Not long after Qin Ming went back to the 'eagle mountain', the herb gathering teams gradually came back, from the looks on their face, they should have decent findings, all of them has smiles on their face. The person in charge to protect them also had benefit of getting a few low grade Spiritual herbs.
No one cared about Qin Ming, Qin Ming also couldn’t be bothered about them, he sat by the metal bin, chewing on rations and appreciating the beautiful scenery of Yu Lan forest.
That nigh, out of fifteen team only eleven came back, there was four team that hasn’t come back yet, including the never coming back Qiao Chen and Zhao Ming.
Gathering herbs has a certain risk, so every disciple are prepared for it. This round, of the eleven team there are aso casualties, nine disciples died and their bodies were never found.
"Zhao Ming hasn’t come back? Who was with her."
"I think she was with Qiao Chen."
"Our elder brother Qiao Chen sure is lucky, he even has a beauty to accompany him when he is gathering herbs. I think he didnt come back on purpose, one more day is a good thing, haha."
"Let's wait awhile more, they should be back soon."
Late at night, a bonfire was lit there, and the Medicine Mountain disciples gathered together to total up every team's harvest. They were tasked to bring back at least ten middle grade Spiritual Herbs, if possible along with the roots, and at least a hundred low grade Spiritual herbs. If you could not hit the target, you would be punished when you go back, if you exceeded the target, you will then be given rewards.
The disciples in charge of safety sat together laughing and enjoying dinner, which then a female disciple called out to Qin Ming while smiling: "Hey, Qin Ming, come and sit here for abit?"
Qin Ming opened his half awake eyes, shook his head and continued sleeping.
"We are very curious on how you broke through to Spirit Martial realm, why don’t you tell us? I’ll reward you with meat." a male disciple called out Qin Ming too.
"Are you really at Spirit martial realm grade three? Are you interested in sparring with me? I promise i won’t hurt you."
"Come on, I'll give you space."
"I'm quite interested in this brat, a young city lord forced to be a servant for eight years, he can sure take it. Say, is he really carefree, or is he scheming "
"That's hard to tell. Hey, come here Qin Ming, let me ask you, do you hate Azure Cloud Sect?"
The crowd of disciples were interested,as they kept calling for Qin Ming
Qin Ming laughed without making any sound, as he stood up, tidied his clothes, others thought that he wanted to join in, turns out he directly walked down the mountain top and went to other place to rest.
The second day, a team came back, but there was still Qiao Chen's and another two team.
Some disciples are starting to feel uneasy, a portion of them stayed behind, while another went out to the nearby mountains to search.
After searching for two days and two nights, they did found some bodies, it was the body of one of the team's protecting disciple, and there is only left with a small 'part', you can’t tell them apart. But Qiao Chen's team could not be found, not even bodies.
"Could they have been in harm’s way?" they couldn’t help but think of the bad situations, could they have met with a mercenary team, and was then robbed and killed? Or maybe it was killed by a Spirit monster.
Under normal circumstances, mercenary teams don’t dare to anger Azure Cloud Sect disciples, but there are exceptions.
If they were unlucky to meet strong Spirit monster, they could have been killed also.
There was such events in the past, but after the elder's frequent deterrence, it seldom happened afterwards.
Now that there is three teams who met with accident, it makes the other disciples feel uneasy, especially those personal disciples with special positions like Zhao Ming.
They didn’t dare to give up so easily, so they split up and searched for two days. In the end they did found bodies of the other team, and no one could tell whether they are killed by Spirit monsters or robbed and killed by mercenaries, at the end, they only found the body of 'dual blade disciple' from Qiao Chen's team.
Three days later, the medicine gathering group came back, they brought back a lot of herbs, but also brought back the news of Zhao Ming's death.
No one suspected Qin Ming, because no one else knew about the grudges between him and Zhao Ming, and no one is clear of Qin Ming's strength.
The first thing Qin Ming did when he reached Azure Cloud Sect was to go to the cliff beside the Medicine Mountain, to see if the Snake heart fruit was still there.
The vines covered the cliff, inside the thick green leaves, were a lot of huge poisonous pythons.
The snake heart fruit was still there, hidden in a hard to notice corner.
The Asura Blade in his core qi once again vibrates slightly, releasing black mist, covering the sky in his core qi, it seems to be warning Qin Ming.
Qin Ming was puzzled, why did the Asura blade warn Qin Ming about the golden snake? When he was in the forest and met other strong Spirit monsters, there was no such situation.
