Tian Jia Gong Zi

  Time flies and half a month has passed. On this clear morning, Xu Ziqing held a thick "Pharmaceutical King's Secret Recipe" and walked to the edge of a flat bluestone, sat down and studied it carefully.

  This is the third book he has read, and the first two have been memorized by him during this period. Fortunately, his memory is good nowadays, otherwise, those big books with thousands of pages would not be able to be chewed down.

  He Lao went to take care of the Lingcao early, leaving Xu Ziqing alone here to study hard. Xu Ziqing was also used to it, turning page by page, quickly memorizing the habits, growth environment, appearance, medicinal properties and many other effects of Lingcao. Repeating silently, remembering them in his heart.

  For many days, Xu Ziqing had understood the way of doing things for this He Guan. He seemed to be unrefined and rough around the edges, but his love for spiritual grass was extremely sincere. Therefore, after Xu Ziqing arrived at Bai Cao Yuan, he made him learn to identify spiritual grass first, and understand knowledge related to spiritual grass, without teaching him any techniques.

  Xu Ziqing is calm and quiet by nature, and has always loved flowers and plants. Now that he's seen so many rare and unusual ones, his heart is filled with joy, and there's no need for Guan to say anything more. He spends day and night holding onto those few thick ancient books, unwilling to let them go. As for things like fate or cultivation, they've all been thrown to the back of his mind.

  About half a watch later, Xu Ziqing reluctantly put down the book and stretched his body.

  He Lao Tou got up at dawn, and in the meantime, he spent an hour tending to the spiritual grass. During this time, Xu Zi Qing conducted his first round of classical reading. At Chen time, Xu Zi Qing went to prepare a few dishes for breakfast and sent them to He Lao Tou. If He Lao Tou was in a good mood, he would point out several types of spiritual grasses to him, which he would carefully remember.

  Afterwards, Xu Zi Qing was driven back home, continuing to read until noon when he prepared lunch. After that, he washed the dishes and swept for an hour before resuming his reading. He then prepared dinner, washed clothes for the two of them, and continued reading until Old Man He went to sleep at midnight, after which he also slept.

  It's been like this for a day, with six or seven periods spent reciting books. It should be very dull. However, Xu Ziqing is enthusiastic about it and doesn't find it boring at all. On the contrary, he finds it interesting and feels that there aren't enough periods in a day.

  The old man saw it with his own eyes and remembered it in his heart.

  As usual, he went to have breakfast, which was a pot of rice porridge mixed with fragrant leaves, fresh and soft, very appetizing. Xuziqing packed two bamboo tubes, took them through the small path, and arrived at the medicinal garden in front.

  The creek in the middle still flows gently, with a pleasant sound. After being here for a long time, Xu Ziqing was also able to observe that originally, the terrain on both sides of this creek was not the same height.

  He Lao gave Xu Zi Qing a detailed explanation, and he finally understood. It turned out that the nature of various spiritual herbs was different, some liked heights, while others feared heights; some loved light, while others disliked light; some preferred moisture, while others were fond of dryness. To make the spiritual herbs grow comfortably, one had to cater to their nature, otherwise they would either not survive or have poor quality, and eventually, people from the clan would come to find them unlucky.

  Xu Ziqing listened with an open mind and memorized it firmly. He also wanted to take notes, but He Lao refused to allow it. Thinking about it, the things that need to be learned should be thoroughly digested before they can be applied in practice. Otherwise, when it's time to put them into action, everything will still be a mess.

  There's still plenty of time, so Xuzi Qing isn't in a hurry. He'll just keep learning slowly until Old Man He thinks he's got the hang of it, and then he'll do what Old Man He asks him to do.

  He Lao now crouched in front of a flower bed, constantly fiddling with something with his hands. Xuzi Qing quietly went over and silently squatted beside him.

  For many days, Xu Ziqing knew that He Lao was not bothered by him following and learning like this.

  Today, Old He is removing weeds from the golden silk grass. He gently strokes the roots of the golden silk grass with his left hand, slowly moving it to one side. With his right hand, he holds a thin silver needle and carefully picks up a strand of fine grass stems that are exposed above the soil and close to the roots, similar to a single hair. With a flick of his wrist, the grass stem falls into a nearby ceramic bowl.

  Jin Si Cao, a spiritual grass, is recognized by Xu Zi Qing. This herb is a perennial, fond of light and rooted in humid places with water. According to the "Ling Cao Tu Jian", wherever Jin Si Cao grows, there must be a source of water within 100 meters.

  This spiritual grass, after being planted, will take about 100 days to grow its first leaf, and another 100 days for the second one. This process repeats until it grows ten leaves, at which point the stem is also about a foot tall, and no more new leaves will appear. On the surface of each leaf, there is a white thread that runs through the entire leaf. As the years go by, this white thread will transform into a golden thread. However, not every single-plant gold-thread grass will have all ten leaves with golden threads; usually, three-leaf gold-thread grass is the most common, and ten-leaf gold-thread grass is like something out of legend, rarely seen in ordinary times.

  The golden thread grass is not delicate and difficult to grow, but it is a rare and precious spiritual grass. Why do you think that is? It's because from the moment it emerges from the soil, it often has to bring along its companion, the fading gold grass.

  The withered golden grass has no spiritual energy at all. If it weren't for its symbiotic relationship with the Golden Silk Grass, it would be just a common weed that wouldn't attract any cultivator's attention. Yet, it not only coexists with the Golden Silk Grass but is also its natural enemy.

