Qingtian Town.
As spring breathed life back into the world, Qingtian Town grew busy once more.
The former captain of the guards, Ji Ming, had left. The original team members had also been replaced, all of them young, new faces.
As the person in charge of the herb field guards, Lin Yan no longer had to oversee any specific fields, which ironically made him the most idle of them all.
However, Lin Yan was anything but idle. When he wasn’t practicing his Martial Arts, he spent all his time in Great Mist Mountain.
With the help of the True Understanding of Earth Veins, he had found two hundred taels’ worth of precious medicinal herbs in Great Mist Mountain over the past two months.
"Captain Lin!"
One day, while Lin Yan was practicing his fist techniques in the courtyard, the sound of footsteps approached from outside. A member of the guard team hurried in.
"I just saw a few figures heading toward Great Mist Mountain. Judging by their speed, they must be Martial Artists."
Hearing the young man’s words, the image of Li Guiyi surfaced in Lin Yan’s mind.
Before the new year, Li Guiyi and his group had entered Great Mist Mountain, clearly on a hunt. But after Lin Yan had sabotaged them, they must have failed.
Now that the new year had passed, it was highly likely that Li Guiyi would enter Great Mist Mountain again.
Lin Yan recalled shaking hands with Li Guiyi. The gray Martial Arts Tree in his mind had shown him the height of the man’s own tree—two feet and eight inches. That was a much higher Realm than his own, but if he factored in his Stone Waist Barbarian Ridge and Fist Momentum, he wouldn’t be completely powerless to fight back.
’Most importantly, I don’t necessarily have to face Li Guiyi directly. I just need to ruin his plans.’
Having made his decision, Lin Yan said nonchalantly, "Our duty is to guard the herb fields. As long as they aren’t after the fields, it has nothing to do with us."
"Heh, I just thought I’d let you know, Captain Lin."
Zhang Feng wasn’t surprised by Lin Yan’s reaction. In any case, he had reported it. If those secretive Martial Artists did end up going for the herb fields, he wouldn’t be held responsible.
Not all of Qingtian Town’s herb fields were harvested completely each year. Some herbs took several years to mature. Others, though not old enough, could make up for their lack of age with sheer quantity.
Martial Artists who targeted the herb fields were extremely rare, but they weren’t unheard of.
There were always some who, desperate for funds for their Cultivation, would take the risk of offending the Tang Family.
After Zhang Feng left, Lin Yan went back to his house, grabbed a bundle, and slipped out the back door, heading quickly for Great Mist Mountain.
Once inside Great Mist Mountain, Lin Yan opened the bundle. He took off his clothes and changed into the ones from the bundle. As for his old clothes, he placed them... he placed them back in the bundle, tied it up, and hid it in the bushes.
A green bandana, a green face mask, and a green shirt and pants.
He was green from head to toe. This was a camouflage outfit he had specially prepared for moving through the forest.
Lin Yan moved cautiously and not too quickly. ’If it really is Li Guiyi’s group, then based on last time, they’ll have to wait a while after setting the bait. That should be enough time for me to find them.’
Half an hour later, Lin Yan still hadn’t found Li Guiyi and his men, but he did catch a familiar, foul stench.
He slowed his steps, not rushing toward the source of the smell. Instead, he circled the area. After confirming that Li Guiyi’s group wasn’t nearby, he finally moved toward the place the stench was coming from.
Parting the last of the shrubbery, his gaze fell upon the tall grass ahead. A small beast was lying there.
It was barely larger than a rabbit, with a grayish-brown body, but it had a pair of eye-catching purple ears. They were fluffy and currently drooping listlessly.
The small beast was motionless, but its belly rose and fell slightly. It was clearly still alive, just unconscious.
’A Purple Furred Beast.’
Lin Yan’s eyes narrowed.
Ever since obtaining the *True Understanding of Earth Veins*, Lin Yan had made a special trip to the Tang Mansion to find a pharmacopoeia and a book on Martial Arts treasures. He wanted to fill the gaps in his knowledge of Martial Arts Resources so he wouldn’t stumble upon a treasure in the future and not even realize it.
The Purple Furred Beast was one of the treasures recorded in those books.
This beast looked cute, but it was actually ferocious and enjoyed eating the young of other animals.
It could emit a poisonous mist to paralyze adult beasts, then devour their young right in front of them.
On any mountain occupied by a Purple Furred Beast, all other wildlife would typically disappear within two years.
But the reason this beast was called a Treasure Medicine wasn’t its ferocity. Its flesh and blood were incredibly nourishing for a Martial Artist. Its ears, in particular, could increase a Second-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artist’s chances of breaking through to the Third-Time of Skin Smoothing by thirty percent.
And even if not used for a breakthrough, eating it would still cause a massive increase in one’s Qi Blood.
A Treasure Medicine of this caliber was a rare find, something one could only hope to stumble upon by chance.
Lin Yan suddenly understood. Li Guiyi’s target was this Purple Furred Beast.
He crouched down and turned the Purple Furred Beast’s body over. The fur around its mouth was stained with blood. It had clearly eaten the baited meat and been drugged.
Looking at the unconscious Purple Furred Beast, Lin Yan destroyed the remaining bait on the ground, just as he had done before, then picked up the beast and quickly departed.
A short while later, Lin Yan stopped at the bottom of a hidden ravine. He pulled a dagger from his waist and gave the Purple Furred Beast a quick death. He then cut off its ears, scraped away the fur with his dagger, and popped them directly into his mouth to chew.
They were crunchy, but had a gamey taste.
Before long, a wild torrent of heat surged from his abdomen and began to spread through his entire body.
Lin Yan didn’t dare to delay. He swallowed both ears in a few quick bites. In just a few breaths, the warmth intensified, quickly turning into a scorching heat. It felt like a fire was burning in his stomach, making his whole body blazing hot and his skin begin to flush red.

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