Song Yao's heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition suddenly washed over her.
Before she could pull her hand back, she heard a sharp crack—
The tender seedling that had barely sprouted an inch from the soil suddenly shot upward, its stem lengthening at a visible rate as its leaves unfurled wildly.
Vines burst from the leaf joints, whipping violently in all directions like a spiral.
The nearest vine flew straight toward Song Yao's face.
The Sixth Elder stood dumbfounded, her body reacting on instinct as she grabbed the equally stunned Song Yao and retreated.
With her other hand, she formed a hand seal, and a pale green spiritual energy surged from her palm to suppress the wildly growing vine.
The vine twisted reluctantly, and only after a long moment did it slowly quiet down and shrink back into the soil, as if nothing had happened.
Half an acre of the spiritual field had been reduced to a complete mess.
Song Yao stood beside the Sixth Elder, her face covered in dirt. Clinging to a sliver of hope, she asked, “Sixth Elder, this is normal, right?”
The Sixth Elder: “...What do you think?”
She had been a medicine cultivator for over a century, and she had never seen a common medicinal plant go mad like this.
But there was an exception to everything.
It was probably just bad luck.
Taking a breath, she comforted Song Yao, “It's fine. Let's try again. Lately, evil spirits have been sneaking in to eat the spiritual plants. It might have accidentally possessed this seedling.”
Song Yao: “Okay!”
...
Half an incense stick later, the Sixth Elder stared at the vast stretch of spiritual fields that looked as if they had been ravaged by a tornado, and the crowd of injured disciples within them. With extreme difficulty, she squeezed out a smile. “My child.”
Song Yao's hair was a disheveled mess, her face and body covered in dirt. She looked at her pleadingly and said, “I'm sorry.”
“It's fine. Learn... learning always comes with some accidents. Um... why don't you go back to being a pill cultivator?”
“...”
“Being a spiritual cultivator is fine too.”
The Sixth Elder's heart was bleeding, and she felt like crying, but she didn't forget to comfort her. “Your wood spiritual root might be mutated. If you can control it, it will definitely be incredibly powerful. Your future is still limitless.”
Song Yao: “...”
She just wanted to be an ordinary, unremarkable person. What did she need incredible power for?
Seeing her genuine disappointment, the Sixth Elder couldn't bear it. “How about this? I have an abandoned spiritual field on the neighboring mountain peak. Go there and try again. Perhaps there's still a turning point.”
Song Yao's eyes lit up. “Okay.”
She absolutely had to become a medicine cultivator.
The Sixth Elder wiped away her sweat. “Go take a look first. I'll clean up here and then head over to teach you. Be careful, and absolutely do not do anything reckless.”
“Don't worry.”
Climbing to that peak would take a lot of effort, so Song Yao drew her Bishui Sword.
She had already shown considerable talent before, so learning how to fly on a sword now shouldn't seem too unusual.
To be safe, she wobbled unsteadily as she flew, pretending to be highly unskilled.
...
The abandoned spiritual field was sparsely planted with a few medicinal plants.
Song Yao stood before them, lowering her eyes in contemplation.
After trying those few times, she had a rough idea of where the problem lay.
Every time she connected with a medicinal plant, the serpent-patterned seal inside her body would tremble uncontrollably. The plants going mad was mostly due to this.
What exactly was this serpent-patterned seal to have such an effect?
If she couldn't control it, she wouldn't be able to be a medicine cultivator at all.
But... how could she control it?
Song Yao took a deep breath, placed her palm over a plant, and tried again.
She refused to believe it.
There was no way she couldn't even farm.
Only after painstakingly clearing away the ruined plants and sending all the injured disciples to the Ward-Off-Illness Hall did the Sixth Elder hurry over to the abandoned spiritual field.
There was no one in the field, nor were there any crazed plants.
Song Yao was lazily leaning against a branch of an old locust tree, her legs dangling in the air. Behind her, the evening sky was ablaze with an orange-red sunset.
It looked like nothing had gone wrong.
The Sixth Elder looked up and asked, “How did it go?”
Her voice was so calm it lacked any rising or falling tone: “I can control it now.”
The Sixth Elder let out a huge sigh of relief. The tension on her face melted away, replaced by a gratified smile. “I knew you had the talent to be a medicine cultivator. Come, let me see how you control it.”
Song Yao glanced at her, her expression rather complicated.
Then, she slowly raised her hand and gently flicked her finger toward the spiritual field.
The Sixth Elder only heard a low, muffled rumble.
In the field, every single plant shot up into the sky in unison. Their stems grew wildly under the setting sun, their leaves unfurling madly as their vines whipped in all directions like a nest of snakes.
Within a few breaths, the vegetation blotted out the sky.
The evening wind blew through the gaps in the vines, carrying the scent of rampant growth and making her robes rustle loudly.
The Sixth Elder: “...”
Wait.
Something seemed a bit off.
Control...
Was this how it was supposed to be controlled?
Shouldn't they be slowly nourished, slowly growing...
Hiss—
Song Yao was even more despairing than her. After a long pause, she asked, “They listen to my control now and don't attack people anymore. Can they be used as medicine?”
The Sixth Elder: “...”
Song Yao: “They're so huge. We can refine a lot of pills with them, right?”
The Sixth Elder: “...”
Her neck was aching from looking up. After a long while, she squeezed out, “I don't think they can. Setting aside how to harvest and process them, now that they've turned into this... using them as medicine would probably be fatal.”
She added dryly, “Or... should I give it a try?”
But the test was a clear failure.
The moment Song Yao withdrew her spiritual energy, these plants reverted to their original seedling forms, nowhere near ready to be harvested and used.
The two stood in silent confrontation for a long time. Finally, the Sixth Elder couldn't help but ask again, “Are you sure you don't want to be a cultivator?”
Song Yao: “...”
Song Yao was personally delivered back to the Seventh Elder by the Sixth Elder.
The Sixth Elder said to the Seventh Elder with earnest concern, “This little disciple of yours is truly exceptionally talented. It's too much of a waste to keep her in the herb fields. Since she's so interested in this field, why not let her become a medical cultivator? Medical cultivators make a lot of money too.”
The Seventh Elder was puzzled and confused. “What's wrong? What happened? My disciple has a Heaven-grade wood spiritual root. She is the absolute most suitable to be a medicine cultivator.”
The Sixth Elder turned and left, tossing him an account book. “These are today's damages. Remember to pay me back.”
The Seventh Elder: “...”
He flipped it open, took a glance, and nearly blacked out. His hands trembled. “My dear disciple, did you set the mountain on fire?”
How did she manage to rack up such a massive debt in just a single day?!
How many pills would he have to refine to pay this off?!
Song Yao glanced at the number and felt a sudden urge to die.
It was one thing that she couldn't be a pill cultivator or a medicine cultivator, but now she might have to work for the rest of her life in the Nine Saints Hall just to pay off her debt.
An astronomical figure.
One and a half million.
Adding the five thousand six hundred spirit stones she owed the sect, it came to a grand total of one million, five hundred and five thousand, six hundred.
Her face was ashen. Taking the account book with a deep sense of responsibility, she asked, “Master, do you know of any way to make quick money?”
The Seventh Elder: “If I knew, I wouldn't still owe Old Eight so much money.”
Song Yao: “How about I become an evil cultivator? Evil cultivators seem to be very rich.”
The Seventh Elder: “...If you want me to be cursed to death by the cultivation world, just say so.”
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