Four paintings of Chinese medicinal herbs garden

  Ye Chen left the library with two old books and a scroll of ancient painting, heading towards his residence. "The few herbs I bought some time ago have been used up, I should buy some new ones to bring back." Halfway through, he passed by a herbal medicine shop in the academy and remembered that he had no more herbs.

  "Mr. Zhang, do you have fresh herbs?"

  Ye Chen felt the remaining eight taels of silver in his pocket and entered the herbal medicine shop.

  "Just arrived this morning, a new batch of goods, fresh herbs picked from the mountain, tender and juicy. On the shelves, pick them yourself!"

  The boss of the herbal medicine shop, Zhang, is clearing accounts at the counter.

  Ye Chen arrived in front of the shelf.

  On the shelves of the small shop, there were many herbs, with bamboo labels indicating prices, grades and uses. There were body-refining herbs, wound-healing herbs, etc., ranging from first to third grade, suitable for use in the early stages of body refinement.

  "The first-grade herb costs ten coppers, the second-grade one costs over a hundred coppers, and the third-grade one actually costs one or two silvers per plant. These three herbs are really expensive!"

  Ye Qin muttered to herself.

  "This isn't expensive at all! Our store doesn't have any fourth to sixth grade herbs, otherwise the price would be at least tens or hundreds of taels of silver. Herbs of this grade are all bought out by wealthy families and large merchant guilds for a high price, our small store definitely can't sell them. As for seventh grade and above rare herbs, it's hard to buy them even with gold, these kinds of rare herbs are all supplied to the national treasury of the Wu Kingdom for the use of high-ranking officials, you won't see them on the market. Young man, have you made your selection?"

  Mr. Zhang smiled and said.

  "Oh, let me take another look."

  Ye Chen heard this and licked his tongue, continuing to consider which few kinds of herbs he should buy.

  He used to be penniless, and spent ten years cultivating in the academy, always using only the cheapest first-grade and second-grade herbs to refine his physique, never having used third-grade herbs. Now he is already in the middle stage of body refinement, and after cleaning up the book warehouse and doing odd jobs, he has earned a sum of money, with quite a bit of silver in his pocket, enough to buy third-grade herbs to refine his physique.

  "Boss Zhang, I only have eight taels of silver, can you help me pick out a few sets of third-grade medicinal herbs?"

  Ye Chen licked his lips.

  "Alright! This is thirty-year-old ginseng, nourishing the origin and strengthening the Qi and blood, dredging the meridians, for internal use. This is twenty-year-old red blood vine, curing internal injuries and clearing stagnant blood. This is ten-year-old snake gall fruit, for external use in medicinal baths, treating skin and flesh wounds. These are all top-grade herbs, but one of them has slightly weaker medicinal properties, so I'll sell it to you at a discount, eight taels of silver."

  Mr. Zhang, the owner of the pharmacy, quickly wrapped up three packages of herbs with his hands and smiled, "These three sets of herbs are best used together to achieve a great tonifying effect."

  "Thank you!"

  Ye Chen paid eight taels of silver, and happily took three packages of herbs to open a herbal medicine shop. He brought old books, ancient paintings, and three sets of herbs for cultivation, and came to a secluded courtyard where scholars lived in the academy, inside one of the wooden houses.

  Ye Qin unrolled the ancient painting scroll named "Xianfu", looked at it for a while, and then placed it on the table with satisfaction. This was his first time in ten years to spend money buying such a luxurious ancient painting, which greatly satisfied his long-held dream.

  Then he put three packets of herbs on the table and opened one of them.

  "Tempering Body Cultivation!"

  Ye Chen started busily, boiling hot water with a pot under the eaves to prepare medicinal herbs for internal and external use.

  "Huh? Why is one of the Gentiana scabra missing?!"

  Ye Qin boiled hot water and went back to the house to fetch herbal medicine. After taking a glance at the herbal medicine on the table, he suddenly looked shocked.

  The package of herbs on the table was opened, and there were originally three stalks of herbs inside, but now one stalk of bitter ginseng is missing.

  "Where's my ginseng? Who stole my medicine in just a short while?"

