In the distance, Lin Yue and Li Yun were together.

Lin Yue demonstrated her archery skills and captured a Cloud Chicken. The Cloud Chicken actually resembled a plump, large bird, grayish-white in color, weighing over three pounds, but in terms of value, it couldn't compare to Li Yun's Snow Dragon.

"Yueyue, I heard from someone that you two are quite close?" Li Yun deliberately spoke vaguely, trying to provoke Lin Yue. Lin Yue came from a well-off family, but she had aspired to be a police officer since childhood and had now risen to the position of deputy captain. Moreover, Li Yun knew that Lin Yue had very high standards. Meeting Zhang Guodong, however, piqued Li Yun's interest, as if she had discovered a secret about Lin Yue.

However, this guy is just too ordinary. He's neither good-looking nor rich, and he's definitely not the ideal match or handsome guy in a beautiful woman's eyes. Did this beautiful woman make a mistake this time? Li Yun seriously doubted it.

Lin Yue rolled her eyes at her and snorted, "Who are you referring to by beating around the bush?"

Despite knowing that Li the Demoness was prone to causing trouble, she couldn't help but ask. In her heart, she wondered, "Could it be that lecherous man?" She glanced in Zhang Guodong's direction, only to see him actually climbing a tree. Startled, she immediately muttered, "He's definitely no good! A good-for-nothing!"

Of course, she didn't realize that her real purpose in coming here was to hunt and have a good time.

Li Yun didn't notice what was happening on Zhang Guodong's side, and then said with a grin, "It's that guy, right? He said that a certain woman seems very aloof, but she's actually a lecherous woman, that's roughly what he meant!"

"What?" Lin Yue gritted her teeth, her eyes blazing with fury. She was pure and virtuous, and yet she was being called a lewd woman.

Li Yun's heart skipped a beat. Goodness, Abbess Miejue was actually so angry! What's wrong with her today? She got so worked up over just a few words? Sure enough, something's going on between these two! Li Yun was certain of it. Xiang Linyue's eyes flashed with a knowing look, as if to say, "I know your secret."

Lin Yuehuo's condition was very serious. Li Yun felt sorry for Zhang Guodong and thought to herself, "I didn't say who it was, did I? So it doesn't count as betrayal? Hmph, kid, you're dead! How dare you ask me for money and not give me any face!"

Zhang Guodong, who had carefully climbed halfway up a dead tree, suddenly sneezed: "Did I catch a cold?"

The dead tree had been dead for a long time, but it was still quite large, over ten meters tall, which is why it still stands. When Zhang Guodong looked at it from below, it was a dead pine tree that one person could hug, over ten meters tall. The wood structure was very solid and had no holes, but the spiritual energy that Zhang Guodong sensed was indeed coming from this area.

If it's not underground, then it must be in a tree.

In Northeast China, there are birds called "club-shaped birds" that drop ginseng seeds from trees, thus explaining the origin of ginseng found on trees. Could it be the same here? Zhang Guodong was pleasantly surprised.

Everyone else was focused on the prey and paid no attention to the wild medicinal herbs, let alone who might be up in the high tree.

Continuing to climb, Zhang Guodong reached the main fork after climbing ten meters. He felt a little dizzy and tired; this was the height of the main trunk. Looking down, ten meters seemed very high; a fall from this height would likely leave him paralyzed. Ignoring the snow on the branches, he climbed up. He used to be a great tree climber as a child, but now that he was older, he was much clumsy, expending more energy than he would in a 5,000-meter run.

As soon as he sat down, the spiritual energy he sensed became even denser. A branch of the tree was level with his nose, and at that spot, the snow several inches behind was pushed out. Zhang Guodong was somewhat excited. The medicinal herbs were right under this snow. How could they grow here with so little soil? But the presence of spiritual energy was never a mistake.

Blowing away the snow, sure enough, a plant with more than ten round, dark green leaves and a red stem about the thickness of a thumb was revealed. In the dead of winter, it was still green, which showed its extremely tenacious vitality!

"It must be something good!" Zhang Guodong thought to himself. But what kind of medicinal herb it was, Zhang Guodong hurriedly flipped through the manual, but none of the more than ten descriptions of precious medicinal herbs matched the color illustrations. There was one mention, though, that there used to be extremely precious golden snake grass fruit here, but there was neither a picture nor a description of its characteristics, so it was hard to be sure.

Zhang Guodong was certain that it was a precious medicinal herb, but he didn't know its real name, as it wasn't mentioned in the manual.

