Dao of Cooking

Chapter 16: The Herbalist

There were two kinds of cultivators. The first kind preferred the silence of closed doors, being detached from the world to focus on greater truths and inner strings that governed one's core. Some said these people cultivated for hundreds of years without even bothering to take in the fresh morning air, or eat, or sleep, or do anything mortal at all as if they were afraid it would make them more human.

These people were morons.

The other kind, more sensible and much less radical, thrived in being out in the world. Because that's how you get to feel the passing of time, and the treasures the heavens blessed upon these lands.

Thus Emperor Xia wrote, 'To live is to feel the wind on your skin.'

Wind! A trickle of air whooshing through the branches and down the mountains, an impish brat poking fun at the leaves, or bushes with no particular reason.

Zhu Luli prided herself on belonging to this second group. Her father didn't like it. He'd often argued that the world could be a cruel place for an eighteen-year-old girl, that demonic bastards and other monstrosities were lurking behind the shadows, waiting to prey upon young cultivators.

True as these things might be, Zhu Luli had never let these so-called harsh truths prevent her from venturing out into the wilds. An apothecary, or an herbalist, if you will, couldn't just stay in a dusty room, and hope to learn all the knowledge from some old books.

No. Her master back in Luminous Sun School had told her once that an herbalist had to dirty her hands to become a true master of the craft. The same was true for being an apothecary. Zhu Luli had taken those words to heart and thus had embarked upon a journey of her own before attempting to secure a spot at the Eastern Dawn Academy.

That was two years ago, and now, she was an experienced adventurer, a curious explorer, and a master apothecary in the making.

Though she might've ventured a bit deeper than she'd had planned this time.

She placed her big pack on the ground with a loud thump as she squinted up at the looming trees that established a clear line that marked the border of what seemed like a great forest, then flinched when an angry squeak scolded her from within the pack. A furry tail shook impatiently for a split second before going still, a clear message that Little Yao wished to sleep a little more.

Sighing tiredly, Zhu Luli regarded the forest for a second. The sun couldn't penetrate the thick canopy of trees, but that wasn't anything new. Most forests out here had some strange grudge against the sun. Far away in the distance, a single mountain towered high into the skies, its peak busy with rolling clouds.

This should be the place. And that should be the Anguished Mountain. The place where Emperor Xia had banished Sage Grim.

But erring on the side of caution, she searched for the map in her pack, this time a little more careful not to wake up the angry little monster sleeping inside. It didn't take long for her to find it as the visit to Lanzhou had left her all broke and bare. And what did she get in return for selling all those medicinal herbs? Just a single Body-Tempering Pill! For thirty imperial gold!

Granted, it was a peak-quality pill that was tenfold more effective than the low-quality ones, but still, they should be flogged if not hanged for charging this price! It was extortion! In the Middlelands, such a pill would be sold for eight imperial gold, or nine at most if there was a great occasion for alchemists like the yearly Alchemists' Gathering.

I don't know how these people do it. The more I wander away from the Middlelands, the more inflated these prices get. I understand that they don't have as many alchemists here, but still, the Empire should do something!

Unfortunately, she had long since given up on sending letters of complaint to the Imperial Palace. Their policy of 'We'll return to you in at most 50 years' wasn't one for people like her who still had some semblance of time in their early phases of life, unlike her Father's generation.

She flattened the map wide on the ground, searching herself with a finger round hundreds of cities and forests scattered across the Eastern Continent. Her heart skipped a beat when her finger trailed a long line from Henzhei, which was situated a day away from Imperial City, all the way down to Lanzhou, making her understand once again how far she was away from home.

Six months… It'd take at least six months for me to get back home without a spiritual beast ride. I'm nearly at the end of the world.

A single dot piqued her interest when she focused on the name Jiangzhen, a small city that was some five-li away from the Darkloom Forest. As planned, she would use this city as her base as she searched the Darkloom Forest for different medicinal herbs.

The spiritual energy here wasn't half as thick as it was back in Lanzhou, for the Skyriver didn't have any branches out here in the Far East, but the plants had a way about them that often managed to surprise her. They were strong, and stubborn, growing in the most extreme and poor conditions all the same, and she was curious what sort of species she would come across in this remote forest.

Good. There's no need to venture too deep. First, I'll find some medicinal herbs, then I'll pay a visit to Jiangzhen to refill my stocks.

With a spirited shake of her head, she hauled the pack on her back and trudged into the line of trees. There was a spring in her step as she hopped round the trees, through the dense branches, into the dark confines of the forest. It was a good change, as the air was awfully hot directly under the sun.

"Little Yao, you don't plan on sleeping through the day, do you?" she said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, the other hand poking slightly the pack. "I promise I'll get you something good when we're in the city, but first, we need to find those herbs!"

An irritated squeak answered, followed by little huffs and puffs before a short head appeared right beside her nose. The squirrel's eyes were almost narrowed as she regarded Zhu Luli with apparent anger, then she sighed, or that's how it looked to Zhu Luli, and jumped onto the ground.

