There Were Too Many Rodents Here
Zhou Wanwan had no idea about this news. "So, does that mean I can receive a lot of things now?"
The old man smiled and said:
"Of course, it is possible. As the person ranked ninety-eighth on the Earth Ranking, we can receive twenty taels of silver from the Jianghu Alliance every month, which is enough for an ordinary family to live on for a whole year."
The medicinal herbs are fixed-amount supplies of angelica, astragalus, dragon's blood, and myrrh—medicines for treating injuries and strengthening the body—which can be obtained monthly.
He paused, then said:
"Not only do they receive a share of the rewards, but those on the Earth Ranking can also take on tasks assigned by the alliance."
The caravans traversed treacherous routes in the Mobei, searched for rare medicinal herbs in the deep mountains, and escorted heavy shipments for the Grand Escort Agency.
Or they might be wanted for capturing notorious thieves, for whom they would all be paid in cash.
Valuable missions can yield fifty or sixty taels, or even over a hundred taels, with clients sometimes giving away handy weapons or fine horses as extra gifts.
I've been seriously injured and unable to move for the past few years, so I haven't taken on any assignments. You're more agile, so you can pick some safer ones to take on.
It's a great deal—you can exchange it for silver and gain reputation in the martial arts world at the same time.
Zhou Wanwan raised an eyebrow and said, "This is really pretty good! Are there any other tasks on the Earth Ranking?"
The old man nodded and said:
"Once I'm feeling better, I'll take you to visit the Jianghu Alliance."
The Jianghu Alliance has branches in various places, and our Peerless City also has a Jianghu Alliance branch.
However, most people don't know this.
Zhou Wanwan nodded and said, "Then close your eyes first."
Only after the old man closed his eyes did Zhou Wanwan begin to treat his injuries.
She rummaged through her bag and pulled out dozens of medicinal herbs, including Dipsacus asper, Drynaria fortunei, Honghua, Lycopodium clavatum, frankincense, and myrrh.
There are also ground beetles and achyranthes bidentata, which are good medicines for treating injuries and tendon healing.
She spread the medicinal herbs evenly on the old man's hands and feet.
In a short while, the fresh medicinal herbs slowly dissolved, turning into wisps of pale white mist that seeped into the old man's skin and flesh along his wrists and ankles.
The old man's hands and feet suddenly went numb, followed by a burning sensation.
The area where the tendon was severed was numb and swollen, but not painful at all. I could only feel the heat slowly flowing through the tendons, gradually pulling the tendons back together.
His brow twitched, and he was both surprised and amazed, as he actually felt a sense of restoration.
Half an hour later, the old man opened his eyes, moved his wrists and ankles, and said, "This is amazing! It really cured me, and I feel even better than before."
Zhou Wanwan looked at him and said, "Rest for a couple of days, and your wrist and ankle will feel even better."
The old man immediately knelt down in the tunnel:
"From now on, you will be my master. People in the martial arts world call me Iron Crutch Li because my surname happens to be Li."
For the past few years, I've been using a cane, so people started calling me Iron Crutch Li.
I've made many enemies over the years, which is why I haven't been to the Jianghu Alliance. Once I've recovered, I'll take you Jianghu Alliance for a visit."
Zhou Wanwan nodded; in fact, she was quite interested in the Jianghu Alliance.
After the old man left, Zhou Wanwan finally began to rest, having expended a great deal of energy.
Lingbao popped out of her cloth bag and said, "Wanwan, is this old man honest? What if his Gu doesn't work?"
Zhou Wanwan shook her head and said:
"This old man's Gu is very useful; it can indeed control Gu with Gu."
"Because I've learned these things before, Lingbao, why do you seem to have grown so much?"
Lingbao chuckled and said:
"I've been taking herbal baths every day lately, which is definitely beneficial."
I've absorbed a lot of medicinal herbs recently, and my body has become much stronger.
Zhou Wanwan looked at its ginseng whiskers and chuckled, "Your ginseng whiskers have multiplied again. I'll cut some and put them in the manor."
Lingbao shook the ginseng roots on his body and said:
"Alright then! Actually, I don't understand why the ginseng rootlets are getting more and more lush."
It's probably due to overnutrition; these roots aren't really of any use to me anyway.
Zhou Wanwan carefully cut off all the ginseng whiskers and said:
"More than 200 ginseng roots were cut in total."
I wonder if ginseng can grow in this sandy soil.
Zhou Wanwan went directly to the estate; the first estate was entirely planted with grain.
Zhou Wanwan activated her energy, and soon all the grain seeds sprouted from the soil.
Zhou Wanwan is now able to use this energy on a large scale.
Each time this energy is used, the growth of these plants is greatly accelerated.
Even the wild grass seemed to be swaying its heads in comfort, exclaiming, "Wow, this feels so good! I never thought I'd be treated like this!"
"What kind of energy is this? I feel like I've grown so much taller."
The Old Scholar Tree pulled the weeds out and said, "With you here, you'll steal the nutrients from this grain."
The weeds cried out, "Don't touch us, it hurts!"
The Old Scholar Tree remained unmoved and pulled out all the weeds.
These weeds steal the nutrients from grains; with them around, grains simply won't grow well.
Zhou Wanwan was very fast; in half an hour, the grains and vegetables here had already sprouted.
Zhou Wanwan looked at the grains and vegetables and said:
"We can't transfer too much energy either, otherwise it would mature overnight, which would be quite frightening."
However, it has now been shortened by at least a month.
The Old Scholar Tree nodded and led Zhou Wanwan to another village.
The entire village is now planted with medicinal herb seeds.
Zhou Wanwan activated her energy; medicinal herbs require far more energy than vegetables and grains.
It took Zhou Wanwan two hours for all the medicinal herbs to sprout, and they all showed signs of growing for half a year.
Zhou Wanwan then stopped. These medicinal herbs needed to be processed for a long time, otherwise it would cause a lot of trouble later.
The newly sprouted medicinal herbs trembled, and one of them said weakly, "I'm so scared! There are too many rodents here. Yesterday, a big field mouse came over and kept sniffing around."
"I'm so scared! I'm still a baby! What if this big field mouse tries to eat us?"
"Waaaah... Those rats have such sharp teeth, I'm so scared."
These rats must be eliminated! The Old Scholar Tree let out a strange cry and led a group of trees rushing into the ground.
Soon, the branches of those trees were covered with rats.
The grayish-brown gerbils darted about quickly, gnawing on the roots and stems of the saxaul grass.
Field mice burrowed near the farmland, stealing wheat and rice grains.
Bamboo rats like to roll around and gnaw on bamboo roots, not to mention the house rats that follow people around, biting grain bags, clothes, and medicinal herbs; they're impossible to get rid of.
The reproductive capacity of these rats is quite frightening.
They can conceive several times a year, and give birth even more frequently when it's warm in spring and there's plenty of food.
Each litter contains anywhere from three or four to seven or eight pups. The pups don't need to wait long after birth; they grow to adulthood in two or three months and can then reproduce immediately.
The gestation period for female mice is also short; they can become pregnant again not long after giving birth to one litter.
The rats swarmed more and more densely, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't be wiped out in this Northern Desert Western Regions region.
The Old Scholar Tree looked at the rats on the trees and said, "There are so many rats here, tens of thousands of them. What should we do? Kill them all?"