Striking Out on Their Own

After the three-year training period, the twenty or thirty surviving Herb Gathering Apprentices underwent an assessment by Vice Hall Master Ji of the Herb Gathering Hall. With the Herb Gathering Masters presiding, they sacrificed a chicken to the gods and held a knife-passing ceremony, formally advancing to become Herb Gathering Apprentices of the hall.

Ye Qin accepted a symbolic herb-gathering knife from Herbalist Wang and carefully tucked it away against his body. With this knife, he had officially graduated and was qualified to go out gathering herbs on his own or in a group.

Afterward, Vice Hall Master Ji announced the rules all Herb Gathering Apprentices had to follow: once they became apprentices, they had to turn in every herb they gathered to the Herb Gathering Hall. An appraiser would then assess the herbs' value, and they would receive a reward worth five percent of that amount.

Each month had a minimum gathering quota: herbs worth five Silver Leaves.

(This referred to the reward money Herb Gathering Apprentices could earn after gathering herbs, not the value of the herbs themselves. The herbs were worth far more. Unless stated otherwise, later calculations usually referred to the reward money. In the Wu Kingdom, one hundred copper coins could be exchanged for one Silver Leaf, and one hundred Silver Leaves for one Gold Leaf.)

Failing to meet the minimum quota for two consecutive months would bring punishment. At best, their rewards would be reduced; at worst, they would face the Punishment Hall.

If they gathered a large amount of herbs on each trip into the mountains, the Herb Gathering Hall would gradually raise their reward rate from six to ten percent. They might even receive some of the hall's extremely precious medicines, which could save their lives in a pinch. Once their reward rate exceeded ten percent, they could advance to Herb Gathering Artisans, whose rewards would be higher still, ranging from ten to twenty percent. Reaching twenty percent qualified them for promotion to Herb Gathering Masters.

The Herb Gathering Apprentices were delighted.

In the past, when they went out gathering herbs with an Herb Gathering Artisan, they earned only one or two hundred copper coins a month as a hard-earned reward. Now that they could gather herbs on their own, their pay would be assessed according to the value of what they collected. They were sure to earn far more than before—at least five hundred copper coins, or five Silver Leaves.

Spurred on by this, the boys who had just advanced to Herb Gathering Apprentices were eager to head out and gather herbs.

The five fellow disciples—Yang Yicheng, Ye Qin, Feng Xiao, Qian Ruoxiu, and Sun Ying—also agreed to form a group, so they could look out for one another along the way.

Before leaving, Ye Qin went to the Yang Family Smithy to say goodbye to Cheng Daniu. After three years working the forge alongside Old Man Yang, Cheng Daniu had grown solidly muscled. He was no longer the frail child he had once been. He could now earn a little money each month at the smithy—enough, at least, to support himself.

Ye Qin was relieved. Even with him gone, Da Niu could get by just fine, so he could set off into the mountains to gather herbs without worry.

The five then left the county town and headed for the deep forests, hundreds of miles away, to gather herbs.

They stuck to the same formation they had used before. Ye Qin carried the herb basket and bore everyone's loads, walking in the middle. Yang Yicheng led the way, Sun Ying watched their flank, and Qian Ruoxiu walked beside Ye Qin, keeping insects and snakes away. Feng Xiao, meanwhile, flitted around several hundred paces away, picking up low-value herbs.

Without the Herb Gathering Artisan Xie Ze, they no longer had to worry about being sent to gather herbs in someone else's place at the risk of their lives. Their journey was easy and carefree, full of talk and laughter. They made no special effort to brave perilous peaks and ravines.

For Ye Qin, carrying the load had become easy. After more than three years of practicing the preliminary chapter of the Sitting-in-Forgetfulness Sutra, Gathering Qi and Focusing Spirit, the faint thread of qi within him had grown several times stronger, and he could recover twice as much stamina each time he rested. Three years of practicing the technique had greatly improved his physical strength, and his spirits were high as well.

After more than ten days, they were still wandering about as if on a pleasure outing, growing somewhat lax.

Ye Qin began to worry.

Every night, he calculated the value of the herbs in the basket. Knowing how to estimate the value of herbs was one of the most basic skills for anyone who gathered them.

Since everyone had been so lackadaisical about gathering herbs, they had collected very little so far. He worked it out carefully: divided among the five of them, each had gathered barely more than one Silver Leaf's worth of herbs, nowhere near the five-Silver-Leaf minimum. Yet a third of the month had already passed.

When Ye Qin told the others, Yang Yicheng and Feng Xiao jumped in alarm, while Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying looked equally shocked.

This was no small matter.

If they failed to meet the quota in their very first month, they would be in trouble the next. The Herb Gathering Hall's punishments were no joke. They had seen the bloodied human skins in the punishment chamber and the people left bloodied after their tendons were torn out and bones broken—all disciples punished for violating the hall's rules. Some had failed their assignments, some had secretly sold their gathered herbs to others, and some had been caught after betraying the sect.

