Chapter 46: Transplanting Spiritual Herbs

How could one return from a treasure hunt empty-handed? Su Che definitely had to collect some spiritual herbs to take with him. But which kinds of spiritual herbs to choose, how much to collect this time, and how to store them properly? All these had their considerations. If one indulged greed and plundered excessively, it would only lead to great waste.

Su Che asked, “Lao Hei, is it possible to transplant these spiritual herbs to part of the Immortal Prison? After all, the Immortal Prison has mountains, water, and soil, and prisoners can survive there.”

“It’s possible, but not too many at once,” Lao Hei replied. “The living conditions on the first layer of the Immortal Prison are extremely primitive. The most important issue is the lack of spiritual veins. Without spiritual energy, the herbs won’t be able to absorb it. Even if they don’t die, their medicinal power will gradually decline, reducing their value. I estimate that transplanting a dozen or so herbs at a time and carefully cultivating them using various spiritual stones and nutrients is still within your financial means right now.”

“Understood.”

Su Che nodded silently, quickly weighing the pros and cons in his mind. “We don’t know how to refine pills. No matter how many spiritual herbs we have, we can’t use them for now. Moreover, with our weak strength, we dare not take overly precious herbs out and sell them openly. Otherwise, we might make money but not be able to enjoy it…”

Lao Hei fully agreed with Su Che’s view and added, “Plus, since it’s our first time transplanting, it’s better to use the lowest-grade, shortest-aged spiritual herbs for testing. Even if the method isn’t right and they die, it won’t cause too much regret.”

Su Che finally decided, “Alright, then let’s choose fifteen medium-grade spiritual herbs with the shortest growth period for transplantation!”

For Su Che, transplantation was simpler than collection. He could use a flying sword to cut out the soil around where the herbs grew. With Lao Hei’s guidance, he just needed to be careful not to damage the roots of the herbs.

In contrast, collecting spiritual herbs was much more complicated. Each type of herb had its own unique method of collection. With Su Che’s current level of Qi cultivation, it would take at least fifteen minutes to collect any hundred-year-old herb without damaging its value.

Moreover, the collected herbs had another drawback: they were difficult to store. Herb bags could only serve as temporary storage, and ordinary-quality herb jade boxes could only preserve them for about half a year.

Top-tier jade boxes that could store herbs for a long time were as valuable as high-grade magical weapons, and Su Che couldn’t afford them at the moment.

Fortunately, with the Immortal Prison, not only could prisoners be locked up, but spiritual herbs could also be cultivated… What’s more interesting is that this secret was originally obtained from ‘Han Youming’. From now on, he will be tasked with utilizing his expertise in growing spiritual herbs and taking good care of them in the Immortal Prison…
Thinking of this, Su Che secretly smiled to himself: “Just imagine how Han Youming will feel about this. Are we being a bit too harsh?”
“Not at all. This is his fortune,” Lao He said, showing his fangs with a strange expression. “Either he takes good care of the spiritual herbs or I take good care of him. Master, what do you think he will choose?”
Su Che laughed heartily. “Don’t worry. No one wants to be taken care of by you.”
“That’s right,” Lao He replied in a rough voice. “Once the spiritual herbs are planted in the Immortal Prison, he won’t have to get beaten every day. What else could this be but fortune?”
In this treasure trove of spiritual herbs that belonged solely to him, Su Che worked enthusiastically, digging and excavating, unaware that at that very moment, the delicate girl was searching everywhere for him in the garden.
About fifteen minutes earlier, Linglong had inspected the herb garden as usual and returned to her residence. She immediately went to check on the Flowing Cloud Golden Chalice, only to find that this rare spiritual herb, still not recovered from its illness, was swaying its long, thin leaves without any wind…
Linglong exclaimed in shock, completely puzzled by what was happening.
This situation was definitely abnormal. It was like a patient who should be resting in bed suddenly going crazy, getting out of bed, and jumping around—purely seeking his own destruction.
By the time Linglong noticed this, three leaves of the Flowing Cloud Golden Chalice had already fallen. Frustrated and angry, she shouted at it incoherently, “What are you doing? Why is this happening? Why are you so useless? Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
It was clear that in this girl’s heart, it was no longer just a spiritual herb but something like a family member…
No matter how anxious or angry she was, Linglong didn’t dare touch it. Instead, she rushed off to the lower herb garden to seek help from Su Che. When a patient had a sudden complication, of course, a doctor had to be called.
But Su Che’s thatched cottage was empty. Linglong then went to Manager Chen, only to find his whereabouts unknown as well.
“Where has that restless guy gone again?” Linglong was both angry and anxious, stamping her feet repeatedly.
By now, Su Che’s habit of being unable to stay still was well-known. Most of the time, he could be seen wandering around the lower and middle herb gardens, going here and there—there was no place he couldn’t reach. Everyone had gotten used to it.
There was no other choice but to keep looking!