There's really a thing as too much spirit, but… Can't say no to your Father's gift, now, can you? At least she has a way with herbs.

Now Zhu Luli could, if she wanted, find those herbs herself. It would just take some extra effort, and a little more dirt on her hands, but she could do it. Still, she was thankful for the gift. It was a tradition most herbalists and apothecaries shared, getting a spiritual beast, preferably one with a sharp nose, and sharper fangs.

Say you wanted to pluck a Seedthorn. Those things grew right under dense rock formations, leaving only their seed-like leaves out in the open which slithered from between the slight cracks and crevices. And say you don't have a beast like Little Yao who could chew through those rocks as if they were rotten leaves. Then you would have to dig your way down the rock layers, and to do that you would have to use a pickaxe which wasn't an ideal tool to carry around when you're out venturing deep into the wilds.

A spatial ring would've solved these problems right away, only they cost about a thousand imperial gold, and that was the cheapest kind.

Father promised to gift me one if I managed to get into the Academy. We'll see if he really means it.

Anyhow, in that sense, Little Yao had a useful side to her, just that it often took more than a basic command for her to get the job done. Zhu Luli had been dangling carrots and other spiritual delicacies she could find around the cities as rewards for her beast's respectable efforts, but not today.

Today she was broke.

Thankfully, Little Yao seemed to have understood that fact as she kept her nose down to the ground, eyes searching around the dense lines of foliage and shrubs that covered most of the place.

Ever grateful for Little Yao's focus, Zhu Luli trailed after her, taking in the fresh, and chilly air. The ground was slick with dew, and the leaves were bent under heavy droplets of water which splashed down as she passed by them. Above, the thick canopy only allowed frail lines of sunlight to seep through them, illuminating parts of the forest where Suneaters huddled together to feed on them.

Their stalk was thin, ending up in leaves that had spread wide like the sun, all yellow with slight markings that looked like chalk lines on their surfaces. From the number of marks, one could gauge their age, and cultivation base.

Three strips. So these are Low-quality Mortal-grade plants.

As an eight-step Body Tempering Stage expert, Zhu Luli could easily crush them with a palm but decided to keep her distance from these plants, as they had the tendency to get overly competitive when an intruder stepped inside their sunlight domain. And here, where sunlight was a rare delicacy, they looked rather pitiful, so Zhu Luli didn't want to crush them without a real reason.

Their stem has a mildly acidic liquid that can be used in mending the bones, but it's not that effective, which is why nobody bothers to trade them.

Zhu Luli shook her head and was about to jump over a thorny bush when her skin prickled all of a sudden. Searching around her, she didn't see anything and only managed to understand the reason for it as an impatient squeak reminded her that she was, in fact, not alone in this forest.

Beyond the bush, Little Yao was huffing under her brownish cheeks, one side puffed out with a stray nut she'd probably found somewhere on the way, waving a clawed hand at a tree that towered over the others with its thick, and darkened bark. It looked charred and a touch away from crumbling, but the sight of it brought a little smile to Zhu Luli’s lips as she laid a hand over its surface.

"Inside the bark?" she asked with a look over her shoulder to Little Yao and got a simple nod as the squirrel neared the towering tree. "Tell me where to stop." Zhu Luli started lowering her hand, inch by inch, as she kept one eye on Little Yao. The squirrel only squeaked the spot when Zhu Luli’s hand was a breath away from the ground.

Troublesome. Could be a Rootremedy, or a Gnarled Soul. I have to— No, we have to dig.

She turned with a wide smile straining on her lips to Little Yao and bowed her head before pointing at the spot. "Are we ready to dig, Master Yao?"

Little Yao's bead-like dark eyes seemed to shrink into dots as she moved a big step away from the bark. Her clawed hands, glistening sharply whenever they caught the sunlight, drummed on the ground, long and fluffy tail swinging left and right with a slow, almost lazy cadence.

"I've told you we have nothing!" Zhu Lilu was having a battle to not roll her eyes at the squirrel. Sense, she found, was a fickle thing for spiritual beasts. They often ignored reason in most foolish scenarios, such as chasing a rat or a nut, even if it rolled down into a volcano's mouth.

But she knew Little Yao was her only hope, so she hung on to that smile for her dear life. "Please, I promise we'll get something good from Jiangzhen. I've heard they have… spirit rice, and spirit nuts! Yes, spirit nuts, can you believe that?"

Little Yao's eyes glinted with desire for a second before giving way to a suspicious look that drilled through Zhu Luli’s scalp. But she pressed on, not just with intent, but with her hands at the same time, locking them up as if in prayer. "I'm telling the truth! Spirit nuts, waiting for you! But first, we have to dig through that bark."

I'll pay for this one later.

