Free Web NovelChapter 1488: Chapter 763: Eternal Years (Part 2)
"When will the herbal medicines in the Hundred Medicine Garden be considered mature? What steps need to be taken once they’re mature? How do we harvest them?" Hearing Qing Yi’s familiarity, Qing Shui continued to answer his questions.
"There are many different kinds of herbal medicines, so the methods of cultivation and harvesting, as well as the time required for the herbs to mature, are different. On average, our herbs mature between 10 months to two years. For some herbs, regardless of whether we harvest them one year or twenty years after maturation, there’s no difference in efficacy. Some herbs, even after harvesting, simply need to be planted as usual, and we can harvest them again after a period of time. One example is the leaves of tea trees. We just need to pluck the leaves before drying, and they can be used as medicine. Most other herbs, once mature, can be replanted using the seedlings that are produced."
After the explanation, Qing Yi shot a suspicious glance at Qing Shui. She wondered why Qing Shui was asking such in-depth questions.
"Haha, just a random thought." Qing Shui chuckled, ruffling his hair.
"Mother, in the future, just leave all the management of the Hundred Medicine Garden to me, so I can expand my knowledge." Qing Shui eagerly rubbed his hands.
"Hmm, I can agree to your request. To be honest, there’s not much managed in the Hundred Medicine Garden here. Besides planting and harvesting herbs, the duties also include establishing a store on the city streets and transporting our herbs to the auction house." Qing Yi briefly explained the key things to Qing Shui.
In the afternoon, Qing Shui spent all his time in the Hundred Medicine Garden. Countless herbs were planted here. Some herbs planted were as tall as humans, while others were only as tall as a single finger. It seemed like there was no specific plan in planting these herbs as different heights of herbs layered the land. However, amidst this seemingly disorganized planting, there was a sense of beauty.
It seems the knowledge acquired from reading three medical books previously was proving useful. Based on the effects of each herb and the time required for maturation, Qing Shui transferred some of what he thought were useful herbs into his "Purple Jade Fairyland."
To his surprise, Qing Shui even found some rare spiritual herbs in the Hundred Medicine Garden, such as Snow Lotus, Ginseng, and Lingzhi. Qing Shui approached a plot of land around 10 square feet. Based on his estimation, these rare herbs are approximately 2-3 years old. Qing Shui glanced around secretly and did what he does best, transferring a small portion back into his Space Domain.
The entire afternoon, to cover his tracks, Qing Shui would only select 3-5 of the best herbal stalks that could be found in the Hundred Medicine Garden to transfer into his Space Domain. After a whole afternoon’s effort, the land in the Violet Jade Fairy Realm no longer appeared barren as before. Green areas where all the herbal seedlings had been transplanted could be seen.
Qing Shui didn’t want to plant too much of any one herbal medicine. His wish was to fill all the space within his Space Domain with a variety of herbs. However, this was clearly not possible in the short-term.
"Hmm, I should go to the storage room," Qing Shui thought. He wanted to see if he had missed any herbs.
The storage room was located near the entrance of the Hundred Medicine Garden. Qing Shui pushed open the heavy steel doors and walked inside, finding the storage room well-ventilated due to many small windows embedded in the roof.
There were many tables in the storage room, with numerous sealed baskets and burlap sacks placed on them. The herbs that were fully dried appeared to be placed in the burlap sacks, while those sealed in the baskets were half-dried herbs. The storage room was not large, only about 30 square feet. Qing Shui continued to explore the storage room. At the end, he finally found what he wanted— in front of him were many baskets containing colorful seeds of various sizes, belonging to different herbal medicines.
"These... rare White Por Flower, Bitter Leaves, and White Crane Ganoderma seeds!" Excitedly, Qing Shui grabbed a few seeds of each variety. After drinking a cup of tea, having finished his efforts, Qing Shui finally relaxed from the bottom of his heart. Regardless, under the astonishing influence of the "Purple Jade Fairyland", if he didn’t fully tap into the potential of the realm, he might as well hit his head against the wall and die as a fool.
