Chapter 9

Lu Xiaoding didn't expect her senior sister to have such confidence in her. She walked around the stalls and then shook her head, saying, "Senior Sister, these spirit herbs are all too low-grade, and the prices are so high. They are really taking advantage of us."

"These aren't collected by high-level disciples. Even within the sect's territory, the outer mountains are dangerous. Some places are so perilous that even foundation-establishment cultivators dare not go there casually. These are all collected from the mountain edges, and they are all trash." The two of them had very few crystal beans, yet they still complained that these were not good enough. According to Lu Yaohang's thinking, it would be great if the crystal beans they had could buy enough spirit herbs for two elixir formulas.

"Senior Sister, the disciples who have been in the sect for a year can go to collect herbs. Why don't we go ourselves?" Lu Xiaoding picked up a plant with red leaves and said. This was a necessary spirit herb for refining the Taihe Pill, and there were quite a lot of them in the mountains.

At this point, Lu Yaohang remembered something. Her master was now in seclusion, and the Wu Yao Hall was managed by Lü Mu. She was a patient, and Xiaoding was a fool, so neither of them had been assigned any tasks. Compared to the past when they were always busy, they were now extremely idle.

In the past, she had thought about going to collect spirit herbs to exchange for crystal beans, but she never had the time, as her schedule was always full. Now was a good opportunity. So she quickly said, "Sure, we have nothing to do anyway. Let's prepare and set out tomorrow."

"Okay, we will definitely collect a lot of spirit herbs. Then I will refine a lot of medicines for Senior Sister." Lu Xiaoding put down the red-leaved plant. This kind of thing cost three crystal beans, which was completely a rip-off.

The two of them returned to the Wu Yao Hall and told Daoist Lü Mu that they were going on an outing.

Living on the mountain, they still wanted to go on an outing. Women's thoughts were truly strange. Lü Mu didn't ask much. Since the two of them had no cultivation and weren't his people, they wouldn't go to dangerous places, so he let them go and play.

Lu Yaohang prepared some dry rations in her small kitchen and brought a fur blanket to keep warm at night in the mountains. It seemed she planned to stay in the mountains for several days, not stopping until she found the herbs.

"Senior Sister, you have a sword too." Lu Xiaoding noticed a black iron sword among the luggage on the table and picked it up out of curiosity. She pulled out the blade with force, and it was full of marks, looking very old.

How could it be used to this extent?

She said in confusion, "Senior Sister, this sword is so worn out. Do you use it to chop wood or cut stones?"

Lu Yaohang snatched the sword and slammed it back into the scabbard, then placed it on the table and said, "This sword is one I found. It was probably thrown away by a new disciple who thought it was no good. I don't want others to know about this, and I only secretly maintain the sword, so it looks very bad."

Lu Xiaoding stared at the black iron sword for a long time and then said in surprise, "Senior Sister, you are so poor!"

"Do you have the right to say that? The one without any money is you!" Lu Yaohang gave her a harsh look. Someone who didn't even have half a crystal bean still dared to call herself poor.

Mentioning this, Lu Xiaoding remembered and asked in a daze, "Senior Sister, where is my crystal bean?"

Lu Yaohang, who was sorting the dry rations, paused and then looked up, saying, "Didn't you say you liked colorful stones and wanted to use the crystal bean to exchange for a trip to a small stream full of stones?"

"Did I say that?" Lu Xiaoding tilted her head, trying to remember if she had said that. She only remembered that her senior sister had mentioned that there were such stones by the stream in the mountains.

Lu Yaohang nodded seriously, "Yes, you did say that."

"Okay, then it's yours." Since she had said that, she would buy the fighting wooden doll later.

After organizing the things to bring, Lu Yaohang found that there were too many items to fit in her sleeve of space. She said, "Xiaoding, how is your sleeve of space cultivation? Let's put the remaining things in yours."

"Huh?" Lu Xiaoding blinked and said embarrassedly, "Senior Sister, mine can't fit much either. After two months of cultivation, it can only hold a bird's egg."

"A bird's egg!" That was too exaggerated. Lu Yaohang remembered that when she first cultivated, she could already make her sleeve of space as big as a bathtub after two months. Even with her barely open spirit meridians, she could hold so many things, while Xiaoding could only hold a bird's egg. It was only useful for holding crystal beans. But she didn't even have crystal beans, so it was only good for holding colorful small stones.

But thinking about it, since she had no spirit meridians, being able to cultivate to the size of a bird's egg was a miracle.

Lu Xiaoding waved her hand indifferently, "Senior Sister, just put the things in the tripod. It won't be full even if you put everything in."

Right, she always carried the tripod wherever she went, so it would be empty anyway. Thinking of this, Lu Yaohang took out everything she had already put in her sleeve of space and stuffed it all into the tripod, leaving the black iron sword and crystal beans for herself.

