17 deaths of medicinal herb collectors

  One month later.

  Medicine Hall, small courtyard stone house.

  "It's not as dangerous as I imagined! We've been in the mountains for a month and haven't done much, but we easily got over 200 copper coins as a reward. The three-year apprenticeship will pass quickly, and we can save up quite a bit of copper money. Once we become medicine gathering disciples, we'll definitely earn even more, and finding a pretty little wife won't be a problem!"

  Feng Xiaodi proudly tossed a bulging small pouch of money in front of Ye Qin and said with a smile.

  Because Feng Xiao wandered around while collecting herbs, he occasionally picked some low-grade herbs, so the reward money he received was the most among the four. Yang Yicheng and Qian Ruoxiu got a little less, with over 140-150 coins each. Ye Qin carried a basket of herbs on his back, but didn't pick any herbs at all, only getting around 100 copper coins as labor pay.

  After returning to the county town, Xie Ze gave rewards according to their contributions.

  Ye Qin smiled wryly, with some bitterness.

  Who made him practice the endurance skill? During the apprentice period of the Medicine Master, he was one of the lowest earners among the crowd. Three years later, becoming a medicine apprentice might end up with the same result. The reason is simple, his internal skill is not very suitable for medicine picking. Feng Xiao's lightness skill is the most suitable one.

  With a "bang", Yang Yicheng pushed open the wooden door from outside and came in, his face looked gloomy and unpleasant, his eyes were absent-minded. Without saying a word, he climbed onto his bed, lay on the bed with his back to them, and didn't speak either.

  "Huh, Big Brother Master, what's going on? Why is there such a big fiery aura?"

  Feng Xiaoqi cried out in surprise.

  Ye Qin took a look and was secretly puzzled. Having known Yang Yicheng for so long, he had never seen him throw such a tantrum before. He had just returned from outside two days ago and received 100 copper coins, but how did his mood become so bad tonight after going out for one trip?

  Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying also followed from outside at this time.

  Ye Qin and Feng Xiao couldn't help but look at the two of them.

  Qian Ruoxiu's lips were slightly pale.

  "Dead, dead two!"

  Feng Xiaodao was shocked, "Dead... what two died?"

  "Several other teams that went out to collect medicine have returned, but two of the medicine-collecting children died. One of them was even acquainted with Big Brother Master, and had grown up together with him since childhood."

  Qian Ruoxiu's eyes welled up with tears.

  Zhugou County is just this big, and many of the kids in the county town know each other. Even if they don't have much of a relationship, they've at least seen each other around.

  Feng was stunned and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.

  Ye Qin was also stunned. In just one month, two had already died. After the three-year training period ended, how many of these more than 40 medicine-collecting children would be able to survive?

  Ye Qin couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine, as if the air in the stone hut had grown several degrees colder.

  Nine out of ten medicine-picking children die young; this is no rumor.

  Ye Qin was not intimidated by this bad news and calmly asked.

  "How did those two herb-picking children die?"

  Qian Ruoxiu shook her head.

  "I don't know, but when those little teams of medicine-picking children came back, their faces were even more downcast than Daxiong's, yet they refused to say anything. However, judging from their tone, it seemed that someone had fallen to his death while picking some precious medicinal herbs."

  Ye Qin shook his head, even a fool knew they were killed by the medicine pickers. Otherwise, with a medicine picking child who had practiced martial arts for half a year, and an even stronger medicine picking master leading them, it wouldn't be so easy to die.

  He said, "We must find out how they died in order to avoid further danger. Fourth Sister and Fifth Sister, you are from the county town and are familiar with the situation here. Go ask the medicine-collecting children you know again about the specific process."

  Yang Yicheng suddenly turned over, with a few strands of crimson blood in his eyes. "No need to ask, I know how they died!"

  Ye Qin looked at him in surprise.

