Yun Zhi pinched Lu Yang's collar with two fingers and shook it in front of him, still not understanding the principle behind it, so she let him go. Lu Yang was just as confused. He was following the instructions and methods taught by his senior sister, but how come the spell he cast felt completely different?
"This doesn’t make sense."
"I'll demonstrate it for you again." Yun Zhi was a responsible teacher. Her teaching skills were quite average, but she was very patient.
Yun Zhi took out an hourglass and placed it upside down on the ground. Then she held Lu Yang's shoulders, and together they performed a spatial jump.
Lu Yang felt a flash before his eyes and found himself in a strange space, with colorful lights swirling around them.
He instinctively reached out to touch the lights, but Yun Zhi stopped him. "That’s a distortion of space. Even an advanced cultivator would be crushed to pieces and have their soul scattered if they touched it."
Frightened, Lu Yang quickly withdrew his hand.
As they stepped out of the space, they saw a massive white serpent coiling around a mountain, swallowing the sun and moon, refining the essence of heaven and earth. The serpent's eyes were lively, and they happened to land in its mouth, flowing into its belly.
Just as the stomach acid was about to drip down, Yun Zhi stepped forward again, arriving in the strange space.
Following her lead, Lu Yang saw bizarre sights: a sea made of lava, a powerful cultivator enduring a lightning tribulation, a silent swordsman carrying a heavy broad sword...
These were sights Lu Yang had never seen or heard of before. It was hard to imagine such extraordinary people and scenes existed in the world.
Finally, they returned to where they started, and Lu Yang was panting, still shaken.
"The places I took you to just now are all within the boundaries of the Asking Dao Sect. In the future, you might have the chance to visit them on your own."
The Asking Dao Sect was vast and expansive, and outside of the nine core mountains, there were still many unknown areas for Lu Yang.
"Why don’t you try casting the spell again?" Yun Zhi thought this time might be different.
Facing Yun Zhi's eager gaze, Lu Yang braced himself and tried to cast the spell again.
After a day of practice, Lu Yang finally learned how to sense the underground environment and how to avoid being stepped on after shrinking in size.
He had never successfully used the spell to shrink the ground to an inch, but he had succeeded in shrinking the ground and turning it into an inch multiple times, each time becoming more skilled.
In the end, he didn’t even need the incantation; just a thought was enough to cast the spell, as if he had been immersed in this path for months or years.
Lu Yang's initial goal in learning the spell to shrink the ground was to travel faster. Now that he had learned the spell, it aligned with that goal, even if the method was a bit complicated and the speed was slower.
Watching Lu Yang change size and burrow through the ground, having fun, Yun Zhi casually asked, "Junior Brother, I heard it’s hard for you to take on tasks in the mission hall?"
"Yeah, most tasks require at least a Golden Core level to complete, so there aren’t many suitable for me." Lu Yang was considering hanging around the mission hall for a few days to see if he could find a suitable task.
"How coincidental! A few days ago, I was in a meeting with the elders, and someone mentioned there was a problem at the herb garden. A task was posted in the mission hall, but no one took it. I think you would be a good fit, so you might as well check it out."
Lu Yang knew that since his master went into seclusion, his senior sister had been representing him in meetings.
"What’s the task?" Lu Yang was puzzled. His skills weren’t particularly outstanding in the Asking Dao Sect, so what kind of task would be suitable for him, especially in a place he knew nothing about, like the herb garden?
He hadn’t even fully learned how to identify medicinal herbs yet.
"You’ll find out when you go." Yun Zhi didn’t answer.
...
To Lu Yang, the Asking Dao Sect felt like a small cultivation world. He could find help with alchemy, artifact forging, and formations without leaving the sect. Most of the time, they could be self-sufficient.
Alchemy required spiritual herbs, and the Asking Dao Sect had a huge demand for them, so they couldn’t always rely on external purchases.
To solve the issue of spiritual herbs, the sect had opened a large herb garden to grow them, and the mission hall also posted tasks to help cultivate the herbs.
Cultivating herbs required specialized knowledge, and Lu Yang knew nothing about it. He couldn’t even tell which spiritual beasts were used for his meals every day, let alone cultivate herbs.
From a distance, Lu Yang could smell the fragrance of the herb garden. Unlike the potentially toxic scents from the Dan Ding Peak, this was the purest scent of herbs. If a mortal inhaled it for a long time, it could prolong their life and keep them free from illness.
At the entrance of the herb garden lay an old man, a fan covering his face, lazily napping in a rocking chair.
"Excuse me, is this the herb garden?"
The old man lazily opened one eye and glanced at Lu Yang. "Who are you?"
"Lu Yang."
"I didn’t ask for your name; I asked for your identity."
"I’m the fourth disciple of the sect master, the junior brother of Senior Sister Yun Zhi."
The old man didn’t react much to the first part. The sect master had disappeared for ten years; who cared about him? He should retire and not take up space for Yun Zhi to work. But when he heard the latter part, he suddenly realized.
Being the sect master’s disciple meant he was Yun Zhi’s junior brother!
The old man sprang up, surprisingly spry for his age.
This was normal; in the cultivation world, you couldn’t judge someone’s abilities or age by their appearance. It was hard to tell who was the grandparent and who was the grandchild when an old man stood next to a child.
No one in the cultivation world advocated for respecting the elderly or caring for the young, as both could be stronger than you.
"Oh, so you’re here because of Yun Zhi! You should have said so earlier." The old man threw an arm around Lu Yang's shoulder, acting like a brother.
"We’re all from the Asking Dao Sect; just call me Old Ba. I’m in charge of this little piece of land in the herb garden."
Lu Yang suspected Old Ba was trying to take advantage of him, but he had no proof.
"Why did Yun Zhi send you here? To pick herbs? How many years do you need, a thousand or two thousand?"
Seeing Old Ba like this, Lu Yang couldn’t help but think of the meals his senior sister made for him. Could it be that they were all made from herbs that were a thousand or two thousand years old?
A thousand-year-old herb wasn’t just a common vegetable; it was quite precious even for the Asking Dao Sect.
No way! His senior sister was a thrifty person; she wouldn’t waste herbs on herself.
Lu Yang politely asked, "Senior Sister said a task was posted in the herb garden a few days ago, but no one took it. Do you know what the task is?"
Old Ba suddenly realized, "Oh, so that’s the task: Do you know how to cultivate herbs?"
"Not at all." Lu Yang answered honestly.
"Then let me explain it simply. The steps to cultivate herbs are quite detailed. One step is to loosen the soil so the roots can better absorb the spiritual energy from the ground and interact with the spiritual energy in the air."
"Loosening the soil is usually done by a couple of Silver Ring Earthworms."
"Recently, they’ve had some issues at home and can’t work, so I posted a task for the herb garden to loosen the soil. This requires the Earth Escape technique from the Five Elements. There are quite a few little fellows who can use it, but they all think it’s too troublesome and don’t want to take it. Just so happens Yun Zhi sent you here."
"So what I need to do is..."
"Imitate the earthworms, burrow into the ground, and loosen the soil for the herb garden."
Lu Yang: "..."
Lu Yang suspected his senior sister was playing a trick on him, but again, he had no proof.
(End of Chapter)