"Official business?" Duan Xianxing had just dodged Suisui’s bone claw pursuit and immediately perked up at the words. "Is Second Senior Brother talking about picking spirit plants?" His eyes lit up as he looked at the medicine field, the light on his golden hair seeming to shine a bit brighter.
"Naturally, but..." Zhu Yinxi’s fingertip lightly tapped the tabletop.
"We cannot pick them all. Each spirit plant must have its roots left behind. It isn't easy to form a medicine field of this scale; we must not destroy it."
Liu Qingyang and Li Nanzhu naturally nodded in agreement. Although Duan Xianxing felt a little disappointed, he also knew that destroying such a treasure trove would only damage his fortune in the Dao, so he naturally had no objections.
Li Nanzhu thought back to the original novel, where Cang Dongqing had directly dug everything out, causing the spiritual energy of the medicine field to vanish along with them, likely ensuring that no new spirit plants would ever grow there again. She couldn't help but shake her head. To destroy such a precious place without hesitation—could she really be considered a heaven-sent heroine?
The four were about to step forward to harvest the spirit plants when the stone table in the middle of the octagonal pavilion suddenly began to rumble and vibrate. Zhu Yinxi quickly shielded the three behind him, staring warily at the table.
Fortunately, the stone table only vibrated for a moment before returning to stillness. Fine patterns emerged on its surface, forming several lines of shimmering text: [Those destined may enter, take what is needed, a limit of three plants, do not be greedy or quarrel.]
"There's a limit?" Duan Xianxing lamented, gazing longingly at the sparkling spirit plants in the field. "So many treasures, and I can only take three..."
Li Nanzhu leaned in to observe and found another line of nearly transparent engravings beneath the text: [Wait—there's more small print here: Pass the test to take; those who seize by force shall go bald.]
"What? What does this mean? Why is there a test to pick spirit plants? This 'bald' part... it couldn't mean actually going bald, could it!" Seeing this, Duan Xianxing immediately clutched his head. Although he believed he would still be a peerless handsome man even if he became a bald head, that didn't mean he was willing to become one!
Li Nanzhu's mouth twitched, feeling somewhat speechless. Why wasn't it this much trouble when Cang Dongqing came in the original story? She had just dug everything up, dirt and all. Why did they have to take an exam? These spirit plants really look down on people, don't they! Not only are they limited-purchase, but they also threaten baldness?
"This is actually for the best," Zhu Yinxi took the lead and walked over. "This way, it won't cause too much damage to the medicine field. The limit of three also forces us to choose the best and not be too greedy."
"Brother Zhu is certainly open-minded." Liu Qingyang smiled and followed him. "Then I must take a good look at which spirit plant is most suitable for me."
Only Duan Xianxing was still quite dejected, while Li Nanzhu was wondering why they could only take three.
She suddenly remembered that in the original novel, Cang Dongqing was only transported here after obtaining the alchemy inheritance. Could it be that only those who obtained the inheritance could take them without any restrictions? Although Li Nanzhu felt this was a bit unreliable, it was the most likely answer she could think of.
"Little Junior Sister, hurry up and choose!" Duan Xianxing had finally recovered from his sadness and directly pulled Li Nanzhu into the medicine field.
Duan Xianxing rushed straight to the gold-patterned lingzhi that had just dyed his hair. He was very fond of it. Li Nanzhu found its corresponding name in her memory—gold-patterned lingzhi.
"This lingzhi... why does it seem to be glaring at me?" Duan Xianxing crouched before the basin-sized gold-patterned lingzhi, cautiously reaching out a finger to harvest it.
Suddenly, the lingzhi's cap gave a violent shudder and 'shua'—three gold needles shot out!
"Whoa!" Duan Xianxing dodged with a backflip. The gold needles pinned themselves directly into the tree trunk behind him, their tails still buzzing with vibration.
Li Nanzhu stood not far away, laughing so hard she couldn't stand straight. "Seventh Senior Brother, it seems it doesn't like you very much."