"Never mind, let's dig it up first!" After observing for a while, Zhang Guodong decided to dig it up first. With such a rich spiritual energy, this medicinal herb must be a treasure.

The medicinal herbs were surrounded by decaying mud, and several small particles lay on the rotten mud. These seemed to be some kind of fruit, but they had lost their color and were shriveled and brownish-red. Zhang Guodong carefully collected them all, thinking that these might be the seeds of this medicinal herb.

When Zhang Guodong cleared away the mud and prepared to dig out the medicinal herb, he discovered that it had grown from a small hole in the middle of a branch fork. Clearly, the roots were all inside the tree cavity. Zhang Guodong was frustrated. It was impossible to dig up the herb without prying open the dead tree.

"Damn, is this some kind of joke?" Luckily, he still had the alloy arrow on his back. He used the alloy arrow to pry open the dry wood layer, and when he did, the small hole actually got bigger. There was hope!

In the distance, Fatty and his men were busy hunting, leaving Zhang Guodong behind. Old Ying finally noticed him and, after scanning for a while, saw Zhang Guodong slide down from the tree. He thought to himself, "Do people in the city like climbing trees now?" Needless to say, his snow-white down jacket was now completely dirty.

"Young man, are you alright?" Old Ying came over and asked with concern.

“Hey, it’s okay, let’s follow them?” Zhang Guodong shook his head and said.

Old Ying glanced at him suspiciously, but didn't notice anything amiss. However, he was probably climbing the tree to find some medicinal herbs. They had done this before, but medicinal herbs could only be found on trees with holes. Even if medicinal seeds fell on solid trees, they wouldn't survive.

Zhang Guodong didn't intend to ask Lao Ying. After prying open the rotten wood layer, he found that the hole wasn't deep, so he wrapped it up along with the mud inside, carefully put it in a water cup, and screwed on the lid, afraid of damaging it. He planned to find some time to look up the medicinal herb online and then plant it in Taoyuan.

"Let's go, we're almost at the cabin. Your friends are all lucky!" Old Ying said.

Fatty and his group mostly got something, but the hunt was very hard and ended up being a group hunt. They only caught rabbits, one pheasant, and not even a single wild boar hair, which disappointed everyone.

Besides Zhang Guodong, this group includes Zhang Guodong.

Aside from harvesting a medicinal herb whose name he didn't know, Zhang Guodong never went hunting, let alone fired a bow.

When Lao Ying and Zhang Guodong caught up with the group, everyone had basically gathered together. A few hundred meters away, there were six dark wooden houses, which seemed to be covered with moss. But compared to the icy and snowy wilderness, they were at least dry inside, and they could make a fire and cook in a large pot. As for water, they had to bring their own.

In winter, when it snows, you can melt the snow and use the water to cook things. It's all-natural!

"Where have you been? We've been waiting for you for ages! Hey, Guodong, what's all this mess? You didn't come back empty-handed, did you?" The fat man felt relieved when he saw Zhang Guodong following Lao Ying.

Zhang Guodong's clothes were covered in moss and rotten wood, but he had no hair in his hands, which was indeed embarrassing.

"Bad luck, didn't get any!" Zhang Guodong said casually, thinking to himself, "My harvest might not be worse than anyone else's, right?" If he wasn't in a hurry to catch up with the team, he might have continued to sense the medicinal herbs.

The fat man gave a thumbs-up, speechless: "You're amazing. Look, Li Yun and Sister Xiang both made some gains. Don't you feel ashamed?"

Seeing Zhang Guodong's calm smile, the fat man suddenly approached and said, "Brother, did you get your hands on some treasure? Like the Golden Snake Grass Fruit?"

The laughter was lewd, and Zhang Guodong's heart skipped a beat. He quickly shook his head: "You really dare to think that way. So many people come here and can't find even one. Where am I supposed to find it in the dead of winter? Didn't Lao Ying tell you that finding medicinal herbs in winter is like finding a needle in a haystack? Even if you find some, they'll be buried under the snow. Besides, I don't even know what the Golden Snake Grass Fruit looks like. Even if I came across it, I wouldn't recognize it!"