  Ye Chen rushed over in a hurry, took one step and grabbed the herbal medicine on the table.

  Then he saw something even more shocking.

  Only then did he see that in the empty and bare medicine field of the ancient painting scroll, a three-inch-long Kusnezoffi (Bupleurum) with thirty years of medicinal properties had appeared. The branches and leaves of this Kusnezoffi were still lush and vibrant, its growth was pleasing to the eye, it was clearly the very same Kusnezoffi that he had bought.

  "My bitter ginseng! How did it get into an ancient painting?! This bitter ginseng cost me one or two silver coins, how can I take it out?!"

  Ye Chen's gaze froze, and his breathing quickened.

  "It seems...to be growing!"

  Ye Chen picked up the ancient painting scroll, rubbed his eyes and looked at it carefully again.

  The bitter ginseng in the painting is indeed getting bigger.

  Ye Qin shook the ancient painting vigorously, and a thicker and larger bitter ginseng suddenly fell out of the scroll with a "thud". Its size was more than twice as large as before.

  "This bitter ginseng has grown to six inches, at least sixty years of medicinal power, it's a complete six-piece herb! Such high-quality herbs are not even sold in herbal shops. Even if they were for sale, the price would be at least tens or hundreds of taels of silver."

  Ye Chen compared the length of the bitter ginseng for a moment and swallowed his saliva.

  He immediately realized something more important.

  This bitter participation is nothing.

  The truly astonishing item is this ancient painting scroll. The medicinal garden inside it can actually make a three-inch long Gentiana scabra grow into a six-inch long Gentiana scabra.

  "What is this ancient painting scroll? ...... The scroll has the words 'Xian Fu' written on it, could it be a treasure used by an immortal cultivator?"

  Ye Chen could hardly conceal the shock in his heart.

  If this is indeed a fairy artifact, spreading the news would likely cause a sensation throughout the Martial Nation. Countless swordsmen and knife wielders, high-level cultivators at the ninth level of Body Refining, would swarm to Beimiao Academy, frantically competing for this treasure. Once a martial artist breaks through the ninth level of Body Refining, they can enter the Yuan Shen stage and become a Cultivator. Who wouldn't want to possess an artifact used by a fairy?

  "I'll try again and see how it goes!"

  Ye Chen thought for a moment and tried putting a Red Blood Vine on an ancient painting scroll.

  "Ah!"

  A twenty-year-old Red Blood Vine suddenly disappeared into thin air.

  In an ancient painting scroll, in a mu of medicinal herbs, a strand of crimson-colored vines grew out, so delicate and charming, almost as if it were real.

  Ye Chen's eyes widened and she held her breath.

  This Red Blood Vine began growing at a visibly rapid pace in the morning light, becoming increasingly sturdy.

  Before long, Chi Xue Teng suddenly "plop" fell out of the ancient painting scroll.

  "It's really used like this!"

  Ye Chen was overjoyed and took out all three sets of herbal medicine to try them out.

  After repeated attempts, he gradually figured out the trick to using this ancient painting scroll. Each time he put the herbs in, they would grow to a certain extent before automatically falling out.

  "This ancient painting scroll is much duller than before. The originally bright and vivid colors have started to become obscure, with no luster at all."

  Ye Chen used it many times and found that the ancient painting had changed.

  When he put in the last 'Ten Year Snake Gall Fruit' herb, it almost didn't grow at all in the medicine field. The Snake Gall Fruit only grew for less than a year's worth of medicinal properties before falling out.

  "What's wrong with this old painting?"

  Ye Chen discovered this and was frightened, no longer daring to use it.

  "Could it be that the fields in this ancient painting will also deplete their fertility like the ones outside?"

  He was born into a peasant family in the state of Wu, and knew that fields would be weakened by constant planting of grains, with rice yields decreasing over time. The fields needed to lie fallow for a year or two before they could recover their fertility.

  If it is understood in this way, most of the medicinal fields in the painting are insufficient in land power and need to be fallowed for a period of time.

  "Let the old painting rest and recover its vitality!"

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  c！~！