Death was terrifying.
Chen Jingzhai had personally experienced the terror of the Yellow Sands King when the Demon King attacked the Aspirant Cultivators Academy.
As he was now deep in the Demon King’s cavern, the pressure was so heavy that he was having a hard time breathing. It felt as if the fog had cleared up for him when he heard that there was a chance for them to escape.
Although the risk persisted, the worries that he had were gone. Miao Yun felt a little bad seeing the happy grin on the young man’s face.
She turned her head to the side, trying to avert her gaze, but it led her to a discovery.
“I sense something different from the forest over there!” Miao Yun said, as she pointed. “Take me there!”
Chen Jingzhai glanced at where she was pointing before sweeping her off the floor. With the Burrowing Technique, it only took them a few seconds to reach the forest at the foot of a hill.
The forest was so thick that even light could barely pass through the trees. The grass and flowers carpeted the forest floor, while the thorny vines were like a fence. With Miao Yun still in his arms, Chen Jingzhai stood in front of a tree.
“This is an iron birch. It’s not a graded tree, but we can make magic items with it. Those are three-leaf orchids under the tree. They are Grade 1 medicinal herbs,” the lady introduced them. “The vines surrounding the tree’s trunk are the snake vine roots, a vine-type spirit plant. If we combine it with spells, it can produce an effect similar to that of magical items. And those are Grade 2 medicinal herbs, the yellow ginseng. They are very hard to find, and I think some of them are close to Grade 3.”
She kept pointing to a few plants and introducing some of the plants around them before letting out a deep sigh. “This is just the tip of the iceberg…”
As Chen Jingzhai listened to her, he recalled the contents of Hermit Guangmiao’s diary.
After a moment of hesitation, he asked, “Could this place be a medicine garden?”
“It used to be a medicine garden.” Miao Yun nodded. “These medicinal herbs are planted by someone else. Look at the layout. Every herb is planted accordingly to suit its growth environment.”
Unlike normal medicinal herbs, a graded herb could not be grown with other types of graded herbs. The only explanation for such an abundance of different herbs that could be found there was that someone had planted them.
“Are you saying that someone owned this Blessed Land? A cultivator?” Chen Jingzhai exclaimed.
“That’s the only explanation.” The lady nodded. “There should have been an owner here before. Either they had passed and the Yellow Sands King took over this place, or the Demon King had slain the owner.”
“Will this help us find the ley lines?”
“It’s hard to say.” Miao Yun shook her head. “It depends on how the owner arranges everything here. This garden is not enough to tell us anything.”
“I see…” Chen Jingzhai paused. “Then, I’ll go check our surroundings first. You should rest here and see if any of these herbs can help you recover. You should also try to break the seal first. I’ll come back if I spot anything.”
“Good idea. Be careful.”
Chen Jingzhai smiled and disappeared into the ground with his Burrowing Technique. After staring at the spot where the young man had disappeared for a short while, Miao Yun approached the land where the yellow ginseng was planted.
Yellow ginseng was part of the ginseng family. The only difference between the yellow ginseng and normal ginseng was that they had yellow skin and juice.
After scanning the field, she picked the best one she could find. As she was mentally prepared to die, she did not have high hopes that the yellow ginseng could help her, but she didn’t want to give up on any chance that she came across either.
If she were lucky, she might be able to find a Grade 3 medicinal herb in the forest. That would be enough for her to break the seal and recover her powers. When that happens, she might have the chance to escape the cavern.
Just like any other person who had walked the Path of Celestials, she cherished her own life as well. If possible, she wouldn’t want to die.
However, all she could find was a Grade 2 yellow ginseng, which didn’t stop her from trying.
She bit through the ginseng skin. As the juice flowed into her, she started to feel a sense of warmth spread throughout her body.
On the other side, Chen Jingzhai was exploring the Blessed Land with the Burrowing Technique. He discovered a lot of medicinal herbs and spiritual plants. It was clear that there was more than one medicine garden.
He even discovered a milky white, transparent spiritual fish in the river, which was something that he had never seen nor read about. Holding back his urge to eat the fish, he continued to explore the place.
The young man could only recognize a few things among all the things that he had come across, as the library at the Aspirant Cultivators Academy only knew enough for young cultivators who had yet to reach the Foundation Plane.
The books in there only briefly introduced a few things. Since he had no idea what everything was, he decided to ignore all the treasures that were lying around and moved forward.
He went back into the ground and started to feel the earth essence power so that he could locate the ley lines.
Mastering the Rock Technique had brought him a lot of benefits; having extreme sensitivity to earth essence power was one of them.
After a few minutes, Chen Jingzhai managed to spot a place where an unusual amount of earth essence power had gathered.
The power was so dense that it was weird to find it even in a Blessed Land where all five elemental powers existed.
Chen Jingzhai immediately went toward the deeper part of the Blessed Land only to find something unexpected. He had arrived in a cave where a stone bed, a table, bookshelves, chairs, and even a chessboard could be found. It was clear that someone was living there.
The cave was divided into a living space and three rooms, all connected by large holes in the wall. Still hidden, the young man began to move about the cave. After a while, he realized that this was the place where the Yellow Sands King cultivated, which was what he had expected.
Only a few jade slips that cultivators would use could be found in the cave. There weren’t any books or scrolls on the bookshelves. Instead, it was decorated with trophies consisting of skulls, bones, skins, and even body parts. However, Chen Jingzhai managed to spot a couple of treasures lying around in the corner. The Yellow Sands King had just left them there.
He also noticed a stone bowl with a little white liquid left inside on the table. That was where the dense earth essence power originated from. Not only that, but also the young man noticed traces of a spell on it. It was clear that the cave was once used by the owner of the Blessed Land but had now become the lair of the demon king.
Chen Jingzhai got a little excited as his heart began to race. Now that he had arrived at the Yellow Sands King’s lair, he was excited to see what he could find there. He grabbed the jade slips and sat down on the stone bed. Before he even started to cultivate, the dense essence power had started to gather around him. Holding his urge back to cultivate, he put one of the slips on his forehead.
[Method: Dragon and Phoenix Consummation Seal Script]
[Pros: A strong determination that turns the dragon and phoenix into Yin and Yang. Through consummation, one could reach the Path of Celestials.]
[Cons: High difficulty. One must need a unique body and talisman to practice this script.]
[Flaw: Cultivate a wisp of Innate Yin Yang Qi first or walk the path of pure consummation.]
Chen Jingzhai was surprised that the first jade slip was a perfect and powerful cultivation method.
There was an unwritten rule that one should not simply teach others their spells and methods. It was difficult to obtain one because each method had its own set of requirements.
With the Dragon and Phoenix Consummation Seal Script, he would be able to continue to cultivate without joining a clan. The only issues with it were its difficulty and the skeptical flaw.
Since he had never heard of Innate Yin Yang Qi before, he could tell that it was hard to obtain.
As for walking the path of pure consummation, that was something even weirder for him.
With a mixed expression on his face, he put the first slip down and picked up the second one.
The second had a different color than the first. It was emerald green in color with fiery red dots on it.
Not paying much attention to the color, Chen Jingzhai put the second slip on his forehead.
[Alchemy Technique: Pill Extraction and Purification Scripture]
[Pros: Purify pills and remove pill toxins. Perfection is the key.]
[Cons: Hard to master the basics. High requirements for the medicinal herbs used to create the pills. Low success rate with low yield.]
[Flaw: Use specific cauldrons, restrictions, and talismans to increase the yield and quality of the pills.]
The second one contained an alchemy technique, and it was different from the current trend, at that. Chen Jingzhai was intrigued by the word “perfection” mentioned in the pros.
