Qiao Chu could not even find the tears although he really wanted to cry at that moment.
Till the last night before the Spirit Hunt was scheduled to end, Qiao Chu and the others had not even seen the shadow of a single Spirit Beast within the vast Battle Spirits Forest. The dark dangerous forest which had crawled with Spirit Beasts before, suddenly seemed that they had all become extinct, where they were not able to find a single trace of them.
Sitting beside a fire, Qiao Chu looked crestfallen as he stared at Lord Meh Meh who was grazing the grass around the feet of Jun Wu Xie, his eyes filled with resentment.
“It’s all your fault! We did not even smell a single Spirit Beast!” Qiao Chu was indignant. He felt as though he had been conned.
Lord Meh Meh raised its head. It looked at Qiao Chu and tilted its head, its face looking rather puzzled.
“You can’t blame it for that. The aura of a Guardian grade Spirit Beast is too strong and it had decreased quite a lot by taking its current miniature form. If Lord Meh Meh had remained in its original form, not to mention a hundred meter radius, you double the distance and you still wouldn’t begin to dream of seeing a single Spirit Beast.” Fan Jin said with a laugh, feeling extremely happy that Lord Meh Meh had chosen to join the party. He had been feeling very guilty towards Jun Wu Xie and seeing Jun Wu Xie gain such an exemplary Spirit Beast as her protector, he was really happy for her.
“Spirit Stones! Spirit Stones!” Qiao Chu moaned, his hands covering his face, having no appetite to even eat.
“We had quite a haul of Spirit Stones from before, the last few days would not have made that big a difference right?” Fan Jin saw Qiao Chu’s mournful look and could not help but feel a little curious. The team had successfully hunted down a good number of Spirit Beasts throughout the Spirit Hunt and that had included quite a few high grade Spirit Beasts. With this result, they would most definitely stir up quite a storm after the Spirit Hunt ended, so why was Qiao Chu still feeling so miserable?
“You wouldn’t understand.” Qiao Chu said with a heavy sigh.
The few of them in the gang had intended right from the start to not hand their Spirit Stones over to the Zephyr Academy. To these poor youths who had lived in abject poverty for years, these spirit stones were precious money, rarely available to them. They had not enrolled into the Zephyr Academy aspiring to become diligent and studious disciples, and the Spirit Hunt had just been a bonus activity for them. They were not about to give up such a large amount of treasured Spirit Stones in exchange for mere scores!!
Volume 6
Chapter 518: “The Relentless Little Tail in the Shadows (9)”
They would naturally keep it and exchange them for money. Without a doubt!
Fan Jin was not aware of their intentions and had taken out his own share of spirit stones for the others to distribute but was rejected by Hua Yao.
After filling up its tummy, Lord Meh Meh was finally willing to bother itself with these “ignorant humans”. In his eyes, only its “feedtress” was worth its attention.
But…..
After having heard Qiao Chu’s incessant grumblings, Lord Meh Meh raised its head and stared at its “feedstress”, a look of worry on its face.
Under the warm glow from the fire, Jun Wu Xie’s face did not show much of an expression but only had her head and eyes lowered, and was only nibbling at the rations held in her hand.
[But what if its “feedstress” were to think that it was trying to interfere with the humans’ affairs? What should it do then?]
Worried that it would be despised by the irreplaceable “feedstress” it had just found, Lord Meh Meh trotted over to stand right before Jun Wu Xie.
Jun Wu Xie raised her head a little and looked at the dumb sheep before her eyes. She then reached out and ruffled the soft wool on the fluffy little sheep.
“Meh~”
[My “Feedstress”, I will prove that I can contribute too!]
“?” Jun Wu Xie was rather puzzled.
Anxious to gain Jun Wu Xie’s approval, Lord Meh Meh turned its tiny little head and stuck its mouth into its thick covering of wool and rummaged through it vigorously.
After a while, it turned its head back with its mouth full. It then lowered its head and opened its mouth.
Clink, clatter, clunk…..
A heap of myriad coloured, in assorted sizes, spirit stones poured out and scattered around Jun Wu Xie’s feet.
