As soon as he stepped through the gates of the medicine garden, Perfected Chuhe's voice rang out: "Eh? This scent—it smells like Nethergleam Grass, but something is off! Hurry, go take a look!"
Wei Yuan remained calm, first looking around at the surroundings.
The medicine garden was not particularly large, yet it was exceptionally refined. Its grounds were neatly divided into nine sections, each spanning several dozen mu.
Each section was planted with a medicinal herb resembling paddy rice, its grains like pearls radiating a soft glow. The herbs in each section were at varying stages of growth, evidently intended for rotational harvesting.
In the central plot, the nether power was at its thickest, so potent that black vapors constantly rose from the ground. This plot was roughly several dozen mu in size, with only a single herb planted per mu.
These dozens of herbs had grown over ten feet tall with thick, sturdy stalks, resembling small trees. Each bore fruits the size of rice bowls, their flickering nether glow illuminating the surroundings in a dreamlike haze.
With a hint of pride, Wu Li said, "This medicine garden is planted entirely with Nethergleam Grass. This herb condenses the essence of the Nether Cold Realm and is truly a rare, supreme yin treasure medicine. The eight surrounding plots are harvested one by one every twenty years, in a continuous rotation.
"The central plot was planted when this garden was first established, more than four hundred years ago. Situated atop the springhead of a Nether Spring and augmented by an array that gathers spiritual energy, its growth rate is fully seven times that of the outside world. Thus, these dozens of stalks of Nethergleam Grass have accumulated nearly three thousand years of maturity!"
Old Daoist Chuhe immediately piped up, "This grass shares a karmic affinity with this old Daoist!"
Sun Yu chimed in, "When reading late into the night, this grass will serve nicely as a candle for illumination!"
Xu Henshui was not to be outdone: "It bears a striking resemblance to my dharma idol!"
It took Wei Yuan a great deal of effort to appease his martial uncles, promising to give each of them two stalks, after which he separately promised ten stalks to Perfected Chuhe.
Perfected Chuhe did not want the spirit herbs for his own immediate use, but to nurture them. As long as a spirit medicine was tended to long enough, it would manifest within his mindscape world, imbuing the old Daoist with greater spirituality.
Wu Li naturally had no idea that the cultivators within the umbrella had already divided up these thousand-year-old spiritual plants. He led Wei Yuan onward to the other medicine gardens. The herbs planted in those gardens were of varied varieties and uneven quality, though each possessed several thousand-year-old herbs of their own.
After touring the medicine gardens, Wei Yuan asked, "Since your master had already made arrangements in advance, why didn't he take these spiritual herbs with him?"
Wu Li answered, "Transplanting them is hardly any different from cutting them down. Having kept company with these herbs for centuries, Master couldn't bear to see them harmed, so he left them all here to let fate take its course."
"A medicine garden that can achieve a growth rate seven times the norm—what tier does that place it in the Nether Realm?"
Wu Li said, "Master was always quite proud of it, often smiling warmly whenever he spoke of it. I imagine it must be quite exceptional."
Wei Yuan nodded calmly, offering no further comment.
After inspecting the gardens, the group headed to the warehouse. Most of the warehouse was empty, storing only low-value materials that were bulky and heavy. Shu Li had already taken everything of value from the storehouse; what remained were merely the living, growing materials in the incubation chambers and medicine gardens.
The final stop was the scripture court.
This was where Shu Li stored and collected all kinds of scriptures and classical texts, boasting an impressive scale. When Wei Yuan stepped inside, he saw that most of the books on the shelves remained, though several bookcases in the innermost cultivation area had already been emptied out.
The shelves here were remarkably tall, each row having four tiers, each tier five feet high. Most of the books resting upon them were crafted from beast hides and beast bones, the larger ones reaching four feet in height and even the smaller ones exceeding two feet. Walking among them, Wei Yuan felt as diminutive as a kitten.
As he passed by a bookcase, one, then two, three, four, and soon five or six Dao Foundation warriors suddenly appeared behind Wei Yuan. By the time he walked around the end of the shelf, dozens of Dao Foundation warriors followed in his wake.
They each took up positions before a row of shelves, picking up books to study with earnest diligence.
Shu Li had gathered classical texts for several centuries, among which there was bound to be much useful knowledge. Wei Yuan intended to first store it in the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World and slowly organize and analyze it later.
It was just that the cultivation records of Shu Li's own lineage were entirely missing; some days earlier, he had already taken all those classics away and sent them to the real world.
Wei Yuan suddenly noticed a book resting on the desk, opened to a particular page as though it had just recently been perused. Wei Yuan sat down before the desk. The chair was extraordinarily wide, roomy enough for three of him to sit side by side—evidently where Shu Li usually sat.
