Chapter 293: Spirit Grass Doll

Steal them all? Rob them all? Pull them up?
Just talking—there’s no way I’d do that!
Su Che knew that under the current circumstances, the four Yuan Ying ancestors of Spirit Medicine Mountain must be in the main hall, monitoring every corner of the sect through the Insight Water Mirror. If he dug up this herb garden, his whereabouts would be exposed, leaving him with nowhere to hide. No amount of spirit grass was worth risking his life for.
“Be a decent gardener for a few days!”
Su Che calmed himself down and fulfilled his duties as a gardener, taking meticulous care of each spirit grass under his responsibility.
Two days passed in silence. The herb garden remained utterly peaceful. Su Che didn’t know whether the fugitive prisoners had all been captured by Spirit Medicine Mountain’s people. In any case, the protective array above them was still active. There was no way he could escape today.
As Su Che strolled through the garden, he suddenly saw a small figure jumping around in the fields, yet not harming a single spirit grass.
“Spirit Grass Doll!”
Su Che and Lao He exclaimed in unison in their minds.
It was still that little girl, looking like a human child of two or three years old, with a tuft of tender grass braids on her head and a large leaf wrapped around her body…
Her appearance was exactly the same as the Spirit Grass Doll he had seen before, but both Su Che and Lao He knew it couldn’t be the same one! This one’s cultivation level was clearly much higher, roughly equivalent to that of a mid-stage Golden Dan human cultivator.
The little girl seemed very happy, occasionally stretching out her pale fingers to gently touch the spirit grasses. Whenever she touched them, those grasses seemed to “revitalize,” just like human soldiers receiving praise from their commanders—immediately standing taller with boosted morale…
Su Che thought to himself, “Lao He, since we can’t find that one, it’s the same to catch this one. After all, they both look like your daughter.”
“I don’t want to catch her,” Lao He sighed deeply. “Master, look—she’s living happily here, surrounded by so many spirit grasses. This is her true home. If she enters our Immortal Prison, she’ll surely be very sad, right?”
Su Che chuckled. In fact, he thought the same. It didn’t seem right to deprive her of her happiness for selfish reasons.
At that moment, both Su Che and Lao He gave up the idea of capturing the Spirit Grass Dolls, because for them, the millions of acres of high-grade herb gardens in Spirit Medicine Mountain were the safest and most beautiful homes in the world. Even if Su Che was an enemy of Spirit Medicine Mountain, he couldn’t deny that.

But things in the world often go beyond expectations. Su Che and Lao He abandoned their ill intentions. After spotting Su Che, the spirit herb doll seemed to develop some interest and hopped over toward him. At a distance of three zhang, it stopped, tilted its little head to examine Su Che carefully, then circled him a few times, its delicate nostrils flaring as if sniffing around like a puppy… “What does it want?” Seeing its incredibly cute appearance, Su Che couldn’t help but smile inwardly. Su Che also knew that the spirit herb doll could move freely within the herb garden without any restrictions on its movement. This meant it could encounter human disciples or elders at any time, so it shouldn’t show such great interest in him. As it gradually approached him, Su Che crouched down to be at its height, waved at it, and said, “Little guy, come here!” This made the doll, which had been trying to get closer, retreat a few steps in fear. Seeing that it was afraid of him, Su Che was slightly surprised: “Can it see through my true strength? The role I’m playing as a disciple is only at the early foundation stage, while it’s already at the middle stage of the Golden Core realm. Why should it still be afraid of me?” With this thought, Su Che didn’t want to interact with it anymore. He stood up, turned around, and prepared to flee at any moment, looking for another place to go. In enemy territory, one must be cautious everywhere—whether it’s humans or demons, any being that can see through one’s disguise must be kept at a distance. “Is this little guy that strange?” Lao He was also astonished. Unexpectedly, the little girl followed behind him, staying a few zhang away and sticking close to Su Che’s back. Su Che headed toward his thatched cottage, thinking, “If you dare follow in, I’ll catch you, you little demon!” Creak! Su Che pushed open the wooden door of the cottage and entered. In herb gardens, buildings with too strong an aura of metal or stone were generally not allowed; small thatched cottages or wooden houses were the norm, a rule common to all sects. With the door open, Su Che deliberately waited to see if she would follow in. The spirit herb doll reached the door, its little nose twitching a few times, its face showing a mischievous expression, but in the end, it still followed in. Snap! Su Che closed the wooden door with invisible energy. The little guy shuddered, showing that it was also quite uneasy. Su Che couldn’t help but laugh, “If you’re so afraid of me, why did you still follow in?” “You… you…” The little guy blinked its shy big eyes a few times before speaking.

