The Secret of Medicine Valley

Medicine Valley was far more vast than Su Chen had expected.

From the valley entrance to the stone house, the group took a full quarter of an hour to walk there.

Dense vines hung from the cliff walls on both sides. Some bloomed with bizarre double-petaled flowers, while others slowly wriggled through cracks in the stone like snakes.

Chu Yao's steps grew slower and slower, her gaze practically glued to the vegetation.

"Sixth-grade Blood Jade Orchid..."

"Is that seventh-grade Purple Sun Ginseng?"

She suddenly crouched down and stared fixedly at a dull gray stalk of grass in the corner, her voice tightening. "Soul-Returning Grass?"

Ling Shuang glanced back, her tone casual.

"Mm, the old man planted it. It's been alive for twenty years. This stuff is ridiculously delicate. Too much water rots its roots, too little makes it wilt. I was thinking of pulling it out for firewood before."

Chu Yao rose to her feet and looked at Ling Shuang as though she were looking at a wastrel.

Soul-Returning Grass was a sacred herb capable of forcibly preserving a shattered martial soul.

Su Chen keenly caught the emotion in Chu Yao's expression.

Every medicinal herb here could likely stir up a bloody storm in the world of soul masters if placed outside.

The stone house stood with its back against the cliff and faced a stream.

Beside it was a medicine field roughly a hundred square meters in size, arranged with the precision of a laboratory.

Su Chen's gaze swept over the southeastern corner of the field.

Seven short shrubs stood there, their branches bearing thumb-sized golden berries.

"Those are Soul-Recovery Fruits."

Ling Shuang moved out several stone stools and gestured for everyone to sit.

"A variety the old man cultivated. Eating one instantly restores the soul power of anyone below three rings to full. The taste is too strong, though—sour and bitter."

Su Chen did not sit.

At that moment, his heartbeat quickened slightly.

Soul-Recovery Fruits.

They were exactly what he needed most right now.

The Shadow Legion possessed immense combat power, but Su Chen's own soul power reserves were its sole weakness.

Once he summoned every unit, he could only sustain them for two quarter-hours.

With this medicine field, his Shadow Legion could turn from a "positional warfare" force into one built for "attrition warfare."

As long as he had enough medicinal herbs, he alone would be an army that never tired.

"How many times does it bear fruit each year?" Su Chen asked.

"Twice. Seven fruits each time."

Ling Shuang crouched by the stream to wash her hands, droplets sliding from her fingertips.

"These fruits are tied to the local earth energy. Plant them anywhere else, and they wither within half a day."

Su Chen fell silent.

Tied to the local earth energy meant this place could not simply be moved wholesale.

If he wanted this "power bank," he had to hold this valley.

Jiang Tieyi had already sat down without ceremony. He dug the last half-piece of jerky from his clothes, then glanced at the bowl of berries Ling Shuang had brought out.

He grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his mouth, crunching loudly.

"Don't eat the red ones," Ling Shuang suddenly said.

Jiang Tieyi froze.

"Eat too many, and you'll get diarrhea. The kind that won't stop."

Ling Shuang smiled with curved eyes, her gentle tone enough to make one's skin crawl.

Jiang Tieyi silently spat the red berries in his mouth into his palm.

Mo Qianye remained leaning in the shadow of the cliff wall, arms folded over his chest.

He was measuring the terrain.

The entrance was less than three zhang wide, with towering cliff walls on either side and an overhead net of intertwined vines.

This was a natural fortress.

"Who is your master?" Su Chen turned his head.

Ling Shuang's movements paused.

"A stubborn old fool who spent his whole life growing herbs."

She sat on a rock beside the stream, her feet swinging in the cool water.

"People from Spirit Hall came to collect taxes before, but his poisonous vines drove them away. It's been quiet here ever since."

"How did he die?"

"During the Earth Tide ten years ago."

Ling Shuang lowered her head, looking at her reflection in the water.

"A Ten-Thousand-Year Rockshatter Python charged into the valley. The old man poured all his soul power into the roots of the medicine field and held on for three days and nights. The python left, and he dried up with it."

The sound of the stream seemed especially clear in the silent valley.

"Before he died, he said the next tide would be even fiercer and told me to run."

