Chapter 3  : Heal-all Plant and The Wolf

“Yes, six taels. My uncle said that there is a big buyer in Kangyun County who recently increased their demand for Heal-all Plants. The pharmacies in Kangyun County are almost out of stock. Thus, its price has soared to the moon. The city’s purchase price is almost eight taels.”

Guo Ye said, “My uncle has been busy visiting various villages recently, just to gather more Heal-all Plants and sell it to that big buyer.”

“I see…”

Xu Ning nodded blankly. In his mind, he kept thinking about picking that patch of Heal-all Plants.

“When you are picking herbs in the wild, you should pay more attention to Heal-all Plants. That stuff is now valuable.”

.

Guo Ye put three taels of silver in Xu Ning’s hands.

“Thanks.”

Xu Ning took the taels of silver, made some small talk, and went out the door.

He didn’t hesitate. He went straight back home, grabbed a hatchet, sorted out his equipment, and rushed towards Yunze Mountains.

Xu Ning wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune to relieve his family of their current financial problem.

…

More than half an hour later, in Yunze Mountains, a tall young man with sharp facial features walked cautiously.

It was Xu Ning.

In fact, Yunze Mountains was not a single mountain, it was instead an endless mountain range.

The mountain hills were steep and were filled with many beasts. It even had rumors of demon beasts. It was a dangerous place.

But there were also a lot of precious resources there, so people in the nearby villages and farms were willing to explore it. In a sense, the mountain range provided a way of living for these people.

“Although my strength has improved, I still have to be careful…”

Xu Ning knew where his destination was, so he walked at a fast pace.

But at the same time, he held the hatchet steadily in his hand, constantly observing any surrounding movement.

“I’m here!”

Xu Ning followed the route in his memory and found the patch of land full of Heal-all Plants.

It was on a rather steep hill, and at first glance, it was a large patch of Heal-all Plants.

The Heal-all Plants swayed in the wind, and looking at it from a distance, it gave off a bleak autumn vibe.

But Xu Ning’s eyes were full of dollar signs.

“Good, this place has not been discovered yet…”

Xu Ning was still a few dozen meters away from this patch of land, but he didn’t go over immediately.

This was the boundary between the inner circle and the outer circle of Yunze Mountains.

In the outer circle, there were fewer beasts so it was safer, while in the inner circle, not only were there more beasts, but there were also poisonous insects and weeds everywhere.

Xu Ning was cautious. He climbed up a tree nearby, looked around, and found no signs of danger.

“I’ll quickly finish picking and leave immediately…”

Xu Ning went down the tree, tied the hatchet behind his waist, and ran over quickly.

He began to bend over and carefully pull the Heal-all Plant one by one before throwing them into his back basket.

“There are a lot of Heal-all Plants. If I pick all of them, it’ll probably weigh around 50 pounds!”

While picking the plants, Xu Ning began to think. This amount had exceeded his expectations.

If he sold them all to Guo Ye, these could be exchanged for close to 300 taels of silver.

This was a lot of money.

Although Xu Ning’s movements were careful, he did not act slowly. And within 15 minutes, his basket was filled.

“This weighs more than 20 pounds…”

Xu Ning’s back basket was pretty big, but it had already been completely filled.

After seeing how half of the Heal-all Plants still hadn’t been picked yet, Xu Ning thought for a moment, but he still decided to leave.

Firstly, he no longer had the space to carry more. Secondly, it was getting too heavy, if he encountered any danger, it would affect his mobility.

Xu Ning pushed down the Heal-all Plants in his basket and sealed it.

After sealing it, Xu Ning carried the basket on his back.

He was just about to turn around and leave.

Suddenly, a thumping voice came from behind.

“Footsteps…”

Xu Ning was alert. He instantly pulled the hatchet away from his waist and turned around.

He saw five or six big black wolves positioned higher up, staring at him coldly.

“Huff…”

Xu Ning took a deep breath.

‘I’m in trouble.’

He thought for a moment before he suddenly took a step forward and let out a roar.

The several eager black wolves wanted to attack, but were shocked by Xu Ning’s roar and took a few steps back.

Xu Ning took advantage of this opening. He was desperate to run away, so he immediately turned around and ran.

“I knew it, the deeper into Yunze Mountains, the greater the risk!”

Xu Ning looked back while running.

The black wolves had begun to chase him, obviously preparing to eat him.

“I can’t run faster than them!”

Xu Ning instantly realized this problem.

The mountain paths here were steep. It was the home of wild beasts. In addition, with more than 20 pounds of Heal-all Plants on his back, it was only a matter of time before the wolves would catch up to him.

