After washing up, Yang Heng returned to his quarters and fell into a deep sleep, completely unaware that a crisis was closing in on him.
But even if he had known, he likely would not have taken this rabble seriously.
The twelfth day of gathering herbs in the mountains.
Today, Yang Heng did not go up the mountain to gather herbs. He spent the entire day cultivating martial arts, drilling the Vajra Fist and practicing the Levitation Technique.
After a single day, both martial arts had progressed at a startling pace.
At this rate, Yang Heng reckoned that in another half month, both techniques would break through and reach Minor Accomplishment.
Of course, that depended on having enough time to train each day, as well as an uninterrupted supply of meat to replenish the strength consumed by martial practice.
Yang Heng was not worried about the meat. He had ample funds: the three hundred and fifty taels of silver he had "borrowed" from the landlord's family last time, plus the one hundred taels he had extorted from the man in black, totaled four hundred and fifty taels.
Over this period, he had spent twenty taels on meat, leaving well over half. It was enough to cultivate all the way to the Blood Strengthening Realm.
Ever since Shopkeeper Chen announced the mountain herb-gathering expedition, Yang Heng had begun preparing for it.
This time, he had not bought dried pork strips. Instead, he bought more nutritious dried beef—thirty jin of it, for fifteen taels of silver.
One tael of silver could buy two jin of dried beef, making it five times as expensive as dried pork strips.
It was costly, but worth the price.
One jin of dried beef could provide the Marrow Cleansing Pearl with 0.5% energy, while one jin of pork strips could only provide 0.1%.
Eating one jin of dried beef yielded the energy of eating five jin of dried pork strips.
Compared side by side, dried beef clearly held the advantage.
Half a month had passed since his last Marrow Cleansing and Bone Scouring. The Marrow Cleansing Pearl had now accumulated 30% energy.
The two Old Ginseng roots deserved most of the credit for the rapid energy accumulation. By yesterday evening, both Old Ginseng roots had gone entirely into Yang Heng's stomach, leaving nothing behind.
Over the past half month, the Marrow Cleansing Pearl had accumulated energy at a breakneck pace, averaging 2% per day.
However, now that the Old Ginseng had been exhausted, the Marrow Cleansing Pearl's energy accumulation would slow down afterward.
Still, it would not drop by much. With dried beef helping, maintaining the current pace should not be a problem.
If the Marrow Cleansing Pearl could continue accumulating energy at a rate of 2% per day, it would be full again in a little over a month.
By then, he would undergo another complete transformation, and his cultivation talent would improve once more.
Yang Heng secretly swore that no matter what, he would make the Marrow Cleansing Pearl reach a daily increase of 2%. Even if he had to eat eight jin of dried beef a day—or even more—until he vomited and his stomach turned, he would achieve that goal.
Of the thirty jin of dried beef he had bought for this herb-gathering trip, only seven or eight jin remained as of today. It would soon be gone.
Fortunately, the deadline for gathering herbs was near, and he would soon return to Qingyang Town. There was no real problem.
When a person focused wholeheartedly on one thing, time often passed quickly.
Before he knew it, the sky had gradually darkened. Yang Heng ended his training, went to the place where he had hidden his herbs, took out medicinal ingredients worth one tael of silver, and headed down the mountain.
Today, Yang Heng took the same path down the mountain as before, without changing his route.
In recent days, news had gradually spread that apprentices were being robbed of their herbs while descending the mountain. Yang Heng merely laughed when he heard it and did not take it to heart.
With his current strength, which apprentice could snatch herbs from his hands? And whether they even had the nerve to rob him remained to be seen.
Within the camp, Lei Xiong was the only person Yang Heng feared. He was confident he could handle anyone else.
Yet reality soon slapped Yang Heng across the face. Someone truly had laid an ambush for him.
When Yang Heng reached a mountain hollow, his sixth sense stirred.
He vaguely sensed that someone seemed to be lying in wait around the bend ahead in the mountain hollow.
Yang Heng immediately stopped and looked around. A tree more than twenty meters tall by the roadside caught his eye.
In an instant, Yang Heng had an idea.
Yang Heng turned to face the tree, stepped forward with his left leg, leaned slightly forward, spread his arms, and lightly tapped off the ground with his toes. His body soared into the sky, leaping like a goshawk.
In the blink of an eye, he landed steadily on a thick branch more than ten meters above the ground.
From above, Yang Heng could see the situation around the bend in the mountain hollow with perfect clarity.
Seven or eight apprentices were huddled together on the ground, their bodies curled up. Each held a woodcutter's blade, their edges sharp and gleaming with cold light, as though specially honed. Fierce looks filled their eyes as they stared fixedly at the road ahead, ready to rush out and kill at any moment.
The moment anyone appeared at the road entrance, they would charge forward.
At the sight, Yang Heng's face turned frosty. Cold light overflowed from his eyes, and his body trembled uncontrollably with rage. The thick branch beneath his feet creaked and groaned as it began to sway.
Ordinarily, only he frequently used this path; few others descended the mountain this way.
There was no doubt that these people had ambushed him here to deal with him and seize the medicinal herbs in his possession.
Yang Heng had not expected that despite being so cautious, never drawing attention to himself, and not even handing in the most herbs among the apprentices each day, he had still been targeted.
The treachery of the human heart could go no further than this.
These people held cleavers and looked as though they were sharpening their blades in preparation for slaughter. It seemed they intended not merely to rob him of his herbs, but to take his life as well.
Yang Heng could never tolerate that.
He had kept out of worldly disputes and only wanted to live his own quiet life. His purpose in cultivating was also to live better and secure a place for himself in this chaotic world.
Who would have thought that while he did not go looking for trouble, trouble would come knocking on his door instead?
How could he endure this?
What could be endured had been endured; what could not be endured, could not be endured!
Yang Heng decided not to spare a single one of those who harbored hostility and designs against him. He would bury them all in this wilderness and leave neither corpse nor bone behind!
Killing them would not be difficult. The difficult part was doing so without attracting the medicine shop's attention—that was what concerned Yang Heng.
After thinking for a moment, Yang Heng decided to stage a scene where they perished together, making the medicine shop believe that he had died.
That way, he could openly break free from the medicine shop's restraints, move into the shadows, and do what he wanted.
Even after achieving success in martial arts, Yang Heng had remained at the medicine shop in order to obtain an opportunity to join the Medicine King Gang.
But now, he had obtained the Intermittent Flower that Lei Xiong desperately needed. Exchanging it for proof of entry into the Medicine King Gang would not be a problem.
With that, there was no need for him to remain at the medicine shop and continue living like an ox or a horse.
As for how to make the medicine shop believe that he had perished alongside them, there was an extremely simple method: leave no corpse behind!
As long as they could not find his body, who could know whether he was alive or dead?
There were many wild beasts in the mountains. He only needed to catch a few and let them gnaw the corpses clean. Easy as turning over his hand.
Over the past few days, while searching for herbs, Yang Heng had discovered quite a few wild beast dens. He had looted all the treasures from their lairs and felt somewhat embarrassed about it.
Now was the perfect chance to repay them.
Yang Heng sneered.
After carefully going over the entire plan in his mind and confirming there were no oversights, Yang Heng revealed a savage grin. Killing intent seeped from his eyes as he slowly headed toward the ambush site.
The slaughter had begun!
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