Chapter Ninety-One: This Turbid Water Is Worth a Wading

It was common knowledge that the older the spiritual herbs and blossoms used in pill refinement, the finer the finished medicine would be. Even a seven-leaved purple wisteria flower that had grown for more than two hundred years could serve as the main ingredient for a foundation-building pill.

But if it could reach three hundred years or more, the effect would be even more pronounced. Should she carve out a cave dwelling here and wait a little longer before harvesting it? For a time, Chu Xiner found herself unable to decide.

Digging it up now would naturally be safer. Once the treasure was placed inside her own storage pouch, she could leave this valley, and even if someone had once discovered that seven-leaved purple wisteria grew here, they would never know that she had gotten there first.

Yet judging from the quality of the two spiritual blossoms before her, at most another year or so would be enough to satisfy the requirement for an extra century of growth and a significant rise in quality. To uproot them now would truly be a pity.

And if they were not properly preserved, the medicinal potency within the blossoms would still drain away, making the whole thing not worth the loss.

The key point was that the seven-leaved purple wisteria had grown here for two hundred years without anyone coming to pick it. The likelihood that a cultivator had learned of it ahead of time was not high; perhaps she was simply worrying needlessly.

After repeated deliberation, Chu Xiner decided to stay. In any case, when she left Green Leaf Sect this time, she had brought the Mist-Hidden Subduing-Demon Formation with her.

She would simply open the cave dwelling in the cliff wall beside the spiritual blossoms and cover it with the formation, and then there would be no fear of discovery.

It was already late in the day. Acting at once, Chu Xiner controlled her flying sword and began to cut into the rock wall.

This was not the first time she had opened a cave dwelling outside. She could not exactly claim mastery, but after two hours, a dwelling with a main chamber and two rooms for cultivation had still taken complete shape.

She embedded luminous pearls into the stone walls, set up the formation, and supplied it with enough spirit stones. After leaving Xiao Wenzi the jade talisman used to control entry and exit through the formation, she stepped into the cultivation room on the left.

Soft light spilled from the luminous pearls set into the cave walls. The young woman sat cross-legged on a cushion and removed the storage pouch from her waist. With a flip of her hand, four or five storage pouches tumbled out.

These were the storage pouches of Gongsun Feng, Lu Hong, Zhou Yan, and the others. Back then she had been in such haste that she had not had time to inspect her spoils, but now she could take a careful inventory.

All five storage pouches were of inferior grade. Since their original owners had perished and their cultivation realms were not much higher than Chu Xiner’s, given enough time she could break through the restraints on all of them.

"Hmm, there are actually six or seven hundred spirit stones, and some pills for assisting cultivation as well. Not bad, not bad."

Within the fortunes of Gongsun Feng, Senior Brother Wu, Lu Hong, and the others were naturally the cultivation methods they had practiced, but Chu Xiner had already switched to the Drifting Clouds and Falling Rain Art and paid them no mind at all.

What interested her were only these spirit stones and pills.

After taking inventory of the spoils, Chu Xiner began to meditate cross-legged. Once her body and mind had been restored to their peak condition, she then took out the pills and swallowed and refined them.

Time was the one thing least valued in the eyes of cultivators. High-level cultivators often secluded themselves in contemplation for decades or even centuries at a stretch, and Chu Xiner’s realm was still low; with pill assistance, it would certainly not take her that long to break through to great perfection in the Qi Refining stage.

Autumn gave way to winter, winter ended and flowers bloomed; in the blink of an eye, more than half a year had quietly passed.

One morning, a giant mosquito flew out from within the valley and sped toward the distant mountain ranges. Beneath it hung a storage pouch no bigger than a palm.

Indeed, it was a storage pouch. Before Chu Xiner entered seclusion, Xiao Wenzi had specifically asked her for it. The talisman for entering and leaving the cave dwelling was placed inside, along with several jade boxes containing spirit herbs.

