After leaving the village, Li Yi approached a stream and scooped up some water with his hands. He walked further away from the bank and, using one of his feet, dug a small hole in the ground where he poured the water; then, he gathered some leaves from the trees and mixed them with a bit of mud.
After mixing it for a while, he began to apply it all over his body and over his clothes to camouflage his scent from the beasts he might encounter in the forest. He knew that if even one managed to find him, it would be almost a death sentence, so he took his time smearing it across his body and hair.
Then, he began to move silently away from the village surroundings, walking further and further toward areas less frequented by the commoners and more by the cultivators. But he knew that even there, he wouldn't find good materials, as the cultivators would take everything useful to them. He had to go far beyond where even they ventured.
As he moved further away, he began to notice small animals that, while not direct threats, could alert and draw beasts to the area if startled. Along the way, he found many medicinal herbs that were like treasures to him, but which the cultivators who frequented this area didn't care for; he decided not to collect them yet to avoid carrying weight on his journey. On his way back, he would try to gather as many as he could, but right now he couldn't waste time, so he continued on his way.
After a while, he noticed he was starting to leave the frequented area, as he found no human tracks in that zone, and he knew he could soon encounter beasts. After walking a bit longer, he found his first low-level spiritual herb near a tree; first, he observed carefully to see if there were any beasts nearby, and seeing none, he approached cautiously and took it quickly.
He continued on his way and, a moment later, found another further ahead that was also unguarded by any beast, and he collected it quickly. In this manner, he covered a large area, sometimes moving away and other times circling through certain spots, managing to collect at least twelve low-level spiritual herbs.
At one point, when he reached a certain area, he heard a slight noise in the distance of something moving at high speed and froze instantly. After noticing it seemed to be moving away, he began to retreat slightly, listening to hear if it was approaching or continuing to distance itself. A few moments later, when he noted the noise was not getting closer, he began to walk again and tried to visualize if it was a beast or some other type of being.
He knew that being near a beast's lair could be both a danger and a great opportunity. He began to analyze the wind direction to ensure it wasn't traveling toward that being and alerting it. He knew that, even though he had covered himself in mud and leaves, who knew what the senses of that potential beast would be like. So, he began to walk with the wind in his favor, slowly approaching the direction the noise had headed.
Eventually, from a certain distance, he clearly noticed some bushes covering an area near the wall of a small cliff. He couldn't get closer, as any noise could betray him. When he was at a favorable distance, he decided to climb a tree, and from the top, he could glimpse what was inside the bushes: there seemed to be a type of fox with a yellow tail like fire, guarding some kind of spiritual flower.
Although he could only see a small part of the flower, just by looking at it he could tell it was extraordinary—perhaps some kind of mid-level herb. He could intuit that this fox must be quite strong, or at least much stronger than him, perhaps comparable to a high-level Base Forging Realm cultivator or even the Martial Realm; if he were to approach and be noticed, he would be practically dead.
He began to devise a plan quickly. He thought that if he made a noise to try and draw its attention, the fox would most likely stay inside the bushes, as the most logical reaction to a noise would be another powerful beast prowling, causing the fox to hide. So, he first decided to climb down and move far enough away to think clearly and devise a detailed plan. Upon reaching a secluded spot, he began to reflect on the strategy.
"The best thing I could do is wait for the moment the fox decides to go out and hunt, and if it moves far enough away, I could climb down and collect the herb. But I don't think it will stray too far from its lair. So, the best thing to do is, when it goes out to hunt, I position myself somewhere it can't detect me and create a decoy to attract and lure it far enough away, giving me sufficient time," Li Yi thought.
He decided to find a stone; then, he tore his robe, creating a strip as long as both his arms to use as a sling. To the stone, he tied some leaves which, when flying through the air, would generate a sound like a bird flying and falling in the distance—something the fox might notice and chase after to hunt. After preparing everything, Li Yi positioned himself far enough away so as not to be noticed, but close enough so that, when he threw the stone, the fox would notice it and pursue it while he quickly went to gather the flower.
He began to wait for several hours at the top of a tree branch where he could monitor the fox's movement. At one point, he saw it stand up, silently leave the bushes, and begin to run along the path he had arrived on hours before. Li Yi, noticing this, silently and quickly climbed down from the tree and, when he knew the fox was far enough away—almost in the optimal throwing direction—he placed the stone between the strips of his sling and began to swing it very rapidly.
When the fox was practically in the optimal area, he released it; the stone went flying, making a sound like rapid wing-flapping, passed several meters above the fox, and fell at least 160 meters away, bouncing about 50 meters further than the animal's location. Given the sufficient distance, the fox, seeing it pass and fall like a bird, took off running to chase it.
Li Yi quickly ran toward the bushes, which were about 30 meters from him. Upon arriving, he noticed that, besides the flower, there were other materials that seemed to contain spiritual energy, which he took quickly along with the flower, stuffing them into a pouch tied to his waist. At that moment, he began to run against the wind, heading back toward where he had initially come from, hoping not to encounter any beasts on the way. After running for about fifteen minutes, he began to tire due to his weak body; he decided to find a tree, quickly climbed it, and began to rest.
The fox, after reaching where the stone was, found no bird, only a strange scent covering the rock, but it decided to ignore it and continue hunting for a while. Li Yi, after resting for several minutes and noticing the fox wasn't pursuing him, climbed down from the tree and continued his return, but taking a different path, as his scent was already on the initial route. It was better to use two paths because, if the fox decided to track him, it would have to choose between one or the other, which could give him more time to reach the village.
After at least two and a half hours, Li Yi returned to the area frequented by the cultivators. He felt a bit more relieved, but he knew that if the fox pursued him, it wouldn't really care about reaching this zone, so he decided to keep walking quickly until he reached the outskirts of the village.
After about three and a half hours of hunting, the fox returned to its nest and, noticing that the spiritual flower and materials were gone, it became furious. Then, it noticed that scent it had smelled on the stone and quickly began to follow the trail, running at full speed.
It reached a point where the scent split into two paths, but focusing carefully, it noted one was fresher than the other and decided to pursue quickly along that one. A few minutes later, it reached the outermost area of the village outskirts where the scent was strongest, but it decided to stop, knowing that further ahead was a human village where some were very strong, and it did not dare to enter. So, it decided to return, resigned and furious, thinking that if it ever encountered a human, it would unleash all its fury upon them.
A few minutes earlier, Li Yi had managed to return to the village. He quickly entered and reached the cabins where he lived with his siblings, who, seeing him covered in mud, thought he had been beaten again. They approached and asked if he was alright, to which he quickly replied that he was safe and sound, and that he had covered himself in mud while looking for medicinal herbs near the muck, into which he ended up falling—and instead of going directly to the river, he had decided to return. The siblings checked him quickly and, noting he had no wounds, withdrew peacefully, and Li Yi quickly entered his cabin.