Chapter 54: Hide and Seek

Chapter 54: Hide and Seek

The medicinal manor was over ten miles away from the Medicinal Valley. To save time for planting medicinal herbs, houses had been built within the valley itself, where the laborers lived and ate.

They were communal dormitories, the kind where dozens of people shared a single room.

After a full day of work, Hua Changxi ate her dinner and entered the dormitory for female laborers.

The room was fifteen meters long and six meters wide, with the door located in the center. Large heated brick beds, known as *kang*, lined both the left and right sides. These *kang* were two meters wide and fifteen meters long.

The temperature in the valley was quite low, especially in the early morning and evening. Consequently, the positions toward the inner part of the room were all occupied, leaving only the spots near the door and the window vacant.

Hua Changxi had never been afraid of the cold since childhood, and she was even more resilient after beginning her cultivation. Seeing that more moonlight filtered through the left window, she decided to sleep in the window-side position of the left *kang*.

The bedding and sheets were already provided, but they carried a heavy scent of mold and a strange odor, making it unclear how many people had used them before.

Because the room was too crowded, Hua Changxi could not use her Purity Technique. She could only fold the bedding and place it in the corner of the *kang*.

Once she had tidied up, Hua Changxi left the room, intending to fetch some water for a simple wash. As she entered and exited, she sensed someone watching her.

At first, she thought it was just those male laborers looking to take advantage of her again, but when she seized the opportunity to look back, she discovered it was actually the one-armed man.

Realizing the one-armed man was observing her, an alarm bell rang in Hua Changxi's heart. It was only then that she suddenly realized his reaction to seeing her was far too calm.

This was not normal!

She had previously broken through the one-armed man's pressure in the Medical Bureau's warehouse. Even if he didn't seek revenge, he shouldn't have been so indifferent upon meeting her again.

The only explanation was that the one-armed man had shifted his focus on her to the shadows.

Was he monitoring her?

It made sense; if she were to encounter someone capable of contending with her again, she too would observe them secretly for a while.

Hua Changxi returned to her room, filled with anxiety.

She didn't know how long he intended to monitor her. If he was watching her, how could she search for the Spirit Essence Grass?

Hua Changxi did not want to lie on the foul-smelling *kang*. She had originally planned to sit cross-legged to cultivate, but with the one-armed man watching, she dared not exhibit any unusual behavior. She could only endure the discomfort and force herself to lie down.

As moonlight spilled over her, Hua Changxi slowly calmed her mind. Ignoring the one-armed man outside, she closed her eyes and began the Little Bird Breathing Technique.

She discovered that cultivating in the Medicinal Valley allowed the spiritual energy to flow exceptionally smoothly, and her cultivation speed increased significantly.

A night passed, and Hua Changxi woke to the sound of others talking. She checked her data: [Realm: Qi Sea Realm 1850/100000].

She had gained over 100 cultivation points in a single night, several times faster than in the Labor Hall.

Over the next few days, while working, Hua Changxi secretly observed the one-armed man. She discovered that every day at the fourth quarter of the Si hour (10:00 AM), he would descend from the western mountain to enter the valley, and at the beginning of the Xu hour (7:00 PM), he would leave the valley to return to the western mountain.

This was his overt routine. In secret, during the Zi hour (midnight) every night, he would also descend from the western mountain to conduct a covert patrol of the valley, specifically checking around her dormitory.

Having discovered this pattern, Hua Changxi decided to follow him one night when he descended for his patrol. She quietly trailed him as he entered the mountains west of the valley.

Knowing a Grandmaster resided in the valley, she did not dare follow too closely. From a distance, she saw the one-armed man reach a stone cliff halfway up the western mountain.

In front of the cliff was a flat stone platform, and behind it was a stone cave.

On the platform, an elderly man in gray sat cross-legged, facing the moon.

Hua Changxi guessed that this elder must be the Grandmaster surnamed You.

