"Kirin Immortal Herb." Hearing those words, Lu Yang shuddered. With kirins extinct, Kirin Immortal Herbs were also on the brink of extinction. Scarcely any had existed from antiquity to the present; they were extraordinarily rare. Throughout history, records concerning Kirin Immortal Herbs were few and far between. Some even claimed that only one Kirin Immortal Herb existed in the world.
That the Kirin Immortal Herb was undergoing reincarnation.
An ancient sage had once speculated that kirins had never existed at all, that they were mere figments of imagination, and that recorded sightings of kirins were actually sightings of the Kirin Immortal Herb.
Without opening the Heavenly Eye, it was easy for people to mistake the Kirin Immortal Herb for a kirin, just as Lu Yang had now.
"Old Ba sent me here to loosen the soil."
"Oh, so he sent you to loosen the soil! Do you know Five Elements magic?" The little Medicine Kings looked delighted upon hearing this.
Finally, someone was here to do some work!
Torn indecision was written across Lu Yang's face. "I wouldn't say I'm good at it. I sort of stumbled into learning it, so I'm not sure if it counts as Five Elements magic, but I definitely know how to drill into the ground."
Lu Yang felt that what he cast was spatial magic; its manifested traits just happened to resemble Five Elements magic.
"Whether it counts as Five Elements magic doesn't matter, as long as you can drill into the ground," the Flower of Time's Demise said nonchalantly.
Ever since the earthworm couple went on vacation, they had constantly heard complaints from the herbs—grumbling that the soil was too hard, making it uncomfortable to grow, or that the soil was stifling, making them wish they could pull their roots out to breathe and sunbathe. It had put the little Medicine Kings in quite a difficult spot.
Now, this problem could be resolved.
The mortal world rarely knew of the existence of Medicine Kings, and Lu Yang hadn't recognized a single one before this. The medicinal potency of the little Medicine Kings defied the heavens; if they were to appear in the outside world, it would be enough to drive almighty cultivators into a frenzy.
No, actually, there was one thing he recognized.
Lu Yang recognized the sunflower in the Flower of Time's Demise's grasp. Its petals snapped open and closed; the black shells dropped away, and the jade-white kernels became nourishment for the Medicine King—it was cracking sunflower seeds.
And seed shells were strewn all over the ground.
He wondered if this counted as cannibalism.
"Oh, this is called a sunflower," the Flower of Time's Demise introduced, noticing Lu Yang's gaze.
*I know what it is,* Lu Yang thought.
The Medicine Kings weren't very big, so rather than cracking sunflower seeds, it was more like hugging seeds and gnawing on them. One could tell the Flower of Time's Demise was thoroughly enjoying its snack.
"Demise King, you're littering again! How many times do I have to tell you? We're plants! Don't crack seeds like humans! The hulls are edible too!" the Kirin Immortal Herb shouted furiously, scolding the Flower of Time's Demise for mimicking mortals without reason.
The Flower of Time's Demise went its own way regardless: "I grew this sunflower myself. I'll eat it however I please! What business is it of yours? Ptui!"
This thoroughly provoked the Kirin Immortal Herb. With a fierce yelp, it pounced on the Flower of Time's Demise. Disagreeing over a single word, the two little Medicine Kings wrestled together—one pinning the other, then the other rolling on top, entirely devoid of any lethal force.
The Ginseng Baby and the Three-Leaf Star Herb were long used to this. They clamored for Lu Yang to show them how he burrowed into the ground.
"Don't mind them. Once they're tired of fighting, they'll stop."
Outside the cottage, Lu Yang saw a towering, sky-reaching tree. Its roots were as thick as a pair of thighs, full of vigor, and its dense foliage rustled noisily.
"The Enlightenment Tree?"
Lu Yang was quite surprised. Even if he reverted to his normal size, this Enlightenment Tree could easily blot out the sky and sun, too massive for dozens of people to encircle with joined arms, let alone now when he was only three inches tall.