"Nonsense! If it didn't like me, would it have dyed my hair!" Duan Xianxing straightened his robes and put on a fawning smile. "Great Lingzhi Brother, let's make a deal? Even if I can't harvest you, at least give me a small piece..."
"Pfft!" The lingzhi sprayed another cloud of gold powder. Duan Xianxing used his sleeve to block it in time, but three small translucent holes instantly appeared in his sleeve.
"This temper is even more explosive than Fifth Senior Brother's..." Duan Xianxing whispered to himself. Just as he was worrying about how to harvest it, Li Nanzhu spoke up to remind him.
"Seventh Senior Brother, gold-patterned lingzhi likes moonlight dew. If you can give it that, you might be able to pick it. But if you don't have any, you might just have to become bald."
Duan Xianxing immediately began searching his storage bag. Before long, he actually pulled out a small bottle.
"Watch this!" He winked triumphantly at the group, dripped the liquid into his palm, and began rubbing his hands together.
Liu Qingyang and Zhu Yinxi were also drawn by the commotion. Liu Qingyang looked bewildered. "Brother Duan is..."
"...I feel like I might have some misunderstandings about Seventh Junior Brother sometimes." Zhu Yinxi rubbed his forehead helplessly. How did this guy have everything in his storage bag? Aside from being liked by gold-patterned lingzhi or being used by an alchemist, moonlight dew really had no other use. Duan Xianxing actually had it... one really didn't know whether to praise him or call him a spendthrift.
Just as Duan Xianxing finished, the lingzhi's cap shuddered and slowly turned toward him.
Duan Xianxing immediately adopted an even more devout posture, his hands slightly cupped as the dew in his palms sparkled under the sunlight.
The lingzhi hesitated and leaned forward.
"Yes, yes, just like that..." Duan Xianxing backed away slowly, leading the lingzhi away from its spot.
When the lingzhi was completely exposed to the sunlight, he suddenly lunged forward. However, instead of picking the lingzhi, he quickly scattered a handful of seeds in the spot where it had originally grown.
"What are you doing?" Li Nanzhu asked curiously.
"Equivalent exchange!" Duan Xianxing clapped his hands. "I found it some new neighbors."
A magical scene occurred: the gills of the gold-patterned lingzhi spread out, and it actually shook off a small piece of its gold-patterned cap, which fell into the jade box Duan Xianxing had prepared.
Suisui also ran over and curiously poked the piece of the cap with its bone claw.
The lingzhi not only didn't get angry but also 'pfft' sprayed a small cloud of gold powder, dyeing Suisui’s skull gold as well.
"Hahaha!" Duan Xianxing stood with his hands on his hips triumphantly. "See that? This is called winning through vir—ow!"
Before he could finish, the lingzhi suddenly shot out another gold needle, accurately pricking him in the butt.
"It says this is its return gift," Zhu Yinxi translated calmly.
Li Nanzhu laughed until she was wiping away tears. "Seventh Senior Brother, it seems it still doesn't like you that much."
Duan Xianxing rubbed his butt and tucked the jade box into his robes. "Regardless, mission accomplished!" He glanced at Suisui, who had turned into a little gold skeleton, and suddenly had a brainstorm. "Little Junior Sister, do you think if we took Suisui apart and sold its bones..."
"Don't even think about it!" Li Nanzhu scooped up Suisui. The little skeleton cooperatively acted out a shivering motion, its bones 'clacking' together.
"The spirit plants here... they seem to have some level of low intelligence, similar to demon plants that have developed sentience." Liu Qingyang had been observing for a while and finally reached this conclusion.
The group finally realized something was wrong. Yes, spirit plants usually didn't have this kind of intelligence. How could these spirit plants even perform attacks?
The four looked at each other, momentarily unsure whether to continue harvesting, as this had already exceeded their range of knowledge.
