Chapter 677: The Herb Thief
“Martial Arts Pavilion?” Ye Lingchen glanced suspiciously at Wu Yue. It was quite a mighty sounding name.
“Hehe, it’s actually one of the internal organizations within the Warrior’s Department.” Wu Yue smiled earnestly. “It ought to have been difficult for someone with my qualifications to be selected into the Martial Arts Pavilion, but I’ve always looked up to you as my goal. I didn’t expect to be selected after this a.s.sessment.”
Ye Lingchen had a pensive expression. “Are there any benefits if you enter the Martial Arts Pavilion?”
Wu Yue nodded and whispered, “People told me that the benefits are huge. Chief Ye, I’m sure you know that there’s an abundance of spiritual energy near h.e.l.l’s Gates. A lot of money was spent to create the Martial Arts Pavilion and the spiritual energy inside it is much richer than in h.e.l.l’s Gates. Martial artists can achieve twice the results with half the effort inside the pavilion, and it can also be used to break through a bottleneck. If I’m lucky, I might even be able to cultivate my inner force this time.”
“F*ck!” Ye Lingchen could not help but curse in a low voice.
“What’s wrong?” The dumbfounded Wu Yue stared at Ye Lingchen.
“Nothing.” Ye Lingchen shook his head and was practically gritting his teeth. He said, “I just thought of something.”
‘d.a.m.n it, I’ve contributed so much to the Warrior’s Department. Qin Baichuan and the other instructors also owe their life to me. I’m really strong too, and at the very least, much stronger than Wu Yue, yet they didn’t so much as mention that to me!
‘This is too much!’
Old Qin regarded him as an outsider.
Although Ye Lingchen was indeed an outsider, who—apart from taking up a post in the Warrior’s Department—was not a real member of the warrior’s department, it did not diminish his exemplary service in the slightest.
h.e.l.l’s Gates was the kind of stuff that he took the initiative to enquire after discovering. Otherwise, they might have continued to keep him in the dark! That group of people was just appalling!
Wu Yue became aware of Ye Lingchen’s mood and could not help but cough lightly. “To be honest, Chief Ye, I have only learnt about it recently. Before we enter h.e.l.l’s Gate, the Warrior’s Department will ask us if we’re okay with going there. They’ll only tell us more if we agree. Stuff like that will definitely be cla.s.sified as top secret and we can’t just simply speak about it.”
‘Forget it, Old Qin helped a great deal in the construction of Miracle Island anyway. I won’t blame him, but in the future, I’ll make up for the lost time in the Martial Arts Pavilion.’
Ye Lingchen thought to himself. He looked at Wu Yue and asked, “What else do you know?”
“Not much. Capital New District is a base set up specifically for h.e.l.l’s Gate. Its sole purpose is to train warriors to fend against h.e.l.l’s Gate. Rumor has it that there are plenty of strong people there, many of whom are martial arts geniuses. There are also a lot of treasures related to martial arts, similar to the Martial Arts Pavilion.”
Wu Yue had a yearning look as he spoke, as if he already saw himself becoming the King of Warriors.
Ye Lingchen nodded.
The Warrior’s Department that the public knew of was just a preliminary screening to produce warriors that were much stronger than ordinary people. They were given the responsibility to guard basic public security and protect society. They would be screened a second time before entering h.e.l.l’s Gate, though that process leaned more toward selecting individuals rather than simply filtering them. The 90% mortality rate alone will deter a large number of people, and although a warrior’s mission was to defend their home and country, few would choose to die when given the choice.
Moreover, that screening was likely to select some of the more prodigious warriors for elite training. After all, on top of cannon fodder, advanced combat strength was also indispensable when going up against h.e.l.l’s Gate.
The Martial Arts Pavilion demonstrated that the Warrior’s Department was already training high-level martial artists. Old Qin mentioned before that there were many special plants in the Void Realm, and there was every possibility that there might exist some things that could aid in martial arts training.
“Have you heard of any other martial arts masters?” Ye Lingchen asked. He wanted to ascertain where his current strength stood.
Unsurprisingly, Wu Yue shook his head helplessly.
“AWOOOOO!”
The sound of a wolf’s urgent howling was heard all of a sudden. It was ear-piercing, and the other wolves began joining the chorus one after another. Everyone’s expression changed almost immediately because of that.
“Thief! Capture it!”
“I’m Little Green. How dare you steal stuff from my place. What big b.a.l.l.s you have!”
“Brothers, catch it alive!”
Their howls were turned to words in Ye Lingchen’s ears, prompting him to raise his brows.
The voice came from the herb farm. Did someone steal his herbs?
His body rose sharply into the air and he rushed toward the herb farm at lightning speed.
His speed stunned Wu Yue, who was just about to catch up when Ye Lingchen had already disappeared. There were absolutely no words to describe how fast it was, and the other warriors had the same feeling. They were so shocked that their eyes nearly popped out. “F*ck me, Chief Ye is much more powerful that we imagined.”
Li Jing and Ali’s speed were almost on par too. They had ample explosive strength as they dashed over as well.
Ye Lingchen had already arrived at the herb farm. He looked up and saw a white figure scurrying among the plants, squeaking in panic.
A white fox?
Ye Lingchen’s excellent auditory and visual senses gave him a clear view of where the squeak came from.
Covered in snow-white fur, its eyes were big and its pupils had an anthropomorphic look of helplessness. Both its ears were perked high and it looked very vigilant, while its fluffy tail swayed from side to side as it ran.
‘Adorable! Beautiful fur too. Looks really smooth. It must be very valuable.’
That was Ye Lingchen’s first thought.
A piece of ginseng about half the size of its body was held in its front paws.
Such a big appet.i.te for a little guy.
Ginseng was one of the most valuable medicinal materials in the herb farm as it formed the princ.i.p.al subject of care by his Wood Spirit Const.i.tution. If its age was calculated, it would definitely be more than a hundred years old. It was a century-old ginseng that was hardly ever seen in the outside world and had a prohibitively high price.
“Get it!”
“I dare you to stay right there!”
Little Green and Little Gray continued to howl, and more than a dozen wolves in the pack surrounded the white fox. To Ye Lingchen’s astonishment, the white fox was extremely agile with a speed not inferior to that of Little Green and Little Gray, and surprisingly quick-witted too.
It seemed to be aware of Little Green and Little Gray’s strength and made a conscious decision to avoid the two canines. Meanwhile, the other wolves could not keep up with its agility, which therefore allowed it to scurry around and deal with the pack easily.
“Squeak!”
The white fox’s voice was extremely urgent. It had clearly chosen the right time, coming to steal only when no one was around. In fact, it had been eyeing the place for a long time, but was scared witless after all those wolves showed up so unexpectedly.
When a wolf jumped over to bite it, its small body leapt nimbly and stepped on the wolf’s head. With a flick of its tail, it quickly made its way back into the forest.
Then, a snow-white tiger appeared in front of the white fox and blocked it. The tiger tried its best to look fierce and howled at the white fox…