Chapter 3290

Ye Chen approved of the speculation about Lin Wanan.

He sighed: "The Four Directions Treasure Pagoda must be trying to convey some message to me, but what worries me is whether it is conveying this message for my benefit or for its own."

After saying that, he added: "It transmitted a hand seal to me, but the spiritual energy generated by operating that hand seal cannot be used by me at all, and even deceives away all of my spiritual energy. If this treasure pagoda harbors ulterior motives, then lurking within my body, it intends to parasitize me. If that is truly the case, it will become a major trouble in the future."

Lin Wanan smiled and said: "Young Master, you are a noble person of the Ascending Dragon Pattern, and moreover, the fortunate always have heavenly favor. I feel that at this moment, it may not necessarily be full of danger and peril; perhaps it will become an opportunity in the future."

After a slight pause, Lin Wanan continued: "I know your spiritual energy is hard-won, Young Master, but I still suggest you try all the hand seals inside the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda—just in case it is a rare opportunity that comes once in a thousand years."

Ye Chen fell silent for a moment, then said: "Trying it out is not impossible anyway. Anyway, judging by its posture, it only wants my spiritual energy, not my life."

Afterwards, Ye Chen said: "However, it needs spiritual energy, the ring also needs spiritual energy, and the amount of Yuan-Nourishing Pills I have left is small. I plan to think of ways to gather more materials soon, then use the cauldron furnace of the Supreme True Dao to refine a batch of enhanced Yuan-Nourishing Pills. At that time, I will boldly take twenty pills to resolve both matters at once."

Lin Wanan nodded and said: "Young Master, if you need any materials, just tell me, and I will also think of ways to help you."

Ye Chen said: "The two most difficult materials to obtain are: one, dragon's saliva incense aged over ten thousand years; two, superior snow ginseng aged over a thousand years."

Lin Wanan asked in surprise: "The age requirement is that long? Dragon's saliva incense—this kind of thing, I have often used it to blend incense before, but it seems they are always just recently separated from the sperm whale's body, at most a few decades old. A timescale of ten thousand years is too long, even longer than the history of human civilization..."

"Yes." Ye Chen sighed: "Human civilization spans only over five thousand years. A ten-thousand-year-old dragon's saliva incense can only come from the body of a sperm whale that died naturally ten thousand years ago, or from remains left after the corpse rotted away. Whether it remains on the seabed or the shore, after so many years, most of it has likely been corroded and worn away completely. Even if some fortunately survived, no one knows how many layers of sand and stone from the seaside and seabed have buried it."

Lin Wanan asked him: "Young Master, how did you previously obtain the ten-thousand-year-old dragon's saliva incense?"

Ye Chen said: "Back then, I killed a person who liked to raise gu poison in Jin Ling, and the ten-thousand-year-old dragon's saliva incense was accidentally obtained from him."

Lin Wanan laughed: "That really is quite accidental, but Young Master, you need not worry. I will think of ways to see if I can inquire about it."

……

When Ye Chen and Lin Wanan returned to Jin Ling, it was already noon.

Lin Wanan had been away from home for several days, missing the mother of the common tea plant. Ye Chen thus first went with her to Zijin Mountain Villa, and at the same time had Master Hong Wu wait for him at Zijin Mountain Villa to drive him home in the afternoon, so he could also put on a full show for his family.

Upon arriving at Zijin Mountain Villa, Lin Wanan instructed the servant Old Zhang to think of a way to find some ten-thousand-year-old dragon's saliva incense for Ye Chen. Over the years, Lin Wanan has deeply cultivated her own influence and connections. Although her influence does not lie in martial arts or cultivation, she has still accumulated considerable resources across various sectors of society.

Afterwards, the two came to the top-floor cottage. The mother of the common tea plant had already become even more robust. In the severe cold of winter, its vitality had not been affected in the slightest.

At this time, the mother of the common tea plant had leaves so dense that they were difficult to count clearly in a short while. However, for a pu-erh tea tree, its current state is still too small. A mature pu-erh tea tree reaches heights of several meters, even ten or twenty meters, with leaves numbering in the tens of thousands. The mother of the common tea plant is itself the ancestor of pu-erh tea. If it had ample time to develop and grow, it would likely be much larger than ordinary pu-erh tea trees.

