Lian Youming rubbed Mother Bear's fleshy head and rose to his full height, then nudged aside the cub still hugging a piece of yellow essence and gnawing away at it.
"This thing's pretty strong. Whew, nearly killed me."
Only after catching his breath did he bend down and dig chunks of yellow essence out of the soil. Eating as he dug, he casually asked Junk King, "What herbs did you gather?"
The old man held a cloth bag, small but bulging. "Angelica root, eucommia bark, velvet antler, codonopsis root..."
The old man rattled off over a dozen medicinal ingredients in one breath.
Lian Youming chewed the yellow essence. It tasted slightly bitter at first, but a lightly sweet aftertaste soon followed. There wasn't much juice, but its rich flavor made up for that.
"Why are there more than what's on the prescription?"
The ingredients Junk King had listed clearly included five or six more than Yan Lingyun's prescription.
Junk King tossed it over and explained, "That young lady already has a solid understanding of medicinal properties. But these things vary in potency with the seasons and the environments they grow in. Just tell me whether you want them."
Putting on a shameless face, Lian Youming hurriedly swallowed the yellow essence and tied the cloth bag around his waist, chuckling. "Yes, of course I do."
With the yellow essence in his stomach, his depleted stamina and weakened body began recovering rapidly.
Before Mother Bear could get back up, Lian Youming deftly dug up another thirty or forty pounds of yellow essence, leaving more than half behind. Only then, amid Mother Bear's disgruntled roars, did he hoist Junk King onto his back and dart into the woods.
Seeing that the youth had no intention of digging up every last root, Junk King