In the Cultivation Realm, brothers and even fathers and sons turning against one another were a dime a dozen, let alone sisters who had not grown up together.
Still, the matter of destiny fate was only a rumor, after all. She did not know whether it was true.
In her previous life, Tan Jing had also used Root-Reforming Grass to reshape her spiritual root, yet her younger sister Tan He's talent had not changed. Thus, she guessed the rumor about destiny fate was most likely false.
Elder Tan's younger daughter was named Tan He. She had joined the Heavenly Sword Sect and had even become the disciple of its Grand Elder.
However, the two sisters had always been as incompatible as fire and water.
After learning the news from her master, Xue Fuyao searched her Storage Space. Only after a long while did she find a thousand-year-old stalk of Root-Reforming Grass among a pile of spirit medicines.
She would have to move quickly when she returned this time. After all, everyone who had entered the secret realm had harvested plenty of spirit medicines. Someone else might well have obtained Root-Reforming Grass and set their sights on the Portable Medicinal Garden.
After returning to the sect, Xue Fuyao informed her master, then raced toward the Mission Hall without stopping for breath.
Whenever a secret realm opened, besides the tasks assigned by their own masters to disciples who had them, the sect's various elders and Deacon Elders would also post tasks based on the secret realm in question, then let disciples turn in the required items for rewards.
Soon, quite a few disciples gathered inside the Mission Hall to turn in their tasks.
Inside the Mission Hall stood a Jade Wall over a dozen zhang tall, displaying rows of tasks through spiritual power. When a task disappeared, it meant that it had been completed.
The tasks came in every variety. Some called for ten-thousand-year-old spirit medicines, others for Monster Beast inner cores or refining materials. There was something of every kind.
Since an enormous medicinal garden had appeared in the secret realm this time, the tasks concerning spirit medicines disappeared the fastest.
As one of the first to reach the Mission Hall, Xue Fuyao did not waste a moment. She immediately found the task for Root-Reforming Grass that her master had mentioned. After confirming that the reward was a Portable Medicinal Garden, she clicked to submit it.
The next second, the Root-Reforming Grass in her hand vanished, replaced by a necklace set with Jadeite Stones.
The necklace was silvery white overall, dotted with flickering silver starlight, and set into it were seven richly colored Jadeite Stones.
With the Portable Medicinal Garden in hand, Xue Fuyao returned to her residence on Green Bamboo Peak.
Only after successfully refining the Portable Medicinal Garden and claiming ownership did she discover that the seven richly colored Jadeite Stones were not decorations. Each represented a separate Portable Medicinal Garden, and none was small.
The environments inside them differed, seemingly arranged to suit the conditions preferred by different spirit medicines.
Looking at the Portable Medicinal Garden in her hand, Xue Fuyao could not help clicking her tongue in wonder.
A Portable Medicinal Garden like this was far more precious than an ordinary one. It seemed Elder Tan had truly spared no expense.
After refining the Portable Medicinal Garden, Xue Fuyao spent an entire day transplanting all the spirit medicines from her Storage Bag and storage ring into it. She even temporarily settled the Camellia Tree and the Jade Glass of the Azure Moon inside.
There had been two Silver Spirit Trees in the medicinal garden, and she had taken both. She planned to plant the smaller one outside her cave abode and the larger one beside her master.
After all, apart from converting all spiritual energy into wood-aspected spiritual energy, Silver Spirit Trees had no medicinal value of their own. Rather than leave them in the Portable Medicinal Garden, she might as well put them outside.
After planting one outside her cave abode, Xue Fuyao went to the mountaintop.
Her master, Xie Yichu, was meditating at the time. Sensing her arrival, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Did you get the Portable Medicinal Garden?"
Xue Fuyao nodded. "I did. Elder Tan really treats his daughter well. He was even willing to offer a treasure like that."
Xie Yichu neither agreed nor disagreed with her words. Treats his daughter well? Perhaps. Who knew when he would regret it, though.
Xie Yichu looked at Xue Fuyao. "You've only just returned from the Qingfeng Secret Realm. Don't go out for now. Spend a month resting and recuperating in the sect first."
Xue Fuyao nodded. "Understood, Master. Oh, right, I came this time to bring you something."
As she spoke, she took out the Silver Spirit Tree.
Looking at the tree radiating silver light, Xie Yichu could not help widening his eyes. With his discerning eye, he naturally recognized it at a glance.
The instant the Silver Spirit Tree appeared, all the surrounding spiritual energy turned into the purest wood-aspected spiritual energy.
As someone with a genuine wood spiritual root, Xie Yichu felt an incomparable sense of ease throughout his body. Every pore opened, and spiritual energy surged madly into him like a tide.
Only after a long while did he calm down and say to Xue Fuyao, "How thoughtful of you."
With a disciple who was always thinking of him, Xie Yichu could not keep the corners of his mouth from rising. In his happiness, he began giving his disciple things, just as his own master had once done.
And so, after giving away a Silver Spirit Tree, Xue Fuyao left with a great pile of fine things from her master.
After putting everything away, she went to the Mission Hall again.
Although a day had passed since they had left the secret realm, the Mission Hall was still quite crowded. There were even more tasks on the Jade Wall, most offering exchanges for spirit medicines.
Looking at who had posted them, she found they came from either Spirit Medicine Peak or Alchemy Peak, and the rewards were extremely generous.
Yesterday, she had been in a hurry to refine the Portable Medicinal Garden and had not examined the other tasks closely. Today, she intended to take a good look and see whether there was anything else she needed.
Xue Fuyao possessed many of the spirit medicines listed on the Jade Wall, but she did not intend to exchange them. If she produced so many ten-thousand-year-old spirit medicines at once, even as a Personal Disciple, someone would probably be unable to resist setting their sights on her.
Looking farther down, she saw another task concerning Root-Reforming Grass. This time, however, it called for a ten-thousand-year-old specimen.
She checked who had posted it. The Peak Master of Spirit Medicine Peak, Tan Qingshan?
What, was he turning up his nose at the thousand-year-old Root-Reforming Grass I submitted earlier?
Xue Fuyao curled her lip and ignored the task outright.
In truth, however, Tan Qingshan had not posted this task. His daughter Tan Jing had.
Tan Jing had heard somewhere that the older the Root-Reforming Grass, the better the spiritual root it reshaped would be. Thus, she had rejected hundred-year-old Root-Reforming Grass and explicitly demanded one that was at least a thousand years old.
Yet when the thousand-year-old Root-Reforming Grass was brought before her, she was dissatisfied again, feeling that even a thousand-year-old specimen was a little beneath her.
Especially after hearing that a medicinal garden containing large quantities of ten-thousand-year-old spirit medicines had been discovered in the Qingfeng Secret Realm during this expedition, she wanted ten-thousand-year-old Root-Reforming Grass instead.
In fact, what she wanted even more was a Divine Spirit Fruit. Fortunately, she still had some self-awareness. She knew the sect had not managed to bring back a Divine Spirit Fruit this time, and even if it had, she would not have had a turn to use it.
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