Chapter 148 Chapter 149 Seeking Justice
In the sheep pen, Li Anxi held an umbrella for Jima to shield her from the sun.
“My sheep!” the owner of the sheep pen cried in despair, “The bullman is heartless!”
A sheep lay on the ground, gasping for breath like a fish pulled out of water, its rear end a sticky mess, its flesh torn and exposed, an unbearable sight.
Li Anxi said with a shudder, “The bullman is so brutal.”
Jima scoffed, “One bullman can take down five trained imperial swordsmen with an axe. If it’s a bullman, once discovered, it could kill the sheep owner with just one hand.”
“That’s truly brutal.” Jima nodded meaningfully, “The sheep are so adorable, yet many choose to persecute them.” Including its owner.
“Pretty girl,” said the sheep owner, “you’re an herbalist. Can you make a potion to save it? I’ll send you a jar of sheep’s milk.”
Jima stepped back a bit from the sheep owner and said, “It’s hopeless. Farewell. It’s better to give it a quick end.”
“Then just go quickly.” The sheep owner glared at Li Anxi and said, “You half-beast, don’t corrupt my sheep.”
Li Anxi said nothing; she had long since gotten used to it. She was caught between human and beast, a lucky one who hadn’t been too badly corrupted, yet also an unfortunate one who had faced malice from others since childhood.
Jima glanced at the sheep owner and said, “I just thought of a method that might work, though it might also kill the sheep. I won’t take your money.”
The sheep owner was overjoyed: “Master, hurry and tell.”
“You give me a handful of wool, and I’ll make a potion.”
The sheep owner quickly snipped off a handful of wool with scissors. Li Anxi stepped forward to collect it for Jima, but the sheep owner dodged her like she had the plague, handing it directly over to Jima.
After accepting it, Jima passed it to Li Anxi, and they set off for home.
Not long after leaving the sheep pen, Jima spotted the three people who had previously made unsavory advances towards her while she was hanging laundry in the yard. One had a flat cap, and one looked like he had been in a fight, probably the blacksmith’s son.
The three pretended not to see her, but their eyes could not help but wander toward Jima.
“Hey.” Jima raised her chin at them. “Do you know what I saw in the sheep pen?”
The flat cap guy quickly turned to ask, “What?”
“A lamb that was violated by a man. It’s so frightened that it’s about to die.” Jima said, “The sheep owner is very angry, and I’m planning to go back and make a potion that will allow the lamb to speak, so it can reveal who the culprit is.”
The flat cap guy turned pale.
A perverted murderer.
Jima narrowed her eyes, said nothing further, and turned to leave.
Passing through the small market in the village, people were selling rabbits, vegetables, fruits, clothes, and more.
Jima greeted a villager who was picking carrots: “Good afternoon, ma’am. Do you know about the lamb in the sheep pen? It was violated.”
“Yes, yes, yes! What a pervert! If he’s violating sheep now, who knows, next time it could be a cow. A cow is the backbone of a family!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll go home and make a potion that allows the lamb to speak and accuse the perpetrator.”
“Oh, don’t mention it, it’s just a little contribution to the village. Take these carrots home for your children to munch on, just say they’re from me.”
And so, Jima greeted everyone. She had a charm that made nearly everyone stop and listen to her.
The explosive rumor spread rapidly.
The moment Jima set foot over the threshold of her yard, the rumor had already reached the whole village.
As the yard door closed, Li Anxi could no longer contain herself. She widened her pink eyes and asked Jima:
“Master, you’re so amazing, you can make a sheep talk… that’s really amazing!”
“Is that all the praise you know?”
“I’m sorry, Master, I… I don’t know any other words.”
“It’s time to find someone to teach you how to read and write, learn some words.” Jima said, “Get me a bucket of well water.”
“Yes, sir.” Li Anxi was very curious and was eager to see the potion that could make the sheep talk, so she ran off to fetch a bucket of well water.
Jima had already stripped off her clothes and handed them to her, saying, “Take them and wash.”
“Yes, Master.”
Li Anxi turned and left.
In the yard, Jima rinsed her body with the cool well water, dispelling the summer heat. She took a test tube and filled it with her rinse water. After drying herself with a towel and putting on her clothes, she poured the remaining well water into a copper basin and added the handful of sheep wool.
Divination by water.
At a glance, Jima sensed the familiar power lingering on the lamb; although she wasn’t entirely sure, she was certain it was extraordinary power. So she decided to divine the source of the power.
The water’s surface rippled, gradually revealing an image that only Jima could see.
She saw the lamb chewing on a patch of wet grass, with a frog beside it that a shepherd dog had dug out; the frog looked very familiar.
“That’s the one from yesterday! It worked.” Jima, who had been stuck, couldn’t help but clap her hands, “So the fear wolf gland is essential. Although it can be toxic, it doesn’t seem to be lethal to a sheep; I can mitigate the toxicity.”
Jima’s mood soared, and her breathing gradually calmed.
Now she could almost be certain she could brew the witch’s potion. This was important; the witch’s potion could carry her extraordinary powers. It meant she could store her excess magical energy in the form of potions to give to others in exchange for something.
A question flashed through her mind about naming.
She had referred to any potion infused with her extraordinary abilities as a witch’s potion. However, potions infused with different powers would have different effects and thus different names.
