"No, no, no, Palace Master Meng Ye ...You went above and beyond for me, and for that, I'm extremely grateful..." Li Shu hurriedly said as she went to offer a bow of thanks of her own.
Yang Qing could detect the deep sincerity coming from her. He could understand why, since none of the measures that the Palace Master and the Vice Palace Master used on her was particularly cheap, especially the array.
If they kept the blue river cleansing array running for three days non-stop, being driven by two core formation experts, one could imagine how much resources that array consumed in those three days.
Not unless Li Shu was an ingrate, her reaction was to be expected.
"Thank you for your apt explanation Palace Master Meng Ye, Vice Palace Master Pan Xin..."
"Liang Tian, would you please.." Yang Qing said as he addressed the simple-looking brown-haired young man.
"Th..a..nk you for the opportunity, Judge Yang Qing..."
Liang Tian was a little taken aback as he seemed unaccustomed to being in such a setting.
Yang Qing chuckled inwardly at the young man's reaction.
Bai Zou who had maintained an austere expression throughout the court proceeding, had his gaze soften somewhat when Liang Tian was introducing himself.
Liang Tian was a resident of the Jadebrook Kingdom. Bai Zou established a relationship with him when he was opening his restaurant's first branch in the kingdom.
Liang Tian was a farmer, and he had a 100-acre farm in Felonwood County. Bai Zou came to know him courtesy of the royal family of the Jadebrook Kingdom.
Liang Tian was a gifted farmer who could grow all sorts of spiritual herbs en masse, along with certain spirit beasts known for their docile nature.
He formed a balance between the two to support the growth of each other. He used the manure from certain spirit beasts to promote the growth of certain spiritual plants, and he used certain spiritual plants to ensure the growth of certain spiritual beasts.
The output was high with matching quality. Liang Tian was very meticulous with every single process involved in the farm, which was why in the whole kingdom, few could match the quality of his produce. However, he was relatively unknown and unheard of in the kingdom despite being such a gifted farmer and a late-stage core formation expert.
If it wasn't for the royal family of the Jadebrook kingdom introducing him, Bai Zou would have never known that someone like him existed in the kingdom.
He kept a low profile, his farm was secluded and also hidden in arrays, and as far as the spiritual herbs and animals go, he usually kept them for himself and the only people he sold to were the royal family, in exchange for them laying down the isolation and illusion arrays around his farm.
Bai Zou became his second customer. In exchange for getting the spiritual herbs he needed, he offered up the seeds of some indigenous species to the Cinnabar Kingdom.
He couldn't help but smile when he remembered how over the moon Liang Tian was when he saw the seeds. When they met, it was just like now, he struggled to talk but when Bai Zou showed him the seeds, all nervousness and awkwardness he had, vanished. He rattled on endlessly about the seeds and various ideas he had of planting them.
Bai Zou rather admired his almost innocent single-minded focus. Every now and then he liked going there personally to pick up the spiritual herbs he needed even though his disciples could do it.
He liked the air around Liang Tian's farm. It was calming. It brought him the same sense of relief that cooking did. So whenever he had time, he would visit Liang Tian with a few seeds, and watch him rattle on and get excited as he ran over the farm looking for the perfect place to plant.
Is this what it feels like to be a parent? he often wondered every time he was around Liang Tian.
The torturous experience of the beast tides from the Cinnabar Kingdom made him avoid any thoughts of having children in such an environment, where you could all die in the next second. Even after everything had settled down, and he became a palace realm expert, he still avoided it. One of the reasons was fear of loss, and the other which was the most important one, was the presence of the palace realm spirit beast in the kingdom.
Even though it never attacked, except when they burged into the forest it was hibernating in, Bai Zou always felt it was a matter of time until it attacked them. The spirit beast tides had already shaped his judgment of them, they were all violent, and the palace realm spirit beast may not be any different. This was why he rarely left the kingdom.
...
"I deal with a lot of plants like the starfire nettle, the moonlit jasmine good for tea that calms the mind, but I found it doesn't go well with the starfire nettle, they always try to devour each other.
For plants that are so dissimilar in quality, it's rather funny that they depend on the same resources for growth, and conditions are almost identical. They always seem like quarreling siblings to me..." Liang Tiang let out a soft chuckle as he said this.
The moment he started talking about his plants, his whole demeanor changed, all nervousness and shyness changed, and he had a certain aura to him that seemed to radiate the vibrancy and nature of the earth.
Even the two senior alchemists couldn't help but evaluate him.
"The earth alder physique... explains the variety and the quality of the herbs.." muttered Yang Qing as he smiled.
Liang Tiang may or may have not noticed it, but the skin and the hair on his head had changed the moment he began to talk passionately about the plants in his place. His brown hair had transformed and had small branches growing out of it with leaves that matched that of the alder tree, while his face had golden yellow runic lines that combined into forked-like lines at the front of his forehead.
The features he presented were usually found in those who had the earth alder tree physique. The physique had no offensive means to it, but if one was to be a herbologist, there were few physiques that were better suited for the job than it.
It granted the user the ability to affect the earth around it and alter it to reach conditions that could accommodate different spiritual plants. Even the barest and poorest of soils could be transformed into a ground that could host over 50 sky-rank herbs as long as a user of the earth alder tree physique worked on it.
They are also sensitive to the changes in moisture which is why the users of the physique are proficient with arts that are tied to both the earth and water element.
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on f(r)e𝒆webn(o)vel.com