Xu Ning heard the footsteps chasing behind him getting closer.

He clenched his teeth and stopped running. He then climbed against the nearest big tree.

The black wolves rushed towards the tree.

They leaped, and one of them almost caught Xu Ning’s trousers.

These black wolves from the inner circle of Yunze Mountains were not only larger than normal wolves, but they also had high jumping power and great strength.

‘I have to find a way to escape…’

Xu Ning looked solemn. He looked at the black wolves under the tree who wanted to tear him apart.

‘It’s definitely impossible to run. There are only two options.’

‘Either wait until these black wolves leave.’

‘Or go down the tree and fight these black wolves to the death.’

‘Now that I am in the elementary realm of the Gale Knife Technique, I should have the skills to deal with a few black wolves…’?Xu Ning thought,?‘However, if I fight them to the death, I will be at risk of getting injured… If I am injured here, even if I escape from the claws of these wolves, I may still be buried in the belly of other beasts…’

Xu Ning was a little uncertain.

‘Sure enough, if I want to gather more resources, I have to take risks.’

Xu Ning calmed himself down and climbed up a little, preventing the black wolves from jumping up and scratching him.

The black wolves, who pounced on the tree several times to no avail, gradually calmed down.

But they still surrounded the tree. They stared directly at Xu Ning, obviously not planning to let him go.

‘I’ll wait a bit…’

It wasn’t even noon yet, so Xu Ning could afford to wait.

Time slowly passed by.

Xu Ning began to eat some flatbread to replenish his stamina. The black wolves were lying next to the tree, surrounding Xu Ning, without the slightest intention to leave.

Two hours had passed.

‘These guys are so patient…’ Xu Ning noticed that these black wolves were tenacious. They did not seem annoyed in the slightest; they acted very patiently.

The longer he waited, the more his physical strength would reduce and the more his combat effectiveness would decrease.

‘I’ll just fight them!’

Xu Ning had a firm gaze in his eyes.

He looked down. The black wolves were still lying in a circle under the tree, their heads drooping.

It was noon, and they seemed to be a little tired; they were distracted.

Xu Ning took a deep breath and jumped.

‘Ha!’

Xu Ning held the hatchet tightly in his hand, instantly, the knowledge of the Gale Sword Technique reverberated in his mind.

‘Fierce Sword Wind!’

Xu Ning took advantage of the inertia of his jump to stab the back of the largest black wolf.

Blood splattered everywhere.

The black wolf wailed. It wanted to get up, but its spine was chopped so it could only spaz on the ground.

The other black wolves were frightened.

They did not anticipate Xu Ning’s sudden attack. Their first instinct was to escape.

‘This is my chance!’

This time, Xu Ning no longer ran away.

Instead, he swung his knife at the black wolf nearest to him.

Its neck was chopped through.

Out of the six black wolves, two were down.

The black wolves finally began to resist.

But Xu Ning no longer panicked. Two of the six black wolves had already been dealt with, and one of them was even the strongest one.

The power of the enemy had dropped sharply.

Xu Ning began to retreat. He leaned back against the tree trunk, preventing the four black wolves from attacking him from behind.

One human and four wolves faced each other.

This time, no one acted first.

The crippled black wolves next to him were still wailing.

The situation was still dangerous.

Just when Xu Ning was about to continue to attack, suddenly, a black wolf took a step back.

Immediately afterwards, the other three black wolves also retreated.

Their cold gaze shifted away from Xu Ning. They then glanced at their seriously injured companions before turning around and left.

Soon, the black wolves disappeared from Xu Ning’s sights.

The animal instincts of the remaining four black wolves made them feel the fear of death.

They choose to abandon this dangerous prey.

‘It’s safe…’

Xu Ning’s tight nerves could finally be relieved.

He glanced at the two black wolves who were badly injured and were abandoned by their partners.

‘The cruel laws of nature treated me as a prey, but instead they were the prey…’

Xu Ning did not stick around. He turned around and left.

Normally, he might have cleaned up these two black wolves as material.

Although there were many wild wolves in the outer circle of Yunze Mountains, their fur was not worth much money. Rather, the bright, sharp claws of these black wolves could easily be sold for seven to eight taels of silver.

However, he was too close to the inner circle of the Yunze Mountains right now. Cutting their fur would waste time, and the smell of blood would attract even more terrifying beasts.

After weighing his options, Xu Ning gave up the corpses.

But he didn’t feel regretful, as the Heal-all Plants in his basket were worth a lot more.

‘I’m going home!’

Xu Ning wiped the blood on the hatchet and quickly left.