The most confused was still Li Nanzhu. After all, the current situation had completely deviated by ten thousand miles from the plot she knew. The original text never mentioned that these spirit plants had their own thoughts.
Or had she missed some key plot point?
While Li Nanzhu was deep in thought, Duan Xianxing had already given up on the question. Even if the spirit plants had developed sentience, he couldn't pick them anyway, so he naturally didn't care. He cheerfully began preparing to select his second spirit plant.
Seeing Duan Xianxing's lighthearted manner, the other three shook their heads. Indeed, sometimes simple people had simple advantages; they didn't think too much.
The four separated again to look for the spirit plants they wanted. Suisui also ran off on its own. Li Nanzhu didn't mind. She had her eye on a stalk of moon-essence grass. The effect of this spirit plant was to prevent the growth of heart demons. She planned to give it to her Eldest Senior Brother or Second Senior Brother if they ever developed heart demons. After all, in the original novel, the reason these two were eventually unable to break through was related to heart demons.
Just as she reached out her hand, prepared for a direct attack, a small cluster of vines suddenly and quietly coiled around her ankle, a dangerous blue light glinting on the leaves.
Li Nanzhu was startled and prepared to cut them with a water blade, but then she thought of the warning—no seizing by force. Would her fighting back count as seizing by force?
In her moment of hesitation, more vines coiled up.
Fortunately, they had no ill intent; they had simply trapped her. While she was worrying, the sound of the bell on Suisui’s tail rang out from the nearby grass, 'ding-ling-dong' without stopping. The vines actually loosened slightly as if they were annoyed by the noise.
Li Nanzhu originally wanted to call Suisui, but there was no response after she called twice, and even the bell sound disappeared. She was forced to give up on asking Suisui for help.
"If sound attacks are effective..." Thinking this, her eyes suddenly lit up. She planned to ask Second Senior Brother for help, but then she thought about that sound and immediately turned to Duan Xianxing. "Seventh Senior Brother, do you have any more bells! Or anything that can make a loud sound!"
Duan Xianxing rummaged through his storage bag and eventually pulled out a copper gong. "Will this do?"
"...Yes."
Even as she took the copper gong, Li Nanzhu was still wondering what kind of random junk Duan Xianxing kept in his storage bag.
"GONG!!!" Li Nanzhu struck the copper gong with all her might. Every spirit plant in the medicine field shuddered in unison.
The gold-patterned lingzhi shrank into a ball and rolled into a corner, the vines frantically knotted themselves into a tangle, and that arrogant moon-essence grass buried itself directly into the soil.
The only exception was the giant sunflower in the center. Not only was it unaffected, it actually shook off a floor's worth of sunflower seeds in excitement. Its flower head turned toward the source of the gong sound and suddenly—
"Puff puff puff!" It spat out sunflower seeds like projectiles at Li Nanzhu!
"Little Junior Sister, don't dodge, collect all the seeds!" Duan Xianxing hurriedly called out to Li Nanzhu. Li Nanzhu's mouth twitched. He should try being the one hit by the seeds!
Liu Qingyang, who had been drawn over by the sound, suddenly pointed at the ground. "The... the ground is moving!"
The earth within ten zhang began to rise and fall like waves. A giant man-eating flower king burst out of the soil, the patterns on its flower head forming an angry face. It had clearly been disturbed by the gong sound just now.
"A man-eating flower king?!" Duan Xianxing’s voice went shrill. "Isn't this thing extinct? And isn't this a medicine field! How could this thing appear here, ahhh!!"
Three amber-colored eyes opened on the giant flower's stalk, locking onto the group.
The flower head split into four petals, revealing dense barbs inside. Where the mucus dripped, the rocks were corroded, letting out white smoke.
"The books record," Zhu Yinxi said calmly as he flipped through a book, "that it fears fire, fears acid, fears..."
"Second Senior Brother!" Duan Xianxing screamed as he tackled him to the ground, narrowly avoiding a sweeping vine. "Get to the point!"
"...It's ticklish."
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