The Snail Princess and Her Benefactor

Hua Chao and Ling Mi were eating breakfast in the courtyard. She was very pleased to see the two little guys getting along so well with each other.

"Ling Mi, how about we go up the mountain to collect some herbs after dinner! Now is the time to go out and find something to do that can be exchanged for silver, otherwise it will not work if we just sit there and eat all the money. It will be too late to go out and find a living by then."

"Okay! What I like most is to go up the mountain to collect medicinal herbs. When I was practicing in the mountains, I was still a little peony flower elf. My favorite thing was to absorb the spiritual energy from various spiritual herbs. So I know best where the medicinal herbs in the mountains like to grow. Now collecting medicinal herbs is a piece of cake for me."

“Woo woo…hiss…”

Xiaowo responded to Lingmi by jumping around and patting his little chest with his cute little paws. He looked so unyielding that Hua Chao couldn't help laughing.

"Okay, I know you two can do it, you're both great!"

Hua Chao said to Ling Mi, "Then let's find two small backpacks and each of us carry one. Let's go! Let's set off up the mountain now!"

"Oh, let's go up the mountain to play!"

Ling Mi lifted the little nest above her head and spun it happily.

…………

In the forest of Shelong Village, Hua Chao and Ling Mi were walking slowly up the mountain path, one after the other.

The little dimple on Lingmi's shoulder jumped back and forth happily, and kept running around on Lingmi's body, guiding their steps forward.

"Sister, look over there, what beautiful flowers!"

Hua Chao looked in the direction Ling Mi had pointed and saw a shrub covered with small white flowers.

The whole shrub is covered with clusters of small white flowers, which are small, delicate and exquisite. Drops of dew roll on each flower, like crystal clear gems, emitting a bright light.

Some are in full bloom like plum blossoms, while some are in bud like pearls hanging among the plum blossoms.

"It is pure and clean, and it is like a bunch of pearls. There are such beautiful flowers in the mortal world. It is like a fairy wandering down to the mortal world, fresh and unworldly!"

Hua Chao walked forward, gently picked up a bunch of flowers and smelled them carefully. The lingering fragrance went straight into Hua Chao's heart.

"Ah! ... I just don't know what this flower is called? What name can match its beauty?"

"Sister, this is called 'Pearlblossom'. Isn't it beautiful? I knew you like such spiritual flowers." Lingmi smiled and leaned over to smell the flowers in Hua Chao's hand.

"'Pearl Bush', it's a nice name that really suits her. Look, she looks like pearls hanging in the woods."

Ling Mi tilted her head and looked at Hua Chao holding the flowers. She liked them so much that she said.

"Since my sister likes it so much, I think I should pick one and take it home to appreciate it."

Ling Mi reached out to pick it, and Hua Chao hurriedly stopped her.

"Ah! Ling Mi, you must not do that. It would be great if such a beautiful flower could be allowed to bloom freely in the forest. Why should we end her beauty just to please others for a moment? If you take her home, she will wither in no time. How cruel it would be to her."

"Oh!... Sister is right. Ling Mi is a little flower fairy, but she has forgotten how she felt when she was a little flower. She tries hard to bloom to her most beautiful state, and only wants to be a little flower fairy in this world."

Ling Mi said this as she clasped her hands together and bowed to Zhenzhuhua to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Ling Mi was confused for a moment and made you suffer!"

"Oh, my little honey! You! You!"

Hua Chao felt a little sorry for the little flower fairy. She was just a tiny peony flower and had no idea where she came from. She had struggled and practiced in the mountains and forests of the nine-headed snake monster for many years, and she had actually managed to survive and gain some spiritual power. I wonder how many hardships she had endured.

Now that she has followed me to the mortal world to experience hardships, I cannot take good care of her, but I have made her worry about me so much.

Hua Chao felt a little reluctant to go up the mountain to collect medicinal herbs and endure the hardship.

"Sister, we have to hurry up. If we want to collect good herbs, we have to go to the deepest part of the mountain. The more dangerous the place, the better herbs there are!"

"Woooo..."

Xiaowo jumped lightly on Lingmi's shoulder, responding to her statement.

"Then when we go to look for herbs later, Xiaowo has to follow me. Otherwise, I won't know what herbs they are and it would be a wasted trip up the mountain!"

"Hahaha!... My sister is so smart that she will learn how to find medicinal herbs in just a few days. How could the Sixth Princess of Jinghe not be able to learn anything? Isn't it, Xiaowo?"

"Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss..."

The little wo strongly agreed with Lingmi, and the way it jumped around was so cute.

Hua Chao and Ling Mi climbed the precipitous cliff with difficulty. The steep mountain made it difficult for them to stand steadily. They had to hold on tightly to the cliff wall and grasp the vines in the mountain to climb up.

Hua Chao looked at the scratches on his hands, then at the medicinal herbs in the basket behind him, his heart filled with joy.

Turning around, I saw the busy little Lingmi. Her backpack had much more things than mine and was already full.

But Lingmi still didn't seem to want to stop and kept climbing up.

"Ling Mi, I think we should stop here today. You already have quite a few herbs in your backpack, and it's almost sunset. If we keep looking, it will be dark by the time we get home."

"Sister, I just saw a Ganoderma lucidum there. Please go down and wait for me. I will dig it out. It is a top-quality medicinal material. Just one plant can be exchanged for a lot of silver!"

"Ah! Then you better be careful! I feel dizzy just looking at it. It doesn't matter if you don't want to do it, but you must not get hurt!"

Hua Chao called Ling Mi worriedly. Now they are no longer the same as before. Their mortal bodies are heavy and they can get seriously injured if they are not careful.

No matter how precious and valuable the medicinal herbs were, they were not as important as her little spiritual honey.

"Sister, I'm fine, so don't worry! Climbing this mountain now is much easier than when the fox demon chased us. There are no evil spirits chasing us, so just climb! You go down and wait for me, I'll be down later."

"Hiss..."

Xiao Wo called out softly a few times, intending to jump off Hua Chao's shoulder to find Ling Mi.

"Don't go to the nest. You will disturb her if you go there now. It's better for us to go down and wait for Ling Mi in peace."

Xiaowo stopped moving and lay quietly on Hua Chao's shoulder, following Hua Chao down the cliff to wait for Lingmi.

Looking up at Lingmi's nimble figure on the cliff, Hua Chao gradually felt relieved.

As expected of a mountain elf, even if he has transformed into a mortal body, the spiritual energy in his bones cannot fade away.

After all, it is only the spiritual power gained through cultivation that is faded away, not everything in the body. Memory and mind are things that cannot be lost.