Chapter 10: Immortals and Mortals are Different

The Medicine Garden is the foundation for the development and growth of every Immortal Sect.

Wealth, companions, techniques, and land—wealth is always the greatest difficulty looming before any cultivator. Without sufficient immortal pills and spirit medicines, no matter how heaven-defying your aptitude or how peerless your techniques, you can only spend your life in regret, unable to make an inch of progress for years or even decades.

Take the three Elders of our sect, for example; each can be considered a person of peerless talent, at least in terms of Spirit Root, they are no weaker than their peers in those large or medium-sized sects. But because there are too few pills and the Magic Treasures are too poor, everything must be slowly gathered and sought out by themselves, consuming a vast amount of cultivation time. This causes their cultivation speed to be infinitely prolonged, leading them to constantly miss the best opportunities for breakthroughs, and in the end, they are continuously surpassed and left behind by fellow cultivators from sects with deep pockets.

The Great Elder Danchenzi entered the Danyuan Realm fifty years ago. Even though he lacks pills, he is still making constant progress and is currently nearing the perfection of the Danyuan Realm. However, two of his peers in the Yuqing Hall have already stepped into the Spirit Transformation Realm, and several others have reached the Danyuan Realm.

This is not only because the techniques of the Yuqing Hall are powerful, but more importantly, because the Yuqing Hall has a rich reserve of Spirit Materials and Spirit Medicines, allowing those under their sect with superior aptitude to obtain sufficient pills for breakthroughs.

If Danchenzi were in the Yuqing Hall, he would certainly be a Spirit Transformation Great Cultivator by now, or perhaps even the one with the fastest cultivation growth.

But unfortunately, he is in the Taiyuan Sect; it is quite possible that he will never be able to break through to the Spirit Transformation Realm in this lifetime.

Because the longer one stays in the Danyuan Realm, the more one's lifespan is consumed, and the more difficult a breakthrough becomes. In the end, even with Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure and miraculous pills, there is no longer any possibility of a breakthrough due to missed opportunities.

This incident in the Medicine Garden is, for the Taiyuan Sect, absolutely the greatest blow in hundreds of years; it can be called unprecedented.

"Junior Brother, do you really not know why the Medicine Garden became like this?" Jiu Shixiong asked in a low voice.

Xu Chen shook his head: "I truly do not know."

Zhao Xuan said softly: "Let's not discuss this matter. The Third Elder went to the Medicine Garden to see it himself and found no problems. How could Junior Brother, with his shallow cultivation, know anything?"

Jiu Shixiong immediately let out a long sigh and said dejectedly: "It is said that our Taiyuan Sect was once a magnificent, great sect, with a True Immortal of the Lian Shen Huan Xu realm sitting in command, and was famous throughout Jiuzhou. But who would have thought it would become like this now? Without pills, how are we to cultivate in the future?"

Zhao Xuan's expression was also very lonely. She was silent for a long time before saying: "I imagine the three Elders will think of a way. Let us support them with all our might. As long as a new Medicine Garden is opened, it will slowly recover after a dozen years or so."

Jiu Shixiong leaned back on the chair listlessly and said: "A dozen years... I fear everything will have been missed by then."

Xu Chen felt immense guilt. If not for his reckless actions, the medicinal herbs in the Medicine Garden would not have all been poisoned to death. But this matter must never be spoken of, so he could only offer comforting words: "Senior Brother and Senior Sister need not worry too much. As the saying goes, 'the old man lost his horse, who knows if it is a blessing?' The medicine fields of the Taiyuan Sect have always been half-dead with very low yields. Perhaps this time, the three Elders will harden their hearts, open up a new piece of prime spirit land, and the medicinal herbs will grow even better!"

Just then, the City Lord entered from outside, and the three of them stopped their conversation.

The City Lord bowed with a fawning and excited face: "Three Immortal Masters, the merchant caravan to Jingshi has already been arranged and will depart tomorrow morning. The three Immortal Masters may rest at the manor tonight, and I will arrange the departure tomorrow morning."

Jiu Shixiong stood up and waved his hand, saying: "No need. Just help us prepare a decent carriage and two good horses, and prepare some worldly gold and silver for travel expenses. We will stay at an inn tonight."

"As you command, Immortal Master!" The City Lord hurriedly bowed and agreed.

At this time, Xu Chen and Zhao Xuan also stood up. Several maids and a wet nurse in the side hall hurriedly brought the Xiao Huli over and carefully handed it to Xu Chen. Xu Chen didn't even look at it, casually stuffing it into his robes with one hand.

"Wu... ya..." The Xiao Huli let out a faint, pained cry.

The wet nurse and the maids were full of heartache, wishing they could snatch the Xiao Huli back from Xu Chen's arms.

Xu Chen glanced at the wet nurse with her full, bulging chest, smiled slightly, nodded, and said: "Many thanks. I may have to trouble you again when I return next time."

Upon hearing this, the wet nurse was so excited that she hurriedly knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and said: "This commoner does not deserve such praise. As long as the Immortal Master has use for this servant, anything will do!"

Xu Chen's face darkened, and he strode away with his two senior fellow disciples.