The spirits of plants also belong to the demon race. It’s not surprising that they can speak human language by the Golden Core stage.
“What about me?” Su Che said with a smile. “What’s wrong with me?”
“You’re very special.”
Su Che’s smile gave her more courage. The spirit herb doll took a few steps forward with its delicate white legs, coming to within a few feet of Su Che.
“You smell so good,” the little one said again, flaring its nostrils. “Mm, it’s a really nice smell.”
“Is it this?”
Su Che gathered a formless mass of life energy in her palm, guessing that she must have sensed this miraculous life force.
“Yes, yes!”
The spirit herb doll instantly lost all wariness and fear. It rushed over, grabbed Su Che’s hand, and inhaled deeply. In a flash, it sucked the life energy into its belly.
“Good, good… so comfortable!”
Its language skills weren’t as good as those of real humans. After thinking for a while, it finally chose the word “comfortable” to describe its feelings.
Life energy!
All living things in the world rely on this energy. Being full of vitality and healthy indeed brings great comfort—so the word was fitting.
Su Che had plenty of this energy. With another mass of life energy in her hand, she asked, “Do you want more?”
“Yes!”
The spirit herb doll leaned in, wanting more, but Su Che pulled back her right hand and said, “But you need to tell me—why should I give you such a wonderful thing for free?”
“Hm?”
This question stumped the little one. It tilted its head and thought for a while but couldn’t come up with a proper answer. All it could say was, “I want it. Please give it to me?”
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He shouted, “Let her exchange it for a spirit herb—a top-quality herb that’s been growing for a thousand years—just to get such a mass of life energy!”
But Su Che wasn’t thinking of spirit herbs; she was thinking of this little one itself. It was rare to encounter a creature that Lao He liked. If she was willing to follow her in exchange for enough life energy, it would fulfill one of Lao He’s wishes.
So she asked, “Little one, do you think the thing in my hand is better, or are the spirit herbs outside better?”
“This one is better!” The spirit herb doll pointed at Su Che’s hand and replied without hesitation.
“I can give you lots and lots of this every day, but you’ll have to leave the herb garden with me. Are you willing?” Su Che asked with a smile.
“How much every day?” The little one was clever, its long eyelashes fluttering.

“That’s what keeps you like this.” Su Che made a gesture of bloating and burping.
With such a vivid description, the little one’s eyes sparkled instantly: Could one get burps from eating such wonderful things?
It was simply too blissful!
Su Che was very generous and immediately condensed a large amount of life energy. Though invisible to the naked eye, a cultivator’s spiritual sense could clearly sense this mass of energy right before them.
The spirit herb baby had an even more sensitive perception of it and immediately widened its eyes in disbelief—this human really had so much to offer…
Huhu…
It moved closer and absorbed as much as it could, but after swallowing just half of it, its little belly swelled up.
“It doesn’t have a big appetite, so it can definitely be sustained,” Su Che thought with a smile.
Absorbing life energy wasn’t like chewing watermelons; even Su Che could only digest a tiny amount each day. Too much would instead cause internal heat, which was unbearable.
Of course, the spirit herb baby was also a highly intelligent being and wouldn’t be deceived so easily by this strange uncle of Su Che’s. Especially now, with its belly full and appetite reduced, its mind became even clearer.
“Can I not leave the herb garden?” Its delicate voice sounded like the most beautiful silver bells in the world: “I can exchange lots and lots of good things with you every day, okay?”
“Tell me, what kind of good things?” Su Che was even more cunning, not giving up easily.
“Come with me!” The little one grabbed the corner of Su Che’s clothes.
“No,” Su Che shook his head and pointed above. “If I follow you around randomly, the ancestors will see me and punish me.”
“I see…”
The spirit herb baby tilted its head and thought for a moment, then gestured with its little hand. Immediately, a light green, semi-transparent portal several feet high appeared in front of Su Che.
Through this portal, Su Che could see that on the other side seemed to be a planting area in a green world, quite large—several hundred acres—filled densely with various spirit herbs.
“What’s on the other side of the door?” Su Che asked curiously. It felt very similar to the planting space inside his own spirit treasure box.
“Here!”
The spirit herb baby patted its little belly.
“Your belly?” Su Che was astonished.
“Yes,” the spirit herb baby said proudly. “I’m a 30,000-year-old spirit herb baby. I’ve long created my own spirit wood space, where I’ve planted many, many spirit herbs. A few of them are already 10,000 years old and are about to evolve into new spirit herb babies. Then, they’ll be my little ones.”
Little ones?

Su Che was stunned after hearing this and couldn’t help but say, “There’s a spirit herb baby that’s fifty thousand years old on Spirit Herb Mountain. Don’t tell me you’re her offspring…”
“Yes!” the spirit herb baby replied with a smile. “I’m her baby, and she’s my mother. Have you met her?”
So that’s how it is! Su Che suddenly understood: no wonder there are over a dozen spirit herb babies on Spirit Herb Mountain…