Jima pondered over the blank notebook in her personal system:
“The first witch potion shall be named the Enchantress’s Witch Potion. If infused with the ability of lies, it shall be called the Liar’s Witch Potion.”
Function + Witch Potion.
Simple and clear.
Although Jima wanted to name the first witch’s potion something like the Provocative Potion or the Defilement Potion.
After coming up with the names, Jima swiped her hand over the surface of the water, ending the water divination. She stood up and walked towards the alchemy room, first using golden flower petals to dye a tube of rinse water into a light golden color, then saying to it:
“The beautiful young genius herbalist can brew a potion that allows the sheep to speak about its violation.” Jima flicked the test tube, as her power of deception was infused into it with her nail, creating a crisp sound, “Moreover, most of the time, the perpetrator of the violation is the sheep’s owner. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”
As the magical energy flowed away, Jima was pleased to see the power contained in the potion. She called out, “Little Li!”
“Coming, Master.”
Li Anxi, with wet hands and sweating profusely, ran into the alchemy room.
“It’s ready.” Jima handed her the test tube, “Remember, you must make the sheep drink the potion in front of at least ten people. A little spill is fine.”
“Yes, Master.”
Li Anxi’s eyes sparkled as she carefully cradled the magical potion in her hands.
With a light jog, she dashed out of the yard, crossed the stone bridge over the river, and ran towards the village.
Outside the sheep pen, a crowd had gathered to see the spectacle. Having heard that the sheep could talk was a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, the villagers set aside their work to swarm over, and even the farmers in the fields dropped their tasks to come and watch.
The sheep owner waved his hands trying to disperse the crowd: “Go away, go away, don’t talk nonsense.”
“There’s no potion that can make a sheep talk; she’s lying to you.”
“She said she’d make a healing potion for my sheep!”
“Get lost, you’re scaring my sheep! It was the bullman who did it.”
The night watchman stepped forward and said, “You really aren’t being honorable. We heard about the bullman and took risks looking for him for ages. Now you won’t reveal the truth.”
“Right, right.”
“Aren’t we all from the same village? We’ve helped take care of your sheep.”
The sheep owner said, “Really, there is none.”
At that moment, someone shouted, “The potion is here!”
“Make way!”
The crowd quickly parted to make a path, where Li Anxi was approaching with the potion in hand, her red hair covered by a straw hat.
The sheep owner yelled, “You plague bringer, don’t come here! You’ll corrupt my sheep!”
But more people wanted to see the sheep talk and widened their eyes to watch. Someone volunteered and directly brought the lamb from the pen. In front of everyone, Li Anxi personally poured the light golden potion into the lamb’s mouth.
The lamb no longer wished to be violated and turned its head, spilling half of the potion.
The sheep owner exclaimed, “The potion spilled, everyone go back!”
“The master said, a little spill is fine.”
As soon as Li Anxi finished speaking, the lamb straightened its neck and loudly accused:
“Meh~~~! My owner is trying to violate me! It went on for half the night!”
The sheep’s bleating echoed throughout the village.
The spectators, both near and far, stared at the sheep owner with eyes full of shock and disgust.
Instantly, the sheep owner’s mind went blank, and he instinctively stepped forward to cover the lamb’s mouth.
“Meh meh meh!” the lamb made a sound like a slaughtered pig, “Help! My owner is trying to violate me!”
The villagers gasped in astonishment.
Who would have thought, the sheep owner was perverted enough to do such a thing in broad daylight, in front of everyone.
The loud sheep bleating flew across the village, over the river, reaching Jima’s ears, who was busy perfecting her potion formula.
“Heh, even kicking a dog requires knowing its master.” Jima said as she pulled a lever, activating the bellows to stoke the fire, starting to heat and produce the potion.
The warm teal-green potion flowed into the flask.
In Jima’s eyes, the magical energy contained in the potion was highlighted with colors. She held the flask in front of her and stared at it with a professional gaze for half a minute.
“What was the color last time?” As Jima struggled to determine if she had succeeded, she opened her personal system to check her experimental records.
At that moment, a line of text suddenly popped up in the long-dormant information bar:
“Congratulations, your mastery over witch powers has increased a step further.”
Her hand trembled, and the flask dropped to the table with a clink, not breaking, but tipped over on its side.
Jima swiftly reached out to steady it.
“Is this the upgrade requirement?” Jima felt an exhilarating happiness similar to finding a million on the roadside, “Quick, summarize it!”
She corked the flask. Stepping out, she ran to her bedroom, sitting in a recliner to think.
She quickly sorted out what she had just done.
“The sheep owner requested me to make a potion to heal his sheep, but because he offended me, I used the power of the Deceiver to spread rumors, turn falsehoods into truth, and produced the potion, leading to his social death.”
“Wait a minute. How is this an upgrade requirement for the Deceiver? What does it have to do with witches?”
“The witch power used was only divination.”
“Is it a request? He requested me, a witch. And I accepted his request, but did not fulfill it.”
In an instant, Jima found herself filled with contradictory speculations regarding the upgrade requirement.
Perhaps someone had to make a request to her, and whether she used the Deceiver’s power or the witch’s power, she had to intentionally sabotage that request?
Or it could be simply that she had used the witch’s divination power.
Jima decided to first perfect the potion, then find time to test it in the city.
Of course, before that, she needed to gather more information about the village’s developments after the incident.
