Chapter 40 Familiarizing with the Environment

  Managing a patch of 'Seven Star Grass' medicinal field was no difficulty for Su Che, although he wasn't really good at spiritual grass cultivation himself. However, Han Youming, the prisoner detained in the Xian prison, had quite a talent for it.

  This talent was inherited from his bloodline, his old man used to be a medicine garden manager, responsible for taking care of top-grade and even ultimate-grade spiritual herbs, and left behind a thick notebook of notes for the Han brothers, with detailed annotations on the cultivation and nurturing of every type of spiritual herb in the Xuanji Peak Medicine Garden.

  Less than twenty years after the death of Mr. Han, the changes in the Xuanji Peak Spiritual Medicine Garden were not great, so relying on this heart-gained note and Han Youming's planting talent, Su Che was able to possess these skills by proxy.

  In old black's words: Having a criminal is just like we have it! A criminal knowing something is just like we know it!

  After spending an hour tending to the medicinal field, he returned to the thatched hut and began his cultivation. Compared to other outer sect disciples, Su Che's cultivation method was already considered quite luxurious.

  First, eighteen pieces of lower-grade spirit stones are inlaid on a circular array disc with a diameter of over four feet. Sit on the disc, then swallow one piece of Brain Cleansing Pill and one piece of Air Condensing Pill at the same time, absorbing the pure spiritual energy from the spirit stones, as well as the medicinal effects of the two pills. The major acupoints all over the body can also absorb the free-roaming spiritual energy between heaven and earth...

  In this way, the speed of cultivation is six or seven times faster than ordinary sitting meditation, but the disadvantage is that financial consumption is extremely large, especially the consumption of spiritual stones, which can only be maintained for about two months.

  Even so, wanting to reach the third layer of Qi training within half a year is still impossible. Taking 'Lei Xiao' as an example, the Lei family is wealthy and has plenty of spiritual stones and low-grade elixirs, but even after entering the sect for over a year, Lei Xiao was only at the second layer of Qi training. His older cousin, Lei Qingxue, had slightly better innate talent, and it took her a year and a half after entering the sect to finally break through to the third layer of Qi training.

  So, Su Che's plan to "achieve three layers of Qi in half a year" was indeed a self-imposed whip that he lashed himself with, and it was quite severe! To others, it would seem like an absurd fantasy, a pipe dream.

  He cultivated until the next morning, and Su Che's cultivation grew by a tiny bit, almost imperceptibly. However, this was all normal, as regular cultivation was like that.

  He walked out of the thatched cottage, made a round of inspection around the Seven Star Herb Field, and didn't find anything unusual. Su Che decided to wander around and try if he could get close to the core area of the Ling Grass Herb Garden.

  Along with the gigantic body of Xuán Jī Peak, the entire Líng Cǎo Medicine Garden is divided into three layers of terraced heights. The lowest layer is the cultivation area for lower and middle-grade Líng Cǎo, the second layer is the cultivation area for upper and top-grade Líng Cǎo, and the third layer is the cultivation area for the most precious and rarest grade of Líng Cǎo.

  Lao Hei whispered: "Fortunately, that secret cave is located on the stone wall between the second and third layers. We only need to reach the second layer."

  "Yes, the third floor is where the most precious and rare spiritual grasses are kept, with extremely tight security. My identity definitely doesn't qualify me to go up there." Su Che thought to himself: "I reckon that even if it's just the second floor, the difficulty will still be very high."

  As they spoke, Su Che chose the nearest mountain path staircase and carefully climbed up, not daring to go too fast, lest he accidentally triggered the protective array or ban here.

  After walking nearly a hundred steps, Lao Hei had already investigated the situation above: "Master, this mountain path appears empty at first glance, but in fact, there is an invisible and intangible illusion array. On both sides of the mountain path, there are dozens of large and small restrictions. At the end of the mountain path, there is a thatched cottage with a guardian disciple inside, who has also reached the later stage of Qi refinement."

  "Go on." Su Che stopped in his tracks.

  Lao Hei analyzed carefully: "There are too many restrictions on both sides of the mountain path, and those restrictions are quite clever. Even if we know they exist, we can't break through them. On the other hand, this illusion array in the middle of the mountain path, my detection ability can see through it. If we're careful, we can still pass by quietly."

  "What about the guardian disciple at the end of the mountain path if the Illusory Formation can be solved?" Su Che asked.

  Lao Hei thought for a moment and replied: "Can't think of a good solution for the time being, how about we change to another mountain path and take a look?"

  "There's no need for that." Su Che vetoed his suggestion: "I think every mountain path will have the same layout, formation, prohibition, and guardian disciples. Nothing will be missing... Moreover, even if we can bypass the guardian disciples, once we enter the upper spiritual medicine area, we'll still be discovered by those disciple stewards who tend to the medicine fields. We're not invisible people, it's impossible to evade all eyes."

