To be fair, digging in the herb garden is a good way to practice. While practicing the spell "Shrink the Earth," you can also learn about herbs and make up for your lack of knowledge in that area. It's a win-win situation. The senior sister is thinking about her own interests.
Lu Yang kept telling himself that his senior sister had good intentions. To truly accept the task of replacing earthworms and digging, he suddenly remembered something: earthworms shouldn’t have a gender.
“Why do earthworms have husbands and wives?”
Old Ba explained, “In the mortal world, earthworms indeed don’t have male or female. That’s a trait of low-level beings. Oh, I don’t mean to offend. Intelligent earthworms that can transform do have genders, especially the Silver Ring King Earthworm, which is a royal family among earthworms and has bloodline suppression over all other earthworms.”
“I understand. Please continue.”
Old Ba continued, “Originally, there was a couple of Silver Ring King Earthworms, and loosening the soil would have been no problem. But it’s all my fault for asking about the wife of the Silver Ring King Earthworm. They said that if an earthworm splits in two, it can still live. So, if you split in two as well, wouldn’t that mean you could work one day and rest the next, taking turns with the new you?”
“The other party was tempted by my words and immediately split in two, becoming two beings.”
“That was just like identical twins. No, it was even like a body-splitting technique. I watched one person turn into two, and I couldn’t tell who was the original.”
“Fortunately, they could tell each other apart.”
“When the husband came back and saw two wives, he was completely confused. The two asked him which one he liked better.”
“The husband was a straightforward guy and said he liked both sisters.”
“Then a family feud broke out, and the three of them ended up in a complicated love-hate situation, completely unable to work.” Old Ba spoke with a heavy heart.
Lu Yang: “…”
Damn, what a mess.
“What exactly should I do?” After venting his thoughts, Lu Yang quickly calmed down and started to adapt to the mindset of a cultivator.
It was just a small matter.
Old Ba stroked his white beard and smiled, “Just go in. Someone will guide you. But I must remind you, entering the herb garden is for loosening the soil. If you dare to steal herbs, the Law Enforcement Peak will definitely hold you accountable!”
The Law Enforcement Peak is managed by the Grand Elder, known for its fairness and strictness.
Lu Yang thanked Old Ba and walked into the herb garden.
As soon as he entered, he was hit by a much stronger herbal fragrance than before.
The difference in scent over just a few steps was impossible.
Lu Yang quickly realized that while it seemed like Old Ba was the only one guarding the garden, there was actually a whole formation protecting it from outsiders.
This formation locked the garden's aura, but the fragrance was so strong that the formation couldn’t completely contain it, leaking out a bit.
Even this small amount of fragrance could extend a mortal's life, so one could imagine how amazing the effects of the herbs inside the garden must be!
Aside from the fragrance, the most striking thing was the rich spiritual energy. Lu Yang suspected that the droplets on the herb leaves weren’t dew but drops of condensed spiritual energy, each drop worth more than a low-grade spirit stone!
As he looked around, he saw lush greenery with various herbs he had never seen or smelled before laid out before him.
The herbs were neatly planted in rows, divided into different areas based on their types, which dazzled Lu Yang.
He didn’t dare to move too much, afraid of stepping on some rare variety.
Lu Yang crouched down and looked at several types of herbs until he finally recognized one. It had three leaves, with clear veins that looked like they were made of ice, giving off a faint chill.
“Ice Spirit Grass. I remember this flower helps with cultivating ice-type techniques and speeds up the absorption of spiritual energy.”
Each Ice Spirit Flower was quite far apart, probably to prevent their cold aura from freezing him in place.
Lu Yang had fought a puppet before, and after being defeated, the puppet had used Ice Spirit Flowers to treat his wounds. He remembered it vividly.
He didn’t recognize any of the other flowers and plants.
“Hey, who are you?” A voice that wasn’t exactly polite called out, and Lu Yang instinctively turned his head but saw no one.
“Who’s talking?”
“Hey, look down.” The voice reminded him.
Lu Yang looked down and saw a tiny ginseng doll, about three inches tall, bouncing around at his feet, seemingly unhappy that he hadn’t noticed it sooner and needed a reminder.
“You’re so dumb! Why didn’t you look down? You needed me to remind you!”
The ginseng doll had thick legs and a chubby body, running around Lu Yang with its two roots acting as arms, bouncing up and down as it moved. Its body had patterns that formed a face, with expressions just as rich as a human’s.
“Hey, who are you?” the ginseng doll asked with an air of authority.
This ginseng had clearly gained intelligence and was quite old. Lu Yang didn’t want to be rude, so he bowed and said, “I’m Lu Yang, here to loosen the soil for the herb garden.”
“So you’re just here to loosen the soil.” The ginseng doll sighed in relief, thinking it was another annoying human trying to pick them.
All the herbs in the garden were cultivated by it.
“You must have gotten permission from Old Ba to enter. Speaking of which, aside from Old Ba and that female demon, I haven’t seen any outsiders for a while.”
To the ginseng doll, the elderly Old Ba was just a younger generation.
What good was high cultivation? They herbs compared based on who lived longer.
It looked down on all the cultivators.
Lu Yang had heard about the rules of the herb garden. The herbs were precious, and if someone wanted to take them, they needed permission from the guardian of the garden. No one else could enter.
If it weren’t for this task, Lu Yang wouldn’t be able to enter the garden either.
He wondered who the female demon was that the ginseng doll mentioned. Was she another guardian of the garden?
The ginseng doll crossed its roots and complained, “Why are all you humans so tall?”
Lu Yang also found it tiring to look down, so he used the spell “Shrink” to reduce himself to the same height as the ginseng doll.
“Wow, you’re much more reasonable than Old Ba,” the ginseng doll exclaimed, surprised at first and then delighted. It was rare to see a human who was the same height as it. It always felt unhappy looking up at humans.
The ginseng doll’s head and body were one piece, with no neck.
“From now on in this herb garden, just stick with me!” the ginseng doll declared boldly, patting Lu Yang’s shoulder with its root, which was a sign of approval.
“I still have some things to do. If you stick with me, once I’m done, I’ll take you to meet the other herb kings.”
Herbs that had gained intelligence and become kings were the most precious ones.
Even the most powerful sects might not have one, and if they got a herb king, they could be worshipped like ancestors.
From what the ginseng doll said, it seemed there were many herb kings like it in the garden.
Lu Yang couldn’t help but be amazed. The depth of the Herb Sect was truly frightening.
(End of Chapter)