At first glance, the storage pouch was utterly disproportionate to his body, but he was after all a demon mosquito at the seventh level of the Demon Qi stage, comparable to a cultivator at the tenth level. Carrying a storage pouch was hardly any trouble at all.

Come to think of it, this was not the first time Xiao Wenzi had left the cave dwelling alone. Chu Xiner was still in seclusion cultivating, and because he lacked system coins to exchange for resources, his cultivation had not advanced much over the past few months—only now had he just reached the late stage of the seventh level.

Staying in the cave dwelling all the time was far too dull. The seven-leaved purple wisteria had already reached the three-hundred-year mark and was needed by Chu Xiner, and he could not absorb it. He had no choice but to go outside and search for suitable medicinal herbs.

The seventh level was already a relatively advanced minor realm within the Demon Qi stage, and with the Blood Spirit Great Art being an ancient supreme method, advancing through bottlenecks was comparatively difficult.

Ordinary herbal essences could no longer do much. Over the past half month, although Xiao Wenzi had repeatedly gone out in search of them, there were simply no spiritual flowers or herbs nearby that could help him advance.

Fortunately, by chance, he had managed to find a few of the poisonous herbs used to refine the numbing toxin liquid. Right now, only Black Beard Snake Vine and Toad Herb, two comparatively scarce poisonous herbs, were still lacking.

After searching several times, Xiao Wenzi had practically combed through the area within a hundred li of the valley. This time he decided to try his luck farther away, and even if he could not return tonight, it should still be fine.

After all, there was a formation guarding the cave dwelling, and Chu Xiner was not in the midst of breaking through a bottleneck like foundation establishment or core formation, where disturbance could not be allowed.

Carrying the storage pouch, Xiao Wenzi flapped his wings and flew onward, leaving one green peak after another behind him. Because his body was small, his escape speed was not especially fast. It was only near midday that he finally flew beyond the woods he had searched before.

From then on, he spread out his demon sense to look for spirit herbs and poisonous plants, and his flight slowed even more.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

After two hours, Xiao Wenzi had indeed found a few spiritual herbs and flowers, but they were all of low age—ordinary medicinal plants such as Purple Swallow Grass and Cloud-Loving Flower.

Black Beard Snake Vine and Toad Herb, the things he needed, were still nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a violent roar sounded ahead, mixed with beast howls and shrieks.

It was cultivators fighting an妖兽. From the fluctuation of spiritual pressure, Xiao Wenzi confirmed that neither side had reached the Foundation Establishment stage, and his thoughts immediately began to stir.

As the saying went, when the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole waits behind. He was lacking cultivation resources, and refining the blood of high-level cultivators was scarcely less effective than taking pills. If the realm was suitable, he could even exchange for system coins. This muddy water was worth wading into.

Thinking this, he carried the storage pouch into the nearby dense forest. After finding a concealed tree hollow and hiding the pouch, he spread his wings and flew toward the source of the commotion.

On a hillside a thousand meters away, three or four young men and women dressed in matching clothes were each displaying their own supernatural arts, fighting a wild boar beast opposite them.

These people were all very young, the oldest no more than in his or her twenties, and their cultivation realms were around the tenth level. From their clothing and the arts they used, it was clear they belonged to the same family or sect.

The brown wild boar with its serrated tusks had reached the late first rank, comparable to a cultivator at great perfection in the Qi Refining stage.

However, this fellow had not yet awakened intelligence and could do nothing but rely on its thick hide and brute strength to charge recklessly. Under the encirclement of the three men and one woman’s magical instruments and techniques, it was soon covered in wounds.

Huff, huff... grrrr...

Struck once more by a flying sword across its back, blood spraying high into the air, the red-maned wild boar raised its head and let out a mournful cry that sounded like a grunt, yet also like a plea for help.

Huff, huff... grrrr...

Soon, the boar’s cry for help received an answer. From the forest several hundred meters away came two boar roars, accompanied by the tremors of the earth as heavy bodies charged through the woods.