Chapter 282 - 283: The Great Serpent Leads the Way

Chapter 282: Chapter 283: The Great Serpent Leads the Way

After returning to the village, Li Yang went up the mountain to look for herbs.

Li Yang didn’t have high hopes of finding the herb for Xiao Zhen, but he was somewhat optimistic about finding wild ginseng.

Wild ginseng was rare, but it wasn’t unheard of. There was always a chance of finding some. As for the particular herb Xiao Zhen needed... that was incredibly difficult to find.

Even someone like Zhao Xuechu, who was clearly a person of some standing, couldn’t find it. What chance did Li Yang have?

With a medicinal basket on his back, Li Yang arrived at the mountain.

The villagers had already been here to gather herbs, so the area was much easier to navigate now. They had managed to clear a path.

Li Yang followed the path until he once again reached a desolate, uninhabited area.

There were more herbs deeper in, and they were of better quality. But to Li Yang’s disappointment, none of them were what he was looking for.

’The one I want... isn’t here either!’

A headache coming on, he had no choice but to venture deeper into the mountain.

Once he started going deeper, there was no end in sight. He just kept pushing forward, heading into the very depths of the mountain.

The deeper he went, the taller the trees grew. The old Li Yang might not have had the courage to come this far in, but the current him had no such problem.

He didn’t know how long he’d been walking, but his legs were starting to feel sore and weak.

"My God, still nothing?" Li Yang gave a bitter laugh. ’Looks like there really isn’t any wild ginseng here.’

’I’ll search for a little while longer,’ he thought. ’If I still can’t find anything, I’ll just head back down. No point in searching anymore.’

With that in mind, Li Yang quickly started moving again.

He had just walked a short distance when he suddenly heard something scraping against the ground up ahead.

Li Yang raised an eyebrow. ’That... sounds like something slithering on the ground.’

Just as he thought this, the hair on his body stood on end. He stared nervously in the direction of the sound.

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, from a large tree up ahead, an enormous snake’s head emerged. It flicked its tongue at him, looking as if it was about to strike at any moment.

Li Yang was startled at first, but then he broke into a grin and waved at the giant snake. "It’s you!"

The giant snake seemed surprised for a moment, but it quickly slithered down from the tree and moved in front of Li Yang, even wagging its tail at him.

It turned out this was the same giant snake he had encountered back when he was catching vine snakes in the neighboring village.

He never expected to run into it here.

"So this whole area is your territory..." Li Yang realized. The giant snake clearly considered this its domain, and he had trespassed into it.

’No wonder,’ he thought. ’A snake this huge would definitely be the king of the mountain.’

"Hey, by the way, do you know if there’s any wild ginseng on this mountain?" An idea struck Li Yang. This snake was most likely intelligent. It was so familiar with the mountain; perhaps he could ask it.

The great snake nodded and slithered off to one side.

It seemed to be leading the way for Li Yang.

Overjoyed, Li Yang immediately followed.

The snake moved faster and faster, but Li Yang was no slouch either, keeping right behind it.

After an unknown amount of time, the great snake suddenly stopped.

Li Yang focused his gaze and saw a stalk of wild ginseng growing on the ground right there.

The ginseng was perfect, growing lush and healthy!

Excited, Li Yang hurried forward, pulled it out, and took a look.

"This... this is at least a hundred-year-old ginseng!" Li Yang knew his stuff; he could tell with a single glance and cried out in astonishment.

The great snake seemed to understand Li Yang’s words. It nodded, then slithered off to the side again.

Before long, it arrived at another spot where another stalk of wild ginseng was growing. However, compared to the one in Li Yang’s hand, this one was far younger—forty or fifty years at most.

Li Yang was dumbfounded.

’Damn, this snake is practically a spirit!’ he thought. ’It seems to know more about this mountain than I do.’

The great snake looked a bit smug and moved to another nearby spot.

There, several small wild ginseng plants were growing.

"I’ve struck it rich..." Li Yang jumped for joy. "But these few look a little too small. It’d be great if they were bigger."

As he said this, an idea struck him. He suddenly took out his ring and dripped a couple of drops of water onto the small ginseng sprouts.

After he was done, Li Yang stood up. "Let’s see how you turn out later. If this works, I should have earned the money to repair the road."

He raised his eyebrows at the thought.

"Thanks a lot!" Li Yang said to the great snake with a smile. "Oh, and a heads-up: there might be people gathering herbs on the outskirts. They’ll probably make their way deeper in eventually. If you find them too noisy, just give them a good scare, but don’t hurt anyone, okay?"

The great snake nodded.

Li Yang smiled, waved goodbye to it, and finally left the area.

But the great snake actually followed Li Yang for a while before stopping.

Li Yang couldn’t help but feel emotional. ’This snake is smarter than some people.’

By the time he came down from the mountain, it was dusk. After cleaning the old ginseng, Li Yang immediately took a photo and sent it to the herb buyer.