CHAPTER 50: 50

Lan Tian had no Cultivation Technique for cultivating Divine Sense in her Sea of Consciousness, which distressed her greatly. After tasting the sweetness of progress, she exhausted her Divine Sense on purpose every time after imprinting an atlas, and then meditated to cultivate. Within a few days, her Divine Sense had grown significantly.

Such method of cultivation carried great risks; if an enemy were to ambush her, Lan Tian would be entirely defenseless. In her past life, Lan Tian’s cultivation journey was like groping for stones to cross the river—filled with bumps and close calls, nearly going astray several times with no experiences to draw from. When she traveled down the mountain and encountered robbers, Lan Tian overreached after overusing her Divine Sense and almost fell into the hands of the thugs.

It was a disgrace to the Cultivation World, nearly being outplayed by a mere mortal.

Only in the safety of her home, with family looking after her, did Lan Tian dare to practice in such a manner.

Traditional medicine wasn’t something that could be mastered overnight. Lan Tian had skimmed through the imprinted herbal medicine charts superficially, understanding only the basics and knowing she would have to learn more in depth gradually.

The imprinted herbal medicine charts would be enough to keep Lan Tian busy for a while.

After several days of pitter-pattering rain, the weather cleared up, and Lan Tian took her small basket and hoe into the mountains with Mo Yuanle to collect herbs.

To seize the opportunity to go up the mountain, Lan Tian employed all possible means, but Mo Yuanle did not agree. His stance was clear, "You haven’t memorized the atlas; you can only recognize a few herbs yet you aspire to gather them in the mountains. Careful not to step on them without realizing they are medicinal herbs."

Lan Tian had originally intended to keep a low profile, to play the pig to eat the tiger, but circumstances forced her to be high-profile against her will.

"Uncle, if I can recite the herbal medicine chart, will that allow you to take me into the mountains?"

Mo Yuanle nodded, and Lan Tian ran eagerly to the Medicine House to fetch the herbal medicine chart. She opened it to the first page, spread it out in front of Mo Yuanle, and then stepped back two paces—to avoid suspicion.

Grandma Sun and Zhao Li were happy to watch the show between the uncle and niece, knitting their sweaters or stitching shoe soles as they did.

With her eyes closed, Lan Tian began reciting from the first page, her head nodding and swaying. Mo Yuanle had memorized the herbal medicine chart as a child, so he instantly knew whether or not Lan Tian made a mistake.

After Lan Tian recited dozens of pages, Mo Yuanle stopped her, saying that reciting in order was too rigid. He wanted to test her randomly.

Mo Yuanle would name a herb, and all Lan Tian had to do was to describe its medicinal properties and effects. With Mo Yuanle questioning and Lan Tian answering, they continued until midnight before the examination was over.

Halfway through, Grandma Sun and Zhao Li went back to their room to sleep, finding it too dull and leaving the uncle and niece to their game.

The small basket had been specially woven by Mo Yuanle for Lan Tian, and the small hoe was for Grandma Sun’s gardening. Lan Tian borrowed it and had to return it after use.

When Lan Tian was preparing to enter the mountains, Grandma Sun and Zhao Li equipped her fully. She wore long clothes and pants, with the cuffs and hems tied up with cloth bands to prevent insects from crawling in, and she had to wear long boots to avoid being scratched by thatched grass and tree branches.

Lan Tian wanted to say it was unnecessary; as she used to catch birds in the forests nearby with Shitou and Tie Jun, she would wear shorts and a tee. But guessing that her grandmas wouldn’t listen to her, Lan Tian simply gave up on the idea.

It was Lan Tian’s first time entering the mountains, and she was inexplicably excited, humming a tune as she dug here and there with the hoe.

Mo Yuanle watched with a hint of a smile in his eyes.

Autumn had arrived, and the leaves on the mountain were gradually turning yellow. Half of the tree’s leaves were a dazzling yellow, while the other half remained vibrant green.

Amidst the brownish-yellow grass, unknown white wildflowers bloomed fiercely, releasing their fragrance. On the trees by the side, vines of wild grapes entwined, hanging heavy with fruit. The small, deep purple grapes, the size of beans, looked like amethyst gems, tantalizingly mouthwatering.

They didn’t dig up many herbs, but they did pick nearly half a basket full of grapes, utterly delighting Lan Tian, who couldn’t stop grinning.

Mo Yuanle took Lan Tian for a stroll around the base of the mountain but didn’t return the same way, choosing to descend from a different side. There wasn’t a path, and they tread deeply and lightly in turns.

Lan Tian, leading the way, encountered a sudden appearance of a wild rabbit. The brown rabbit, camouflaged like the wild grass, had a shiny, smooth coat and was plump, weighing at least three to four pounds. It sat motionless in the grass for ages. With a shriek, Lan Tian pounced.

After several runs around the mountainside, with Lan Tian fiercely chasing, the disoriented rabbit was finally caught.

Mo Yuanle felt a twinge in his eyes watching the chase. There were several opportunities to catch the rabbit, but the girl deliberately let it go, insisting on driving it to run around.

It was odd; the rabbit kept running circles around this area as if there was something here worth risking its life for instead of escaping. Mo Yuanle searched around, found nothing but grass and trees, and didn’t see any sign of a rabbit burrow.

"Uncle, what are you searching for?" Lan Tian returned holding the rabbit and saw Mo Yuanle looking around, standing on tiptoes to peer into the grass.

"Nothing much, that rabbit kept circling this spot, so I thought there might be some baby rabbits nearby." Mo Yuanle kicked at a bush near his foot, saw no burrow, and turned to leave.

Lan Tian glanced at the bush, her pupils dilated, handed the rabbit to Mo Yuanle, and squatted down. She carefully parted the bushes, staring at the green wild plant as tall as chopsticks, which looked exactly like the Gathering Spirit Grass recorded in the Spiritual Medicine Atlas.

Identifying it was simple.

As the name suggests, Gathering Spirit Grass gathers the spiritual energy of heaven and earth – with no other use. It’s somewhat useless to cultivators who generally use Spirit Stones for cultivation and array formations since the spiritual energy within Spirit Stones is purer.

The spiritual energy gathered by Gathering Spirit Grass is pure too, but with only a few or several decades of growth, it captures so little energy that it’s barely effective unless grown in large quantities.

While Gathering Spirit Grass may seem inconsequential, it’s not commonly seen in the Cultivation World. Gathering Spirit Grass that is over a thousand years old can significantly enhance cultivation efforts.

Lan Tian released her spiritual energy and, as her hand neared the plant, she felt a faint stream of spiritual energy gathering.

Elated, Lan Tian realized it was indeed Gathering Spirit Grass.

Now impoverished, this Gathering Spirit Grass was too important for Lan Tian, especially after reaching the third-tier Qi Cultivation. She could accelerate the growth of a few plants, set up a Spirit Gathering Array, and cultivate some Spiritual Vegetables, which would be greatly beneficial to her cultivation. Consistently eating normal grains and cereals accumulated many impurities in her body.

Lan Tian crouched, her butt in the air, lying on the ground, carefully parting the surrounding weeds to clear a space. She then dug out a large clump of soil along with the plant, carefully placing it into her basket. She overturned the nearby bushes and did not rest until verifying that there was no second plant.

This was the first time Mo Yuanle had seen the girl this serious. He glanced into the basket – it was just a wild plant. Upon another look, it was just a particularly green wild plant; he really couldn’t see anything special about it.