Chapter 71: Choosing to Abandon
Some kilometres away, Jiang Yue stood in the middle of barren land.
His face was full of doubt, and his mouth was curled in a frown.
"Is this really the place?" He wondered.
He took five steps forwards and then looked at the treasure compass in his hand.
The compass needle swung around and pointed at where Jiang Yue was previously standing.
"But there is nothing there."
Jiang Yue was exasperated.
After fighting the group of five, he and Li Futian continued to travel toward the Four-Turns medicine field.
Halfway there, they encountered another cultivator from the Celestial Sky sect.
Fortunately, this one was friendly, and Li Futian left with him to gather other fellow disciples.
Although Jiang Yue had yet to discover Li Futian’s motive for approaching him, he didn’t try to keep him.
Instead, they promised to meet and then separated without much ado.
Soon after, the treasure compass reacted.
This was the first it reacted in five years, and Jiang Yue was very excited.
However, his excitement was premature.
When he arrived where the compass pointed, Jiang Yue did not find anything.
There were no weeds on the ground, no trees, and no clues to indicate where the treasure was.
"Am I missing something?" He walked ten metres sideways and then followed the compass needle.
The result was the same.
The compass needle stopped moving as soon as he stood in his previous position.
Exasperated, Jiang Yue sat on the ground and closed his eyes.
At this time, a thought occurred to him, and he suddenly opened his eyes.
"Could it be underground?"
He was so used to seeing herbs growing above ground that he forgot about tubers.
Now that he thought about it, he realised he should have thought of it sooner.
After realising it, Jiang Yue didn’t hesitate.
He coated his right palm with a layer of qi, and then placed it on the ground.
A moment later, he lifted his hand, and his eyes brightened in happiness.
"There is something beneath the soil surface."
He took a breath to think about the situation and then removed a dagger from his storage bag.
This dagger was usually used to prepare demonic beast meat, but this time, he had a different use for it.
After coating the blade with qi, he sunk the dagger into the ground.
Although the dagger’s blade was only twenty centimetres long, it was very sharp.
As soon as it hit the ground, a large fissure appeared.
The fissure was three metres long, one metre wide, and half a metre deep.
However, Jiang Yue didn’t see any tuber herbs within the fissure.
In doubt, he once again consulted the treasure compass.
"The location hasn’t changed."
Encouraged, he stabbed the ground again, and the fissure deepened.
He did this four times before he noticed something.
Unlike the surface, the soil within the depths was more closely packed. It was also darker and moister.
The muddy texture made it difficult for Jiang Yue to dig, but he didn’t mind it.
Instead, he grew more excited as he continued to dig.
Nine metres below the surface, a medicinal scent invaded his senses.
The scent was light, but it had a refreshing effect that completely rejuvenated his tired body.
"If the scent already has such an effect, I wonder how powerful the herb is."
Jiang Yue was invigorated.
He continued to dig, and a quarter hour later, he finally saw the tuber herb.
"Ginseng." He exclaimed happily.
Ginseng was only a tier one herb in the Cangxing world.
However, there was nothing common about the one in front of Jiang Yue.
It was half a metre long, ten centimetres wide, and had thousands of hairs attached to its body.
Its size, however, wasn’t what made it special.
What made it special was that its body looked like polished jade.
As ginseng aged, it would change its colour and become like jade.
When he examined it, Jiang Yue estimated that the ginseng was at least nine thousand years old.
At that age, its effect was already at the level of a heaven and earth treasure herb.
"I wouldn’t have found it if I didn’t have the treasure compass." Jiang Yue lightly caressed the treasure compass that hang around his neck and smiled.
Without wasting another moment, he placed the ginseng in a wooden box which was then stored in his storage bag.
However, he did not leave right away.
As the ginseng aged, it absorbed all the nutrients in the surrounding area.
Although this caused the surrounding area to become barren, the soil in which the ginseng grew was rich.
"I will collect the soil first."
