Who pulled out these herbs? Judging from the state of the herb field, it doesn’t look like someone simply pulled out the herbs; it’s more like straight out plundering the entire ground! Who would come to Lingyun Peak to plunder? Isn’t Lingyun Peak protected by the Guardian Granny?
Bao Gu guessed that her senior sister didn’t know about the state of the herb field yet; otherwise, she wouldn’t have asked her to weed and water the field. Whether it was plundered or not couldn’t be determined yet; she could only wait for her senior sister to return and deal with it. Afraid of leaving footprints and being unable to explain herself, she dared not step into the herb field and turned back to prepare dinner.
The herbs in Lingyun Peak’s herb field were gone, but Bao Gu still had some mature spiritual herbs in her storage bag that she had picked from her own courtyard. She took out two spiritual herbs, washed them, and put them in a pot to simmer slowly over a low flame, preparing to make a spiritual herb juice to use as a dipping sauce for wolf meat slices.
She skinned and deboned a wolf, washed it, and sliced it into thin pieces, filling a large basin to the brim and bringing it to the stove. Just as she was about to scoop out the already simmered spiritual herb juice from the pot, she found it empty. To be precise, it wasn’t empty; there was only a little bit of clear water slowly boiling, and the two spiritual herbs she had put in the pot were gone!
She clearly remembered washing the herbs and putting them in the pot, adding half a ladle of water, and simmering them over a small fire. Now the water was still there, but the herbs were gone!
Those two herbs weren’t thousands of years old treasures with spiritual intelligence that could run away.
That left only one possibility: someone else on Lingyun Peak had stolen her herbs!
Perhaps the one who took her herbs was the same person who had plundered the herb field.
Who could that person be? There were only four people on Lingyun Peak: her master, junior uncle, senior sister, and of course, it wouldn’t be Bao Gu! Guardian Granny protected Lingyun Peak, and if she needed to use spiritual herbs, she could pick them at will, and no one would object. Naturally, there was no need to plunder the herb field. Moreover, Guardian Granny could transform into human form, and at the very least, she had the cultivation of the Transformation Stage. How could she covet the two spiritual herbs in her pot? Could it be that Guardian Granny fell asleep and let outsiders sneak in?
Bao Gu thought of someone, the Ghost Lord from the Bamboo Sea of Death. But then she thought it was impossible. The Ghost Lord could trap to death even Nascent Soul ancestors and sect elders. Even Guardian Granny didn’t dare to step half a foot into the bamboo sea, so how could he covet her two spiritual herbs?
Bao Gu grabbed the kitchen knife and searched inside and outside the kitchen, not finding any suspicious movements. She then searched the courtyard one by one! No matter who the thief was, she had to find them first! This was too much! After plundering the herb field, they even stole her spiritual herbs. Her cultivation was not easy, and she relied on these spiritual herbs to advance. Yet, this thief didn’t even spare the lowest-grade spiritual herbs that only took three to five years to mature. How hateful!
Bao Gu searched every room, one by one, inside and out, under the cabinets and beds, unwilling to miss any spot! She searched until it was dark and didn’t find anything, then lit a lantern and continued searching with it.
A voice floated in from outside: “What are you looking for?”
It was her senior sister’s voice! Bao Gu hurriedly rushed out of the room and shouted, “Senior sister, we’ve been robbed! The spiritual herbs I was simmering in the pot today were stolen!”
Yu Mi looked at Bao Gu with annoyance and said, “There are many spiritual creatures in the mountains; maybe a mouse that has opened its spiritual intelligence took it away? It’s just two low-grade spiritual herbs. Stop looking, just go to the herb field and pick a few more.”
Bao Gu said, “Senior sister, all the spiritual herbs in the herb field have been pulled out too, not even a root or a leaf was left, only grass remains.”
Yu Mi laughed and said, “All the herbs were pulled out? Who did it? Bao Gu, do you think Guardian Granny is dead?”
Bao Gu pouted and said, “Exactly! The herb field was plundered, and we didn’t even see Guardian Granny come out.”
Yu Mi glanced at Bao Gu with annoyance and scolded, “Don’t talk nonsense. I’m going into seclusion, it could be as short as three to five days or as long as a month.” After saying that, she ignored Bao Gu, stepped on her flying sword, and left again.
Bao Gu was furious! What kind of senior sister was Yu Mi? Everything at home was stolen, and when someone told her, she didn’t believe it!
Bao Gu was hungry, so she went back to the kitchen, washed two more spiritual herbs, and put them in the pot to simmer.
This time, she was more cautious; she wasn’t going anywhere! She wanted to see how the thief could still steal her herbs right under her nose!
Bao Gu sat on a small stool next to the stove, slowly adding firewood. Except for when she added wood and tended the fire, she kept her eyes fixed on the pot lid.
The thief never appeared, but a golden little monkey, not even as big as her palm, appeared on the kitchen window, sucking on its finger and staring at her with big, round eyes. The monkey was covered in fluffy golden fur, with only a tiny bit of its round little ears visible amidst the fluff, making its head look round and cute. Its eyes were big and round like two huge black pearls set on its face, occupying almost half of its facial area.
Bao Gu stared at the palm-sized golden monkey, liking it more and more, as if she wanted to hold it in her arms and rub its fluffy golden fur. But she was afraid of scaring away the cute little monkey, so she didn’t make a move.
