"This Purple Crystal can even absorb the energy in medicinal herbs? That's right! The 'Medicinal Power' contained in medicinal herbs is essentially a form of energy, isn't it?"
"When a warrior eats medicinal herbs, their physical strength improves because their body absorbs the Medicinal Power and refines the energy within the herbs."
A sudden understanding dawned on Yi Yun. Over the past few days, he had conducted quite a few experiments as well. He had prepared flames, hot water, coarse cloth after generating static electricity through friction, and various other things he believed were "filled with energy." Yet the Purple Crystal absorbed none of these so-called forms of "energy."
The energy the Purple Crystal could absorb could now be summed up as starlight, Desolate Bones, Medicinal Power, and the Yuan Qi cultivated within Lian Chengyu's body.
Thinking about it carefully, aside from the ethereal starlight, all the other forms of energy were related to the cultivation of martial artists in this world!
Even starlight might be related to cultivation. There might well be cultivation methods in this world that absorbed starlight.
As for Desolate Bones and medicinal herbs, there was even less need to explain. They were all excellent things capable of improving a martial artist's body and cleansing their marrow.
It seemed that only these energies related to martial cultivation could be absorbed by the Purple Crystal.
However, after the Purple Crystal absorbed the Medicinal Power within the Pill Fruit, was the Pill Fruit still useful?
It was probably ruined already!
Although the Pill Fruit still looked intact, in reality, it could only be considered a piece of Medicinal Dregs with a nice appearance. It might even be inferior to ordinary Medicinal Dregs.
Yi Yun knew that Pill Fruits could not be eaten directly. They had to be simmered and refined using special methods first.
Only the higher-ups of the tribe knew those refining methods.
The same went for the other medicinal herbs on Lian Clan Medicine Mountain. To ordinary people, eating them would be like swallowing poison that tore through their intestines. Not only would they provide no benefit, but because the Medicinal Power could not be digested, they would cause excruciating abdominal pain and might even result in death from bleeding through the seven orifices!
If not for this, the Lian Clan would never have felt safe letting these poor people gather herbs on the mountain. Otherwise, if they secretly ate them while gathering herbs, who would ever know?
But now, after the Purple Crystal absorbed the Medicinal Power in the Pill Fruit and then returned it to Yi Yun's body, Yi Yun felt none of the poisonous side effects.
That was the miraculous aspect of the Purple Crystal.
It transformed the originally violent energy into gentle energy suitable for ordinary people to absorb, allowing Yi Yun to freely swallow and absorb the mountain's medicinal herbs without anyone knowing!
It could truly be said to happen without a trace, without a sound!
Upon realizing this, Yi Yun could not help laughing.
"Yun'er, what are you laughing at?" Jiang Xiaorou shouted from below. She had been nervous about Yi Yun the entire time, afraid that he might accidentally fall. From such a height, crashing onto the rocky ground below would have ended badly.
"Sister Xiaorou, look at this!"
Yi Yun plucked the Pill Fruit, which had completely lost its Medicinal Power, and tossed it down.
"A Pill Fruit? What a big one!"
Jiang Xiaorou's heart leaped with joy, but she immediately felt somewhat sorrowful. A twenty-year-old Pill Fruit was indeed a fine medicine, but her little brother had no right to enjoy it. The medicinal herb still had to be sent to the tribe, where a few old fellows would carefully refine it before using it to cleanse Lian Chengyu's body.
With a depressed mood, Jiang Xiaorou placed the Pill Fruit into the herb basket.
Their task was to gather eight ounces of herbs each. The weight was calculated according to the lowest-grade medicinal herbs. For a herb like a twenty-year-old Pill Fruit, extra weight would be added during the calculation. If they continued to have such good luck today, at least their food supply would be secured.
It was tragic when one thought about it. She and her brother risked their lives gathering herbs, yet even if their luck defied the heavens and they gathered many precious medicinal herbs, they were merely making wedding clothes for someone else.
"Yun'er, that's enough. Don't climb any higher."
Seeing that Yi Yun had already climbed more than ten meters, Jiang Xiaorou shouted anxiously. No matter how desperately he struggled, the herbs he gathered would still belong to someone else. What was the point?
But Yi Yun pretended not to hear her, because he had seen spiritual light rising near a crooked pine tree growing on the cliff not far away. There were medicinal herbs there!
Yi Yun climbed over in three quick movements. Hanging from the pine tree's trunk with one hand, he carefully plucked a small umbrella-shaped herb from its roots with the other.
"Black Lingzhi, a medicinal herb more valuable than a Pill Fruit."
Yi Yun was delighted. Without the slightest hesitation, he absorbed all the energy within the Black Lingzhi. That exhilarating feeling surged through him again. Yi Yun clearly felt the energy within the Black Lingzhi enter his heart before flowing along with his blood through every part of his body, nourishing his flesh and blood. The sensation felt so wonderful that it made him want to moan.
One had to know that Yi Yun had been hungry these past few days.
Especially after Marrow Cleansing, Yi Yun had been so hungry that his eyes were practically glowing green. He still lacked the ability to hunt alone outside, yet his body was growing rapidly and urgently needed energy.
Eating large amounts of food could provide energy, but how could ordinary meals compare with medicinal herbs? For Yi Yun, this Pill Fruit and Black Lingzhi had arrived like charcoal in a snowstorm!
Yi Yun felt that after the Purple Crystal absorbed the Black Lingzhi, the herb's Medicinal Power entered his body with each cycle of his blood. He not only felt strength filling his body, but even his eyesight had improved another level. Before, he could only vaguely see an ant ten meters away. Now he could clearly make out its head, thorax, abdomen, and six slender legs.
