13: Chapter 13 Nine Provinces City

The next day, just as dawn broke, Mo Shoutian woke up.

The firewood in the campfire had burned down almost completely, leaving only a layer of glowing embers.

Zhou Chengan leaned against the wall; although his eyes were closed, he was not truly asleep.

The moment Mo Shoutian got up, he opened his eyes as well.

"Is it dawn?"

"It is."

Mo Shoutian added a few pieces of firewood to the campfire and went outside to take a look around.

That mountain leopard did not return, and no tracks left by other beasts were seen outside the temple.

He returned to the temple, warmed the leftover flatbread from last night by the fire, and boiled a pot of water.

As soon as the two of them finished eating, a series of shouts came from afar.

"Manager Zhou, Manager Zhou, where are you?"

As soon as Zhou Chengan heard this, he knew it was his own people, and hurriedly shouted outside:

"I am here by the mountain!"

Before long, four men tracked him down along the small path.

The clothes on several of them were torn by branches, and their faces were stained with quite a bit of mud.

Seeing that Zhou Chengan was still alive, an older man among them finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Manager Zhou, we have finally found you."

Zhou Chengan asked:

"Where are the others?"

"They are all at the inn ahead. After the mountain leopard rushed out yesterday, all the horses bolted, and the few of us scattered as well. When we rendezvoused at the inn, we realized you were not there. I originally wanted to bring people out to look for you, but it was already dark by then, and the mountains were unsafe, so we could only wait until early this morning to come out."

After saying that, the man glanced at the wound on Zhou Chengan's leg.

"Is the injury severe?"

"I won't die for now."

Zhou Chengan glanced at Mo Shoutian.

"If Brother Mo had not saved me, what you found now would not be a living person."

Upon hearing this, several men thanked Mo Shoutian one after another.

Mo Shoutian waved his hand.

"Let's not talk about this first; the wound has been bleeding constantly, so we should hurry and send him to the inn ahead."

However, Zhou Chengan did not let them carry him immediately.

"Old Ding is still beside the carriage; you go and bring him back first."

None of the men spoke.

After a moment, the older man sighed.

"We already saw him when we came."

"The corpse is still there?"

"It is still there. We figured we would find you first before going back to deal with it."

Zhou Chengan nodded.

"Send two people to bring Old Ding back, don't leave him alone there, and salvage as many of the remaining herbs as you can."

The two men acknowledged and turned to leave the Earth God Temple.

The remaining men found wooden poles and ropes, and remade a stretcher.

After Old Ding's corpse was brought back, the crowd walked together toward the inn ahead.

Old Ding was placed on another wooden stretcher, his body covered with a piece of cloth found from the carriage.

When walking halfway, a hand drooped out from under the cloth.

Mo Shoutian walked beside them, bent down to put that hand back, and discovered that Old Ding's hand was still clutching a small rattle-drum.

After seeing this, Zhou Chengan spoke after a long while:

"Yesterday he was still saying that when he goes back, his little grandson will definitely be very happy when he sees this small rattle-drum."

The person beside him sighed.

"Old Ding loves that grandson the most, and every time he goes out, he has to bring something back."

Zhou Chengan did not speak again.

By nearly noon, the group finally rushed to Black Stone Inn.

Two carriages of the Zhou Family were still parked in the inn courtyard, and the few people who had scattered yesterday were all waiting there.

Seeing Zhou Chengan return, the crowd hurriedly gathered around.

The people of the Zhou Family first had the inn help find a physician to re-treat Zhou Chengan's wound, and then bought a coffin to place Old Ding's corpse inside.

By the time everything was tidied up, it was already afternoon.

Learning that Mo Shoutian was also going to Jiuzhou City, Zhou Chengan asked him to travel together with the Zhou Family's people.

"Anyway, we are heading the same way, and you would still have to walk several days alone. Following the caravan will also be faster."

Mo Shoutian did not decline.

He was not familiar with the road to Jiuzhou City to begin with; having the Zhou Family's people accompany him could also save a lot of trouble.

Zhou Chengan had injuries on his waist and legs, so he could only lie inside the carriage.

Mo Shoutian sat outside the carriage cabin, squeezed together with the driver.

Although the carriage was faster than walking, the road of Heishiling was not easy to walk on, jolting heavily all the way.