Lin Wanan carefully examined it and then said to Ye Chen: "Young Master, look quickly—the leaves of the mother of the common tea plant are just like the fake green plants sold in shopping malls: each leaf is perfect and flawless, with not a single trace of yellowing or curled edges."

Ye Chen also could not help but exclaim: "Unafraid of winter's fierce winds and snow, it likely fears neither the scorching heat of summer. Ordinary pests probably cannot affect it either. We initially worried that the mother of the common tea plant would not grow well after leaving the environment of Dianchi Lake, but now it seems we were overly concerned."

Lin Wanan nodded and said to Ye Chen: "When spring arrives next year, it will surely be even more luxuriant in branches and leaves."

Ye Chen laughed: "By then, we can pick some tea leaves to make tea bricks. Not only will the taste be good, but it will also supplement some spiritual energy. It will absolutely be the finest of teas."

Lin Wanan recalled something and said to Ye Chen: "Young Master, you might consider researching whether the leaves of the mother of the common tea plant help in refining pills. This kind of plant, which inherently contains spiritual energy, is probably unique. If it can enhance the efficacy of pills, it would be making full use of its value—far more suitable than merely steeping and drinking it."

Ye Chen said: "The pill formulas I currently use are all recorded in the 'Nine Mysterious Heaven Scripture'. I am not sure whether adding the leaves of the mother of the common tea plant to the formula would affect the original efficacy. However, when I refine pills next time, I can first try using the Return-to-Spring Pill. The material cost of the Return-to-Spring Pill is relatively low. If it can enhance efficacy, then in the future, when refining other pills, I can also try this approach."

Lin Wanan said: "Based on my understanding of herbal medicine formulas, medicinal formulas generally fall into two types. One type requires every ingredient to be used exactly as prescribed in the formula, and the quantity of each ingredient must be appropriate, in order to exert the formula's efficacy. The other type merely provides a foundation; if, upon this foundation, one adds ingredients that are the finishing touch, sometimes unexpected effects can be produced. The mother of the common tea plant is a divine tree that has survived heavenly tribulation. Its leaves must certainly be a rare and precious heavenly material and earthly treasure that is hard to come by."

Ye Chen nodded and said: "Miss Lin is right. Many medicinal formulas are not immutable, but need constant upgrading. When the opportunity arises, I will give it a good try."

At this moment, Ye Chen's phone suddenly received a call from Li Yalin.

Ye Chen pressed the answer key and asked: "Inspector Li, is there any new discovery?"

Li Yalin hurriedly said: "Mr. Ye, Ai discovered three suspects resembling the three great elders at the Benin-Porto Novo International Airport early this morning. These three individuals took the earliest flight, flying from Benin to South Africa."

Ye Chen asked him: "Do you have photos? Send them to me so I can take a look."

"Yes." Li Yalin immediately sent a high-definition photo to Ye Chen via WeChat.

In the image, three Asian-looking men in their sixties or seventies appeared together at the airport boarding gate. Each of them had a blank expression, their faces were cold and stern, and moreover, their appearances bore some resemblance to one another.

Besides that, it could be seen that these three individuals carried almost no personal belongings—each was empty-handed. Meanwhile, the boarding gate displayed that this was a flight bound for Cape Town, the capital of South Africa. At this moment, the boarding gate already had quite a few people queuing up to board.

Ye Chen asked Li Yalin: "Inspector Li, what are the specific details by which Ai judged these three individuals as suspicious?"

Li Yalin said: "Ai's analysis result is that Benin borders Nigeria, and the straight-line distance between Lagos in Nigeria and Porto Novo in Benin is only over a hundred kilometers. Therefore, the probability that these three elders chose to depart from here is very high. Additionally, these three individuals also meet the precondition of being Asian. More importantly, Ai believes that the facial features of these three individuals are highly similar, suggesting they likely share a blood relationship and genetic similarity."

Ye Chen looked at the three individuals in the image and could also feel that these three individuals were completely different from the other passengers around them. Moreover, there was indeed some resemblance in their brows and eyes.

Thus, Ye Chen said to Li Yalin: "I also feel these three individuals are somewhat off. If they truly are the three great elders, then after flying to Cape Town, they will certainly still transfer to go to South America. Inspector Li, keep a close watch on their movements. If their next stop is truly South America, then we can basically confirm they are the three great elders!"