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He carefully separated the spirit herbs from the weeds and wrapped them in moist soil, doing his best to keep them alive.

Shan Heyuan searched for spirit herbs as he buried the fertilizer, and before he knew it, the sun had risen directly overhead.

By the time he finished burying the last handful of fertilizer in the buckets, it was past noon.

Shan Heyuan stood up, carried the two empty buckets to the edge of the field, and placed the four spirit herbs he had found inside. Then he hoisted the buckets on his shoulder pole and prepared to go home.

He followed the mountain path downhill, and after only a few steps, he reached a small stream.

Clear spring water rushed over the stones, looking cool and clean. He set down his load and went to the water's edge to wash his hands.

After burying fertilizer all morning, his hands were covered in mud and manure, and even the spaces beneath his fingernails were black. He couldn't stand it.

Splashing water over his hands wasn't enough. He grabbed a handful of fine sand from the streambed and gently scrubbed his fingers and the backs of his hands.

Perhaps because he had spent the morning focused on searching for spirit herbs among the weeds, using his Divine Sense all the while, he still couldn't quite draw it back in. As he dug up the sand, his Divine Sense involuntarily spread outward a little.

That small extension was enough for him to keenly sense Spiritual Qi in the stream.

It was faint, but it was definitely Spiritual Qi.

Shan Heyuan stood up and took a couple of steps toward the Spiritual Qi he had sensed.

There, among the lush green weeds ahead, a delicate spirit herb came into view.

The herb resembled a small shrub. It had no main stem, and nearly all its stalks were equally thick, with tiny featherlike leaves growing all along their sides.

Shan Heyuan didn't recognize this herb either, but it had been growing for at least three years. Otherwise, it couldn't have grown so lush!

Delight flashed in his eyes. He went over and dug into the silt around the herb's roots with his nimble fingers, carefully lifting it out.

The herb had indeed grown there for a long time. Its roots and stems were as numerous as strands of hair, and it took him some effort to dig out most of the fine roots intact.

The fine roots probably had the greatest medicinal value, because that was where the Spiritual Qi was strongest.

Pure spiritual power escaped from the roots that had been broken off in particular. Shan Heyuan instinctively circulated his cultivation method and absorbed the Spiritual Qi, and his fatigue was swept away in an instant.

Standing in the water, he looked upstream and downstream, trying to find other spirit herbs.

If this herb had grown here for a long time, it might have flowered and borne fruit, and the current might have carried its seeds elsewhere.

In theory, there had to be more than one spirit herb in this stream.

Shan Heyuan searched up and down the stream, and before long, he really did find another spirit herb.

The new herb wasn't as large as the one he had dug up earlier, but it was still a good size.

Shan Heyuan carefully dug it up by the roots as well.

Gathering spirit herbs was such a pleasure that Shan Heyuan completely lost track of time and continued searching up and down the stream.

Only when he caught sight of a dark red figure out of the corner of his eye did he instinctively look up.

Shen Duheng stood not far away.

Shan Heyuan was surprised. "Brother Shen, what are you doing here? Did something happen at home?"

Shen Duheng said, "Aren't you eating lunch?"

Only then did Shan Heyuan look at the evening sun, which had begun to sink in the west. "I was so absorbed in digging up spirit herbs that I forgot. Did you come looking for me because I hadn't gone back?"

Shen Duheng didn't answer, asking only, "What spirit herbs are you digging up?"

Shan Heyuan held up the shrublike herb in his hand. "This kind. I never imagined we had spirit herbs here. I thought you had to go out into the wilds to gather them."

Shen Duheng looked rather speechless. "Isn't this the wilds?"

"Oh, right," Shan Heyuan said. "I forgot. People used to farm here, so it's perfectly normal for some wild spirit herbs to remain."

Shen Duheng said, "Let's go back."

Unwilling to give up, Shan Heyuan said, "Let me look a little more and see if there are any others."

Shen Duheng said, "Low-grade spirit herbs like these are everywhere in the wilds. Why don't you go without food or sleep until you've found every last one?"

That level of sarcasm-

Shan Heyuan hunched his shoulders, not daring to argue. He had no choice but to step out of the stream, putting the herb in his hand into a bucket as he went.

After searching for so long, he had accumulated a considerable number of spirit herbs in his buckets.

