86 Hunting 2

Qin Feng smiled. What Lingxi said was correct. There was no arguing with that. He should be concentrating on his medicine field, rather the Hunt. At least, that should be what he should appear to focus on. Besides, he couldn't make Elder Ming do anything to reveal his own plans.

Yet, now that he knew about the girl, Ming Qingyu, and her condition, it was rather easy to make a guess as to why the Elder was after the Purple Blood Ginger:

It was a rather potent medicine, for rousing one's blood. And its strong Yang nature should be the reason why Ming Guanhe was doing his best to get his hands on it. If he could use his own zhenqi together with the Purple Blood Ginger to clear the meridians in his daughter's legs, it might just be possible to help her walk again.

Of course, Purple Blood Ginger was a restricted medicinal herb. And that meant that even with his status as an Elder, he would only be able to get his hands on one stalk of that grass in a year. And from what he could guess, with Old Man Snow Mountain's memories of the treatment, Elder Ming would need to accumulate at least four to six stalks of the same before he could even begin his treatment.

Which was probably why he had volunteered to deal with the Hunters and the disciples heading to the Southern Forest! He was probably hoping to get lucky, and get his hands on some Purple Blood Ginger there!

But what was Qin Feng's role supposed to be? That was the question, wasn't it?

Why would the Elder drag such a junior, and apparently worthless, Outer School disciple from the medicine fields along? Wasn't he going to be nothing more than a burden?

The more that Qin Feng thought about it, the more confident he became. If he had read the Elder correctly, he could sense that he was merely a distraction, an excuse. Of course, he had no way of checking if that was true or not, until he, and Elder Ming Guanhe, arrived at the Southern Forest.

And he would have to be careful, if he wanted to gain the Elder's trust. And his concern for his daughter, Ming Qingyu, was the door to that particular pathway!

*

Two days later, he rushed to the gathering point in front of the Western School Gate well before dawn. Only to find that the others were already there!

The rest of the Hunters were all assembled by the time that he arrived. Which was a bit of a surprise, considering how he had risen well before dawn, to clean himself up and make his way there. The sky had barely turned an indigo shade, when he had set off!

But he soon understood the reason for his tardiness: the medicine fields, out in the rear of the Heaven Sword School, were a little further away from the assembly point at the Gate, compared to the Martial Hall where these other disciples seemed to be staying at. So it should be no surprise that he took longer to reach the same, compared to the rest.

In any case, Elder Ming Guanhe had yet to arrive, so he was not too concerned. So long as he was there before the one leading the group, he would not be considered late. Would he?

"You are Qin Feng? From the Medicine Fields?"

The one who asked that question was a brawny man about twenty-five years or so, with a thin mustache on his upper lip and shifty eyes. Qin Feng did not think him very dependable, based on his appearance, but he nodded quietly as soon as he was asked.

There was no point in making enemies with this lot, after all. And he doubted that proper Hunters would consider him a threat. A nuisance and someone who was likely to slow down the whole group perhaps. But certainly not a threat.

"He's the one from the Medicine Fields?"

"Just how old is he? And he's following us into the woods?"

"A medicine grower? Isn't he going to slow us down?"

Qin Feng ignored all the griping that he heard among the Hunters. It wasn't as though they were bothering to hide their disparagement, after all. But none of their griping was going to be of any use. It was the Elder's decision to drag him along this time, so he was already assured of a place.

Besides, he would soon know if his guess was correct. If Elder Ming was simply using him as an excuse, so that he could hunt for his Purple Blood Ginger ...

Well, that was something that Qin Feng could use, wasn't it?

The brawny fellow took note of his silent reply and snorted. "Well, you're not considered late yet, so your luck seems to be working for you. Elder Ming arranged for you to be his porter for this morning's little exercise, so you had best pick up your basket and your sickle. And stay close to him later, when we head in."

And stay well out of the way of the proper Hunters.

The last was conveyed by nothing more than a glint in the well-muscled young man's eye. But Qin Feng caught it all the same. He ignored it as he usually did. After all, this was not the first time that he had been threatened. With his thin, scholarly frame, he was an easy target for the rest of the Outer School disciples.

Why had he bothered to tie himself to Lingxi and Chen Xing, and some of the more notorious people in the medicine fields, if not for protection? In any case, his doubted that his real purpose there had anything to do with these obnoxious fellows.

In any case, the Elder's instructions reaffirmed his original guess, making him hide his self-satisfied smile.

It seemed thing were going as he had predicted. Elder Ming was probably going to be sticking close to him, with the excuse that he needed to keep Qin Feng safe. And that would allow him to go hunt down the Purple Blood Ginger that he needed.

The only question was, what was he going to do with Qin Feng, while he was off gallivanting in the Forest on his own? There were at least three possibilities, and the young man dismissed the first of them at once; killing him off would damage his reputation, and prevent him from using the same excuse again.

And he doubted that Elder Ming was so confident that he could get his hands on six to seven stalks of the Purple Blood Ginger that he would take such a risk.

There were at least two more options that he could use. But Qin Feng knew better than to focus on either one of them. It was far to early for him to get a sense of the Elder's priorities and his preferences, so he might as well hold his tongue and wait for the man to reveal his plan.

He should have plenty of opportunities to play his own hand, when that happens!

* * *