Leaving Some Soup for Lian Chengyu

"Collecting medicine! Collecting medicine!"

As night fell, Zhao Tiezhu shouted loudly at the village entrance.

Five members of the Warrior Reserve Camp set up a long table, on which five large, round bamboo winnowing baskets were placed.

These baskets were woven from bamboo strips, normally used for drying dates, herbs, and so on.

At this moment, three of the five large baskets were already full.

Tribe members who had been gathering herbs lined up to hand them in. An old man with a goatee identified the age and rarity of each herb, then weighed them with a small scale before recording them.

When it was Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou's turn, Yi Yun slowly handed over his harvest.

The old man with the goatee glanced at it, and his eyes lit up slightly. "Pill Fruit! Black Lingzhi! Five Spirit Grass! Wild Ginseng! What good herbs!"

Seeing these precious medicinal materials, the old man treated them like treasures, holding them and stroking them repeatedly.

Yi Yun watched from the side, relieved. This old man clearly knew about herbs, but he couldn't tell that these herbs had already had their medicinal power drained by the Purple Crystal.

This was understandable. Herbs that had been drained by the Purple Crystal looked no different on the surface from fresh, intact herbs.

"Heh heh, kid, you're lucky. Today's rations are saved!"

Zhao Tiezhu looked at the herbs with great satisfaction.

If they collected high-quality herbs, they could receive commendations from Lian Chengyu!

When Lian Chengyu became successful in the future, they, his lackeys, could also benefit and follow him to the big cities, perhaps even getting some official positions!

"I think you're quite suited to be an apprentice herbalist. You have a natural talent for gathering herbs. Letting you gather herbs was truly recognizing your potential and making the best use of your abilities!"

"You didn't die from the fall last time, but you've gotten better and better at gathering herbs. I think, based on this standard, you should hand in an extra ounce of herbs tomorrow!"

Zhao Tiezhu spoke while picking his ear, looking extremely casual.

"What!?"

Jiang Xiaorou was furious. Sixteen ounces of herbs was already pushing it, and Zhao Tiezhu wanted to add more!

Although Jiang Xiaorou knew Yi Yun was fast at gathering herbs and could complete even more, she worried that Zhao Tiezhu would keep pushing his luck, adding more and more, until something bad happened.

"Military Officer Zhao, you must be joking. These herbs are the absolute limit of what I could gather in a whole day of hard work."

Yi Yun's tone was exceptionally slow. As he spoke, his peripheral vision glanced at the three baskets already filled with herbs.

A layer of light spots was slowly rising from the surface of the three baskets.

These light spots were being drawn out by the Purple Crystal, floating towards Yi Yun like fireflies in the night.

A faint, unnoticeable smile appeared on Yi Yun's lips. The Purple Crystal needed some time to absorb the medicinal power from the herbs. Zhao Tiezhu's blabbering at this moment was exactly what he wanted.

"Damn it! Do you think I'm discussing this with you!?" Zhao Tiezhu slammed the table, startling the old man with the goatee.

"You're a lowly peasant who digs in the dirt. It's rare to find a place where your useless self can be of some use, and you're still being difficult! The Lian Clan doesn't support freeloaders. Everyone here is either a warrior or a diligent laborer! Hand in an extra ounce of herbs tomorrow, and get lost!"

After being berated by Zhao Tiezhu, Yi Yun's face seemed to turn extremely ugly, and he stood there rigidly, unable to move.

Everyone thought Yi Yun was humiliated. For an eleven or twelve-year-old child to be publicly cursed, and so harshly, the impact on him was unimaginable.

Zhao Tiezhu looked at Yi Yun's face, which shifted from pale to flushed, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes.

Jiang Xiaorou felt a pang of sympathy and tugged at Yi Yun, but he remained motionless, as if rooted to the spot, appearing stunned by Zhao Tiezhu's scolding.

It should be almost absorbed... If it absorbs any more, Lian Chengyu will get suspicious.

Yi Yun didn't take Zhao Tiezhu seriously at all, considering him like a mad dog barking. He was calculating how much medicinal power was appropriate to absorb.

Absorbing about seventy to eighty percent should be enough. He had to leave some "soup" for Lian Chengyu to drink, otherwise, if several large baskets of good herbs turned into useless weeds, even a fool would see something was wrong.

