Earth jade essence
The mountain temple at night looks particularly eerie and abrupt under the moonlight. During the day, a few faint beams of sunlight can shine into the temple, but at night it turns into a black hole that swallows all light sources.
However, the mountain temple is much more lively at night than during the day. Chirping little mice are playing and fighting along the cracks in the wall, carrying fruits and dead animals that they brought back from somewhere.
Hearing the noise of the two men, they abandoned their food and quickly hid in the cave. There were many broken holes in the wall, revealing hollow bricks, which provided a perfect shelter for mice.
Ye Jingan turned on the flashlight and scanned around, the light finally stopping at the eyes of the statue: "Brother Liu, don't you think it's different from during the day? It seems to be staring at us."
"It's been staring at us." Liu Muzhe said casually.
"...Please don't be ambiguous when you speak!" Ye Jing'an flashed his eyes with a flashlight.
Liu Muzhe asked Ye Jing'an to borrow his sword, rushed forward, and inserted the sword into the statue's eyes. Dark green liquid flowed out of the statue's eye sockets.
The chill brought by the outflow of the liquid surged into Ye Jingan's heart. When he went to the mountain temple during the day, he carefully looked at the statue and remembered that the statue's eyes were made of stone and the eyelids could still move.
"Why does it smell so strongly of grass?" Ye Jing'an walked forward and smelled it. It seemed to be the smell of the green liquid.
"Well, it can monitor us through the plants and trees. It knows what's happening in every corner of this mountain." Liu Muze frowned slightly and murmured softly, "What kind of incident could have caused an earth spirit to bring evil spirits?"
"Earth spirit? Is it the plant immortality described in the book?" Ye Jing'an was a little surprised.
Unlike animals that are born with great spiritual energy, plants need to absorb the essence of heaven and earth and slowly gather spiritual energy.
Ancient texts record that if a plant survives for hundreds of years, accumulates enough spiritual energy, and is worshipped, it can become a land spirit, protecting the people of the area. If the land spirit continues to do good deeds and accumulate merit, it can attain enlightenment and become an immortal, protecting all living things.
"It's coming." Liu Muzhe walked to the open space in front of the temple.
There was a rustling sound in the grass around.
"Brother Liu, let me do it." Ye Jing'an cast a soul-burning fire talisman towards the place where the grass was moving.
"Not bad." Liu Muze nodded with satisfaction. He didn't expect that this kid had mastered the talisman in just a few days. He was indeed very talented.
Ye Jingan was in high spirits after being praised. He threw another talisman at another patch of bushes. The thing hiding in the bushes was hit by the talisman and quickly retreated.
"Be careful!" A dead vine rushed towards Ye Jing'an. Liu Muzhe pulled him behind him to avoid the attack. Another dead branch came and was cut off by Liu Muzhe with a sword.
"Why is there no movement?" Ye Jing'an looked around. There was not even a rustling sound. It was extremely quiet.
"It just wants to scare us and test its strength." Liu Muzhe said.
"Were they scared away by us?" Ye Jing'an asked.
"No, it just doesn't want to fight." Liu Muzhe pursed his lips, "Well...it even looks down on us a little."
Ye Jingan: "..."
Liu Muze told Ye An that the remaining aura on the sword could be used to track it. Liu Muze took out a talisman, dipped it in the sap left by Ye An's chopped dead branches, and threw the talisman into the air, where it spontaneously combusted, and a wisp of white smoke drifted towards the southeast of the mountain temple.
The two followed the white smoke and walked deep into the forest in the southeast direction.
“Ah! Hiss…”
Hearing the voice, Liu Muzhe turned around and saw Ye Jing'an sitting on the ground with a frown on his face and his hands covering his ankles.
"Twisted your ankle?" Liu Muzhe squatted down.
"Something just grabbed me." Ye Jing'an looked at the grass behind his feet, trying to see what pulled his foot.
"It's dislocated, bear with the pain." Liu Muzhe exerted force with his hand to put it back in place.
Ye Jing'an shouted "Ah!" and the chirping of insects around him stopped.
Liu Muzhe squatted beside the grass, carefully picking at the weeds, as if he had seen something strange.
Ye Jingan slowly moved over and glanced over his shoulder. It was a plant with many red fruits on the top. It seemed like he had seen this kind of red fruit somewhere before, but he forgot what it was called.
Shining the flashlight along the stem of the plant to the ground, I saw two white roots lying on the surface of the soil, as if trying to push through the soil and jump out. There were also two roots growing towards the sky, like the movement of a child reaching out when they are happy and jumping.
What a unique look!
Liu Muze burned a talisman, smeared the ash on the leaves of the plant, and sprinkled it on the soil around it. He dug up the layer of humus covering the surface of the soil and pulled the plant out by the roots.
Its roots are like the palms of a newborn baby, white and tender, almost juicy, except that it has six plump "fingers". The two middle "fingers" are still covered with mud. They are the two that have just grown in the soil and are not exposed. They are a little longer than the other four.
Ye Jingan thought, if this thing could walk, it would really look like a deformed child with four arms.
"Brother Liu, what is this thing?" Ye Jing'an reached out and poked it.
"Ginseng." Liu Muzhe said.
"What?" Ye Jing'an's eyes widened. He had seen many ginsengs before, but none of them looked like this. "Isn't ginseng a yellowish tree root that looks like a little man? Why does it look like a fat octopus? No, it's a six-clawed fish."
