The Book of Tending Medicines recorded: Crown Gold Insects were fire-aspect spirit insects that preferred to dwell in geothermally heated places. The Fire Qi within their bodies was too abundant, so they needed cold-aspect things to balance yin and yang.
For that reason, they were among the medicine insects Jade Dew Hall was more wary of.
But under Chen Shuangbai's spirit vision, he clearly saw a faint blue line that had grown on the insect's surface, amid the crimson gold covering its body.
"Mutated?"
Chen Shuangbai frowned slightly and took out the Book of Tending Medicines distributed by Jade Dew Hall from his storage ring. He turned to the chapter on medicine insects and checked it word by word against the account of Crown Gold Insects.
At last, he found these words in that chapter-
Ice Gold-Crowned Insect!
Crown Gold Insects were solitary creatures. Only when an insect mother was born could she secrete a special honeydew that attracted wild members of her kind to serve as her worker insects and risk their lives for her.
The honeydew secreted by an insect mother had a certain chance of triggering mutations in her workers.
Mutation...
Chen Shuangbai narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had not been idle during this time. Besides tending the Jade Marrow Orchids in the medicine garden, he had occasionally gone to the scripture hall to study those miscellaneous books.
Chen Shuangbai had studied one such book, called Tales of Immortal Customs and Curiosities Across Five Kingdoms and Ten Dynasties, in some depth.
Chen Shuangbai pondered to himself.
Although I have no plans to cultivate an insect-controlling technique alongside my other cultivation for now, if this insect mother gathers a whole nest of mutated Crown Gold Insects, they could fetch a good price too!
There was no helping it. Chen Shuangbai was too poor at present.
He needed not only Azure Dew Pills to aid his cultivation, but Spirit Stones even more.
Spirit Stones could naturally be exchanged for using merit points. Or rather, within the Jade Spring Sect, Spirit Stones were equivalent to merit points.
Just then, a pale yellow streak of light floated down from the horizon. Its radiance faded, revealing a female cultivator dressed in a pale yellow gown.
Chen Shuangbai looked closely.
It was Huang Shanglan, the Senior Sister Huang he had met when he first came to Jade Dew Hall.
"Senior Sister Huang."
Chen Shuangbai stepped forward and greeted her.
She could control her movement light with ease, so Senior Sister Huang was clearly a cultivator at the Late Qi Refining Stage.
Huang Shanglan broke into a smile. "Junior Brother Chen, I've come to bring you your reward."
She turned her wrist, and a jade bottle and a talisman appeared in her palm.
"This bottle of Frost-Congealing Pills will help with your cultivation."
"This Jia Wood Talisman is a life-saving Law Treasure. Senior Sister... A Heng asked me to give it to you."
Chen Shuangbai was immediately taken aback.
He looked at Senior Sister Huang instinctively, only to see her blink her large, limpid eyes, her face a picture of innocence.
Senior Sister A Heng...
Chen Shuangbai's expression grew slightly intent. He thought he had hardly had much to do with this senior sister, so why would she suddenly give him such a generous gift?
He thought it over, then chose to refuse.
Who knew whether there was a trap in it?
"Senior Sister Huang, I'll accept the Frost-Congealing Pills, but this Jia Wood Talisman is truly too valuable... I'm afraid my contribution isn't enough to convince everyone I deserve it."
Huang Shanglan was stunned.
She truly had not expected Chen Shuangbai to be willing to refuse it.
Frost-Congealing Pills were indeed precious, but they could not compare to this Jia Wood Talisman.
Even an ordinary-quality Jia Wood Talisman could withstand three full-strength attacks from a Middle Qi Refining Stage cultivator.
If put on the market, it could probably fetch quite a price.
But Chen Shuangbai had refused it.
That could not help but raise him in Huang Shanglan's estimation.
"You're quite cautious, Junior Brother."
The surprise on Huang Shanglan's face quickly faded, replaced by a meaningful smile. She put the Jia Wood Talisman away and said, "In that case, I won't trouble you any longer, Junior Brother."
With that said,
Huang Shanglan leaped into the air. The pale yellow streak of light appeared again and vanished beyond the distant mountaintops.
After Huang Shanglan left, quiet returned to the medicine garden.
"That Jia Wood Talisman... it came rather suspiciously."
Chen Shuangbai looked in the direction Huang Shanglan had gone, his mind turning as he pondered.
Senior Sister A Heng... why would she give me such a precious talisman?
But no matter how he turned it over in his mind, Chen Shuangbai could not make sense of it, so for the time being he could only put those wandering thoughts aside.
"Forget it. I'd better improve my cultivation first."
Chen Shuangbai poured out the bottle of Frost-Congealing Pellets.
They were pills the size of longan fruit, each giving off a faint chill.
There were eight in all.
They too were made with Jade Marrow Orchid as the main ingredient, combined with various spirit medicines and refined through a special method. They were of some benefit to cultivators who practiced water techniques.
When the pill entered his stomach, it immediately turned into a pure, icy torrent that swept through his limbs and bones.
Chen Shuangbai shivered involuntarily. Unhurriedly, he circulated the Moon-Worshipping Clear Illumination Method, refining the pill bit by bit to strengthen his spiritual power and striving to reach the Qi Refinement Fourth Layer sooner.
The process of refining the medicinal power lasted about an hour.
When Chen Shuangbai opened his eyes again, a sharp light flashed through them and vanished. His breath was a little more concentrated than before.
He examined his current condition and thought, My cultivation has advanced a little further.
Over the next few days, Jade Dew Hall carried out a large-scale operation across the entire Cold Mist Jade Garden-
Pest extermination!
A specially prepared insect-repelling powder drifted down from the sky in glittering specks, a truly lovely sight.
Besides that,
some disciples held unknown Law Treasures and cleaned out every crevice where medicine insects might be hiding, bit by bit.
The entire process was clean and efficient.
Chen Shuangbai could not help remarking that this was the power of a sect.
More than a month later,
the Jade Marrow Orchids in the section of the medicine garden under Chen Shuangbai's care were ready for a bumper harvest.
Their appearance was excellent and their medicinal properties quite pure, earning praise from the Jade Dew Hall senior brother who came to harvest them.
"Junior Brother, you've tended this batch of Jade Marrow Orchids extremely well."
In the end,
Chen Shuangbai received nearly a thousand merit points in all.
His purse was suddenly bulging.
With that,
Chen Shuangbai's assignment as a garden guardian officially came to an end, and he returned safely to Crisp Spring Peak.
His tall, slender figure gradually disappeared amid the green waters and verdant mountains.
Huang Shanglan came to a high point on Spring Water Peak and rested her chin on A Heng's shoulder. Smiling, she said, "What a pity. He didn't accept it."
A Heng sat cross-legged on a stone platform, slowly concluding her cultivation, a bamboo staff resting on her lap.
She opened her gray-white eyes and said indifferently, "There's nothing to regret."
"That wasn't my intention in the first place, anyway."
Hearing this, Huang Shanglan pursed her lips. "But of everyone I've met so far, this Junior Brother Chen is... the most handsome, and he behaves like a gentleman too."
A Heng turned around, her gray-white eyes looking at her senior sister, and said earnestly, "Senior Sister Huang, I'll say this one last time."
"That was not my intention. The only reason I did such a thing was Father's... stubborn insistence."
"Please don't mention it again."
Huang Shanglan pursed her lips at that, but said no more.
Only after Huang Shanglan had turned into a pale yellow streak of light and descended the mountain did the girl slowly turn her gaze to the sea of clouds.
"There's still... time for everything, Father."