The Medicine Garden Handover

At the edge of the sky hung that round of golden morning sun. The lush summer vegetation seemed even more abundant in the warm breeze of the morning sun.

Passing through the thin mist that had yet to disperse in the morning, he followed the mottled bluestone path, constantly moving forward amid crisp birdsong.

Before long, with a tap of his toes and several leaps, Lin Chen arrived at the foot of a small mountain.

At the mountain's base stood a lush forest. Dense woods covered the entire mountain pass, leaving no path forward to be found.

Medicinal Garden C-6 was located atop a small mountain, but the area around the garden was guarded by restrictions set down by the sect to prevent other disciples from barging in.

"The sixth tree at the end of the road... one, two... five, six... What the hell? Didn't they say there'd be a tree person here?!"

Following the old man on duty's instructions, Lin Chen searched for the guardian of the formation. Yet he had never expected that, upon reaching the designated spot, he would find not a towering ancient tree, but a massive pit five meters long and three meters wide!

"What's going on? Could it be the guardian got dug up?" Just as Lin Chen was wavering in uncertainty, a bout of coughing suddenly sounded by his ears.

"Cough, cough, kid..."

"Who?!" Lin Chen's gaze sharpened. In an instant, he pulled out a Defense Spirit Artifact from his Storage Bag. At the same time, true qi surged across his body, and countless transparent, nearly imperceptible Spirit Threads rapidly spread from him to cover the surroundings.

When faced with an unknown situation, immediately taking measures to protect oneself was the caution Lin Chen needed in order to survive in this world!

"Cough, cough. Little friend, don't be nervous. It's me."

Lin Chen immediately followed the sound and looked over. Not far away, a lush, flourishing tree bathed in sunlight, with a brown human face protruding from its trunk.

"Tree Elder?!" Lin Chen immediately recognized the creature before him.

Ten years to grow a tree, a hundred years to cultivate a person. In his previous life, this saying had been a metaphor, but in the Azure Cloud Sect of This Side World, it was reality.

Under the influence of the Azure Cloud Sect Great Formation and the cultivation techniques practiced by cultivators, every Spirit Tree that reached a hundred years of age would develop its own unique intelligence, some even possessing the Cultivation Level of a Qi Refining Stage Cultivator.

A thousand-year-old Spirit Tree was already Comparable To a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, while a Spirit Tree over three thousand years old could even battle a Golden Core cultivator!

Moreover, these Spirit Trees could not only be used to defend the sect, but because outsiders could never bribe them, they also guarded certain key positions within the Azure Cloud Sect—such as the medicinal gardens responsible for supplying cultivation resources to the entire sect.

"Uh... Tree Elder, why did you move over there?" Lin Chen hesitated before asking.

"Oh, that spot barely gets any sunlight, so I moved here to bask in the sun. You understand how much us old folks need sunlight, don't you?"

The corner of Lin Chen's mouth twitched. Of course he understood, but the problem was, how could a tree move itself over there?!

"Tree Elder, I need to activate the formation and enter the medicinal garden." Lin Chen did not dwell on that question and instead directly stated his purpose.

"Alright." The old tree's aged voice echoed out, and the ancient face on its trunk gradually faded away.

Yet the ground beneath Lin Chen's feet soon began to tremble. Under his astonished gaze, every branch of the talking tree slowly drew inward toward its main trunk.

From the cracked earth, countless roots drilled out of the ground. Fine roots tightly clung to the main root as the thick main root emerged from the soil with them.

As if an earthquake had struck, Lin Chen struggled to keep his footing as he watched a main root thicker than his waist emerge from the earth and lift the entire tree into the air. The tree seemed to have grown countless feet, slowly making its way across the ground.

Rustle! Rustle!

As the leaves in the crown shook, the tree lifted by its main root moved faster and faster.

Those thick, sturdy roots carried the crown above them speck by speck into the massive pit, where the tree settled directly down.

Beneath the pit lay the spiritual vein node of the entire medicinal garden. Only by taking root there could the Spirit Tree activate—or even alter—the defensive grand formation of the whole medicinal garden!

