Looking for the Cave

Turning the four Storage Rings over in his hands, Xiao Han casually slipped them into his own.

They were all low-grade Storage Rings, but even so, they were pretty rare. Xiao Han had wondered how those bandits could afford to buy them.

Then he thought it over and understood. The bandits must have stolen the rings from the wealthy young men they'd robbed and killed.

They weren't much use to him, but they could come in handy for storing things or giving away.

As for the four bandits he'd killed, they were only a little richer than ordinary members of a Mercenary Group. They'd spent the money they'd robbed on cultivation resources, mostly First Grade Pills, some Gold Coins and gold cards, and a few Yellow Rank Cultivation Techniques and Dou Techniques.

Xiao Han didn't care for any of it, but he could take it back and put it in the Family Dou Technique Hall.

As the saying went, "Don't flaunt your wealth."

Xiao Han reflected on his actions and realized he'd been a little too generous today, acting as if he didn't care about money. No wonder those thugs who liked to prey on easy targets would try to rob him.

sigh, I still don't know enough about the ways of the world.

Shaking his head, he put those thoughts aside and took out his map. Following the mountain trail, he would head deeper into the Magical Beast Mountain Range, then cross a stretch of dense forest. Beyond the forest lay a steep cliff, with another vast stretch of woods at its foot.

Beside the cliff was an enormous basin that seemed to stretch beyond the horizon. The so-called gathering grounds of the herb gatherers were merely the basin's outskirts.

The Treasure Cave that Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian discovered in the original story was halfway up the cliff. Apparently, Xiao Yi Xian had found it while gathering herbs.

Xiao Han couldn't remember the details clearly, so he decided to look around when he got there.

The four bandits he'd just killed had given him a total of 25 Energy Value. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

With his sword on his back, Xiao Han continued deeper into the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

Since it was morning, the trail leading to the Herb Gathering Basin was crowded with groups of mercenaries.

Some Mercenary Groups had only three or four members. They had vicious looks in their eyes and were clearly desperate men, with who knew how many lives on their hands.

People like that were extremely dangerous, so no one wanted to team up with them. They were also relatively strong, with no shortage of six- and seven-star Dou Zhe.

Other Mercenary Groups traveled in larger groups of anywhere from a dozen to twenty people. They were generally weaker, most of them being one- or two-star Dou Zhe. The rest were around four or five stars, led by one strongest member who was a seven-star Dou Zhe.

Their strength varied, but they all shared the same wary look.

They were watching out for attacks from Magical Beasts, of course, but they were even more on guard against the other people heading into the mountains with them. After all, in this world, people were treacherous, and you had to watch your back.

Of course, Xiao Han wasn't the only lone traveler. But without great strength, lone travelers were usually the first to die.

Magical Beasts tended to attack isolated humans first, hoping for an easy meal.

Lone travelers like Xiao Han didn't dare stray too far from the groups of mercenaries. That way, even if the Magical Beasts tried to ambush them, they wouldn't be so brazen.

Of course, they were still on the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, where only first-tier Magical Beasts lived. Second-tier Magical Beasts usually lived deeper in the mountains, where Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi was stronger.

With strength enough to slay a Dou Master, Xiao Han was ambushed by Magical Beasts several times along the way, but none managed to hurt him. Instead, they all became Energy Value, and Xiao Han also collected a pile of Magical Beast corpses and Magic Cores.

The mercenaries who'd been eyeing Xiao Han quickly kept their distance after watching him kill an Emerald Green Snake—a beast as strong as a seven-star Dou Zhe—with a single sword strike.

Xiao Han was happy to be left alone. He cut down Magical Beasts on his own as he traveled, and his swordsmanship proficiency rose rapidly. After a few more battles, he reckoned he could master Cloud Crushing Swordplay.

In just a few short days, Xiao Han's swordsmanship had improved yet again. It showed just how terrifying the Sword Dao talent from Kai Dad's template really was.

Traveling with the large groups heading up the mountain to gather herbs, Xiao Han finally reached the Herb Gathering Basin in the Magical Beast Mountain Range around noon.

Since this was a natural treasure trove of herbs inside the Magical Beast Mountain Range, it was no surprise that many Magical Beasts had made their homes there.

After the Mercenary Groups drove the Magical Beasts away, the herb gatherers they were hired to protect brought out jade boxes one after another. Carefully, they used small knives to cut down the mature herbs, leaving enough of the stems and roots for them to grow back.

"Always leave something behind" was common sense among many people who gathered herbs in the wilderness.

Even the mercenaries who ventured into the wild knew that if you pulled a plant up by its roots, it couldn't grow back. Take care when harvesting, and another plant would be there the following year.

Speaking of herbs, Alchemists couldn't be left out.

A month ago, when Xiao Han refined his first pill, he'd noticed a new section appear on his system panel.

Secondary Profession: Alchemist (First Grade)

Experience (1/1000)

Pills Available for Refining:

First Grade Pills:

Qi Returning Pill; Blood Coagulation Powder; Energy Accumulation Pill; Gold Warehouse Medicine.

Can spend 999 Energy Value to advance to a Second Grade Alchemist.

At the time, he'd lacked Energy Value, so Xiao Han had to learn alchemy on his own. With Old Man Yao, an Alchemist Master, teaching him, his alchemy experience had risen at an astonishing rate.

So even though Xiao Han now had plenty of Energy Value, he had no plans to spend it on advancing to a Second Grade Alchemist.

Ahem, that's beside the point.

Old Man Yao had taught Xiao Han how to gather herbs, but after looking around, Xiao Han didn't see any herbs that suited his needs. These weren't particularly rare, either. Anything truly valuable had probably already been picked.

Xiao Han figured there was no point in staying, so he turned to leave.

He glanced at the mercenaries guarding the herb-gathering group in the distance, then quickly slipped into the woods. A few swift turns, and he vanished from sight.

The members of the Mercenary Groups sensibly didn't try to follow him. Anyone who could kill a seven-star Dou Zhe-level Magical Beast with a single sword strike wasn't someone to mess with.

Although Xiao Han knew roughly where the cave was, unlike Xiao Yi Xian in the original story, he hadn't climbed down to it. All he knew was that it was below the cliff, beyond the dense forest.

There was nothing for it but to search along the edge of the cliff.

Even though it was only one cliff, Xiao Han couldn't explore it all in a short time.

Two hours later, Xiao Han finally found something. His foot stepped forward almost of its own accord, and the steep cliff face came into view.

The sheer cliff was covered with loose rocks, oddly shaped trees growing at random, and even what looked like bones.

Xiao Han slowly scanned the cliff face. A moment later, his gaze abruptly stopped on a section of rock hidden behind a fallen tree.

The strange trees on the cliff had been arranged with great care, but after searching again and again, Xiao Han still spotted something off about this place. If he hadn't known there was a cave hidden inside, he would never have given it a second glance.

Narrowing his eyes, he used the slanting sunlight to peer through the gaps in the trees. It looked as though he could see a dark opening in the cliff.

He'd found it!