Chapter 51: Changes in the Medicine Garden

Emerging from the cave dwelling where his Master practiced, Xu Chen thought for a moment and headed toward the Third Elder's Pill Refining Room.

Before he even arrived, he heard a clamor of noise from within; he hurried inside and found a group of senior brothers and sisters all gathered there.

The group was helping the Third Elder sort and organize the spoils of war they had brought back. Seeing Xu Chen approach, they all laughed in unison: "The Junior Brother has arrived!"

The Third Elder pointed to the Magic Treasures, Spirit Materials, Spirit Medicines, and pills covering the floor and laughed: "You've come at just the right time. Whatever you urgently need or want, you may take now; there is no need to register it."

The group of senior brothers and sisters immediately wore expressions of envy and jealousy, and began to express their vulgar affection by punching his chest and kicking his backside.

Xu Chen gave a dry laugh as he squeezed in. Looking at the dazzling array of items on the floor, he first pointed to a Storage Bag from the Ziyang Sect and said: "Third Elder, I would like a Storage Bag."

The Third Elder nodded with a smile. Watching Xu Chen take a Storage Bag, the group of senior brothers and sisters who did not yet have one let out a chorus of wails.

Zhao Xuan turned her head and shouted indignantly: "What are you ghosts howling for? This is all thanks to the Junior Brother."

Consequently, the group immediately looked crestfallen, gave dry laughs, and fell silent.

With the Storage Bag in hand, Xu Chen randomly selected a few other items from the pile that were not particularly valuable, mainly some Spirit Materials for artifact refining; he also took two bottles of Great Origin Pill and a pile of Spirit Stones, but did not take any of the remaining Magic Treasures or Spirit Medicines.

"Third Elder, I will just choose these. I have no use for the others right now!" Xu Chen put his things away and cupped his hands.

The Third Elder nodded with a smile and said: "Not bad. Not greedy and not contentious—your character is commendable. I have a few more pills here that are quite suitable for your current cultivation level!"

As he spoke, the Third Elder gave a light wave of his hand, and three pill bottles floated before Xu Chen.

Xu Chen did not stand on ceremony; he put the pills away, cupped his hands to the group of senior brothers and sisters, and said: "I will return to the Medicine Garden first to take a look. I will come find all of you senior brothers and sisters to catch up in a few days!"

Zhao Xuan asked in surprise: "Does the Junior Brother still want to go back and live in the Medicine Garden?"

Xu Chen nodded and said: "Yes, I am used to living there!"

Zhao Xuan said with some reluctance: "Then I will come visit you another day!"

Fifth Senior Brother Cao Yang grabbed Xu Chen and laughed: "Is the Junior Brother not afraid living there all by yourself? Do you want this senior brother to come keep you company?"

Third Senior Brother Chen Ran, standing nearby, interjected: "The Junior Sister is going to keep the Junior Brother company, naturally to share intimate words. Why are you going? Are you complaining that the oil lamp isn't bright enough?"

The group of senior brothers and sisters burst into loud laughter. Zhao Xuan blushed, stamped her feet, and said: "You are all bad people! I am going back first!"

Watching Zhao Xuan flee, the group's laughter grew even louder.

Jiu Shixiong put his arm around Xu Chen and walked him outside. Only after they had left the Pill Refining Room did he say with a grave expression: "Junior Brother, too much has happened this time, and Thirteenth Senior Sister is also severely injured. I fear it will have a great impact on her future cultivation. You must be very careful when speaking with her daily; mention this matter as little as possible."

Xu Chen was stunned for a moment and said: "Didn't the Great Elder say he would help her repair her body once she succeeds in Spirit Transformation?"

Jiu Shixiong shook his head with a bitter smile: "Easier said than done. The Great Elder just didn't want Thirteenth Senior Sister to overthink things. I secretly asked the Third Elder just now; the Junior Sister's body and Meridians were injured by a Thunder Technique, and her foundation is severely damaged. Even if her body is repaired, the destroyed Meridians can never be restored to their original state. Perhaps she will never be able to reach Foundation Establishment in this life."

Xu Chen's mood instantly plummeted.

There were only a dozen or so people in the Taiyuan Sect. The Fourth Senior Brother had died young, the Sixth Senior Brother had gone missing several years ago with no further news, and the Eleventh Senior Sister had died in the jaws of a Demon Beast during a trial. Zhao Xuan was ranked thirteenth; in reality, she was the youngest Junior Sister besides Xu Chen.

