After seeing the three off Jiang Ying Yue set off to collect herbs with others.
Wei led the road while others followed behind with their keen eyes focused on looking around for herbs. The bunch kept walking as the road stretched ahead without looking for a stop. They looked tireless and full of satisfaction and glee as they harvested all the herbs stalk after stalk.
The one you saw would be yours and the one I would be mine, the group moved ahead in harmony, their pace slow but steady.
Their eyes kept glittering as they carefully harvested every stalk, their actions extremely gentle for fear of damaging the herbs. Smiles in their mouths never dropped as they glanced inside their overflowing baskets.
This was money. Who'd hate money?
An extra stalk meant extra money.
" Here," Jiang Ying Yue tossed another bunch of herbs inside after digging it carefully from the ground, " Plant them well."
She had finally found some practical jobs for her munchkins. Heh....now she'd see how they'd get the time to nag her and cause trouble!
Abhram blankly looked at the clump of greens that was thrown at his feet carelessly unable to utter single a word for a moment.
How did things turn out this way? Had he dug up a pit for himself?
" What?...weren't you the one who kept nagging me to plant some 'sp-i-r-i-t' herbs then go ahead and plant them yourself." Jiang Ying Yue sneered mercilessly.
She had to see if this brat still had the energy to keep chattering after this.
" Master~" Abhram wanted to cry but had no tears, hence he resorted to acting cutely, " Master~, I don't know how to~" The boy puffed his cheeks, his cherry mouth pouting as blinked his eyes hard trying to act cute completely unaware of the fact that his cute charm had almost zero effect on Jiang Ying Yue. She had already grown a resistance to this tactic of his.
Jiang Ying Yue completely ignored his mighty cute existence and kept digging while not forgetting to comment on his uselessness, " What's there to not know? Just dig a small pit, remove some dirt and put the plant in and cover it with soil, then water it with some water. That easy." And you don't know that easy, aren't you useless?
Abhram understood her unsaid words and felt his world collapsing.
Oh, no his tricks weren't working anymore!
This time he wanted to cry for real. This won't work, that won't work, then how the hell was he supposed to push his unambitious master forward?!
Abhram felt that his life was too difficult.
Silence followed this shock and Jiang Ying Yue completely forgot about the sulking boy as she followed others to walk deeper.
Among them Tian Lan had the best knowledge about herbs, she knew all their habits. So, others followed behind her and listened to her carefully while looking around for the herbs she mentioned.
For Jiang Ying Yue who had come from a different world altogether, everything was foreign, to begin with, and herbs were no exception. All this while she had been dragging on with the bit of knowledge that Abhram had collected all these years. Now that there was finally someone who was imparting her detailed knowledge obviously she'd be all ears.
In the absence of the other three Tian Lan finally donned the aura of an elder and taught them carefully unwilling to leave any detail. Hehe...it felt quite good to be a teacher.
" What's wrong?" Jiang Ying Yue inadvertently caught Wei's strange look and couldn't help asking.
What happened to this guy, why was he twisting his neck left and right so weirdly?
Wei glanced at the girl who was staring at him fixedly and he couldn't tell what it was but he liked this feeling. Being the centre of focus even for a moment gave him a strange sense of contentment. His emotionless eyes which were akin to a frozen lake softened unknowingly as he answered her softly, " I--" He halted abruptly, his eyes alert.
"Rustle...."
His sharp eyes instantly moved in the direction of the noise.
" Rustle...rustle..."
Against their quiet and still surrounding the noises were so apparent, clear and distinct that everyone present heard them. All heard turned in that direction and they stood alert.
" Rustle...rustle....."
" Crash!"
With a heavy 'thud' a strange creature tumbled out from behind the tree.
" No...no, demons, they are all demons...."
The creature kept muttering to itself as it scurried to get on its feet.
People were startled.
This...this thing is man?...
The man looked so dishevelled with his body covered in blood that he hardly resembled a human.