At first Zhou Chengan could endure it, but later he couldn't stand it anymore, and could only make the caravan stop to spread a few more layers of hemp sacks used for holding herbs under the carriage cabin.

Mo Shoutian watched him lie back down and said with a smile:

"Last night you still complained that the flatbread was hard; today you finally know that the carriage is also not comfortable to sit in, right?"

Zhou Chengan lay on the hemp sacks and retorted ungraciously:

"If you were bitten by a mountain leopard, sitting would definitely be steadier than me."

After hearing this, the drivers nearby all chuckled along.

Over the next few days, Mo Shoutian traveled continuously with the Zhou Family's caravan.

When he had nothing to do sitting on the carriage during the day, he would take out the wild herb records given to him by Zhou Chengan to read.

The booklet recorded over a hundred kinds of medicinal herbs, many of which he had seen on Baitou Mountain.

Some grew in shady rock crevices, some liked to grow beside streams, and a few others grew near Mo Family Village.

In the past, when the villagers entered the mountain, they wouldn't care even if they saw them, and sometimes would even step right over them.

The more Mo Shoutian read, the more he felt it was a pity.

The cheapest medicinal herbs in this booklet were close to one tael of silver...

The most valuable ones were still those old herbs that had grown for many years or grew in special places.

During rest breaks, he also took the booklet and asked Zhou Chengan several times.

Although Zhou Chengan collected herbs year-round, he did not know every single one.

Some he could directly state the price for, while for others he could only say to let the veteran master take a look once they reached the Zhou Family's apothecary.

At noon on the third day, Mo Shoutian flipped to a medicinal herb named green leaf vine.

"I have seen quite a bit of this stuff in Baitou Mountain; it is everywhere in the rock crevices."

Zhou Chengan took the booklet and glanced at it.

"Ordinary green leaf vine is not worth much; ten catties dried can only sell for a few taels of silver. But if it has grown for decades, the inside of the roots and stems will turn red, and that kind is valuable."

"How much can one grown for decades be worth?"

"It depends on the size. Small ones are worth a few taels of silver, and large ones can have people wanting them for dozens of taels."

After listening, Mo Shoutian did not show excessive surprise, only folding a small corner on this page.

Whether there were green leaf vines grown for decades in Baitou Mountain, he did not know right now.

After going back, he could enter the mountain to search carefully.

Seeing him put the booklet away, Zhou Chengan asked casually:

"Brother Mo, who on earth are you looking for in Jiuzhou City?"

"Looking for someone named Qiu Wansheng."

"Qiu Wansheng?"

Zhou Chengan thought for a moment.

"Is it the one who runs Dasheng Cargo Firm in the south of Jiuzhou City?"

"It should be. His Junior Brother opened a fur shop in Qingshi Town, and I found out about him from his Junior Brother."

"That is him."

Zhou Chengan said:

"Qiu Wansheng mainly collects things from large beasts; furs, bones, and some rare items are all collected. I have dealt with him a few times, but we are not very close."

Mo Shoutian nodded.

"I just want to ask how much large beasts can sell for."

Zhou Chengan glanced at him.

"You want to go hunt large beasts?"

"I haven't decided yet; I'll ask clearly first."

"Those beasts that have lived for many years are not easy to deal with. If you really go into the back mountain, you must be careful."

"I know."

Mo Shoutian did not mention beast cores, let alone the Spirit Stone.

Zhou Chengan did not ask much either.

On the afternoon of the fifth day, the people on the imperial road gradually became more numerous.

There were villagers driving ox carts into the city to sell grain, as well as caravans pulling goods.

By evening, a tall and imposing city wall appeared ahead.

The city wall was several times taller than Qingshi Town, and a long queue was lined up outside the city gate.

Although there were quite a few people coming and going, it wasn't as chaotic as a market day in Qingshi Town. On both sides of the city gate stood a dozen or so guards wearing armor.

Mo Shoutian sat on the carriage, raising his head to look toward the city wall.

Right at this moment, several figures flew over the top of the city gate, quickly landing inside the city.

The people waiting in line to enter the city only glanced up and continued walking forward following the queue ahead, clearly long accustomed to it.

Zhou Chengan lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside.

"Brother Mo, ahead is Jiuzhou City."