Chapter 122: Speculations
"It’s strange how many good things were found in the outer region this time." Jiang Yue said.
From what he knew, the outer region of the thousand herbs garden had some good herbs, but he didn’t expect to find a few extraordinary things.
First was the nine thousand years old ginseng.
Although it was under ten thousand years, this ginseng was a good thing, and its effect could not be underestimated.
The second was the formation herb they found at the bottom of the rock crack.
Its effect was still unknown, but Jiang Yue had a good feeling about it.
After that was the brown stone.
Jiang Yue didn’t know if the stone was collected in the thousand herbs garden or brought in from outside, but he knew it was a good thing.
Together with the many spirit-rank herbs they had found, they had now encountered another purple cabbage that looked like a good thing.
"Nianzhen, find a chance to ask Bai Ruyue about the purple cabbage."
Yu Nianzhen frowned when he heard that.
He also wanted to know what the purple cabbage was, but he didn’t want to ask Bai Ruyue.
If he approached her, he was worried she would take it as a sign that their relationship had eased.
After that, he couldn’t treat her as coolly as before without a sense of guilt.
When Jiang Yue saw Yu Nianzhen’s reluctance, he sighed and said, "forget it then."
In the end, they didn’t have to ask Bai Ruyue.
There should be other people among the thirty who knew what the herb was.
Even if there weren’t, they could still question the enemy when they captured one.
"Good."
Yu Nianzhen rubbed Jiang Yue’s head, and a soft smile flitted in his eyes.
"The medicine field is a little distance away. Everyone should get ready to leave in an incense stick." Huang San shouted, interrupting the whispered conversations among the gathered.
"Fellow Daoist Huang, may I ask for a map?" Someone asked.
A few others looked at the person in appreciation and then turned to the front to look at Jin Xuan’s party.
’They are too naïve.’ Jiang Yue thought but still looked at Jin Xuan and his party.
However, everything was expected.
Jin Xuan was only willing to lead the way but was unwilling to give a map.
If one wanted a map, they could only observe when they began to travel and then extrapolate from there.
Although everyone was disappointed to hear there was no map, no one backed down from the mission.
The gathered thirty were elites in their own sects and families.
In this situation, they weren’t too flustered and still believed in their own strength.
Even if the situation turned bad, they all had the confidence to escape danger.
An incense stick later, the group left without delay.
After leaving the base’s defence array, they went south and flew at rapid speed.
However, they were all at the origin forging realm and couldn’t fly for a long time.
In consideration of this, they mainly ran and flew where it was inconvenient to run.
"No one from the BlueStar Treasure pavilion came." Wang Xue’er mentioned this on the second day.
"The border guards also." Yu Nianzhen added.
"How can you tell?" Jiang Yue looked at Yu Nianzhen in question.
It was possible to tell that the members of the BlueStar Treasure pavilion had not joined because the pavilion didn’t have too many people in the thousand herbs garden.
Granted he didn’t know all the members of the BlueStar Treasure pavilion, but none of those he knew from the trade valley had joined the task.
However, the border guards were different.
There were two hundred cultivators from the border guards, and it was impossible to know all of them.
Still, Yu Nianzhen’s statement was devoid of uncertainty, which made Jiang Yue curious.
"Even the least powerful border guard has a hint of iron in their qi presence. It’s a kind of iron that is reminiscent of war." Xuan Ke answered.
When he heard the words, Jiang Yue took a moment to remember all the border guards he had met so far.
After thinking about it, he realised Xuan Ke was right.
"Be more observant." Yu Nianzhen admonished.
Jiang Yue stuck out his tongue and rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything.
"It makes sense for the BlueStar Treasure pavilion not to put inferior grade star sand in their eyes. However, this shouldn’t be the case for the border guards." Wang Xue’er intoned.
"This goes to show that this task is not easy. We need to be more careful."
After that, the group of five became a little more vigilant.
Maybe because of this, they noticed that Jin Xuan and his group were too relaxed.
Although they had thirty people on their side, the enemy was not weak.
At best, they would accomplish the mission objective while keeping losses at a minimum.
However, there was still the worse and worst scenario.
The worse scenario was losing a lot of people but still accomplishing the mission, while the worst scenario was losing a lot but not accomplishing anything.
These scenarios played in everyone’s minds, but Jin Xuan and his group didn’t seem worried.
Jiang Yue had even noticed that once in a while, Bai Ruyue would look over with a conflicted look on her face.
However, she didn’t say anything from when the journey started to when they arrived five days later.
"The enemy group is three hundred metres ahead. We will set up a camp here." Huang San called when the group stopped.
"Why are we staying so far away?" Someone asked.
Three hundred metres was a distance for mortals, but it was irrelevant to cultivators.
Since they were one kilometre away, the enemy should have already noticed them.
In that case, there was no difference between camping three hundred metres away or ten metres away.
"It’s better to move closer to observe the herb." Someone else advised.
"The herb will not mature for another few days. In the meantime, we will form patrols to observe." Huang San informed.
"The more I know, the more I am convinced that something is wrong." Jiang Yue whispered when he heard Huang San’s words.
After seeing the image of the herb, none of Jiang Yue’s group recognised the herb.
This meant the herb was extremely rare or extinct in the outside world.
However, Jin Xuan seemed to know a lot about the herb.
When he thought about this, Jiang Yue could only think of two possibilities.
The first possibility was that Jin Xuan was uncommonly knowledgeable about herbs. If not him, someone in his group was extremely well versed in herbs.
The second possibility was that Jin Xuan knew about the herb before entering the thousand herbs garden.
From what Jiang Yue knew, the Jin family was an old clan which had sent descendants to the secret realm many times.
There was a chance that a predecessor found the herb, but it couldn’t be picked at the time.
Without a choice, the predecessor could only pass down the information to guide the descendants to pick the herb when it matured.
Thinking like this, it made sense for Jin Xuan to know so much about the unfamiliar herb.
More importantly, it looked like he had sent someone ahead of time to watch the herb to ensure he didn’t miss the maturation.
Unfortunately, the Death Flower Ascension Front also knew about the herb and had acted earlier than Jin Xuan.
"It’s useless to speculate." Yu Nianzhen finally said.
In the end, it didn’t matter whether Jin Xuan knew about the herb before or after he entered the thousand herbs garden.
What mattered was that the herb was precious, and the situation was dangerous.
Although they didn’t know what the purple cabbage was, they could research it when they left the secret realm.
Yu Nianzhen didn’t believe they wouldn’t be able to find information in the sect library or from his master’s private collection.
If the reality turned out that they couldn’t, they would simply keep the herb and wait for fate.
When he thought of this, Yu Nianzhen frowned.
Although he disliked leaving things to luck and fate, he was beginning to realise that some things could only be so.
Some things could only be realised when the time and place were right.
At this time, a figure came running from a distance.
The person was dressed in black, and even his face was covered with a black face cloth.
When he arrived, he directly stood in front of Jin Xuan.
Beside Jin Xuan, Huang San released an array plate from her storage ring and activated it.
A moment later, the air around them distorted, and a kind of barrier appeared.
"Sound isolation array?" Jiang Yue muttered.
They could still see Jin Xuan and the new arrival, but they couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Unfortunately for them, Jiang Yue was a performer in his previous life.
’They are too naïve if they think this can stop me.’ He thought and chuckled.
