Chapter Eight: Red Clay

  Wulon Mountain has five peaks, each different from the others. The peak that produces Wulon resin is closest to the Wu Shan tribe, and further in, it's easier to encounter people from other tribes.

  So Su Ming usually spent most of his days here, and only when he needed to collect some rare herbs would he proceed cautiously, always staying on high alert.

  At this moment, in Su Ming's eyes, there was a mountain peak that occasionally emitted rolling thick smoke, its name was Hei Yan Peak.

  This peak is said to have a large amount of geothermal energy inside, and in the distant past, it was once the core of the land of fire savages. Although many years have passed now, if you get close to where you are, you can still feel the heat waves rushing towards your face.

  As for the Black Flame Peak, Su Ming was not unfamiliar with it. He had entered that place many times before and even met people from the Black Mountain Tribe there. If he hadn't escaped in advance due to his agile body, he would have become a dead bone long ago.

  There, close to the Black Mountain Department, and the Black Mountain Department with their Wushan tribe, had a generation of private grievances. The two tribes were roughly the same size, although there was no large-scale war, but the small friction between the hunting teams was still bloody and cruel.

  Hesitating for a moment, Su Ming's eyes gleamed with sharpness. After a long while, he withdrew his gaze from the Black Flame Peak and quickly walked several steps to the depths of the platform where they were standing. There was a recessed area there with several large boulders. When Su Ming moved them away, something was revealed underneath.

  This is a crude bow!

  Although rough, the thick and thin tendons of those fingers were stretched straight, and one could faintly feel the explosive force contained within.

  The bow, in the Wushan tribe, only hunters can have it, and other tribesmen find it hard to get. Su Ming's bow was made by himself after exchanging some materials with herbs. He usually doesn't bring it back to the tribe, but leaves it here. This secret is known only to Lei Chen.

  Holding this bow, Su Ming's eyes flashed with a hint of light, and he pulled out five sharp arrows from under those large stones. The arrowheads were ground from stone blocks, and Su Ming would often sharpen the arrow tips here, making them extremely sharp.

  Put these five arrows in the woven basket on your back, Su Ming held the bow and whistled to the little monkey, pointing to the herbs he drew on the ground.

  The little monkey understood its meaning, bared its teeth and transformed into a red shadow rushing forward.

  Su Ming's expression was cautious and he quickly followed behind, in a few flashes of light, the two disappeared from their original location.

  If it's about familiarity with Wulongsan, even Su Ming can't compare to Xiaohong. Under Xiaohong's guidance, by the time the sunset turned red, Su Ming's basket was already filled with herbs.

  There were seven or eight kinds of herbs, each with a considerable amount, all similar to the patterns seen by Su Ming. He himself couldn't tell them apart, so he simply took everything that looked similar.

  "You say there's another similar herb here?" At this moment, the sun was about to set, Su Ming and Xiao Hong were in the thicket near Hei Yan Peak, he pointed at a patch of dark mud in front, looking at Xiao Hong.

  Xiao Hong nodded repeatedly and gestured towards Su Ming for a long time before pointing at the gradually disappearing sunset in the sky.

  Su Ming's eyes flashed, and he crouched down, staring intently at the swamp, waiting for the sun to set. Time slowly passed, and after another half incense stick had burned, the light in the forest had dimmed by more than half, and even his gaze would be swallowed up by darkness within a range of ten zhang around him.

  At this moment, the muddy patch suddenly burst forth with a large amount of bubbles, and a faint red glow appeared within it, rapidly moving about. This bizarre scene caused Su Ming's body hair to stand on end, but he still didn't move.

  He stared intently, watching the red sprouts in the muddy water moving around and slowly emerging from the mud. Suddenly, they were a cluster of red flower buds, their roots hidden in the mud. The moving red sprouts earlier were obviously their roots stirring.

  Looking at the flower buds that emerged from the muddy soil, Su Ming witnessed their blooming, and a fragrance that couldn't be described spread out. As soon as he took a sniff, he immediately felt a sensation of his blood boiling, as if his entire body was wrapped in flames, about to spew out fiery poison.

  At this moment, Xiao Hong let out a tense cry beside him. Su Ming didn't hesitate for half a second, his body flashed and he rushed forward one step at a time, grabbing towards the red flower closest to him with one hand. In his hand was a sharp stone-made medicine knife. His movements were extremely familiar, and in almost an instant, he cut off the flower from its roots and grabbed it into the woven basket behind his back.

  Like a flowing cloud and water, Su Ming did it all without hesitation, relying on the flexibility of his body to quickly retreat, and together with Xiao Hong, they opened up their full strength and hastily left.

  Just as Su Ming left, a beast's roar came from the muddy water, and all the red flowers immediately shrunk into flower buds and sank into the muddy water, disappearing. But soon, a piece of crimson blood seeped out from the mud, causing the surrounding area to be filled with a bloody atmosphere.

