Chapter Eighteen: A Bountiful Harvest

At the mountain cave camp, Mo Ling and her two companions began using low and medium-grade herbs to temper their bodies and heal their wounds, hoping to recover their strength as soon as possible so they could help Ye Mo defend the camp.

Mo Ling was now a mid-level martial artist.

Wang Hu was at the beginner stage, but already very close to advancing—he was just a suitable tempering herb away from a breakthrough.

The three of them each took their respective body-tempering herbs.

Ye Mo, meanwhile, sat at the cave entrance with his sword, keeping watch through the night and standing guard for the trio.

“With my current seventh-level body-forging and Twin Wave Slash, even if the juvenile demon crab comes, I can still hold it off with the spiritwood barricade!” Ye Mo mused to himself.

Ever since he had advanced to the late martial artist stage yesterday and mastered the Twin Wave Slash, his confidence had soared. The juvenile demon crab no longer seemed as terrifying as when he first encountered it.

At least now, he had the courage to face it.

The campfire burned through the long night.

To Ye Mo’s slight disappointment, the demon crab did not visit the cave camp that night, nor did any other sea monsters or fierce beasts appear. Who knew where they had wandered off on the island.

Mo Ling was the first to finish her tempering. She felt a tinge of disappointment—despite using her own precious Scarlet Blood Vine, with its potent medicinal properties, she still remained at the fifth level of body-forging, failing to break through to the sixth as she had hoped.

After taking his healing herbs, Wang Hu’s complexion became much rosier; he was no longer as pale as during the day, and his injuries were clearly much improved.

Yang You had suffered little internal damage; after applying some hemostatic herbs, his external wounds were mostly healed. He was simply blood-deficient and in need of rest.

Seeing their recovery, Ye Mo breathed a sigh of relief. Though they still faced great dangers ahead, things seemed to be looking up.

As night deepened, the four of them gradually drifted into sleep.

...

At dawn the next day.

When Mo Ling awoke, she found clean wild fruits placed at her side. The cave was empty except for herself. Looking out, she saw Wang Hu and Yang You working outside, crafting spiritwood shields. Ye Mo, it seemed, had left quite early.

After eating the wild fruits, Mo Ling greeted the two men and began helping with the shield-making.

She was a princess of Donglai, her rank and status far above Wang Hu and Yang You, who were merely apprentices from a weapons shop in some corner of Donglai. In the past, she would never have worked alongside them to make shields.

“Your Highness, we only got up a short while ago. But Ye was already gone before we woke...” Wang Hu, noticing Mo Ling’s awkwardness, spoke in his usual boisterous tone.

“He heads out before dawn every day.” Mo Ling offered Wang Hu a gentle smile in return for his kindness. That smile nearly made Wang Hu lose his focus and cut his own hand.

Embarrassed, Wang Hu buried himself back in work.

Yang You simply nodded in response to Mo Ling’s greeting, focusing all his attention on crafting the spiritwood shields.

...

On a hillside by a cliff.

Ye Mo pressed himself close to the rock face, gripping two thick vines growing from the wall, moving forward slowly.

Not far ahead, several white mushrooms grew, their texture like congealed fat, their color like jade.

Originally, Ye Mo had planned to search for herbs in the forests and flatlands within ten miles of the camp. But reconsidering, he realized that all the easily accessible areas had likely been scoured by other martial artists, which would explain his meager harvest the previous day. So he set his sights instead on dangerous spots—rocky cliffs and dense thickets—where, as yet, no one dared to venture. In such perilous places, valuable herbs were more likely to be found.

He needed to search these areas early. If he delayed, even these would eventually be picked clean by others.

“This is Congealed Jade Mushroom!” he exclaimed inwardly. “Just as I thought, there are still excellent herbs on the cliffs!”

In the past two hours, he had already found several high-quality tempering and healing herbs. Among them was an aged Black Mountain Yam and these Congealed Jade Mushrooms before him. Together, they could be used to create the superb Black Jade Healing Balm, a top-grade ointment for treating serious injuries. With this balm, as long as a person wasn’t dead, even grave wounds could recover rapidly.

This thought made Ye Mo even more focused.

Three yards ahead, another vine awaited. A single misstep here would send him plummeting dozens of yards down the cliff—a fall that, if not fatal, would certainly shatter his bones. In their current predicament, that was as good as death.

Ye Mo gathered all his concentration, leapt sideways, and grabbed the vine three yards away. The Congealed Jade Mushroom was now within reach.

Without mishap, he picked the mushrooms and stowed them away, then carefully made his way back.

A short while later,

Ye Mo sat on a boulder, sorting through the day’s collection.

Several clusters of mid-grade Bloodstopping Buddha’s Hand, high-grade healing herbs like Congealed Jade Mushroom and Black Mountain Yam, a top-grade tempering herb called Dragon’s Blood Palm, and a large bundle of other medium- and low-grade herbs.

Satisfied, he tucked them all into his clothes and headed back to the cave camp.

...

Back at the camp.

When Ye Mo laid out his haul on the ground, the other three couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.

“An eighth-grade healing herb, Black Mountain Yam; three eighth-grade Congealed Jade Mushrooms; sixth-grade healing herb, Bitter Ginseng; a ninth-grade tempering herb, Dragon’s Blood Palm...”

“So many!”

“You’re amazing, Ye! To gather so many herbs in just a morning!” Mo Ling, as she inventoried the haul, left Wang Hu utterly stunned, and even the usually taciturn Yang You was left gaping.

“We can still find some now, but soon it’ll be much harder. How are things going here?” Ye Mo asked.

His question snapped the three out of their shock.

“Twenty spiritwood javelins are ready, and ten shields. We’ll soon start building short wooden arrow towers.”

“Good. Once the two arrow towers are up, you three can focus on healing, tempering, and guarding the camp. For the dosage, ask Mo Ling. This afternoon, I’ll scout the other martial artists’ camps around the island. Better to be prepared in case of trouble.”

Ye Mo was increasingly convinced that rescuing these two hadn’t been in vain—at least, they were diligent workers.

“Be careful,” Mo Ling said, now finished with the inventory. “If you encounter hostile martial artists, avoid them if you can.”

“Indeed, some are greedy and vicious, always trying to rob others,” Wang Hu chimed in.

Ye Mo merely nodded, took up his Azure Edge Sword, and left the cave camp. With his current seventh-level body-forging and Wave-Splitting Technique, few martial artists could be a threat to him—save for a handful of the most powerful.