After changing their clothes, Fang Ping and Qin Fengqing observed each other.
Both of them looked funny wearing their headbands.
“Why aren’t you wearing a headgear?” Fang Ping asked.
“Dumbass, at such a close distance, the enemy can easily feel the difference in our energy. There’s no point trying to deceive them.
“Then again, some of the martial artists are stupid.
“That guy tried to kill me last time, but didn’t even sense that I used the Vitality Force?”
Casually insulting the enemy, Qin Fengqing folded his clothes and stuffed them into a cloth bag.
Looking thoughtfully at Fang Ping, he said with a slight frown, “If you bring a military bag, even a fool can tell that you are fake, change to another one...”
“Don’t have one to change to. You should have said something earlier.”
“I forgot.”
Qin Fengqing spoke without remorse, and said after giving it some thought, “Throw it away.”
Fang Ping ignored him, stuffed the bag into his jacket, and drew it in front of his stomach.
“Just get rid of it. With such a bulging chest, are you trying to pass as a woman?”
“I’m not throwing it.”
Fang Ping shook his head, did he think that he was stupid?
Fang Ping did not even have a Storage Ring. If he discarded his bag and they then managed to grab medicinal herbs and energy stones, was he expected to use his bare hands to hold them all? How much would he be able to carry?
He did not bother telling Qin Fengqing that he had another sack in his bag.
At this juncture, running with a sack over your shoulder would be more convenient than using your bare hands.
Qin Fengqing frowned and muttered, “If you don’t leave it, you’ll slow us down.”
“You throw yours first.”
“You think I’m stupid?”
Qin Fengqing rolled his eyes. Fang Ping felt something was amiss and suddenly went to feel about Qin Fengqing’s clothes.
Qin Fengqing hurriedly avoided him, but Fang Ping grabbed the waist of his trousers with one hand and sneered. “What the heck, is this tailor-made? What is this?’
He had to hand it to Qin Fengqing!
His clothes were double-layered, with an opening at the waistband, making it easy to stuff things inside.
His clothes were basically one giant pocket.
Unable to hide it any longer, Qin Fengqing said, “It’s for convenience.
“Why, aren’t you impressed?”
“Why isn’t mine the same?”
“How would I know?”
“You gave them to me!”
“Who asked you not to prepare your own clothes!”
“Then why are you asking me to throw away my bag?”
“It’s getting in our way.”
“...”
The two of them argued amongst themselves. Eventually, Qin Fengqing sighed and said, “Fine, you’re as sly as a fox.
“Let’s agree not to split the loot evenly. Instead, we will depend on our abilities and keep whatever we get for ourselves.”
Fang Ping smiled. “I was just about to say that.”
The two looked at each other and, ceasing their banter, continued moving forward.
...
Halfway through the journey, the sky turned dark.
Night time at the Catacombs always came instantly.
However, having entered Rank-4 and being sharp-eyed and attentive, both of them were unhindered by the darkness.
“It’s about 30 li ahead.”
Qin Fengqing became more serious. “If I remember correctly, there is a village nearby Someone may come out in the middle of the night.
“Remember, there is always the possibility of running into the Catacombs humans at any time after leaving the perimeters of Hope City.”
“I know.”
“If you meet any martial artists of the Catacombs, kill the weak ones immediately. If you meet the strong ones, run without a second thought!”
“Alright.”
The two of them walked along in the darkness.
The Catacombs were by no means quiet at night.
A piercing growl could often be heard from a distance.
The night world belonged to the demonic beasts.
The two of them did not encounter any beasts on their journey, but it did not mean that there were none there. This could only mean that they were still moving within the periphery and had not entered the depths of the Catacombs.
Fang Ping was carefully following Qin Fengqing when all of a sudden, Qin Fengqing pounced like a tiger. Before Fang Ping could react, he leaped forward and plucked a weed-like plant from the ground. Then he wordlessly stuffed it into the seams of his clothes.
Fang Ping froze for a moment.
Seeing that Qin Fengqing had no intention to explain his action, Fang Ping lowered his voice and whispered, “What the hell is that?”
“I don’t know...I...I really don’t.
“I didn’t see it clearly, but it has a lot of energy so it’s gotta be good.”
Qin Fengqin explained truthfully. He simply sensed that it has a decent energy concentration, so he snatched it before Fang Ping could.
Fang Ping was so pissed he almost choked!
