The day passed quickly. By the time he came down the mountain, Yang Heng had only a few common medicinal herbs in his basket, worth three or four hundred copper coins.
But in truth, Yang Heng's gains went far beyond that. He had taken out some of the herbs and the Intermittent Flower, hiding them in a concealed spot.
It was his first day gathering herbs on the mountain, and he did not want to stand out too much.
Over the next few days, once he had gained more experience gathering herbs, he could bring out more of them without attracting attention.
When Yang Heng returned to camp, the other apprentices were also coming back one after another. Everyone had gained something; no one returned empty-handed.
Only, the value and quantity of the herbs each person had gathered differed.
They handed their herbs to the masters for appraisal and registration. In the end, Yang Heng's herbs were valued at three hundred and fifty copper coins, placing him somewhere in the middle among the new apprentices.
One new apprentice had luck burst through the heavens. He found a palm-sized Lingzhi Mushroom beside a cliff, but lacked the courage to pick it himself, so he told a master surnamed Li about it.
After the Lingzhi Mushroom was picked, Master Li judged that the information was worth twenty taels of silver and recorded it for him.
When the reward came down, that apprentice was so delighted he fainted. For the next ten days or so, he would not need to enter the mountains and could rest directly in camp.
The new and old apprentices alike were filled with envy when they heard the news. When Yang Heng learned of it, he inwardly sighed. There really were people in this world whose luck defied the heavens.
Where there was joy, there was bound to be sorrow.
Not every apprentice had the same good fortune as the apprentice who discovered the Lingzhi Mushroom.
While gathering herbs in the mountains, an apprentice surnamed Zhang unfortunately encountered a wolf. One of his arms was bitten off. If the apprentices nearby had not heard his cries and rushed over to drive the wolf away, he would have died long ago.
But that was not yet his final fate.
When they came down the mountain, the masters decided that, having lost an arm, he no longer had any value to the apothecary. They did not even bandage his wounds, driving him out of camp and leaving him to fend for himself.
The sight made every new apprentice present shudder in terror. None of them had expected the apothecary to be so realistic, so ruthless!
As for the old apprentices and the apothecary's disciples, they remained calm. This sort of thing seemed to be commonplace to them, nothing worth finding strange.
Yang Heng had not expected the apothecary to be so heartless, so cold-blooded.
If he had not practiced martial arts, if this had happened to him, what could he have done in such a situation?
There was no answer. There was only a road to death!
This scene taught Yang Heng a lesson, making him feel the cruelty of the world once more.
Those without value could only be eliminated.
Yang Heng took a deep breath, calming his emotions and no longer dwelling on it.
At that moment, only one powerful thought remained in his heart: Practice martial arts!
He had to cultivate diligently, grow stronger, and never let something like this happen to him.
Night had fallen by then, and the sky was pitch-black.
After washing up, Yang Heng returned to his quarters. He lay on his bed, closed his eyes tightly, and was about to rest.
Just then, a burst of commotion came from the neighboring room.
"Search our bodies? Inspect our luggage?"
"Why should you search us? Why should you inspect our belongings?" an apprentice shouted indignantly.
"Why?"
"Because you are people of the apothecary! You dare disobey the apothecary's orders? Are you courting death?!"
Everyone carrying out the body searches was a martial artist, one of Master Lei's subordinates. Normally, only Master Lei and Shopkeeper Chen could command them.
At the moment, however, Shopkeeper Chen was not here.
There was no doubt that they were carrying out Master Lei's orders.
Very soon, a burly man violently shoved open the door to Yang Heng's room and strode inside.
He was exceptionally tall, over two meters in height. Standing in the doorway beneath the moonlight, his shadow stretched long behind him. He looked like a giant, bringing endless pressure upon everyone in the room.
Several apprentices near the door trembled violently, their faces deathly pale, as though they had mistaken the newcomer for a man-eating monster.
"Ah!"
One apprentice screamed and fainted on the spot from fright.
That single cry scared several other apprentices so badly that they wet themselves.
At once, the room filled with the pungent stench of urine.
Luo Hai had just been about to explain why he was here when this unexpected scene unfolded.
What he found most unbearable was that one apprentice whose bed directly faced the doorway was not wearing undergarments. A stream of yellow liquid shot toward Luo Hai's face like a spring, so fast that it was impossible to guard against.
Fortunately, as a martial artist, his senses, eyesight, and speed were extraordinary. He hurriedly twisted aside, dodging the vicious strike.
Luo Hai flew into a rage. In one stride, he arrived before the apprentice, grabbed him by the collar, and viciously hurled him out the door.
Boom!
The sound of something heavy striking the ground rang out. The apprentice had not yet recovered from his fright when he suddenly felt his body flying through the air, his face drawing closer and closer to the ground.
He was horrified and wanted to do something, but he was powerless.
Face-down, he slammed brutally into the ground.
His fall left him battered and bruised. Blood gushed from his nostrils and mouth, and before long, the ground was stained scarlet.
Under the night sky, it was glaringly conspicuous.
Still not appeased, Luo Hai took two steps as one and quickly reached the apprentice. He then savagely stomped several more times on his back.
Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones shattering rang out.
Luo Hai's strikes were vicious. He did not stop until the apprentice had only one breath left.
Witnessing this scene, everyone present was cowed by Luo Hai's ruthless methods.
Next, Luo Hai carefully inspected every person's belongings and searched their entire bodies, yet failed to find what he was looking for.
He shook his head and walked out through the door with a dejected expression.
Master Lei had ordered them to search the apothecary's apprentices and inspect all their belongings to see whether anyone had a silver-white blade of grass.
He had also promised that whoever found this silver-white blade of grass and handed it to him, he would do everything in his power to help them break through to the Blood Strengthening Realm.
Upon hearing this, the guards immediately sprang into action, swarming toward the apprentices' rooms like a hive of bees.
After Luo Hai left, several more people came to inspect the room, but they still found nothing and could only leave helplessly.
The commotion lasted for more than half a shichen, only ending around midnight.
Their excuse for conducting the search was that Master Lei had lost a precious item and had come here to look for it.
Yang Heng knew perfectly well that they were searching for the Intermittent Flower.
If nothing unexpected had happened, the presence that had made him feel danger that morning had been Master Lei.
In the entire camp, only Master Lei, who was in the Blood Strengthening Realm, could make him feel threatened.
Master Lei must have learned of the Intermittent Flower from the apothecary's masters and hurried over, only to find that Yang Heng had beaten him to the punch.
Master Lei suspected that an apothecary apprentice might have picked the flower, which was why he ordered the search.
Otherwise, it would not have been such a coincidence for several matters to pile up and happen on the same day.
Yang Heng was glad that his mind had been clear enough not to bring the Intermittent Flower back with him. Otherwise, he would have been in danger.
Judging from Master Lei's actions, the Intermittent Flower was extremely important to him.
Otherwise, he would not have gone through such great trouble.
Though the Intermittent Flower was rare, it was not a necessary item for most people.
Only those suffering from serious internal injuries would urgently need it.
Yang Heng guessed that Master Lei was very likely carrying an internal injury and desperately needed the Intermittent Flower for treatment.
At that thought, Yang Heng's eyes lit up.
He had found his way into the Medicine King Gang—it lay with Master Lei.
He could use the Intermittent Flower to exchange for proof of entry into the Medicine King Gang.
Of course, he would have to wait until he broke through to the Blood Strengthening Realm before doing that, lest Master Lei resort to black-on-black robbery.
Before you continue