Chapter 88: Ginseng
"Treasure compass?" Jiang Yue was surprised.
The compass hadn’t reacted when he first jumped into the rock crack, which meant that the herb wasn’t a treasure at that time.
This was one of the reasons he was willing to give up on the unknown golden herb.
However, now that the compass had reacted, Jiang Yue became reluctant.
’Could it be that the herb wasn’t mature previously?’ He wondered.
"Jiang Yue, come up." Yu Nianzhen urged from above.
"The treasure compass has reacted."
"It doesn’t matter, come back first. One of us will go down after we make a proper plan."
When he said that, Yu Nianzhen was looking at the seven-point formation above the rock crack.
After the golden rain, it changed again, and golden flames had begun to fall.
"Okay."
Although Jiang Yue wanted the herb, he understood Yu Nianzhen’s rationale.
Even if he stayed within the rock crack, he couldn’t harvest the herb.
He didn’t know if this was because he wasn’t using the right method or because the herb couldn’t be harvested for some unknown reason.
After hearing the reply, Yu Nianzhen breathed out in relief.
He then threw an intent sword light at the formation and waited for the other to jump out of the crack.
"How are you feeling?" He asked as soon as Jiang Yue jumped out.
"Itchy." Jiang Yue answered.
His skin was still red, and an angry rash had begun to spread all over his body.
"Take a general antidote first."
Although they didn’t know what poison had entered Jiang Yue’s body, they at least knew the golden rain was poisonous.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t cause his skin to redden and a rash to break out.
"Good."
Jiang Yue took the antidote and began to refine it.
However, after refining it for half an hour, his skin was still red, and the rash was still spreading.
"Let’s try something else."
After that, Jiang Yue took one antidote after the other, but the result was the same.
As time went on, he had become unbearably itchy, and the rash now covered his entire body.
Worst of all, some of the rashes had begun to burst which was not only painful, but the fluid released by the burst increased the itching on his skin.
"How about the leaf of the tree of life?" Yu Nianzhen asked and made to take out a leaf.
"That would be too much of a waste."
"What are you thinking in this situation? The leaves can be regrown using spirit stones, but you can’t go on like this."
Jiang Yue remained silent when he heard that.
It was true that the leaf of the tree of life could help, but that was the life-saving trump card they kept hidden.
Even though it could be regrown, they didn’t have endless spirit stones.
"Let me try something else."
Jiang Yue waved his hand, and a box fell out of his storage ring.
This box was where he kept the ginseng, and when he opened it, a refreshing smell permeated the area.
"I will pinch out a whisker to refine. You can plant the rest."
Now that he remembered, Jiang Yue removed all the herbs he collected along the way.
"You can plant them."
While Jiang Yue was refining a ginseng whisker, Yu Nianzhen planted the other herbs.
He even threw in the ginseng soil.
However, when the soil was one metre above the ground, the jade box seemed to reject it.
The soil was flung outward, and Yu Nianzhen was forced to place the soil cylinders in the storage ring instead.
’What does this mean?’ He wondered.
From what he knew, treasures like the jade box had an instinctual drive to improve themselves.
If the ginseng soil could improve the soil, the jade box would have probably welcomed it.
"What kind of soil is in the jade box?"
He cast his consciousness into the jade box, but the soil looked like ordinary soil.
However, Yu Nianzhen knew that it couldn’t be ordinary.
This was because plants like the tree of life couldn’t grow on ordinary soil.
"I never thought about it, but what will happen to ordinary herbs when they grow on such soil?"
When he thought about it, Yu Nianzhen became a little excited.
Initially, he thought he could use the jade box to age herbs, but after this time, he began to wonder if the herb quality would also be better than the outside world.
"I will figure it out later. Now..."
He turned to Jiang Yue and saw he was still cultivating.
His skin was still red, but the ginseng seemed to be effective.
"It’s good this way."
After that, Yu Nianzhen walked to the edge of the rock crack and looked down.
At the bottom, the golden herb was still shining brightly.
However, its golden flower had opened a mouth on its surface, and the mouth was absorbing the golden flames falling from the seven-point formation.
"What exactly is happening?"
"Is this a ripening process or something?"
"Will the herb be ready to pick after the process?"
Yu Nianzhen couldn’t be sure, but he now had a feeling that they could pick it when the seven points formation disappeared.
"I better make preparations."
When they first arrived, Yu Nianzhen only set up a defence formation using an array plate because they only needed to be there until Jiang Yue recovered his qi.
However, now that they had discovered the strange herb, he needed to make preparations so that others wouldn’t be attracted to the location.
With that in mind, Yu Nianzhen began to walk around.
This walk wasn’t a random walk to check the surroundings for enemies.
He was trying to find good locations to place formation nodes.
Although he wasn’t proficient in formations, Yu Nianzhen could still set up a simple camouflage formation using items as nodes.
In this situation, the items he chose were those found in the storage artefacts of those killed by the black-clothed youth.
"I keep owing him, but I still don’t know his name."
He sighed and continued to the last location.
After placing a peak grade silver rank hammer in the last place, the formation immediately activated, covering a small area of five metres in diameter.
Now that it was up, Yu Nianzhen, Jiang Yue, the seven-point formation, and the rock crack were completely hidden from anyone outside the formation.
If someone looked at the area from the outside, they would only see some rocks and no herbs.
"This should do for a while."
With that, he returned to Jiang Yue’s side.
"Are you better?" He asked when he saw that the other had already opened his eyes.
"The ginseng worked."
Although it was difficult to refine the ginseng whisker, the effects were unimaginable.
Not only had it removed the rashes and itching, but Jiang Yue’s cells were also enhanced.
However, he could only refine a small part of the ginseng, and the unrefined energy was still hidden within his body.
"What’s wrong?"
"The ginseng age is too high. I could only refine about one per cent of the whisker I ate."
After saying that, the two fell into silence.
It was good to have old herbs, but that didn’t mean they were useful to them.
If the herbs were too old, the two couldn’t absorb them without risking their lives.
"We should be more careful in the future." Yu Nianzhen said and thought about the herbs in the jade box.
In as much as old herbs were more effective, he needed to make sure not to age them to a point where they couldn’t stand their effects.
"Azhen, let’s give the ginseng to master Yang."
In most cases, ginseng wouldn’t be useful for Yang Xu.
However, nine thousand years ginseng was another matter.
Its medicinal effect was very potent, and if Yang Xu took it, it would greatly reinvigorate his body.
When his origin was damaged, it not only affected his cultivation but also his body.
If nothing was done, Yang Xu’s body would continue to deteriorate, and he would not live out the expectancy of a cultivator in the origin tempering realm.
"We can try to age it to ten thousand years." Yu Nianzhen suggested.
Although nine thousand years was already good, herbs would undergo a qualitative leap at ten thousand years.
If Yang Xu refined a ten thousand years old ginseng, not only would his physical condition return to its peak but his body’s potential would also be enhanced.
"Good."
Jiang Yue smiled and felt at peace.
Back when Yu Nianzhen was struck by lightning, Yang Xu had fed him his clear jade fruit.
At that time, Jiang Yue didn’t know the value of the clear jade fruit.
However, after so long in the Cangxing world, he had naturally found out.
’Master Yang didn’t hesitate to use the life-saving clear jade fruit for Nianzhen. I also won’t hesitate to give him the ten thousand years ginseng.’
Jiang Yue chuckled and took a step toward Yu Nianzhen.
"Why are you suddenly happy?"
"Who knows."