However, sitting in Shu Li's chair, the top of Wei Yuan's head barely aligned with the desk, making it impossible to read.
Wei Yuan sat motionless. A streak of pale red sword qi flashed, slicing through the four legs of the desk. The table instantly dropped by two feet, allowing Wei Yuan to see the book with ease.
Yet the book on the desk was three feet tall and a foot and a half wide, making it rather inconvenient to turn its pages.
Wei Yuan remained still, and the book stood upright before him on its own, its cover turning open unprompted.
Standing to the side, Wu Li grew increasingly cautious and deferential. This new master seemed rather difficult to deal with.
The book's cover was made from the hide of an unknown spirit beast, half an inch thick and pleasantly cool and comfortable to the touch. The pages inside were nearly transparent, made of an extraordinary material where faint patterns and veins were still visible.
Wei Yuan found the material of the pages familiar. After pondering a moment, he recalled its origin: it was refined from the paired wings of a demon fly.
As Wei Yuan extended his divine sense into it, an image of a demon fly materialized on the page, then flew out from the page to circle and hover above.
Dense shaman script emerged across the page: "Demon fly. Originally nonexistent in this realm, it was born from the qi of the Heavenly Abyss eroding the Native Realm; it is not a sentient being. Gregarious by nature, it hungers for nether qi and spiritual energy; wherever it passes, all living things are exterminated.
"Its wings may be harvested to refine various magical items, serving best for crafting books that can endure for a millennium without decaying. Its abdomen is filled with toxins suitable for concocting poisons. Its mandibles are exceptionally hard, capable of smashing metal and stone, and when polished, can be fashioned into points for heavy arrows. Its legs are useless on their own, but if gathered in sufficient quantity, they can be refined into a carapace magic treasure to evade the fly plague."
After the demon fly came another demonic creature resembling a centipede. The book likewise detailed its origins, highlighting the uses of its various body parts.
Wei Yuan read quietly, losing track of time until an hour had passed. This book recorded all kinds of demonic and monstrous creatures of the Nether Cold Realm, mostly detailing their uses.
The cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning also extended their divine senses from within the umbrella, each watching with rapt attention.
When he finally turned to the last page, Wei Yuan still yearned for more. Through this book, he gained a deeper understanding of the Nether Cold Realm and learned the distinction between yao and mo.
According to the classification in this book, yao were living beings naturally generated by the native worlds of the Nether Cold Realm—and not just the Nether Cold Realm, but the Desolate Realm and Wind Realm as well. Mo, on the other hand, were formed by the seeped-in aura of the Heavenly Abyss eroding the native realms.
Mo were grotesque and diverse, devoid of the ability to reproduce. Most reveled in devouring and destruction and were utterly beyond communication. The author of this book considered many mo akin to puppets capable of autonomous action, not truly sentient beings at all, yet possessing many similarities to living creatures when refined.
The Heavenly Abyss?
Wei Yuan searched his memory and found no recollection of ever hearing about such a place. Yet judging from the descriptions in the book, it seemed to be a terrifying realm; a mere taint of its aura was enough to spawn terrifying demonic creatures like the demon flies, which could bring about natural disasters.
After finishing the book, Wei Yuan felt an inexplicable heaviness in his heart, a nameless sense of oppression. Clearly, Shu Li had intentionally left this book here for him to read.
Connecting this to the arrangements Shu Li had made well beforehand, Wei Yuan found the whole situation increasingly eerie. He turned to Wu Li and asked, "Did your master leave any other words for you to pass on to me?"
Wu Li said, "Master said that you still possess many hidden means, and with his current strength, he certainly could not withstand you. Thus, it was better to hand everything here over to you."
The unease in Wei Yuan's heart grew even sharper.
Just then, a layer of cyan light manifested, washing over Wei Yuan and Wu Li and continuing to spread into the distance. This was the newly born domain, having expanded to this point to envelop the great hall and replace Shu Li's realm.
The realm's spiritual pivot began to dissipate, and the realm's power everywhere steadily degraded into primal nether power, returning once more to the Nether Realm.
Wu Li suddenly shivered. His expression and the look in his eyes shifted subtly as he said to Wei Yuan, "Master's realm has been destroyed, and the restrictions he placed upon me have vanished. I just remembered that there is still an exceptionally important place I haven't taken you to see. That place is very, very important."
For some reason, Wei Yuan suddenly felt that Wu Li's smile was tinged with something grotesque and twisted.
Yet Wei Yuan remained outwardly composed, saying indifferently, "What place? Let's hear it."
"The Heavenly Abyss."
Chapter 639