Qi WuHuo looked at the mountain and thought for a moment. He decided to go up and have a look around. After snowfall, the snow on the mountain didn't melt as quickly as it did in the city. Footprints stayed visible, so if the mountain wasn't closed off after a winter snowfall, there was often plenty to be found.
Never mind the plump rabbits that came out in winter. If he could find winter bamboo shoots...
He'd have a feast tonight.
Winter bamboo shoots stewed with cured meat, with a few freshly baked buns on the side.
Come to think of it, tomorrow was the day he'd visit the Li family. He ought to bring them a gift, and winter bamboo shoots would be just the thing.
The boy thought for a moment, tucked his dagger behind his waist, tossed his sword into the carrying basket, and covered it with a piece of blue cloth. Then he slung the basket onto his back, told the old man he was heading out, and set off up the mountain.
Since sensing primordial energy, his steps had grown lighter. Using Spirit to Control Qi, he circulated it through his body, and it seemed as if wind sprang beneath his feet. His qi and blood flowed smoothly, and he didn't tire. Before long, he'd followed the familiar path up the mountain.
The mountain was blanketed in white, every slope draped in snow. The cold wind blew, but he didn't feel chilled—only refreshed. Qi WuHuo softened his steps, remembering the casual advice of the physician who had once exchanged his life for his own.
"In the mountains during winter, you can dig up the roots of kudzu vines and grind them into kudzu powder. It'll fill your belly, and it tastes pretty good. You can also look for wild yams and Chinese clematis. Chinese clematis bears fruit in winter—bright red and easy to spot against the snow. They're called Red Lantern Fruit, and the roots can be used in soup, too.
"The apothecaries will buy them, and taverns want them as well.
"They can be used as medicine or soaked in liquor.
"If you live by a mountain, you eat from the mountain; if you live by a river, you eat from the river. This mountain is like a treasure trove. There's something edible to be found here in every season, so you'll never starve."
The Yellow Millet Dream had granted Qi WuHuo a great fortune. His Primordial Spirit was brimming with energy, and that showed in the outside world as heightened perception. He could find all sorts of mountain produce much more easily than before.
Before long, the basket on his back was already half full.
Most of it was winter bamboo shoots and Chinese clematis.
As for kudzu roots, if he found one, it could weigh more than ten pounds. Unfortunately, the ones he'd marked in autumn were already gone. It seemed he wasn't the only one who had discovered those kudzu vines.
Qi WuHuo didn't mind. He simply kept searching.
Then, beneath a rocky overhang, he spotted leaves that looked a little like lilies. They were withered, but their shape was still recognizable. His eyes brightened, and he hurried over to examine them. "This is... Tiger Ginger!"
"I'm really lucky today!"
A happy smile spread across Qi WuHuo's face.
Aside from the sudden realization about pursuing immortality, born of seventy years spent drifting through a dream, all that remained from the dream was understanding and a few hazy impressions.
He was still only a fourteen-year-old boy. Taking out his trusty dagger, he carefully began digging around the lily-shaped leaves. The roots he unearthed looked like bamboo runners, but also a little like ginger.
Qi WuHuo's eyes lit up.
Tiger Ginger was also called Chicken Claw Ginseng. The apothecaries had a more refined name for it: Huang Jing. Of all the medicinal materials produced on this mountain, it fetched the highest price.
They called it the Immortals' Provisions.
That was why so many people had gone up the mountain looking for Huang Jing in the past few years. There was less and less of it now.
He hadn't expected to find any here.
Qi WuHuo carefully gathered it up, thinking he could sell it for some money. Then he remembered that Tiger Ginger could apparently be eaten, too, and hesitated.
The household had three strings of cash now. Couldn't he keep a little for himself?
Hmm, he'd save a third for Mr. Su.
Then he'd sell some and share the rest with the old man.
It was a terrible habit to spend recklessly just because the household had a little money, but he'd dug this up himself. Surely he could indulge just a tiny bit.
Qi WuHuo carefully wrapped the Huang Jing in coarse cloth and placed it at the top of his basket. Only then did he straighten up and look around, hoping to find more.
A breeze brushed past.
A thought stirred in his heart, and his spirit moved with it. That alone was a technique.
When a technique connected with heaven and earth, it became a divine ability.
Primordial energy surged, and his Primordial Spirit extended outward.
In an instant, it swept across the area, and he discovered another Huang Jing. Qi WuHuo left that one alone. Only after finding a third did he dig up part of it. Huang Jing was a gift of the mountain, and he didn't want to take all of its roots. He took only three-tenths.
Even so, he was already more than satisfied.
Buying this much Huang Jing would probably cost one tael and three mace of silver.
As Qi WuHuo walked and gathered herbs, his Primordial Spirit spread out, borne aloft by primordial energy. Every piece of Huang Jing on the mountain was within reach of this rudimentary searching technique.
Then, all at once, he felt as if his Primordial Spirit had broken through something. Beneath a cliff, he found an especially thick clump of lily-like leaves. Even in the bitter depths of winter, they gleamed with a faint green light.
Qi WuHuo knew a little Medicine art. When people bought or sold Huang Jing, they set the price according to its age. He studied the veins on the leaves, unable to believe his eyes. "Could this... be nearly a thousand-year-old Huang Jing?"
"Can Huang Jing really grow this big?"
He instinctively raised his dagger.
A Huang Jing this big could probably fetch ten thousand taels of silver.
But just then, the Huang Jing, with leaves as thick as his palm, began to tremble. Its leaves gathered together like hands, and it rolled across the ground, transforming into a tiny person. It wore its hair in two buns and had nothing on but a bellyband. It kowtowed again and again, babbling without pause.
He couldn't understand what it was saying, but the terror and pleading in its Primordial Spirit came through crystal clear.
Qi WuHuo asked, "Are you asking me not to pick you?"
The little person nodded and kowtowed over and over.
Qi WuHuo looked at the Huang Jing and thought that the younger ones didn't matter, but plants like Huang Jing usually rotted after a few years. One that had managed to grow for a thousand years must have endured hardship and loneliness beyond imagining.
A gentleman loved wealth, but earned it by honorable means.
Why ruin someone else's thousand-year wait for a little silver?
So he lowered his dagger and smiled. "All right. I won't pick you."
"But why are you hiding here in such an obvious place? Aren't you afraid someone will find you?"
The little person's face fell.
An illusion array had naturally formed here from the medicinal fragrance.
Only True Persons who had cultivated Primordial Spirit and magic power could enter. But this person had no magic power, and yet he'd come right in?
Qi WuHuo saw the little person resting its chin in both hands, looking utterly confused and dejected. He smiled faintly, reached out, and gently poked its cheek. "Next time, hide better. Don't let anyone find you again."
The little person nodded repeatedly.
Qi WuHuo was about to stand when a furious shout rang out from the cliff face. "Thief! Thief!"
"Me, a thief?"
Qi WuHuo instinctively looked up.
He couldn't see anyone shouting. His reaction seemed to enrage the shouter even more, making its cries louder, and only then could Qi WuHuo pinpoint where they were coming from.
On the cliff face, a deer glared at him and shouted:
"Of course you are! You—you—you, human!"
"Why are you stealing the Huang Jing we worked so hard to grow?"
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