Chapter 0153

Anvis Dest grimace, “Caught that didn’t you.”

“Asking for all the information our group gathered then mentioning a specific topic to misdirect me, yes, I caught on to your wordplay.”

Since he was caught, he might as well confess. “I need a specific herb grown only in the Emblemic Mountain Range. I don’t know how to go about finding the herb. I can waste my time searching the entire Emblemic Mountain Range, or I can hope I get lucky and the herb falls into my lap. Neither seems plausible or remotely possible. A skilled wood mage -”

“Forget it. I don’t need to know the who, what or why. Your explanation didn’t say much either.” Graden cut in. Need an herb? Ask a wood mage to help you find it! Mages don’t really need herbs or pills for their cultivation so they make the best partner when going anywhere to find herbs.

Graden turns down so many offers for herbs expeditions, he can fill a huge lake with the written offers.

“I want all the information you have on you plus two favors,” Graden demanded.

“Why are you being so kind? Not that I am complaining, but I want to know what I am getting into.” Anvis Dest eyed Graden warily. When someone knew they were being tricked, they tend to become belligerent and try to get revenge. Unless they are in love, no one lets another make a fool out of them.

“There is no guarantee you will find it. And if you do, you’d need a trusted alchemist to concoct the pill. By then, you’d come to realize that very few can resist the temptation. When that time comes, you’d come crawling back to me. I’d concoct it for you, but it will cost you.”

Tempest finally notice something. Graden is more mercenary than her. It’s the printer and the ink issue. Printers are sold cheap. The manufacture lures you in with low prices on their printers then gauge you on the ink. Graden was selling the information he has for cheap because he knows Anvis Dest would come back to buy the other parts.

“I accept. As for whether or not I come to you to concoct the pill, it depends on your skills.”

Graden took out a jade drive and tossed it to Anvis Dest. “The information you wanted.”

“Thank you.” Anvis Dest tossed the jade drive containing the information about Bei Ting Mao along with two other jade drives to Graden before returning to his group.

“Hey Graden, what herb was he af-” Tempest asked only to be interrupted with a “Shut it” from Graden.

“Ventus?”

I’m not exactly sure what herbs Anvis Dest is after but I can narrow it down to two, the Solar Yin Grass and the Voracious Sunflower.

“How valuable are they that Graden had to silence me?”

Both herbs are so precious and so rare that many cultivators will kill each other for the slightest clue leading to any one of the herbs. The city of Havens Fall was destroyed just from a rumor about the Voracious Sunflower. Twelve million people were killed in one night because a hunter swore he saw what can be vaguely construed as the Voracious Sunflower.

“That precious?”

That precious.

“Then I -”

Don’t!

“Hey!”

Tempest don’t. Unless you want to depend on Cardis for the rest of your life, don’t finish the thought.

“Got it,” Tempest said dejectedly. She wasn’t even going to try to find the herbs. She was only suggesting selling information about the herb to other people. The greedy little girl gave her thoughts a good scrubbing. Graden and Ventus cut her off before she could say anything. It is a testament to the seriousness of the situation.

“I do wonder how Anvis got the information.”

Probably the blue hair blue eyes girl in their group. She has a touch of prophecy.

“What that? Is it like the ability to see into the future?” Tempest asked eagerly. After their death, Tempest had always wished she could see into the future. The past can’t be changed. However, what if the past was actually the present and the present was one possible future, then could the past still not be changed?

Not what you are thinking. The blue-haired girl has a touch of prophecy. She possesses an instinct-like ability that tells her how much an event matters to her.

“Huh?”

There is a fork in the road. Do you take the left or the right? For most people, it doesn’t matter which road they take. They won’t know what is going to happen. For the blue-haired girl, if an event or an item will immensely affect her in the future is on the right road, she will get the urge to follow the right road.

“What a nice ability.” Tempest stared at the blue-haired girl enviously. She wished she had her powers. Instead, she was given three collective busybody spirits who like to bother her at inopportune times. Comparisons make one jealous. If Tempest realized the blue-haired girl would switch her power for Tempest’s interfering but loving spirits in a heartbeat, she goes for it and gets the longest scolding of her life. Luckily, Tempest isn’t a mind reader.

Suddenly, a delicious scent filled her nostrils, a scent she’d smelled only once before but would never forget. “Roast magic beast meat!”

Tempest looks to the left. Nope, only wounded cultivators sleeping near a fire.

Tempest looks to the right. Nope, only the so-called experts that lured everyone to the battle and did nothing but watch.

Tempest looks straight ahead. Nope, only Graden barking at Fenix, telling her to dismantle the magical beast properly. Bei Ting Mao and Li Ming were immersing themselves in the information recorded on the jade drive. Once in a while, they pulled themselves out of their mediation to ask Starm for confirmation.

Tempest looks behind her. Nope, only a bunch of thieves… hey, wait a blasted minute!

“Graden! Fenix! My groupmates. My teammates. My friends. What are you guys doing?” Tempest eagerly ran to the duo, eyes sparkling brighter than the stars shining in the night sky.

“You got eyes. Can’t you see we’re dismantling the level 3 magical beast, Stampeding Cockatrice?” Fenix snarled but didn’t look up from what she was doing. Tempest didn’t mind.

“Food?”

“Yes, food. Why else would I be dismantling the level 3 Stampeding Cockatrice? Go away!”

Tempest was salivating over the idea of eating delicious food again that she didn’t mind Fenix’s word. She audibly gulps. Even putting the meat near a fire cause the meat to emit an enticing aroma. It wasn’t even cooked yet, and Tempest wants to gobble it up.

“Hey wait a minute! I thought you can only cook level 2 magical beasts and below. Higher-level magical beasts have impurities in their bodies that are poisonous to cultivators.” Tempest remember Xing Zhi Hui… or was it Jean or Amber? She wasn’t sure who it was that told that interesting tidbit because she was busy savoring the delicious meal.

“That’s true if the food was prepared by a regular cultivator. It is a different story if a fire mage does the cooking. A skilled fire mage can burn off the impurities inside the magical beast corpse, so you can eat a level 3 magical beast although the taste isn’t the same.” Fenix explained, all the while not taking her eyes off the magical beast she was dismantling.

“Fenix, your fire skill is the best among all the fire mages I’ve ever seen. Your control and precision are absolutely excellent. A little level 3 magical beast is nothing under your hands.” Tempest shamelessly flattered Fenix. Good food is justice!

“You really think so?” A fire wood mage came from behind Tempest and said those words.

“Graden, of course, I would naturally praise Fenix for her fire abilities. I can’t comment on your fire abilities since I’ve never seen you use any fire spells.” Tempest placate Graden before turning back to Fenix, “So when do I get to eat?”

Fenix finished dismantling the Stampeding Cocktrice then handed the meat over to Graden. Her smirk was downright diabolical. “When the fire wood mage finishes cooking it.”

“Fenix, you liar!” Tempest cried her heart out.