Locating
Linfeng wasn’t sure what to think of Yen'mila’s excitement about being double-teamed by a random wild creature and him. However, she was definitely giving it her best to make his promise a reality–Which meant that she wasn’t planning on actually giving it her all otherwise... But it wasn’t too surprising with her. She was a bit lazy.
It was probably due to having been stuck in cultivation in some cave for so long. Cultivating wasn’t exactly a restful activity, even with all the meditation it included… Thus, it was understandable that she was doing her best to work as little as possible.
Well, unless it was about satisfying her debauched desires, it seemed.
Like a bloodhound, she was carefully looking for any possible trace of the ingredients Linfeng was seeking.
The trio prowled the woods for several days, camping out every night whilst doing their best to avoid alerting creatures. This was wild territory, so Linfeng would rather not attract too much attention. There were good chances that the wildlife here would ignore him and his group due to unfamiliarity with humans, but there was also a chance that they would want to slaughter them on the spot.
The male cultivator would usually welcome fights, but the environment was too uncontrolled and unpredictable for him to launch himself into battle mindlessly.
…It wasn’t to say that they managed to avoid all possible encounters. Some sort of cougar-like creature with six legs managed to sniff them out and turned aggressive immediately. Thankfully, it had just been a beast without any particular abilities, so Linfeng was able to eventually grab its neck and snap it at the cost of having his abdomen slashed.
The wound wasn’t too bad, but it didn’t remain for long either way... Yen'mila could use her nature energy to heal him. Besides, thanks to bedding her so often, Linfeng had earned a lot of nature-aligned Yin, granting him accelerated natural regeneration. It also seemed to make him more receptive to healing using her energy.
He had thought that it applied to nature energy in general, but the system had confirmed that it only applied to Yen'mila’s. Apparently, his Yang seemed to have begun to consider Yen'mila as belonging to Linfeng, resulting in this sort of bond being established, which was a nice bonus.
There were also other encounters, but nothing truly challenging so far. Though they had come close to running into a severe threat.
When nearing a clearing in the forest, they had felt the ground shake at a constant pace, followed by the appearance of a huge creature that had at least been twelve meters long. It bore a huge head and oddly small forelimbs.
This great beast simply walked by without ever showing any signs that it had noticed the humans. It had not appeared to have any special abilities, but its sheer size and weight alone would have been enough to make it a dangerous opponent.
The scariest thing about this encounter had been the way Yen'mila had lingered on afterwards, deep in thought.
Linfeng did not ask, but he knew in his gut that she was considering this thing as the other male party for her reward. He was no expert in anatomy, but that thing surely had a massive tool. There was no way something like this would fit with a human woman.
…Regardless of it all, they continued their hunt, and eventually, Yen'mila smiled broadly.
“I got one, right this way!”
She led the way through the forest to a tree that was unlike the rest. The most common kind of tree they had encountered so far was some sort of pine tree, with a few areas bearing oak and wild fruit trees. They avoided these areas, though. They were hotspots for feral activities.
...This one was different from all of them. Its bark was grey, and it was a weeping tree. Most of all, odd, translucent fruits were growing from its bent branches.
“Tada, here’s a Virile Tree! The dust you need should be in those fruits”
Most people expected a tree named like this to have a ‘particular’ kind of shape, but in truth, it resembled a regular tree. The name came from what its fruit contained, which was a substance known to empower a man’s body–And especially his manhood. It was quite popular with a certain category of older men who had lost a bit of strength down there, but it could be crafted into many pills and potions that had more permanent effects, or enhanced the natural attributes of the dust.
The Body-Building Pill Linfeng was aiming for required a good handful of it to be made, but there was a slight issue…
A bizarre-looking creature was lying near the tree. Not asleep, merely resting... But its eyes remained attentive... Indeed, Virile Tree Dust also had an allure for wild creatures. Since it boosted virility, it could help the males of certain species to improve their chances of a female picking them. It could even be used by a female to render herself undesirable to males, allowing her to potentially skip out on the heat season for one reason or another.
Whether the creature was male or female was unknown, but it had a long snout akin to that of an alligator, but was covered in thick, bundled-up dark fur. Its paws resembled those of a feline, and its tail was once again similar to that of a crocodilian. Its body was long, but since it was lying on the ground, it was difficult to guess what its stance would be when standing up, making it impossible to know how fast it might truly be.
For now, Linfeng assumed that it would move akin to one of those large monitor lizards that some people referred to as dragons.
He heard that those things had something of a venomous bite and that those they bit wouldn’t stop bleeding.
“Yen'mila, do you think you could use your abilities to lead it away for a while?”
“Not a chance. That thing is too powerful to be deceived so simply. It will realise something is off, and quickly locate us before I can get any grip on it. There are a few things I can do to alter its behaviour that can take nearly immediate effect, but… I doubt it will cause it to leave or be distracted on its own. Unless you guys can find a bit of its hair somewhere... Then it will take a while, but I’ll definitely be able to distract this fellow long enough for you to snatch the dust”
“A bit of its hair?”
“Yep. You are our resident looter, snatcher, and robber, Mala. I am sure you can locate some using your thief instincts”
“I- I don’t have thief instincts–It’s just called being attentive!”
“Whatever you say, twink burglar”
Linfeng sighed.
“Let’s find some of this hair. It probably sheds some all the time…”