Chapter 54 - The Hunt Begins

"Here we are." The instructor leapt from her horse and signalled for everyone to do the same. After everyone gathered in front of her, she began reiterating the rules.

"Remember, you have three days to collect as much as you want. If you collect more than 100 jins then you get to keep 40%. Should you collect under 100 jins however, then we would collect up to 80% of your spoils; and if you do not collect anything then you can keep what you have but pay us a compensation price." Her smile lingered on the last sentence.

A feeble looking disciple raised his hand. "Instructor, how much then is the fee?"

"Oh nothing, just 60 refined jades." She clapped cheerfully as if it really was not much, but the disciple who heard the price shuddered. If they were to cough up 60 refined jades then they would be broke for a year. All of a sudden a new fire was lit in their eyes.

She continued discussing rules but some disciples were interested in other things. Tian Longmeng could feel the stares filled with killing intent from a group of disciples. They seemed to be from different factions so Tian Longmeng could easily tell why they were looking at him like some fat lamb.

He did not care though, if they came to him with such intentions then he would not be polite with them. After all, the instructor just mentioned that any injuries or accidents occured in that cave will not be on the fault of the martial academy.

He raised his hand, causing the instructor to be slightly surprised but nonetheless acknowledge him.

"What happens if anyone should get a spirit medicine?"

Everyone stared ridiculously at the little boy who looked as if he was asking the most normal question in the world. Not soon after, they began laughing and mocking his stupidity.

It was common knowledge to everyone that spirit medicines were uncharted territory for regular disciples. These were medicines which were powerful enough to grow some level of sentience, indicating that they were very powerful. Even a core disciple could lose their life if they aren't careful.

The worst part about spirit medicine is that they view cultivators as nutrition, actively rushing out to kill and devour them. Many disciples never returned due to this before so people tend to move mountains away from any appearance of them.

The instructor awkwardly smiled, not knowing what to say. The first thing she thought to do was to forbid him from approaching any spirit medicine but she did not want to hurt his ego, especially since she knew that Tian Longmeng was a rising star among the first-years. Nonetheless, she decided that a hurt ego is still much better than a lost life.

"Should a spirit medicine fall in your hands then we would pay any cost to buy it from you, but I advise you not to entertain any risky endeavors." Her carefully worded response triggered a stronger laughter from everyone else. They could clearly tell that she was warning Tian Longmeng against throwing away his life.

However, Tian Longmeng smiled unnoticeably. He heard the warning as bright as day but he could not care less about what others thought of him. He already researched the strengths of spirit medicine and already approximated that it is at least about as strong a healthy version of the Huo Tiger he fought in the Desolate Wilderness, probably a little weaker in fact.

Of course, he knew that this approximation was only applicable to the weakest of the spirit medicines. If he was to encounter any real spirit medicines that were able to produce 1000 year spirit vines or more then he would have no choice to run with all his life.

He was planning on getting some real quality medicines but he was apprehensive about giving them away to the Medicine Facility, even if they were the ones to grant this opportunity. However, by hearing the word "buy" meant that he had a choice in giving them away. Hearing this made Tian Longmeng elated.

A certain girl saw his subtle grin and chuckled softly herself. Although she was in the midst of everyone, no one seemed to take notice of her, even when she was robed in eye-popping scarlet with golden trinkets.

The instructor cautiously glanced Tian Longmeng but she misunderstood his small grin as concedence and sighed in relief. She switched to a cheerful tone. "Okay everyone, at this point the annual hunt has begun. Remember to come back here in about three days."

Rumble. Meter high dust clouds rose in the place where the disciples eagerly dashed from. Everyone wanted to grab as much medicine as they could so they instantly dashed towards the most vegetated areas.

The stronger disciples headed inwards to the forestry, trying their luck on stronger medicines. Although, it would be less in quantity than skimming from the outskirts, they could not afford to be ridiculed as low fruit pickers*.

Similarly, Tian Longmeng was dashing through the forestry, searching for any spirit medicines or medicines close to that quality. As he inclined a mountain, his acute senses perceived that he had company following him.

He began weaving through the trees while keeping check that they were still following him. He knew they were not friendly from the killing intent they released. So, he decided to give them a nice present.

On the other hand, the chasing disciples were ecstatic. Three were affiliated with the Heaven Faction and two were from the Skywing Faction. They wanted to get the attention of the core disciples in factions quickly so they thought if they could take out Tian Longmeng, then their fame would soar.

However, since he was a top 150 ranker, then that would prove to be difficult, even if they had five people. Luckily, it seems as if he has a couple screws loose in his head since he thought he could take down a spirit medicine.

If Tian Longmeng could fight a spirit medicine and die in the process, then that would be great. Plus, they would be able to finish the injured spirit medicine and divide it for themselves. The five disciples quickly found their saliva trailing behind them and hurriedly pursued Tian Longmeng.

By the time they caught up with where he was, they noticed that they lost all signs of him. They spun about searching for any traces but to no avail.

"Where the hell did he disappear to, he is like a ghost." A Heaven Faction disciple gripped his head and groaned. The other disciples paled after suspecting that Tian Longmeng may have caught on to them.

Bam. However, a loud crash about a mile away caused them to rejoice. They could see Tian Longmeng in fierce fight with a dragon shaped vine. He was weaving through the vine's attacks and landing more hits, yet the vine was not at a disadvantage.

After about 10 breaths of time, Tian Longmeng's momentum seemed to decrease, causing the vine to become braver with its attacks, sure of its victory. At this point, the observing disciples also signalled to each other and closed in on the battle scene.

This did not go unnoticed by Tian Longmeng. He laughed to himself. If they were so impatient to clean up after he was done, he might as well finish now and hand it over to them.

He suddenly exploded a ball of essence, blinding everyone before dashing towards the direction of the observing disciples. As he passed them he whispered in one's ear. "My gift to you."

After the disciples regained their wits, the disciple that heard began panicking. "We need to run."

"Why, what happened?" The other disciples were slowly adjusting their eyesight only to feel a towering presence above them. They slowly turned and despaired as they saw a furious dragon shaped vine who had lost its prey.

Since it saw some more prey, it decided not to entertain itself anymore and began ripping the indignant disciples apart.

Tian Longmeng, who was about a mile away heard the short sounds of battle rise and fall with the accompanying wails. He had a cold glint in his eye. Since they wanted to get rid of him, he decided to provoke a spirit medicine that had about the same strength as a low-level desolate beast.

He knew that their greed would carry them too close to the battle so all he had to do was to bait them enough. He actually never expected for the bait to work so well, thus reminding him that these people were truly despicable but lacking in brains.

He shook the thoughts of them out of his head and continued his usual path. This time, he spotted some zebra grass that was quickly approaching the mark of a spirit medicine.

If this grass was given a month more, then it would have firmly stepped into the mark, giving Tian Longmeng that much better of a reward. However, he did not have that time.

Tian Longmeng loaded his strength into his legs, waiting for the right time to strike. After about 3 breaths of time and a gust of wind came, he launched out with herculean strength.

With his speed, the grass did not have any chance to raise a defence and was directly caught by Tian Longmeng. Yet, the person in question did not rejoice.

That is because he noticed about 3 individuals lurking nearby, all seeming to be from the Slaughter Faction.

Tian Longmeng hissed. "Why the hell are there so many damn faction people in here?"

*play off the idiom "picking low hanging fruit" which means taking the easy or low risk opportunity.