Medicine Mountain, One Hundred Thousand Zhang (Recommendations Requested)

Before he knew it, three months were nearly up.

The stars Lin Qingyun had thrown out had become a Star Sea, while before him, there was nothing at all.

He mechanically reached out, wanting to fish up the object in front of him, but his hand closed on empty air.

Suddenly, with a start, he came awake.

"This is..." Lin Qingyun frowned slightly. He only felt that his head was very heavy, as if he had been exhausted for a long time, yet it was also incomparably clear.

He turned to look at the Star Sea behind him, and only then realized that before he knew it, he had taken in all one hundred thousand medicinal herbs.

"Three months are nearly up. You have already memorized one hundred thousand medicinal herbs. Now comes your final test!"

Suddenly, Xuan Lao's figure appeared before Lin Qingyun, and he spoke indifferently.

"...Please instruct me, Xuan Lao!"

Lin Qingyun was slightly stunned, then respectfully spoke.

Xuan Lao said nothing. With only a sweep of his sleeve, he brought Lin Qingyun and vanished from where they stood.

In a daze, Lin Qingyun abruptly discovered that he had returned to the place where he had first arrived three months ago.

"Xuan Lao, please set the question!" Lin Qingyun looked at Xuan Lao, took a deep breath, and his expression turned grave.

"No, no, no. It is not I who will test you, but it!" Xuan Lao shook his head.

Under Lin Qingyun's puzzled gaze, he raised his hand and lightly tapped the void.

Rumble!

In an instant, within the boundless Star Sea, a vortex appeared, and a black shadow could be faintly seen within.

Under Lin Qingyun's shocked gaze, a Divine Mountain too high to climb appeared before his eyes. Its vastness encompassed the entire Star Sea, and the rich aura of settled medicinal fragrance transformed into stalks of divine medicine and divine pills in the starry sky.

This was no ordinary mountain. This was a Medicine Mountain.

An ancient path led straight to the summit. Above the summit, nothing could be seen through or gazed upon.

"If you can make the one hundred thousand medicinal herbs on this Medicine Mountain mature, then you pass!" Xuan Lao said, pointing from afar at that Medicine Mountain.

"Is there a time limit?" Lin Qingyun asked.

"There is no time limit." Xuan Lao shook his head. He seemed able to see Lin Qingyun's worry, and added, "The moment you step into the Medicine Mountain, you will be cut off from the world. No matter how much time passes within the Medicine Mountain, outside it will be no more than an instant."

"In that case, I'll go!"

Lin Qingyun smiled faintly. Stepping on countless stars, he carried a rather lofty spirit as he advanced step by step onto the first stair.

The moment he stepped onto it, the entire Medicine Mountain trembled. Lin Qingyun looked back and could see Xuan Lao behind him. He reached out and touched, and the air before him rippled like water.

This was a barrier, separating him from the outside world.

Outside the Medicine Mountain, Xuan Lao's aged eyes were somewhat heavy. He murmured to himself, "Though this place is deep within your consciousness, you cannot change everything. Your will shall eventually be exhausted. Young man, I hope you are the only one to succeed!"

Inside the Medicine Mountain

Lin Qingyun turned back around. He stood on the first stair, with the second stair one zhang ahead of him. On both sides were green fields covered in grass.

Lin Qingyun walked forward a few steps and lifted his foot, wanting to step onto the second stair, but he soon discovered that an irresistible force was blocking him in front.

Rather helplessly withdrawing his foot, Lin Qingyun looked up at the Medicine Mountain whose peak could not be seen and murmured to himself, "Just how do I pass the test?"

This Medicine Mountain seemed to possess intelligence. The instant Lin Qingyun's words fell, three rays of light appeared on the ground before him.

When the light faded, Lin Qingyun fixed his eyes on them: a seed, a bucket, and a hoe.

Plant medicinal herbs?

Lin Qingyun was a little dazed!

What kind of move was this?

"To make one hundred thousand medicinal herbs bloom, how long would that take?"

Lin Qingyun raised his head and glanced at the Medicine Mountain whose peak could not be seen, then sucked in a cold breath.

Withdrawing his gaze, he sighed deeply again. "Forget it. I refuse to believe there's anything this young master can't do!"

Lin Qingyun clenched his fist, and his expression gradually firmed.

Carrying the bucket, holding the seed, and shouldering the hoe, he chose the right side.

With one swing of the hoe, the grass was turned over. However, Lin Qingyun did not rush to bury the seed. Instead, he poured a little water and broke apart the soil he had dug out.

After doing all this, he finally took out that seed.

The seed was pitch-black and very tiny, just like a sesame seed. When he sniffed it, there was even a faint fragrance.

"Spirit Gathering Grass!"

Lin Qingyun blurted out. Of the one hundred thousand medicinal herbs, whether it was their effects, appearance, traits, or seeds, he remembered them all extremely firmly.

After burying the seed and covering it with a thin layer of soil, Lin Qingyun sat down where he was and began to wait quietly.

The setting sun sank in the west, and dim yellow lamplight shone into the little room.

On the bed, a handsome, clear-browed youth lay very quietly. His breathing was even, his chest rising and falling, full and steady.

And by the bedside was a graceful figure dressed in red, especially enchanting.

As though she had slept enough, the woman's body trembled slightly, and then she straightened up.

There was a faint blush on her face. She smoothed her slightly disheveled hair.

"Aiya, I really fell asleep by accident! I wanted to talk to you a little more, you troublemaker!"

"You, always liking to act cool, making those vixens fall for you one after another. Where does that leave me?"

"But the you now is so nice! So quiet, so cute, hehe!"

