Mountain Looting: Targeted by a Leopard at the Start
Chapter 83: This is actually a ginseng den!

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: This is actually a ginseng den!

Today’s mountain rushing was truly beyond expectation.

The Treasure Compass displayed its true effectiveness.

In the mountains, the most precious treasure is the Wild Ginseng.

Finally, one was found.

Xu Yang was overjoyed and took a moment to adjust before recovering from his excitement.

For mountain runners, unearthing a Wild Ginseng truly amounts to stupendous luck.

If the villagers found one, they’d boast about it for years, invariably mentioning it whenever they drink.

Xu Yang wouldn’t go that far, but the feeling akin to "finding money" still thrilled him.

"Another source of income, I can invest in another greenhouse,"

Xu Yang thought secretly.

One ginseng for one greenhouse, this trading is a lucrative deal.

Xu Yang used the Treasure Compass again, still scanning the area.

The treasure was about 400 meters away from him.

Xu Yang set the drone to smart follow mode and continued forward.

The online viewers hadn’t noticed that he had stealthily dug up a decades-old ginseng.

The atmosphere in the livestream room remained light-hearted.

Soon, Xu Yang arrived at the second treasure spot.

He himself was a bit stunned.

Another sixth-grade leaves!

This was like stumbling upon a ginseng nest.

"Another ginseng with sixth-grade leaves!"

"This area turns out to be a nest for ginseng!"

Xu Yang looked around and indeed spotted a small ginseng with third-grade leaves.

Generally speaking, the rule for mountain runners is not to pick ginseng under two years old, it’s better to mark the location and harvest it later.

Xu Yang’s plan, however, is not to pick any ginseng under ten years old.

In this way, the ginseng can reproduce naturally.

"This is a nest of ginseng."

"Can’t expose it."

"I’ll come back later!"

"This is another one of my treasure spots!"

Xu Yang thought to himself.

He acted as if he hadn’t seen the ginseng and even moved in the opposite direction.

No need to rush at this moment, he could dig it up after the broadcast ended.

He turned on the microphone and spoke softly,

"It seems my luck isn’t very good today, haven’t seen any valuable mountain products so far."

"I came to the mountains this time for Birch Mushroom."

"Birch trees grow at relatively higher altitudes and are more common in the deep mountains."

"Tomorrow I’ll look for Birch Forest, see if there are any Birch Mushrooms."

Xu Yang’s expression was calm, neither joyous nor saddened.

Seeing him like this, some netizens took pleasure in his misfortune, while others hoped he would find something good soon.

The livestream room became lively for a moment.

[Every time this streamer goes up the mountain, he finds treasures. I thought he was hacking!]

[He’s just started; I have faith in Old Xu, he’s really professional!]

[Hahaha, it’s best if he finds nothing!]

[Just enjoying the mountain scenery is quite nice, it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t find any mountain products!]

There were various comments.

Xu Yang was in a good mood, he just didn’t show it.

His evaluation of the situation was just two words:

Best Actor!

Matching wits with the live audience was quite fun, which was why he didn’t choose to end the broadcast.

Xu Yang started looking for a place to rest nearby.

As the weather got warmer, the wind speed inside the dense forest was very slow and it felt slightly stuffy.

He needed to find an open area.

There was a stream not far away, just perfect for taking a break.

The peak of the mountain range was Heavenly Lake; many rivers flowed down from the mountains along the water channels, small streams everywhere.

This place was not lacking in water resources.

Xu Yang made his way to the riverside and put down his backpack.

After a quick survey of the surroundings, he sat on an open space to rest.

Once in the open area, the wind was much stronger and it immediately became cooler.

Xu Yang took out a bottle of mineral water, filled it from the river, and set it on the ground to settle.

Mountain spring water might be clean but shouldn’t be drunk in excess; boiling and cooling would be best, but in the absence of that option, drinking it directly was alright too.

He also took out a couple of pancakes and a few sticks of sausage.

Sitting by the river, he enjoyed his food.

"I’ll rest for a while and then find a spot to pitch the tent,"

"Find a base near here and stay in the mountains for a couple of days,"

"Can’t rush when searching for mountain goods, will head back after a thorough search,"

"If I’m lucky enough to make a big find, I’ll head straight back; if not, I’ll search some more,"

Xu Yang said calmly.

Having confirmed the harvest of two ginsengs with sixth-grade leaves, Xu Yang was in a great mood.

He had made another large sum of money.

Indeed, with the Treasure Compass, finding treasures in the mountains was truly possible.

At that moment, two wild Sika Deer came to the river to drink, about a dozen meters away from Xu Yang.

After spotting Xu Yang, they paused in place and stared at him for a while, assessing whether he was dangerous.

"What’s the matter? Want some sausage?"

Xu Yang extended the sausage in his hand forward, greeting the Sika Deer with a smile.

These creatures were quite alert but relatively friendly towards humans.

Once they realized humans posed no threat, they lost their fear.

The Sika Deer’s ears twitched, and then they approached the river, lowering their bodies and sipping the water bit by bit.

Even as they drank, their eyes continued to scan the surroundings.

The drone live-streamed this scene.

Seeing the appearance of the Sika Deer, the viewers all burst into laughter.

[These are wild Sika Deer, they look so spirited!]

[Deep in the forest, meeting deer—this feels great!]

