Chapter 355: Jack's Magic Pea

"Where are they planting the vegetation? In the garden?" Du Zhengyi followed Liu Ziyi into the corridor, asking as they walked.

Majiang followed them out as well, bringing Guan Xinyue along, wanting to go see the excitement together.

"No," Liu Ziyi said. "Highland Mages are used to tending to delicate flowers, so they didn't dare put the seeds outside directly. They couldn't figure out what kind of climate or environment this plant actually prefers, so they cultivated it indoors instead. Doing this is quite reasonable in itself, right?"

"Then where is it placed? In the main hall?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"Their main hall originally had a mobile plant cultivation room that can be set up at any time. It just so happens that Mage Kawa has just finished cultivating a batch of plants and is currently free, so he started cultivating the seeds Zhou Quan brought back yesterday," Liu Ziyi said.

"So the cultivation was particularly successful?" Majiang interjected from the side.

Liu Ziyi laughed, her expression a bit strange. "If you ask me, it's unexpectedly good. Highland Mages are consistently meticulous and have too much experience tending to delicate flowers; who would have thought they would encounter a 'rough' plant this time? It's said that in the past, they had to do quite a few tests and fail many times before achieving a small success, but this time... oh, I won't say anymore, you all should come see for yourselves. You'll know once you see it."

It was only a few steps away, so Du Zhengyi didn't ask any more questions. In the blink of an eye, they reached the end of the corridor, the entrance to the main hall.

Guan Xinyue tripped and stumbled, and Majiang, who was right beside her, was so stunned he didn't even reach out to pull her up. She was a bit embarrassed and hurriedly braced her hands on the ground to climb up, but to her surprise, her hand grabbed onto a bunch of leaves. She pulled at them, realizing that what had tripped her was a deep-colored vine as thick as her forearm.

Majiang was completely dumbfounded. His attention was entirely on the deep green filling the room, as if the Highland Mages had suddenly done some renovations while they were sleeping last night and repainted all four walls green. "My... god... it really is easy on the eyes."

The green walls in the main hall were, of course, not paint, but plant vines crawling all over the four walls. At a glance, the place looked like a giant tree hole in a forest, full of green, almost to the point where the original appearance could barely be seen. Highland Mages were weaving through the hall, busy clearing out the original furniture and decorations. A large group of Liu Ziyi's associates were wandering around the hall in groups, most of them looking both curious and amused. Many people had already finished watching the spectacle and were leaving the hall, but new small groups kept slipping in.

Du Zhengyi looked around, showing no reaction, and walked straight into the hall. Liu Ziyi reached out to help Guan Xinyue stand up and pulled her into the hall as well. Majiang followed beside Du Zhengyi and waved his hand in front of his eyes. "Why don't you have any reaction when you see such a strange sight?"

Du Zhengyi's expression didn't change at all, and he asked in return, "It neither releases poison nor sprays fire, so what is strange about it? Why should I react?"

"Ah," Majiang sighed. "I forgot you are a battle-hardened Battle Mage, used to seeing strange scenes."

"But are they still growing?" Du Zhengyi asked.

Liu Ziyi answered immediately, "They are still growing. When I went out to find you all, they had just climbed up the wall; by now, they are almost at the ceiling. The ground is also much denser. In a little while, I estimate the entire surface of the hall will be covered in vines."

Guan Xinyue looked around in astonishment and asked her, "Can I pick a leaf?"

"Pick one, it's fine," Liu Ziyi said readily. "The Highland Mages have already done all kinds of tests; it's non-toxic and harmless. However, it's actually a bit too ordinary, and there's no special benefit for Mages. Oh, I don't think it's useful for humans either; I can't see any medicinal value."

Although encouraged, Guan Xinyue was still a bit afraid. She carefully reached out and pinched a leaf. The petiole was very resilient, and she had to use some strength to pull the leaf off. The leaf blade was as big as her palm, not particularly unique, shaped a bit like a poplar leaf, ordinary to the point of being slightly rustic. However, the texture of the leaf was much thicker than a poplar leaf, deep green, and if squeezed hard, there should be quite a bit of juice.

Du Zhengyi took a look at the leaf in Guan Xinyue's hand and asked Liu Ziyi, "Although it's harmless, it grows so fast that it needs to be controlled. Can't it be burned with fire?"

Liu Ziyi said, "In principle, it can be burned with fire, but you see the precious tapestries hanging on the walls; those are things passed down for many generations. No matter how we control the fire, it's impossible to save the tapestries, so the Highland Mages are reluctant to set fire to them. Moreover, they did burn some to adjust the experiment, and the smoke released during combustion is toxic. Although it's not a severe poison gas, it's still enough to deal with, so large-scale burning is definitely not an option."

Du Zhengyi nodded without a word, turned his head to look around again, and said as if to himself, "The seeds Zhou Quan brought back."

"Ah, but the fact that the plant can grow so fast is a miracle in itself," Liu Ziyi explained. "So the Highland Mages are actually very interested in figuring out why it grows so fast. In this regard... it can be considered the most magical of all the Highland Mages' plants..."

"I feel that regardless of why he brought the seeds back, this matter must have significance. I am currently inclined to believe that this is not a random event; either this was a conscious choice by Zhou Quan at the time, or this was... the conscious arrangement of someone else," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice, suddenly looking suspiciously at the entire hall, lost in thought.

"This is Jack's Magic Pea," Guan Xinyue said in a low voice, but she said it with certainty.

Du Zhengyi looked at her in confusion.

Guan Xinyue explained, "It's a fairy tale that all human children have read. Jack traded his cow for magic peas, and the peas grew to the sky overnight. Jack climbed to the sky along the pea vine."

Du Zhengyi looked at the few people around him and found that the other two Mages were just as unable to grasp the point of this story as he was, and usually, the person who told such stories and explained them was Luo Qi. "Where is Luo Qi?"

"He was with Mage Kawa just now," Liu Ziyi said, looking toward the southeast corner of the hall.

Du Zhengyi saw that the vegetation was most lush there and guessed that it might have been the location of the plant laboratory to begin with. Just then, Luo Qi poked his head out from among the green leaves and waved at him. Du Zhengyi and the others walked toward him, seeing from a distance that the younger Highland Mages were all gathered there, and Kawa was there as well.