"Thank You!"

Li Ming thanked the owner of the small herb shop as she finished her shopping and left the shop.

The herb market of the Jin Empire was entirely different from what Li Ming was expecting.

It was located at the end of the street of Capital Market. A huge board welcomed the visitors in the one and only herb market of the Mortal Realm where one could find any herbs and plants that could be found on the mainland.

Of course, there were still some plants and herbs that were too precious to be sold in an open market but according to the information that she gathered, one could get the location of any kind of herbs or plants from the Masters of the biggest shops of the market and if the payment was high enough, they would deliver the herb themselves.

The inside of the market was full of greenery. It was more like a place where nurseries were lined one after another than a market.

The air was full of the mixed fragrance of different flowers, spices, and herbs.

The spiritual energy in the Jin Empire was eight or nine times more than that of the Han Empire and the Herb Market had the densest spiritual energy in the entire Capital City of the Jin Empire.

The spiritual qi was needed to keep the herbs fresh and green.

The shops were lined according to what kind of herbs or plants they were selling. Starting from the smaller range of vegetables, crops, fruits, and spices which were cheaper & needed less spiritual qi to grow and ending on the major shops selling very precious and expensive spiritual herbs.

Li Ming surely bought more than what she had planned. She purchased seeds for crops and seedlings for vegetables and fruits, accompanied with various spices, herbs, and a few very famous tea plants.

She bought some specific herbs on the suggestions of Marshmallow.

[A|N: Special thanks to one of my readers for suggesting such a cute name for the Little Fox Spirit]

It took her three hours before she finally completed her trip of the entire Herb market. By the end of these three hours, she more or less had knowledge about each and every shop and its owner.

She wanted to enter her mansion and plant all the herbs in the vast land of Xiao Tiantang as soon as possible. But the feeling that someone was still following her stopped her from entering her mansion.

She shuddered as she remembered the cold aura that had hit her from the other side of the partition in the private room of the restaurant where she was having her lunch.

That cold aura reminded her about the time when she felt the sudden drop in the temperature back at the Capital City of the Wang Empire.

Was someone following her all this time? And if someone was really following her then who this person was and exactly why they were following her?

All these questions were giving her a headache and at that moment she wanted nothing more than to just disappear in her mansion.

She entered a small alley at the end of the street of the herb market and waited for someone to appear in front of her. Almost twenty minutes passed but no one entered the alley.

She could still feel the cold aura somewhere near her but her powers were unable to pinpoint its exact location.

Li Ming finally gave up waiting and in the next second her silhouette disappeared from the small alley. Once again leaving another person dumbfounded and at the same time impressed with her powers.

*********

A twitch appeared on the thin lips of the man who was looking at the empty alley down below.

His shock had long evaporated and in its place was an expression which clearly spelled that he was both impressed and intrigued by the girl who suddenly disappeared from the front of his eyes.

One of the shadow guards appeared behind him and dropped down on his knees as he bowed.

"My Lord, we checked through the entire Herb market but that girl is no longer here." The guard informed him.

A small chuckle left the lips of the said Lord as he shook his head lightly. As the smiling expression disappeared from his face, once again it was back to its usually cold and indifferent look.

"Keep your eyes open and inform me as soon as you see her. It's been a long time since someone has piqued my interest. I'm going to love this chase my 'Sweet Prey'." His eyes sparkled bright red as the words left his mouth, making the shadow guard gulp in fear.

Let's pray for that girl to never appear in front of their Lord ever again, otherwise no one could save her.

The shadow guard prayed in his heart as he trembled under the overbearing pressure of his Lord.

********

"Achoo!!"

Li Ming sneezed as she entered Xiao Tiantang with a basket full of small seedlings and various packets of seeds.

She lightly rubbed her nose as she followed Marshmallow and Snowy towards the opposite side of the pond.

It took them about fifteen minutes before they finally appeared at the end of the small forest that was surrounding the pond.

The clear area was large enough to fit at least three huge mansions which gave Li Ming enough space to grow her spiritual herbs.

The area of Xiao Tiantang was huge enough to fit at least two Han Empires in it. But not all the area was open for Li Ming, at least not yet.

According to what Marshmallow had told her, a new portion of the Xiao Tiantang would open itself for her every time she would receive a blessing from the deepest of the heart of a person who felt gratified towards her for something.

All the area that had already opened itself for her except the pond was due to the fact that she had already received a few blessings. The funniest part was that Li Ming had no idea who these people were who felt such gratitude towards her that they actually blessed her with a pure heart.

Well, in conclusion, all she needed to do was to help people and receive blessings that came deep from their heart and she's good to go. Not too hard, right?

At the moment, she could use the area of the pond, the small forest surrounding it, and the first range of mountains at the west end of the forest along with the clearance behind the forest where she was currently standing.

"Let's start plowing the fields. We should plant these herbs as soon as possible so that they would be ready to use at the right time." Li Ming said in a chirpy tone as she nodded towards the large empty field in front of her.

After a few minutes of silence and no reply from her companions, she looked at Snowy and Marshmallow with raised eyebrows.

"Why are you looking at us? Are you expecting us to plow the fields?" Snowy asked as he tried to raise his own eyebrows.

Just imagine a white fluffy Pomeranian who's trying to raise its eyebrows. All that you could see was cuteness and only cuteness. That's exactly how Snowy looked at that moment.

"Of course! Are you two going to rest while I will work hard in the fields?" Li Ming asked with a pout.

"Don't be so dramatic. You are only going to work in fields then why are you making such a hideous face? Now don't waste time and start your work." Snowy said as he sat down on a log.

"How can I end up with such useless bonds? You two are no different from each other. Both are completely useless." Li Ming huffed as she glared at her familiar and her first-ever spiritual beast.

"But Master, I'm not useless. I have a lot of information that can help you." Marshmallow said while looking at her with cute eyes that almost soften her heart.

"Other than being a talking encyclopedia, is there anything else that you can do?" Li Ming asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course, I will become a very powerful spiritual beast in the future and will protect you." The little fox said in a proud voice as she wiggled her nine tails.

Li Ming scoffed at the little fox and rolled her eyes. The baby fox sure knew how to boast but again she needed to start working on the fields as soon as possible.

Li Ming changed her attire to black shorts and a white tank top. Her long hair was tied in a tight bun and her feet were covered in leather boots.

She took a deep breath before marching forward and starting her work.

For the rest of the noon and the evening, Li Ming worked in the fields.

By the time of sunset, she had succeeded in planting all the vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices with the help of the pixies who joined her a little later.

That night when Li Ming was lying on her bed, a satisfied smile was grazing her lips. At least she completed one of her tasks that day.