58 The Willow Tree

She quickly got to work, taking out multiple stalks of Marrow Ginger, White Spot Leaves and other plants, grinding it into a paste with water. Her two pets were outside, joining the guards in patrolling the suroundings

The others watched with curiosity, rather than using pills, the newcomer had instead used medicinal paste.

Medicine could be used in three ways: pills, a paste, or as it is. Pills are considered to be the best way, healing from the inside. It leaves few impurities and is brings out the best efficiency. Requiring cauldrons, it is quite expensive and time consuming. Paste is a much more older method, meant to smear over the body and work from the outside. Its potency lowers at a faster rate but it is much more convenient to use as it is easy to make. As for using it without refining it is generally a method for emergencies, if the energy from these plants become rampant, it could cause great injuries.

Pill-making was a dominant practice, not many others chose to study medicinal paste. Despite its convenience, Pills were seen as a better alternative. Not to mention, pill masters were highly sought after by many nobles and famous characters.

Finishing her paste, she grabbed several rolls of bandages and went to those with the worst injuries.

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She rubbed the light red mixture onto the cloth before replacing the blood soaked bandages with these fresh ones. She spent the entire day tending to as many people as she could. The paste proved to be effective with many of them able to sleep soundly at night. It was not long before everyone's bodies will heal.

One of those days, she took a stroll around the area. With everyone resting and treated, she had time on her hands and decided to check out the town. She walked to the center, staring at a gigantic willow tree. It's small branches swung gently in the wind. Under the moon, there was a light sheen to its leaves. Ming Yue watched, entranced by the peaceful sight. It still stood, enduring countless years and numerous disasters. She was in a bit awe from that thought.

"I'm quite grateful for your help", turning around, Ming Yue saw the young doctor from before.

"I forgot to introduce myself earlier. My name is Yong Jing, the others are my fellow disciples. Our teacher heard about the disaster and sent us here for training. Unfortunately, we did not prepare well and were overwhelmed by the work", she said, "Due to our inability, the best we could do was delay their injuries with the pills we had. Your presence has relieved a lot of our troubles."

Yong Jing was genuinely grateful. With Ming Yue's help, they were able to set aside time to make pills. After another week of care, their work would be done.

"There is no need to thank me", she said, "I took this request because it was on the way to another destination. I had no reason to not take it."

"Oh", Yong Jing said, "Where are you headed, if you don't mind me asking?"

"The Raging Mountains."

Yong Jing was surprised by her answer, "I see."

She did not know how to respond to that. Although she had never been to the Raging Mountains, she knew it was a dangerous place. It was almost dangerous enough to be called a death zone, one with great risk but equally great rewards. In an attempt to break the strange atmosphere, Yong Jing started rambling on.

"Did you know that this town is named after this willow tree?" she said, "It was said that it was such a beautiful tree that the founder decided to start a life here. As time went on, more people joined him becoming a small village. When it was still developing, a storm had come, bringing about enough rain to flood the area. However, the flood had avoided the tree entirely, allowing the others to shelter themselves from the destruction. Many people started flocking to the tree in hopes that good luck would fall on them. It was not long before a town was formed with the tree in the center."

"I see", Ming Yue replied, It was no wnder the tree gave her such a calm feeling. It was a tree of miracles.

The next day, Ming Yue left the town to go gather more herbs. With a large basket on her back and Hei Yue accompanying her, she looked like a normal girl, out to gather in the forest. Using her sheathed sword as a staff, she traversed the area, searching to replenish her supply. Hei Yue started wagging his tail, sniffing something in the air.

"Hm, what is it?" she asked.

Following it, they reached a small ravine, where Hei Yue turned even more excited, staring into the deep crevice. Looking down, She noticed a little cave on the other side of the walls. Guessing that there was some sort of treasure, she put down her basket and grabbed Hei Yue with one hand. Without a moment's notice, she jumped down, floating towards the cave. It was not very low and she could definitely reach the top without much issue.

Hei Yue wriggled out of her grasp and ran into the dark. Before following, she pulled out a torch, lighting it and walked into the cave. At first, she thought that it would be a quick trip but the cave seemed endless. She soon found Hei Yue staring in front of a dead end.

Confused, she walked forward, examining the walls. However, she could find nothing strange about them. She looked back at Hei Yue, who still seemed entranced by whatever it had smelled. Curiosity got to the best of her and she started feeling the walls. Sure enough, there was a contraption in between two stones. It was a finger sized hole with a button inside. With a quick press, she heard several clanks as a stone door opened up, revealing a secret room.

Hei Yue quickly ran in, not waiting for Ming Yue. She followed him, entering the room. It was rather spacious, occupied by a large platform.

"Is this an underground arena?" she thought.

It was covered in dust and cobwebs, cracks riddled the floor. This place must not have been used for a very long time. After looking around, she found Hei Yue, greedily looking at some beast bones. He gnawed at it before cracking one open and began eating the marrow. She let Hei Yue enjoy his meal and explored the large arena.

It was very simplistic, there were no engravings or symbols, no form of decor on the walls. She found another doorway and checked it out. There was a much smaller room filled with dead bodies, both beast and human. She rummaged through the room, finding some jewelry and rusted weapons. Moving onto their bodies, she found two spatial rings and kept them. She did not want to stay for long and decided to search the rings later. Hei Yue finished his meal and was ready to leave.

Exciting the cave, she jumped up, hopping from one rock to another, reaching the top in seconds.

"What a strange place", she thought, "Was this some sort of secret gathering or hidden gambling ring?"

She could only speculate as the day moved on but she stopped, realizing that she would go nowhere just speculating. She returned to Blue Willow Town with a basket filled to the brim. A week later, many people had healed from their injuries, getting back to rebuilding their town. With this request done, Ming Yue was given a letter of confirmation by the mayor.

She left swiftly moving on to her next goal, the Stone Forest, to kill and bring back a Blood Edge Swallow.