Originally, her aptitude was quite good; she was a disciple personally adopted by the Great Elder. Not only was Foundation Establishment in sight, but even reaching the Golden Core stage in the future was possible.

Yet, this turn of events had ruined her entire path of the Dao.

Usually, the group of senior brothers and sisters were all busy with their own cultivation and trials, and there was a large age gap between them. Only a few young peers like Xu Chen and Zhao Xuan remained at the mountain gate, so naturally, they were closer in their daily interactions.

Before descending the mountain this time, the person Xu Chen interacted with most was Thirteenth Senior Sister Zhao Xuan.

However, there was no particularly deep affection to speak of between the two; they merely talked to each other and occasionally went down the mountain together to find some herbs.

But after experiencing such drastic changes upon descending the mountain this time, eating and living together, dealing with the Ziyang Sect and Liang Feng and his ilk together, and helping and rescuing each other, they had naturally accumulated a deep bond.

Zhao Xuan's injury was because she saved Xu Chen.

If she hadn't urgently blocked that strike of Thunder Technique from Liang Feng, she would not have suffered such severe injuries.

This was a debt of life-saving grace.

Although it is said that great kindness need not be spoken of, in reality, mere gratitude could not repay such a debt.

Xu Chen had been an orphan since he was small and rarely felt warmth or care from others, but he would firmly remember every little bit of kindness in his heart, for those were the most precious memories and the most valuable wealth in his life.

"Alright, Junior Brother, don't be too sad. The immortal path is boundless; it is like sailing a boat on a bitter sea, and no one can guarantee when it might capsize. Even if we are fine, it doesn't necessarily mean we will live to a ripe old age. The Junior Sister knows this herself, so just take good care of her when you are together; that is the only thing we can do." Jiu Shixiong squeezed Xu Chen's shoulder tightly, then sighed and turned back to the Pill Refining Room.

Xu Chen stood blankly for a long while, then dejectedly released his Flying Sword, stepped onto it, and headed toward the Medicine Garden several miles away.

The mountain wind whistled, and the view was lush and green. This was the primitive mountain wilderness he was most familiar with after living here for five years; he should have been very happy to return here alive.

But at this moment, Xu Chen felt an irrepressible sorrow in his heart, so bitter that he wanted to shed tears.

He had been without father or mother since he was small, and after coming up the mountain, he had spent most of his time living alone.

But through the experience of descending the mountain this time and returning, he deeply felt that he had truly grown up all at once. He understood many things and many principles; although he was still somewhat naive, he cherished this bond between fellow disciples, which was even more precious than family affection, all the more.

"Senior Sister, if I achieve success in my cultivation, I will definitely find a way to heal your body and let you go further!"

His Escape Light landed in front of the waterfall of the former Medicine Garden. Feeling the cool water mist rushing toward his face, Xu Chen gently wiped his face; the taste was tinged with a hint of saltiness.

……

A month passed, and the Medicine Garden was unrecognizable.

The Soul Returning Wood had completely withered and died; its leaves had all fallen, leaving only a few lonely branches and a trunk standing in the Medicine Garden.

The medicinal herbs that used to be lush and green had all long since withered, and the sight was one of dry yellow, with not a single speck of green to be seen.

Huh, that's not right; it's actually growing grass!

Xu Chen's Divine Sense swept across the entire medicine field with his gaze, and he discovered that amidst the dry yellow, some plants were stubbornly growing, sparse and scattered.

However, these plants were not all green; they were a chaotic mess of colors—green, red, blue, purple, white—mostly interlaced and speckled, bizarre to the extreme.

Xu Chen was stunned for a moment. He dashed into the medicine field in two or three steps, squatted down, and pushed aside a cluster of withered herbs. Before his eyes was the nearest plant: its thin stem was only five inches long, and three leaves resembling snake heads were twisted together, blue with white spots, with faint, spiral-shaped silver patterns covering the stems and leaves.

If one looked at it rashly, it didn't look like a plant at all, but rather like a bizarre three-headed snake. But if one touched it with their hand, one could clearly feel the unique softness of a plant, and even with Divine Sense, one could feel a hidden, active vitality, as if this tiny blade of grass contained the life energy of a towering tree.

"This... what on earth is this plant?"

