"Brother, you're back!"
As soon as Lu Qing arrived at Half Mountain Small Courtyard, he saw a little figure running out from inside and throwing herself into his arms.
He gently caught the little one and picked her up, seeing the joy on Little Yan's face made Lu Qing breathe a sigh of relief.
Good, the little one hadn't fussed.
"Yes, I'm back, did Little Yan behave at home?" Lu Qing, holding his sister, asked indulgently.
"Of course I behaved. This time, even though brother didn't come home at night, Little Yan didn't cry," the little one boasted.
"Little Yan is so incredible!" Lu Qing praised her generously.
The little one hadn't fussed, which was quite unexpected for him.
"Because Grandpa Chen said that brother is now very powerful and won't be in any danger, knowing brother would come back, so Little Yan didn't cry," the little one said earnestly.
"Yes, brother is very powerful now," Lu Qing rubbed the little one's head.
"Back now, but why did this trip to the mountain take so long?"
At that moment, Old Doctor Chen also came out from the yard.
"Master," Lu Qing put down Little Yan, his expression becoming more serious. "There were some unexpected circumstances that might have worried you."
"Worried, not really. Gathering herbs in the mountains is never easy and it's normal not to come back on time," Old Doctor Chen waved his hand.
Old Doctor Chen often went into the mountains to gather herbs and naturally knew what the situations could be like in the mountains.
Sometimes the world outside was sunny, but upon entering the mountains, a sudden mountain rain could occur.
And then there were the mountain mists that might envelop at any time.
A slight miscalculation and getting stuck inside for several days was normal.
If it weren't for Lu Qing having achieved Small Success in the Perfect Blood Qi Realm and having Little Li, a peculiar spiritual beast with him, Old Doctor Chen might not have agreed to him going into the mountains alone.
"By the way, where is that dark little beast of yours, why didn't it come back with you?" Old Doctor Chen asked curiously.
These days, Old Doctor Chen had seen Little Li, and it seemed to feel the innate kindness from Old Doctor Chen, so Little Li was not averse to him.
"Right, brother, where is Little Li, has it come home?" Little Yan also asked.
Before Lu Qing could answer, at that moment, a roar sounded, immediately capturing Little Yan's attention.
The little one played with Little Li every day, and they even slept together. How could she not recognize its voice?
Hearing this sound, she immediately started looking around: "Little Li, where are you?"
But no matter how she looked, she couldn't see Little Li anywhere, which puzzled Little Yan's little mind.
The sound had been right beside her, so how could she not see it? Where was Little Li hiding?
On the contrary, Old Doctor Chen was now looking at Lu Qing with a hint of amazed uncertainty.
He had heard the sound coming from Lu Qing's direction.
But he also hadn't seen Little Li; it didn't seem like Lu Qing could have hidden a dark little beast on him.
Could it be hidden in the Medicine Basket?
Old Doctor Chen involuntarily glanced towards the medicine basket on Lu Qing's back.
"Little Li, stop messing around, come out."
Seeing that both his master and Little Yan were puzzled, Lu Qing laughed, patting his shoulder.
Then, under the watchful eyes of Old Doctor Chen and Little Yan, Little Li canceled its invisibility effect.
Seeing Little Li suddenly appear on Lu Qing's shoulder with a triumphant look, both Old Doctor Chen and Little Yan were quite astonished.
Especially Little Yan, her mouth and eyes went wide in shock.
Seeing this, Little Li became even more proud, its tail sticking up high.
"Ah Qing, is this..."
Elder Doctor was extremely surprised. He could confirm that just a moment ago, he truly hadn't noticed that Little Li was sitting on Lu Qing's shoulder.
Close at hand, how did he not realize it? How did Little Li's hiding skills become so impressive?
"This little creature has had some strange encounters on its trip to the mountains and awakened a very impressive talent—it's showing off to you all," Lu Qing said with a smile. Continue your adventure at empire
In a flash, Little Li jumped in front of Little Yan, looking very proud, as if waiting for her praise.
Little Yan did not disappoint it, immediately lifting it up, her face full of disbelief.
"Little Li, you're amazing, how did you do it?"
Little Li, being praised, became even happier.
It jumped out of Little Yan's arms and ran circles around her, darting through the air like magic, making Little Yan exclaim in surprise again and again.
Elder Doctor watched Little Li's movements as if it were traversing through space, and couldn't help but feel somewhat astonished.
Even though he was not skilled in combat, he could see just how terrifying the ability that Little Li demonstrated was.
"Ah Qing, what did you encounter in the mountains to cause such a big change in Little Li?" Elder Doctor couldn't help but ask.
"Let's go inside and discuss it, Master," Lu Qing tightened the medicine basket on his back.
In the yard, Little Li and Little Yan were playing a game of hide and seek.
Lu Qing and his master entered the house.
"Master, I and Little Li gained quite a lot on this mountain trip, starting with these herbs."
Lu Qing put down the medicine basket from his back and took out the herbs one by one.
"Star grass, Angelica, Tianqi, Ginseng... wait, this Ginseng?!"
Elder Doctor looked at the herbs Lu Qing was taking out, each one was a surprise.
Not to mention the quality of the herbs, which were exceptionally good, but that Tianqi was enough to astonish him.
When did the mountain range behind Jiuli Village start producing Tianqi?
When he saw the Ginseng Lu Qing took out, Elder Doctor almost jumped up.
The Ginseng was fully formed, almost completely humanoid!
According to his experience, Ginseng with such appearance must be at least four to five hundred years old, truly a treasure ginseng.
Extremely rare and priceless.
And it didn't stop there; after taking out that treasure ginseng, Lu Qing kept pulling out more herbs from the basket.
And they were all Ginseng, each one at least a century old, and even two or three of them were more than that.
"Master, these are the herbs I gathered from the mountain,"
As he took out the last Ginseng and placed it on the ground, Lu Qing said.
Elder Doctor looked at the row of century-old Ginseng on the ground, somewhat speechless as he looked at his disciple.
"You found all these Ginseng on a single trip to the mountains, while I've been gathering herbs my whole life and have rarely come across a few, did you find a Ginseng nest or what?"
"Pretty much," Lu Qing smiled, "the place Little Li took me to had a lot of Ginseng, I only dug up the ones that were old enough."
"You really found a Ginseng nest?" Elder Doctor marveled, "Little Li really is incredible to find such a treasure trove."
He finally understood why Lu Qing had delayed so long in the mountains.
With so many precious herbs, he himself would have been reluctant to leave the mountains so quickly.
Being a Doctor, seeing good herbs almost made it impossible to move.
"Master, I would like your help to refine these Ginseng into Blood and Qi Nourishing Pills."
"All of these Ginseng into Blood and Qi Nourishing Pills?" Elder Doctor was puzzled, "You are already at a small success in the Qi-Blood Realm, a few more century-old Ginsengs should be enough to advance you to the perfection of the Qi-Blood Realm, why do you need so many pills?"
"This is another curious encounter I had on the mountain,"
Lu Qing pulled out a small jade bottle from his robe.
"Master, during this trip to the mountains, I found a magical Spiritual Liquid in a cave."