of food in front of her. She quickly picked up a rabbit and started eating.
"Mmmm!" she moaned in pleasure.
The meat had been cooked to perfection. Perhaps the spirit energy and Yuan energy within the spirit beast also lent to some flavor because the juicy meat was tender beyond words.
Though Shanqiao had initially intended on eating two rabbits and leaving three in reserve, she ended up devouring all five. Happy and full, she fell asleep with her bag under her head.