A moment later, however, Fang Ping came up with an idea. He released his Mentality and began to feel the fluctuations of energy particles around him.
In the Catacombs, his Mentality was even more active.
Initially, he did not plan to take things too seriously. Now that Qin Fengqing had made the first move, no one could blame Fang Ping for following suit. In terms of his ability to hunt for treasures, he was not weaker than Qin Fengqing.
...
As they walked along, the two gradually stepped into a mountain.
Looking at the map of the Catacombs, Fang Ping thought for a while and whispered, “This is ... Wolf Head Ridge?”
“Yes.”
Fang Ping growled, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier!
“There are packs of ancient wolf beasts in Wolf Head Ridge, sometimes even hundreds of them. What the hell, this is crazy dangerous.”
“Dumbass.
“If there was no danger, why would I bring you along?
“Besides, if I had told you earlier, what would happen if you had came by yourself?”
Qin Fengqing did not want to be outdone. It would have been foolish to tell Fang Ping in advance.
Fang Ping slowly exhaled and said, “Our powerhouses have been here before.
“If there really is a structure here, why didn’t they find it?”
“Can you stop with the stupid questions?
“The mountain is gigantic.
“The powerhouses only passed by, how can they possibly know everything?
“Besides, this place is seldom frequented by our people.”
“What do we do if we encounter ancient wolf beasts?”
“Don’t jinx it! What are the odds of us encountering them in such a big mountain!”
Fang Ping hissed, “I wasn’t jinxing it.
“We already met them.”
“What?”
The next moment, Qin Fengqing instantly turned around and ran, with an amazing speed of over 50 meters per second.
Fang Ping ran even faster than him. With one leap into the air, he vanished.
Three or four seconds later, a few colt-sized wolf-shaped creatures emerged from the darkness at the place where both of them were just standing.
The wolf-shaped creatures looked around, not sensing anything peculiar, and soon disappeared into the darkness.
...
A few kilometers away.
Qin Fengqing and Fang Ping looked at each other silently.
Each person was privately acknowledging the other’s speed, which was as good as their own.
Qin Fengqing seemed lost in his thoughts, then hissed, “They’re just ancient wolf beasts. There’s not even that many of them. They’re only Rank-4. We could have killed them.”
“I know.
“But seeing that you had already run off, I didn’t want to accidentally alert the enemy.”
“It makes sense, but I saw that you had left first, that’s why I followed.”
Qin Fengqing nodded. Fang Ping rolled his eyes and said exasperatedly, “Well, let’s be open and honest.
“If this continues, you will get me killed.”
Qin Fengqing said resentfully, “You are even worse than Wang Jinyang.
“Although that damn bastard exploits me, he is still willing to work hard after some persuasion to kill demonic beasts.
“You, on the other hand, ran away sooner than me. What’s the point of having you!”
Fang Ping felt like kicking him suppressed the urge. Annoyed, he snapped, “Enough nonsense.
“If I am alone, I would not have hesitated to kill.
“But with you around, it makes it difficult for me.”
“Let’s do it this way,” Qin Fengqing said. “As we move forward, if we meet Rank-4 creatures we will kill them immediately.
“If we see Rank-5s by themselves, we kill them too.
“We will run only if we are outnumbered.”
“If you run again, there’s no way that we could continue!”
Both of them were not weak amongst the Rank-4 martial artists.
Facing Rank-4 demonic beasts, even if they could not slice the beasts into pieces like fruit, killing them was not too difficult.
In the end, because they were both thinking to get the other party to do the work, they ran away immediately even though they were only facing a few ancient wolf beasts.
Ancient wolf beasts were not considered very strong. Unless they were to face a huge pack, the threat was not great.
Qin Fengqing knew that he had met his match this time around. Swaying Fang Ping into doing the heavy lifting would not be easy.
He sighed and nodded. “Alright, you better not run either.”
“Deal!”
“Deal!”
The two finally came to an agreement and continued forward together.
...
“Ka Gu!”
Fang Ping let out a growl and cut an ancient wolf beast in half with one swing of his knife. On the other hand, Qin Fengqing’s slashes were also as quick as lightning, quickly killing the ancient wolf beasts around him.
Qin Fengqing took a breath and said, “Gu ya la du”[1]
“...What was that?”
“Gu ya la du ka gu dao (How many did you kill?)”