  It is known that the leaves of golden silk grass are one of the essential medicinal materials for Zhu Ji Dan, and they are very important. However, the formation of golden silk grass leaves is restricted by the withering of golden grass. It's unknown why, but the golden silk grass is extremely dependent on the withered golden grass, dedicating all its spiritual energy and nutrients to allow the withered golden grass to grow luxuriantly. As a result, once the withered golden grass emerges from the ground, the white silk that had already transformed into golden silk will revert back, and new golden silk grass leaves can no longer be formed.

  Therefore, one of the tasks in cultivating golden thread grass is to constantly observe its roots and see if there are any weeds coming to make trouble. Once a sprout is found, it must be picked out with a silver needle and thrown away, so that the golden thread grass can continue to grow golden thread leaves.

  He Lao Tou moved with practiced ease, quickly picking a dozen or so stalks of golden grass. Xue Zi Qing watched in a daze, even forgetting the purpose of his visit to this place.

  After waiting for half a time, He Lao finished his work, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and only then realized that someone had arrived beside him. Turning around, wasn't it the new errand boy?

  Xu Ziqing also came to his senses and hastily apologized, "Sorry, He Guanshi, I was momentarily mesmerized." As he spoke, he presented the bamboo tube, "This is a clear congee cooked by me, please don't despise it, He Guanshi."

  He Lao took it over, opened the tube cover and took a sip, saying: "You've been watching for so long, have you figured out what's going on?"

  Xu Ziqing smiled: "This junior is ignorant, only seeing that Lord He is getting rid of the withered golden grass."

  Old He's eyes flashed with satisfaction: "It seems that you really did read those few books carefully."

  Xu Ziqing said: "Taking care of things is for the sake of younger generations, and naturally they should be treated with sincerity. Moreover, those books that record as much as the smoke in the sea, indeed bring great benefits to people."

  He Lao finished the remaining porridge in one gulp and nodded: "You'll follow me before noon today."

  Xu Ziqing was overjoyed, this was the first time Old He had taken the initiative to ask him to follow, which meant that he was willing to teach him. Calming his heart, Xu Ziqing replied calmly: "Yes, Manager He."

  There is a big difference between having someone to guide you and not. He Lao's knowledge is vast, and he knows the properties of various spiritual herbs like the back of his hand. Even Xu Zi Qing, who also knows many spiritual herbs' properties, would still struggle to keep up with He Lao's pace when he's working on them. This is due to a lack of experience.

  He Lao also wasn't like before, only doing things himself and letting Xu Ziqing watch by herself. Instead, he would do things while explaining the key points to her, teaching one thing at a time, so that the time passed quickly.

  Old He was cultivating the soil for a dragon claw flower when he suddenly furrowed his brow and stopped moving.

  Xu Ziqing was taken aback: "He Guanshi?"

  Old He said: "There are a few people with placards coming, you go entertain them."

  Xu Ziqing naturally agreed.

  He Lao heard this and said: "No need to be too polite, just bring the person to me."

  Xu Ziqing didn't quite understand, but he followed Old He's words and turned around to head outside. However, when he reached the gate of the medicine garden, he suddenly understood.

  At this moment, several men and women with elegant demeanor were standing on that dirt road in the medicine garden.

  Among them, the most striking one was a woman in purple clothes, with her hair high and elegant, slender figure, and an aura of arrogance. From afar, Xu Ziqing couldn't see her face clearly, but judging from her outline, she must be extremely beautiful.

  As he walked closer, Xu Ziqing saw three other men standing beside the woman. One of them was also dressed in a dignified manner, with an air of arrogance similar to that of the purple-clothed woman. However, when speaking to the woman, he seemed affectionate and should have a similar status as hers. The other two were wearing similar yellow shirts, following behind the first two, their expressions very flattering.

  Those few people saw Xu Ziqing walking near, one of the men in yellow shirts shouted: "You this miscellaneous servant, seeing the young lady come here, how dare you still be so slow!"

  Another man in yellow shirt also said: "Such sluggishness must be severely punished!"

  Xu Ziqing heard the words in front, still feeling that although they were not pleasant to hear, he indeed had his own shortcomings. However, when he heard the person behind him speak, he couldn't help but furrow his brow. He was new here and hadn't learned any spells, his footsteps weren't fast, yet he had tried his best to hurry over, so why did they start talking about punishing him? This kind of attitude was too arrogant.

  Before Xu Ziqing could respond, the man with the arrogant eyebrows and eyes spoke up: "Sister Ziting, I recently acquired a low-grade magical artifact that looks decent. Why don't you take it first to play with?" As he spoke, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a purple long whip. The whip had nine sections, each about one foot long, and was embedded with nine purple gemstones. The body of the whip shone with a flowing light, looking like a fine object.

  The woman named "ZiTang" also slightly changed her expression, and with her keen eyesight, she naturally saw that this whip was not ordinary. She took it over and said: "Tian Gongzi, if I'm not mistaken, this whip is probably at the peak of low-grade artifacts, compared to mid-grade artifacts, it's only a thin line apart."

  Nata Kōshi smiled and said, "As long as Sister Zǐtáng likes it, even if it's just a low-grade artifact at its peak, or even a mid-grade artifact, I'd be happy to give it to my sister."

  Xu Ziting smiled slightly as she played with the nine-section whip, seeming to be quite fond of it: "What's it called?"

  Tian Gongzi said, "This whip is called 'Purple Splendor', and it's even more effective when used with my sister." He smiled again, "It just so happens that this servant has offended my sister. Why not use him to test the whip? It can be a minor punishment as well as a warning."

  As soon as he finished speaking, several people's eyes fell on Xu Ziqing at the same time.

  Yu Chen threw a grenade Throwing time: 2012-11-13 13:05:08

  Lu also threw a grenade Throwing time: 2012-11-13 18:05:29

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