As night fell, the efforts shown earlier in the day had left Qing Shui exhausted. Although he was weary, he didn’t fall asleep immediately. Every night, entering the Violet Jade Fairy Realm had become his daily activity. With a bit of exercise, Qing Shui entered his Space Domain, a wondrous sight awaiting him...
[1] Fully utilize him that night, Qing Shui entered the Violet Jade Wonderland and smiled as he discovered that the seedlings transplanted early in the afternoon had already paid off. Previously barren land was now filled with countless colors, vibrant herbs in green, yellow, and red began sprouting within the boundary of that land. Seeing it was very pleasing, emitting a lively atmosphere that was absent from the previous barren land.
Looking at the large expanse of land growing within Purple Jade Fairyland, Qing Shui slowly strolled to the center area where the crystal-clear lake was located. Qing Shui pondered, the spiritual energy emitted by the crystal water made him feel very enriched: "Hmm, maybe I can rear some fish and turtles here? Once fully grown, I can eat them. The dishes I had at Yuhe Inn before were too delicious."
(TL: How wicked... So gluttonous)
"Turtle soup can be considered a rich source of nourishment. It nurtures the most important parts of a man’s body. But why did Yuhe order that dish for us? Maybe it was Uncle Sanhu Qing Hu?" Qing Shui began to speculate wildly, scratching his head in confusion. After all, Yuhe was an incomparable charming treasure, yet Qing Shui couldn’t even begin to guess her intentions.
"That third uncle who seemed honest on the surface was actually looking for beauties in Aunt Yuan Ying’s eyes, truly evil. What a powerful façade. A real man does not easily reveal his intentions."
The more Qing Shui thought, the more feelings grew towards him. That day, Qing Shui noticed his third uncle drank many bowls of turtle soup at the lunch table. Although Qing Shui also drank a lot, does Yuhe have no interest in him, right? His only reason for drinking turtle soup was because he found it delicious. After all, Qing Shui currently had no partner to release the fierce fire in his waist, so why does he need to nurture his little bird so much? If he drank too much, wouldn’t it be like inviting trouble for himself as he had no way to vent the heat?
Initially, Qing Shui thought of immediately releasing some live fish into Crystal Lake for experimentation, but after consideration, he decided to put the idea on hold temporarily.
"No need to rush, as soon as there’s a chance to acquire live fish, then I’ll do it."
Qing Shui cleared his mind, distracted himself, and then began to sit cross-legged and channel the "ancient enhancement technique." Only after achieving certain accomplishments in the "ancient enhancement technique" would his path become brighter in the future. One cycle, two cycles... as time passed, Qing Shui faced obstacles at the 48th cycle, he gathered all his energy while enduring strong recoil, attempting his best to overcome the hurdle. The final result was... failure. The obstacle didn’t even tilt.
"Damn it! Why is it still not working? Is my potential really that weak?" Qing Shui sighed in frustration. He furrowed his brows, standing up. Despite the divine gift of precious items before him, as Qing Shui fully utilized the available cultivation time within the Space Domain, he still couldn’t break through the fourth level. An extreme sense of despair he had never felt before. If he couldn’t break through the fourth heavenly layer of "ancient enhancement technique," he would forever be doomed to be a pitiful worm struggling on the ground. Not to mention the Yan Clan, he wouldn’t even have the ability to offend the few major clans stationed in Hundred-Mile City.
The Iaido technique he comprehended from "basic swordsmanship" had already reached the successful minor stage. In order to rapidly improve his strength in the short term, Qing Shui decided to focus on training the "Puncture" effect of swordsmanship. Qing Shui wanted to use a three-word mantra: rapid, accurate, decisive, to concentrate all his power at the sword tip based on his understanding of the essence of the mantra.
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