Linglong called over a few of her closer fellow disciples and asked them to spread out in all directions to help her search for Su Che. Some of the garden managers also joined in, trying to please Linglong. In fact, it wasn’t much different from issuing a warrant for his arrest.

The garden was searched frantically, while in the secret cave, Su Che sent the last medium-grade spiritual herb transplanted this time into the Immortal Prison. He straightened up, stretched his waist, and calmly thought to himself, “Fifteen medium-grade spiritual herbs, each with at least a 500-year cultivation history. If exchanged for faction contribution points, each one would be worth at least 3,000 points, plus plenty of spirit stones as a bonus.”

“Turning such valuable things into faction contribution points seems a bit of a loss,” Old Black said, clearly reluctant to part with them.

“I’m just talking,” Su Che replied. “But when it’s time to exchange, we must do it! To become an inner disciple, sufficient contributions are necessary. One must be willing to sacrifice—only by giving up can one gain something in return.”

“Yes, yes, our master is wise,” Old Black said. Of course he understood these principles, but he was just deliberately creating an opportunity to flatter him.

“There’s no time for nonsense. I can’t stay in the garden for too long, or it will arouse suspicion,” Su Che calculated. The managers in charge of the top-quality herb fields wouldn’t start working there for another hour, so there was still plenty of time. But transplanting the spiritual herbs alone wasn’t enough; there was another very important task he couldn’t overlook.

Without lingering any longer over the spiritual herbs behind him, Su Che jumped into the narrow passage and took out some materials he had prepared earlier from his Qiankun Bag. Every so often, he set up a killing trap.

At present, he didn’t have the ability to create arrays or restrictions, so he could only set up mechanical traps, all to guard against one person—Han Youming’s brother, the man with the birthmark, Han Zuo Jing!

Su Che guessed that Han Zuo Jing, unable to get in touch with his brother anymore, might think his brother was dead. But he would never give up on the secret cave and would likely try every means to infiltrate Tianxuan Sect. However, while entering Tianxuan Sect was easy, getting into the spiritual herb gardens on the ten main peaks would be far more difficult than the brothers had originally expected.

The spiritual herb gardens were heavily guarded. Han Zuo Jing, who was only at the third level of Qi Cultivation, would have to ambush a manager at a later stage of Qi Cultivation and obtain their identity jade talisman to possibly sneak into the gardens.

Regardless of how likely it was for him to ambush someone at a higher level, even if he entered the garden with his third-level Qi Cultivation strength, he would stand out just as much as Su Che. The chances of reaching the second-level gardens were virtually zero.

However, Su Che was cautious and took extra precautions, setting up more than a dozen traps in the cave passages. Lao He carefully recorded their exact locations so that they wouldn’t make mistakes and get themselves killed on the next visit. After sealing the cave entrance, Su Che began climbing up the cliff. In fact, climbing upward was easier and faster than going downward. But halfway up, Lao He warned, “There’s someone above!” In an instant, Su Che activated an earth-based concealment talisman, transforming himself into a rock and sticking closely to the cliff face. Generally, the human eye could hardly detect the effect of such a talisman, which should be sufficient to deal with a steward at the Qi cultivation stage. Su Che and Lao He had practiced these preparations many times before, anticipating various situations that might lead to detection. After a few breaths, Lao He said, “That steward disciple came and went in a hurry, looking around. It doesn’t seem like he’s searching for something; it’s more like he’s looking for someone.” “Has he left?” “Yes. Master, you can climb up now.” Alert, Su Che rushed upward at full speed and soon reached the top of the cliff. Just as he stepped out of the premium herb field, he encountered a steward disciple. From afar, the disciple waved and shouted, “Younger brother Su, where have you been? Everyone’s looking for you!” “Looking for me?” Su Che was surprised. Feeling guilty, he asked, “Why look for me? Could it be…” Despite his inner panic, he remained calm on the surface and replied with a smile, “Senior brother, why are you looking for me?” “Sister Linglong is very anxious and asking for you. Go quickly!” The steward disciple moved swiftly, arriving right beside him in the blink of an eye. “Linglong…” Hearing this, Su Che felt a little relieved. If he wasn’t mistaken, it must be that something unusual had happened to that Flowing Cloud Golden Cup. Otherwise, there would be no other reason for her to worry so much about not finding him.