The Golden snake appeared, and wrapped around the Snake heart fruit, showing its blood red tongue at Qin Ming.
Qin Mng stared at it a while, then he suddenly took out two flying knives and threw it at the Golden snake.
The flying knives were very strong, as it spun in midair, calling about strong winds.
The Golden snake opened his mouth and shot out two accurate golden light, 'clank' 'clank' noise, and the flying knives were shattered by the golden light, the shattered remains of the knies falls down to the ground.
"Hiss!!"
The Golden snake's whole body was glowing with golden glow, as it stick out its tongue at Qin Ming, seemingly very angry.
Qin Ming squinted, without talking, he threw out two more flying knives,this time he used full strength, it flew in a straight line, swift like a thunder.
The Golden snake hissed, and it spit out blinding golden light to stop it, once again it shattered te flying knives.
But, this time the flying knives obviously made its way into the golden light for a short distance before shattering.
Qin MIng had a plan in mind, he couldn’t fight the Golden snake now, so he will come in the future. He retreated back into the forest, and went back to the warehouse following a small road.
He first cleaned the wild grasses and fallen leaves near the lone tomb, and watered the magnolia flower, then he hid in the mountain at the back to start researching on the Purple lightning violent snake.
Qin Ming had a strong comprehension, that’s why he was able to reach third stage in Vajra spirit by himself.
Although Purple lightning violent snake was complicated, it wasn’t totally difficult for him.
Late at night, Qin Ming was wholeheartedly researching, when suddenly chaotic noises came from the warehouse.
Zhao Lie angrily rushed into the warehouse, shouting Qin Ming's name: "Get out here! Get out here Qin Ming!"
He was shouting while smashing the items in the warehouse, like a mad dog.
"Qin Ming! Get out, or else I will burn down your warehouse!"
"Get out here! Get out here!"
Zhao Lie's both hands were ablaze with fire, his voice hoarse from shouting, his eyes bloodshot, his looks sinister.
"What is it?" Qin Ming opened to metal door, as he frowned while looking at the messy courtyard.
"Qin Ming! Where is my sister!" Zhao Lie shouted while pointing at him.
"Dead."
"How did she die, was it you!" Zhao Lie was losing control of his emotions, as he shouted without any regards to other things.
"Watch what you are saying."
"It's you! It must be you! My sister was going to kill you, the person who died in the forest should be you, how did you come back? Answer me. HOW DID YOU COME BACK, WHERE'S MY SISTER!"
Qin Ming laughed angrily: "Killing me was okay? I deserved to die?"
"You deserved to die, you should have died! Speak, what happened in the forest?" Zhao Lie's eyes was red, upon hearing the news of his sister's death, he almost broke down. He had ordinary talent, the reason he has his current position was because of his sister, his sister was his backer, but she suddenly, died?
Zhao Lie could not accept it, the reason why his sister went for the medicine gathering event was just to get revenge for him, to kill Qin Ming in the forest, if not waste him. But the person who came back was Qin Ming, and his sister died.
No one suspected Qin Ming, but he was very sure, this thing had something to do with Qin Ming.
"You should be lucky that you aren’t in the group." Qin Ming said coldly, both brother and sister have the same personality.
"It's you! It was you! Speak, what happened! Say it! Did my sister die, you bastard." Zhao Lie dashed towards Qin Ming like he is mad.
Qin Ming grabbed onto his neck, and raised it into the sky: "You should be grateful, if not for me, your sister would have died much horribly."
Zhao Lie struggled violently: "what did you do to my sister!"
"Dead!" Qin Ming threw him out, laughing: "If your sister was alive, and I died in the forest, will you be celebrating?" Qin Ming's stares turned cold.
Zhao Lie struggled to crawl up : "Qin Ming! You will die a horrible death! My sister is a beloved disciple of Elder Chu, Elder Chu will definitely not let you off the hook."
"Don’t spout nonsense, I did not admit that i killed people, then again, why would i want to kill your sister?" Qin Ming asked.
"You know the reason!"
"Heng heng, I’m not too sure of the reason.
"My sister, Qiao Chen from Medicine Mountain, and three other disciples, must have died on your hands, Qin Ming, you will die a horrible death, we will see." Zhao Lie angrily left.
Qin Ming stretched his hands out to stop him: "I’ll give you some advice, a murderer, will always kill. You, better behave yourself."
"Go away! I will definitely avenge my sister!" Zhao Lie pushed Qin Ming away, just before he leave, he turned around and his eyes was filled with venomous hatred towards Qin Ming.