allonlinenovel Chapter 4 Spirit Herb Sect
Chapter 4 Spirit Herb Sect
After digging for about five minutes, the red cloud flower was unearthed.
Shen Yao didn't shake off the soil. Instead, she held the base of the flower stem, stretched her hand far away to keep the Crimson Cloud Flower as far away from her face as possible, and asked the Purple Cloud Golden Beetle, "Should I just hold it up like this and take it back?"
"Why don't you try making an isolation shield using your water elemental root?" the golden beetle suggested.
"Good idea, I'll give it a try." Shen Yao held the Crimson Cloud Flower in her left hand, prepared herself, felt the water spirit root in her body, and imitated Bai Luo's gesture of using spiritual power in her memory. She raised her hand and struck the Crimson Cloud Flower with a seal.
Not a drop of water came out, and there was no reaction whatsoever.
Shen Yao raised the seal again and struck out again!
Still no response.
Shen Yao refused to believe it. Although her soul was from Earth, she could clearly sense the water elemental root within Bai Luo's body.
Shen Yao raised her seal and struck again! Raised her seal and struck again! Raised her seal again and struck again! Raised her seal again and struck again…
"I really am a useless piece of trash!!!" Shen Yao cried out to the sky, on the verge of tears.
"Perhaps the soul has just entered the body and hasn't fully integrated with it yet," the golden beetle comforted her. "Why don't you just carry it back like this?"
"This is the only way for now," Shen Yao said helplessly.
The exit from the back mountain of Lingcaotang.
Lin Hang saw from a distance that Junior Sister Bai, her face veiled, was slowly walking towards him, holding a large red flower in both hands. Lin Hang thought to himself, "What's wrong with Junior Sister Bai? Why is she acting so strangely?"
Shen Yao also saw a young man standing at the back mountain exit, staring at her without moving, as if he was waiting for her.
Shen Yao searched through Bai Luo's memories and recognized that this was Lin Hang, the fifth senior brother who had the same water spiritual root as him. She immediately smiled and said, "Fifth senior brother!"
As she called out, she freed one hand to wave to Lin Hang, signaling him to come over. After waving, she quickly pulled her hand back, holding the Crimson Cloud Flower, and remained motionless.
Lin Hang was increasingly surprised, thinking to himself, 'What is Junior Sister Bai up to? Why would she suddenly give me flowers?'
Lin Hang then thought of Bai Luo's age: 'Junior Sister Bai will be seventeen in two months. In ordinary families with spiritual roots, that's already an age for marriage proposals. Could it be that Junior Sister Bai wants to ask me for her hand in marriage...'
Lin Hang felt he had discovered some truth and was shocked by his own thoughts: 'No, no, no, I'm already eighty-six years old, which is a long life in ordinary families. Even if cultivators gain thirty years of lifespan for each rank they advance, with my eighth-grade superior spiritual root, I have a lifespan of three hundred years, and Junior Sister Bai with her eighth-grade mid-grade spiritual root also has a lifespan of two hundred and seventy years, but Junior Sister Bai is still too young!'
Lin Hang decided that he must stick to his principles and not waver no matter how much Bai Shimei tried to win him over.
He is a cultivator who must uphold the Great Dao and cannot indulge in romantic love. Besides, Junior Sister Bai is far too young compared to him.
Shen Yao stood there holding the flowers for a long time, but Lin Hang didn't come over. She wondered if Bai Luo, her fifth senior brother, was blind or deaf. Why wasn't he making a sound? So she shouted, "Fifth senior brother! Come here quickly!"
Lin Hang straightened his body even more, struggled for a moment, and moved with difficult steps toward Junior Sister Bai.
No matter how much he delayed and dawdled, seeing that he was getting closer and closer to Junior Sister Bai, Lin Hang was about to interrupt Junior Sister Bai's next attempt to show affection and nip this feeling in the bud.
"Stop! Fifth Senior Brother! Stop! Just stand there and don't move." Shen Yao called out to Lin Hang when he was about a meter away from the Crimson Cloud Flower.
Lin Hang swallowed back the words he wanted to say.
"Senior brother, this is a Crimson Cloud Flower. You must not touch it. Its stamens are highly poisonous. If you touch it, it will spray out a colorless and odorless toxin that will kill you instantly!"
Lin Hang started to grumble to himself again: "Why would Junior Sister Bai want to give me such a poisonous flower?"
Looking closer at the Crimson Cloud Flower, its fiery red petals and alluring stamens were truly beautiful. "Junior Sister Bai must have thought this flower was beautiful and wanted to give me what she considered the most beautiful flower."
"Senior brother, quickly use your water energy to create a barrier to isolate this flower, so I don't have to hold it up all the time."
Lin Hang obeyed and did as instructed, striking out the seal, and a transparent water shield was completed.
