After a brawl, Huang Lingling was brutally beaten all over by Yun Sheng, except for her face which remained unharmed.
She had never been hit as she grew up; in the palace, both the Empress Dowager and brother Emperor wouldn’t even bear to slap her, let alone be bullied today by a lowly commoner and a dog.
Moreover, the way Yun Sheng struck her was very clever; one couldn’t tell she was beaten just by looking at her skin.
"You dare to hit me, do you know who I am?" Huang Lingling glared at Yun Sheng with hatred. She too was tough; after being beaten by Yun Sheng, she refused to cry out in pain or run back to complain.
Even though she hated Yun Sheng to death, her prideful character would never allow her to retrace her steps.
"Who you are is none of my business, even if you were the Jade Emperor or Queen Mother, I would still beat you just the same. Next time, if you can’t keep that stinky mouth of yours shut, I’ll sew it up along with it," Yun Sheng threatened by waving the Bone Needle in her hand and ordering Little Black to return the Magic Wand and Flame Arrow to her.
After such a harsh thrashing by Yun Sheng, Huang Sheng knew she was no match for her, and was even less willing to accompany her any further.
The ferocity of Yun Sheng’s beating earlier made Huang Lingling mistake her for someone who practiced Dual Cultivation of Magic and Martial Arts; she didn’t dare to seek revenge rashly and simply ran away after reclaiming the Magic Wand and Flame Arrow.
The two had completely ignored Chi Wu’s earlier advice to advance and retreat together.
Yun Sheng had no intentions of traveling with Huang Lingling from the start; Huang Lingling’s petulance reminded Yun Sheng of her ex-boyfriend’s spoiled girlfriend from her previous life, the type she despised the most for bullying others with their status.
With her chest cleared of the foul mood, Yun Sheng felt much better. Because she was following the main group before, she had been restricted and unable to show her full potential.
Now on her own, she wasn’t in a hurry to find Demon Beasts but instead started looking for various medicinal herbs in the forest.
When entering the Yuewu Market with Yun Canghai, Yun Sheng noticed that the variety of herbs and Ancient Medicines here was much more abundant than in Banana Leaf Village.
Not only were there Hemostatic Agents, but also Qi Gathering Powder (which helps Martial Artists recover their fighting spirit), and Meditation Water (which enhances the effect of Magic Meditation). These medicinal items were not only more expensive than the Hemostatic Agents, but their production materials were also relatively simple.
For Yun Sheng, who did not practice Combat Skills, the Qi Gathering Powder was useless, while the Meditation Water was rather tempting.
As everyone knows, the source of a Mage’s Magic Power is meditation.
Take Yun Sheng as an example, her current Magic Power allows her to use the Fireball Attack five times and the Earth Spike Attack four times.
After using them, her Magic Power would be depleted, and it would take about two hours of meditation to recover all of it.
This was already considered fast, thanks to the high concentration she developed while practicing as a doctor.
For other Magicians of the same level, recovering Magic Power would take at least an entire day.
But with Meditation Potion, the time could be reduced by at least fifty percent, allowing recovery of Magic Power within one hour.
This would be extremely beneficial for the Mages in Yuewu Mountain.
Yun Sheng had inquired, the ingredients for producing Meditation Water, Dead Butterfly Vine, and Moon Crow Fruit were mainly produced in Yuewu Mountain.
She planned to make use of local resources so that she would have some extra gains when leaving Yuewu Mountain.
"Dead Butterfly Vine!" Not long after entering the inner areas of the mountain range, Yun Sheng discovered one of her target medicinal herbs, the Dead Butterfly Vine.
The color of these vines is almost identical to that of withered leaves, but gathering these vines is not easy, as they are the favored food of a Demon Beast called the Dead Butterfly, found within the Yuewu Mountain range.
The Dead Butterfly is a Second-stage Demon Beast of secondary wooden tier, considered the lowest existence in the Yuewu Mountain range, but they survive and reproduce in large numbers there for a reason.
They are agile in movement and like to appear in groups. The presence of one Dead Butterfly often attracts hundreds of companions, and the Dead Butterfly’s body contains a large amount of poison powder, which causes the whole body to fester upon contact with a wound.
When Yun Sheng found the Dead Butterfly Vine, a large group of Dead Butterflies was perched on a small length of the vine.
Yun Sheng pulled out her Magic Wand and began chanting softly; a bright fireball struck the Dead Butterfly. Dead Butterflies fear fire, and one hit by Yun Sheng’s fireball flapped and flew upwards erratically.
Yun Sheng took the opportunity to command Little Black to fetch the Dead Butterfly Vine over.
A human and a beast, like magicians making potions, successfully gathered over a dozen Dead Butterfly Vines in the Yuewu Mountain range.
"We’ve got enough Dead Butterfly Vines, now it’s time for the Moon Crow Fruits. According to the medicinal farmers at the market, the Moon Crow Fruits should grow towards the northeast side of the mountain range, near the depths of the forest," Yun Sheng remembered Mu Shuiyue’s warning not to venture too deep into the mountains.
She also knew her own strength and planned to collect the Moon Crow Fruits and then not venture any further.
Along the way, Yun Sheng also encountered several Demon Beasts, but none of them provided a soul stone that met her requirements.
Yun Sheng has an All Elements Magic Soul, and her Magic Wand has no attribute, which means she can freely choose her first Demon Beast Soul Stone.
According to Yun Canghai, it would be best for Yun Sheng to pick a Fire Element or Earth Element Demon Beast Soul Stone, as this would double the effect of using these two types of magic.
"It is said that the later stages of refining Meditation Water require the essence of fire, so I will choose a Fire Magic Soul Stone," Yun Sheng made her decision internally; next, she would search for her very first Fire-type Demon Beast Soul Stone.
After parting with Yun Sheng, Huang Lingling also began searching for a Demon Beast Soul Stone.
"Damn Yun Sheng, I must find a Demon Beast Soul Stone first. Once I have a soul stone, you’ll be the first one I teach a lesson!" Huang Lingling is a Wind and Thunder Dual Element Magician, theoretically, she just needs to find a Demon Beast with either wind or thunder attribute.
Normally, such Demon Beasts would not be difficult to find, but there is a small secret hidden in Huang Lingling’s heart.
She once heard the chief lecturer in the palace mention that on the continent there is a kind of Demon Beast that, like human Multi-element Mages, possesses dual or even multiple magic attributes, and those beasts are called Mutated Demon Beasts.
If one could possess a soul stone from a Mutated Demon Beast, it would be a phenomenally cool thing.
However, after searching for a whole day, Huang Lingling did not encounter any suitable Demon Beasts that had both wind and thunder attributes.
"Zi zi--" A thunderbolt struck down, and Huang Lingling killed yet another Thunder Fox Rat.
"It’s only got the thunder attribute," Huang Lingling muttered despondently, kicking away the palm-sized soul stone of the Demon Beast and looking at the sky; it was already moonlit at treetop level. She touched her stomach, which was already sticking to her back with hunger.
Fortunately, there was a flicker of firelight ahead and occasionally the fragrance of food wafted over.
In the Yuewu Mountain range, there were also some Hunter Soldiers who would camp directly in the mountains at night.
Donghuang Lingling thought it over; she was alone at the moment, and she could neither cook nor set up a tent, so it might be better to go forward and see. Perhaps she could spend the night at the other party’s camp. With this thought, Huang Lingling headed towards the direction of the fire.