Chapter 21

To their surprise, when they entered the forest, they saw no miasma blotting out the sky and no ferocious Demon Beasts standing guard. Spirit herbs and flowers grew everywhere, glowing in a riot of colors through the faint mist. The sight lit up their eyes.

Ye Qingyao spotted a Fire Spirit Grass as red as flame and eagerly reached to pick it, but quickly drew back her hand.

"Strange. I can't sense any spiritual energy. These spirit plants don't seem real." Her true form was a spirit herb, so she quickly sensed that something was wrong with them.

[That's right. Those are vines in the illusion, not spirit plants.]

[Don't touch them, any of you. Just fly over on your swords.]

They rose above the illusion on their swords. The higher they flew, the clearer their view became, and they discovered that everyone who had entered before them was trapped inside.

Those tempting spirit plants had actually been conjured by vines with countless tendrils. Anyone who gave in to temptation and reached out to pick one was caught fast, unable to break free. Some had their hands and feet bound, others were wrapped up like rice dumplings, and still others hacked away with their swords, unable to cut through the endless stream of vine tendrils.

"So that's why you stopped to drink milk at the entrance—to buy time?" Ye Qingchuan suddenly saw through Ye Zhenzhen and asked with a half smile.

[Don't talk nonsense. I just wanted my milk.]

The little rice dumpling solemnly stuck her thumb in her mouth and sucked on it with relish. Some things were better left unsaid, even when everyone knew the truth.

"Pfft." At the sight of her adorable, rosy-cheeked face, everyone burst out laughing.

The four easily flew over the Spirit Plant Illusion Zone and soon reached the True Spirit Plant Zone. Rich spiritual energy washed over them, refreshing their minds and lifting their spirits.

Treasures lay everywhere. Spirit herbs and flowers grew wild without restraint.

Red Fire Spirit Grass blazed with dazzling light. The most sought-after ingredient for Fire-Controlling Talismans, a single stalk could sell for several hundred Superior Spirit Stones;

A vast swath of Moonlight Flowers gave off a delicate fragrance. Their blossoms were as lustrous and white as the moon, and could not only dispel poison but also heal and purify the soul;

Earth Ganoderma grew everywhere, gray-brown and shaped like little umbrellas. Brimming with boundless vitality and mysterious energy, it could help cultivators condense true qi, transform their tendons and cleanse their marrow, and break through to the next realm. Among them were several thousand-year-old Earth Ganoderma, so rare in the entire Cultivation World that they could be counted on one hand. None were available at any price; even hundreds of thousands of Superior Spirit Stones would be hard-pressed to buy one.

Ye Qinghui took a few of each kind, put them in his Heaven-and-Earth Bag, and prepared to leave.

Ye Qingyao loved the fragrant, romantic Moonlight Flowers most. She picked a large bouquet and could not stop smelling and admiring it.

Ye Qingchuan strode forward and began picking all kinds of spirit plants, especially Earth Ganoderma. After pocketing several thousand-year-old specimens, he harvested more than a dozen century-old ones before he was willing to stop.

Ye Zhenzhen: ???

That was it?

[There are still so many spirit plants left. Are we just leaving them?]

[No! Absolutely not! I want to take them all! Not a single stalk left behind!]

"Zhenzhen, desire breeds greed, and greed harms the one who harbors it. We've already taken plenty." Ye Qinghui firmly tried to reason with her. A person had to learn contentment. How could they let greed drag them along? Ye Zhenzhen, especially, was an infant barely born into the world. She must not let greed take root so early and disturb her heart for cultivation.

"Exactly. We've already taken plenty of spirit plants. Let's leave some for those coming after us." Ye Qingyao swayed her Moonlight Flowers, smiling with the contentment of a young girl.

Where had these two sweet summer fools come from? They would not even pick up a pie that fell from the sky!

I don't know them, aaaaaah!

If Ye Zhenzhen could jump, she would already have been bouncing with rage in Ye Qinghui's arms. She forced down the primordial power surging inside her, waved her little hands without pause, and kicked her little feet like a beast of burden.

Ye Qingchuan said nothing. He simply picked some more spirit herbs and stuffed his Heaven-and-Earth Bag until it was bursting.

[I don't want Eldest Senior Brother to hold me anymore. I want Third Senior Brother.]

"All right." Ye Qinghui helplessly handed her to Ye Qingchuan. He really could do nothing with this willful little junior sister.

Ye Qingchuan carefully took his little junior sister. The snowy-white, rosy-cheeked rice dumpling seemed a little heavier than before, and she winked at him.

He understood at once and winked back, the corners of his lovely peach-blossom eyes lifting.

Not long after, Ye Qingchuan claimed he needed to relieve himself and took Ye Zhenzhen back to the spirit plant area they had just left. Her eyes sparkled at the dazzling array of plants.

[Senior Brother, Senior Brother, there's a string of Superior Heaven-and-Earth Pearls around my neck. It can absorb whole patches of land. Hurry and help me take in every last one of these spirit plants.]

There was a treasure like that?

Ye Qingchuan readily took off the string of pearls and studied how to use it. Soon he had absorbed the spirit plants before him, roots, soil, and all, into one of the pearls.

Ye Zhenzhen was beside herself with joy. Her little hands clapped without stopping.

[Third Senior Brother, you're amazing! I knew we were cut from the same cloth.]

[Good thing I snatched these pearls from Immortal Venerable Shen at my one-month celebration. They're coming in handy now. Otherwise, all these spirit plants would have gone to someone else for nothing.]

Ye Qingchuan's lips curved upward, and his hands moved as swift as the wind. The two swept through like a plague of locusts, leaving not a blade of grass wherever they went.

By the time the others finally broke free of the vines and arrived, the entire spirit plant area had become a wasteland. Only sand blowing through the air and a few handfuls of yellow earth remained.

Shen Xingyan: ?

He had been the first to break out of the illusion. He had thought he would claim the most spirit herbs, secure a thousand-year-old Earth Ganoderma, and pluck a few pretty Moonlight Flowers to charm some girls. Instead, he did not see so much as half a spirit plant.

"Why isn't there a single spirit plant here?"

"What happened to the Earth Ganoderma? Did someone pick it before us?"

"That shouldn't be possible. This Secret Realm hasn't opened in a thousand years, and we were among the first to enter."

The disciples of the various sects walked on, talking among themselves, utterly unaware that someone had swept away all those spirit herbs and flowers, roots and soil included.

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