Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Gui Yi Sect was famous for its medicines – naturally there were more pill cultivators than any other kind in the sect. More than 80% of the cultivators in the sect were pill cultivators. However, pill cultivators were the most expensive among them all as well. This was because pill cultivators were required to refine pills in order to advance, and ingredients were required for them to refine pills. The most common ingredient was spirit herbs. Since each type of pill needed different ingredients, and there were millions of different types of pills in the world, the more advanced pill cultivators required much more money.
It could be said that pill cultivators in their early stages were living spirit-stone-burning machines. And there were many low-level pill cultivators in Gui Yi Sect. Thus, the lower grade spirit herbs were much in demand. Of course, the sect could not afford to import all of these from external sources. Therefore, the sect dedicated plots and plots of land as spirit fields. The sect would provide the spirit seeds, then collect part of the harvest. The remaining spirit herbs were free for the disciples to take and use in their pill refinement, or to exchange for spirit stones.
It looked like a good process, but not just any disciple could work the spirit field. Spirit herbs were quite different from ordinary herbs. It required high standards for things like soil and spirit Qi. They also required a lot of time and effort to maintain. What’s more, each herb had to be grown in a unique way. Ordinary people would not have been able to get the hang of it in a short time, much less Zuo Shuming, who had joined the sect less than a month ago. Even the qualified disciples needed at least three or four years’ practice before they produced anything useful.
This was also the reason why Lonemoon only dared to leave the spirit field to Radish, and not to any other disciple. Radish was a vegetation spirit. Naturally, it knew best what the immortal herbs needed to grow well.
Although they were already prepared, Lonemoon and Zuo Shuming were still shocked by the scene in front of them when they arrived at the spirit fields.
After they arrived, they realized that the situation was much worse than they had imagined.
The spirit field that they were allocated to was one that sat between a pathway and a rock mountain. The ground there was extremely dry, and the spirit Qi was pitifully thin. What’s worse was that rocks would fall off the mountain from time to time. They had two acres, but half of it was already buried by rocks. This was not even fit to be an ordinary plantation field, much less a spirit one.
“This… How can this be!” Zuo Shuming was shocked silly. He stared disbelievingly at the field that was covered with weeds and trash. He turned to face the disciple who led them here. “Senior Brother, we must be at the wrong place. This is the spirit field we’re supposed to work?”
“That’s right! This is your allocated spirit field.” The disciple nodded. He could not help but dig deeper into their wounds. “This land has been wasting away for the last tens of years. You won’t be able to grow anything here. I don’t know why the sect is still sending people here to plant herbs.”
He looked up at the two of them and shook his head pitifully, yet did not ask any more questions. He handed them a bag of seeds and said, “Here, these are the seeds you have to plant. Remember to hand in 50 stalks of low-grade spirit herbs at the end of three months.” After he finished giving his instructions, he turned to leave.
Zuo Shuming held the bag in his hands, even more confused than he was before. Instinctively, he opened the bag and took a look inside. The seeds were all small – some were red and some were green. They were seeds of every color. It was obvious that they were not the same kind of seeds.
“What is happening?” Zuo Shuming exclaimed once again. It was fine that the spirit field was a wasteland. Now, even the seeds were of different types. It would be a miracle if they managed to grow anything here. “Senior Brother must have gotten the wrong bag. I’m going to ask for a new one.” He closed the bag and started to walk off.
“Come back!” Lonemoon reached out and pulled Zuo Shuming back, snatching the bag out of his hands. He rolled his eyes and said, “Are you really that stupid? Just one look at this spirit field and you should know that someone is out to get you on purpose. Do you think anyone is going to bother about you if you go back there?”
Zuo Shuming hesitated and stared blankly at Lonemoon. “But… It’s the first time I’m meeting that Senior Brother. I’ve never offended him. Why would he do this to me?”
“Who said that it’s him who’s picking on you?” Lonemoon shook his head.
“It’s not him?” Zuo Shuming was even more confused now. “But I’ve never offended anyone.”
Lonemoon frowned. There was no good explanation he could offer. He couldn’t possibly say that the invader had his eye on Zuo Shuming, could he? Lonemoon sighed and said, “Forget it! Let’s not bother about who it is! All you have to do now is train hard. Once you have capabilities, you will not be pushed around like this anymore. Even if you go after them now, you probably would not be able to achieve anything.”
Zuo Shuming clenched his fists by his side. A pained expression flashed across his face. He remained silent for a couple of seconds before he said, “I still want to go. I know I haven’t done anything wrong. Since I joined Gui Yi Sect, I know that it is my duty to plant spirit herbs and do my part for the advancement of the other disciples’ cultivations.I have no complaints about that. But these seeds…” His voice trailed off mid-sentence. “I don’t know why the other party is doing this. But planting spirit herbs has to do with my relationship with the sect. I have to clarify things.” His eyes brightened with determination. Lonemoon could clearly see the innocence and grit that this man had – he would not be satisfied unless he failed himself.
Lonemoon had nothing more to say. He pondered for a moment, then stepped aside. You can go if you want to. You’ll find out soon that there are many things in this world that cannot be explained.
“Brother Lonemoon, don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.” With that, Zuo Shuming turned and angrily chased after the disciple that had disappeared not long ago.
Lonemoon sighed. Indeed, he was a young man. Lonemoon looked down at the bag of seeds and handed it over to Chef, who was beside him. “Get cracking!”
“Me?” Chef paused, stunned. He looked at the bag of seeds in his hands. I only know how to cook!
“If not you, then am I supposed to do it myself?” Lonemoon glared at him. “What do you think I called you over here?” All you know how to do is waste money – what’s wrong with me asking you to do a little work?
“I’ve never planted spirit herbs,” Chef said as his gaze shifted between Lonemoon and the bag of seeds in his hands. Didn’t they always leave these things to Radish in the past? “Why not… I call Radish over?”
“Call Radish?!” Lonemoon rolled his eyes. Radish – that crazy monster who was obsessed with producing flowers. If he called it over here, it would give the two of them away. “Just remove the weeds and scatter the seeds.”
“…” You call that planting spirit herbs?
Chef looked suspiciously at the seeds in his hands once again. For the sake of his allowance, he knew better than to argue with Lonemoon. He had no choice but to take a handful of seeds and walk to the area where the grass was growing taller than man.
He pondered for a moment. Then, he released a burst of sword Qi that cut all the weeds off at once. Suddenly, there were no more weeds left in the soil – they were all piled up on the ground. Even the soil was turned out from the impact. In a blink of an eye, the spirit field was cleared of weeds and the soil was prepared to receive the seeds.
Yi Qing scattered the seeds around. He did not bother too much about spacing them out. Instead, he turned the bag over and shook it twice. Then, he walked back over to Lonemoon. “I’m done!” It took a total of two minutes.
“Mm.” Lonemoon didn’t look too bothered about the way Yi Qing planted the seeds either.
“Can they… grow like this?” Chef could not help but ask.
“Nonsense!” Lonemoon turned to glare at him. Then, he looked purposefully at the sky. “You grew them – how dare they not grow?”
“…”