The man look extremely agitated that he didn't even seem to feel any pain after such a fall. Above that, he seemed to be heavily injured and bleeding but the man didn't seem to care the only thing he had in his mind was to run, stand up and run.
However, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't move an inch, his four limbs seemed to have taken root in the soil.
Jiang Ying Yue threw Wei a glance.
That was fast.
The moment Wei heard the rustling noise he was quick to act. The person's feet were covered and bound tightly within the soil resulting in his stumbling and crashing against a tree.
Jiang Ying Yue's eyes flashed.
For the first time in her life, Jiang Ying Yue experienced a great sense of jealousy which left her mouth astringent.
Damn! This dead man was quite cool!
He didn't even need to move and his enemy was already dead!
How powerful was he?!....
Although, she had also witnessed Wei's prowess before when he made the whole inn under his command yet somehow that incident didn't manage to leave a strong impression on her.
And maybe it was because she didn't find it that practical.
As she hovered around wondering she unknowingly went back to the times when she had saved this man unwittingly. She also remembered how regardless of Abhram's warnings she was adamant about saving the man back then. She was so confident in herself thinking that there was no way she could handle an injured man. And now facing the reality she felt her face burning.
Damn it! She had made a fool of herself!
Now she finally realized her Baby dumpling wasn't a coward, it was she who was ignorant.
If it hadn't been for her good luck back then she would have been buried alive under the ground even before she could touch the man's sleeve.
Wait, if Wei was so powerful....then how strong was the man who hurt him?....
A chill ran down her spine, and Jiang Ying Yue shivered uncontrollably, she gritted her teeth and cursed inwardly.
She knew this man was trouble!
" Hey! ...."
" Demon, demon, you're a demon, don't come near!!"
Jiang Ying Yue snapped out of her thoughts just in time to see Tian Lan standing before the man with her body bent studying him carefully.
Frowning slightly she stepped forward and peered at the man as well. Her pair of eyes slightly widened with shock when she saw his face clearly.
The man's face was riddled with various wounds like claw marks from which blood oozed out continuously painting his whole countenance bloody and unrecognisable. Yet it wasn't what shocked Jiang Ying Yue.
Under scattered strands of hair that were covering most of his face lay a pair of ferocious eyes gleaming with madness. His eyes were bloodshot to the point that it felt that blood was going to ooze out of them any moment.
That pair of ferocious eyes kept staring at them on high alert, never blinking.
" What's wrong with him?" Jiang Ying Yue could tell at a glance that the man's mind wasn't in the right state.
" He's under a spell." Tian Lan answered looking thoughtful.
" Under a spell?"
" Yes, he must have met a Dream Caster on his way."
" Dream Caster....a fox?" Jiang Ying Yue had seen it once and had also experienced falling into its trap. Although it was the previous owner, the memory was still very clear.
Cheng Li Juan had once raised this creature by her side and it was gifted to her by her brother. There was a time she had paraded the whole city to show off her pet, tricking every passerby passing by. She was very smug at that time.
However, that was not the point here even though it happened a long ago she still remembered the trick on caused people to go into a momentary daze and that was all. After being dazed for a moment the person would return back being normal as if nothing had happened. But this was clearly not the case with this man.
Tian Lan glanced at thoughtful gaze and nodded slightly understanding, " Yes, this is the beast of a higher realm. Its rank obviously couldn't be low."
They had also encountered these beasts a few times during their task. In this land where Spiritual energy was abundant in the air appearance of spirit beast weren't rare. They had seen many. But the ones that were truly strong were still rare to come by.
Jiang Ying Yue hummed slightly reaching to hold Jiang Ying Mei's hand who looked scared.
The hideous look of the man scared the little girl. She hid behind her sister timidly.
" Wei, knock him down and bring him along."
Since they had seen the man they couldn't just leave him be. Jiang Ying Yue lamented once again her heart was very benevolent.
She was too good for this world!
"Let's head back."