Chapter 158: What Is Spirit Medicine

Mu Qing replied calmly, "I only heard about it."

Heard?

Upon hearing those words, Ji Xuan fell silent.

Many things that even medium and small Tribes outside can't inquire about—where did Mu Qing hear it from?

Could he have been a wandering beastman before?

Although the reputation of wandering beastmen is unsavory, precisely because nowhere accepts them, their information channels are unexpectedly well‑connected.

Thus many medium and small Tribes will, when the timing is right, take in wandering beastmen whose backgrounds are unproblematic and whose strength is decent; the Silver Eagle Priest was once taken in by a mid‑size Tribe, but eventually returned to the Silver Eagle Tribe.

"What is Spirit Medicine?"

Leng Xiu keenly sensed Ji Xuan's emphasis on Mu Qing's knowledge of Spirit Medicine, but before he could ask, Yun Li spoke up.

Because she noticed that Mu Qing's mood dropped sharply when she heard Ji Xuan say he came from outside.

Thinking that A Qing had been wandering since he was very young, a pang of sympathy flashed in her mind, and she immediately spoke, shifting everyone's attention onto herself.

"Right, what exactly is this Spirit Medicine?"

Leng Xiao said with a grin, "How come you all know, but only I, my brother, and A Li don't? Tell us, will you?"

Ji Xuan looked at Mu Qing, "Regarding Spirit Medicine, how much do you roughly know?"

Mu Qing knew this was a test of how much he knew about the outside, but when he was a young wanderer, even if he had heard some rumors, he certainly couldn't match the Silver Eagle Tribe's dedicated informants.

"Just a little."

He lowered his eyes slightly, half‑truthfully, "I heard Spirit Medicine has been growing for ages, like a mutated ferocious beast among wild animals; Spirit Medicine is the oddity among ordinary herbs."

Consuming them not only lets beastmen's cultivation breakthrough rapidly, but also saves gravely wounded, dying beastmen; it's a rare, valuable thing.

He didn't lie about the first sentence describing Spirit Medicine, but he exaggerated the claim that it lets beastmen breakthrough quickly and save the gravely wounded.

If Spirit Medicine were truly that miraculous, the large Tribes whose beastmen each have several plants would be invincible.

"So powerful?!"

After Mu Qing finished, Leng Xiu couldn't help raising an eyebrow.

"It's a lie, right?"

Yun Li flatly didn't believe Spirit Medicine could be that powerful: "If Spirit Medicine were that great, outside beastmen would know Heiyan Shanmai has such a treasure and would come to seize it."

She guessed Spirit Medicine only has special effects in certain places, such as healing wounds more effectively than ordinary herbs, or assisting beastmen's cultivation, even being able to hang a life at a critical moment.

Moreover, Yun Li thought the Spirit Medicine produced by Heiyan Shanmai shouldn't be especially potent, because Heiyan Shanmai is connected to the outside: on one hand, the Silver Eagle Tribe constantly seeks ways to send its people out, and on the other, every few years nomadic Tribes come to Heiyan Shanmai.

If Heiyan Shanmai had extremely powerful Spirit Medicine, outside beastmen would hear the rumor and come to plunder; they would even fight over a salt mine, and since some Spirit Medicine can be life‑saving, it's worth the risk for outsiders to venture in.

When the words ended, the courtyard's atmosphere suddenly fell silent.

Mu Qing, Ji Xuan and the others looked at Yun Li with astonished eyes, as if they hadn't expected her to say such things.

Leng Xiu and Leng Xiao wore thoughtful expressions.

"Makes sense."

After a moment, Leng Xiao laughed, "A Li is still clever."

"It's not me being clever."

Yun Li helplessly spread her hands to them, "I just thought of this: if one day my cub and I encounter that persistent high fever again, and the outside has such a life‑saving Spirit Medicine, would you not fight to claim it?"

Even though she hasn't read many novels, during middle school there was a period when reading romance novels in magazines was popular, and the tragic, subtle, lingering love story backgrounds covered every genre.

So when she heard Mu Qing's description of Spirit Medicine, she immediately recalled the plot in wuxia and xianxia novels where a rare treasure's emergence inevitably provokes all major sects' masters to vie for it.

Although the imagination was a bit far‑fetched, A Qing and Ji Xuan didn't refute it, did they?

That shows she wasn't wrong!

"Then it indeed would be fought over."

Hearing that, Leng Xiu quickly responded, agreeing with her view.

"Speaking of that," Leng Xiao suddenly turned his question toward Ji Xuan, "Since you have Spirit Medicine there, why didn't you mention it when A Li got into trouble back then?"

Upon hearing this, Yun Li, Mu Qing, and Leng Xiu all looked at Ji Xuan.

Ji Xuan didn't hide it, saying, "The Spirit Medicines that can heal and save lives are in the Priest's hands; such Spirit Medicine is scarce and is mainly used on the Tribe's elder beastmen."

The most important thing is to hang onto those elders' lives, especially those elders who have contributed to the Tribe, as their experience and insight are vital to the Tribe's development.

A smaller portion is used on the Patrol Team and Hunting Squad, treating beastmen who made major contributions to the Tribe but nearly lost their lives.

And Ji Xuan, as the Tribe Young Master, would certainly be rescued by the Priest if he got into trouble.

"But you're not the Tribe Young Master; when A Li got into trouble, couldn't you ask the Priest whether you could use Spirit Medicine to save A Li?"

Ji Xuan had already explained, but Leng Xiao wasn't so easily dismissed.

He thought, isn't Ji Xuan highly valued by the Priest?

At that time he had been courting A Li for a while, so why hadn't he acted when A Li got into trouble?

"A Xiao!"

At this moment, Leng Xiu spoke up to defend Ji Xuan.

Because Ji Xuan hadn't failed to help; when Ke Si came to the house with those medicines, some herbs had to be fresh to be effective, and Ji Xuan personally went out early that morning to gather the medicine.

"Ji Xuan hadn't formed a Mate Bond then."

And without a Mate Bond, to outsiders A Li and Ji Xuan aren't considered family; even if the Priest knows A Li is the female Ji Xuan pursues, he wouldn't make an exception for Ji Xuan.

Otherwise other beastmen would follow suit, and who would the Priest deem appropriate to receive the life‑saving Spirit Medicine?

"I actually asked, but the Priest only gave me two Blood Congealing Fruit."

Ji Xuan didn't evade the question, speaking frankly, "When the Spirit Medicine is ground up, it has a miraculous effect on beastmen's wound healing; after use, the wounds don't leave scars, but it can't reduce fever."

Yun Li had two very deep wounds on her back and waist; Mu Qing and the others originally thought those would leave faint scars, but Yun Li recovered so well that now there's no trace at all.

Hearing this, Leng Xiao realized he was overthinking, so he promptly apologized to Ji Xuan:

"Sorry, it was my misunderstanding of you. I shouldn't have doubted your sincerity toward A Li."

"Ji Xuan didn't argue with him, and he also didn't say that the Tribe had Spirit Medicine that could save A Li, right?"

"Spirit Medicine is a secret the Tribe cannot speak of; if he hadn't already formed a Mate Bond with A Li, he wouldn't have mentioned the Spirit Medicine to them."