While digging out the heart of an ancient wolf beast, Fang Ping said in a small voice, “This won’t do, how can you deceive other people if you are not fluent?”
“This is a drag, is this really useful for us?”
“If there are martial artists from the Catacombs in the building, we would have to pass this off first.
“If we avoid a battle, as long as the other party is not high-ranked, it will be difficult to sense our differences.
“If we catch them off guard, we might even get a few easy kills.”
Qing Fengqing fully agreed and, for the first time, did not refute Fang Ping.
It was reasonable!
Maybe they could pull it off?
The two of them quickly harvested the hearts. The fur and flesh of the ancient wolf beasts, including the bones and marrows, were all valuable.
The fur of a Rank-4 creature fetched a fair price.
However, the two of them had just entered the mountains and could not afford excess baggage. Grudgingly, they discarded the rest and took the heart which was the most valuable of all.
...
Half an hour later.
Qing Fengqing put on a solemn expression and said in a low voice, “After going through this slope, we will reach a valley.
“Say, should we move at night or in the day?
“At night, we might not need to put on a disguise.
“Even a fool would know that anyone who came at night must be up to no good.
“We might have a better chance in the day.”
“Let’s decide after looking at the situation.”
Fang Ping glanced toward the back and strained his brain. He and Qin Fengqing had trampled over hills and dales, passing more than ten mountains to reach this place.
This time, he had better not lose his direction or they would be in a fix.
...
In the depths of Wolf Head Ridge.
In a certain valley stood a majestic building constructed from boulders.
A weak light coming out from within the building penetrated the darkness.
The valley was surrounded by mountains on three sides; only the east side had an opening. According to Qing Fengqing, the east side was the direction from which he and Wang Jinyang had entered through. Both of them were being pursued and fled all the way here. Even after seeing the structure, they did not dare go in, and ran away around the ridge.
Now, both of them had already reached the top of the mountain on the south side of the valley.
“Someone lives here.”
Fang Ping’s expression was grim. Qin Fengqing shook his head and said, “Maybe not.
“The energy lamp in the Catacombs will not extinguish so long as the energy from the energy stones is not exhausted.
“Maybe there isn’t anybody here, it’s just that the energy hasn’t depleted.
“However... Only big households in the Catacombs are able to use these energy lamps.”
“Looks like we will be able to earn a sizeable sum!”
Qin Fengqing continued, “Should we probe around first or head down straightaway?
“The herb garden is just past the stone yard.
“Do you see it?”
“Yes.”
Actually, Fang Ping could not see clearly, but he could feel that there was an abundance of energy there.
“Why don’t we just go down straightaway and rob the herb garden first?
“If no one comes after us, then we can come back and take everything?”
Fang Ping could not help asking, “Are you sure that this is not the residence of some high-ranking powerhouse?
“I think that the people who live in the depths of the mountains are usually powerhouses.”
“Can’t you be braver?
“Only the brave get the best meals, the cowards starve to death!”
Qin Fengqing berated Fang Qing, thinking that this was the first time he had met somebody who was more afraid of death than him.
Fang Ping took a deep breath. Did Qin Fengqing really think that he was scared to die?
The crux was to not court death!
Last time at the Jiao’s Forest, he even bumped into a high-ranking creature. They should be more careful.
According to the map of the Wolf Head Ridge, there were no high-ranking creatures. The strongest creatures here were a pack of ancient wolf beasts and the numbers were not small. Human powerhouses had not carried out any deeper expeditions, as the distance from this place to West Phoenix City was not too far.
“Forget it.”
Fang Ping gritted his teeth and said in low voice, “Then we go down now and dig fast...
“Remember, if I run, you make sure to run too!”
Fang Ping said this because his Mentality was superior.
If powerhouses do appear, Fang Ping was confident he would be able to realize it in advance.
“No need for you to say.”
Qin Fengqing disregarded the reminder. If Fang Ping ran, he would be a fool to stay still.
The two of them were silent as they made their way carefully down the mountain.
Some parts of the mountain wall were steep, but for the two Rank-4 martial artists, so long as there was the slightest bit of leverage, a steep cliff would be like walking on flat ground for them.
After a few minutes, they came down from the mountains and were a short distance away from the structure in front of them.
Fang Ping once again used his Mentality to probe around. The high concentration of the energy particles in the valley, coupled with the blockage by the boulder structure, made it difficult to scan deep in. However, without hesitation, the two of them crept stealthily toward the courtyard.