Jiang Yue didn’t know if the ginseng soil would benefit Yu Nianzhen’s jade box.
However, there was no harm in trying.
After thinking this, he collected the soil in five jars.
When that was done, he sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.
"As expected of a nine thousand years ginseng." Jiang Yue said as soon as he breathed in the first stream of ginseng-scented heaven and earth qi.
When the heaven and earth qi entered his dantian, it was quickly refined into his own origin qi.
However, the process didn’t stop there.
A light medicinal effect invaded his body, and he began to feel some changes within his body.
At first, the medicinal scent relieved all his tiredness.
After that, it invaded his brain, and Jiang Yue felt very refreshed.
He felt like his mind was less clattered, and he could think a little faster.
It was at this time that Jiang Yue remembered something.
’Fellow Taoist Jiang shouldn’t be too distracted.’
Li Futian had said these words to him after they fought the group.
He had also repeated them before he left with his sect fellow.
However, Jiang Yue did not understand his meaning.
From his self-examination, he felt he wasn’t distracted at all.
In fact, his cultivation was very focused.
It was because of this that Li Futian’s words left him a little puzzled.
Although he didn’t know the other too well, he knew that Li Futian wasn’t frivolous.
He wouldn’t say something unless he actually meant it.
In that case, there was an aspect of Jiang Yue’s cultivation that made Li Futian feel unnecessary.
After thinking about it, Jiang Yue tried to reexamine every aspect of his cultivation.
First, he cultivated the ten thousand illusions technique manual.
No matter how he thought about it, this cultivation technique was excellent and perfectly suited to his origin.
After thinking that, Jiang Yue began to examine soul refinement.
However, his soul refinement was still at a beginner level and wasn’t useful in a fight.
When he thought about it, he never used the ethereal soul refinement technique or mentioned it while travelling with Li Futian.
After soul refinement, Jiang Yue examined body refinement.
At the moment, he did not refine his body.
His current body was forged through the natural process of cultivation.
Finally, he examined his martial arts.
At the moment, Jiang Yue practised two main types of martial arts.
The main martial art was lullaby which was an illusion art that was suitable for his origin.
"Does he mean the whip art?" Jiang Yue arrived to this point.
Initially, he chose the whip as a weapon because he felt he could use it without much effort.
Afterwards, he redeemed a whip art because he already had a whip.
In five years, he had gained some achievements in whip art and even created his own whip art.
When he reached this point, Jiang Yue finally discovered a problem.
With his current attainments, he could self-create a whip art but couldn’t do the same for an illusion art.
This meant that his achievements in whip art were higher than his illusion arts.
However, this shouldn’t be the case.
He had an illusion origin and ultimately, it was easier to comprehend illusion arts than whip arts.
The only way to explain his current situation was that he didn’t spend enough time on illusion arts.
Comprehending whip arts could make him powerful in the short term, but that was at the cost of illusion arts.
If he didn’t build a deep and stable foundation for illusion arts, Jiang Yue would suffer in the future.
The more he thought about it, the more he recognised his folly.
"He really helped me." Jiang Yue chuckled and said.
He had no doubt that he would eventually figure it out by himself.
However, Li Futian had shorted the time of self-realisation.
"I will thank him when I next see him."
After thinking this, Jiang Yue refocused his attention.
What he needed to do now was abandon whip arts and place all his focus on illusion arts.
"Should I wait until I leave the secret realm or until I meet Yu Nianzhen?"
Before he could abolish his whip arts, Jiang Yue realised the danger of doing it right away.
Without a doubt, his whip arts had more utility than his illusion arts.
If he abandoned the whip art now, there was a chance he would be unable to protect himself if he encountered danger.
After thinking about it, he decided to wait until he rendezvoused with Yu Nianzhen before he did anything.
Still, he continued to cultivate until all the lingering ginseng scent was consumed.
When that was done, a layer of black filth coated his body, and his cultivation was two points more solid than before.
