Mysterious Fruit

Just as Xiao Ming had expected, the fighting here attracted many people.

Not long after he left, more and more people arrived at the pavilion.

However, standing on the white Jade Stone Plaza, some saw the intense energy fluctuations coming from the pavilion and chose to join the battle.

Others hesitated briefly before choosing, like Xiao Ming, to reenter the dense forest.

Clearly, they had the same plan as Xiao Ming: to search for other pavilions.

Quite a few people chose to leave. Unfortunately, many of them headed in the same direction Xiao Ming had chosen.

After who knew how long he had spent leaping between the branches in the dense forest, Xiao Ming finally found another special location hiding treasures.

It was a small farmhouse-style courtyard, its walls made of wooden fencing. It appeared to have no defenses whatsoever, and standing beside the fence, Xiao Ming could clearly see the courtyard's interior.

The courtyard was not large. Its former owner seemed to have been an ordinary farmer, with hoes, shovels, and various common farming tools placed inside.

There seemed to be nothing special about it.

However, Xiao Ming did not truly believe that the former owner had been a farmer just because those things were there.

What farmer lived in a Secret Realm?!

Moreover, aside from those farming tools, he saw other things that proved the former owner was far from ordinary.

In one corner of the courtyard was a small flower bed piled up with earth. All kinds of flowers and plants grew within it, their unusual fragrance lingering in the air.

Those seemingly ordinary flowers and grasses were the proof.

Looking at them, Xiao Ming's breathing quickened. Others might not recognize those things, but he knew them well. In terms of value, these seemingly ordinary plants were far more tangible and precious than the Profound Tier Cultivation Technique he had obtained earlier.

They were all Precious Medicinal Herbs that were difficult to find outside.

Especially for an Alchemist, obtaining a rare herb was far more exciting and exhilarating than receiving hundreds of thousands in wealth.

Thus, upon discovering the flower bed, Xiao Ming could not wait to leap over the fence, which stood over a man's height tall. During the process, he suffered no attacks.

After landing, Xiao Ming devoted part of his attention to the surroundings, wary of any traps left by the courtyard's former owner, then quickly walked over to the flower bed.

"Ice Spirit Leaf, Black Lotus Flower, Nine-Leaf Flower Ginseng, Snake Spirit Sacred Fruit, Purple Cloud Cattail, Fire Dragon Fruit..."

As he gazed delightedly at the modest flower bed, names representing rare and hard-to-find high-grade medicinal herbs flowed from Xiao Ming's mouth one after another.

"And... Ice Spirit Flame Grass!"

As his gaze swept over the other herbs in the flower bed, Xiao Ming's pupils suddenly contracted. Finally, he fixed his eyes on a blade of grass at the left side of the flower bed, white and red alternating across its surface.

This grass was divided into white and red. Its white stalk was covered in tiny objects resembling ice crystals, while its fiery-red crown looked like a blazing flame. Two utterly opposing colors and attributes had strangely grown together on a single plant. It was truly miraculous.

A faint mist curled around the plant, making it seem as though it stood amid clouds and mist.

This peculiar grass was called Ice Spirit Flame Grass. It was usually extremely difficult to find in the outside world, and it was also one of the necessary ingredients for refining the Blood Lotus Pill required to devour the lower-ranked Heavenly Flames on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.

Besides refining the Blood Lotus Pill, this herb was also a primary ingredient in several other Grade Five or Six Medicinal Pills.

Its preciousness went without saying. It was even more valuable than the herbs Xiao Ming had just named.

However, Xiao Ming already had a Blood Lotus Pill in his Na Ring.

Therefore, although he was very happy to see this herb, it was merely the normal reaction of an ordinary Alchemist upon encountering Precious Medicinal Herbs.

After enjoying his brief delight, Xiao Ming turned his gaze toward the center of the Medicine Altar.

Even Ice Spirit Flame Grass could not occupy the very center. He wanted to see just how precious the herb at its center was.

The center of the flower bed was separated from the other medicinal herbs by an empty space of about a meter.

It seemed that the courtyard's owner had attached immense importance to this herb.

He had even been unwilling to let any other herbs come within a meter of it.

Unexpectedly, when Xiao Ming looked over, he found that the herb in the center displayed none of the extraordinary phenomena of the Ice Spirit Flame Grass.

At the center of the flower bed stood only an unremarkable green plant, with a Green Fruit hanging from one of its branches.

"Huh? I actually can't recognize this plant?"

Xiao Ming stared at the plant in confusion and exclaimed in surprise.

He was no longer some novice Alchemist. He was a Grade Three Alchemist.

Though his rank was not particularly high, he considered himself qualified in the basic task that even a Grade One Alchemist should be able to do: identifying medicinal herbs.

Aside from rare medicinal herbs, he could recognize common herbs without even needing to think. He knew them like the back of his hand.

Furthermore, Jia Nan Academy possessed an extensive collection of books. Having read countless texts, he could recognize many rare medicinal herbs as well.

For example, the Snake Soul Fruit he had just named was an extremely rare herb that could allow Snake Magical Beasts to break through their own Racial Barrier after consuming it. He had recognized it at a glance.

Not only that, he also knew how to use it.

Yet this medicinal herb bearing a Green Fruit—forget its effects, he could not even name it.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

After staring for a while, Xiao Ming's ever-extended Soul Power seemed to detect an extremely faint Soul Fluctuation. This Soul Power fluctuation was incredibly strange in its appearance and vanished with astonishing speed.

Xiao Ming had not even had time to investigate it before it disappeared.

This immediately aroused Xiao Ming's vigilance.

This place was in the middle of nowhere. Where had a Soul Fluctuation come from? Could it be some Thousand-Year Undying Old Monster?

Unable to spare any thought for the name of the Green Medicinal Herb, Xiao Ming closed his eyes. The Soul Power within the Mud Palace between his brows poured out without restraint and spread in every direction.

He searched the entire courtyard, even the corners beyond the fence, yet found nothing.

Xiao Ming frowned deeply. Rather than giving up, he searched several more times.

Finally, during the last search, that Soul Fluctuation appeared once more.

"Again? Let's see where you're hiding." Prepared this time, Xiao Ming curled his lips into a smile and sent his Soul Power toward the center of the Soul Fluctuation.

In the end, having been prepared, Xiao Ming easily traced the source of the fluctuation. He opened his half-closed eyes and looked in that direction.

"That Soul Fluctuation came from this medicinal herb?" Xiao Ming looked at the herb in the center of the flower bed, utterly shocked.

"Could this be a medicinal herb related to Soul Power?!" Xiao Ming guessed inwardly.

This guess was not baseless. Apart from medicinal herbs related to Soul Power, no other kind of herb could possibly emit fluctuations resembling Soul Power.

Such medicinal herbs were extremely rare, even more precious than Ice Spirit Flame Grass, and Jia Nan Academy had very few records about them.

This was a medicinal herb related to the soul, which also explained why he could not identify it.

Having reached this conclusion, Xiao Ming was overjoyed.

No matter what this herb was used for, it was definitely a good thing. And good things like this should be put away immediately.