Chapter 294: Success and Failure

Although he understood the origin of this spirit herb doll, Su Che still had concerns: “This spirit herb doll wants to take me to check out the treasure she mentioned, but she wants me to hide in her spirit wood space. Is that okay? Won’t I end up trapped?”
“It’s fine, master.”
Lao He replied immediately, “I can sense that her spirit wood space is extremely fragile—it’s not a magic space with strong defenses. Our attack power can easily break through it. Moreover, once we break through that space, it will cause her great harm. In fact, the fact that she’s willing to do this shows she trusts you enough.”
If that’s the case, there’s no need to hesitate. Su Che bent down and entered her spirit wood space through the portal of light. The doll was small, so the portal opened was tiny as well; he had to bend down to get in.
Swish!
The portal closed, and the spirit herb doll happily patted her belly before bouncing away from the small hut.
Inside her spirit wood space, Su Che stood on an open area, staring at the countless spirit herbs planted densely before him, feeling quite astonished.
“Planted so densely, and yet these top-quality and excellent spirit herbs can still thrive—her spirit wood space is truly extraordinary.”
Of course, Su Che’s description of “densely” was relative; it didn’t mean all the herbs were crammed together. In the outside herb gardens, only a dozen top-quality herbs could be planted per mu, but she could plant hundreds per mu.
A rough estimate showed that there were tens of thousands of top-quality and excellent spirit herbs in the entire space—truly astonishing!
“Master, she said she’s a top-quality spirit herb that’s 30,000 years old. Subtracting the 10,000 years when she was in her herb form, it means she’s lived inside the Spirit Medicine Mountain sect for at least 10,000 years, maybe even 20,000… I’m sure she knows many secrets that even past sect leaders don’t know,” Lao He said excitedly.
Su Che nodded in agreement.
Think about it—these spirit herb dolls have been in the Spirit Medicine Mountain sect for so many years; they’re like living fossils of the sect. Some secrets forgotten over time must still be in their minds.
20,000 years! What an incredibly long time. To some extent, it could even be said that these spirit herb dolls are the true owners of the Spirit Medicine Mountain.
With that thought, Su Che asked loudly, “Little guy, can you hear me?”
“Yes!” The clear voice of the spirit herb doll came through.

“I heard your mother has a lifespan of 50,000 years. So, was she there when Lingyao Mountain was founded?” Su Che asked tentatively.
“Yes,” replied the Spirit Grass Baby. “She is the greatest contributor to Lingyao Mountain. Without her, the countless spirit herbs here couldn’t grow so well.”
As expected, Su Che already had an idea. He continued, “You’re already 30,000 years old, yet only at the middle stage of the Golden Pill realm. Why is the progression speed for you Spirit Grass Babies so slow?”
“It’s beyond our control,” the little one said with a hint of regret. “Spirit Grass Babies are originally formed from top-quality spirit herbs and need to absorb the essence of divine-grade spirit herbs to advance quickly. Otherwise, even in 100,000 years, they won’t reach the fourth level. Besides, we can’t live that long, so no Spirit Grass Baby has ever reached the fourth level. Where can we find divine-grade spirit herbs…?”
The fourth level referred to the Human Yuan Ying stage.
“Divine-grade spirit herbs?”
Su Che was delighted and came up with an even better idea…
The Spirit Grass Baby could also fly fast, and before long, they arrived at the treasure trove she mentioned.
“Come out.”
The Spirit Grass Baby used her mental power to send Su Che out of her spiritual wood space.
“This is…”
Su Che was stunned! In front of him were rows of shelves filled with exquisite porcelain bottles—this must be…
No! It definitely was Lingyao Mountain’s treasure vault of elixirs.
The labels on the shelves made it clear—it was undoubtedly a treasure vault of elixirs. Yuan Shen Dan, Bai Zuan Dan, Li Yun Dan, Bodhi Dan, Zhu Yan Dan, Nirvana Dan, San Wen Qing Ling Dan, Qi Ming Xuan Men Dan, Jiu Zuan Huan Hun Dan, Zi Xin Po Zhang Dan…
At a glance, Su Che saw many elixirs of grade six and above, along with numerous grade nine and even grade ten elixirs.
It was impossible to count how many there were. Having so many elixirs right before his eyes was truly astonishing!
Moreover, Su Che felt his spiritual perception completely fail, which matched the characteristic of a treasure vault surrounded by strict restrictions.
“Can I exchange these elixirs for that energy from you every day?” the Spirit Grass Baby asked in a sweet voice.
Su Che was still in shock and didn’t even think about ‘exchange.’ Not rushing around frantically to plunder everything was already very rational of him.
“Spirit Grass Baby, how did you get into Lingyao Mountain’s treasure vault of elixirs?” This was what puzzled Su Che the most.