Dao rhythm flowed around the Enlightenment Tree. The rustling of its leaves sounded like echoes of the Great Dao, as if myriad Daos converged upon its body to shape its essence. The Enlightenment Tree stood mysterious, solemn, and inviolable.
"This is the Enlightenment Tree I told you about. We all call it the Tree King. To say its talent in Daoist arts is peerless wouldn't be an exaggeration."
The leaves of an Enlightenment Tree could aid one in comprehending the Dao; if an Enlightenment Tree became a spirit, how high would its talent in cultivation be? Lu Yang could hardly imagine.
The Medicine Kings might seem frail, but in truth, each possessed unique divine abilities and arts that were not to be underestimated.
Without life-preserving skills, relying solely on human mercy, they never could have survived to this day.
The great tree laughed and scolded, "Ginseng King, you bastard, flattery like that will get me killed! If I'm peerless, then what kind of talent does that she-devil have?"
"Who's the she-devil?" Judging from the little Medicine Kings' tone, she didn't sound like a good person.
"Apart from Little Ba, only that she-devil can come to the Herb Garden! She's terrifyingly strong, and none of us can beat her. Whatever she wants to pluck, she plucks—not a single herb can stop her!"
"She snapped off several of my old root whiskers! It hurt so much I was stuck lying in bed for days!" The Ginseng Baby denounced the she-devil's outrageous tyranny.
"She plucked several stars off my leaves too! Look, aren't these stars much dimmer than the others? I don't even know how long it'll take to grow them back!"
In the little Medicine Kings' descriptions, the she-devil's evil deeds were countless and unforgivable—an enemy every herb had a duty to destroy.
"What's even more infuriating is that she said she was taking those things back to take a bath with! Can you imagine? She actually takes a bath with parts of our bodies! It's utterly perverted!"
"Oh right, I heard Little Ba say that the she-devil holds quite a high status in your Dao Seeking Sect. Her name is Yun Zhi."
Lu Yang: "..."
He realized that he wasn't surprised by this answer in the slightest. Was that Eldest Senior Sister's fault, or his own?
Lu Yang laughed hollowly, feeling rather awkward and at a loss for words. "Uh, well... that Eldest Senior Sister you mentioned, I think I know her. She's my Eldest Senior Sister."
The Enlightenment Tree King burst into hearty laughter, brushing it off. "That's nothing. Who doesn't know that every Dao Seeking Sect disciple calls her Eldest Senior Sister? Did you think that just because you're her junior brother, we'd take our anger out on you? You underestimate us Medicine Kings! We've lived for who knows how many ages—how could we be petty toward a mere human?"
Seeing how reasonable the Enlightenment Tree King was, Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief. "That's wonderful. Sounds like it doesn't matter even if she and I share the same master."
The Enlightenment Tree King's laughter stopped dead.
Even the gentle breeze brushing against their faces halted at that instant; the leaves ceased rustling.
The Ginseng Baby waved its root whiskers, a slightly sinister smile surfacing on its calm face.
The stars on the Three-Leaf Star Herb's leaves began swirling rapidly, like a volcano on the brink of erupting to exact bitter vengeance.
In an instant, killing intent filled the air.
Lu Yang calmly explained, "Hold on, don't attack yet! Do you really think that just because I'm that she-devil's junior brother, I'm actually on her side?"
The Ginseng Baby looked suspiciously at Lu Yang, the waving of its whiskers slowing down. "Are you not?"
The Enlightenment Tree King and the Three-Leaf Star Herb also paused their attack for the moment.
"Dead wrong!" Lu Yang declared decisively, clenching both fists tightly, an agonizing expression appearing on his face as if recalling memories too painful to look back on.
"That she-devil's conduct is simply appalling! Forget about how she bullied you all—even I have suffered deeply at her hands!"
"On the surface, I look glamorous, with a bright and boundless future ahead of me. But the torment I've endured... to whom could I ever pour out my grief?!"
Chapter 35