Chapter 151 - 146: Golden-winged Ant

BANG!

Fist met palm. Zhao Lin stood his ground, but the tall, thin disciple was sent flying backward. A wretched scream escaped his lips, his face a mask of disbelief.

The short, stout disciple and Zhang Xiaoshan had just clashed. Startled by the sound, they both instinctively pulled back their attacks and retreated. When they turned to look, they were stunned speechless.

’How did he go flying in the blink of an eye?’

Zhao Lin had known this would be the outcome the moment he threw the punch. He pressed his advantage, closing the distance before the tall, thin disciple could even hit the ground. He struck a rapid series of blows against the disciple’s Jianjing, Shencang, and Shaohai acupoints.

He used his energy to temporarily seal the man’s acupoints, rendering him unable to use his fist or palm techniques.

Then, with a spin, he pushed off the ground and charged toward the short, stout disciple, throwing a punch.

The short, stout disciple finally snapped out of it. He quickly leaped to the side to avoid being pincered, simultaneously raising an elbow to guard his vitals and lashing out with a kick...

He still hadn’t figured out how his companion had been sent flying. He guessed Zhao Lin must have succeeded with a sneak attack and couldn’t help but curse the tall, thin disciple for his carelessness, which had thrown away their excellent advantage.

Zhang Xiaoshan shot a quick glance at the Earth Luo Fruit and began to quietly shuffle backward.

But he had only taken two steps when a "BANG!" echoed in his ears. When he looked again, the short, stout disciple was already airborne.

"Ah... how did you...?"

Zhang Xiaoshan’s jaw dropped, speechless.

Zhao Lin flashed forward and repeated the process, sealing the short, stout disciple’s acupoints. Considering this one had powerful kicks, he added a couple of taps to the acupoints on his legs for good measure.

"I had no idea you were so strong!" Zhang Xiaoshan said admiringly as he came to his senses and walked over, acting as if nothing was amiss.

"You flatter me."

Zhao Lin replied casually, walking straight to the Earth Luo Fruit plant and plucking one of the green fruits.

A pained expression crossed Zhang Xiaoshan’s face as he watched.

Next, Zhao Lin walked up to the short, stout disciple.

The short, stout disciple had just struggled to his feet. He jumped in fright when he saw Zhao Lin approach. "We give up! We won’t fight you for it anymore..."

Zhao Lin held out his hand, palm open. "Hand over your medicinal herbs."

The short, stout disciple’s face fell. He never expected to try and steal a chicken only to lose his rice—he was resentful, but the situation was not in his favor. With a sour expression, he opened his herb box and obediently handed over the two medicinal plants inside.

Zhao Lin took them and turned to look at the tall, thin disciple.

Knowing he couldn’t escape, the tall, thin disciple silently untied his bundle...

Feeling they had no face left to stay, the two of them hurried away to find a place to restore their energy.

Zhao Lin inspected the medicinal herbs in his hand, nodded in satisfaction, and put them into his own herb box.

"You’re keeping it all? Not even sharing a little with me?" Zhang Xiaoshan asked, craning his neck.

SLAP!

Zhao Lin snapped his herb box shut and glanced at him. "I’m the one who beat them. Who else would it go to?"

"You also took the Celestial Vermilion Fruit."

"Didn’t you just say you were going to give me one?"

Zhang Xiaoshan was speechless.

Zhao Lin ignored him and walked to the edge of the cave to inspect the strange beast, finding it completely dead.

"That’s a Mountain-Piercing Beast. Besides its tough scales, it’s not very capable. Calling it a strange beast is giving it too much credit."

Zhang Xiaoshan added, sidling up to him.

Zhao Lin nodded. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed some flying ants on the ground with pale golden wings and long antennae on their heads.

His gaze swept over and he saw a few of the flying ants land on Zhang Xiaoshan.

"How did you find this place?" Zhao Lin asked, raising an eyebrow and staring at Zhang Xiaoshan.