"Is he cultivating?"

Hua Changxi felt somewhat helpless; because she was self-taught, she had no way of judging whether someone was a cultivator.

"Master."

Hearing the one-armed man address the elder, a flash of surprise crossed Hua Changxi's eyes.

"Master, that Hua Changxi has been no different from the other laborers these past few days. Did we make a mistake?"

"A person capable of withstanding the pressure of a Seventh-Rank martial artist, yet choosing to work as a laborer—the matter itself is abnormal. Now that she has been punished and sent to the Medicinal Valley, she neither makes a fuss nor seeks to leave. The more well-behaved that girl is, the greater her ambitions. Keep watching her; let's see what she is truly after."

Elder You gazed at the bright moon in the sky. "Aside from the medicinal herbs, what else is there in this valley worth her coveting?"

Listening to their conversation, Hua Changxi's heart grew restless.

So, in the eyes of clever people, her every move was full of flaws.

Watching the one-armed man sit beside Elder You and begin his meditation, Hua Changxi quietly retreated back to the valley.

Knowing that the Grandmaster and the one-armed man were monitoring her, Hua Changxi was not entirely passive; she was also counter-monitoring them.

Because the valley was vast and the people were widely dispersed, Hua Changxi used the one-armed man's movements to evade his surveillance, allowing her to scout the valley several times.

Unfortunately, she had yet to find the Spirit Essence Grass.

At noon on the thirteenth of the third month, Hua Changxi returned from the fields for lunch and found that the one-armed man was unexpectedly absent.

This was strange. The one-armed man was a very serious and responsible person; his patrols were incredibly diligent, and he had never been late or left early. Why was he neglecting his duties today?

"Why isn't Master Guo here?"

Hua Changxi asked a nearby female laborer casually. Since she had helped the woman plant medicinal seedlings, the woman had been looking after her these past few days.

"The fifteenth is the day after tomorrow."

"On the fifteenth of every month, Elder You sends medicine to the Medical Bureau. Master Guo must have gone to help Elder You gather herbs."

Hua Changxi feigned surprise. "What kind of medicine needs to be delivered on the fifteenth of every month?"

The female laborer shook her head. "I wouldn't know."

Not wanting to pry further, Hua Changxi finished her lunch quickly, collected the seedlings for the afternoon from the manager, and hurried away.

After placing the seedlings in her assigned field, Hua Changxi did not start working. Instead, she activated her Lingbo Microsteps and quietly entered the western mountains.

During her time in the valley, playing hide-and-seek with the one-armed man had made her Lingbo Microsteps increasingly proficient. Once spiritual energy gathered at her feet, she could sprint a hundred meters in an instant.

Hua Changxi first arrived at the mountainside. Seeing no one on the stone cliff, she did not dare to recklessly investigate the cave, so she wandered around the vicinity instead.

After several laps, she found nothing except for some herbs required by martial artists.

Unwilling to return empty-handed, Hua Changxi circled back to the stone cliff.

"Why would a Grandmaster choose to live here?"

"Just because there is a stone cave?"

The cave was fitted with a stone door, which was currently tightly shut. Unable to investigate inside, Hua Changxi wandered around the exterior.

This wandering immediately revealed a problem.

The spiritual energy here was incredibly dense!

Since she began cultivating, she had been wondering: where exactly did spiritual energy emerge from?

Standing on the stone platform, Hua Changxi closed her eyes and performed the Little Bird Breathing Technique. Upon sensing the distribution of the surrounding spiritual energy, she immediately snapped her eyes open.

Hua Changxi walked to the edge of the cliff and peered down.

Having just practiced her cultivation technique, she discovered that the spiritual energy was actually most concentrated at the bottom of the cliff.

The cliff did not drop straight down but had a twenty-degree incline; looking down, it seemed bottomless.

Hua Changxi weighed her own strength and felt that with her current mastery of the Lingbo Microsteps, she could descend to investigate.

