87 Acting Sincere
The Cloudy Dream Mountain Forest was surrounded by clouds all year round. The depths of the forest were even more dangerous, and fierce beasts were everywhere. Almost no herb gatherers dared go in, and no one knew what the depths looked like.
A young man with a black dog following him walked into the depths. He looked no different from an ordinary herb gatherer.
The black dog sniffed left and right from time to time, tracking its master’s scent, but it did not notice the few swifts that occasionally flew past in the sky.
Jiang Ming casually raised his head and glanced in the direction that Yu Yan, one of the swifts, had left in. It was the same direction as Black Bean’s search, so he did not say anything.
Occasionally, Jiang Ming would open his mouth and express his concern for the safety of Black Bean’s master, as well as guilt for his previous actions.
“It’s wrong to hit a dog! If I can be of help in the future, tell me!”
When Black Bean heard this, it was moved to tears. It seemed that it was really a misunderstanding. How could there be such a good person in this world? The last time it met a stranger on the way, he almost cut off its tail.
“When I find my master, I’ll definitely repay you!” the black dog wrote on the ground, its face full of sincerity.
“I’ve always been kind and willing to help others, so how can I do this for the sake of repayment? You’re insulting my character.” Jiang Ming shook his head unhappily.
Black Bean’s eyes were filled with hot tears.
“Did I overdo it?” Jiang Ming wanted to feel guilty, but he found that he could not. Who the hell asked your master to trap me?
The man and the dog were both martial artists, so their speed gradually increased as they went deep into the forest. In less than half a day, they had reached the depths of the forest.
At this point, the black dog’s pace had already slowed down. There were more and more wild beasts here, and some of them had disturbed the black dog’s sense of smell.
“There are traces of people passing by here. These traces are just a few days old!”
Jiang Ming pointed at a broken bush, “I’m an herb gatherer. I have some experience in this area.”
The black dog was overjoyed and quickly ran in that direction.
Jiang Ming followed behind. A squirrel suddenly jumped over the treetop, shaking off a pile of dead branches and leaves. It had another ball of paper.
“The Liang family is three miles away.”
Jiang Ming’s expression did not change as he continued to move forward.
A quarter of an hour later, the black dog stared at the two strangers in front of it, showing its ferocity and barking madly.
It could smell its master’s blood on the two of them.
Jiang Ming looked at the two people from the Liang family. They were both young people in their twenties. They were all covered in bruises. One of them even had a broken leg. No wonder they walked so slowly.
It seemed that they were also two third-class rookies. They did not report it to the martial artists in their family because of greed and wanted to take the credit for themselves. If they had not met him, they would have really succeeded.
“Herb gatherer, take care of your dog and come over to carry me down the mountain. Or I’ll beat you to death!” the young man with the broken leg ordered with cold eyes.
The black dog growled and bared its fangs. Jiang Ming quickly held it down and looked at the two people from the Liang family with a kind face, “If there’s anything wrong, let’s talk it out. There’s no need to fight. I’m here to look for my brother. Have you seen a man in black? He’s tall and thin.”
Although he knew that these two guys were the ones who had killed Wu Rong, he still had to put on an act.
As expected, the two members of the Liang family had cold expressions. “You know that dead man? Who are you?”
“What? You killed my brother?” Jiang Ming’s face was full of grief and indignation, “You’ll pay for this!”
He exerted force on his feet and rushed towards the two people. The black dog saw this and was so angry that it felt its body heat up. It roared and rushed forward.
“A martial artist?” The expressions of the two people from the Liang family changed drastically.
Jiang Ming had already punched a man and sent him flying into the dense forest. Then, he rushed in as well.
The black dog pounced on the man with the broken leg and started to bite him.
“This isn’t a dog! Ah!” the man with a broken leg shrieked in fear. He had punched the black dog, but why did it not die? He was a third-class martial artist!
Very quickly, the man with the broken leg had his throat bitten open, and he died.
Black Bean rushed into the dense forest but did not find Jiang Ming, so he quickly followed his scent.
* * *
In a mountain forest more than ten miles away, Jiang Ming stared at the Liang family man whose limbs had been broken and asked coldly, “Where did you guys get this beast-taming prescription?”
The Liang family man’s face was full of fear, and he blabbered, “We were ordered to come here by the elder of the family, Liang Xuanyan. Ever since he heard the rumor of a rabbit riding a tiger in the Cloudy Dream Mountain Forest, Elder Xuanyan suspected that there was an inheritor of the beast-taming prescription here. However, there was soon no news of the rabbit. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, Elder Xuanyan ordered us not to act rashly. A few days ago, Wu Rong appeared in Great Cloud City and unintentionally revealed his ability to understand the language of beasts, which was discovered by the two of us. We chased him all the way into the mountains in an attempt to steal his beast-taming prescription. Unfortunately, he did not have the prescription on him. However, he said that he left the prescription with the owner of the Hundred Herb Hall. Please spare my life, I’ll take you to get it.”
“Then why don’t I go and get it myself?” Jiang Ming looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot. He put his palm on his chest, and a strange force suddenly burst out.
“This is the Liang family’s Vitality-Snatching Technique! Who are you?” The man from the Liang family was shocked.
However, he did not get an answer. His blood Qi withered, and his vital Qi was exhausted.
“It’s only equivalent to seven or eight days of practice.”
Jiang Ming shook his head. This was the first time he had used the Vitality-Snatching Technique on someone else.
He was now a first-class martial artist, so the vital Qi He seized from a third-class martial artist was not particularly useful, but it was better than nothing.
“Liang Xuanyan…” Immediately, Jiang Ming’s eyes darkened. When he received the news from Master Si, he immediately warned it to keep a low profile. He did not expect that it would still be targeted.
It was not good to be remembered by a Grandmaster family.
Jiang Ming kicked the body into the ravine, then turned around and walked back. Soon, he met Black Bean.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already killed him at the risk of damaging my origin…” Jiang Ming coughed and his face suddenly turned pale, “Quickly go find your master!”
Black Bean’s face was full of grief. It nodded heavily and ran toward the mountain.
In the evening, at the entrance of a cave, Black Bean was lying on top of a corpse whose blood had already dried up. Its eyes were filled with sorrow.
“It’s all my fault for being late,” Jiang Ming said reproachfully.
Black Bean endured its grief and got up, writing on the ground, “Don’t be sad. Master has been dead for a long time. If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t have been able to even find his body. Thank you.”
Jiang Ming sighed and stopped talking.
The next day, Jiang Ming dug a grave for Black Bean’s master and buried him in the mountain.
“You almost killed me, and I even dug a grave for you. That’s good enough!” Jiang Ming stared at the grave and muttered internally.
A moment later, the man and the dog returned and went down the mountain.
“What are your plans for the future?” Jiang Ming suddenly asked.
Black Bean’s eyes seemed to be a little hesitant.
Jiang Ming smacked his forehead, as if he suddenly remembered something, and threw a white pill to Black Bean. “This is the antidote. It will last for a while. Just come to me regularly to get it.”
Black Bean knelt on the ground with a plop and dug the ground with his paws.
“I’ve been wandering for half my life. I need a wise master…”