The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

At noon, in the secluded orchid valley.

Yang Qingyuan stopped in front of a white array barrier in the center of the valley, then took out a communication talisman from his storage bag and activated it.

The sound transmission talisman flew out of his hand, transformed into a white light, and disappeared into the formation.

About half an incense stick later, a crack slowly opened up on the array barrier.

"Come in," came a dry, old man's voice from the crack.

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan stepped into the gap in the barrier.

Behind the white light curtain, however, was a courtyard with a plaque that read "Hundred Herbs Garden".

The courtyard is very large, covering an area of ​​four or five acres, with a thatched hut in the center made of dry grass and bamboo.

The courtyard was surrounded by neatly arranged plots of spiritual fields, divided by ditches.

The spiritual field is lush and green, planted with many medicinal herbs, and filled with a rich medicinal fragrance.

In the center of the courtyard, there was a simple stone table.

At this moment, a thin, short old man was sitting behind a stone table, with an ordinary-looking young man standing beside him.

The old man appeared to be around fifty years old, with two wispy, yellowish mustaches and eyes narrowed to slits. At first glance, he looked like a giant, humanoid rat that had become a spirit, but the aura emanating from him was that of someone in the Foundation Establishment stage.

Upon seeing this, Yang Qingyuan clasped his hands in greeting and said, "Senior Brother Ma, my name is Yang Qingyuan. I have come to you on the recommendation of Senior Sister Nie Ying to purchase some spiritual herbs."

The senior brother Ma looked Yang Qingyuan up and down with his cloudy little eyes, then stroked his beard and said, "That girl Nie Ying has already sent me a message."

"Years ago, I owed the Nie family a favor. Since you were recommended by her, I can sell you any medicine that isn't a rare and precious elixir."

"Please sit down."

"Han Li, brew your Uncle Yang a pot of good tea!"

The unremarkable-looking young man next to him was none other than Han Li, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.

Upon hearing the old man surnamed Ma's words, Han Li's lips twitched violently a few times. He forced a smile, cupped his hands in greeting to Yang Qingyuan, and said, "Han Li greets... Uncle Yang."

At this moment, Han Li felt a mix of emotions. After all, when they first met at the Ascension Conference, Yang Qingyuan's cultivation level was not as high as his.

However, in just six months, Yang Qingyuan had already successfully established his foundation.

Yang Qingyuan waved his hand and replied, "Junior Brother Han, there's no need to be so polite."

"We were old acquaintances before we joined Yellow Maple Valley, and we were even friends of the same generation."

"No, no, not at all," Han Li replied with a forced smile. "Senior Uncle Ma is also here. If I were to address you as Senior Brother Yang, wouldn't that be confusing our seniority?"

"I'll still address you as... Uncle Yang."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan seemed to shiver, knowing in his heart that a pitiful, thick barrier had already separated the two of them, and he was speechless for a moment.

As Han Li thought about how the batch of Purple Monkey Flowers, Heavenly Spirit Fruits, and other spiritual herbs he had secretly transplanted were almost ripe, his mood gradually improved.

"Even though Yang Qingyuan has a lightning spiritual root, he still has a cultivation bottleneck and still needs to purchase spiritual herbs to refine pills."

"It seems that the aptitude of this lightning spirit root is simply not worth mentioning compared to the little green bottle that can accelerate the ripening of spirit herbs."

"As long as I take more elixirs, I will eventually catch up with their level."

"After all, Yang Qingyuan can't find that many spiritual herbs, so his cultivation speed will slow down sooner or later."

Thinking of this, Han Li's jealousy subsided, and he respectfully brewed a pot of fine tea for Yang Qingyuan.

After Yang Qingyuan took his seat, he took out a blue jade slip from his storage bag and handed it to the old man surnamed Ma, saying, "Senior Brother Ma, the spiritual herbs in this jade slip are all what I need. I wonder how many you have here?"

The elderly man surnamed Ma took the jade slip, compared it with the others, and then explained, "These spiritual herbs are all for the Foundation Establishment stage, and are extremely rare. I can only sell you thirty of them."

"Moreover, the medicinal herbs we sell to you are all seedlings or seeds that are less than fifty years old."

"After all, you know that aged medicinal herbs are almost extinct in the Yue Kingdom."

