Chapter 87: Dragon Spring Jade Plant

The night was dim, and the moonlight was obscured.

The entire Medicine Peak area was pitch black, with even the usual faint light having disappeared.

Beneath the dark veil of night, eyes of various colors flickered in the forest.

Wearing the Dark Wolf pelt, Junior Brother Bai Ming frowned slightly; tonight was truly too dark, making it difficult to even see the route.

Fortunately, he was still familiar with the first half of the journey, otherwise, it would have been truly impossible to move.

Clutching the jade slip, Junior Brother Bai Ming probed it with his spiritual sense, checking the path ahead over and over again.

The Dragon Spring Jade Plant is a very precious spiritual plant containing abundant, gentle spiritual energy; consuming it can clear one's mind and improve one's cultivation.

It mostly grows by spiritual lakes rich in spiritual energy; besides that, it also requires direct sunlight.

According to the location marked on the jade slip's map, it was by a spiritual lake on a mountain peak.

Places with Dragon Spring Jade Plants are rich in spiritual energy and are inhabited by dozens of Foundation Establishment spiritual beasts.

If Junior Brother Bai Ming were to force his way in right now to compete with the spiritual beasts, the danger level would be extremely high.

But fortunately, he had that thing in his hand.

Opening his palm, Junior Brother Bai Ming revealed the cyan-green scale in his hand.

Just like last night, the bright spots hidden in the forest vanished, and the aura of the spiritual beasts that had been lingering around him dissipated.

"Golden Core… If one does not reach the Golden Core stage, Foundation Establishment is ultimately just food," Junior Brother Bai Ming sighed.

The journey was smooth and unobstructed; without much effort, Junior Brother Bai Ming quickly arrived at the mountain peak.

Suspended in the air, he looked out into the distance, and a glowing lake came into view.

The lake was not large, only the size of a common small lake.

What was peculiar was the color of the lake water—a pale cyan-green, like a pool of flowing jade.

The lake water emitted light, making it so conspicuous in this pitch-black night.

With the help of the lake's light, Junior Brother Bai Ming could vaguely see the surrounding scene.

A dozen or so monkeys with pale yellow fur stood to one side, baring their fangs and grimacing with unkind expressions, as if the lake belonged to them.

Sensing the monkeys' vigilance, Junior Brother Bai Ming displayed the cyan scale, attempting to scare off the monkey troop.

Once the Golden Core aura was released, the monkey troop retreated slightly but did not leave completely.

They actually weren't leaving.

His tried-and-true tactic had failed; Junior Brother Bai Ming's advancing figure paused, and he observed the monkey troop carefully.

Was the aura ineffective? No, that wasn't right.

The monkey troop retreated as a whole; although there was a vague sense of them surrounding him, they had no intention of attacking.

The scale had indeed worked, but not significantly.

Probing the aura of the monkey troop, Junior Brother Bai Ming understood the general situation.

Among the dozen or so monkeys, there were four or five at the peak of Foundation Establishment and eight or nine at the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

With this scale, they could be considered hard to match for anyone below the Golden Core stage.

They must be the top power on this mountain, accustomed to throwing their weight around, so they were even somewhat unafraid of the Golden Core aura.

Lightly rubbing his chin, Junior Brother Bai Ming frowned slightly. Along the way, he had always relied on his aura to scare off opponents and win without a fight.

But the monkey troop in front of him was not afraid, which put him in a difficult position.

He did not have Golden Core cultivation; he was currently only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. If a real fight broke out, it was hard to say how it would go.

"Is this where I stop?" Junior Brother Bai Ming felt a bit annoyed.

He would have to come here again sooner or later; if he didn't resolve the matter, there was no difference between coming today or tomorrow.

After some thought, Junior Brother Bai Ming took another step forward, then stopped in the air to observe the monkey troop's reaction.

The leading ones retreated a step, and the monkey troop behind followed suit.

"So they are still afraid; they just wanted to see how much I could rely on," Junior Brother Bai Ming pondered.

If it were elsewhere, Junior Brother Bai Ming might have had more concerns, but here it was different.

Even in the worst-case scenario, he still had a chance of survival.

Moving forward again, Junior Brother Bai Ming faced the light of the lake and displayed the scale once more.

Under the radiance cast by the lake, the cyan scale entered the pupils of every monkey.

Unlike their previous calmness and probing, this time the monkey troop retreated more than ten meters, truly beginning to feel fear.