As he put the herb in, he made a point of counting them. There were at least seventeen that were more than a year old.

He said "at least" because he couldn't tell whether the herbs that looked like seedlings really were seedlings.

Standing beside the buckets, Shan Heyuan turned to look at Shen Duheng. "Brother Shen."

Shen Duheng gave a hum, signaling him to speak his mind.

"Could you come over and see if you recognize these spirit herbs?" Shan Heyuan asked.

Shen Duheng actually came over and peered into the buckets. After a moment, he said, "The purplish-red one is Indeterminate Grass, the main ingredient in the Indeterminate Pill. The teardrop-shaped herb is Ketu Grass. It counteracts poison. I don't recognize the others."

Shan Heyuan rubbed his hands together. "I don't recognize them either."

He looked up as he spoke, and he and Shen Duheng stared at each other.

Spirit herbs were more delicate than ordinary plants. Some liked shade, some faced the sun, some loved moisture, and some couldn't stand waterlogging-every kind of spirit herb had its own temperament and exacting requirements for growing conditions.

With so many spirit herbs, Shan Heyuan really didn't know how to plant them.

If he dug them up and took them home, they might be dead by tomorrow.

Shen Duheng looked at him. "What do you want to do?"

Shan Heyuan said, "How about we carry them to town and sell them while they're still fresh?"

Shen Duheng asked, "You're not going home to eat?"

Shan Heyuan scratched his cheek. "We can grab a bite in town and see how many spirit pearls they sell for. If we get a lot, how about I treat you to a meal?"

Shen Duheng agreed. "Then let's go."

There were so many spirit herbs here that Shan Heyuan didn't bother looking for other containers. He simply hoisted the buckets and rode a Brine Worm to town with Shen Duheng.

Most general stores bought spirit herbs, so he planned to find one with a good reputation and sell them there.

The general store where he had obtained the broken sword was a good one. The owner was fair in his dealings, and Shan Heyuan wanted to go there.

Once aboard the Brine Worm, Shan Heyuan selected the street where they would get off on the board.

After he made his selection, Shen Duheng glanced at it and reached over to cancel it. "Go to the general store where you bought the Spring Transformation Art."

Shan Heyuan didn't have many spirit pearls and had never liked dealing with high-end chain stores like that one. He hesitated. "Will they buy spirit herbs?"

"They will," Shen Duheng said. "Their prices are fair, and the shopkeeper is knowledgeable."

Shan Heyuan understood what he meant. If he took these herbs to a small general store, the owner might not be able to identify them all, and the price he offered naturally wouldn't be very high.

He might as well go straight to a large store.

The general store where Shan Heyuan had bought the Spring Transformation Art was called Hidden Spirits. He only recognized it when he reached the entrance and made a point of looking up at the signboard overhead.

He walked in carrying the buckets on his shoulder pole, and the cultivator behind the counter immediately straightened up. "Fellow Daoist, have you come to sell something?"

Shan Heyuan nodded. "Sorry to trouble you, but could you help me take a look at these spirit herbs?"

He bent down and took the herbs out of the buckets, but just as he was about to put them on the counter, he saw that their roots were covered in water and mud. He paused, a little embarrassed.

The cultivator immediately took something that looked like cloth, but wasn't quite cloth, from beneath the counter and spread it out. "Put them here, Fellow Daoist."

Shan Heyuan smiled at him gratefully and laid the herbs down.

The cultivator looked at the messy pile and gently sorted through it with his fingers. "One ten-year-old Moist Fleabane Grass, one eight-year-old Moist Fleabane Grass, two three-year-old Moist Fleabane Grass plants, two three-year-old Indeterminate Grass plants... three Ketu Grass seedlings."

As the cultivator listed the Spirit Plants, he pointed them out with his fingers. Finally, he announced, "All the spirit herbs together come to three thousand three hundred and sixteen spirit pearls. Would you like to sell them, Fellow Daoist?"

Shan Heyuan nodded and was about to say he would.

Behind him, Shen Duheng gently placed a hand on Shan Heyuan's shoulder and said to the cultivator, "The seedlings aren't for sale. Set them aside."

The cultivator's probing gaze fell on Shen Duheng, then shifted to Shan Heyuan.