"I have toiled for a hundred years to cultivate these aged medicinal herbs, so naturally I will not sell them."

Yang Qingyuan understood the other party's behavior very well, and since he had the "Agriculture" mantra to accelerate the ripening of spiritual herbs, he replied, "I will listen to Senior Brother Ma."

Upon hearing this, the elderly man surnamed Ma nodded slightly, then took out a blank jade slip from his storage bag, inscribed some words on it with his magic power, and handed the jade slip to Han Li, instructing him, "Han Li, according to the contents of the jade slip, go to the herb garden to pick some seedlings, and then go to the house to get some seeds."

Han Li respectfully accepted the jade slip and then went to the herb field to get busy.

Yang Qingyuan and the old man surnamed Ma drank tea and exchanged their cultivation experiences after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

After an incense stick had burned, Han Li finally finished his work and presented Yang Qingyuan with a storage bag with both hands, saying, "Please take a look, Uncle Yang."

Yang Qingyuan took the storage bag, used his divine sense to check it, and couldn't help but smile with delight.

In this way, combined with the spiritual herbs from the Crimson Forbidden Land, he could refine Spirit Gathering Pills, Qi Harmony Pills, Beast Nurturing Pills, and even Youth Preservation Pills and Foundation Building Pills. He could also refine the formula for the Meridian Smoothing Pill that Xin Ruyin had collected.

Unfortunately, the True Essence Pill is still missing a spiritual herb called "Qi Condensation Grass".

Yang Qingyuan was quite satisfied and asked the old man surnamed Ma, "May I ask, Senior Brother Ma, what is the price of these medicinal herb seedlings?"

"Five hundred spirit stones." The old man surnamed Ma held up five fingers.

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan felt it was worth the price, so he took out five mid-grade spirit stones from his storage bag and placed them on the table.

"In that case, junior brother will take his leave." Yang Qingyuan stood up, gave a slight bow, and left the courtyard.

The old man surnamed Ma then instructed Han Li, saying, "Han Li, go and see your Uncle Yang off. Don't be impolite."

Han Li pouted slightly, but dared not disobey the old man surnamed Ma's order and sent Yang Qingyuan out of the formation.

Yang Qingyuan left the Hundred Herbs Garden, released the Azure Leaf magic artifact, and then said to Han Li, "Junior Brother Han, the green hills remain unchanged, and the green waters flow on forever. I believe that when we meet again, you will definitely have successfully established your foundation."

Upon hearing this, Han Li felt a warmth in his heart. After all, even his cheap master, Li Huayuan, did not think he could establish his foundation. He immediately cupped his hands in return and said, "Thank you for your kind words, Uncle Yang."

Yang Qingyuan nodded slightly, leaped onto the green leaf magic artifact, and headed straight for the gate of Yellow Maple Valley.

Han Li watched Yang Qingyuan's departing figure, filled with emotion. He resolved to accelerate the ripening of the spiritual herbs in his hands and refine them into Foundation Establishment Pills as soon as possible...

After leaving the gate of Huangfeng Valley, Yang Qingyuan changed to riding the Ink Dragon and headed straight for Yingchou Ravine.

A day later, in the pavilion atop the crimson mountain range in the Blood-Red Forbidden Land, a blue tornado swept through.

As soon as Yang Qingyuan stepped out of the whirlwind, he heard deafening fighting sounds coming from down the mountain and quickly looked over.

But then they saw a blue wolf demon the size of a calf locked in combat with an ice silkworm as thick as a water bucket on the mountainside.

The auras emanating from both demonic beasts far surpassed those of cultivators in the Qi Refining stage.

"This Gale Wolf and Ice Silkworm have actually broken through to the second level!" Yang Qingyuan was slightly surprised. He didn't expect that only a few months after leaving the Crimson Forbidden Land, two demonic beasts would break through their bottlenecks. He thought to himself, "It seems that the last time the Crimson Forbidden Land was too tragic, these demonic beasts devoured a large amount of flesh and blood of Qi Refining stage cultivators, which is why they have all advanced."

He couldn't help but worry about Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei's situation.

Fortunately, the array around the blue hall was intact.

Seeing this, Yang Qingyuan felt relieved and then released the black dragon, which flew towards the two demonic beasts...