Lu Yang followed the pace of the ginseng doll, looking around at the lush herbs with curiosity. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled spots of light on him.
Now that he had shrunk, the herbs looked like towering trees blocking the sunlight, much taller than him.
Before long, he and the ginseng doll came across a rushing stream, filled with natural spiritual energy that nourished the herbs. The herbs would also purify some of the water, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.
"This is the river protected by the river spirit," the ginseng doll explained.
Surrounding the Wendaozong was a stream that flowed fast at times and slowly at others, originating from a never-ending clear spring. This spring had a long history, existing even before the Wendaozong was established. It absorbed the essence of heaven and earth, producing a glimmer of spiritual light.
For inanimate objects, the greatest opportunity is to gain spiritual intelligence, and that glimmer of light is crucial. If that light were to merge with the object, it could become a favored child of heaven and earth. But if the light dissipated into the world, it could take countless years of hardship to regain even a trace of it.
Inanimate objects drift along with the current, and one day they might fall apart in battles between cultivators, losing all hope of gaining intelligence. The chance of losing the light is much greater than the chance of it merging with oneself.
Fortunately, the ancestors of Wendaozong passed through this place, discovered this situation, and used magic to lock that glimmer of light in the spring, allowing the spring to nurture true spiritual intelligence. The spirit of the spring felt grateful for the ancestors' kindness and willingly protected the Wendaozong.
This stream ran through various parts of Wendaozong, guarding it from the outside and serving as a source of life on the inside. The spirit of the spring is also known as the river spirit.
From an ordinary person's perspective, the river in front of Lu Yang and the ginseng doll was only a few feet wide, and its flow wasn’t fast enough to be called a stream.
But after shrinking, this stream felt particularly thrilling.
There was a wooden plank laid across the stream, serving as a bridge. It looked like the herbalists had built it in advance.
As Lu Yang crossed the stream, he couldn't help but feel that the flow seemed to quicken, as if it were excited to see him. He wasn't quite sure.
He also noticed a magnificent wall not far away, built from blue stones, with each stone larger than his body.
As he got closer, he realized it was the wall of the herb garden.
The ginseng doll dug around the base of the wall, revealing transparent stones, as if something had been drawn out, leaving behind empty, clear glass.
The ginseng doll’s roots stretched out, moving like flexible tentacles, connecting these transparent stones.
"This is..." Lu Yang raised an eyebrow, feeling that these stones looked familiar.
"I remember these things are called spirit stones by your human race."
Lu Yang suddenly understood. No wonder they looked familiar; these were spirit stones after the spiritual energy had been drained from them, though he had never seen ones of such high quality.
"Do you like these? Little Ba often buries these stones at the wall's base. When they are drained, he has me collect them so he can take them all at once."
Lu Yang realized that growing herbs required a massive amount of spiritual energy, and the herb garden's energy wasn’t endless. Wendaozong buried spirit stones in the garden to provide concentrated spiritual energy.
No wonder he felt such an intense concentration of spiritual energy upon entering the herb garden; it was all fed by spirit stones.
The spirit stones used in the herb garden must be of a high grade, possibly even extremely rare high-quality spirit stones.
The ginseng doll strung the spirit stones together and walked ahead, with Lu Yang following closely behind.
As they walked, the ginseng doll chatted with Lu Yang.
"Under our feet is a large formation covering the herb garden, called the Everlasting Green Formation, which helps our herbs grow healthily. These transparent stones are part of the formation."
Lu Yang had heard of the Everlasting Green Formation; it was the top-tier formation used in cultivating spiritual herbs, costly and requiring a large number of spirit stones each year.
"By the way, I heard from Little Ba that our Wendaozong is quite poor. To support us, they are almost out of food, and when they hold a soccer match, people fight fiercely just to grab a ball. Is that true?"
Lu Yang didn’t dare to respond. Little Ba seemed kind-hearted but had no qualms about deceiving the herbalists.
"This is called the Breaking Illusion Immortal Wood. It has the ability to break through illusions, making it a nemesis of the unreal. If you fall into an illusion, holding this wood tightly can help you escape."
Lu Yang followed the ginseng doll's gaze and saw a cactus.
"That is the Exploding Sun Flower, one of the essential materials for cultivating the Fierce Sun Body. Besides its use in cultivating the body, adding it to any fire attribute pill can enhance its fiery essence, greatly benefiting cultivators with fire attributes."
"The highest quality Exploding Sun Flower is the Nine Turns variety, which can even help during the Tribulation Stage. This area has six, seven, and eight-turn Exploding Sun Flowers."
"Over there is the Enlightenment Forest. The leaves soaked in water have the ability to enlighten, and the wood is also a material for crafting high-quality magical treasures. It’s said that it’s sold at sky-high prices in the outside world. Every autumn, Little Ba picks a large batch of Enlightenment Leaves for you to consume."
Lu Yang had seen many descriptions of the Enlightenment Tree in books, filled with flowery language praising it as a divine tree. The rapid rise of the human race in ancient times was closely related to the Enlightenment Tree.
But this was the first time he had seen a real Enlightenment Tree.
The dozens of meters high Enlightenment Tree looked like the legendary tree reaching to the sky, making him dizzy as he looked up, as if the great path was roaring in his ears.
"I heard from Little Ba that low-level cultivators should avoid consuming Enlightenment Leaves. Their hearts and foundations are lacking, and consuming them too early is like trying to help seedlings grow faster, which is not beneficial for their future cultivation and enlightenment."
"This is similar to how we shouldn’t over-fertilize young herbs."
"The older the tree, the better the leaves' ability to enlighten. The oldest Enlightenment Tree is even older than me and is also a herbal king. You’ll see it soon."
"This is called the Lovesickness Grass, one of the main materials for refining the Lovesickness Moon Pill. When the moon hangs in the sky, if two people far apart consume the Lovesickness Moon Pill at the same time, they can communicate across time and space."
"Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a pair of lovers. The man came from a powerful family, the son of the clan leader, while the woman was of humble origins, a descendant of slaves. The man met the woman while hunting, and they fell in love at first sight, promising to be together for life."
"However, as the son of the clan leader, he had no right to choose his partner, let alone marry a slave. His clan forced him to marry the daughter of another powerful family, strengthening ties between the two clans."
"The man refused and secretly eloped with the woman on their wedding day."
"When the clan elders learned of this, they were furious and sent experts to hunt them down. The woman was killed, dying in the man's arms. Heartbroken and enraged, the man took his own life. Their blood mingled at the roots of a wild grass, turning it into Lovesickness Grass."
Lu Yang was captivated by the story and instinctively asked, "That's so touching. Did this really happen?"
"It's fake. Someone made up this story to sell Lovesickness Grass for a high price. I was there when the story was created."
"..."
(End of Chapter)