"Th-This works too?" Lin Chen was utterly dumbfounded as he watched from the side. He had already accepted that trees could talk, but this was the first time he had ever seen a tree that could run.

"The token." The tree's aged voice echoed again.

"Hmm? Oh." Lin Chen came back to his senses and hastily took out the token, pressing it against the trunk. At once, it was firmly drawn onto the tree.

Immediately, an emerald green spiritual light flickered across it.

"Identity confirmed. Verification correct. Authority granted." The tree's aged voice echoed throughout the area once more.

Places such as medicinal gardens were sect strongholds. The sect could not casually hand disciples tokens with authority over the guardian formation; the guardian had to conduct a second confirmation before granting entry and exit permissions.

"Formation activated." The moment the words fell, the forest surrounding them rippled with traces of waves like the surface of water. Then the entire forest began to distort. Upon reaching a certain point, it abruptly halted, then vanished outright, revealing a small path leading into the mountain!

Clearly, that vast and seemingly endless sea of trees had been nothing more than an illusion. Without a token to enter, it could trap an ordinary Qi Refining Stage Cultivator until death!

"Thank you, Tree Elder." Lin Chen gave a salute and entered directly.

"Ah, wait..." The face on the trunk surfaced again, clearly wanting to say something more, but Lin Chen had already gone far away.

"Ah, young people these days... They don't even know to show some filial respect to their elders. That's all, that's all. I should go back to sunbathing..."

With a sigh, the tree shrank in on itself again. Clearly, it was about to move back to its original spot to continue basking in the sun.

And within the medicinal garden—

Lin Chen had not walked far before he looked up, and the entire scene within the garden entered his sight.

Terraced fields!

Even though this was not the first time he had seen them, Lin Chen could not help but marvel.

Before him lay terraced fields scattered like stars, one patch linked to another, layer upon layer, each with a different shape. Under the sunlight and in the morning glow, they shimmered across the mountain wilderness like strips of silver ribbon, as though heaven had descended upon earth!

Every plot within the terraces was lush and flourishing, planted with countless medicinal herbs familiar and unfamiliar to Lin Chen, along with some strange-looking plants. Amid the faint Spirit Mist of the morning, they brimmed with an indescribable spiritual vitality.

If mortals lived in such a place, extending their years and living to a hundred would be no difficulty at all. Even for cultivators, residing here would bring immense benefits.

Yet the most eye-catching of all was the towering giant tree atop the mountain. More than ten zhang tall and spreading over an immense area, its leaves were emerald green as though dripping with life, while powerful life-force spiritual energy radiated from its entire body.

Within Lin Chen's sensing, the giant tree before him, the formation restrictions in the medicine garden, and the Earth Vein spiritual energy intertwined with one another. As though alive, they endlessly poured Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and the vitality of the Earth Vein into the spiritual herbs of the garden!

This was the indispensable formation of every medicine garden in the Azure Cloud Sect—the Wood Nurturing Life Great Formation!

Not only could it accelerate the growth of spiritual herbs in the garden, but at a crucial moment, it could also link with the Azure Cloud Sect's protective sect formation, the Wood Pillar Heaven Array, to fend off invading enemies!

Even though he had seen it more than once, Lin Chen could not help but be shocked by the immense scale of the medicine garden before him.

Before entering the medicine garden, he had always thought that a so-called medicine garden was merely a few plots of land beside a house, no larger than a single field at most.

Yet he had never thought that the Azure Cloud Sect would directly designate an entire mountain as a medicine garden!

Such a vast scale truly left Lin Chen somewhat shocked, but upon thinking it over carefully, it was not hard to understand.

After all, the Azure Cloud Sect had to supply the cultivation pills needed by tens of thousands of disciples. Who knew how many medicinal ingredients were consumed in refining each pill? By that calculation, how could a medicine garden possibly consist of only a few measly fields?

"Hmm?" Just as Lin Chen was marveling, spiritual light suddenly flashed from his token.

"This is... communicating with the disciple stationed here?"

