Chapter Thirty-Eight: Spirit Grass Medicine Garden

  (I went out today and had something to do, so the update time was delayed. This is the first update, and there will be a second one around 10 pm tonight.)

  Yu Qing was indeed a man of his word, and within three days, Su Che received a spiritual symbol transmission, instructing him to report to the Lingcao Medicine Garden.

  "Success!"

  Su Chao's excited hands clapped together, and the transmission talisman in his palm turned into a flash of light that dissipated into the air, completely fulfilling its mission.

  Wanting to reach the third layer of Qi cultivation within half a year, relying solely on the Washing Marrow Pill and Condensing Qi Pill purchased in Xuanji City is definitely unrealistic. These low-grade elixirs can only play a certain auxiliary role, and if taken excessively, they will produce adverse effects such as an unstable foundation and chaotic true energy.

  The higher the grade of Dan medicine, the better its effect and the smaller its side effects. This is a basic common sense that everyone knows. To refine top-grade Dan medicine, top-grade medicinal materials are needed. Therefore, the precious spiritual grass in the secret medicine garden has become Su Che's greatest reliance with high hopes.

  "Who would have thought that things would go so smoothly? Master Yu Qing is indeed my benefactor." Overjoyed, Su Che also reminded himself in his heart to always remember Master Yu Qing's kindness and to repay him well if he had the chance in the future.

  It is often said that a drop of kindness should be repaid with a fountain of gratitude. This is also a principle that Su Che has always adhered to in his dealings with others.

  The ten main peaks of the Tianxuan Sect all have their own spiritual grass and medicine gardens, and the location of the Xuanji Peak Medicine Garden is even higher than the residential area of the inner door disciples. Further up is the practice residence of the true transmission disciples.

  All ten main peaks have super-large arrays for gathering spiritual energy, and the higher the location, the thicker the heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, which means that the environment for cultivation will also be better. Therefore, the position of the Medicine Garden's managing disciple is quite sought after, and many inner disciples are unable to compete for it.

  Su Che had thought that he would have to pay a considerable price to get such a good job, but unexpectedly, his luck was quite good, and the elder of the Xuanji Peak Medicine Garden turned out to be Yu Qing's uncle.

  With excitement and tension in his heart, Su Che walked up the wide bluestone mountain path, which was several zhangs wide. Along the way, he met two inner disciples who were in the later stages of Qi Refining. Their eyes seemed strange as they looked at him, perhaps guessing: How could a first-layer Qi Refining outer disciple end up here? Wouldn't he be ignorant and wandering around randomly?

  Su Che walked straight ahead, his eyes fixed on the path as he climbed up the mountain. After more than half a time, he finally saw a stone tablet blocking the middle of the mountain road with the words "Medicine Garden Forbidden Area, Outsiders Prohibited".

  The mountain path behind the stone monument was shrouded in thick fog, and it was impossible to see through the mystery with the naked eye. However, Lao Hei's detection ability was extremely special, and he could actually see through the misty barrier of dozens of feet deep, observing the scene on the other side of the dense fog.

  "Master, the dense fog ahead is a large-scale maze. Without knowing the correct path, one will inevitably get lost in it." In the immortal prison, Old Black puffed out his chest with pride: "However, this kind of maze can't trap me, Old Black. I've already seen that on the other side of the fog there's a thatched cottage, where a late-stage Qi-refining inner sect disciple is guarding this place."

  "Yes, you indeed have some skills." Su Che thought to himself: "But even if we do have skills, we don't dare expose them carelessly. Let's just be honest and follow the rules."

  The old black man smiled and nodded in agreement.

  Su Che took out his own identity jade symbol, and respectfully bowed to the stone tablet: "Xuanji Peak outer door disciple Su Che, just received a message from Master Yuqing, ordering me to report here."

  The sentence was shouted three times in a row, and out of the thick fog walked a young man dressed in an inner disciple's uniform, looking to be around twenty-two or three years old, with a cultivation base at the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

  "Is it Su Che?"

  "Yes."

  "Ah, indeed, Senior Brother Yuqing had mentioned it earlier. Let me take a look at the Jade Token." The young Daoist walked closer.

  Su Che handed over the identity jade symbol with both hands, and the young Taoist took it quickly after checking it. He didn't return it immediately, but instead turned around and walked away, saying only: "Follow me."

  Su Che closely followed him into the fog-shrouded area, taking a few steps to the left, a few steps to the right, and occasionally retreating a few steps. The walking formation was quite complex. Soon, the two of them emerged from the array and arrived on the other side of the dense fog.