They did not use their Vitality as martial artists were very sensitive toward it. Once the Vitality Force was used, the powerhouses inside the building would be able to sense it immediately.
...
“Jackpot!”
As the two of them carefully scaled the courtyard wall, the sound of Qin Fengqin swallowing his saliva was clearly audible. Fang Ping felt like strangling him. Could he be more composed!
But... Fang Ping could barely stop himself from salivating too.
In the middle of the stone yard, there was indeed a herb garden.
“Luo Sheng Fruit, Blue Leaf Fruit, Jade Weed...”
Fang Ping thought in his heart. These herbs were all raw materials used in the manufacturing of pills. They were mostly raw materials for middle-ranked pills.
At a glance, there were at least twenty types of herbs, though the quantity was low. There were some with only a single plant, some with many, totaling at about a hundred strains.
Recalling the road taken by them, they did not discover many wild herbs.
Fang Ping came to a conclusion. Maybe these herbs were collected from Wolf Head Ridge and planted here by the owner.
One Luo Sheng fruit was valued at 100 credits previously. Depending on the energy concentration, there could also be an increase in price.
Now, the school would buy back herbs at double the price, meaning it would be at a price of at least 200 credits.
As for the other herbs, the difference in price was minimal.
Fang Ping did a mental calculation. If the herbs were so valuable, it meant that the value could easily reach up to more than twenty thousand credits?
No wonder Qin Fengqin said that they could make a lot of money.
Ever since Fang Ping entered the school, the total of his earnings had never reached this amount.
In the past, even if the price was not doubled, the value was already above ten thousand credits. This was very tempting for a middle-rank martial artist.
Qin Fengqing gently nudged Fang Ping and motioned.
Fang Ping understood what he meant. Fang Ping would dig on the left, while he would dig on the right.
At a glance, Fang Ping saw that the herbs on the left seemed to be less...but it did not matter since essentially it depended on his picking speed.
After all, it was Qin Fengqing who had brought him here. For once, Fang Ping felt generous and nodded, indicating his agreement.
Of course, in addition, the right side was a bit near to the gate of the big stone palace. Fang Ping felt that the left side was not bad at all.
After discussing through the matter, the two of them landed gently on the ground.
Immediately afterward, even though they did not use their Vitality, they were extremely fast in dashing to the vicinity of the herb garden.
As they were approaching, there was a small sound of an explosion.
Qin Fengqing’s face changed color, saying immediately, “It’s a vigilance security device!”
“F*ck, there is still this!”
“I have always rob...I have never encountered anything like this before!”
At this moment, the two of them quickly agreed that there should not be any delay. Fang Ping had already taken out his sack. His hands moved fast, like weeding, one by one the herbs were uprooted and stuffed into the sack.
On the other side, Qin Fengqing was working with both his hands pulling up the herbs and stuffing them into his clothes.
At this moment, loud sounds and shouts could be heard from the hall behind them.
Not only was there somebody, but there was more than one person.
As soon as the people moved, Fang Ping’s Mentality felt the movement of the energy particles moving closer and closer to them.
“Somebody is coming, move quickly!”
“What Rank?”
“Not weak!”
Fang Ping could only give a vague answer. Unless he observed carefully, it would be difficult to distinguish between the strong and the weak in an instant, unless the other party’s full strength was displayed.
The next moment, Fang Ping’s face changed color and he shouted, “Yali (Go)!”
Before the noise from the shouts had settled, Fang Ping and Qin Fengqing both jumped up into the air and fled!
At the place where both of them had just vacated, a crackling sound exploded on the spot. The powerhouses had made their move!
“%#¥% (Make them stay)!”
In the courtyard, a middle-aged and long-haired powerhouse gave out a roar and jumped into the air, swiftly chasing both of them as they escaped!
At the same time, several others also rushed out of the stone door, chasing them.
As he fled, Fang Ping’s expression changed. The guy who was in front of the chase party was a Rank-5 while the people behind him were Rank-4s. There were so many middle-ranked martial artists in this place.
It would be alright if these were the only people, but he feared that there might be other people inside.
Fang Ping and Qin Fengqing did not flee separately. The two of them looked at each other. Qin Fengqing pointed to the front and waved downward.
Fang Ping nodded.
They should run first until they were far enough. Then counter attack the martial artists who were chasing them.
[1] Qin Fengqing was trying to speak in the language of the Catacombs humans