Sure enough, before long, an Outer Disciple clad in the same white robes hurried over. He was around thirty, tall and upright, with fair skin and shrewd-looking features, like a merchant. His cultivation level had even reached the Qi Vortex Realm.

"My surname is Li, given name Yuan. It is not yet time to hand over the medicine garden duties. Junior Brother, are you not being a little too impatient, arriving this early?"

Hmm? Lin Chen's brow furrowed slightly. He could hear unmistakable displeasure in Li Yuan's tone.

On second thought, Lin Chen quickly understood. This position came with considerable profit, so the other party presumably had little desire to hand it over.

"Senior Brother, I merely came early to familiarize myself with the duties. I will not disturb Senior Brother's work," Lin Chen replied after some thought.

"I know Senior Brother has a strong sense of responsibility, but sect rules state that no position may be held consecutively. I hope Senior Brother can understand." Lin Chen first made clear that he would not interfere with Li Yuan's profiteering, then pointed out that this was a sect rule and could not be violated.

Li Yuan's expression turned ugly. He knew Lin Chen was right.

To prevent lower-ranking disciples from turning profitable positions into their own private property, the sect had specifically laid down rules: positions were not allowed to be renewed consecutively and had to be handed over every half year. Otherwise, he would have long since tucked this position into his pocket.

So be it!

Li Yuan's expression shifted between light and dark. In the end, he still let out a sigh.

"Come with me!" He flicked his sleeve, signaling Lin Chen to follow, then turned and walked forward.

Lin Chen's gaze shifted slightly as he followed him inside.

Li Yuan led Lin Chen onward. At this moment, quite a few cultivators were already working in the medicine garden on the small mountain, some watering spiritual plants, others gathering spiritual herbs.

Once they reached the relevant work area, Li Yuan turned around.

"You should be clear on the duties of this position, so I need not say more, correct?" Li Yuan glanced at Lin Chen.

Lin Chen nodded.

The position he now held was that of liaison between the medicine garden and the Pill Hall. He was responsible for transporting medicinal ingredients to the Pill Hall and recording the quantities of ingredients consumed by the Pill Hall.

Originally, recording the consumption of medicinal ingredients was the responsibility of disciples serving in the Pill Hall.

But thirty years ago, the only son of a Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator had relied on his status and position to embezzle nearly half the Pill Hall's medicinal ingredients during his tenure, selling them off for Spirit Stones to fund his own expenses.

After the matter was exposed, the Golden Core Ancestor flew into a rage. Ignoring that Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator's desperate pleas, he slaughtered a group led by his only son to set the sect's conduct straight.

Afterward, he ordered that all Pill Hall medicinal ingredient consumption be recorded by medicine garden disciples, hoping to use this method to prevent the people below from engaging in corruption and embezzlement.

But ideals were ideals, and reality was reality. All one could say was that when there were policies from above, there were countermeasures below. Such things still happened all the same, though they were far more restrained, and no one dared go too far.

"You may enter and leave the medicine garden freely, but every time you go out, you must leave your token with the guards to prevent it from being lost outside."

"For every transport of medicinal ingredients, the sect will specially dispatch designated Dandelion Grass... Also, keep a close eye on those Menial Disciples. Do not let them tamper with anything. You must know that there are required quantities for the medicinal ingredients."

"Finally, and most importantly, know when to stop each time. Do not be too greedy." As he finished his instructions, Li Yuan spoke with meaningful emphasis.

"I will heed Senior Brother's instructions," Lin Chen answered.

After the handover was complete, Li Yuan absentmindedly exchanged a few pleasantries with Lin Chen, then cupped his hands and took his leave.

Watching his retreating figure in the distance, Lin Chen's gaze flickered.

As long as I act cautiously and restrain my greed, taking only a dozen or several dozen medicinal herbs will be completely inconspicuous amid the Pill Hall's consumption of thousands upon thousands.

Those medicinal ingredients, coupled with ten thousand Spirit Stones, will be enough to continue my research into Soul Nurturing Incense version 3.0...