The golden monkey also stared at Bao Gu, and they looked at each other for a long time without moving.
Bao Gu remembered she had Zhu Ming fruits in her storage bag, and monkeys eat wild fruits, right? She took out a Zhu Ming fruit and shook it at the golden monkey, and saw the little monkey’s gaze shift to the fruit. Its small mouth kept sucking on its finger, looking extremely greedy.
Bao Gu wanted to throw the Zhu Ming fruit to the golden monkey but was worried it was too small to catch such a big fruit and might get hit. She also feared the monkey might misunderstand that she wanted to hit it with the fruit, so she stood up and walked towards the monkey, intending to hand it the Zhu Ming fruit.
The golden monkey saw Bao Gu stand up and walk towards it, and it jumped off the windowsill and out of Bao Gu’s sight, very alert.
Bao Gu walked to the window and looked out, but it was pitch black and she couldn’t see anything. She placed the Zhu Ming fruit on the windowsill and turned back to the stove to continue watching her pot. She opened the pot lid and saw her spiritual herbs were still there, so she sat back down at the stove with relief.
She had just sat down when she noticed the little monkey was back on the windowsill where she had placed the Zhu Ming fruit, and the fruit was gone.
Bao Gu was secretly shocked. Was the Zhu Ming fruit eaten by the little monkey or did it fall? Such a small monkey couldn’t possibly eat a fist-sized Zhu Ming fruit in one go! If it had fallen, the little monkey should have gone to pick it up, not sit on the windowsill looking at her, right? Could the thief be nearby? She quickly got up to grab the kitchen knife to look for the thief.
The little monkey on the windowsill saw her with the kitchen knife and zipped into the darkness. It was so fast that Bao Gu almost only saw a flash of gold before the monkey disappeared!
Bao Gu was amazed at the speed! It was indeed a cultivator’s sect; even a palm-sized monkey could move that fast, faster than a flying sword! Could this be a demon beast? Bao Gu recalled the demon beast species recorded in the jade slip, but there was no monkey like the one she had seen.
Her mind was occupied with the thief, and she didn’t have the time to ponder carefully. She searched the kitchen carefully with the kitchen knife but didn’t find any trace of the thief, so she went to the kitchen door and looked outside, but there was nothing under the windows or doors. She walked to the window, and there was no Zhu Ming fruit on the ground. Suddenly, there was a light sound in the kitchen, like the pot lid being lifted and gently placed back on the pot.
Bao Gu shouted, “I’ll see where you can run to!” and rushed into the kitchen, ready to fight the thief for three hundred rounds, only to find that there wasn’t even a ghost shadow in the kitchen! She rushed to the stove, lifted the pot lid, and saw that not only were the two spiritual herbs gone, but even the water for simmering the herbs was gone without a drop left! This thief…
Bao Gu wanted to go crazy and felt her hair stand on end! What kind of thief was this, moving so fast, coming and going without a trace! This was a master thief!
She was furious and also realized that her own strength was too weak to catch this master thief. Her spiritual herbs were already few, and she couldn’t afford to waste them like this. In the end, she could only boil a pot of plain water, cook the sliced wolf meat, and use oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar to make a dipping sauce, eating the only meal without spiritual herbs since she entered the sect.
Bao Gu, who had lost four spiritual herbs and suffered a heavy loss, angrily returned to her courtyard to fetch water from the well to wash up. While she was drawing water, she saw the fluffy little monkey again, sucking on its finger and staring at her with big, round eyes from not far away.
Bao Gu thought that the Zhu Ming fruit she gave to the little monkey was also stolen by the thief, just as pitiful as her, and took out another Zhu Ming fruit, saying to the monkey, “Here! Eat it quickly, don’t let the thief steal it again.” She placed the Zhu Ming fruit on the edge of the well and walked towards the courtyard with the bucket.
When she was about to reach the courtyard gate, she looked back and saw the fluffy little monkey squatting on the edge of the well where she had placed the Zhu Ming fruit, staring at her with big, black eyes, and the Zhu Ming fruit was gone again!
Bao Gu was so angry she wanted to throw the bucket! The thief was too hateful! Even the little monkey’s Zhu Ming fruit was snatched! This was outright robbery! The little monkey was so fast, yet the thief still managed to take the Zhu Ming fruit right under its nose!
Bao Gu had no choice but to take out the last Zhu Ming fruit and place it not far in front of her, watching it closely.
The fluffy little monkey also stared at the Zhu Ming fruit, seemingly wanting to go forward to take it but a bit afraid of Bao Gu.
Bao Gu, holding the bucket full of water, took a few steps back, and the fluffy little monkey still hesitated, looking at her. She took two more steps back and didn’t notice the threshold behind her. She tripped over the courtyard gate’s threshold, fell on her buttocks, and the water from the bucket she was holding spilled over her, soaking her clothes.
Bao Gu was so angry she was fuming, but had nowhere to vent her anger, so she could only accept her bad luck and get up. Then she noticed that the Zhu Ming fruit she had just placed and the fluffy little monkey were both gone.
She had no more temper left, silently picking up the bucket, drawing water again, and carrying it back to the courtyard. After entering the courtyard, she closed the gate and bolted it. She went back to her room, closed all the doors and windows tightly, and then washed up and went to bed!