Though she was not afraid of heights, the thought of jumping made her heart tighten, and she hesitated. However, she thought of how Elder You stayed by the cliff every day; if she didn't go down while he was away, she might never find another chance.

With that thought, Hua Changxi ceased her hesitation. She leaped, her feet gripping the cliff face as she ran rapidly downward.

Despite using the cliff for leverage, she still felt as though she were in freefall, her legs moving as fast as flaming wheels.

At that moment, she couldn't help but think how much easier it would be if she knew how to fly on a sword or ride the clouds.

It felt like an eternity, yet also like a mere blink of an eye, when Hua Changxi finally saw the bottom of the cliff.

Because she could not control her speed, Hua Changxi slammed into the ground face-first with a heavy impact.

The fall left her grimacing in pain, her features contorted. It took a long while for her to recover before she shakily climbed to her feet.

The next moment, the pain vanished instantly when she saw the countless spiritual plants growing at the base of the cliff.

Although these were only First-Rank spiritual plants, they still left Hua Changxi extremely excited.

"Master, what exactly are these fruits?"

"Your Master does not know either."

"Master, I see these fruits have a refreshing fragrance..."

"What, do you want to eat them?"

"Just one or two... the higher-ups probably won't notice, right?"

"Do you know what happened to the last person who had the same idea as you?"

"Were they killed by the higher-ups?"

"No, the higher-ups didn't even know he had eaten the fruit. Yet, he still died. Less than a breath after consuming the fruit, his body exploded."

"Ah—!"

"That person was your Senior Brother, an Eighth-Rank martial artist."

"What? Senior Brother is dead!"

"He didn't even leave a whole corpse. It is all because your Master allowed greed to enter his heart. Your Senior Brother was testing the medicine for me. Why do you think the higher-ups so trustingly left the Medicinal Valley in my care? Because these precious medicines are for me to watch, not to eat. To eat them is to die!"

"How can that be?"

"..."

Hearing voices approaching from a distance, Hua Changxi's expression changed. She quickly unleashed a burst of spiritual energy, creating a gust of wind to blow away the traces of her landing. Then, she vanished into the bushes a hundred meters away.

Soon, the figures of Elder You and the one-armed man appeared in her line of sight.

Not noticing Hua Changxi, the two of them scaled the cliff and left the bottom.

As soon as they were gone, Hua Changxi began to investigate the base of the cliff with frantic speed.

The one-armed man had gone up and would soon return to patrol the valley; she had to get back before he did.

Ignoring the other spiritual plants, she focused solely on searching for the Spirit Essence Grass. Finally, in the southeast direction, she saw vast patches of it.

Aside from the First-Rank Spirit Essence Grass, there were even Second-Rank varieties.

*Bang!*

The Shennong Cauldron was summoned. Hua Changxi began to harvest the grass rapidly. With every plant she picked, she used a spell to seal the medicinal properties and spiritual energy within.

She intended to leave once the cauldron was full, but to her surprise, even after harvesting hundreds of Second-Rank Spirit Essence Grass plants, the cauldron was still not full.

"This..."

Without time to ponder the mystery of the cauldron, she quickly moved on to the First-Rank plants.

She did not dare take too many, fearing that Elder You or the one-armed man would notice anything unusual. After harvesting three hundred First-Rank plants, she stopped.

Retracting the Shennong Cauldron, Hua Changxi prepared to leave the base of the cliff, but as she turned, she spotted a jujube tree laden with bright red fruits.

The sight of the jujubes made her mouth water.

*Whoosh—*

With a surge of spiritual energy, thousands of jujubes fell from the tree with a rustling sound.

Hua Changxi summoned the Shennong Cauldron again. A whirlwind rose, gathering the jujubes into a pile and quickly pulling them into the cauldron.

Not daring to linger, Hua Changxi channeled spiritual energy into her legs and began to climb the cliff face rapidly.