The five of them stood at the forest's edge, the ancient trees of the Whispering Fang Forest looming like a wall of gnarled wood and deep shadow. The air, thick with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, carried faint, alien sounds—chitters, rustles, and a low hum that seemed to vibrate in the bones. The "whispering" was no mere metaphor.
Wang Jin immediately took command. "Listen up. I'm the strongest here, so I'm in charge. We stick together, we find the moss quickly, and we get out. No stupid risks." His gaze lingered on Li Yao, making it clear who he considered the biggest risk.
The two merchant sons, Lin and Bao, nodded eagerly, relieved to have a powerful leader. The hunter girl, Mei, merely watched, her expression unreadable. Li Yao said nothing. He was using his enhanced senses, listening to the forest's rhythm, filtering out the noise to find the subtle, cool signature of Silver-Moon Moss. The System was cross-referencing the sect's basic description with its own vast database.
"Silver-Moon Moss: Grows in shaded, mineral-rich crevices bathed in lunar light. Emits a faint Yin-attribute energy wave. Primary Predators: Shadow-Stalker Vipers, Rock-Burrower Scorpions."
"The Moon-Rock Crevices are to the northwest, a two-hour walk," Wang Jin declared, consulting a crude map provided by the sect. "Let's move."
The forest was a world unto itself. Light struggled through the dense canopy, creating a perpetual twilight. Wang Jin led from the front, his aura flared, deliberately crushing foliage and snapping twigs underfoot—a display of power meant to scare off low-level beasts and intimidate his team. Lin and Bao followed close behind, jumping at every sound. Mei moved with a hunter's silence, her eyes constantly scanning. Li Yao brought up the rear, his [Shadow-Water Tread] making his passage utterly silent, his senses stretched to their limits.
He could feel it. Wang Jin's method was not just arrogant; it was foolish. He was broadcasting their presence to every spirit beast in the vicinity. Li Yao could already sense a pack of Emerald-Toothed Wolves tracking them from a distance, deterred for now by Wang Jin's show of force but waiting for an opportunity. He could feel the subtle shift in the air that indicated a Shadow-Stalker Viper coiled on a branch above their path.
He said nothing. To speak up would be to challenge Wang Jin's authority, inviting immediate conflict.
After an hour, they found a small crevice. Inside, patches of silvery, luminescent moss clung to the rocks.
"See? Simple," Wang Jin said smugly. "Start harvesting. Carefully! Don't damage the roots, or the sect will deduct points."
As Lin and Bao moved forward with their wooden tools, Li Yao's senses screamed a warning. The crevice wasn't just a home for moss.
"Wait," he said, his voice low.
Everyone froze. Wang Jin turned, his face a mask of irritation. "What now, servant?"
"There's a scorpion nest. Behind the large rock to the left. Rock-Burrowers. They're dormant, but the vibration of harvesting will wake them."
Wang Jin scoffed. "Nonsense. I don't sense anything. You're just trying to delay us out of cowardice." He gestured for Lin to continue.
Lin, hesitant, reached out with his tool. The moment the metal scraped against the rock, there was a series of sharp, skittering clicks. A dozen creatures, each the size of a dog, with chitinous grey shells and venom-dripping stingers, poured out from behind the rock.
Panic erupted. Lin screamed and fell back. Bao fumbled for the short sword at his belt. The scorpions moved with shocking speed, their pincers snapping.
"Form up!" Wang Jin yelled, a blade of compressed air forming in his hand. He slashed, bisecting one scorpion, but two more rushed him.
In the chaos, Li Yao didn't draw a weapon. He moved. He shoved Lin out of the path of a stinger, the barb grazing his own arm instead. A searing, numbing pain shot through him.
"Alert: Neurotoxic venom detected. Initiating [Cyclonic Qi Filtration] protocol for blood purification."
He gritted his teeth, cycling his Qi to isolate and neutralize the venom. It was a drain on his reserves, but it was manageable. He saw Mei, a pair of sharp daggers in her hands, dancing between two scorpions, her movements economical and deadly. She was a fighter.
Wang Jin was a blizzard of destructive energy, shattering scorpions but wasting vast amounts of Qi. He was strong, but inefficient.
Li Yao's role became support. He didn't fight directly. He used tiny, precise applications of his Qi. A flick of his wrist to destabilize the ground under a scorpion charging Mei. A small [Spiritual Static Pulse] to disrupt the coordination of the pack, causing them to stumble into each other. He was the unseen hand, guiding the battle, minimizing the damage to the team and preserving their strength.
Within minutes, the scorpions were dead. The clearing was a mess of chitin and green ichor. Lin was hyperventilating. Bao was pale. Mei was breathing heavily, but unharmed. Wang Jin stood panting, his robes splattered, his aura flickering from the expenditure.
He looked at the harvested moss, some of which had been crushed in the fight. Then his eyes fell on Li Yao, who was calmly applying a paste from his pouch to the shallow cut on his arm.
"You," Wang Jin snarled, pointing a finger. "You knew! You led us into a trap!"
The absurdity of the accusation was breathtaking. Mei spoke for the first time, her voice cool. "He warned us. You didn't listen."
Wang Jin's face flushed with rage. The failure of his leadership, the near-disaster, and being contradicted by a hunter girl and a servant was too much. "He distracted me with his cowardly mumbling! From now on, the servant stays in the front. He can trigger the traps with his face."
It was a death sentence. But Li Yao just nodded. "As you wish."
He took the lead. Now, with his senses unobstructed, he could truly navigate. He moved slowly, deliberately, his every step calculated. He led them on a winding, seemingly illogical path, avoiding patches of quicksand-like Spirit-Sink Fungus, circling around the territory of a sleeping Earth-Shatter Bear, and diverting them from a grove of hypnotic Dream-Petal Flowers.
To Wang Jin and the others, it looked like meandering cowardice. But they encountered no further threats. The two-hour walk became three, but it was safe.
Finally, they reached the main Moon-Rock Crevice, a vast, jagged split in a mountainside, glowing with the soft, collective light of thousands of Silver-Moon Moss patches.
"Now we harvest," Wang Jin said, his voice tight. "Quickly."
As the others set to work, Li Yao hung back, his eyes not on the moss, but on a different plant growing in a hidden corner, its leaves a deep, shimmering black, almost invisible in the shadows.
"Discovery: 'Ghost-Fern.' A rare Mid-Grade herb. Primary ingredient for 'Soul-Cleansing Elixir,' used to heal spiritual damage and stabilize fractured cores. High market value."
This was his true target. The Silver-Moon Moss was the sect's task. The Ghost-Fern was for his path. And it was the final piece of his plan for Wang Jin.
As he moved to discreetly harvest it, a powerful aura descended on the clearing. Three older disciples, their robes marking them as inner sect members, stepped out from the trees. Their leader, a cruel-faced young man with a Core Formation aura, smiled.
"Well, look what we have here. Outer sector trash, all gathered in one place. You've collected quite a bit of moss. Be a shame if you had an... accident on the way back and lost it all. Hand it over, and we'll let you leave with your bones intact."
This was the "healthy competition" the sect had promised. An ambush.
Wang Jin stepped forward, his face a mixture of fear and defiance. "I am Wang Jin, son of the Flowing Wind City Guard Captain! You can't do this!"
The inner sect disciple laughed. "Out here, your father's name is worth less than dirt."
The balance of power was utterly hopeless. They were outmatched in every way. Wang Jin looked at his terrified team, then at the smirking inner sect disciples. He was cornered.
It was then that Li Yao spoke, his voice calm, addressing the lead disciple.
"Senior Brother, would you be interested in a trade? Something more valuable than moss?"