"Senior brother is amazing! Let's go back quickly!" Shen Yao handed the flowers to Lin Hang with a sigh of relief. She then happily ran towards the Spirit Herb Hall.
"Why did she just give it to me like that? Didn't she have anything to say to me?" Lin Hang muttered to himself, holding the Crimson Cloud Flower. "She praised me. It's just a small watermark, and Junior Sister Bai even praised me. Junior Sister Bai is really something. Sigh, she's really putting me in a difficult position!"
The Spirit Herb Hall is surrounded by a large courtyard wall. Inside the gate of the courtyard wall is the main hall of the herb hall. There is a side room on each side. One side room is used for the disciples on night duty, and the other side room is full of cabinets, which store various low-grade spirit herbs.
There is a side door to the left of the main hall, and behind the side door is a courtyard with many herbs drying in it. There are two classrooms on the left and right sides for the disciples to use for their studies.
To the due north is a two-story building. The large room on the first floor stores intermediate-grade spiritual herbs.
The second-floor rooms were originally used to store high-grade spiritual herbs, but because Xuanhu Town is located in a remote area, the spiritual energy is not as concentrated as in the central areas of the three major clans. Although there are many spiritual herbs, high-grade ones are rare.
So the second-floor room was converted into a study, filled with various cultivation scrolls, as well as detailed explanations and recipes of various spiritual herbs, for the disciples to read and study daily.
The limited number of high-grade spiritual herbs were stored in the residence of Xun Chu, the elder of the medicine hall.
The afternoon cultivation class has already begun. Today, the sect leader is not in the sect. The elders are leading a group of disciples to refine pills in the Spirit Pill Hall, while the second senior sister, fourth senior brother, and fifth senior brother are leading their junior brothers and sisters to practice processing spiritual herbs in the Spirit Herb Hall. There is a lot of homework today, and many spiritual herbs need to be cleaned of impurities.
Just as Shen Yao was about to enter the classroom, she heard a female voice ask, "Fourth Brother, Junior Sister Bai Luo is always punctual, why hasn't she arrived yet today?"
"Second Senior Sister, don't worry. Junior Sister Bai Luo went to the back mountain to gather herbs early this morning. Perhaps she was delayed. Fifth Junior Brother has already gone to look for her," Zhao Bin replied.
Shen Yao thought that since Lin Hang had come specifically to find her, it wouldn't be appropriate for her to come back first, so she turned back and waited for Lin Hang outside the Lingcao Hall courtyard gate.
When Lin Hang saw the emerald green figure at the entrance of Lingcaotang, he remembered that she had just praised him and then left, and then waited here on purpose. His face immediately turned bright red.
Lin Hang approached hesitantly and asked Shen Yao seriously, "Junior Sister Bai, why aren't you going in yet? Today's lessons have already started."
"I've been waiting for you!" Shen Yao smiled sweetly, but when she saw that Lin Hang's hands were empty, her heart tightened: "Where's the Crimson Cloud Flower? You didn't lose it, did you?!"
"It's not lost, it's in my storage ring," Lin Hang replied hurriedly.
Shen Yao then noticed the sapphire blue ring on Lin Hang's left index finger, and then looked at the light blue ring on her own left index finger.
Searching through the original owner's memories, it turns out to be a storage ring; no wonder the original owner couldn't find the basket used for gathering herbs.
He cursed himself for being slow-witted. In the world of cultivation, having a storage space was not unusual at all. He had carried that Crimson Cloud Flower for so long for nothing.
Seeing that Junior Sister Bai remained silent, Lin Hang urged her, "Go inside and practice your lessons."
Shen Yao then reached out her hand to Lin Hang: "Fifth Senior Brother, please return the Crimson Cloud Flower to me."
Lin Hang was taken aback. "Give it back to you? Why should I return the flowers you gave me?" Despite his doubts, he obediently took out the Crimson Cloud Flower and returned it to Junior Sister Bai.
Shen Yao put the Crimson Cloud Flower into her storage ring and instructed Lin Hang, "Fifth Senior Brother, the Crimson Cloud Flower is not a property of the Immortal Clan, yet it appeared in the Immortal Clan's territory. This is very strange and of great importance. I will skip today's classes. Please take me to find the elders and the sect leader. I must report this matter to the sect before I can feel at ease."
Lin Hang felt a sudden emptiness in his heart. So that's how it is! He really couldn't slack off in his cultivation. As he got older, he would start to have wild thoughts if he relaxed. He had only been worrying about things for himself.
Suppressing the inexplicable sense of loss in his heart, Lin Hang strode towards the gate of the Spirit Herb Hall: "Let's go, let's ask Second Senior Sister for leave first, and then we'll go find the Sect Master together."