The sect’s treasure vault of a super sect—what kind of place is that? The term “strictly guarded” is far from enough to describe it. Even their four great Primordial Soul Ancestors need to follow fixed procedures and complex formalities to open the vault. Yet this Spirit Grass baby brought herself in so easily, as if returning to her own room were simple for her. How is this possible? It’s simply inconceivable! For a moment, Su Che truly couldn’t believe it was all real. Could she have led him into some illusionary array, with everything he saw being an illusion? It was precisely because of such doubts that Su Che didn’t dare act rashly.

“Hehe…” The Spirit Grass baby chuckled softly and said, “I’ve lived on the Spirit Medicine Mountain for 20,000 years. Nothing can stop me. Besides, we Spirit Grass babies have long lifespans. Besides taking care of the spirit herbs, we also learn other things. We like to learn everything except pill-making. I’m even a master of arrays and restrictions!” Her adorable little face was filled with pride. “It can be said that I understand all the arrays and restrictions within the Spirit Medicine Mountain. The protective restrictions of this vault were also improved step by step under my guidance…”

“I get it, I get it…” Su Che murmured, finally understanding. Indeed, even the stupidest person, given 20,000 years to learn any skill, could become one of the top masters in the cultivation world. As for what she said earlier—that she didn’t know how to make pills—Su Che could understand that. After all, starting to make pills meant “killing spirit herbs” and “killing one’s own kind.” A kind and innocent Spirit Grass baby would surely never do such a thing herself.

In the Immortal Prison, Lao He also had no doubts left and began shouting, “Master, how many pills are there? Many are of the ninth, tenth rank, or even beyond the tenth rank! What are we waiting for? Take them all! Steal them all! Grab them all! They’re all ours! Not a single bottle should be left for them—everything belongs to us!”

Lao He was so excited he could hardly speak coherently. Su Che thought the same way: If he was afraid of being discovered, he wouldn’t take a single bottle; if not, he’d take them all, not leaving one behind. After all, dying with 100 bottles or 10,000 bottles or 100,000 bottles made no difference…

But before that, he had to win over the Spirit Grass baby’s heart. Otherwise, if he recklessly stole the pills, it would surely anger her. If she turned around and left him in the vault with no way out, he’d be trapped like a fish in a jar, doomed to death.

Su Che had enough self-awareness to know he was no master of restrictions. If trapped in the treasure vault, there was a 100% chance he wouldn’t be able to escape—no chance at all. He struggled hard to suppress his overwhelming greed, trying to keep a calm expression as he sat cross-legged on the ground and said to the spirit herb doll, “May I ask you something?”
“Go ahead,” the spirit herb doll said with a smile.
She was very smart and could tell that Su Che was extremely tempted by these pills. This meant that her idea of “exchanging with him every day” was likely to come true. The thought of being able to absorb that life energy every day filled her with joy.
Su Che said seriously, “There is a place that can provide you with endless life energy, along with one or even more supreme-grade spirit herbs… Would you be willing to go there?”
“Supreme-grade spirit herbs?”
The little girl’s expression changed instantly. Her big eyes widened, and after quick thinking, she blurted out, “Are you Tian Yu from Tianxuan Sect?”
Her counterquestion really startled Su Che.
“She guessed it!”
Only then did Su Che realize he had been deceived by her outward appearance of being “young, innocent, and cute.” Although the spirit herb dolls were naturally pure and childlike, they were still ancient beings who had lived for twenty or thirty thousand years.
Those who thought of them as fools were the real fools!
Over the years, the only known supreme-grade spirit herb in the cultivation world was the Black Realm Immortal Lotus. Now that it was in Tian Yu’s hands from Tianxuan Sect, it was well-known to everyone. It wasn’t impossible for her to guess his true identity based on his expression and tone during their conversation.
Still, this little girl was indeed extremely smart.
Su Che became alert. From this moment on, he must never underestimate her again…
“Wow!”
The spirit herb doll said whimsically, “The guy who’s been causing trouble on Lingyao Mountain these past few days is you!”
“It’s me,” Su Che admitted calmly. There was no point in hiding it anymore.
“That Immortal Lotus is with you… Hmm, I need to think carefully…”
The spirit herb doll tilted her head, pondering and weighing her options carefully.
Life energy and supreme-grade spirit herbs held unimaginable appeal for her. These were things the spirit herb dolls dreamed of, as they could help them evolve rapidly and ascend to a higher form of existence.
But to get them, she would have to leave her home where she had lived for twenty thousand years, as well as her mother and sisters…

This left her in a great dilemma, unable to make a decision for a while.
Su Che remained silent, also extremely nervous: if she refused to leave Lingyao Mountain with him, she might turn against him; even if he captured her and took her to the Immortal Prison, it was uncertain whether she could break free from the blockade of this treasure trove of elixirs.
Success meant a great harvest; failure meant a disaster.
Often, success and failure were separated by just a thin line…