“…..” Jun Wu Xie’s eyes widened at the sight.
The moaning Qiao Chu at the side suddenly found his jaw dropped to the ground…..
“These are Spirit Stones?” Fei Yan stretched out his hand, intending to pick up a piece to take a closer look at it, but before he could pick it up, a tiny hoof had suddenly stepped onto it possessively, refusing to let it budge!
“Meh!”
[This is for my “Feedstress”!]
“…..” Fei Yan’s mouth twitched in annoyance. Although he did not understand what Lord Meh Meh was bleating about, but judging from the expression and Lord Meh Meh’s actions, its meaning couldn’t be any clearer, so Fei Yan had no choice but to release the spirit stone.
After Lord Meh Meh was satisfied, it finally lifted its little hoof off.
It then went to those spirit stones that had rolled a little further and pushed them with its tiny hooves to gather them all closer around Jun Wu Xie.
“Meh~” and Lord Meh Meh raised its head proudly.
[Lord Meh Meh is the absolute best!]
Jun Wu Xie stared at the dumb sheep that was looking mighty proud of itself and remaining in that position trying so hard to win her praise, she relented and stretched out her hand to rubbed the sheep on its head.
“Meh~” The dumb sheep was extremely pleased and it trotted over to lie down beside Jun Wu Xie’s feet. Even though it had already eaten its fill, it found out that it was rather invigorating to lie down on the extra sweet smelling grass beside Jun Wu Xie!
[If it had known that its “feedstress” liked these sparkling stones so much, it would have kept all those sparkling stones from the Spirit Beasts it had killed in the past.]
The little black cat could not make itself look on and raised its paws over its eyes. The little cat could not come to terms with the fact that it had been scared off by this totally brainless and moronic example of a dumb sheep just yesterday.
[That was a “cat”astrophe! How humiliating!]
Qiao Chu stared at the heap of spirit stones, and his eyes were totally sparkling with greed. But with Fei Yan having set as a prime example, he did not dare lay his hands of them. But…..
“Little Xie, when we get back, what do you say we make a trip to the auction house?” The heap of spirit stones before him, sparkled just like a mountain of gold.
And based on his observation, all those spirit stones were not too small in size, looking to have been retrieved from a medium grade spirit beast at least, and mixed within that mesmerizing pile, he could see quite a number of high grade spirit stones as well!
Just that one mouthful from Lord Meh Meh had far surpassed what they had managed to slowly gather from days of fighting Spirit Beasts!
“Sure.” Jun Wu Xie nodded. She had almost depleted the banknotes she had with her and she intended to keep a portion of the Spirit Stones and wait till Long Qi and his men arrive at the Zephyr Academy to demand for an appropriate answer for the prior incident and have them bring them back to the Qi Kingdom. As for the rest, using them to beef up their financial resources would not be a bad idea.
The amount of money they had needed to raise to enroll into the Zephyr Academy had gradually made Jun Wu Xie aware that it was a necessity to have some money on them all the time!
Volume 6
Chapter 519: “The Spirit Hunt Ends (1)”
With the dumb sheep with them, Jun Wu Xie and her team decided to give up on hunting any Spirit Beasts. All of them were set to return early the next morning and that would mark the end of the Spirit Hunt
.
This Spirit Hunt meant differently for different disciples. To some, it might be just the same as all the previous Spirit Hunts, and to others, it might have been an unforgettable experience. But to another group of disciples, their lives had ended there, within the dark depths of the Battle Spirits Forest.
Groups of disciples started to return, wave after wave. Some came back happy while some came back sad and miserable. Quite a number of them came in carrying wounds on their exhausted bodies, and carried by their teammates.
The weary youths who had toiled through the entirety of the Spirit Hunt were ecstatic to finally be leaving the Battle Spirits Forest. The strong ones had the opportunity to prove their strength and power by killing various Spirit Beasts, while the weak who would have been a constant target and mercilessly hunted by Spirit Beasts and other disciples, had to survive every single day by running and hiding, making it a miserable experience for them.
The teachers counted and totaled the returning disciples one by one and recorded the quantity of spirit stones they had in their possession. Some displayed their impressive hauls and some presented empty hands, and all kinds of emotions were witnessed.
