Chapter 11
When he arrived at White Moon Lake, Senior Sister Zhou led the way to the garden. Jiang Hao spent half of the day pouring lava at the designated time.
He had expected to see some changes, but he realized soon enough that it was just like pouring water and the changes would be painstakingly slow. The lava just sunk to the soil and alleviated the surrounding frost. But the soil in this place wasn’t ordinary either. It absorbed the lava. Jiang Hao repeated the same thing day after day.
He made talismans at nights and went to the Spirit Herb Garden in the morning. He then tried to sell the talismans in the market and headed up to the White Moon Lake to tend to the pure Yang Flower at noon. This had become his routine.
One good thing that came out of it was that he found blue bubbles every day after he had started tending to the pure Yang Flower:
[Cultivation + 1]
[Lifeblood + 1]
And he found mostly white and green bubbles at the Spirit Herb Garden.
[strength + 1]
[spirit + 1]
[lifeblood strengthening pill + 1]
He gained a lot more than before. His lifeblood and cultivation were increasing steadily. If he continued tending to the pure Yang Flower, he might advance to the middle phase of the Foundation Establishment in less than a month! But he seriously needed to find a way to hide his cultivation.
During the period he took care of the pure Yang Flower, he frequently appraised it to make sure that nothing was wrong with it. The answer was usually the same:
[ pure Yang Flower: Healing Holy Medicine, the main ingredient of the Ming Yang Pill. It is about to mature and is in good condition.]
Occasionally, there would be a somewhat different answer:
[ pure Yang Flower: Healing Holy Medicine, the main ingredient of the Ming Yang Pill. It is about to mature and is not in a good condition. It is too cold and needs to be watered with lava.]
Usually, when he got the second appraisal answer, he poured a little extra lava. He hoped it would be enough. After that, he regretted doing it because if something went wrong, it would be his fault.
Fortunately, nothing went wrong. But making talismans wasn’t going that smoothly. Basic talismans were useless so he began to make more complicated ones which would help the Foundation Establishment cultivators like the Spirit Concentration Talisman but it took him almost two days to finish just one talisman. The effect would be average, and they were worth 5 spirit stones. However, it was not enough.
Besides the Spirit Concentration Talisman, there was also the Fire Talisman. Its power couldn’t be compared to Foundation Establishment, but it was still not that bad. Each talisman cost 3 spirit stones. Unfortunately, it was as difficult and time consuming to make as the Spirit Concentration Talisman.
The third type of talisman was the Divine Sword Talisman. It sounded powerful, but in fact, it did nothing more than to make your sword fly faster if you were throwing it. It was also 5 spirit stones per talisman. It was difficult to make.
Fortunately, there was still a lot of time. As long as the success rate could be increased, it would be a sure win for him. But he had no time to cultivate. Everything depended on cultivation. If he cultivated for only a short period of time every day, then the effect of it would not be so great,
Besides, more cultivation meant more talent. So only those with good cultivation and good talent could refine pills and make talismans. For someone with insufficient cultivation, it wasn’t safe to refine pills.
“Junior Brother Jiang, you are so punctual. You arrive at the same time every day.” Zhou Chan smiled at him.
“Ha ha. I dare not neglect my duties,” said Jiang Hao, smiling back.
After his frequent visits, Senior Sister Zhou had begun to befriend him. “Be careful. Elder Qian Xu is in a very bad mood. Tomorrow is the last day. Don’t let anything go wrong,” Zhou Chan kindly reminded him as she led him to the garden.
Jiang Hao nodded. “Thank you for the warning, Senior Sister.” The reminder might not mean much to her but it was indispensable to Jiang Hao. Knowing how the elder was feeling gave him an idea on how best to approach her.
After informing Elder Qian Xu about his arrival, he walked to the courtyard where the pure yang Flower was. When he reached, he was stunned. Every day it had given him blue bubbles, but today there were none. Instead, a single purple bubble floated at the edge of the pure Yang Flower.
‘It’s actually purple. That’s strange…,’ he thought. Jiang Hao had tended to the Spirit Herb Garden for so long. He had never seen a purple flower appear midway. It was either at the beginning or the end of maturity that the purple bubble usually surfaced.
At the beginning or the end…
Jiang Hao hurriedly activated his Daily Appraisal divine ability.
[ pure Yang Flower: Healing Holy Medicine, the main ingredient of the Ming Yang Pill, has matured.]
The pure Yang Flower was different from other spirit herbs. When it was fully matured, it needed to be plucked. Otherwise, it would wither fast and then regrow. It would take longer for it to mature again.
He did not understand why it had matured so fast, but he did not dare delay. He took the purple bubble which fused into his body:
[ divine ability Fragment + 1]
He hurried off to get Elder Qian Xu. Along the way he checked his interface.
After taking the purple bubble, he quickly went to see Elder Qian Xu.
[Divine Ability: 3/3(available)]
‘Finally, another divine ability!’ he was ecstatic. Restraining himself from checking the ability at once, he ran to the courtyard.
“Junior Jiang Hao,” he announced his name. “I have something to report.”
Creak! The door opened and a displeased Elder Qian Xu appeared. “What is it?” she asked.
She was really in a bad mood. Jiang Hao sighed inwardly. If the matter wasn’t important, he would never have crossed Elder Qian Xu when her mood was this grumpy.
He bowed his head. “Today, when I reached to tend to the pure Yang Flower, I noticed that something was strange. It seemed to have matured…”
Before he could even finish his words, Elder Qian Xu disappeared from the door and made her way to the pure Yang Flower. Jiang Hao followed.
Elder Qian Xu plucked the pure Yang Flower. Jiang Hao sighed in relief. He was so glad that the mission had ended without anything going wrong. The harvest was obviously greater than expected seeing how Elder Qian Xu looked very pleased. 20 spirit stones were a decent among, but the real deal had been the divine ability fragment. This mission had indeed been profitable for him.
“You do have some ability.” Elder Qian Xu put away the pure Yang flower and looked at Jiang Hao.
“It was nothing. I still rely on Elder Qian Xu’s guidance,” said Jiang Hao humbly.
“There’s no doubt about your ability. Let’s go. I’ll take you to meet the owner of this flower. Remember to be smart and respectful. You might be able to gain something from this,” said Elder Qian Xu.
‘Am I going to meet the Guardian Elder?’ wondered Jiang Hao. He had never seen one before and that made him very nervous.