The village elders knew full well that the young man who often sat beneath the willow had actually come for the tree, for their Sacrificial Spirit.
Yet Luo Yan had stayed in the village for decades without ever harming anyone. As time passed, the people of Stone Village gradually accepted this scholar from outside their clan.
Luo Yan did more than teach; he was also an expert at growing medicinal herbs. Many herbs that the villagers could not keep alive, plants already on their last breath, would brim with vitality within three days of reaching his hands, their medicinal fragrance filling the air.
Luo Yan's origins remained a secret. Aside from the elders, few people in Stone Village knew anything about them.
"Brother Luo, sorry for the trouble, but could you gather some herbs from the Medicine Garden? We need to strengthen these little fellows today and give the children a medicinal bath using these Fierce Beasts' essence blood," Shi Linhu said with honest simplicity.
Luo Yan nodded. "No trouble at all."
Stone Village's old clan chief had set aside a Medicine Garden for Luo Yan. It was not far away, in a quiet spot behind the village that few people visited. Luo Yan tended it almost entirely on his own, though the village elders occasionally came to gather herbs and grind them into medicinal powder for the hunting parties.
Upon reaching the Medicine Garden, Luo Yan selected some flourishing herbs of good quality, choosing those with the most vigorous vital essence. All had mild medicinal properties, making them suitable supplements to the main ingredients.
After gathering the herbs he needed, Luo Yan had just stepped out of the Medicine Garden when he paused. After a moment's thought, a Millennium Spirit Medicine appeared in his hand.
"A little too conspicuous!"