Xu Chen carefully examined this peculiar snake-headed plant with his senses and Divine Sense. The more carefully he looked, the more intense his inner shock became; he even began to conclude that this thing should not be an ordinary mountain plant, but rather something he had never seen before.

Could it have been brought in by the Spirit Beast Feces?

In utter astonishment, Xu Chen recalled that lump of strange Spirit Beast Feces he had picked up back then.

At the time, he had carefully pried it open to inspect it and found the Blue Jade Bead; inside, he had also discovered quite a few undigested miscellaneous items like grain kernels and fruit pits.

Perhaps this was the answer.

That pile of feces was toxic, poisoning the Soul Returning Wood and all the herbs, but the seeds within the feces sprouted.

To verify his theory, Xu Chen released his Divine Sense, carefully located all the plants that had grown in the Medicine Garden, and then dug them up one by one to examine them closely.

There were seven or eight types of these plants, many of which were the same; the most numerous was something resembling rice, which also looked most like a wild grass, but its stalk was purplish-red, and its leaves were green with a purple tint, still forming a strange pattern. If one observed closely with Divine Sense, one could seemingly discover a faint, imperceptible glimmer flowing within.

Xu Chen suddenly felt that he had discovered something extraordinary.

Based on the distribution of these plants, he roughly determined the range where he had originally applied the fertilizer.

The plants were most numerous around the Soul Returning Wood, which also matched the situation when he had applied the fertilizer.

Could that pile of Spirit Beast Feces have come from some unknown world?

Although Xu Chen's cultivation was trash, his knowledge of the Immortal World was pitifully little, and he could not even recognize many characters, he had after all spent five years in an Immortal Sect. Although the Taiyuan Sect was poor and dilapidated, its understanding of this world was much stronger than that of the mundane world.

Mortals mistakenly believed that this was a world where the sky was round and the earth was square.

But in reality, it was not; according to legends passed down for a long time in the Immortal World, this world was very complex: the earth had ten directions, and the sky had nine layers, which together were called the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

The place where the Song Kingdom was located was called the Shenzhou Continent. Beyond Shenzhou, there were the Eight Desolations and Four Seas; after crossing these desolate sea regions, there were other vast territories just like Shenzhou.

This world was also not only inhabited by humans; apart from the common Demon Beasts and Spirit Beasts, it was said that there were various strange races of gods, demons, ghosts, and monsters.

Mortals thought many things were merely ancient myths and legends, but in the cultivation world, these things truly existed; it was just that mortals could walk until the end of time and still never reach them, and naturally, they would never see them.

And within these Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, there were still many more strange places that existed; they were hidden in certain unseen locations, forming their own realms, where either alien races or true immortals resided. Places with abundant Spirit Qi were called Grotto-Heavens, and it was said that all kinds of magical animals and plants grew inside, with Spirit Liquid forming springs, mountains full of Spirit Fruit, and an inexhaustible supply of Spirit Medicine and Spirit Material.

However, many of these claims were also considered mere rumors in the Immortal World.

But rumors were sometimes just things that no one had truly experienced, leading people to criticize the existence of reality with their own shallow knowledge.

From the moment Xu Chen stepped onto the path of immortality, he had always been skeptical.

But this strange pile of feces not only brought him an incredibly magical Blue Jade Bead, allowing him to turn danger into safety and gain immense benefits several times, but these suddenly appearing strange plants, with their colors and aura that were clearly out of place in this world, made him begin to have more associations about the origin of this feces.

Since it did not look like something from this world, it must have come from another unknown, mysterious world.

Perhaps it was related to the legendary Grotto-Heavens.

If this were the case...

Xu Chen stood up abruptly, his expression shifting between light and shadow, carrying an indescribable ecstasy.

Could it be that that pile of poop was pooped out by an Immortal Beast?

But why would it fall near the Taiyuan Sect for no reason?

Xu Chen looked up at the sky.

Clear, azure, a vast sky without a single cloud, as clean as if it had been licked by a dog.

Suddenly, he really, really wanted to figure out the origin of this pile of feces.

If a few more piles of this kind of poop fell every few days, perhaps he could get more good treasures like the Blue Jade Bead.

Thinking of this, Xu Chen's eyes flashed, and he began to stir with excitement as he gazed toward the direction of Spirit Fox Valley.

It seemed that he could not easily abandon this job of picking up feces; he had to persist in it well.

After all, this was also an unprecedented way to get rich.