Refinable, Herb Gathering Sutra!

"Little Liang, we're all herb gatherers here—why make things so distant between us?"

"You're putting me in a very difficult position..."

Crack!

Right at that moment, or rather while Big Head Li was drawing attention up front, a faint sound came from behind.

Liang Qisheng caught it from the corner of his eye.

He saw several herb gatherers holding hatchets, having circled around from the rear, now closing in on him from that direction.

Three men front and back, pincer formation, completely surrounding him.

"What's this for?!"

Liang Qisheng said expressionlessly.

"Hand over the Red Flower Old Ginseng, and chop off one arm."

"Don't worry, we're only after wealth, not your life. Once I'm sure you're no threat, I'll spare you!"

Seeing that his setup had succeeded and Liang Qisheng remained unmoved, giving no ground at all, Li He stopped wasting words. His face turned cold again as he spoke flatly.

Thud!

A hatchet sank into Big Head Li's chest.

Around him, three or four people lay sprawled in disorder.

Each one bloodstained—throats slit, chests split open with a single blow.

As for Big Head Li, Liang Qisheng had killed him with one punch to the throat.

Crack.

His throat shattered, Big Head Li clutched his neck and staggered backward.

Horror filled his face, as if he couldn't believe the final outcome.

Liang Qisheng's strength was this fierce—far beyond what he had imagined.

His mouth opened and closed, but not a sound came out.

Thump.

He could no longer hold on and crashed to the ground.

His eyes were wide open, staring blankly in death, refusing to close.

Right beside him, Liang Qisheng moved with clean, decisive efficiency, killing men as easily as slaughtering chickens and sheep.

Without hesitation, he sent this whole band of herb gatherers to meet the King of Hell.

"[Herb gatherer ringleader—murder for plunder, highway robbery, blood on his hands. Kill him and gain karma.]"

"...Slain a guilty man. Gained eight karma points!"

"...Slain a guilty man. Gained three karma points!"

"...Slain a guilty man. Gained two karma points!"

The familiar voice rang out in Liang Qisheng's mind.

"This Big Head Li was a fat sheep after all. The blood on his hands can't be less than mine."

"...One man alone gave eight karma points. Killing him counts as carrying out heaven's will."

Liang Qisheng panted heavily.

He wasn't faking it. After several consecutive fights—especially the life-or-death battle with that beast, the One-Eyed Scar-Faced Old Wolf—he was truly exhausted to his limit.

If two more herb gatherers showed up now, they wouldn't even need to ambush him head-on. Just harassing from a distance with arrows could actually finish him off.

The old herb gatherer had once said Big Head Li had crooked intentions and harmed other gatherers.

Now it was clear—every word was right.

Still, that bastard was a tough nut. Several of the knife wounds on Liang Qisheng's body came from him.

Fortunately, they only cut flesh, not vitals or sinew. Once the blood stasis cleared, the wounds would heal fairly quickly.

Cough!

Liang Qisheng spat out a thick glob of phlegm flecked with blood. A sharp pain shot through his chest.

He coughed dryly for a moment, then pressed his chest and stood up.

Next came searching the bodies—checking if Big Head Li and his crew had anything good on them.

Since these men could try to take the Red Flower Old Ginseng from him, they might have also snatched deep-mountain herbs from other gatherers.

But Liang Qisheng was destined to be disappointed—it seemed this group's recent harvest hadn't been too good.

Just then, he made a new discovery. One of the herb gatherers, whose throat he had slit open with a single stroke, lay with his clothes gaping open, soaked in blood, revealing half a parchment book tucked against his chest.

A hole had been torn through his chest; Liang Qisheng's blade had pierced straight through his body, and the blood welling from the wound had nearly soaked the entire book red.

"No wonder I felt a bit more resistance in his chest when I struck. I thought he'd trained some hard-body technique like Iron Shirt or Golden Bell, but it turns out he had a book hidden in his clothes."

"Otherwise, that slash would have gone clean through his chest and ground half his heart to pulp!"

Liang Qisheng stepped forward and pulled out the book, unsure whether it was made of cowhide or parchment.

After examining it for a while, he found it was densely covered in small seal script.

The cover was an old, hand-copied manuscript, bearing three large characters—

Herb Gathering Sutra!

"Ding! Discovered a refineable item!"

"A century-old unique copy, the herbalist's hard-won knowledge, passed down through generations by single inheritance, steeped in blood and toil—committed to memory are the hundred herbs of the deep mountains and all manner of medicinal pairings... Refineable!"

Liang Qisheng was startled. He hadn't expected that, aside from martial arts techniques, his merit points could refine something like this.

He carefully examined the wounds on his body. The flesh was writhing and contracting, the bleeding had stopped, and the wounds were turning pale.

He took some hemostatic medicine from his medicine basket, chewed it up, and smeared it over the wounds before turning his attention back to the data in his mind.

"Name: Liang Qisheng

Realm: Peak Skin Tempering.

Lifespan: 65 and a half years.

Technique: Black Tiger Fist 27% (+)

Auxiliary: Herb Gathering Sutra 0% (+)

Merit: Fifteen points!"

Liang Qisheng quickly checked the newly appeared data. An extra line had been added: "Auxiliary: Herb Gathering Sutra 0% (+)," and the earlier prompt was worth pondering.

"I might as well give it a try. What difference would there be between this Herb Gathering Sutra after refinement and a technique like Black Tiger Fist?"

"But the smell of blood here is too strong. It'll soon draw other beasts. I'd better leave quickly!"

With several dead men, plus the corpse of the One-Eyed Scar-Faced Old Wolf and a decapitated python nearby, the air was thick with the stench of blood.

This was a desolate mountain. Who knew what terrifying beasts it might attract? And since he was already injured, now was not the time to act.

He had originally wanted to take both the python carcass and the wolf corpse with him, but given the situation, he had no choice but to abandon them.

After searching Big Head Li and the other herb gatherers under him, Liang Qisheng fished out some loose silver.

Checking it, he found about twenty taels.

It seemed these bastards had extorted quite a few herb gatherers.

Then, Liang Qisheng rummaged through their medicine baskets.

He packed all the herbs they had gathered into his own basket.

Just then, the roar of a wild beast echoed from afar.

"Time to go."

Liang Qisheng's ears twitched slightly. He knew something was charging toward this spot at speed.

Clearly, some predators had followed the scent of blood.

He dared not delay any longer and quickly got up to leave.

He hadn't gone far before the roars of different beasts rang out behind him.

Then came the dull sound of bones being torn apart.

Liang Qisheng didn't linger. He hurried back the way he came.

He couldn't be bothered to deal with the corpses anyway—he couldn't carry them out.

A few people dead in the deep mountains, a few more bodies—no one would know, and the authorities wouldn't investigate.

In less than two days, even the bones would be gone.