Chapter 25: Giant Eagle
Xu Ning went to gather herbs, carrying a manure bucket.
While gathering herbs, he also planned to find a secluded spot to cultivate top-quality trees, which would later be used to upgrade the manure bucket and oxcart.
After entering the mountains, Xu Ning continued gathering herbs as he ventured deeper into the forest.
Tie Dan loved the deep forest; as soon as they arrived, it started hopping and skipping around, looking here and there, sniffing everywhere.
Xu Ning had also been considering Tie Dan's upgrade.
Currently, Tie Dan was a high-grade mortal; if it reached the top grade, its size would increase again, attracting even more attention.
Therefore, Xu Ning hesitated.
After much thought, Xu Ning decided to cultivate enough top-quality herbs to upgrade it to a legendary mortal grade in one fell swoop.
This way, Tie Dan's ability to shrink would allow it to hide.
Xu Ning also had his own plans for the herbs.
He wouldn't cultivate the common ones, but he would upgrade some rare and effective ones.
Later, if it was necessary to treat rare diseases, picking its leaves for medicinal use would be far more effective than ordinary herbs.
"Right, I need to gather more wood and make some flowerpots. That way, in case of emergencies, I can simply move them into the hut and take the hut with me on the run."
Having finalized his plan, Xu Ning then entered a busy phase.
He practiced martial arts in the mornings and went into the mountains to gather herbs in the afternoons, while also cultivating and upgrading the thatch and trees.
Along the way, Xu Ning collected many effective and relatively rare herbs to plant.
Since he hadn't yet made flowerpots, he planted them in the garden and also planted two rows of trees outside the original locations.
He didn't upgrade these two rows of trees; he just let them grow naturally.
Xu Ning also asked the hut a question: what's the difference between making flowerpots from ordinary wood and those made from high-grade mortal wood?
The thatched hut's answer was, "They're all the same, all made of mortal-grade materials!"
Xu Ning asked, "And what about after upgrading?"
The thatched hut replied, "After upgrading, they're still the same. It's just that materials made of ordinary wood, after upgrading to mid-grade mortal-grade, can't compare to those made of top-grade mortal-grade wood. Once they're upgraded to top-grade mortal-grade, both are exactly the same."
This answer relieved Xu Ning; otherwise, it would have been too complicated.
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If they weren't the same, Xu Ning might have gone to great lengths to create things from divine-grade mortal-grade materials and then upgrade them, all in pursuit of perfection.
Today, Xu Ning went into the mountains as usual, but unlike before, he brought a rope.
A couple of days ago, while gathering herbs, he saw a cliff covered with rare herbs. This time, he brought the rope, his purpose being to find those herbs.
Of course, if Xu Ning used the Snow Shadow Step, he could walk on that cliff as if it were flat ground.
However, he was going to gather herbs, and he would need to stay on the cliff for a long time. His internal energy wouldn't last long, so he brought the rope.
First, he carried a bucket of manure to water the trees and thatch. Both were currently at the upper-grade mortal level and were expected to reach the upper-grade mortal level in another month or two.
Xu Ning wasn't in a hurry. He took out a kitchen knife and cut some thatch, directly upgrading the rope he brought to the middle-grade mortal level.
This way, Xu Ning wouldn't have to worry about the rope having any problems.
He walked to the edge of the cliff, found a large tree, tied the rope to it, and then tied it to himself and Tie Dan.
"Old Tie, let me make this clear first, you can go down, but you're not allowed to steal any herbs. These herbs are very precious; I'll take them back to cultivate and upgrade them!" Xu Ning specifically instructed Tie Dan before going down.
"Moo! Don't worry!" Tie Dan raised his front hoof and patted his chest.
Xu Ning nodded. "Okay, let's go!"
Then, the man and the ox descended along the rope.
It must be said that the herbs on this cliff were truly abundant; the man and the ox had only gone down a short distance when they saw many precious herbs.
Xu Ning hurriedly and diligently began collecting the herbs, roots and all, intending to take them home to cultivate.
Meanwhile, Tie Dan, taking advantage of Xu Ning's inattention, would occasionally stick out his tongue and lick the herbs in front of him, quickly chewing them.
At first, Xu Ning didn't notice, but he eventually discovered it and immediately became angry. "You little rascal! You're eating again! I knew I shouldn't have let you come down!"
Tie Dan immediately felt guilty and quickly turned away.
Afterwards, Tie Dan couldn't help but steal some, but he was more discreet.
This time, Xu Ning caught Tie Dan stealing again and exclaimed in shock. "Big brother, that's Heartbreak Grass!"
Tie Dan had already chewed and swallowed some, and immediately froze. "Moo moo, why didn't you say so earlier?"
Xu Ning said, "You didn't even ask! I told you not to steal!"
Xu Ning quickly climbed up the cliff.
Seeing this, Tie Dan panicked. "Moo moo, are you abandoning me?"
At the same time, a pain shot through his abdomen, and Tie Dan instinctively clutched his belly with his hoof.
"Come on up!" Xu Ning's voice rang out, and he pulled hard on the rope binding Tie Dan from above.
Tie Dan quickly cooperated, enduring the pain as he scrambled up the cliff.
Finally reaching the top, Tie Dan was too weak from the pain to get up and collapsed to the ground.
Xu Ning quickly gathered some herbs nearby and took some more from his basket to feed Tie Dan.
These were antidotes Xu Ning had concocted based on his knowledge of herbs; he didn't know if they would work, but he was just trying it out.
However, even after feeding him these herbs for a long time, Tie Dan remained in pain and unable to stand.
Xu Ning quickly said, "Wait here for me!"
After saying that, Xu Ning slung his basket over his shoulder and dashed off.
He returned shortly with a full basket of thatch and fed it to Tie Dan.
Finally, after eating two baskets of thatch, Tie Dan's pain lessened, and he grinned at Xu Ning somewhat sheepishly.
Xu Ning didn't scold him too much; as long as Tie Dan was alright, that was all that mattered.
"Was all the energy from the thatch used for detoxification?" Xu Ning couldn't help but ask.
After all, Tie Dan was actually close to leveling up, but this time, despite being fed so much high-grade mortal-level thatch, he hadn't leveled up.
Tie Dan nodded directly, confirming Xu Ning's guess.
So, if something that could be leveled up was damaged or injured, it could actually be quickly healed using the energy from the leveling up.
"You rest now, I'm going down to gather herbs!" Xu Ning instructed, then tied the rope again and headed down the cliff.
Before he knew it, the sun was setting, and dusk was approaching.
A cry—
At that moment, the cry of an eagle rang out, making Xu Ning, hanging on the cliff, tense up.
Looking up, Xu Ning saw a giant blue eagle circling in the air, seemingly ready to swoop down at any moment.
This terrified Xu Ning; this creature didn't look like an ordinary eagle at all. If it truly harbored ill intentions towards him, he, hanging on the cliff edge, might actually be in danger.
Screech—
Just as he feared, the giant eagle cried out again and suddenly swooped down.