"This place is considered its territory, after all; I was wondering why it wasn't working," Junior Brother Bai Ming relaxed. "So they just hadn't seen it clearly."

Slowly flying to the side of the green lake, Junior Brother Bai Ming gently touched the glowing jade-like water with his finger, sensing the spiritual energy within it.

"It seems this is also a good thing." He took out a jade bottle and began to collect the spiritual water.

Before long, several jade bottles were filled. Satisfied, Junior Brother Bai Ming searched for the spiritual plant by the lake.

The night was dim, making visibility inconvenient.

After searching for a circle, Junior Brother Bai Ming only found some ordinary spiritual plants; as for the Dragon Spring Jade Plant, there was no trace of it.

Not only that, but during the search, he could always sense the gaze of the monkey troop.

Although it didn't hinder him, it was annoying nonetheless.

Why were they staring at him all the time? What were they worried about?

Could it be that they were afraid I would pick all the Dragon Spring Jade Plants?

His train of thought opened up; Junior Brother Bai Ming's mind instantly cleared, and he had an idea.

While circling the lake to investigate, he secretly observed the gaze of the monkey troop.

Sure enough, when he reached a certain spot, the eyes of the leading monkeys were anxious, as if they wished he would leave quickly.

"So it's here." Junior Brother Bai Ming withdrew his gaze and searched carefully.

After a patient search, under the watchful eyes of the monkey troop, Junior Brother Bai Ming noticed a place that seemed wrong.

A clump of abrupt bushes, surrounded by some ordinary spiritual plants.

He walked up and, without even glancing at the spiritual plants on the side, pulled the bushes apart.

A spiritual plant was hidden within, its fruit shaped like a pearl, and its leaves as green and jade-like as jade.

"Dragon Spring Jade Plant!" Junior Brother Bai Ming's eyes lit up. "So it was here. No wonder I couldn't find it; it was hidden away."

The monkey troop emitted faint hissing sounds, appearing dissatisfied.

Junior Brother Bai Ming didn't care; it was still early, and he only needed to arrive by the time he took the pill.

Having found this one, he followed the same method and found several more.

The leader of the monkey troop seemed to react, no longer showing an anxious expression to prevent Junior Brother Bai Ming from noticing.

But it was too late; Junior Brother Bai Ming had already discovered the pattern and only looked in the hidden bushes.

It didn't take long before he had picked ten Dragon Spring Jade Plants.

"With this, I have already gained quite a lot." Junior Brother Bai Ming put the Dragon Spring Jade Plants into his storage bag.

He glanced around a few times; there were no other suspicious places nearby.

Of course, there was another worry; after all, he was plundering someone else's assets here.

Plus, spiritual beasts become more ferocious at night; if they were truly pushed to the limit and came up to bite him a few times, that would be troublesome.

Putting away the storage bag, Junior Brother Bai Ming turned his head to observe the monkey troop carefully and assess the current situation.

The monkey troop was filled with viciousness, their sharp white fangs looking as if they wanted to pierce through their upper lips.

A cool breeze blew by, and the resentment or dissatisfaction on the monkeys' faces dissipated, replaced by one emotion—fear.

Amidst the chattering cries, the monkey troop scrambled to flee.

With his robes fluttering behind him, Junior Brother Bai Ming's expression turned cold; he sensed something was wrong.

He knew that with only his Foundation Establishment cultivation, how could he possibly scare off the monkey troop?

It was because something had landed behind him!

Glancing sideways, Junior Brother Bai Ming immediately turned around, wanting to escape.

But a long, slender tongue shot straight towards him, moving even faster.

A strong pulling force struck, and Junior Brother Bai Ming was tightly wrapped by the tongue.

In the midst of the tumbling, he saw the figure of the giant creature.

A familiar sticky sensation swept over his entire body, and Junior Brother Bai Ming heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.

Cyan-green scales, golden vertical pupils, coupled with that delicate tongue technique.

It was undoubtedly that Golden Core Giant Lizard.

Junior Brother Bai Ming twisted his body, attempting to break free from the restraint. "Why did you come here? Put me down first; I won't run."

Hearing this, the Giant Lizard gently loosened its tongue, placing Junior Brother Bai Ming on the ground.

Wiping the mucus off his face with the back of his hand, Junior Brother Bai Ming felt the discomfort fade a little.

The Giant Lizard flicked its tail, and a peak Foundation Establishment monkey was tossed into its mouth and swallowed in one gulp, without even a sound being able to be made.