Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 203 The Special Bletilla striata

The surprise was only momentary.

Over the past six months, the strange tales about the White Stone Immortal Sect have spread throughout the martial arts world. There are even more exaggerated stories than this. However, rumors are just rumors. Seeing it with one's own eyes is still quite shocking, which is why Qin Yingyue was stunned for a moment.

Soon, Zhong Hui and the other two hurriedly followed Qin Yingyue to the Peach Blossom Sect's herb garden.

The medicinal herb gardens are located near Peach Blossom Creek, stretching for a long time. Roughly counting, there are about twenty square medicinal herb gardens that have been cultivated.

Unlike ordinary medicinal herb gardens, each medicinal herb garden of the Peach Blossom School is much smaller, sometimes less than half an acre. They are all three zhang square medicinal fields, planted with different medicinal herbs. Some medicinal herb gardens even have wooden boards on the left and right for shade, which is obviously carefully cultivated according to the different medicinal herbs' preference for shade or sun.

"Actually, we noticed two months ago that the medicinal herbs in these herb gardens were more effective than before, but we just thought it was because these few batches were well tended and didn't pay much attention to it."

Qin Yingyue explained, "I never thought it was because of any kind of 'spiritual energy'."

Zhong Hui was a disciple of the Spirit Medicine Peak. Although his understanding of various spiritual herbs and plants was still at the beginner level, it was not difficult for him to distinguish whether a herb was a spiritual herb.

So she found a nearby medicinal herb garden, squatted down beside the outermost ridges and beds, and carefully observed the orchid-like herbs in the garden.

She recognized this herb; it's called Bletilla striata, and it looks a lot like an orchid. Its flowers are purplish-pink, and its roots and stems are used in medicine, often in prescriptions for internal and external injuries.

In the herb garden on Spirit Medicine Peak, there are also some ordinary Bletilla striata plants. Because they are nourished by spiritual energy and irrigated by spiritual spring water, they have gradually become spiritual herbs. However, they are still not as good as those medicinal herbs that originally had spiritual energy.

Zhong Hui first touched the white atractylodes, then carefully plucked a purple flower and put it in his mouth to chew. Sure enough, a barely perceptible spiritual energy disappeared instantly, so quickly that it seemed like Zhong Hui's illusion.

She plucked another small purple flower from a Bletilla striata plant and chewed it, finding that it was indeed not an illusion. Although these Bletilla striata plants were far from meeting the standards of spiritual materials and could not compare with the Bletilla striata cultivated on the Spirit Medicine Peak, they could no longer be considered ordinary medicinal materials.

Zhong Hui first nodded slightly to Qin Jiang and Sun Ping, and then said to Qin Yingyue, "Congratulations, Sect Leader Qin. At least these white atractylodes plants have indeed come close to becoming spiritual herbs. If they are carefully nurtured, they may actually be cultivated into spiritual herbs after a period of time. At that time, their medicinal effects will be far superior to ordinary herbs!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Yingyue felt both pleased and worried.

The joy was that they never expected to be able to grow "spiritual herbs" in their own sect's herb garden, but the worry was that they might not be able to protect such "immortal herbs".

"However, the spiritual energy here is too thin. If these white atractylodes plants grow too well, they can easily 'starve' to death due to the lack of spiritual energy..."

Zhong Hui recalled some information about nurturing spiritual herbs and plants that he had read on Spirit Medicine Peak, and pondered, "Here's what we'll do. I'll give you a few spirit stones. Find a basin, mix some mud with water, and soak the herbs in it. Then, every three to five days, change the mud water. Use the mud water that's been changed to water the herb garden. When the spirit stones are almost used up, the concentration of spiritual energy here should also increase. At that time, you won't need to nurture the spiritual herbs like this anymore; they'll be able to 'eat their fill' on their own!"

"Well... perhaps you immortals should just dig up these 'spiritual herbs' yourselves..."

Before Qin Yingyue could finish speaking, several Peach Blossom Sect disciples beside her became anxious: "Sect Leader!" Qin Yingyue, however, remained unmoved and waved her hand at them. Then she said to Zhong Hui and the others, "A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime. The Peach Blossom Sect is weak and has no ability to keep these treasures. It would be better for the immortals to take them away. It would be a good thing for them, so that they don't wither away in our ordinary medicine garden."

Zhong Hui immediately felt sympathy for Qin Yingyue, while Sun Ping lowered his eyes, seemingly somewhat disdainful.

Zhong Hui and Qin Jiang, being young and inexperienced, might not have noticed this tactic, but Qin Jiang, having grown up amidst all sorts of people, immediately understood that Sect Leader Qin was using a feigned retreat to advance, wanting their help but unwilling to lower himself to ask for favors...

How ridiculous!

However, this was Sun Ping judging a gentleman by his own petty standards.

While Qin Yingyue's words did indeed imply a desire for help, she was also thinking more about using these "spiritual herbs" as "protection money" to "offer" to the White Stone Immortal Sect. This way, she could ask for help and at least resolve the White Dragon Gang's matter.

Otherwise, why would someone help you if you're not related to them?
Even the most precious "miracle herb" requires a person to be alive to use it.

Besides, since they've already been raised, they can simply raise them secretly again in the future, trying not to let the news leak out, so as to avoid attracting any covetous people.

"These white atractylodes plants of yours are actually quite ordinary; there's no point in us digging them up."

Unexpectedly, Zhong Hui sincerely "politely declined": "It's only useful to you. We are all cultivators. For us, this kind of medicinal herb that has not yet fully become a spiritual herb is no different from ordinary medicinal herbs!"

These words made Qin Yingyue a little embarrassed. Just as she was hesitating about how to respond, she heard a chirping sound and saw a swallow leading two people dressed similarly to the three "immortals" in front of her. The two people used some kind of lightness skill, and each time they took a step, they could leap three or five steps, which was amazing.

"Senior Sister Zhong!" Ye Hanxing spoke first, "We encountered a group of people on our way here. They seemed a bit off, and we overheard them talking about 'White Stone Immortal Sect' or something. What happened?"

Qin Jiang said with great interest, "It was the White Dragon Gang who came to cause trouble for the Peach Blossom Sect. Senior Sister Zhong smashed their weapons with a single cauldron and they ran away in a sorry state. They were probably still angry!"

Among the outer disciples, since there is no order of entry into the sect, and using age to refer to the senior disciples would be seen as a subtle dig at the inner disciples, everyone simply agreed to use the order of whoever initiated the cultivation of the body first to be ranked as senior brother or sister. Zhong Hui was almost the first to initiate the cultivation of the body, so although she was not old, she was already the "senior sister" of most of the outer disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect.

Zhong Hui then explained, "It's the herb garden of the Peach Blossom Sect, where they grow medicinal herbs with spiritual energy. Although they don't quite meet the standards of spiritual herbs, they're still quite good. That's why they attracted those shameless bastards from the White Dragon Gang!"

"Oh my! A medicinal herb with a magical properties!?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Hanxing's eyes lit up with excitement, and she blurted out, "Then we'll get contribution points for this trial mission!?"

(End of this chapter)