Although Xiao Yulan felt dissatisfied, she was not a person who would make a fuss without reason. Since she saw that Xiao Qiang was quite firm on his decision, she did not say anything else.
After the three of them had lunch, Xiao Chen declined to go down the mountain with them. He made up an excuse saying that he had just advanced to Medial Grade Martial Disciple and the energies in his body was not stable yet. He stated that he needed some time to stabilize it.
When most cultivators advanced, they would always spend some time to consolidate their cultivation. This was not a strange matter. Thus, Xiao Qiang did not push for Xiao Chen to follow them. Instead, he told Xiao Chen to rush back before it was dark.
Actually, Xiao Chen did not need to consolidate his cultivation. When he had advanced to Medial Grade Martial Disciple, it was a an incomparably smooth affair, the conditions were perfect. He did not have to forcibly breakthrough. Thus, there was no need for him to stabilize his cultivation.
The reason why he did not go down the mountain with Xiao Yulan was so that he could pick up some more herbs on the way down. Since he had come to Seven Horn Mountain, Xiao Chen naturally did not want to go down without making more harvests.
He waiting until Xiao Yulan and Xiao Qiang were far away before he left as well, roaming around the mountain. With his Spiritual Sense being utilized to its full extent, it was impossible for any herbs to escape his notice.
Due to the activities of the Tang Clan, the mountain had already been sealed the day before. At this moment, there were very few people who were left on the mountain. Even the areas where there were usually more people were left desolated.
Thus, Xiao Chen could peacefully use his Lightning Evasion. When he discovered any good medicinal herbs, he would immediately rush over. If it grew on the cliffside, then he would use the Gravity Spell to fly over.
With his abilities, as long as he could sense the herb, he could pick it. However, Xiao Chen still followed the etiquette of picking herbs.
He did not pick herbs below grade two, herbs that were immature, herbs that had not reached the age requirement, or seedlings. These were the principles a herb gatherer would have to follow.
If he simply picked them as he wished, it could cause certain herbs to become extinct. Within three years, the whole Seven Horn Mountain would be devoid of herbs, turning into a dead mountain.
By the time the sun finally set, Xiao Chen's Universe Ring was already full of all sorts of herbs. Ten-year-old Grade 4 Snow Ginseng, twenty-year-old Grade 3 Wind Spirit Grass, twenty-year-old Eight-Horned Lotus…
Xiao Chen grinned in satisfaction and laughed. With the effects of his Spiritual Sense, his Lightning Evasion, and Gravity Spell, his harvests today were already equivalent to half a year's worth of harvest of a regular person.
Furthermore, he had also found some rare and precious herbs. Without this Spiritual Sense, regular people would not be able to find them. This was a great advantage for Xiao Chen.
"It's time to go down the mountain, or else I'm going to have to spend the night here." Xiao Chen muttered to himself.
…
On the way back to the Xiao Residence, he did not meet any unexpected incidents. When he got arrived at the entrance of his courtyard, Xiao Chen had a sense of returning home.
He could not help but smile bitterly. Do I really have a home in this world?
"Second Young Master, are you back?"
Xiao Chen had just stepped through the entrance when he heard Bao`er's joyful voice. It was currently almost dusk and Bao`er was in the yard sweeping the leaves.
When she saw that Xiao Chen had come back, She quickly stopped her duties and ran over. Her face was full of irrepressible joy.
Xiao Chen felt warm in his heart. He smiled gently, "En, I have returned. How have you been?"
Bao`er felt very happy as she started to tell Xiao Chen about everything that had happened in the past few days. She literally told him everything, even the small details of her daily life.
Although Xiao Chen was not too interested, he did not stop Bao`er. His days in the mountain had been too lonely and quiet, now that there was someone chattering to him, he actually took pleasure in it.
"That right, Young Master, you must be hungry. I'll go make you a bowl of fish porridge." Bao`er seemed to have thought of something before she quickly took her leave and headed to the kitchen.
Although the effects of the Fasting Pill was not over yet and Xiao Chen was not hungry, he still looked forward to Bao`er's cooking. He had not eaten much for quite awhile.
Returning to his own room, Xiao Chen emptied out the medicinal herbs from his Universe Ring. He took everything out and prepared to sort them out.
"Hua!'
A large pile of medicinal herbs appeared out of nowhere and the room was almost completely occupied by them. With so many medicinal herbs, it would not be easy to sort them out. This was a headache caused by a blessing.
However, no matter how difficult it was, he still had to do it. Or else, it will be very problematic when he needed to use these herbs in future. Xiao Chen first started by sorting them by their attributes. All the herbs were then split into five different groups.
The five groups were, nourishing Qi and blood, wound healing, nourishing the body, assisting advancement in cultivation, and those with no outstanding attributes.
After this, he further categorized these herbs into sub-categories. After he took out the herbs that he needed, he set aside some space within the Universe Ring and placed the arranged herbs there.
After he was done with all of this, Xiao Chen was full of sweat. At this moment, there was the sound of footsteps coming from outside his door. With just a thought, Xiao Chen quickly sent out his Spiritual Sense.
If someone discovered that he had so many medicinal herbs, he would not be able to explain himself. After checking with his Spiritual Sense, he relaxed when he discovered that it was Bao`er bringing along the fish porridge.
When Bao`er came in and saw all the herbs, she understood what Xiao Chen was doing and knew that she should not stay and disturb him. She smiled gently and placed the fish porridge on the table before leaving.