  "Indeed it is!" Old Black scratched his head and said: "What can be done about this?"

  "In short, sneaking in like a thief won't work, our strength is too low and we'll easily be discovered. We need to come up with a better plan and walk in openly and honestly." Su Che adjusted his mindset, self-admonishing: "If you rush, you won't succeed, can't be impatient. This is only the first day, after some time has passed, we'll definitely find a way."

  So Su Che walked back down the mountain path and began to wander around the lower medicine garden, of course, to familiarize himself with the environment and look for loopholes.

  The area of the lower medicine garden was also extremely large. Su Che walked along the main road between the fields for thousands of feet and concluded that every thousand feet, there was a mountain path leading up. In fact, it proved that the previous prediction was completely correct, and each mountain path had defensive measures such as illusion arrays, seals, and a guardian disciple.

  Lingcao Herb Garden is indeed worthy of the title "Forbidden Land", with a level of protection that exceeds even the "Chuan Gong Pavilion" and the "Wanbao Warehouse".

  As they walked, a lovely young girl came towards them. Lao Hei let out an admiring whistle and called out in a lustful tone: "This little girl is really beautiful, look at those big eyes of hers, so bright and captivating..."

  "Cut the nonsense!" Su Che scolded himself in his heart: "The lowest kind of mountain bandit, that's what you are now."

  Lao Hei chuckled and said: "The key is, she's looking at you! Wow, she's coming over to you! Master, your romantic luck has arrived!"

  It's nonsense again, there is only one main road in the field, and the other party is coming straight towards this side.

  Just before they met, Su Che stepped aside and saluted in advance: "Have seen Shifu's sister."

  The other party was an inner disciple of the two silver threads, still young in age, looking only eighteen or nineteen years old, yet already had a cultivation base of eight layers of Qi Refining. Without a doubt, this was another extremely talented individual with exceptional innate abilities.

  The unfounded masters, the age characteristics shown on the surface are relatively real. Anti-aging drugs are extremely rare and expensive, ordinary people can't afford them.

  What Lao Hei said is not bad, this girl's appearance is indeed exceptional, her skin is like jade, her temperament is extraordinary, as if she were a celestial maiden who had fallen to the mortal world, especially her pair of extremely lively big eyes, shining brightly like black gemstones, capable of absorbing the souls of male creatures.

  "What kind of person are you?" The girl stopped in her tracks, her lively eyes becoming sharp.

  This gaze was very familiar to Su Che, during his tenure as a constable, when patrolling the town, whenever he encountered suspicious-looking strangers, he would scrutinize them in this way.

  "Outer disciple Su Che, who just arrived at the Medicine Garden yesterday, has been appointed as the managing disciple." Su Che replied softly.

  "Even a Qi Refiner of the first layer can come here, I've never seen one before..." The girl stretched out her delicate white hand: "Your identity jade symbol, let me take a look."

  "Sister Shī, my identity jade symbol has already been verified by Manager Chen." Despite the fact that his opponent was a powerful inner sect disciple, Sū Chè also wanted to make it clear: what right do you have to inspect my identity jade symbol?

  The girl understood the meaning of Su Che's words, her face turned cold, and she said in a crisp voice: "I am the patrol officer of Lingcao Medicine Garden, I have the power to inspect anyone's identity jade symbol, including the Chen General Manager you mentioned!"

  "Alright." Su Che no longer resisted and immediately took out his own identity jade symbol.

  The girl infused her true energy to examine the jade symbol, but her eyes became even sharper: "Your identity jade symbol doesn't show any record of you being a Medicine Garden disciple, you're lying!"

  "Huh?" Su Che was taken aback and asked, "What appointment record? I don't know."

  Whoosh!

  The girl swung her hand and threw out a rope, brushing against Su Che's body, wrapping it around him several times, tying his arms into a tight knot. This patrol officer was indeed swift and decisive, saying he would take action and taking action without any hesitation.

  Su Che struggled subconsciously for a while before realizing that the ropes on his body were not ordinary objects, but rather a high-grade magical tool. The more he struggled, the tighter it bound him.

  At first, he was locked up with iron chains in Cai Shi Town. Today, he was picked up by a little girl... Su Che was very clear that under this circumstance, all explanations were superfluous. He spoke calmly: "Shi Jie, I'm new here and don't understand many rules. You can take me to see Chief Chen to verify my identity."

  "Need you to say!" The young girl released her true energy and pushed Su Che once: "Go to General Chen's place, hurry up!"

  Su Che's arms were bound, which didn't affect his agility technique, but at this moment, he looked quite embarrassed. The several disciples in charge nearby were also watching the commotion with smiles on their faces.

  Thank you for the rewards from book friends 'Xie Zhixiu', 'Youzhi Waist' and 'CX Yu', thank you for the evaluation votes from book friend 'Suiyefeng Leng', thank you very much!