Black Lingzhi could improve one's eyesight. Although Yi Yun did not know much about pharmacology, he roughly understood that the effects of such a low-grade herb should not actually be so obvious. The old men of the tribe had to brew large quantities of medicinal herbs every time to achieve even a slight effect.
Yet when he used the Purple Crystal to absorb medicinal herbs, the results were immediate and extremely significant.
This Purple Crystal could probably double the effects of medicine!
Yi Yun tossed the Black Lingzhi, which had already become "high-grade Medicinal Dregs," to Jiang Xiaorou.
"Black Lingzhi! Yun'er, how did you get so lucky?"
Jiang Xiaorou found it unbelievable. For medicinal herbs of this level, harvesting one in a day was usually about the limit. Yet Yi Yun had gathered two such fine herbs in succession today. His luck was truly bursting through the roof!
Yi Yun smiled but did not answer. With the Purple Crystal, as long as he approached a spiritual herb, a point of light would rise like a lighthouse guiding him. How could he fail to gather good herbs?
By then, Yi Yun had already climbed more than ten meters. But because he had replenished himself with two medicinal herbs and perfectly absorbed their Medicinal Power, he felt as vigorous as a dragon and lively as a tiger. Climbing another dozen meters would have been effortless.
However, Yi Yun did not want to shock the world too much, so he climbed back down.
He changed locations and continued gathering herbs!
Following his basic strategy of sucking everything dry, gathering everything, and eating everything, Yi Yun swept through every medicinal herb like a whirlwind.
He discovered that Lian Clan Medicine Mountain was simply his land of good fortune.
He had been starving these past few days and worrying that he had no energy for cultivation, yet Lian Clan Medicine Mountain had solved this enormous problem in one stroke.
Yi Yun climbed up a cliff. This cliff was extremely high, and few people could usually reach it. From Jiang Xiaorou's angle, she could not see what Yi Yun was doing up there at all.
"Yun'er, be careful!"
Jiang Xiaorou's voice came from the foot of the cliff. Because the mountain wind was too strong, it sounded somewhat indistinct.
"Sister Xiaorou, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
Yi Yun leaped across the jagged, protruding rocks like a nimble mountain antelope. On ordinary cliffs three or four meters high, he only needed to borrow force from the rock face twice before soaring up like a streak of wind.
At that moment, within his field of vision, a ball of light the size of a baby's fist flew out from a crack in a huge rock.
The light ball was ten times more dazzling than any point of light Yi Yun had seen before!
"Hm? What's this?"
Yi Yun's heart jolted. For it to release such dazzling light, the spiritual herb pressed beneath the rock was likely extremely precious.
Yi Yun pushed the rock aside, and sure enough, beneath it he found a crooked Purple Jade Ginseng. The Purple Jade Ginseng's location was well hidden, and it grew atop a cliff that ordinary people found difficult to climb. Thus, despite growing for so many years, it had never been discovered.
Now it had fallen into Yi Yun's hands.
Yi Yun did not hold back either. He directly used the Purple Crystal to absorb the Purple Jade Ginseng as well.
For a moment, the Purple Crystal was filled with hazy violet light. The violet light gathered into Yi Yun's body, and he felt a wave of heat surge within him. The heat flowed along his meridians in all directions, filling his limbs and bones and nourishing his restrained internal organs. It even slowly rose into his brain, sharpening his five senses while also making his head feel feverish and his limbs light and airy.
The sensation was like being drunk. His entire body seemed to float upon the clouds, yet he was scorching hot all over, making Yi Yun feel as if he possessed boundless strength that needed to be vented!
Yi Yun's whole body itched unbearably. He glanced around and saw a huge stone on the ground that looked to weigh two or three hundred pounds. It felt as though thousands upon thousands of ants were crawling all over him, and he yearned to vent himself violently.
He walked up to the huge stone and lifted it in one breath.
Once! Twice! Three times!
Yi Yun lifted the stone more than ten times. His whole body was drenched in hot sweat, yet he felt an exhilarating release.
Still unsatisfied, he carried the rock on his back and performed deep squats and frog jumps. He jumped twenty times in one breath until his legs went numb, and all the sweat on his body evaporated into steam from the heat.
That felt amazing!
Yi Yun moved his body casually, and every joint in him crackled loudly!
When martial artists practiced martial arts, the foundation-building period involved swallowing Desolate Bones, cleansing the body with spiritual herbs, tempering the flesh, and strengthening the Divine Soul!
After the tempering, they needed to supplement it with day-after-day bitter training. Without resources or perseverance, it was impossible to become a martial artist.
Yi Yun did not touch the Purple Jade Ginseng. Harvesting a spiritual herb of this level might cause an uproar, especially since its Medicinal Power had already been completely absorbed by Yi Yun. He did not want to gather the thing and invite trouble upon himself.
For ordinary people gathering herbs, even working nonstop for an entire day might not be enough to gather eight ounces of medicinal herbs. But with the Purple Crystal guiding him, along with his sharp senses and keen eyes and ears, he could see medicinal herbs dozens of meters away. Thus, in only an hour, Yi Yun had gathered the sixteen ounces of medicinal herbs needed by himself and Jiang Xiaorou.
Of course, all these medicinal herbs had already been absorbed once by the Purple Crystal. They looked intact, but in reality, they had all become Medicinal Dregs.
Yi Yun handed the herb basket to Jiang Xiaorou and instructed her not to turn in the herbs too early, lest she attract attention.
"Yun'er... how were you so fast?" Jiang Xiaorou felt as if she were in the clouds. Her little brother had gathered herbs far too quickly.
"I guess I was lucky. Sister Xiaorou, I'll head down the mountain first. You stay here and make it look like you're still working. I'm off!"
As Yi Yun spoke, he sprinted down the mountain.
Before you continue