After sending off Bao`er, Xiao Chen was immediately attracted by the scent of the fish porridge on the table. He immediately picked up the bowl and started eating with gusto.
"Plop!"
The infant Six-Tailed Spirit Fox in the Spirit Blood Jade suddenly jumped out. It looked at Xiao Chen, who was enjoying his food, in a pitiable manner as it continuously wagged its tail. Its eyes seemed to mist up, looking even more pitiable.
Ever since he had signed the blood contract with this infant Spirit Fox, it had not eaten anything yet. Xiao Chen had only taken care of himself by eating the Fasting Pill and had completely forgotten about the Spirit Fox.
This little thing must have been very famished. Xiao Chen smiled embarrassedly as he pushed the bowl in front of the infant Spirit Fox, "Are you hungry? Here, you can have this."
The little fellow stuck out its tongue and licked the bowl a couple of times before it stopped moving. It then looked up at Xiao Chen in that pitiable manner once again. The meaning in its eyes was obvious—this was not suitable for it to eat.
Xiao Chen could not help but feel anxious. He had no knowledge about what to feed Spirit Beasts. At this point of time, he did not know what to do.
What if this little fellow died of hunger? What was he going to do then? He would have committed a huge miscalculation if that happened. Feeling anxious, Xiao Chen immediately thought of the worst case scenario.
"Idiot!"
Xiao Chen was unclear on when Ao Jiao appeared behind him but when he saw her, he felt some hope. As for her calling him an idiot, he would pretend that he had not heard it.
"Sister Ao Jiao, what does this Spirit Fox eat? Do you know?"
"You idiot, this little fellow is merely a month old. Of course, it drinks milk. What did you think it would eat? Usually, when people make a blood contract, they would wait till it is three months old first before making it. You actually did it even before it turned a month old.
So, there was such a practice, Xiao Chen thought in his heart. However, the situation then was very urgent and he did not have any other options. If he did not seal it with the Spirit Blood Jade, the Spirit Blood Jade definitely would have definitely been snatched away by Liu Fenglin.
Xiao Chen's gaze suddenly shifted to Ao Jiao's chest unconsciously. Although she was a Sword Spirit, she seemed to have an ample bosom. Was it possible for her to...
Damn it! What was I thinking of?
When she felt Xiao Chen's gaze, Ao Jiao retorted angrily: "Idiot! You are such a degenerate! What are you looking at?"
Xiao Chen blushed as he said embarrassedly: "Habit, a pure habit. Wait no! Not a habit! I did not pay attention! You got that?"
Ao Jiao could not be bothered about him as she floated over. She carried the pitiable Spirit Foxed into her embrace and placed her right forefinger into the mouth of the Spirit Fox.
"Chi Chi!"
A stream of pure energy gathered onto Ao Jiao's forefinger, giving off a white glow. Finally, this energy actually condensed into a milky white liquid.
The little Spirit Fox seemed to feel that this was the best thing it had eaten in the world as it closed its eyes and keep sucking with gusto. Its expression was that of satisfaction.
How was this possible...
Xiao Chen looked incredulously at what was happening in front of him. He was not foolish enough to question what was that milky white liquid, it was clearly formed by the energy of heaven and earth.
If Ao Jiao was willing, this pure energy could immediately turn into an overwhelming Qi that could destroy everything in sight.
For a cultivator like Xiao Chen, If he was blasted with such a Qi, before the overwhelming Qi got near, he would already be ripped apart by its fluctuations. He would not be able to defend against it at all.
Such a strength would belong to someone who was at least in the Martial Monarch realm. No wonder Ao Jiao would say such demeaning things to Xiao Chen. A Martial Monarch cultivator was a cultivator that would be able to suppress the entire nation.
To be able to suppress the nation with the strength of one person. This was the level of such an expert.
In the Great Qin Nation, there were three provinces, nine prefectures, and seventy-two counties. Furthermore, there were tens of thousands of kilometers of mountains and wilderness. On the surface, there were only ten of such characters. Could this young girl in front of him be one of these characters?
[TL notes: The author seems to be forgetting stuff, he previously said nine prefectures and thirty-six counties]
Was she really just an insignificant Sword Spirit?
After a while, that milky white glow faded away. Ao Jiao withdrew her finger and staggered in the air. She seemed to be weak but the expression on her face was gratified.
"Hey, Sister Ao Jiao. Are you alright?" Xiao Chen noticed that she seemed weak, so he asked in worry.
The infant Spirit Fox did not seem to have eaten much of the milky white liquid. But actually, it contains a boundless Spiritual Energy. If regular cultivators ate it, it could even raise their cultivation by a realm. With such expenditure of energy, Xiao Chen was afraid that she might have overdid it.
Ao Jiao shook her head," I'm fine. The amount of energy I fed it is enough to last it for three months. After that, you can feed it porridge.
"You have not given this fellow a name yet, right? How about you give it a name?" Ao Jiao suddenly thought of this problem.
Xiao Chen thought for a while before asking: "Is it a boy or a girl? No, I mean, is it male or female?"
"You idiot! Forget about it, just call him Xiao Bai." Ao Jiao said with some resentment.
Xiao Bai, Xiao Bai, Xiao Chen muttered to himself. This name should be belonging to a female. Would it become a vixen in future?
Damn it, What am I thinking of again…