Chapter 12: Poisonous Dragon Grass
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Numerous hostile big-sized men surrounded Fang Yuan with wooden bats.
Under normal circumstances, one would have been beaten badly.
Fang Yuan hadn't started practising martial arts and hence would likely be beaten badly. However, he looked at these hostile men with a smile.
"You dare to smile still. Beat him till his bones break!"
"Hit!"
These men from the Zhou family were violent and rude.
Whizz!
A bright light appeared and flashed a few times in the area.
"Aaah!"
After which, a few screamings were heard.
When Zhou Wenxin came back to her senses, she realised all her bodyguards were defeated. She held her bleeding right arm tightly.
"What….what kind of power is this?"
Her face immediately turned white. When Fang Yuan started to approach her, she was so scared that she immediately retreated and said, "Don't….do not come near me!"
"Miss Zhou, I made a deal with Uncle Lin. The medicine was approved by him, so who told you the medicine was fake?"
Fang Yuan slowly approached her with a cold look. If he had a Flower Fox Ferret with him, the consequences for Miss Zhou would have been even worse.
"Wuahhh!"
Zhou Wenxin tripped and fell while retreating. She began crying, "Oooooo….. you're a bully!"
"Bullshit!"
Fang Yuan was left speechless.
These men were obviously hostile in nature and why were they hired as bodyguards?
"Speak now, or you will end up like them!"
Fang Yuan intimidated her by kicking one the downed men.
From the scream, Zhou Wenxin immediately stopped crying and said, "It….It was Song Zhigao who said it!"
"Who is Song Zhigao?"
"A comprador of the Spirit Returning Sect!"
...…..
Through Fang Yuan's method of interrogation, the arrogant Zhou Wenxin was able to spit out the truth and reveal everything.
According to her, after obtaining the Red Mountain Ginseng from the previous deal, the siblings happily gave it to Old Zhou.
Old Zhou did recover from his illness and got better, but not for long. His condition deteriorated and until now, no medicine could help to cure his illness!
Of course, Zhou Erge[1] and Lin Benchu understood that it was not that Fang Yuan's Red Mountain Ginseng was not effective. However, due to her bad temper, how could Zhou Wenxin have understood?
Plus, the Zhou family was close to Song Zhigao and Song Zhigao started questioning the effectiveness of the Red Mountain Ginseng.
"Song Zhigao? The one that is in charge of external trade?"
Fang Yuan touched his chin and recalled something vaguely.
"I have not met or heard about this man before. No offence, but I'm guessing it is likely Leiyue's marriage that is creating this mess…."
Had one known that the marriage would create such a mess, one would not have accepted the marriage no matter what.
"You have said what others had said. Now can you let me go…."
At that moment, Zhou Wenxin was tearing and seemed pitiful instead of unruly.
How did it look for a lady from a wealthy family to be defeated in the mountains?
Anyway, Fang Yuan said his age is definitely bigger than hers.
"You can leave now! Bring your men along with you as well!"
Fang Yuan's true colours had been seen by many. He couldn't bear to kill one and destroy the traces of the murder. He then gave cold look.
"Leave now!"
Zhou Wenxin and her bodyguard retreated immediately as if there was a big flood that was charging towards them.
In their minds, Fang Yuan, who could now defeat so many strong men is no different from a magician who practices dark magic in the mountains.
...….
"Keke?"
Flower Fox Ferret appeared after they left. It went round and round around Fang Yuan as if it was asking for a treat.
"You did well! The main point is that your speed….became even faster!"
Since then at the farm, Fang Yuan was able to see Flower Fox Ferret's full power for the first time. The previous Flower Fox Ferret escaped and only its shadow could be seen.
Till now, it seemed that it was because of the spiritual tea that improved the speed. The speed was so fast that those downed bodyguards didn't even know what attacked them.
Even though Fang Yuan has requested to go easy on them, those bodyguards were still attacked quite badly.
"Luckily you were not too hard on them just now, if not….."
He touched the Flower Fox Ferret's head, with his mind lingering with fear.
The Flower Fox Ferret comfortably close its eyes and raise its paws, as if it was saying, "There is no one I cannot defeat!"
Fang Yuan couldn't help but laugh at the Flower Fox Ferret's posture.
...….
"Even though the Flower Fox Ferret is very powerful, according to a manual, one may still be able to track the Flower Fox Ferret's location even if the Flower Fox Ferret is able to defeat a very good martial artist with its skills that are way beyond a normal human being!"
Inside the secluded valley, Fang Yuan was reading Black Sand Palm's secret manual.
At the moment, the Flower Fox Ferret could be considered one of the great martial artists.