[The scenery in the mountains is simply spectacular.]

[These sika deer are so adorable!]

After drinking from the stream, the sika deer suddenly became alert and bounced away.

Their speed was lightning fast, almost like a catapult at the start.

Seeing their reaction, Xu Yang laughed and said,

"In the wild, herbivores face dangers from all sides, so they’re particularly vigilant."

"They run at the slightest rustle of wind or grass."

"That’s perfectly normal."

No sooner had he finished speaking than he turned his head and saw a black bear happily playing in the river upstream and splashing downstream, seemingly fishing.

"Holy smokes, a bear!"

Xu Yang quickly stuffed the flatbread into his mouth, packed all the trash into a small plastic bag to take with him, slung on his backpack and, mimicking the sika deer, dashed off as if in flight.

Actually, the black bear’s attack power wasn’t too bad, seeing as it was about the same height as a human when standing up.

But it’s still best to avoid provoking them if possible.

The drone streamed the distance, and the online viewers also spotted the black bear.

Seeing Xu Yang running swiftly, they couldn’t help but burst into laughter for a moment.

[Hahaha, the host was just talking about sika deer!]

[Who wouldn’t run into that thing!]

[My goodness, there really are bears in the mountains!]

[Forget bears, there are tigers and leopards in that place now, and many areas have warning signs!]

[There are a lot of animals in Changbai Mountain, isn’t it normal to have bears?]

[It’s practically the same latitude as Siberia, of course there are bears!]

Xu Yang continued walking into the forest.

The black bear hadn’t noticed him earlier, so Xu Yang’s Danger Perception hadn’t triggered.

At this moment, it was already past three in the afternoon.

He had spent most of the day rushing through the mountains, and now he was deep in the woods.

"I need to find a place to set up my tent and settle down first."

"You change your daily routine after entering the mountains because it gets dark around seven or eight, leaving no time for activity."

"So I have to sleep at eight at night and get up around five-thirty in the morning, to continue the mountain rush at six."

"If I’m lucky and find some good mountain products, I can head back tomorrow."

Xu Yang entered the dense forest and told everyone.

Finding a place to set up the tent was simple; it just had to be relatively flat and sheltered from the wind.

He quickly found an area with less vegetation and began to busy himself with setting up the tent.

His tent was quite simple; he spread a plastic sheet on the ground, set up the frame and tent cloth, and that was it.

Since it was summer, no insulation was needed.

Having a place to sleep was enough.

After setting up, Xu Yang took out some mosquito repellent and sprayed it around to keep away insects.

He also scattered some realgar powder.

"I’ll rest here today and take a walk around to see if there’s anything else worthwhile,"

"I’ll have a good look around tomorrow."

"Let’s see if I can find Birch Mushroom."

Xu Yang told the viewers in the live stream.

Then, he added,

"The drone’s battery isn’t going to last much longer; I need to bring it down to charge, so that’s all for today’s live stream. I’ll start broadcasting again around six tomorrow morning, starting from here."

"Goodbye, everyone."

Actually, the drone had more than half of its battery left, but Xu Yang needed an excuse to end the stream.

Hearing that he was going offline, the viewers were a bit disappointed.

[Brother Yang, you can continue with a mobile live stream!]

[Please broadcast a little longer!]

Everyone pleaded.

But Xu Yang had other things to take care of, so he waved goodbye to everyone and turned off the live stream.

After going offline, Xu Yang packed up the drone.

Then, he grabbed his mountain running tools and headed towards the ginseng he had located earlier.

The ginseng was still there.

Its six stems were growing beautifully.

Moreover, there was not a single trace of insect damage on the leaves, indicating that the ginseng was well-preserved.

Some ginseng roots, riddled with insect bites, hardly held value once found and were quite undesirable.

Xu Yang began to dig carefully.

He was meticulous with every step, extremely cautious not to break the ginseng’s delicate roots.

For digging ginseng, one used either a Cow Horn Shovel or an Antler Shovel, which were not overly sharp, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

"This is nearly a sixty-year-old wild ginseng."

"This definitely is a ginseng hotspot!"

Xu Yang picked up the ginseng, counting the nodes on the roots, and said with a smile.

The surprise was all too sudden.

This area looked like any regular woodland, who would have thought it was home to many genuine wild ginseng plants!

No mountain runner had reached this place yet.

Furthermore, the area he was in was quite remote and hard to access; it was unlikely anyone would come here for a long time.

"I’ll mark the location. I saw some ginseng that’s less than ten years old; surely there must be twenty-year-old ones here too, I can let them grow longer,"

"I can come back to harvest after ten or twenty years."

"I could even visit yearly and take just a few roots."

Xu Yang thought to himself.

He valued sustainable development and didn’t approve of the practice of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

So far, he had used the Treasure Compass three times; once for Schizandra, and twice for wild ginseng.

He decided to use the remaining two tries as well.

Soon, the glow of the treasure lighted up.

One was about fifty meters away from him, quite close, and there was another one about a kilometer away.

He first went to the nearby location, and sure enough, it was wild ginseng.

Fifth-grade leaves, but they seemed rather old.

The number of leaves did not always indicate the age; for instance, ginseng with fifth-grade leaves could be seventy or eighty years old, but their quality was not as good as those with sixth-grade leaves.

This confirmed that this whole area was a ginseng hotspot.