Her smile widened when Little Yao dragged itself near the tree, raising her clawed hand painfully slow before swinging it round at the bark. It cracked open right away, splinters flying across the sides, plunging like little awls into the other trees. After the first claw, the others came crashing down, a flurry of attacks to which the darkened tree had no way of defending itself.

Not a minute later Little Yao was halfway into the bark, digging down through the soil, careful not to touch the yellowish stalk that swayed gently in the middle. It seemed sickly and rotten, or even chopped off as it didn't have anything resembling a leaf, but Zhu Luli was grinning as Little Yao dug deep and deeper.

Once the stalk revealed itself fully, Little Yao inched away from it, letting Zhu Luli take a good look at it. It came near her waist, covered in a gentle mist that seemed to be seeping out from the ground. There were bean-like bulges inside the stalk as though the plant had eaten rocks and they got stuck in mid-way toward its roots.

"A three-beaded Rootremedy," Zhu Luli muttered, one hand under her chin as her smile faltered. It certainly wasn't a bad plant, but wasn't a treasure either, as three beads indicated that the plant was a low-quality medicinal herb. Once mixed with a leaf from Redcedar Tree, and a pinch of rock salt, it could prove some relief to patients who had mild indigestion, or constipation.

Well, it can be considered as a good start.

Gathering her spirit, Zhu Luli reached for the stalk, Little Yao inching another step away as if she didn't want anything to do with the process. The gentle mist coiled around her fingers as Zhu Luli managed a strong grip down near the Rootremedy's root, knowing that she had to pluck it in one single motion to keep the spiritual mist from pouring out from the beans.

Just then she felt a little, but insisting poke to her back. She tried to keep her anger in control, sighing tiredly as she waved Little Yao's sharp claws away. "I'm trying to pull this thing out, can you give me a second?"

Back on the Rootremedy, Zhu Luli eased her head into the tree bark, and reached for the stalk, grabbing it just under the third bean which was near the ground. She breathed deeply as she gathered all her focus.

A single motion—

"What?!" She snapped back to Little Yao and winced after banging her head to the tree bark, a damn solid one from how her mind reeled with the impact. Once she blinked through the slight sting, she pointed a brisk finger into Little Yao's face. But the squirrel wasn't even looking at her, instead its gaze was focused on the right side, somewhere between the dense bushes.

A giant shadow fell on both of them as a monstrous beast slowly crushed those bushes under its claws, trudging lazily near the tree and staring down at them, curious, as though it saw some slightly oversized bugs. It didn't take long before its gaze skipped past them, instead focusing on the yellowish stalk, its red eyes glinting with interest.

"A Saberfang, really?" Zhu Luli stepped back, busy counting the fangs protruding from the beast's tightly closed jaw. Other than that jaw, the rest of the creature's body had nearly blended with the gloom of the forest, dark fur smooth and spotless.

When the Saberfang tried to reach with his jaw to the stalk, ignoring the pair of them, Zhu Luli grew a little restless, and a bit furious too, as being disregarded in this remote part of the continent, by some Saberfang that thought itself too precious and mighty to even spare them a glance, was too much for her.

This thing is courting death! And it doesn't even look strong. Third Step of Body Tempering, or Fourth..? But being ignorant is no great sin. Yes, no need to get angry at an innocent beast.

"Junior Saberfang, hello there!" Zhu Luli said, forcing a smile on her face. "I think there's a misunderstanding here. We found that Rootremedy, so it's ours. I kindly request you to step back."

The Saberfang turned its head slightly to glance at her, then snorted before taking a step forward and started chewing the darkened bark of the tree to reach for the Rootremedy. Zhu Luli could almost hear the creature's stomach grumbling.

"Look," Zhu Luli said, her right eye twitching, and poked the Saberfang with a finger. "My father would've killed you right away, but I like to believe there is some sense in beasts like you. So, back off, and leave me alone with my herb, or else you can't blame me for—"

It came at her with a growl, its body surprisingly nimble against its bulk, slashing across her chest with a front paw. Five claws, Zhu Luli saw, flashing ominously as they neared her. A simple move, but deathly and straight to the point.

You can't truly reason with these beasts.

With a sigh, Zhu Luli stepped back and swatted the clawed paw away with a backhanded slap, drew closer, and jabbed at its under jaw which cut the beast's roar right away as its mouth clamped shut with the impact.

A pitiful whimper after Zhu Luli lunged for the beast, wrapped a hand around that same leg, and pushed two fingers into the paw. The pressure point answered back with a soft crunch. Any more, then the beast's front leg would be paralyzed for at least a whole day.

"So, we're good, then, right?" she said as she smiled down at the beast who tried to struggle away from her hold. "Back to your business, now, little friend. The same goes for me."

Once she loosened her hold around the paw, the Saberfang bolted away like a cat under the rain, vanishing into the thick bushes in a matter of seconds. With it gone, Zhu Luli turned to Little Yao.

"You know what," Zhu Luli said, shaking her head. "Guess sometimes I expect too much from you guys."

…..