The men Zhou Wenxin brought last week were lowly-skilled in terms of martial arts. They were not considered the ones who really practice martial arts even if they had learnt a few moves.
Based on the ability of the Zhou family, they should have the good ones.
Fang Yuan then may not be confident enough to defeat the better ones when Zhou Wenxin returned next time with them.
"My Red Mountain Ginseng should not be a problem. If Old Zhou had a problem with his vitality, his condition shouldn't deteriorate after consuming the Red Mountain Ginseng!"
Fang Yuan was naturally confident about his products.
"Then….his injuries is definitely linked to something else!"
He admired Lin Benchu's courage for dealing with such muddy water with just his bare arms.
"The main point is that when you jump, you somehow got my whole body in mud as well!"
Fang Yuan showed a slight resentment.
In fact, this was a positive solution to the problem, but Fang Yuan was not willing to execute it.
As to the reason why is because…..
He had trekked out of the mountains once this year already and he didn't want to do it again. Plus, it was too troublesome to find the culprit while curing the illness.
Fang Yuan yawned a few times and decided to go for a nap.
...…..
"Flower Fox Ferret, my life will depend on you if I was to be running away for my life next time!"
Half a day had gone. Fang Yuan carried his bamboo basket and continued trekking in the mountains. He envied the Flower Rox Ferret when meeting one along the way.
The secluded valley was linked to the mountains and there was no risk of an ambush especially when Master Wenxin built the houses. He left a few escape roads purposely and only Fang Yuan knew these roads.
Fang Yuan strongly believed that Master Wenxin probably had made a grave mistake elsewhere and was cautious of his survival ever since, which resulted in Master Wenxin creating a few escape roads.
However, due to Master Wenxin's works, Fang Yuan was able to sleep peacefully every day without having to worry about any danger.
Looking at how the Flower Fox Ferret was able to run freely in the forest, Fang Yuan joked about it but was also regretful.
If the white ferret had been big enough to be ridden, Fang Yuan can travel and explore the whole Clear Spirit Mountain. That would have been a great thing to do.
Trekking the mountains was physically demanding, especially when trekking deep in the mountains and the old forests, where there were no small rocky pathways but full of dangerous animals and poisonous insects.
Fang Yuan used his knife to remove the thorns and tall plants that were in the way. He then continued on while panting.
These few days he used all kinds of coercion to lure the Flower Fox Ferret to bring him deep into the mountains to find the Spiritual Fertilizer.
He suspected that the Flower Fox Ferret had been tricking him. Ever since he entered deep into the mountains, he only encountered a few rare herbs and medicine but could not find the Spiritual Fertilizer.
"Don't quibble with me, Flower Fox Ferret. Judging from the amount you had brought, there should still be a good amount of Spiritual Fertilizer left!"
Fang Yuan looked at the sky and stopped trekking. He found a big rock to sit down, passed one of his rice balls to the Flower Fox Ferret and then started eating.
"Keke! Keke!"
The Flower Fox Ferret carried the rice ball around and then bit the rice ball like a squirrel. It finished the rice ball quickly and then started gesturing using its paws.
After a long time trying to figure out what its gesture meant, Fang Yuan managed to understand what the Flower Fox Ferret was trying to say, "So I cannot go there yet? I can only find the good stuff nearby?"
He looked over his shoulders and eyed a number of rare herbs and medicine that he had collected today. He managed to agree with the idea, "Alright, we will go back home after going there for a while more! The rare herbs and medicine collected must be locked up somewhere safe or else it will be a waste to lose them!"
After gulping down a mouthful of spring water, Fang Yuan was recharged and ready to trek with the Flower Fox Ferret. They then reach a depression where there was full of fog.
"Well…. This place is full of miasma and poisonous fog!"
Fang Yuan then saw some colour in the fog and frowned. He immediately applied some of Master Wenxin's medicine onto his nose.
Hunters and herb collectors who trekked this far into the mountains would have such medicine to apply, but the medicine made by Master Wenxin had the best remedy.
"Keke!"
The Flower Fox Ferret seemed quite anxious.
"Haha…. What is the issue?"
Fang Yuan happily followed it and breathed in, "Poisonous Dragon Grass?!"
In front of him lay a small pool with white rocks around it. A purple herb was in sight.
This expensive herb was mentioned by Master Wenxin before. Such herb grew in toxic places and was highly effective in dealing with other poisons when it was used as medicine. Many serious antidote prescription required such a herb.
"Good herb!"
Fang Yuan's eyes glittered but did not move.
Waiting for this herb was equivalent to getting half of it as there could be animals nearby guarding this herb!
[1] Zhou Erge and Zhou Wenwu are the same person