Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 117: Gold Panning

The rocky path to the river after leaving town slowed the group’s travel speed tremendously when Anji stumbled multiple times. Her little feet were frequently caught in little crevices between loose rocks, giving Gu Ying quite a shock whenever it happened. However, the resolute girl refused to be carried until Bai Dajin could not longer turn a blind eye to her meaningless struggles.

"Up you go!" he hoisted the stubborn child onto his shoulders when she started staggering, almost falling and twisting her ankle. "At this rate, you’d never reach the river."

Protesting against the special treatment, Anji pleaded to be allowed to walk. Feeling as if she was once again the burden, Anji made a huge fuss, almost falling from Bai Dajin’s shoulders.

"You could hold up the lamps for us," Mingfeng suggested in an attempt to cajole his sister. "It’s started to become very dark, and it’s not easy for Wei Zhen to walk ahead while carrying a lantern. The path is less steady than before, with mud and occasional moss. You’re sitting on a higher place now. The light should travel further if you hold it."

The logical persuasion worked and Anji gladly held two pocket lamps, one in each hand. The pink and green lights danced in front of Anji but Gu Ying quickly realised the problem with coloured lights when their experienced guide could not differentiate between moss and green lights.

"How about keeping it to orange and yellow lights?" Bai Dajin suggested. "It’s easier to see different colours on the ground if the light is white."

Swapping the rose quartz and green fluorite with citrine pocket lamps, Anji realised the brighter lights travelled further. Unfortunately, she did not have many citrine pocket lamps to distribute. The geodes she bought yesterday only contained three citrine crystals. Bai Dajin gave his to Mingshen and Anji gave her other citrine pocket lamp to Gu Ying who offered to walk with Wei Zhen so he could put away the lantern.

With the new arrangement, Wei Zhen made quicker progress. The well lit path made it easier for him to lead the way. In fact, he was able to see things he previously missed out on.

"This is a rare lingzhi mushroom!" he declared excitedly as they passed a decaying log. "It must have been growing for at least a year judging by the size of it. I passed by this log many times without realising it was here. Do you want to harvest this now or when you’re on the way back?"

Not wanting to miss the chance for a rare herbal mushroom, Anji insisted on collecting it and the spores on the mushroom. Using one of the small bottles meant to collect gold flakes and nuggets from the panning, Anji carefully dusted the lingzhi spore powder and collected it. The mushroom spores were great for improving immunity. Although this lingzhi could be sold at a high price, the true value is in consuming it. The rare mushroom is great at recovering vitality, including damaged internal organs.

After collecting the rare mushroom, they continued their hike to the river, with Anji demanding to be put down so she could collect the rare wild herbs. Apart from a few edible mushrooms, Anji collected many strange barks, vines, and even moss. Wei Zhen initially thought it was a coincidence that the little girl was foraging these. However, he soon realised that Anji knew more than she let on. Her excited blabber about its properties and what it could cure made him certain she knew some medicine.

Eventually, the party reached the river where they spotted several other gold panners from the village.

"Oi! Wei Zhen is here! He brought guests again," one of the gold panning ladies shouted as soon as she saw him.

Greeting them courteously, Wei Zhen introduced the guests to the ladies who cooed over Anji when she expressed an interest in gold panning and geode hunting.

"The river water is very cold," they warned Anji. "You should not be in it for more than an hour, it isn’t good for children like you."

Sticking her hand into the flowing water, Anji shivered. Gu Ying bundled her in more clothes than usual, but the chill from the river penetrated past the skin. These gold panners who spend many hours in the cold river must be suffering from rheumatism. Unfortunately, without the right herbs, there wasn’t much Anji could do for them.

Setting up camp on a spot further from where the regular gold panners were, Wei Zhen distibuted gold pans and sieves to everyone. Holding up his pan and sieve, the guide taught everyone how to pan for gold with a demonstration. Only Anji paid close attention. Everyone else did not seem as keen in searching for little gold nuggets in the dark. However, they did not want to disappoint Anji so they played along.

Once the lecture was over, Gu Ying helped Anji to roll up her sleeves but forbade her to step into the river where more gold and sediments were. Anji was only allowed to squat by the river bank to find any gold nuggets. There was only an hour until lunch so Anji was determined to find some before they stopped.

While Anji and Gu Ying sieved for fold at the river bank, Minshen took the opportunity to talk to Wei Zhen. The porter was a reliable person with an honest personality. He wanted to know if Wei Zhen was someone he could work with in the future. However, Bai Dajin was uninterested in any of those. The man took off his clothes and waddled into the river, unafraid of the cold. If anything, the man looked refreshed soaking in the icy river.

Thirty minutes in, Anji found her first gold nugget and excitedly showed it off to Gu Ying. The Manchurian beauty smiled and gave Anji a clean handkerchief to wrap it in. Then, when Anji wasn’t looking, she secretly added seven other gold nuggets she had already found to the collection.

When it was time for lunch, Bai Dajin got out of the river and shook the water off his body like a dog would, splashing it all over Anji, much to Gu Ying’s disapproval. Seeing the guests getting ready for lunch, Wei Zhen extracted himself from the conversation with Mingshen and started laying out all the food he brought along with him, pouring drinks and handing them out.

At the same time, the gold panner from further upstream dropped by to see Anji.