"I thought so too. That's the medicinal herb every man dreams of, hehe. Old Ying said it's incredibly potent; if you have a few of those, you'll be inhuman. It's a pity the manual doesn't describe it in detail. Old Ying said the Golden Snake Grass Fruit has been extinct here for decades. Its most distinctive feature is its red stem. This was passed down from Old Ying's ancestors. Anyway, let's not talk about that. Hey, Guodong, have you noticed? I think Li Yun seems to have a crush on you. And the way Yue Meimei 'looked' at you was strange too. I didn't notice it at all. What advantages did you have that attracted the attention of beautiful women when you were in college?" the fat man said with a lewd grin.

What a gossipy guy! Zhang Guodong was speechless. But he was taken aback by the fat man's description of the red stem. Wasn't that just a red stem in the cup? Could it be the fruit of the golden snake grass?

Shocked and delighted, they returned to a wooden hut. A pile of firewood was already burning in the middle of the hut, making it warm and cozy inside. Everyone sat around the fire, laughing and drinking. Old Ying deftly set up a pot, hung it in the air, and filled it halfway with the water they had brought. Then he picked up the four pieces of game he had hunted and went out to clean them in the snow.

Zhang Guodong, covered in dirt, walked straight toward a corner.

"Xiao Zhang, what did you find? Why are you so dirty?" Xiang Chunyan asked, looking at the peculiar young man.

Li Yun, who was standing next to Xiang Chunyan, blurted out gleefully, "Sister Xiang, Guodong has climbed the tree to pick peaches!"

"Oh, you're calling me all lovey-dovey!" Xiang Chunyan teased Li Yun with a coquettish laugh. Li Yun was mortified but wouldn't let it go. Seeing Zhang Guodong 'secretly gloating,' she glared at him fiercely. "How did you climb the tree? Tell me!"

Zhang Guodong said embarrassedly, "I thought there would be medicinal herbs, so I went up to take a look, but there was nothing there!"

"Pfft!" Lin Yue finally couldn't help but laugh. She didn't know why, but she just felt that this person was too stupid and ridiculous, actually climbing a tree to look for medicinal herbs.

Zhang Guodong looked up and stared blankly.

Li Yun reached out and pinched someone hard, making him cry out in pain, which drew everyone's attention. Zhang Guodong wiped his forehead and grinned foolishly, "He probably just strained his back!"

Xiang Chunyan rolled her eyes. This young man was really something; she could see right through him. Li Yun pinched Zhang Guodong, clearly displeased that he was staring at Lin Yue so intently. Young people these days, so interesting!

After laughing to herself, Lin Yue returned to her cold demeanor, but her eyes were somewhat unfocused, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

Old Ying processed the wild game extremely quickly. In just over ten minutes, he had cleaned three rabbits and a pheasant thoroughly, leaving no trace of blood. The meat was pink, indicating it was very fresh.

He took out a few small packets of seasonings from his bag and threw them into the pot, then added four pieces of wild game, and finally poured in some wine. He covered the pot with the lid, and the water just covered the game. He then added some firewood underneath and started a fire.

As the steam rose, the aroma of the wine wafted out, and everyone seemed a little hungry, eagerly anticipating its arrival.

Zhang Guodong's group was surrounded by women, while the sounds around the campfire gradually grew louder. They were discussing whether to spend the night on the mountain. They felt that just hunting wild rabbits was not enough. If they spent the night, they could experience what it was like to camp in the wild and go deeper into the 'Wild Boar Forest' to hunt wild boars.

That's the real purpose of this trip.

Wine is a good thing; after a drink, one's spirits rise and one's courage grows. Old Ying listened calmly before saying, "Staying overnight on the mountain isn't inherently impossible, but it's very cold there, and wild animals roam at night; it's not safe!"

"Everyone brought warm tents and cabins, so it would be a shame to go back without bringing back a wild boar. Besides, there are so many things we haven't seen yet!" Li said casually. He had caught two rabbits, which was more than most of them. He didn't seem to care about spending the night on the mountain.

"Luo Qu, what do you think we should do?" the fat man asked Luo Jianhui for instructions.

Other people's opinions may not need to be solicited, but Luo Jianhui's opinion cannot be ignored.

“I think Xiao Li is right. Since everyone agrees to stay overnight on the mountain, let’s stay. However, the other team hasn’t arrived yet. Let’s see what their attitude is,” Luo Jianhui said with a smile.

This statement is contradictory. It seems to suggest that the decision to stay is being made, yet the decision is left to everyone else, which sounds very democratic, but it is essentially bureaucratic jargon.

Once the decision was made, everyone reached a consensus.

“Alright, if the other team decides to stay, then we’ll spend the night on the mountain, hey, let’s experience a snowy overnight stay!” the fat man said.