The canyon appeared to be a river in the past, as both events were even and lush with algae and covered with shell fossils. It was certainly an interesting ce.


    "What secrets do you think are hidden here?" Jouri asked.


    Frank shook his head and turned to look into the distance.


    Jouri followed his gaze to see a man in his forties carrying a basket behind his back while holding scythes for harvesting herbs.


    As he appeared local, Jouri asked, "Excuse me, are there any interesting ces around here?"


    She naturally did not want to search the entire area as it would be taxing and asked for directions since someone was around.


    However, the middle-aged man was at once wary. "What do you want?"


    "Nothing," Jouri quickly said. "We''re just here on a trip!"


    The middle-aged man growled, "That''s allowed, but don''t you dare take anything from here! The vige retains rights to everything around here, and no one else gets to touch it!"


    Jouri remained calm but was still a little exasperated. "Don''t worry, we won''t touch your herbs. You could follow us if you doubt me."


    "That''s better!"


    The middle-aged man then thought about it. "There''s actually not much, aside from the herbs or some university studenting from the city to study soilposition. They never find anything special though-the elders said it''s because of our ancestor''s blessing!"


    Jouri smiled and nodded, as that really was the case from a certain point of view.


    Such a blessednd was already rare, and scientifically speaking, there must also be something that enhanced the medicinal value of the herbs. That would certainly exin the peculiarity!


    "Are you going to harvest herbs? Lead the way-we''d like to go with you!" Jouri then said.


    They had to start searching anyway, but having a local as guide was definitely twice more effective.


    The middle-aged man nodded, and Frank and Jouri followed him to the southwestern edge of the canyon.


    Along the walls, the middle-aged man found a snow lotus!


    Frank and Jouri traded nces.


    Snow lotuses were not rare, especially in the hignds, but they should not show up in a mind state like Shagan!


    "What, is this really that umon? There''s even more strangeness up ahead every rare herb known in this


    country is here in this canyon. You''ll see!"


    The middle-aged man sounded really proud, and they continued ahead as he


    gathered more snow lotuses.


    Suddenly, several people came running from the opposite direction.


    The middle-aged man recognized them to be locals and smiled in wry amusement as they appeared panicked. "What''s going on? Is there a lion or hyena up front, chasing after you?"


    "No lion or hyenas, but there''s a bear!" one of them wheezed. "Run!"


    The middle-aged man was at a loss-he had been harvesting herbs here every day since he was twenty.


    Forget a bear he had never even seen a rat show up in the area, as wildlife encounters were limited to those mosquitoes in the summer.


    However, the vigers kept running and started to climb the rope that led to the surface.


    Snap!


    As there were too many of them climbing at once, and the rope that was already quite old was ripped in half!


    Everyone was left utterly dumbfounded now!


    One of them strode out to take


    it down with us. So let''s agree that


    no one runs away, or we''ll al die here!"


    While everyone else nodded, the middle-aged man frowned. "Are you people


    serious? Quit joking around already."