Who Let Him Cultivate Immortality

Chapter 33: The Medicinal Garden

Lu Yang closely followed the ginseng child, observing the lush herbs around him with a sense of novelty. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting mottled patterns of light on him. Being shrunk, the herbs seemed like towering trees, much taller than him.

Soon, they encountered a rapid stream, naturally imbued with spirituality, used for irrigating the herbs. The herbs purified part of this water, benefiting both the stream and the plants.

“This is the river guarded by the River Spirit,” the ginseng child explained.

The stream that encircles the Dao Seeking Sect varies in pace, originating from an eternal spring. This spring, older than the Sect itself, was blessed by nature, having a speck of spiritual light.

For inanimate objects, the greatest chance is to gain sentience, and this speck of spiritual light is crucial. If it assimilates into the object, it becomes a favored being of heaven and earth. If not, it might take eons to regain such an opportunity, with the risk of destruction in battles among cultivators.

Luckily, the Sect’s ancestors discovered this and locked the spiritual light within the spring, allowing it to develop true sentience. Grateful, the spring’s spirit volunteered to guard the Sect. The stream thus became both a protective barrier and a source of vitality, known as the River Spirit.

To ordinary eyes, the stream before Lu Yang and the ginseng child was just a couple of feet wide and not very fast, hardly more than a trickle. But after shrinking, it appeared thrillingly vast.

There was a makeshift bridge over the stream, probably built by the Medicine Kings for convenience.

As Lu Yang crossed, he felt as if the stream’s flow quickened, as if excited to see him, though he wasn’t sure.

He also noticed a magnificent wall made of large stones, larger than himself, which turned out to be the wall of the medicinal garden.

The ginseng child unearthed several transparent stones from the base of the wall, looking like hollowed-out glass. With its root-like arms, it strung these transparent stones together.

“These are…” Lu Yang recognized them. “Spirit stones?”

The ginseng child confirmed, explaining they were depleted spirit stones, used by the Sect to provide essence-rich spiritual energy for growing herbs.

No wonder the spiritual energy felt so rich in the garden; it was fueled by spirit stones, likely top-grade, considering their use in the garden.

The ginseng child, with its roots, strung the spirit stones and led the way, with Lu Yang closely following behind. As they walked, the ginseng child struck up a conversation with Lu Yang.

“We’re standing on a grand array called the ‘Eternal Verdancy Array’ that covers the entire garden. It aids the healthy growth of our herbs, and these transparent stones are part of the array,” the ginseng child explained.

Lu Yang had heard of the Eternal Verdancy Array, a top-tier formation used in cultivating spiritual herbs, costing a fortune and consuming a vast amount of spirit stones annually.

“By the way, I heard from Old Ba that our Dao Seeking Sect is quite poor. To support us, it’s said they’re nearly broke. Like organizing that cuju (ancient football) competition, people fighting over a ball, heads bleeding. Is that true?” the ginseng child inquired.

Lu Yang didn’t dare to join in on the topic. Old Ba seemed nice and kind-hearted, but he sure knew how to swindle the Medicine Kings.

“This is called the ‘Illusion-Breaking Celestial Wood.’ It can break through illusions and reveal the truth, truly a nemesis to all falsities. If you’re under an illusion, just hold this wood tightly, and it will dispel the false visions,” the ginseng child continued.

Lu Yang’s gaze followed the ginseng child’s direction, spotting a cactus.

“That’s a Solar Blast Flower, essential for cultivating the Solar Body. Apart from cultivation, adding it to any fire-attribute elixir can infuse a bit of solar essence, very beneficial for cultivators with a fire-type spiritual root.”

“The highest quality of Solar Blast Flowers is nine turns. A nine-turn Solar Blast Flower is even useful for those in the Tribulation Crossing phase. This area has six, seven, and eight-turn Solar Blast Flowers.”

“Over there is the Enlightenment Forest. The leaves steeped in water can aid in enlightenment, and the wood is used to craft top-grade magical artifacts. It’s said to fetch sky-high prices in the outside world. Every autumn, Old Ba plucks a large number of Enlightenment Leaves for you all to consume.”

Lu Yang had seen many descriptions of the Enlightenment Tree in books, praised as a celestial species, a divine tree. Humanity’s rapid rise in the ancient times was significantly due to the Enlightenment Tree.

However, this was his first time seeing a real one.

The towering Enlightenment Trees looked like mythical trees reaching the heavens. From the perspective of three-inch tall Lu Yang, it was dizzying to look up at them, as if the Dao was thundering in his ears.

“I heard from Old Ba that it’s best for low-level cultivators not to consume Enlightenment Leaves. At a low level, cultivators’ Dao hearts and foundations are lacking. Consuming the leaves prematurely is like forcing growth, detrimental to future cultivation and enlightenment.”

“Just like how we shouldn’t over-fertilize young herbs.”

“The older the tree, the better the enlightenment ability of its leaves. The oldest tree in the Enlightenment Forest is even older than me and is a Medicine King. You’ll see it soon.”

“This is called the Lovesick Grass, one of the main ingredients for the Lovesick Moonlit Elixir. When the moon hangs high, if two people in distant lands simultaneously consume the Lovesick Moonlit Elixir, they can communicate heart to heart, transcending time and space.”

“A legend from ancient times tells of a pair of lovers, a man from a noble clan and a woman of lowly birth. They met when the man went hunting and fell in love at first sight, vowing to be together forever.”

“But being the son of a clan leader, he had no right to choose his partner, let alone marry a slave. The clan forced him to marry a girl from another noble clan, strengthening ties between the clans through their marriage.”

“Refusing to comply, the man sneaked out on his wedding day and eloped with the woman.”

“When the clan elders learned of this, they were enraged and sent masters to kill the woman. She died in the man’s arms, and in grief, he took his own life. Their blood merged into a wild herb, dyeing its roots red and creating the Lovesick Grass.”

Captivated by the story, Lu Yang asked, “That’s so touching, did it really happen?”

“Fake. It’s a story made up by someone to sell the Lovesick Grass for a high price. I was right there when they made it up.”

“…”

(End of the chapter)