Jun Wu Xie and her team returned at a time that was neither too early nor too late. When they walked into the camp, the place was already filled with other disciples who had returned before them. For most of them, their nerves had constantly been on edge for the past seven days and they were finally able to relax. The disciples huddled closely together, sharing their exploits and harrowing experiences, using what they had witnessed in the Battle Spirits Forest as fodder, albeit with much exaggeration. But no one would bother to point out any contradictions or delve deep into their stories and tales of valor at that time, as they all just needed some entertainment, as they rested their weary hearts and bodies.
When Jun Wu Xie and her group returned, the teacher that tallied their scores was one that they had never met before. The few of them just handed over a few low grade spirit stones to just brush the issue aside, and totally ignored the upraised eyebrow of the teacher before them. Fan Jin had initially intended to hand over all the Spirit Stones he had on him.
But when he saw what Jun Wu Xie and the others did, he retained a large part of his spirit stones with him and only handed over a few pieces.
“Fan Jin, when you take part in the Spirit Hunts in future, do not pair yourself up with useless disciples again.” The Teacher who was in charge of tallying their scores had upon seeing Fan Jin’s “results”, frowned deeply. Fan Jin had always enjoyed a stellar reputation in the Zephyr Academy and his righteous and upright character had made him popular with the teachers. Although he was the strongest or most powerful, they still expected much from him.
When Fan Jin had taken part in the previous Spirit Hunts, he might not have hauled in the most spirit stones, but his results had still well surpassed most of the others. But this time, the quantity that Fan Jin had handed in, was significantly less than what he had acquired before, and they were all just low grade spirit stones, without a single medium grade stone among them.
That Teacher had naturally blamed Fan Jin’s less than stellar result onto the ragtag bunch of Jun Wu Xie and the disciples from the branch division.
Fan Jin gave the Teacher a sheepish smile and did not say anything.
Throughout the whole Spirit Hunt in the last seven days, he had not had to even exert much of an effort at all. With Qiao Chu and company in his team, there were not many opportunities that gave him any chance to make himself useful at all.
After tallying their results, Qiao Chu and the other three of them were to go to the camp set up for disciples from the branch division. Jun Wu Xie bade their farewell and they were going to leave when Fan Jin rushed over to them at that moment.
“Qiao Chu! Guys! Wait a moment!”
Qiao Chu turned his head, puzzled as he saw Fan Jin running over to them, panting heavily, but with a big smile on his face.
“Big brother Fan, what is it?” Qiao Chu had a good impression of Fan Jin.
“These spirit stones, are for all of you.” Fan Jin took out all the spirit stones he had hidden earlier and pressed them into Qiao Chu’s hand.
“Why didn’t you hand them in?” Qiao Chu was surprised, the weight of the spirits stones in his hand was very close to what they had given to Fan Jin in their even distribution.
Fan Jin replied, a little embarrassed: “For this Spirit Hunt, I did not contribute much. All these should rightfully belong to all of you as I cannot take credit for all the efforts that you guys had put in. I still have matters I need to look into back there, so I’ll make a move. Let’s talk again.” With that, Fan Jin turned without waiting for Qiao Chu to reply and ran off.
Qiao Chu scratched the back of his head, and Rong Ruo laughed.
That Fan Jin might be a little too inflexible at times but he has a absolutely honest and upright nature.
He is definitely a good guy.
Volume 6
Chapter 520: “The Spirit Hunt Ends (2)”
Within the noisy and bustling campgrounds, a single figure attracted many eyes to turn.
The youths who had been huddled together chatting away suddenly turned and fixated their gaze on the figure that had attracted all their eyes.
Jun Wu Xie walked slowly into the campgrounds, the black cat rested lazily on her shoulders. But what had made all those pairs of eyes to stare at them was actually the tiny Lord Meh Meh trotting closely behind Jun Wu Xie.
The weak looking tiny lamb trotted, shadowing Jun Wu Xie like a little tail on Jun Wu Xie’s back. Its tiny form and fluffy looks attracted quite a few fond gazes from the girls but most of the male disciples snorted derisively as their eyes fell onto that scene.