"But you still have to wake up quickly, all right? If you don't wake up soon, I'm going to marry someone!"

"Hehe, of course I'm joking! Qingyun, wake up quickly."

"Without you, I..."

Under the setting sun, the woman bent down and lowered her head, gazing at the youth.

There was day and night within the Medicine Mountain. In a daze, even Lin Qingyun did not notice that three days had passed.

When the morning sunlight brightened, the instant he opened his eyes, he saw a young sprout before him.

The sprout was not tall, only ten inches. It had nine leaves and one flower; the so-called flower was a lantern-like glow at the tip of the flower stem, shining with fluorescent light.

"It bloomed!"

Lin Qingyun was somewhat pleasantly surprised. This was the result of his careful nurturing over three days.

The Medicine Mountain trembled. Lin Qingyun did not need to look to know that the barrier leading to the second stair had already vanished.

"The second level!"

With a faint smile, Lin Qingyun took the bucket and hoe and climbed onto the second stair.

On the ground before him, there was still a seed placed there.

One end of this seed was long and pointed, while the other was thick and large. It somewhat resembled the sunflower seeds he had seen in the past.

But as the seed of a medicinal herb, it definitely was not.

"Scarlet Flame Chrysanthemum!"

With one look, he recognized the origin of this seed. Taking a deep breath, he repeated the same actions as before.

He loosened the soil, broke it apart, buried the seed, covered it with a thin layer of earth, and poured on a little water.

Just like this.

Time flew by. The shift between day and night was like a Yin-Yang Tai Chi Diagram spinning rapidly.

Countless years passed. On the Medicine Mountain, layer after layer, flowers bloomed.

The very top layer.

That hundred-thousandth layer was a lake.

In the lake, there was only a single lotus leaf, yet it dyed the entire lake green. A lotus flower in bud, about to bloom, looked delicate and dripping with beauty.

By the lakeside, the grass swayed faintly, and the shadow of someone weakened to the extreme could vaguely be seen.

At this moment, Lin Qingyun's appearance had changed greatly. He was incomparably aged, and even his entire body was close to transparent. If one did not look carefully, he could not be noticed at all.

He could not even raise his hand. He could feel that his will was about to run out like oil in a spent lamp.

With eyes full of vicissitudes, he gazed at that lotus flower. It showed signs of blooming, but Lin Qingyun did not know whether he could see the moment it opened.

He had planted this lotus for one hundred thousand years and waited for one hundred thousand years, all the way until now.

Azure Sea Azure Sky One Leaf Lotus!

A rare treasure of the world, Chaos Green Lotus!

"Flowers have days when they bloom again, but I... will I ever see that moment?"

A faint voice came with a soft sigh.

Although this was his consciousness space, this Medicine Mountain had cut his consciousness off from the consciousness space.

In other words, if this will of his dispersed, he would truly die!

"I'm so unwilling! But I... seem to have failed!"

"Xuan Lao, I'm sorry. I disappointed you!"

"Xiao Yanzi! I really am unwilling!"

"Ya Fei, heh, I really can't bear to part with you!"

"The sky is getting dark!"

Lin Qingyun watched the sun set, watched the moon rise, watched the night approach.

He felt a trace of drowsiness.

He knew he could not fall asleep just like this, but his eyelids were like they had been filled with lead, desperately dragging downward, blinking and fluttering.

"Forget it. Having walked through this world once, it wasn't in vain!"

With a light sigh, his feet turned completely transparent.

Little by little, they scattered.

His drowsy eyes still stared at that lotus flower.

Under the moonlight,

the first lotus petal

unfurled...

Outside the Medicine Mountain

"Did he fail?"

Xuan Lao's pupils, which had not the slightest other color, rippled several times.

Although countless years had passed within the Medicine Mountain, outside the Medicine Mountain it was only an instant.

He could sense the scene within the Medicine Mountain. To him, in that half-instant, the flowers had already bloomed on ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine levels of the Medicine Mountain, but on the final level, in the final half-instant, the flower had not bloomed.

He could sense Lin Qingyun's aura gradually declining. That was his consciousness about to disperse.

He very much wanted to intervene, but he could not. This was a rule left behind by its first master, and he was merely the spirit within the book.

"He failed!... So be it. After all these years, one person more or less makes no difference!" Xuan Lao sighed. His voice became cold and clear, but his steps were somewhat faltering.

"Xuan Lao, I completed the test!"

Just then, a clear voice came from behind Xuan Lao.

Xuan Lao abruptly turned his head. A youth stood there quietly, just as he had an instant ago. Perhaps there was some change, but it was only a little more vicissitude.

"You succeeded!"

Xuan Lao asked.

"Yes. I passed!"

Lin Qingyun nodded, and a clear smile appeared on his face.

Yes, in the instant before he was about to close his eyes and vanish, the flower had bloomed.

Azure Sea Azure Sky One Leaf Lotus!

Flowers bloom and fall, eternally preserved!

He had done it!

"Cong... From now on, you have the qualifications to become an alchemist. Furthermore, you have successfully unsealed the second page of the Taiyi Profound Pill Record!"

Xuan Lao suddenly put on a stern face and spoke with a proper, serious expression.

After speaking, he left!

Lin Qingyun also stretched lazily and smiled faintly. "It's been three days. They must be worried, haha!"

Lin Qingyun also walked out of the consciousness space.

The instant after he left!

One hundred thousand stars were extinguished. The one hundred thousand zhang Medicine Mountain collapsed, turning into endless flowing light and surging in.

Once more! Once more! Once more! Asking for recommendation votes!