Zhang Xiaoshan blinked hard a couple of times, his gaze shifting elsewhere. "I got lucky, hehe."

Zhao Lin didn’t expose him. "Alright, then your luck is indeed quite good."

Zhang Xiaoshan read his expression and felt that his secret had been discovered. He looked a bit awkward, then, as if having made up his mind, said, "Alright, I’ll tell you what’s going on, but you have to promise to keep it a secret."

"My lips are sealed," Zhao Lin said calmly, though he had already guessed the gist of it.

"These are Golden-winged Ants. Ever heard of them?"

Zhang Xiaoshan took out a nearly transparent bottle from his robes. It was half-full of flying ants with pale golden wings, exactly like the ones Zhao Lin had just seen.

"These Golden-winged Ants were cultivated using a Secret Technique. They’re extremely sensitive to sweet-tasting medicinal herbs. I was able to find the Earth Luo Fruit because of them."

In truth, he was only telling half the story. While the Golden-winged Ants could find medicinal herbs, they wouldn’t fly back on their own. A special medicinal powder was required to complete the retrieval process.

"So that’s how it is."

Zhao Lin nodded. ’An ant’s sense of smell might not be better than most animals,’ he thought, ’but there are a lot of them, and they can fly, giving them a much larger search area.’

’When I was a child, if I dropped candy on the floor at home, it would always attract swarms of ants.’

’Still, it seems the martial families really are different. Not only do they have an ample supply of medicinal soups and pills, but they also have all sorts of unexpected methods. I bet these Golden-winged Ants aren’t something just anyone can use.’

’Does this count as cheating?’

Zhang Xiaoshan seemed to read his mind and laughed. "If it’s not forbidden by the rules, it’s fair game. Everyone relies on their own abilities, and my ability is the Golden-winged Ants."

"Besides, my family has expended a great deal of manpower and resources to raise these little things."

"That makes some sense."

Zhao Lin said this aloud, but inwardly, he didn’t quite agree. Relying on family power was a luxury the other disciples simply didn’t have.

But then another thought occurred to him: he had the Spirit Beast Scroll, and his senses of smell and hearing were far beyond those of an ordinary person. If they were talking about cheating, he probably qualified too.

With that thought, his heart settled.

’It seems I can’t underestimate anyone. I’ll have to redouble my own efforts to gather Spirit Grass.’

"It’s not just me. I know several other disciples who brought living creatures in with them."

Zhang Xiaoshan said mysteriously, "I’d like to make a deal with you. I wonder if Junior Brother Zhao would be interested?"

"What kind of deal?"

"It’s like this: you have strength, and you can fight. I have the Golden-winged Ants, and I can find medicinal herbs. If we team up, I’ll find the Spirit Grass, and you can be my..."

"Bodyguard?"

"Exactly, a bodyguard! Whenever we find Spirit Grass, we’ll split it fifty-fifty. But I get to pick first."

Zhao Lin scoffed inwardly. ’The terms sounded fair at first glance, but there’s a hidden catch.’

’One Top Grade medicinal herb and one common one. He picks the former and leaves the latter for me, calling it a fifty-fifty split. How is that the same?’

’Besides, I have a sense of smell like a Fragrant Mink. As long as I’m diligent enough, I don’t need to be someone’s subordinate.’

"Thank you for the kind offer, but I prefer to work alone."

Zhang Xiaoshan hadn’t expected Zhao Lin to refuse. He froze for a moment, then pulled out several more bottles from his robes.

"I have five types of flying ants that can detect different kinds of medicinal herbs. Think it over. With me, I can’t guarantee a spot in the top three, but the top ten is very likely."

"No, thank you!"

Zhao Lin rejected him outright and glanced at the hill opposite them. "This is not a good position. It would be hard to escape if we were surrounded. We should leave soon."

With that, he cupped his fists in a brief salute and left the nameless valley without a backward glance.

"Unbelievable... You’re given a golden opportunity and you don’t even know how to appreciate it."

Zhang Xiaoshan muttered to himself as he watched Zhao Lin’s departing back.