Action

Taking advantage of the moonlight, Shen Mu began his task.

Beyond harvesting Origin Mulberry Fruit, Shen Mu also kept an eye out for traces of the Origin Cicada.

This was part of the plan everyone had agreed upon back at the bamboo shed: once they returned to their respective posts, they would first search the Origin Mulberry Field under their protection.

In this way, they would save time during tomorrow night's operation.

After climbing to the treetops of several Origin Mulberry trees, Shen Mu finally located an Origin Cicada.

The Origin Cicada was only the size of a thumb, with transparent wings and a body of emerald green. Having fed on the sap of the Origin Mulberry tree, it was currently dormant on the trunk, resting.

In the darkness of night, the Origin Cicada's vision was impaired, and Shen Mu captured it with little effort.

Suddenly realizing it had lost its freedom, the Origin Cicada let out a sharp, shrill cry in the night, its wings vibrating frantically as it tried to escape Shen Mu's grasp.

Yet, in the vastness of Emerald Cloud Valley, the sound emitted by the cicada in his hand could not draw the slightest attention.

In fact, from the surrounding Origin Mulberry Fields, the cries of other Origin Cicadas could be heard from time to time, clearly indicating that its companions had also fallen into the hands of the guards.

"So this is an Origin Cicada?"

Shen Mu looked at the creature in his hand, a strange glint appearing in his eyes.

Since that nameless shopkeeper was willing to pay a silver tael to acquire them, it was clear that the true value of the Origin Cicada far exceeded that.

"Once I promote to the Ninth Grade Yi Jing, the resources I need to obtain will no longer be limited to beast meat."

"Perhaps this Origin Cicada can also become one of the resources for improving my cultivation in the future."

Shen Mu muttered to himself.

However, having received Hong Jingcheng's warning earlier, Shen Mu naturally would not think of tasting the Origin Cicada to boost his own blood energy.

The origin energy was violent; the slightest carelessness could shatter one's meridians, or even lead to sudden death on the spot.

This was the reason why one had to pass through the Boiling Blood Stage to become a martial artist—the primary goal was to ensure the body's physical strength reached the minimum standard required to contain origin energy.

Stuffing the Origin Cicada into the cloth bag at his waist, Shen Mu searched carefully once more. After confirming there were no more cicadas on the tree, he began to harvest the Origin Mulberry Fruit.

Capturing the Origin Cicada was not difficult; with its vision hindered at night, it would not move at all.

The difficulty lay in finding its traces amidst the lush, dense foliage of the Origin Mulberry trees.

By the time the horizon turned a pale fish-belly white, Shen Mu had only caught five Origin Cicadas, though his harvest of Origin Mulberry Fruit was quite bountiful, totaling over thirty catties.

After processing the Origin Mulberry Fruit into wine, the sky was already bright. Shen Mu chose not to rest, instead beginning his body tempering exercises once again.

It was not until noon, after finishing a round of the Army-Breaking Saber Technique and cooling off in the stream beside the bamboo shed, that Shen Mu returned to his room to rest, conserving his energy for the night's operation.

When the early hours of the morning arrived, a well-rested Shen Mu stepped out of his bamboo shed and walked toward Zhou Xuan's shed under the moonlight.

Zhou Xuan's shed was lit by an oil lamp. By the time Shen Mu arrived, most of the guards were already there, with a few others still on their way.

"Brother Hong, take a look. Is this an Origin Cicada?"

Shen Mu took the cloth bag from his waist and handed it to Hong Jingcheng, smiling sheepishly. "I searched through ten mu of Origin Mulberry Field, but I only found five."

Hong Jingcheng took the bag, opened it, and nodded with a smile. "Not bad, this is indeed an Origin Cicada."

"Brother Shen, your luck is actually quite good. I only found four last night."

Guo Jinchuan, standing to the side, couldn't help but shake his head, sighing, "Although the Origin Cicada is practically blind at night and easy to catch once found..."

"For us, finding it in the dark is no easy task."