The Battle Spirits Forest was filled with all kinds of Spirit Beasts. They ranged from the strongest Guardian grade Spirit Beasts to the weakest and lowliest low grade Spirit Beasts.
Some of the low grade Spirit Beasts were not even equipped to perform any attacks and were the prime targets of many of the disciples. They usually possessed qualities just like Lord Meh Meh, small and tiny in size, looking incredibly innocent and harmless, and people could tell with one look that they were low grade Spirit Beasts. Jun Wu Xie’s face was already infamous and was almost a “celebrity” in the Zephyr Academy, and all the other disciples recognised her identity with a single glance.
Having gone into the Battle Spirits Forest and actually bringing a low grade Spirit Beast out with him made the other disciples look at him as some kind of a joke.
“With his powers, I doubt he would be able to even kill that low grade Spirit Beast following behind him. If not, why would he want to have such a weak Spirit Beast dogging his every step?” A youth who had always detested Jun Xie could not help himself but grumble to his companion in a malicious tone.
“He might not be very strong, but no one can match up to him when it comes to shamelessness. Having latched onto Fan Jin, he would definitely make it through the Spirit Hunt safe and sound even if he could not achieve any outstanding results. You must have realised that disciples from the branch division had always suffered heavy casualties and if not for Fan Jin’s protection, that little brat might very well not even make it back here alive.”
“I saw it very clearly earlier. Senior Fan did not achieve good results this time round. He must have been dragged down by those leeches. If not for them, Senior Fan would never have produced such dismal results with his spirit stones.”
Several youths gathered together to further criticize and condemn Jun Wu Xie and a youth who happened past them suddenly stopped and stared at them with a frown on his face. “Jun Xie is nothing like the kind of person you guys are making him out to be.”
The youths who had been happily caught up with their condemnations and insults suddenly stopped and turned their eyes to look. They saw that it was a senior from the Beast Spirit faculty. That senior had not really been outstanding, but everyone knew of him now a
ll because of one reason alone. That he was mentoring a new disciple this year, and that disciple was the only one admitted into the Spirit Healer faculty, Li Zi Mu.
Li Zi Mu’s mentor was actually speaking out for Jun Xie!? Not a single one among them would have ever expected that to happen.
That youth nagged a little and left with his own companions. After they have walked a distance, his companions asked: “Why are you suddenly defending Jun Xie? Weren’t you really angry that he had tried to steal Li Zi Mu’s…..”
The youth replied with a self deprecating laugh: “I had been too blind to see, and accused Jun Xie of stealing from Li Zi Mu. But even if you kill me now, I will never believe a word of it.” The youth had looked at Jun Xie with great disapproval. But in the Battle Spirits Forest, after he had protected Li Zi Mu from getting hurt, Li Zi Mu had not only showed himself to be ungrateful, but had even pleaded and begged to be accepted into Fan Jin’s team instead, which had really infuriated him. However, it was instead Jun Xie, whom he secretly despised, that left them with a variety of medicine without a word.
And it was all thanks to those medicine, that had allowed his team to recover quickly, and to fully complete the Spirit Hunt. If not for Jun Xie’s kind gesture, he would expect that at least half of his team would have died in the Battle Spirits Forest.
After that ordeal, he finally understood…..
That rumours were not to be believed!
Volume 6
Chapter 521: “The Spirit Hunt Ends (3)”
The team that Li Zi Mu had initially been with were greatly helped by Jun Xie in the Battle Spirits Forest and after returning back to the campgrounds, they began to consciously and unconsciously defend Jun Xie’s reputation.
They were betrayed by Li Zi Mu and had almost lost their lives in the dense forest. Jun Xie’s kind gesture had saved them and they were extremely grateful to him. But they had also fallen victim to Li Zi Mu’s exaggerated lies and had previously been party to criticizing Jun Xie as well and had condemned him. Hence, although they were feeling grateful in their hearts, they were too ashamed to face Jun Xie, as the guilt gnawed at their hearts.
Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss Volume 6 Page 6