There were some medicinal plants that were a little more common than others, and those were rather easy to get his hands on. Those made up a large part of what he found, that first afternoon. By the time that he rejoined the rest of the Hunters for dinner at their campsite, he was ready to show them off as well.Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at it, the rest of the Hunters weren"t that enthusiastic about the quality of the herbs that he had found. Not that he blamed them, of course. They were more focused on their cultivation, and how they dealt with the various Beasts that they were hunting, rather than his area of expertise.
The places where he could retrieve those herbs were also close to where the Hunters would be active, according to the plans that they had shared as they headed out. So it should be enough to establish his "apparent lack of abilities", when it came to the wilderness.
Hopefully, he wouldn"t come across any Hunter with an exaggerated sense of responsibility, who would do his best to "take care" of this particular herb-grower!
In any case, he should be able to slip off on his own, come the second or third day of the Hunt, and head off for the zones that he had visited, the last time that he visited the Southern Woods with Elder Ming. And he already had some idea of the sort of herbs that he could pick up from those locations.
*
Qin Feng chuckled softly as he picked the roots of Blue Veined Lotus out of the shallow body water, some time later that afternoon. It was the third of his harvests for the day, and to be honest, he had almost missed it when he arrived at the same riverlet that he had visited with Elder Ming, back on their first journey into the Southern Woods.
But he did manage to identify in the end, and had moved quickly to secure the most effective portion of that medicinal plant. He didn"t pick all of it out of the riverlet, of course, taking care to leave almost half of the network of roots intact in the water. With time, it would recover and return to its original state.
That would give him an opportunity to harvest it again, wouldn"t it? It should have recovered sufficiently for him to s.n.a.t.c.h another chunk of the yin-based, cooling medicinal root by the end of the harvest season. Which would make things a lot easier for him later in the year!
He moved a lot more cautiously, however, as soon as he got back onto dry ground. The Blue Veined Lotus had pale pink flowers that were marked by thin blue lines, just as its name suggested. But more importantly, there was a rather distinct fragrance that lingered about that particular plant, which attracted a good number of wild animals, including a few Spiritual Beasts. And Qin Feng was a little worried about the latter.
After all, he knew that he could handle ordinary wild animals, even those that hunted in packs, like wolves. Between his rather ordinary accomplishments in his Lightness-of-Body martial arts, and his somewhat extraordinary skill with the White Jade Hands, Qin Feng was confident that he could fend off about seven or eight such creatures.
Spiritual Beasts, on the other hand, were those that had managed to absorb the Spiritual Qi from the surrounding forest, and were a lot more dangerous. Most of them were either faster or stronger than ordinary animals, and he would be hard-pressed to deal with just one of them!
In fact, the reason why Hunters were arranged to deal with their missions in trios was because of these Spiritual Beasts. Only when they had a solid numerical advantage could they be confident of overwhelming those powerful creatures. If these same Hunters were caught alone, their only option was to run away!
Which was why he was moving so slowly, and keeping his attention on the woods that were closest to his present position. Apart from their fighting abilities, Spiritual Beasts were also cunning and liked to hide in the shadows, attack only when they were certain that they had an advantage.
And he was more than familiar with the allure that certain plants - like the Blue Veined Lotus root in his hands, had for these Beasts!
But there was no sign of any other creature anywhere around him, so Qin Feng relaxed. And quickly walked over to where he had left his socks and his simple straw sandals. He had taken them off earlier, before he had ventured into the riverlet.
Then he froze, as he heard an unexpected, soft, sc.r.a.ping sound. And took care not to move his head as he pretended to examine the plant directly in front of him. His footwear he abandoned completely, leaving it lying on the gra.s.s in front of him. Instead, his eyes were already scanning the tall trees a short distance ahead, searching for the source of that sound.
A Silver-streaked Ferret!
Qin Feng almost cursed out loud as soon as he spotted the creature responsible for making that noise. It was not very large, but he had already read about how dangerous it could be. And from what he could see, it wasn"t affected by that scent pouch that he had prepared at all!
That was enough to make him give out another soft curse at once, as he slowly picked a useless handful of gra.s.s with his left hand, even as he got ready to get up and run. The Ferret was fast, but not so fast that it could cross that distance between them in an instant. So he would have a chance to get away.
Then he gave up that idea immediately. There weren"t any likely places where he could hide, or defend, against the Silver-streaked Ferret within ten paces around him. And he would be turning his back on the Beast if he tried to run. So that was certainly a terrible plan.
Unfortunately for him, his hesitation was enough to hint at his fear. And the Silver-streaked Ferret, named for the half-dozen light greyish, silverish stripes on its back, was quick to press the advantage that it had just sensed. It stepped out of the shadow of the trees then, while its eyes continued to track Qin Feng coldly.
Which was enough to make the young man curse under his breath as he watched it approach. It seemed to be intent on making him its prey!
* * *