In all fairness, burrowing through the soil in the Herb Garden truly was a good idea. While practicing the spell "Shrink the Earth," he could also learn about medicinal herbs through hands-on experience, making up for his lack of herbal knowledge. It killed two birds with one stone.
Eldest Senior Sister had his best interests at heart.
Eldest Senior Sister had his best interests at heart.
Eldest Senior Sister had his best interests at heart.
After hypnotizing himself into believing that Eldest Senior Sister was acting out of good intentions and genuinely accepting his assignment to burrow underground in place of an earthworm, Lu Yang suddenly remembered something: earthworms were supposed to be hermaphrodites, weren't they?
"Why would earthworms form a married couple?"
Old Ba explained, "Mortal earthworms indeed don't distinguish between male and female. That is a trait of lower living beings—oh, I don't mean that in a derogatory way. Earthworms with spiritual wisdom who can take human form do have distinct genders. The Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm, in particular, is the royal clan among earthworms and exerts a bloodline suppression over all other worms."
"I see. Please continue."
Old Ba continued, "Originally, with the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm couple around, loosening the soil was never an issue. But it's all my fault for shooting my mouth off that day. I asked the worm's wife, 'Everyone says an earthworm can survive being cut in half. If you split yourself in two, wouldn't you be able to work one day and rest the next, taking turns with the new you?'
"She was persuaded by my words and sliced herself in half on the spot, dividing into two people.
"They were utterly identical, just like twin sisters—no, practically like a clone technique! I watched with my own eyes as one person turned into two, and I couldn't tell which was the original.
"Fortunately, they could tell themselves apart.
"When the husband returned and saw two wives, he was completely stunned. The two of them asked him: which one did he actually like?
"The husband was an open and candid fellow who didn't bother hiding his thoughts at all. He bluntly said he liked sisters.
"And then a domestic civil war broke out. The three of them launched into a saga of love, hate, and entanglements, and to this day they have had no heart for work." Old Ba sounded thoroughly remorseful.
Lu Yang: "..."
Damn it, they're insane!
"What specifically should I do?" After venting internally, Lu Yang quickly regained his composure. He was gradually growing accustomed to how cultivators thought.
Just trivial matters.
Stroking his white beard with a smile, Old Ba said, "Just go in; someone inside will instruct you. However, let me warn you: you are going into the Herb Garden to loosen soil. If you dare steal any herbs, Silü Peak will definitely hold you accountable!"
Silü Peak was the mountain overseen by the Great Elder, renowned for its strict, impartial justice and lack of leniency.
Lu Yang thanked Old Ba and walked into the Herb Garden.
The moment he stepped inside, Lu Yang caught a medicinal fragrance dozens of times stronger than before.
A distance of mere paces could not account for such a drastic difference.
He immediately realized that while Old Ba had appeared to be guarding the garden alone, an entire formation had actually been protecting it against intruders.
This formation sealed in the Herb Garden's aura, but the medicinal aroma inside was simply too concentrated for the great array to contain completely, allowing a sliver to leak out.
Even that tiny trace was enough to prolong a mortal's life. One could only imagine what miraculous effects the fragrance inside the garden possessed!
Aside from the medicinal fragrance, the most striking sensation was the spiritual energy. It was unimaginably dense. Lu Yang suspected that the beads resting upon the herb leaves were not dew at all, but droplets condensed from pure spiritual energy—every single drop rivaling a low-grade spirit stone!
As far as Lu Yang's eyes could see, lush greenery stretched before him, an expanse of herbs he had never seen or heard of before.
They were planted in neat rows and divided into distinct sections according to variety, dazzling his eyes.
He hardly dared to move his feet, terrified he might step on some rare, precious specimen.
Lu Yang crouched down and inspected several herbs in a row until he finally spotted one he recognized. It bore three leaves with distinct veins, looking as if sculpted from frost and emitting a faint chill.
"Ice Soul Grass. If I remember correctly, this flower aids in cultivating ice-attributed techniques and boosts the speed of absorbing spiritual energy."
The Ice Soul Flowers were spaced far apart, presumably to prevent the chill radiating from each blossom from merging together and freezing themselves.
Lu Yang had once battled a puppet and been thoroughly thrashed; afterward, the puppet had applied an Ice Soul Flower to his wounds, an experience still fresh in his memory.
As for the other plants and flowers, he truly knew none of them.
"Hey, who are you?" a none-too-polite voice called out.
Lu Yang instinctively turned his head, but saw no one.
"Who's speaking?"
"Hey, look down!" the voice reminded him.
Lu Yang looked down. A three-inch-tall Ginseng Baby was hopping about beside his feet, seemingly annoyed that Lu Yang had taken so long to notice it and forced it to call out.
"You're so clumsy! Don't you know how to look down? Making me shout like that!"
The Ginseng Baby had stout, chubby little legs and was scurrying circles around Lu Yang. Two slender rootlets served as arms, bobbing up and down as it ran, while the patterns on its body formed facial features as richly expressive as any human's.
"Junior, who might you be?" the Ginseng Baby asked in the voice of an old codger.
A ginseng that had gained sentience was bound to be ancient. Not daring to be rude, Lu Yang bowed and said, "I am Lu Yang. I took up a mission to loosen the soil in the Herb Garden."
"Oh, so you're just here to loosen dirt." The Ginseng Baby let out a breath of relief. It had feared another wretched human had arrived to harvest them.
All the herbs in this garden had been nurtured by it.
"Since you made it in, I suppose Little Ba gave you permission. Come to think of it, aside from Little Ba and that she-demon, it's been quite a while since I've seen an outsider."
To the Ginseng Baby, the aged Old Ba was merely a junior.
What use was a high cultivation base? In the herb world, what mattered was who lived the longest!
Everyone in this Dao Seeking Sect, from top to bottom, fell beneath its contempt.
Lu Yang had heard of the Herb Garden's rules. Because the medicinal herbs were so precious, anyone seeking ingredients had to have the garden's keeper pick them; no one else was permitted inside.
Had it not been for this assignment, Lu Yang wouldn't have been able to enter either.
He wondered who the "she-demon" the Ginseng Baby mentioned was. Another keeper of the garden?
The Ginseng Baby planted its two rootlet arms on its hips and grumbled in dissatisfaction, "Why must you humans grow so tall?"
Lu Yang also found it tiring to speak with his head bent low, so he casually cast the spell "Shrink to Inches," reducing his body down to the same three-inch height as the Ginseng Baby.
"Oho, you're pretty quick on the uptake, junior! Far better than Little Ba!" The Ginseng Baby was startled at first, then broke into delight. It was rare for a human to be as tall as itself; craning its body upward to look at humans always put it in a foul mood.
The Ginseng Baby's head and torso were a single piece, devoid of a neck.
"From now on, in this Herb Garden, you just roll with me!" the Ginseng Baby declared magnanimously, patting Lu Yang's shoulder with a rootlet as a sign of approval. "I still have a few things to take care of. Follow along, and once I'm done, I'll take you to meet the other Medicine Kings."
When medicinal herbs gained sentience, they became Medicine Kings, the most precious of all herbs.
Even an exceptionally powerful sect was not guaranteed to possess a single one; if one obtained a Medicine King, it would be revered like an ancestral deity.
Yet from the sound of the Ginseng Baby's words, there were quite a few Medicine Kings like it in this garden.
Lu Yang clicked his tongue inwardly. The Dao Seeking Sect's heritage truly was terrifying.
Chapter 32