At the same time, he felt moved internally; it truly is that Immortals and mortals are different. Although he is merely a dung-collector for an Immortal Sect, such a powerful and wealthy family in the mortal world must act obsequiously and flatter him.

He could even swagger off to Jingshi to wish the Emperor a long life.

Saying it is to wish him a long life is actually just giving the Emperor face. In reality, the elders with true status in the Immortal Sect would not go. At most, they let disciples like them in the Kaiyuan Realm go to bolster the Emperor's image, let the Emperor show off, and let the people of Great Song and the civil and military officials see the support of the high-and-mighty Immortal Sect for the Emperor.

Of course, this is a tacit understanding between both sides, each taking what they need.

Recalling five years ago, he was still herding cattle and collecting dung for a wealthy family, never knowing if he would have his next meal, sleeping in a cow shed all year round, his clothes unable to even cover his backside.

Therefore, no matter how much the Taiyuan Sect made him feel lonely, cold, and miserable, no matter how many complaints and grievances he had about how his unreliable master took him up the mountain only to abandon him, or how his senior brother and sister racked their brains to take away his pills and Magic Treasures, in reality, he should be grateful to everyone in the Taiyuan Sect. If not for this opportunity to step onto the path of cultivation, his life would have been forever fixed in that dilapidated little town, living a mediocre life herding cattle and collecting dung.

Perhaps, if he had reported to the Third Elder before applying the fertilizer, perhaps this incident would not have happened.

Xu Chen's mood was mixed and extremely complex all the way.

In the west of the city, Xu Chen and the others, accompanied by the City Lord, arrived at a luxurious inn.

Well, it was truly luxurious. In all his years, aside from the City Lord's mansion, Xu Chen had never seen such a luxurious place to sleep.

By comparison, the house of the wealthy family he once served was like a ruin, and as for that little wooden hut of his on the mountain, it was like a chicken coop.

The inn's gate tower was towering, a three-story brick and wood structure with carved beams and painted rafters, flying eaves, and pavilions. The maids and servants were all neatly dressed. Hearing that they were the City Lord's honored guests, the innkeeper did not dare to be negligent, leading a group of maids to line up and welcome them. They escorted the three into a spacious and luxurious room before bowing respectfully again and again and taking their leave. A moment later, various fruits, pastries, and tea were delivered in an endless stream.

After dismissing everyone, the three sat down. Xu Chen looked at the table full of delicacies and couldn't help but eat a few more things with difficulty. Only when he truly couldn't eat anymore did he stop, burping and massaging his belly.

Jiu Shixiong mocked him: "Junior Brother, you are considered an Immortal, after all; this way of eating is truly too unsightly."

Xu Chen lazily curled his lip and said: "Senior Brother, you are a full man who does not know the hunger of a starving one. I have been on the mountain for five years and have never had a full meal."

Zhao Xuan covered her mouth and laughed: "That is true. We can still go down the mountain every so often. Junior Brother has indeed suffered a lot. However, no matter how good mortal food is, one gets tired of it after eating it a few times. I actually feel it is not as tasty as the coarse tea, plain rice, dry cakes, and wild fruits on the mountain."

Xu Chen originally thought Jiu Shixiong would refute this, but unexpectedly, he nodded as well: "Junior Sister is right. When I first went down the mountain for training, I was just like Junior Brother, gorging myself, but slowly I lost interest. I have grown accustomed to the quiet and loneliness of the mountain; I am truly not used to this hustle and bustle down here."

Xu Chen was somewhat surprised. Although he didn't quite agree with this statement in his heart, he thought about it and realized it was true. After five years of quiet cultivation on the mountain, although lonely, he had indeed become accustomed to that unrestrained and free life outside the world. Suddenly arriving in this prosperous human city, although everything felt fresh and everyone was fawning and respectful, in reality, there was no passion. It was not as surprising or exciting as discovering a pile of Spirit Beast Feces or a common medicinal herb in the wild.

Perhaps... this is just being base.

Thinking back to when he was herding cattle and collecting dung for the wealthy family, he once thought that if he ever got rich, he would eat one steamed bun and throw one away, and he would marry a woman with a big bottom.

"Alright, since it is rare for Junior Brother to come down the mountain, this eating, drinking, and relieving oneself can actually be considered training. It is still early, so I will take Junior Brother to visit some good places in the city!" Jiu Shixiong stood up.

Zhao Xuan scolded: "What is there to visit in Nanyang City? The places you want to go are nothing more than brothels and red-light districts. Junior Brother is still young; don't lead him astray."

Jiu Shixiong rubbed his hands and laughed dryly: "Hehe, Junior Brother is fifteen; he's not that young!"

"That is still not allowed, or I will tell the Third Elder when we return to the mountain!" Zhao Xuan did not yield at all.

Jiu Shixiong could only sit back down dejectedly and say: "There is still half a day until dark; we can't just sit here in the inn, can we? Otherwise, what is Junior Brother's training down the mountain for?"

Zhao Xuan thought for a moment and said: "How about we take Junior Brother to Wild Wolf Valley!"

Jiu Shixiong nodded helplessly: "That will do. It's better than sitting here doing nothing!"

So Xu Chen placed the Xiao Huli inside the quilt, and the three of them tidied up briefly and quickly left the inn, heading toward the east of the city.