"Then why didn't you?"

Ling Shuang lifted her head, stubbornness shining from her crimson eyes.

"If I left, no one would care for this medicine field. It was forty years of his life's work."

Su Chen crouched down and pinched up a bit of soil from the medicine field.

The soil contained faint pulses of spiritual energy.

"How much do you know about the soul beast distribution around the outer forest?"

Ling Shuang froze for a moment, then revealed a hint of relief, as though they had finally gotten to the point.

She ran into the stone house, brought out a stack of yellowed beast hides, and spread them forcefully across the open ground.

It was an extraordinarily detailed military map.

Water sources, beast paths, and territories across a radius of three hundred li had all been densely marked in different-colored ink.

"The old man's map. I added the notes."

Ling Shuang pointed north.

"In late autumn, the Red-Maned Fierce Horses migrate south. The leader is ten-thousand-year level, with around five hundred horses."

Her finger moved downward.

"At the beginning of winter, Ironclad Rhinos appear. Six ten-thousand-year ones lead them, with over a thousand smaller ones."

Finally, she circled an area in the northeast corner.

"The most troublesome place is Mistveil Swamp. The Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Toads usually stay hidden, but a reverse surge of spiritual energy drives them out. Those things have thick hides, tough flesh, and poison throughout their bodies. Physical attacks are almost useless against them."

Su Chen's gaze passed over every marked point.

The value of this intelligence exceeded even that of the medicine field.

This was the initiative in war.

"How much do these beast paths overlap with their routes during an Earth Tide?" Yan Wuji asked in a deep voice.

"More than seventy percent."

Ling Shuang stood and stamped lightly on the ground beneath her feet.

"Soul beasts are very rigid. As long as the road hasn't collapsed, they keep following the old routes. Unless there's something even more terrifying waiting on the road."

Su Chen slowly rose to his feet.

His shadow stretched long across the ground.

"Ling Shuang, you can't defend this place alone."

Ling Shuang's smile gradually faded.

"The Earth Tides are increasing in scale. Your master stopped one Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast last time only because he was lucky. This time, thousands upon thousands of beast hordes will come charging in."

Su Chen stared into her eyes, his tone devoid of warmth.

"Come with me."

"Take every seed and rootling from the medicine field that can be moved. For those that can't, I'll send summoned creatures to establish defenses here."

"I'll take you hunting for Spirit Rings. Once your Heavenly Net Immortal Vine reaches four rings, this valley can truly be considered impregnable."

Ling Shuang hugged her knees and remained silent for a long time.

"You can help me obtain a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"

Su Chen said nothing.

The spiritual power in his sea of consciousness erupted with a deafening surge.

A terrifying phantom flashed behind him and vanished.

It carried the savage aura of a Ten-Thousand-Year Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear.

The vines beneath Ling Shuang's feet curled back in terror as though they had encountered a natural predator.

"...You're only twelve?" Ling Shuang's voice was slightly hoarse.

"Pack your things. We leave in one hour."

Su Chen turned and headed toward the valley entrance.

"I don't want my logistics base to end up as a pile of ruins."

Ling Shuang watched Su Chen's back, then looked at the beast-hide map spread across the ground.

"I have a condition."

"Say it."

"If Medicine Valley can't be defended, I'll leave whenever I want."

"As you wish."

Ling Shuang jumped off the rock and patted the dirt from her skirt. That cloyingly sweet smile returned to her face.

"And keep those cats... leopards of yours away from my herbs from now on."

Shadow Leopard Number Three crouched beside Su Chen's feet, its tail tucked tightly between its legs.

As Chu Yao passed Ling Shuang, she sighed helplessly.

"You'll get used to it. He never discusses things. He only gives orders."

"That's interesting."

Ling Shuang watched Su Chen's back, an unusual gleam flashing through her crimson eyes.

Jiang Tieyi walked at the very end, his pockets stuffed with nontoxic berries.

He looked back once at the deep valley.

Su Chen's group had gained another monster.

A control-system genius capable of hanging a Ten-Thousand-Year Shadow Leopard like a streetlamp, along with a ten-thousand-year beast tide defense map capable of changing the course of battle.

Chewing on a berry, he suddenly felt that the coming Earth Tide might truly be interesting.