  Yang Yicheng said with a scowl, "I know the young apprentices of those two teams. One team said they found a rare and precious black grass that's over a hundred years old on a steep cliff in a secluded valley. But it's almost a vertical drop, and the rocks are very sharp, the wind is like a knife, and it's easy to cut off the rope. The medicine collector himself didn't dare to take the risk, so he sent a young apprentice who knew lightness skills, but unfortunately, he lost his hand and fell into the valley, losing his life. Another team found a rare medicinal herb in the river valley, also because the medicine collector was unwilling to take risks, they sent my brother who knew lightness skills, but he lost his grip and was washed away by the water in an instant. These medicine collectors are all not good people, using our young apprentices' lives to exchange for their own safety!"

  Ye Qin, Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying were shocked by the words and involuntarily turned their heads to look towards Feng Xiao inside the stone house.

  Among them, only Feng Xiao has the lightness skill. If one day, Xie Ze, the medicine collector, needs someone to replace him to take risks and collect medicine... The first one he will think of is probably Feng Xiao.

  Feng Xiaozao's face turned pale, he was scared silly, holding his head and not daring to listen anymore. "How could this be? This isn't right, why do people have to die?" The happy feeling he had when he took the 200 copper coins earlier was completely gone. If he lost his life, what use would this little money be?

  Ye Qin was silent.

  He thought of a more distant problem. If Feng Xiao died, who would replace him next? Probably one of Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying, they were agile and nimble. Then there was Yang Yicheng and only physically strong him. The more people die, the more danger he is in.

  So no matter what, Feng Xiao must be kept safe. As long as Feng Xiao doesn't die, everyone will be safe.

  Ye Qin shared this idea with Qian Ruixiu, Sun Ying and Yang Yicheng, they all agreed and were willing to do their best to protect Feng Xiao.

  Rested in the county town for two or three days.

  Xie Ze was going to enter the mountains to pick herbs, and the five of them naturally followed him again. However, this time they no longer had any leisurely or carefree feelings, but instead were deeply worried, occasionally stealing glances at Xie Ze with strange eyes, as if he were a man-eating devil.

  Especially Feng Xiao, his mood was extremely low, and he didn't even have the heart to use his lightness skill to pick up any herbs. He wished he wouldn't know lightness skill at all, so that he could die faster.

  Yang Yicheng, Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying also did not have any intention of catching insects, snakes or wild beasts.

  Although they are only eleven or twelve years old, they have grown up in poverty and hardship, and in some ways they are already quite mature. They are very wary of people with malicious intentions.

  Xie Ze had already seen their strange expressions and knew the reason, but he didn't care at all. He walked calmly, occasionally letting out a cold laugh in secret, thinking to himself: What can you do to me? When the time comes for me to use you, I will naturally use you. Can you still resist?

  Only Ye Qin, carrying a basket of herbs behind Xie Ze's five steps, remained low-key.

  Spring goes and winter comes, year after year.

  The three-year training period for Sanji's medicine picking has passed quickly.

  In these three years, sometimes several medicine-collecting children would die in a single month, and sometimes not even one would die in several months. This completely depends on whether they encounter precious medicinal materials, whether the growth location of the medicinal materials is extremely dangerous, and whether the dispatched medicine-collecting children will make mistakes. If none of these three points occur, normally no one will die.

  In the first year, seven of the young medicine collectors died due to their inexperience. In the following two years, the number of deaths decreased significantly, but there were still a few each year.

  Ye Qin's team was slightly luckier.

  In these three years, Xie Ze has only let Feng Xiaoding replace him five times.

  Feng Xiaodan was timid and cowardly, but under Yang Yicheng's encouragement, after realizing that he couldn't escape his fate of being a substitute, he bitterly and desperately practiced his lightness skills to the point of exhaustion, and managed to bring his Ti Yun Zong to the third level. With his playful and mischievous personality, it wasn't easy for him to reach the third level either.

  With the full support of Ye Qin, Yang Yicheng, Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying, they survived the three-year training period for Tongzi.