Yi Yun couldn't afford to clash with the higher-ups of the Lian Clan yet. He could deal with Zhao Tiezhu, but he was still far from being able to contend with the Old Tribe Leader, Lian Chengyu, and the others.

As the Purple Crystal absorbed the medicinal power, it quickly entered Yi Yun's bloodstream. The blood circulated, nourishing his body. Yi Yun felt a surge of warmth filling his meridians, flowing through his limbs and bones, making his body gradually heat up. His complexion also became rosy as a result.

Yi Yun felt light and weightless, as if floating on clouds.

However, Yi Yun's reaction was perceived by many tribesmen as pathetic. His face was red and his neck was flushed, his limbs felt weak. Such a reaction was clearly due to Zhao Tiezhu's insults.

"Poor child. He's so young, and Zhao Tiezhu targets him like this just because he talked back to him on the day rations were distributed."

"This child's life is also bitter. His mother died of illness not long after he came to the Lian Clan. He himself is frail and sickly, and physically weak. How can he possibly resist Zhao Tiezhu?"

"The Warrior Reserve Camp acts so arrogantly towards the villagers. When will this end? Do you think Young Master Lian Chengyu can really lead us to the city?"

"Hush, don't talk nonsense. Be careful that someone from the Warrior Reserve Camp hears you, or you'll get into trouble too!"

"I think they'll eventually torment this child to death..."

When gathering herbs in the mountains, people sometimes fall to their deaths. Moreover, the more precious the herb, the more likely it is to grow on a sheer cliff. Yi Yun handed in so many good herbs; he must have risked his life climbing those cliffs. It would be a miracle if he didn't fall to his death eventually.

However, in the Lian Clan, what did death even matter? Human lives were the cheapest commodity here.

Deep in the night, the moon hung in the sky like a silver hook.

In the pharmacy of the Lian Clan's Tribe Leader's courtyard, several men were energetically working the bellows, using piles of firewood to heat a large cauldron.

Several old men from the pharmacy carefully sorted the medicinal herbs, combining them with dozens of auxiliary herbs to begin brewing the medicinal soup.

The auxiliary ingredients and precise heating for brewing these medicines were secret transmissions of the Lian Clan, not to be revealed to ordinary folk. Otherwise, if these commoners learned the methods for brewing medicine, they might secretly gather herbs and consume them.

In the eyes of the Lian Clan's high-ranking members, using these valuable medicines on ordinary people was akin to feeding good grain to pigs – utterly useless.

Let alone ordinary folk, even the members of the Warrior Reserve Camp rarely had the chance to bathe in medicinal decoctions.

These meticulously brewed medicinal soups were all prepared for Lian Chengyu.

"Good! Good! You did well this time. There are quite a few rare items among the collected medicinal herbs!"

The Tribe Leader was very satisfied after looking at the list of medicinal ingredients.

"It is my duty, Chief. Zhao Tiezhu nodded vigorously, a fawning smile plastered on his face. "How could I dare to fail in the task you assigned, Chief, especially when it concerns Young Master Lian's future? As soon as I came down from the training grounds today, I rushed straight to the Medicine Mountain to supervise those commoners gathering herbs. Those commoners are timid and would never dare to climb up. I was anxious, so I climbed up myself. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon this Black Lingzhi and Pill Fruit."

Zhao Tiezhu directly claimed Yi Yun's accomplishment as his own.

"Excellent! You've been diligent. Go to the storeroom and collect a pound of dried beast meat." The Tribe Leader patted Zhao Tiezhu on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Chief!" Zhao Tiezhu said with great joy.

"Mm, keep up the good work. Once Chengyu becomes a Divine Kingdom Warrior, he'll need people to run errands for him. Be sharp, and you might earn Chengyu's favor and stay by his side. When Chengyu achieves great success in the future, you won't be shortchanged."

"Thank you for your guidance, Chief!" Zhao Tiezhu knelt and kowtowed, overcome with emotion.

That kid named Yi Yun was truly his lucky star. He never expected this little servant to be so skilled at gathering herbs. In the future, he could even give him some medicinal dregs or coarse grains as a reward. That poor kid would be grateful for even the slightest handout, and then he'd willingly become my errand boy!

Zhao Tiezhu envisioned himself living a life of power and influence in the big city as he happily trotted away.