"That's right, Liu Hong's tall and thin, with long white hair—that's all we know, so please, spare us this once!" The final informant begged for mercy.

Fang Yi smiled as he nudged Yang Ze. "Not bad, Yang Ze—looks like you're turning into Public Enemy #1 just from participating in the Void Cup!"

He turned back to the three hunters. "Listen up—you guys better not do this again, or you could well lose your lives. I'll spare you this once. Scram!"

The three informants rushed off as though they were afraid of Fang Yi changing his mind.

Next, Fang Yi turned back to the hundred-hunter group. 

"Everyone, I think we've resolved the misunderstanding between us now. I, Fang Yi, assure you all that we'll be passing through the Labyrinthine Forest, but we certainly won't be conducting any large-scale hunts in the region. Indeed, unless we're threatened, we don't plan on hunting down any lifeforms here at all. I won't lie to you all: the reason we're here is to search for a few important herbs to brew an antidote."

Fang Yi patted his potbellied-toad pouch. "We're interested in these sorts of herbs. If you have any, we'll be willing to trade for them generously with points."

Yang Ze and Sun Xiaowu's eyes lit up, but the hunters of the Carter settlement all seemed quite shocked. The members of Team Zenith weren't here to hunt down any lifeforms at all—they just wanted worthless herbs!

Indeed, before the rise of pillmasters, the herbs that were scattered throughout the dimensional world could easily be acquired for a pittance compared to their true value, except for those whose potency and effects were obvious.

Quite a few of these hunters had acquired some of these herbs because they seemed potentially useful, but no one had been willing to buy the herbs from them. Now that the hunters from Team Zenith were here, however...

"I have some!"

"Me too!"

"Take mine!"

Li Youcai, who had been the leader of the group, again strode forward. "My team has all the herbs you need, but they're not with me—they're within the settlement. If you want any, I'd be happy to trade them to you once we return."

"Our team has some too! Let's head back to the settlement to trade." Li Youcai said what all of them were thinking. The fact that they had managed to make it so deep into the forest meant that their teams' strength was sufficient to explore the area, which also meant that they had likely gathered quite a few herbs from the region as well.

None of them had yet found any use for the herbs; either the herbs were going to remain in their storage cabinets forever, or they'd be sold to a few hunters who used them as feed for their summons. Who wouldn't want to sell them off if they could?

Fang Yi and the others were overjoyed by the enthusiastic response.

"Good, very good! In that case, let's head back to the settlement immediately."

The Carter settlement was about the same size as the Blacksteel settlement, with buildings constructed from the same architectural style. As the group of hunters returned to the settlement, Liu Hong, who was hiding in the Carter inn, learned of the bad news.

"Trash! They're all useless trash! How could they retreat with their numerical superiority?!" Liu Hong slammed a palm down on the table in anger.

"Don't be upset, Captain! It was a hastily constructed plan, and the members of Team Zenith did far too well during the Void Cup, so it's normal for regular hunters to be wary of them. Furthermore, I'm not sure that's what we need to be worried about. Instead, now that Team Zenith knows that we were behind the misunderstanding, do you think they'll strike at us directly?"

"Ha! Do you think they could? Even if I can't participate in the Void Cup, I'll be able to ascend to the second realm of the dimensional world within a day or two. Once I'm there, with my brother to protect me, I won't have to worry about anyone or anything! But now that we've been found out, we'd better lie low for a few days. Wait for them to leave before we do anything else."

Liu Hong wasn't stupid; knowing that he wouldn't be able to overcome them in a contest of strength, he decided to avoid confrontation instead.

It wasn't as though Fang Yi and the others had time to deal with them, because they were now being surrounded by a veritable wave of hunters. Quite a few teams who had gone out hunting also quickly rushed back to the settlement to retrieve any herbs they might have stored away.

Fang Yi and the others were busy trading for herbs with hunters all over the settlement. Fang Yi's inspired idea had quickly netted them over five hundred sprigs of herbs. Of course, not all the herbs could be used in Potion #2, but they were all ones that Zhang Lie had brought up at some point. Most importantly, the hunters they were trading with clearly didn't know how to value their herbs properly, and they traded them away for a fraction of their true value.

Furthermore, there were still quite a few teams of hunters who hadn't heard about the news, so the progress that they had made today could also be replicated in the next few days. In addition, this procedure could even be repeated in other settlements, especially the smaller ones where few corporations had tried to do the same.

In their suite in the Carter Inn, Fang Yi, Sun Xiaowu, and Yang Ze were all grinning happily.

"Fang Yi, you've really made life much easier for us! I'll head back to Earth and inform my sister about what's going on, so she can start using this method as well. As long as we can repeat this process in four or five more settlements, I'm sure we'll be all but finished with collecting ingredients for Potion #2!" Sun Xiaowu exclaimed.

"That we do, but don't get their hopes up too high. A large part of our success was due to luck, after all," Fang Yi replied with a smile.

Yang Ze whooped. "They might not get as lucky as we are, but it's certainly still faster than harvesting herbs on their own! No one really knows about the true value of these herbs, do they? I can't believe we've bought them all so cheaply! Go on, Sun Xiaowu! Let your sister know about the good news. If we hurry up, I'm sure we can finish collecting everything within the week!"

As night fell and Sun Mengmeng began sorting through her spoils with Zhou Ying and Li Feng, her transceiver suddenly started beeping like crazy.

"I apologize, but it looks like someone's looking for me urgently. Can I hand things here to the two of you for the moment while I return to Earth?"

She pulled out her potbellied-toad pouch as Zhou Ying and Li Feng both nodded. The moment she came out of the portal by the Zenith Dojo, she saw Sun Xiaowu by its side.

"What's the matter, Xiaowu? Why did you contact me so urgently?"

When Sun Xiaowu saw his sister come out of the portal, he said, "Well, it's for something big, of course. But before that, tell me just how many sprigs of herbs you managed to acquire today!"

"How many? About a few dozen, I'd guess. I was trying to sort through them when you suddenly contacted me, and I had no choice but to leave it to Zhou Ying and Li Feng," Sun Mengmeng replied, frowning.

Sun Xiaowu cackled in glee. "Ha! Guess how many herbs we acquired today!"

"Xiaowu, did you contact me just so you could boast? Looks like you must have gotten quite a few, then—say, two hundred?"

"Hah!" Sun Xiaowu laughed again, making Sun Mengmeng want to smack him in the face. "That's far too conservative an estimate!"

Sun Mengmeng's annoyance turned into interest. Two hundred herbs wasn't a small number; even in the vicinity of the Blacksteel settlement, a locale they were all familiar with, they would only get a hundred herbs a day at most.

"Alright, alright, just tell me how many you managed to collect!"

Sun Xiaowu smirked as he stretched out his palm.

"Fi-five hundred?! You aren't joking, are you?" Sun Mengmeng exclaimed in surprise.

"Of course not, Sis! I'm not kidding—we got at least five hundred in a single day!"

"Really?"

"Why else do you think I reached out to you so urgently?"

"Quick! Tell me how! Surely you didn't find all five hundred sprigs yourself?"

Sun Xiaowu explained to his sister Fang Yi's brilliant idea, causing her eyes to widen as she realized its implications. "Thank you, thank you, Xiaowu! I'm in the Godspath settlement now—I'll try to replicate Fang Yi's strategy and see if it works!"

Before her brother could respond, she darted back through the teleportation array.