69novels 568. Working together to gather grass
568. Working together to gather grass
While Wei Jiangyuan was diligently collecting the roots and stems of herbs, Xiao Yan finally completed the Soul Transfer Technique. Feeling the vast, ocean-like soul power within his body, he felt much more confident in obtaining the last few herbs.
However, Xiao Yan was somewhat puzzled by Wei Jiangyuan's actions. He wasn't surprised that Wei Jiangyuan could unleash his soul power in a short time, just like him. After all, Wei Jiangyuan's master was truly extraordinary, and it was normal for him to have resources that ordinary people couldn't access.
But why dig up the roots instead of the herbs was something he truly couldn't understand. After all, it was true that the roots of these rare and precious herbs could regenerate, but it still took a very long time. Even in a place like the Alchemy Realm, which was extremely suitable for the growth of herbs, it would take hundreds of years for them to grow.
However, Xiao Yan suppressed these doubts in his heart for the time being. His soul power suddenly poured out and precisely pierced the gaps in the restrictive runes. This movement instantly caused the bronze ancient seal array to tremble violently. The rune restriction, which was originally difficult to shake even for the mid-stage of the Spirit Realm, was torn open with spider web-like cracks under the blessing of the Soul Transfer Technique.
With his soul power increasing, Xiao Yan no longer felt the suffocating pressure he had experienced when he rushed into the restriction. This feeling of omnipotence was truly intoxicating, and taking advantage of his current freedom, Xiao Yan quickly uprooted one of the seven herbs, the Amber Grass, and put it into his possession.
With the first herb successfully grown, Xiao Yan pressed his advantage, unleashing his enhanced soul power to collect all seven herbs and store them in his storage ring.
Now that he had some free time, Xiao Yan observed that Wei Jiangyuan on the other side also seemed somewhat exhausted. After all, he needed to collect as many as seventy or eighty portions of medicinal roots and stems. Although the soul pressure had stopped increasing as all the herbs were taken out, the pressure alone, especially considering it was designed for a late-stage Spirit Realm cultivator, was still incredibly terrifying. Being able to resist briefly didn't mean he could do whatever he wanted inside, especially since Wei Jiangyuan needed to go in and out more than eighty times.
Without hesitation, Xiao Yan channeled his soul power into the restriction once more to assist Wei Jiangyuan. Xiao Yan swiftly collected a root, and Wei Jiangyuan immediately understood his intention. Working together, they swept across the restriction from left and right, increasing their speed once more, and finally managed to extract all the medicinal roots within its confines.
After the last one was taken out, Wei Jiangyuan collapsed to the ground without a care for his image, letting out a long sigh of relief: "I'm exhausted. Who was the heartless person who came up with this kind of test?"
Xiao Yan also came to his side and gave Wei Jiangyuan all the roots and stems he had collected, while asking, "What do you need so many medicinal roots and stems for?"
Wei Jiangyuan stored all the herbs into his storage ring, chuckled, revealing his signature tiger teeth: "Of course they'll be useful. Just wait and see, I'm going to use these to drive that Ling Zhuo crazy!"
After collecting all the herbs, the group left Misty Mountain again. Xiong Zhan, who had been inside the cave and largely oblivious to the outside world, finally emerged and looked at the empty herb garden, somewhat surprised: "They stripped everything bare. These guys are terrifying..."
……
With only two or three days left before the Pill Realm closes, Xiao Yan and his group began to take stock of their gains within the Pill Realm. After all, the competition was just around the corner, and all four of them had obtained a lot of herbs; proper allocation would allow them to make better use of these herbs.
Of the four, Xiao Yan had the most to gain. He first entered a misty mountain and snatched Mu Gu's harvested herbs from Mu Gu's storage ring. Based on the directional jade tablet in Mu Gu's hand, he obtained the herbs from a second misty mountain, as well as seven herbs from the last misty mountain.
These are all medicinal herbs that can be used as the core ingredients for eighth-grade pills. In addition, Xiao Yan has participated in several exchange activities with low-level alchemists, so the herbs he now possesses are basically equivalent to the combined harvest of the other three.
Wei Jiangyuan and Yao Qingyu's gains were much less; given their abilities, they should have collected far more. However, due to bad luck, they both entered the same misty mountain on their first visit, and their competition led to a less successful outcome compared to Xiao Yan. Furthermore, when the misty mountain appeared a second time, Yao Qingyu had already been summoned away by Ling Zhuo. Wei Jiangyuan, in his search for Ling Zhuo's whereabouts, also followed Yao Qingyu, resulting in mutual interference and their collection falling far short of Xiao Yan's.
Lei Jingxiao's harvest was even simpler; he only entered one misty mountain, so naturally he only had materials from that one mountain.
However, Lei Jingxiao still said seriously, "These are all the fruits of my hard work, and they must be exchanged equally!"
To his surprise, Wei Jiangyuan didn't stand on ceremony at all and directly took two of the herbs from his hands: "Hey, Lei Zi did a good job. I'll take these two. I'll give you credit if I win the Pill Competition."
Lei Jingxiao stared wide-eyed at the almost shameless Wei Jiangyuan: "You bastard, I also need herbs to make medicine, let's trade!"
Seeing Lei Jingxiao's serious expression, Wei Jiangyuan was somewhat surprised, so he suppressed a mischievous smile and asked, "I didn't expect you to be so serious. Tell me what you want to refine and what materials you need, and I'll trade with you fairly!"
This question stumped Lei Jingxiao, as Wei Jiangyuan only had the intention of refining medicine. He had no other preparations. He then turned to Xiao Yan for help, which stumped Xiao Yan as well.
Wei Jiangyuan immediately came up with a solution and put a recipe for a fourth-grade pill into Lei Jingxiao's hands: "Lei Zi, don't say I'm bullying you because you're young. If you can refine this fourth-grade pill, I'll pay you back ten times the amount of the materials."
"It's a deal!"
"Absolutely," Wei Jiangyuan said with a mocking smile, his face showing no sign of worry. Lei Jingxiao was equally unconvinced, looking determined to make Wei Jiangyuan regret his actions.
After their antics ended, the two began to divide the medicinal herbs according to their needs. Xiao Yan watched Wei Jiangyuan and Yao Qingyu work from the sidelines, remaining silent the entire time.
Yao Qingyu, being more perceptive and sensitive, took the initiative to ask Xiao Yan, "Senior brother, what's wrong? Is there some essential material you need that we don't have here?"
"I haven't actually decided what I should refine yet." Xiao Yan didn't hide his thoughts from Yao Qingyu.