Until the figures of the girl in red and the four-eyed red monkey completely disappeared from his sight, Lu Xuan finally felt relieved.
"Disciples of the sect are indeed extraordinary. Whether it's the girl herself or the strange spirit pet she raises, they both show a completely different aura compared to casual cultivators," Lu Xuan thought to himself. The girl in red, about his age, had already reached a high level of cultivation, and he could clearly see the uniqueness of the four-eyed red monkey that was tracking evil spirits.
There are always people better than you, and there are greater skies beyond this one. The appearance of the girl in red calmed Lu Xuan, who had been feeling a bit restless due to his rising cultivation level.
As for the four-eyed red monkey possibly being attracted by the pine nuts in his storage bag, Lu Xuan was just guessing and had no intention of offering any fruit.
He took the Cloud Stepping Leopard to the Hundred Herbs Hall.
Inside the hall, filled with the rich scent of medicine, more than ten medicine boys were busy moving around, while Steward He was lazily leaning against a redwood chair.
"Lu kid, have you finished dealing with those mutated spiritual plants you brought back last time? How many did you cure this time?" the thin old man asked lazily upon seeing Lu Xuan.
"I cured seven first-grade ones, one second-grade one has already died, and one is still being treated," Lu Xuan replied, taking out the seven first-grade spiritual plants from his storage bag.
All of them were of low or average quality. After estimating, Steward He bought the seven plants for a total of one hundred and fifty spirit stones.
"Thank you, Elder He!"
Lu Xuan smiled widely as he took the one hundred and fifty spirit stones from the old man.
"One day, I'll bring you some spirit beast meat and a jar of good spirit wine to treat you."
"Bah!"
Steward He spat lightly and jokingly scolded, "You kid, you won't do anything until you see a rabbit, and you think you'll bring me spirit wine and spirit beast meat? Just empty talk."
"Haha! You really understand me!"
Lu Xuan had thick skin and wouldn't be easily affected. He smiled and gave Steward He a thumbs-up.
The old man was just joking. The two had a good relationship. This time, Lu Xuan made quite a bit of spirit stones from selling the mutated spiritual plants, and Steward He also earned sixty or seventy stones, equivalent to his income for two months.
He pulled out a cloth bag containing nearly twenty mutated spiritual plants, each with a small clump of spiritual soil wrapped around the roots, and droplets of spiritual rain still clinging to the leaves, trying to maintain the plants' vitality.
"I heard that the Wang family, the main force in the market town, invited sect disciples to deal with the invading evil spirits. It’s likely that mutated spiritual plants will be rare in the future. So, I took the liberty to find you twenty-three plants in the Hundred Herbs Hall."
"Twenty first-grade mutated spiritual plants and three second-grade ones."
"Thank you, Elder He. You're really experienced and helped me out a lot in advance."
Lu Xuan quickly expressed his gratitude and asked Steward He how many spirit stones were spent on purchasing the spiritual plants. Including the payment to the old man, he spent a total of over one hundred and twenty spirit stones.
After hearing about the sect disciples appearing, he thought about making one last profit. After all, there wouldn’t be a steady stream of mutated spiritual plants in the market town like this again, and even if a couple appeared occasionally, they wouldn't bring much benefit.
He gathered the twenty-three mutated spiritual plants and was about to leave the Hundred Herbs Hall when the thin old man called out to him.
"Do you remember Miss He, whom you met before? The one who is the granddaughter of the alchemy master in the Hundred Herbs Hall."
Lu Xuan nodded. When he first established a cooperative relationship with the Hundred Herbs Hall, Steward He had introduced him to a graceful young lady who managed the daily affairs of the hall.
At that time, Steward He had also helped him get one hundred Spirit Firefly Grass seeds and twenty Blood Jade Ginseng seeds.
"Today, she came to the hall and mentioned you a few times. She seems to have a good impression of you. Why not go meet her and get familiar? Maybe in the future, she will sell you some rare spirit seeds."
Hearing that the young lady had the authority over rare spirit seeds, Lu Xuan, who initially wanted to refuse, brightened up. Under the old man's guidance, he headed to where the young lady was.
As they walked and talked, Lu Xuan learned that the young lady's name was He Yuntong, and she was about to break through to a higher level of cultivation. She was managing the Hundred Herbs Hall very well, and the foundation alchemy master behind her valued her greatly.
They arrived at an elegant room, and the old man greeted the graceful young lady sitting in the middle before leaving Lu Xuan alone.
He Yuntong looked curiously at Lu Xuan, who was standing beside her.
Since Lu Xuan was about the same age as her, she had some impression of him. She remembered that when Steward He brought Lu Xuan to seek spirit seeds, he was just a casual cultivator at the second level, quite ordinary. If it weren't for his slight talent in cultivating spiritual plants, they wouldn't have had any interaction at all.
Now, Lu Xuan had already broken through to the fourth level and become a mid-level cultivator. His talent in cultivating spiritual plants was becoming more and more impressive.
Not only could he continuously grow perfect quality spiritual plants, but he could also cure mutated spiritual plants that left most cultivators helpless. She had even heard his name mentioned several times in her family meetings.
"You're Lu Xuan, right?" She looked at the calm and confident young man in front of her, showing a hint of admiration in her eyes.
"That's right," Lu Xuan replied with a smile.
"You have such a great talent for planting spiritual plants. Have you ever considered joining the Hundred Herbs Hall?"
"If you join the Hundred Herbs Hall, you will get management rights over a medicinal garden, where several spiritual plant cultivators will follow your orders."
"Also, whether it's spirit stones, artifacts, cultivation techniques, or even partners, as long as you want them, the hall can provide."
"What do you think?"
The young lady's voice was clear, but it carried a strong persuasive power.
Lu Xuan lowered his head slightly, as if pondering.
After a moment, he raised his head and said firmly, "I'm sorry, Miss He. I'm used to being laid-back and can't stand any restrictions. I prefer to stick to the original cooperative model with your hall."
"As long as your hall provides me with spirit seeds or seedlings according to our agreement, the spiritual plants I cultivate will still be sold to the Hundred Herbs Hall first."
Even though He Yuntong's proposal was very tempting, Lu Xuan appeared to weigh his options, but in reality, he had no hesitation.
The white light orb was his greatest opportunity. It was fine to plant spiritual plants freely on his own, but if he were absorbed into the Hundred Herbs Hall, he would be subjected to all sorts of restrictions, adding unnecessary risks.
"Since you insist, I won't force you."
The graceful young lady changed her tone.
"However, I think we can have a deeper cooperation. As long as you put your heart into cultivating spiritual plants for the hall, we will provide you with plenty of opportunities to plant second-grade spiritual plants, and even let you try for third-grade ones."
Lu Xuan looked up at the graceful young lady, He Yuntong, and saw a familiar expression on her face that he often encountered in his past life.
It was an expression that screamed: drawing a cake.
(End of Chapter)