Based on Shen Mu's experience from the previous night, since harvesting the fruit took up a portion of his time, if he devoted all his time to searching for the cicadas, he could likely cover about thirty mu.

Hong Jingcheng had sixteen guards under his command, plus Wei Bo, the guard, making seventeen people in total.

To avoid any accidents, Hong Jingcheng arranged them into teams of two. Shen Mu was paired with Wei Bo.

The two of them were responsible for searching sixty mu of the Origin Mulberry Field. With nine teams, they could cover about half of Emerald Cloud Valley in one night; they would need to work another night to finish searching the entire valley.

As for how many Origin Cicadas they would ultimately catch, no one could say for sure.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, all the guards under Hong Jingcheng had arrived.

Hong Jingcheng looked around the circle and said in a deep voice, "Since everyone is here, let's begin."

The group nodded and followed Hong Jingcheng out of the shed.

Hong Jingcheng had several gourds hanging from his waist, filled with the smoke-inducing powder they had prepared earlier.

Watching the cautious expressions of the others, Shen Mu couldn't help but feel a secret amusement.

Who would have thought that those tasked with guarding the Origin Mulberry Fields would be here, committing theft in the very place they were meant to protect?

Although their capture of the Origin Cicadas did not infringe upon the interests of the Firewood Gang, Shen Mu still found the whole affair particularly bizarre.

When they were still over ten zhang away from the first target shed, to avoid alerting the guards inside, the group stopped at Hong Jingcheng's signal. Hong Jingcheng crept toward the shed alone in the dark, opened the stopper, and released the smoke into the room.

"It's done."

After a short while, Hong Jingcheng returned and looked at two of the men in the group.

"Yuan Wenxuan, Sun Jing, you two are responsible for this field."

"Very well."

Yuan Wenxuan and Sun Jing nodded, then each pulled a black cloth from their robes to cover their faces before heading into the Origin Mulberry Field.

The process continued as before: Hong Jingcheng crept forward in the dark to release the sleeping incense, lulling the guards within the bamboo shed into a deep slumber, before returning for them to take over the task of capturing Origin Cicadas in the Origin Mulberry Field.

A short while later, Shen Mu and Wei Bo were assigned a section of the Origin Mulberry Field, responsible for venturing deep inside to search for traces of the Origin Cicadas.

With their faces covered by black cloths, the two crawled forward, sneaking into the Origin Mulberry Field before splitting up toward the east and west to search for the Origin Cicadas dormant in the trees.

Before Shen Mu could find his first Origin Cicada, the cry of one echoed from the distance.

Clearly, Wei Bo had already successfully captured one; the Origin Cicada let out a sharp, piercing shriek, causing Shen Mu to pause his movements and glance toward the direction of the bamboo shed.

No movement came from the bamboo shed, indicating that the guards inside had long since fallen into a deep sleep from inhaling the incense.

This caused Shen Mu to breathe a sigh of relief as he continued his tense and methodical search.

About an hour passed before Shen Mu and Wei Bo met up in the Origin Mulberry Field, signaling that the two had finished searching the ten-acre area.

"Brother Shen, how many did you find?"

Wei Bo removed the black cloth from his face and greeted him with a smile.

"Eight."

Shen Mu provided his answer, noting that even these eight had taken a great deal of effort to secure.

This made Shen Mu sigh, realizing that the work of capturing Origin Cicadas at night was not easy at all.

He retracted his previous statement that catching Origin Cicadas was akin to picking up money.

"Brother Wei, what about you?"

Shen Mu couldn't help but ask.

"Heh heh, it seems my luck is a bit better; I caught eleven."

Wei Bo chuckled, then continued, "Let's go. This section of the Origin Mulberry Field has been searched once over; even if there are any stragglers, finding them won't be easy."

Shen Mu nodded, and the two hurried toward the rendezvous point agreed upon with Hong Jingcheng.

"Bang!"

However, before the two had taken more than a few steps, a signal arrow exploded in the night sky about a mile away.

Shen Mu and Wei Bo both came to a sudden halt.