"It's called Earth Jade Essence, and it's different from ordinary ginseng." Liu Muze handed it to Ye Jing'an, "It's a good thing, hold on tight, it will be hard to find if it runs away."
Ye Jingan took the Jade Spirit and was about to question whether it could escape. The Jade Spirit in his hand actually started dancing like a child, struggling to escape.
"It actually moves!" Ye Jing'an became interested and poked it with his fingers. "Then why didn't it move in your hand just now?"
Liu Muze said: "It's afraid of me."
While playing with it with great interest, Ye Jingan vaguely heard it "buzzing" something like a fly. He leaned in to listen: "Bad guy, bad guy, bad guy..."
"Damn, it can even curse!" Ye Jingan was very happy after being scolded, "Oh, it said I'm a bad guy, hahahahaha!"
Liu Muzhe curled his lips as he watched him teasing the Earth Jade Spirit, and then took out a talisman and hung it on the stem to prevent it from running away.
"Brother Liu, let's stop chasing that dead tree. I want to take this little thing back and let it scold Qiu Zimu." Ye Jing was so happy that he forgot about his ankle and walked forward. Fortunately, Liu Muze helped him up, otherwise he would have fallen flat on his face again.
Ye Jingan wanted to fly back and study this talking gadget carefully. He didn't care if his foot hurt anymore, and with Liu Muze's support, he limped down the mountain. He drove home faster than usual, secretly thankful that the foot that sprained his ankle wasn't the one that was pressing the accelerator or brake, and he was excited all the way.
Qiu Zimu had already helped someone get rid of the poison and was sitting on the sofa watching TV.
"Old Qiu, look at this!" Ye Jing'an opened the door and waved the earth jade essence in his hand at him.
"Huh? How did it grow like this?" Qiu Zimu's family often went to the mountains to catch insects and would also pick herbs. He was familiar with medicinal herbs and recognized what it was at a glance. "This ginseng that has become a spirit, you can even find it?"
"Brother Liu found it." Ye Jingan put the earth jade essence next to his ear, "Listen."
"Big bad guy, big bad guy, big bad guy..."
When Qiu Zimu heard it talking, he even suspected that Ye Jing'an was deliberately teasing him. He stared at Ye Jing'an's mouth and put his ear close to the earth jade spirit to listen.
"Bad guys, bad guys, bad guys..."
"Fuck, how can it talk!?" Qiu Zimu was stunned. He had seen a ginseng spirit once by chance, but this was the first time he had seen one that could talk.
"It needs spiritual energy to nourish it. Before signing the contract, it must be kept in spiritual soil, or fed a drop of blood every day." Liu Muzhe said.
"What contract?" Ye Jing'an asked.
Seeing how much fun they were having, Liu Muze reached out and poked it, saying with a smile, "The Earth Jade Spirit will sign a contract with the person it likes. As long as you keep it with you, it will protect you at all times."
"Then how do we sign?" Qiu Zimu and Ye Jing'an began to get excited, and they both grabbed the Earth Jade Spirit and were unwilling to let go.
"Just feed it blood, and it will choose what it likes and sign it. If it grows eyes or a mouth, it means it has signed the contract." Liu Muzhe said.
The two of them struggled to feed it blood.
"My blood is fragrant, drink mine!"
"I have plenty of blood, so I'll be full!"
Liu Muze: "..."
The next day, Liu Muzhe saw it sitting on the table with its leaves drooping, mumbling something quietly. The sound was so soft that he couldn't hear it clearly even when standing at the stairs.
Liu Muze walked to the table and heard the Earth Jade Spirit muttering: "Ye Jingan and Qiu Zimu are handsome guys, handsome guys..."
Liu Muzhe almost spit out the water he had just drunk, and said "tsk" a few times in his heart. He didn't expect that even a spirit could not escape the clutches of the two.
"Brother Liu, good morning!" Ye Jing'an said.
"How long have you tortured it?" Liu Muzhe asked.
"It kept swearing, so we spent half the night teaching it what to call us." Ye Jing'an reached out and tickled its little hand, grinning, "The little thing has a pretty stubborn temper!"
Liu Muze: "..."
"Brother Liu, this little radish sucked a lot of blood from Qiu Zimu and me, but why didn't it open its eyes?" Ye Jing'an asked.
"You two are not destined to be together." Liu Muzhe said.
"...Okay then." Ye Jing'an said, "Brother Liu, let's go to the Mountain God Temple again and help Qian Cheng find his concubine."
Liu Muze glanced at him and said, "Are you going to help him find a wife? Are you looking for another Earth Jade Spirit?"
"How could that be?" Ye Jingan said with a smile, "Anything else?"
"What are you thinking? Meeting one is a great opportunity." Liu Muzhe said, "Let's go to the village in the nearby mountains and take a look."
"Okay, let's go after breakfast." Ye Jing'an said.
Today was a beautiful, sunny day, and Qiu Zimu had brought his insect net and other equipment. Based on his ancestors' experience, where there were good medicinal herbs, there would be good insects, suitable for refining the finest insect poison. A place like this, where a talking ginseng could grow, was sure to produce something good.
Qiu Zimu carefully read his notes along the way, writing down the insects that live near ginseng and where they live so that he could look for them in a targeted manner.
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