After thinking for a little, Mei came up with a surprisingly simple solution.
With how strong spirit plants were, if she picked up the tougher branches and twigs, she could make a fairly stable ladder of sorts. Looking at her handiwork, however, made her feel rather uneasy.
Her "ladder", was a very long branch that reached all the way to the entrance, a few branches tied hastily as a support underneath. This did not fit her definition of "stable" in the slightest.
But spurred by greed, Mei decided to go for it. Since she was climbing from the underside, she figured even if the branch collapsed, she should be able to land on her feet fine.
She inched herself along the branch gingerly, trying not to bump the support with her basket. Just as the branch began to slip, Mei managed pulled herself up into the tunnel happily.
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Surrounded by a circular wall of smooth, grey rock, a massive serpent with beautiful blue scales curled into the shape of a turd, a dainty but sharp horn on its head. It was a lot less fierce-looking than Mei thought it would be, its face cute, even. That is, ignoring how it towered 10 metres above her.
Pretty glowing blue herbs grew near the walls, sending faint blue wisps of light towards the snake occasionally.
But despite all of that, what caught her attention most was the ceiling. A massive white formation sat, and above it, a waving blue mass letting down gentle light. The lake from earlier was just suspended like that?
Sensing her, the serpent opened its eyes and jolted/
"Uh... welcome?" a feminine voice entered Mei's head.
It tensed, the turd shape growing slimmer but taller.
"Hi," Mei said.
"Well... help yourself, I guess." the snake said.
Wait, seriously? Nuo Fu was being way too cooperative... She couldn't help but feel suspicion in her heart. Quickly, she took out the Qiulan jade and looked through it.
Azure Lakegrass... whoa! She could cash in each blade for 30 Jade?!
Was the snake using illusion magic on her or something? Mei went around the room and started picking a leaf off each hurriedly, giving the snake a few glances every now and then.
"Thanks. I'll be going then." Mei said, heading to the tunnel.
"Ah. Bye then."
The serpent closes her eyes and relaxed, relieved. Suspicious... too suspicious!
She quickly walked back up to Nuo Fu.
"Um... i-is there anything else you need?"
Mei held up the Jade with a smug grin.
"Line 6! If you suspect a spirit beast is hiding their herbs, you may command them to move!" she said.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"W-what!" the serpent stuttered. "N-no, I'm not hiding anything."
"Well, prove it then," she said.
"I-I'm in a very important juncture of cultivation! If I move, I will suffer from qi deviation!"
Mei continued to stare at her deviously.
...
A minute passed. If Nuo Fu had sweat glands, its head would be covered in sweat.
"Please! This herb is very important for my cultivation!" it finally admitted.
With how much all the spirit beasts pleaded, Mei did feel a little bad. But she needed the jade! Plus... the jade mentioned the herb collection was a tax for the sect protecting the mountain. Which, admittedly, was a little dubious but helped her feel a little more justified regardless.
"Yeah, and it's also very important for my cultivation," she said, pretending not to care. "I'll only be taking like a single leaf or something anyway!"
Nuo Fu let out a hiss.
"Imprudent!"
Slowly, a cold air began to fill the room, tainted by killing intent.
Mei paled, all the smugness fading. She collasped to the ground, her knees had turned to jelly. This was so much worse than the other spirit beasts!
"Y-you'll get in trouble... not allowed to do this," she said weakly.
"Hmph! You will regret this!"
With that threat, the cold air faded slowly.
The serpent unfurled her whole body, slamming her tail into the wall violently. A tremendous bang rang out, the entire chamber shaking, dirt shooting into the air. Rumbles continued to sound out for a good minute.
Mei felt her ears ring and quickly covered them. Looking around, it seemed the formation managed to keep everything intact.
From the spot the serpant coiled around, small tree with a rather bulbous trunk was revealed, barely as tall as her. Its leaves were a pale green and its trunk and branches pure white.
Mei was still afraid, but she crept up to the tree and touched it. It didn't feel like hard bark like she expected, instead, the texture was closer to that of a vegetable.
"Don't touch it with your filthy hands!"
A sliver of qi quickly sliced the tip of a branch off, before dropping it into her basket.
"Take it and leave." Nuo Fu did not conceal her hostility.
Mei was a little upset. If the snake didn't want her to touch it, couldn't it have floated the branch over before she got near?
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Along the way back, Mei was filled with excitement. Just that branch turned out to be worth 90 Jade! Her legs hurt a little, but she barely felt it.
She forgot about how she was going to leave, so she ended up having to jump down onto the hard ground. In hindsight, she should have piled some leaves up.
Still, the words of Nuo Fu made her a little uneasy. She consoled herself with the fact that the spirit beasts weren't allowed to hurt the disciples.
Suddenly, to her shock, she saw a monkey hurry along the path, dragging a cart full of potted herbs behind it! Seeing her, it let out a screech.
"Human! Please don't take my herbs!"
It quickly took out a peach covered with silver engravings, pulsing with a gentle but intense qi.
"If you don't take it, I'll give you this peach!"
Eh? She still hadn't said a thing...
Mei looked at the herbs and thought for a moment. From the looks of it, those herbs looked pretty valuable. It was probably a good idea to reject the "bribe" and just take the herbs.
"Sorry, but-" she began.
The peach slipped from the monkey's hand and hit the ground, splitting into 3 pieces!
"AHHHH! AHHHHH!" the monkey screamed. "Quick! Eat it before the potency is lost!"
Feeling all the qi leaking out, Mei was stunned. As the monkey said, this was indeed no ordinary peach! In a moment of panic, she scooped up the pieces and scoffed them without thinking.
...
...?
So dizzy... Mei wobbled for a moment before falling to the ground, unconscious.
"Hmph. So gullible." the monkey said.
With a wave of its hand, the intense qi disappeared. The peach as it turned out, was just an ordinary one, with silver lines drawn to make it look fancy.
It hopped over and stared into her basket, staring at all the herbs.
"Ahh! To think this scumbag stole so much..." it looked towards the fleshy branch. "Even that... No wonder she was so angry."
With a slightly angry look, it took out the herbs and began stuffing them into its storage ring, when suddenly, its hair stood on end. Quickly, it did a backflip, launching itself into the air.
Bang!
Not even half a second later, a blade of wind hit the spot it stood, slicing the basket into half and leaving a huge gash on the ground.
Thankfully, with how depleted the herbs remaining in the basket were, they were untouched. The monkey didn't have time to retrieve all of them.
The ape looked to the skies, growling.
With the flap of its wings, an owl landed on the ground silently.
"Bai Tou! Traitor! Dog of the sect!" the monkey yelled. "I knew you were behind this!"