"Oh? You found more nuggets than me!" claimed a lady with a laugh. "You must have better eyes than me to have found so many. That’s nice! What will you do with them?"

Anji stared at the gold nuggets wrapped in Gu Ying’s handkerchief. Honestly, she only found five in the hour. The rest were Gu Ying’s doing. Also, she had no idea what to do with the gold nuggets. She only came to try it out because it sounded fun. These ladies probably needed them more to buy food.

"I don’t know," Anji frowned. "I could give them to you because I have no need for them."

Unable to accept it without giving anything in return, the ladies refused. Thinking hard, Anji then asked to exchange the gold nuggets with rock geodes that the ladies could find.

In less than fifteen minutes, the ladies rounded up a huge amount of large geodes they found while panning for gold, surprising Anji. Although most of the geodes were regular crystals, a few could absorb qi and Anji selected those in exchange for the golden nuggets.

Thrilled, the ladies thanked Anji profusely and left quickly, leaving the group in peace to finish their meal. Once they left, Anji apologised to Gu Ying for trading all her gold nuggets for more special crystals.

"I don’t mind," the bodyguard patted Anji. "Are you going to continue experimenting with the crystals?" she asked.

Anji nodded. Apart from processing the wild herbs they found on the way to the river, Anji had not much to do. However, she had not forgotten about Wei Zhen and his injury.

Taking the chance to get close to Wei Zhen, Anji used her Heavenly Eyes and observed the cultivator closely. Their porter used to be a cultivator of the Solid Core. However, there was also a strange energy mixed with his. She had no idea what that was.

"Excuse me, Mister Wei, do you have some spare time before we head back? My sister is a medical apprentice and she is curious about your condition. If you don’t mind, would you allow her to take your pulse?" Mingshen asked when he caught her sister studying the porter.

After having an established friendly relationship, Wei Zhen was not in a position to turn down the request. He held out his wrist for Anji to measure his pulse while sharing how he had gotten injured.

"After the demonic cultivators chained me, they drew some strange symbols on my chest and stomach with blood. It hurt a lot and I was unable to use my cultivation ever since. Even after recovering physically, I could not be stronger than a Strengthened Core cultivator. I can still sense energy, but I cannot use it now."

Feeling out every meridian in his body the same way her shifu taught her, Anji realised that someone had tempered with the energy flow inside Wei Zhen’s body. However, unlike the core seals and valves her shifu implanted inside her body, the unusual energy in Wei Zhen’s body was caused by a parasitic type of spell.

"It’s a qi siphon," she explained with a deep frown. "I read it before. This usually a technique used to create energy pills. However, I can see that the spell was modified. Without knowing where the energy bank is, I cannot fully undo the seal. This is not a sickness, this is an evil spell."

Shocked that such a young girl knew what this was, Wei Zhen inhaled deeply, trying to compose himself. He knew there was something wrong with his cultivation after that incident but had no idea what that was.

"Is there nothing that can be done?" Mingshen asked his sister. He was not expecting Anji to cure this man, it was good enough that she knew something about his condition. Presently, they had already won Wei Zhen’s favour for any future business dealings. However, there was a possibility Anji found it difficult to tell them everything she knew.

Contemplating, Anji wondered if she was qualified to try undo part of this evil seal. She had only ever read the method in books. Even after training according to her teacher’s books and the golden dragon’s guidance, one wrong move could cripple Wei Zhen’s cultivation completely. Unlike her shifu, Anji had never practised any spells on a living creature before.

"I’ve never created spells on a living creature before," Anji admitted. "However, if I dismantle the siphon’s connection to the bank, there might be a chance for partial recovery. I’m not able to remove the roots of this spell, but the should no longer block the paths leading from your core into your meridians. It might be slightly more congested than before, but you should be able to cultivate again if it works. The risk is just too dangerous because if I fail, you can never sense qi again or cultivate."

Unable to lift her head after the words left her, Anji trained her eyes on the cooled mug of tea in her hands. Maybe it was better to have not given him false hopes.

After a short silence to think over his options, Wei Zhen looked at the unusual siblings and wondered how Bai Dajin was acquainted with them. Although he already knew they were from a cultivator family, he had no idea which clan they were from. There was no clan who specialised in spells apart from the Mystical Qilin Sect. However, all disciples of the reclusive sect were not allowed to come down the mountain until they graduated. This girl did not seem all that powerful. Yet, he could not abandon that glimmer of hope.

"Wei Zhen will bear the consequence of the risk," he declared. "I swear on my name that no matter the outcome, I will forever remember your good intentions."

Surprised and nervous by his decision, Anji looked at Wei Zhen then to her brother and Bai Dajin, as if asking for permission to proceed. Mingshen simply nodded and Bai Dajin shrugged. There was no risk. Even if she failed and Wei Zhen turned on his word, they could easily dispose him. There were plenty of damp and dark places in Eternal Night Valley. Nobody would find his corpse here.

"I am Anji, fourth daughter of the Celestial Dragon Sect and successor of the Mystical Qilin Sect. I apologise in advance for my lack of experience but promise to do my best."

Floored by the revelation of the girl’s background, Wei Zhen looked around. If this was the youngest daughter of the Celestial Dragon Sect, those who travelled with her must also be high-ranking individuals in the murim world.

Getting down onto his knees immediately, Wei Zhen kowtowed tearfully. As it turned out, heaven had not forsaken him yet.