"Senior Sister, the tripod lid is almost closed, but the fur blanket is still showing. What should we do?" Lu Xiaoding lay on the tripod lid, which was only half closed, and pressed down hard, but the fur blanket still stuck out, and she couldn't push it in. She had said the remaining things, not including what was already in her senior sister's sleeve.

Lu Yaohang found a rope from a basket in the corner and tied the tripod lid tightly, so it wouldn't fall off even if they ran.

"Okay, we'll carry these things tomorrow. My sleeve of space will be used to store the spirit herbs we dig. I took some backup medicines from Master's room; he won't be back for a while." She pulled the rope hard, and it was very secure, so it wouldn't fall off.

It was only then that Lu Xiaoding realized she would have to carry the tripod, which was too heavy!

"I think this is a good opportunity. Cultivation is too difficult for you, so you need to get stronger in other ways. Start with strength. Carrying heavy things while climbing mountains will increase your strength." Lu Yaohang patted her shoulder to encourage her.

Lu Xiaoding stared at the full tripod, feeling a bit strange, as if her senior sister was using the same method to teach her.

The next day, when it was still dim, the two of them set out.

The Fangjing Mountains where the Yunjian Sect was located resembled a large well, with a large basin in the middle of the continuous mountains. Ordinary disciples were not allowed to enter the basin, as it was very dangerous. Even foundation-establishment disciples who entered by mistake had a very low chance of survival.

Although the mountains had many peaks, only sixteen of them had good positions and abundant spirit energy. These were in the eastern part of the Yunjian Sect, and some with good spirit energy were too far inside. According to the rules of the cultivation world, if a sect was established in an unclaimed mountain range, the entire mountain range belonged to their territory.

Of course, if the sect's strength was insufficient, it could be destroyed by others.

The two of them had no skills to fly, and it took them more than an hour to get down from Zhishang Peak. Then they followed the mountain path to the eastern mountains.

"Senior Sister, why don't we take the main road? The path there is much better." Lu Xiaoding, carrying the heavy tripod, pointed to the wide, flat stone road at the foot of the mountain while walking.

Lu Yaohang's eyes were always scanning the grass on both sides of the mountain path. Without looking up, she said, "We are here to find what others have missed, so we naturally have to take paths that no one else takes. That's where we might find spirit herbs."

"Senior Sister, you've been a medicine child for so long. You must have good methods for digging up spirit herbs, right?" Lu Xiaoding's nose wasn't good, so she couldn't smell the herbs or sense the spirit energy. Apart from carrying the tripod, she was useless.

Lu Yaohang glanced at her with the corner of her eye and said indifferently, "You look mysterious carrying the tripod, but you don't even have the ability to find spirit herbs. How could a normal person like me have such skills? I only learned from Master how to find spirit herbs, which is the method for ordinary cultivators, based on the habits of the herbs."

"I'm carrying a tripod, not a spirit herb spirit. How would I know where the spirit herbs are? If they were spirits and could talk, maybe we could communicate. But in the wild, it's impossible to tell." Lu Xiaoding said weakly, as the tripod on her back was too heavy, and she was already exhausted after more than an hour of walking.

At this moment, she heard a joyful laugh, very light, as if someone was laughing softly in the distance. She stopped and listened carefully, then asked, "Senior Sister, did you hear someone laughing?"

"Do you have super hearing? I didn't hear anything." Lu Yaohang was searching in the grass by the roadside, in a shady and well-ventilated area, but there were no spirit herbs. It seemed they were still too close to the outside.

Lu Xiaoding listened carefully, and the laugh disappeared. She thought she had heard wrong. But after walking a short distance, she heard the laugh again, still very faint.

"Senior Sister, something is really laughing." This time, she didn't say it was a person. The laugh sounded like a child's, and in the wilderness, where would a child come from? It must be some kind of beast.

Lu Yaohang was silent, thinking for a moment, and then decided to stick to their original plan. "Ignore it. We'll follow our own route. It's impossible to have danger so close to the sect. Pay attention to the direction the laugh is coming from, and we'll avoid that area."

Both of them were so weak that if they encountered something strange and still went to investigate, it would be suicide.

"Okay, but I think the laugh sounds delicious." Lu Xiaoding nodded and added. For some reason, when she heard the laugh, she felt like her mouth was watering.

"Delicious?" This alarmed Lu Yaohang. Just hearing a laugh made her feel hungry. What kind of feeling was this?

Suddenly, she remembered something. Xiaoding's tastes were different from everyone else's. She never ate regular food, only soup made from various roots and leaves. The last time she swallowed the Yixian Grass, she suspected that the spirit herbs she usually gave her were just wild grass.

If the laugh could make her feel hungry, and she couldn't hear it at all, could it be that kind of thing!