Over the past month, Zi Yan had come to Xiao Yao every few days to venture deep into the back mountain and gather medicinal herbs. They had practically turned upside down every stash of herbs hidden by the magical beasts, reaping a bountiful harvest.
Xiao Yao looked at the medicinal herbs piled like small mountains inside the Nether Sea Ring. More than half its space had been stuffed full of them.
At this moment, Xiao Yao stood before a cave, gazing at the Sixth Rank magical beast—an Ice Spirit Scorpion—that had been knocked unconscious nearby. He smiled at Zi Yan beside him. "Let's go. The troublesome fellow is already out cold, so the good things in the cave are ours."
"Hehe, hurry up! Remember, half the herbs inside have to be refined into pills for me. My cultivation has been advancing pretty quickly lately—I've already reached Seven-Star Dou Wang. At this rate, I should reach Dou Emperor soon. Maybe then I'll be able to become an adult." Zi Yan spoke happily as she skipped toward the cave.
Watching Zi Yan's cheerful back, Xiao Yao smiled helplessly and quickly followed her.
The moment they entered the cave, a rich medicinal fragrance washed over them.
Inside the cave, all sorts of precious medicinal herbs were piled high, glimmering with strange light.
Zi Yan looked around excitedly, her eyes brimming with delight.
"Wow, so many good things! Xiao Yao, you have to refine lots of pills!" Zi Yan said impatiently.
Xiao Yao nodded and carefully inspected the herbs. Only a few had reached Sixth Grade; the rest were Fourth- or Fifth-Grade herbs, nowhere near as rare as those they had collected before.
"Zi Yan, we've searched the entire back mountain over the past month. We won't be gathering herbs for a while."
Xiao