The carefree mood vanished in an instant. Over the next few days, they had no choice but to hurry off to dangerous places such as canyons and sheer cliffs, where precious herbs might grow, and risk their lives to gather as many as they could.

In these dangerous places, Feng Xiao was still the first one sent out. His lightness skill was the best, and he was the most nimble and agile, making him the safest choice for gathering herbs from sheer cliffs.

Feng Xiao grumbled bitterly, but the other four were unanimous, and he had no choice but to go.

As a result, the herbs in the basket Ye Qin carried gradually began to pile up. When the month was almost over, they had to leave the deep mountains and hurry back to Zhuqi County. Along the way, they also gathered a few low-value herbs in the wilderness to pad their totals.

Even so, when they neared the county town, the five emptied the basket and divided all the herbs into five piles, then carefully tallied them. Altogether, the basket held herbs worth a little more than twenty-one Silver Leaves. Even estimating generously, they were worth no more than twenty-two Silver Leaves—at least three Silver Leaves short of the required amount.

The five stared at one another.

That meant only one or two of them could meet the quota, while the remaining three would certainly fall short this month.

Who would take the herbs worth five Silver Leaves, and who would take the ones worth four?

"I'm taking the five Silver Leaves' worth. At least half the valuable herbs were gathered at the risk of my life!"

Feng Xiao had held back for a while, but then demanded the herbs worth five Silver Leaves.

Everyone fell silent.

Feng Xiao had taken the biggest risks. They had no objection to him getting the five Silver Leaves' worth.

But what about the rest? Who would get a larger share?

Yang Yicheng, Qian Ruoxiu, and Sun Ying all had their own claims. Yang Yicheng said he had driven off wolves and tigers and hacked a path through the mountains, so he deserved a larger share. Qian Ruoxiu said she had caught plenty of insects and snakes along the way, and had found many of the herbs, so she deserved more. Sun Ying said she had killed plenty of beasts too—why should she get less?

Their ability to meet that month's quota was at stake, and no one was willing to give way.

Ye Qin watched silently from the side. He had barely gathered any herbs himself, and carrying the basket could hardly be called a major "contribution." He did not want to get dragged into an argument over those few herbs.

As he watched the three argue back and forth, a trace of sadness welled up in him. They were fellow disciples who had stood united for three years to survive, yet even they were arguing when faced with ruthless self-interest.

Gathering herbs in a group was convenient, but arguing over whether the herbs had been divided fairly could easily sour their relationships.

Perhaps it was time to consider going out to gather herbs alone.

He was not the only one thinking that.

After returning to the Herb Gathering Hall in the county town, they turned all the herbs over to the hall's inner chamber, where the herb appraisal office assessed their value. Ye Qin, Yang Yicheng, Qian Ruoxiu, and Sun Ying had gathered only four Silver Leaves' worth apiece. Since it was their first month, the hall went easy on them: each received just ten lashes, had one Silver Leaf deducted, and was paid only three Silver Leaves.

Feng Xiao had gathered enough and escaped punishment, receiving a reward of five Silver Leaves.

The five returned to their stone house.

Feng Xiao was the first to suggest splitting up. He figured he could gather more herbs on his own and wouldn't be held back by the others.

Yang Yicheng looked at Feng Xiao coldly and snorted. "You only learned lightness skills. If you run into wolves, how do you expect to protect yourself?"

Feng Xiao didn't care. "Do you think I'm stupid? If I can't beat them, I'll run. What wolf could catch me with my lightness skills?"

Yang Yicheng said no more. He had decided to gather herbs alone too. With his outer martial arts skills, strong enough to tear apart wolves and tigers, there was nowhere he couldn't go.

Two days later, when it was time to head out gathering again, the five each slung on a pack, and they went their separate ways.

Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying decided to go gather herbs together. Before leaving, they asked Ye Qin if he wanted to join them, saying that more people would make it easier to look out for one another. From the expressions on their faces, though, they seemed to pity him. Of the five, Ye Qin was the weakest: no martial strength, no lightness skills, only plenty of stamina and the ability to walk for a long time. They were probably inviting him out of pity.

Ye Qin smiled wryly and shook his head. If the three of them went together, he would still end up with the smallest share. He decided to go alone and try his luck.

Besides, Ye Qin had his own pride. He refused to believe he was much worse than the other four.

In fact, when he had followed the Herb Gathering Artisan Xie Ze in the past, he had spent three years walking five paces behind him. He had committed every detail of Xie Ze's herb-identification and gathering process to memory, and had learned the most practical skills. By contrast, Yang Yicheng, Feng Xiao, Qian Ruoxiu, and Sun Ying had scattered in different directions, so they had learned far less.