  Laohei was right, there was a thatched cottage nearby, which should be the guard post of this inner door disciple; in the distance, it was a piece of medicinal field reclaimed around the mountain body, each piece of medicinal field had a fence to isolate, and you could also see a thatched cottage distributed among them.

  Su Che thought to himself, "Those thatched cottages must be the temporary residences of the disciples in charge of taking care of the medicinal fields... In other words, they are just a group of medicine boys, and their living conditions are definitely not as good as those of regular cultivation residences."

  The young Taoist then returned Su Che's identity token and pointed to a straight path in the field, saying: "Follow this road all the way, after hundreds of feet, you will see a courtyard, go there to find a Chen Zongguan."

  "Got it, thanks brother."

  "Go." The young Taoist priest waved his hand calmly.

  Until Su Che had walked dozens of feet away, the young Daoist muttered to himself: "To be able to come here and take care of the medicine garden after just one layer of Qi practice... I wonder what kind of relationship this kid has with Master Yu Qing? Su Che, fourteen years old, newly entered the sect for less than a month..."

  Following his guidance, Su Che walked along the path between the fields and soon saw a courtyard with an area of about one mu, which was the most formal building in this medicinal garden.

  "Master, there's only one middle-aged cultivator in the initial stage of foundation building inside. It should be that Chen Zongguan." Old Black reminded: "However, this person is muttering and scolding someone, looks like he's not in a good mood."

  "Who is he scolding?" Su Che immediately stopped in his tracks. If the other person was in a bad mood, he certainly shouldn't go in at this time, lest he unnecessarily provoke him.

  Lao Hei replied, "I couldn't hear clearly, he was muttering and didn't mention any names... it seemed like something about a dead little brat who doesn't know the height of the sky or the thickness of the earth, wait and see..."

  Su Che's heart skipped a beat as he listened, and although it was impossible to associate it with himself, he couldn't help but analyze: "This Chen Zongguan is scolding people behind their backs, and yet he still dares to mutter to himself out loud. He seems quite petty and narrow-minded, I reckon he's not an easy person to get along with, this charitable man."

  It's not convenient to go and report for the time being, Su Che is currently in a location that is still dozens of feet away from the courtyard. To say, with Chen Zongguan's spiritual awareness at the initial stage of foundation building, he should not be able to detect this place. This shows that Lao Hei's detection ability is extraordinary, almost comparable to the range of spiritual coverage after foundation building.

  A few days ago, Su Che went to the 'Transmission Hall' again, brought some small gifts to Zheng Guan Shi, and took the opportunity to read some books. He learned that: The range of divine consciousness in the early stage of foundation building is approximately between 20-30 zhang; The range of divine consciousness in the middle stage of foundation building is approximately between 40-60 zhang; The range of divine consciousness in the late stage of foundation building is approximately between 70-100 zhang...

  Lao Hei's overall strength was only at the third layer of Qi refinement, yet he already possessed a hundred meters of penetrative vision, which was absolutely one of Su Che's greatest advantages.

  It's not that, if Su Che had probed ahead of time to find out that Director Chen was in a bad mood, he could have stood outside and waited patiently for a while. When the director inside calmed down, it wouldn't be too late to go in again.

  Taking advantage of this opportunity, Su Che looked around and also borrowed the help of Lao Hei's detection ability to carefully identify the various spiritual grasses planted in several nearby medicine fields.

  Datura flower, Seven-star grass, Thousand gold grass, He Shou Wu, Fire-refined fruit, Worry-forgetting fruit, Phoenix tail grass...

  "This area is all low-grade and medium-grade spiritual grass, the years are not high, can't be considered very precious." Su Che inferred in his heart: "It's clear that this place is just the outer periphery of the spiritual grass garden, it doesn't count as a true forbidden area of the medicine garden."

  "Yes, master." Old Black also said: "According to Han Youming's memory, the secret cave his father discovered is close to the extreme-grade spiritual herb field. That place is the core area of the entire medicine garden. It's not easy to get close to that place."

  "No rush, no rush." Su Che had always pursued a calm mindset, and this moment was no exception: "Haste makes waste! As a newcomer, nothing can be rushed. Let's figure out the situation first."

  Su Che stood still, looking around in all directions, which attracted the attention of several disciples who were in charge of the medicine fields. From the windows of several nearby thatched cottages, they cast their eyes on him, secretly guessing: "Can an outer disciple at the first level of Qi training come here? It seems like he's here to report to Manager Chen... No way, when did the threshold for disciples in charge of the medicine fields become so low?"