Chapter 188: Cloud Mountain (Part Ten)

Inside the villa, the boss sat on the sofa, consumed by fury, while two physicians frantically rushed to bandage his arm. He was still clutching the multicolored luminous jade, though the insect inside it was already dead. With an irritated glance at the jade, which was gradually turning black, he flew into a rage and hurled it directly onto the floor.

Cold-Blood and Han sat quietly to the side, watching the scene unfold without saying a word. Inwardly, they were quite pleased to see the boss so angry. The more unhappy that man was, the more gratifying it felt to them—who asked him to make their lives miserable in the first place?

"Are you all a bunch of useless fools? You're hurting me! Watch out, or I'll finish you both off later." Unable to vent his anger on Cold-Blood and Han, the boss could only direct his wrath at the two unfamiliar physicians he had never seen before. He stood up from his chair and even threw the object in his hand right at them, radiating an overbearing aura of authority.

The two physicians panicked, lowering their heads to kneel as they stammered, "We know our wrong, sir. Please calm your anger."

Hearing this, far from subsiding, the boss's rage only intensified. He roared, "You're all nothing but a pack of good-for-nothings!"

Up on Mount Yun, Mo Lan was the first to wake up. Looking at the cave entrance where the two wild wolves had vanished, a gentle smile touched the corners of her mouth. Then, casting a slow gaze toward the two corpses lying beside her, she still could not shake off the heaviness in her heart.

Gently stroking the bodies, Mo Lan quickly stood up and walked toward the cave entrance to check the weather outside. It was ideal for traveling home. She missed home; she missed her grandfather.

Stepping back inside swiftly, she realized it was getting late. She had grown tired of living on the mountain these past few days and it was time to go home. Perhaps this pastoral life really did not suit her. Glancing at the three people still fast asleep, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Time to get up!"

Strange, not a single one of them woke up. Mo Lan bit her lip with a stealthy smile, thinking how capable these people were at sleeping. But the time was truly pressing, and carrying two bodies back meant their pace would inevitably slow down. If they delayed any further, night might fall halfway down the journey, and at that hour they would have to contend not only with venomous medicinal snakes but also wild wolves, making things extremely difficult to handle.

A thought flashed through her mind like a spark of inspiration. With a smile, Mo Lan hoisted Xiao Qi's corpse onto her back, then looked at the sleeping figures and yelled, "The medicinal snakes are coming! The medicinal snakes are coming!"

Sure enough, all three immediately sprang to their feet, looking around frantically as they cried out in unison, "Where are the medicinal snakes? Where, where?"

Mo Lan chuckled and said, "Right here!" She pointed a finger at her own face, looking so innocent and sweet as if nothing had happened beforehand.

Upon hearing this, Old Immortal wiped a bead of nonexistent sweat from his forehead with his hand and glared at Mo Lan. Did this girl ever let anyone sleep? It had been so hard to finally get a peaceful rest, only to be woken up again. How many days had it been since he had a proper sleep? Ah, hanging out with these youngsters never brought any good days.

An Feng glanced at the corpse on Mo Lan's back, then looked at the sunlight streaming into the cave. Nodding, he hoisted Liu Feng's body onto his own back as well. It was time to go home.

"We're going home!" Qian Yin said with a smile, taking the lead and walking ahead. She stepped out of the cave one step at a time, as if the road home were very close and only a few steps away. Returning home was such a joyous occasion.

Only then did Old Immortal realize that it was indeed getting late, and he quickly followed behind Qian Yin, leaving the other two to bring up the rear. An Feng very much wanted to share the burden so Mo Lan wouldn't have to carry such a heavy corpse down the mountain—the mountain path was treacherous enough as it was, and doing this would exhaust her.

Yet the corpse on his own back was already heavy enough to test all his strength; if he took on another one, he reckoned he wouldn't even make it down the mountain. How wonderful it would have been if Xiao Qi and Liu Feng were still alive, so they could have walked down themselves. There would have been no need for worry, no need to fret over future matters or the risks of carrying their bodies home.

The journey home, which looked so short, proved to be immensely long in reality. Every step An Feng and Mo Lan took required a tremendous amount of effort. Although the vines along the return path had been cleared away, walking remained extremely bumpy.

Along the way, Qian Yin and Old Immortal harvested quite a few herbs. Because their medicine baskets contained only those precious medicinal herbs while lacking any ordinary ones, the baskets looked entirely empty and unpleasing to the eye.

Whenever Qian Yin spotted anything she had previously seen in Old Immortal's courtyard, she would pull it up one by one and toss it into her medicine basket. Since four medicine baskets had already been lost, these two remaining ones had to return fully loaded, or else they would have no face to show back home. Knowing how hard it was for Old Immortal to make this trip, she worked with exceptional diligence.

Old Immortal likewise continuously tossed valuable medicinal herbs into the basket on his back. The herbs they had just moved to the An family home were still far too scarce, and that place was small; these herbs didn't even need to be planted, they could just be dried in the sun for storage. Wolf-Bear Mountain was somewhere they could no longer visit, so they had to gather whatever precious herbs they could find right here.

Their pace along the road was half as slow as the journey up, but they didn't feel frustrated at all; instead, they were filled with joy. There were so many precious herbs, along with some rare ones that, while not necessarily valuable, were extremely hard to find.

Qian Yin and Old Immortal harvested with great delight, whereas Mo Lan and An Feng walked until their legs went numb. Carrying a corpse weighing as much as themselves made the journey back exceedingly exhausting.

Qian Yin had considered helping Mo Lan carry the body, but Mo Lan refused, explaining that since she had caused this trouble, she would bear the burden herself. Seeing Mo Lan's resolute and unyielding expression, Qian Yin compromised, carrying her medicine basket as she skipped along joyfully ahead.

Time slowly passed, and the sun continued to shine down. The closer they got to the foot of the mountain, the more the temperature seemed to rise. Mount Yun truly was a place steeped in legend. Hopefully, this place would never be defiled; the herbs within were so pure, and the wild wolves within were so kind. If no one ever came to destroy all of this, Mount Yun might truly be a paradise on earth.

Finally, as night began to fall, they returned to the settlement where the people lived. Every one of them wore a victorious smile; though they had lost in a sense, at least they had returned safely.

The villagers living there greeted them with unexpected warmth upon seeing them return. Yet their hospitality was not as genuine as it appeared on the surface; in truth, every single one of them was burning with curiosity, wondering why this group had spent so long on the mountain before coming back. They must have harvested precious herbs. The villagers planned to buy the herbs from them and then resell them at inflated prices.

A few villagers, catching sight of the two corpses being carried, considered them an ill omen and wanted to chase the travelers away. They were stopped by the other villagers who wanted to purchase herbs, allowing the group to safely stay and spend the night in the settlement.

Mo Lan and her four companions raised no objections and let the villagers arrange accommodations for them. The two corpses were brought inside the house as well, causing a flicker of displeasure in the eyes of those who had intended to buy herbs. Still, they refrained from driving the travelers out, letting them lodge there for the night and treating them to a good meal and drinks, even bringing out plenty of wild mountain bamboo shoots.

The four of them initially believed they had truly met kind-hearted people and settled in for a peaceful night, unaware that in the middle of the night, someone would actually attempt to sneak in and steal their herbs. Neither Mo Lan nor Qian Yin had fallen asleep; they watched quietly as the intruders walked in, a murderous glint flashing in their eyes. These villagers were truly ungrateful wretches; they had foolishly thought that people born in such a spiritual place would have pure hearts.