  Su Ming and Xiao Hong hastily escaped, until the sky was completely dark, they climbed a big tree, under the moonlight, to sort out their gains for the day.

  Inside that woven basket were many herbs, Su Ming's eyes sparkled with excitement as scenes of the scattered people flashed through his mind, filling him with anticipation.

  "Unfortunately, I don't know the specific effect of that scattered dust... but it shouldn't be bad, right!" Su Ming licked his lips and his gaze fell on the two herbs in the woven basket.

  These are two herbs with almost no color difference, and at first glance they look almost identical. Both are red, the only difference is that one has six petals and the other has five petals.

  These two herbs were unfamiliar to Su Ming, and he had never seen them before in the refining of Qingchen San. Fortunately, Xiao Hong had some impression of these two herbs, so she took Su Ming to find them.

  "Which one is really needed for refining the medicinal stone...?" Su Ming furrowed his brow, his eyes scanning over the two herbs. The one with six petals was what he had obtained from the muddy waters, and thinking of its strange blooming, Su Ming vaguely felt that if this thing were to be ingested, it would probably cause immediate death.

  He put the herbs back into the basket, Su Ming lay on the trunk, took a bite of the wild fruit, gazed at the stars in the sky, breathed in the air in the forest, and from time to time, he heard the sounds of birds and beasts around his ears. It was as if he had become one with the forest, this feeling made him very comfortable.

  Little Red was grooming her fur beside him, occasionally looking around cautiously.

  One man and one monkey spent a night on the tree trunk in this jungle.

  The next morning, the sun had just risen, and the forest was still half dark, with a hazy mist appearing and disappearing. Su Ming and Xiao Hong left the tree trunk and headed towards the distant Black Flame Peak.

  Su Ming held his bow, extremely vigilant, and the little red seemed to be infected, becoming cautious as well. When the sun rose completely, the fog in the forest dispersed like snow, and in front of Su Ming, a majestic mountain peak appeared. The entire mountain was brown, with a wave of heat rushing towards him.

  Moreover, at the top of the mountain peak, a column of black smoke rose into the air, and from a distance, it was quite spectacular.

  "Hei Yanfeng..." Su Ming muttered to himself, cautiously looking around before charging up the mountain without any hesitation. He had come prepared, with a large amount of heat-dispelling herbs stuffed under his feet. Now, he didn't stop for even a moment, dashing straight towards the summit and climbing upwards.

  Although he climbed quickly, Su Ming's caution did not decrease but instead grew more and more. He didn't know how much time had passed when he reached the middle section of the mountain. Just as he was about to continue, a faint cry came from behind him - Little Red let out a soft chirp.

  This loud shout, Su Ming didn't hesitate for a moment, his whole body swayed to the side and hid in a crevice of the mountain. He hooked his feet on the mountain, opened his bow with his right hand, and quickly pulled out an arrow with his left hand. Everything was done in an instant. Xiao Hong also came one step ahead and stuck together with Su Ming.

  Su Ming's breathing slowed down, his eyes revealing a cold glint. In this position, if he encountered someone from the Black Mountain Sect and they discovered each other, it would inevitably be a fight to the death.

  Before long, a faint murmur of voices came, accompanied by the sound of falling rocks.

  "Early in the morning, let's go dig up these broken stones, who knows what they're used for."

  "You've been nagging all the way, since it's the patriarch's request, we must complete it. By the way, have you heard? It seems that Grandfather has broken through..."

  "I also heard someone in our clan say that Ah Gong seems different from usual, and now he looks like someone to be feared."

  "You said the clan leader asked us to dig up these stones, is it related to Grandpa?"

  The voices of the two people gradually became clear, and then slowly faded away. Su Ming remained motionless, leaning against the crack, until he sensed that the two people were far away, only then did he let out a breath.

  "Hei Shan Bu's Man Gong has broken through... I remember Grandfather saying that Hei Shan Bu's Man Gong is at the eighth layer of Cong Xue, but he has mastered a kind of evil and fierce technique, so he can barely hold his own against Grandfather." Su Ming's eyes flashed with insight, preparing to report this matter to Grandfather when he returns.

  After waiting for a while, and making sure the two had gone far away, Su Ming was about to continue climbing up when the little monkey beside him suddenly grabbed his clothes.

  Su Ming immediately turned his head, but saw that the little monkey was excited, pointing to the depths of the crack where they were, and there was a small natural cave inside, with hot air emanating from it.

  Su Ming's eyes narrowed, and he immediately gave up climbing further. Instead, he approached the small hole, examined it carefully, took off the woven basket on his back, and crawled in with it. Xiao Hong followed closely behind him.

  This small hole is not big, if it weren't for Su Ming's slender body, an ordinary barbarian wouldn't be able to pass through.