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Du Heng got a bucket of beetles. Jiang Shangzhou said that this thing is called black gold cicada. Each dead one can be sold for fifty spirit stones. He counted and found that there were 138 beetles in his bamboo tube. He could sell them...
Xiaoxiao behind him told Du Heng the answer, it could be sold for 6,900 spirit stones. These spirit stones might not be enough to buy a particularly good spirit gathering array, but it was better than nothing. Maybe the people in the sect saw that he was poor and sold it to him at a lower price.
Moreover, there are black gold cicadas in his yard, and they keep an eye on them at home every year. As long as a black gold cicada crawls out of the soil, they will catch it and put it in a bamboo tube. These are all living spiritual stones!
Du Heng planned to go to the Spiritual Medicine Hall first, then to the Beast Control Garden, and if there was enough time, he would visit the Equipment Refining Room. However, when he looked down at the map Jiang Shangzhou gave him, he felt that he had overthought.
Shenxu Palace has five main peaks. The main peak where the sect leader is located is called Shenhua Peak, which is located in the south. It takes two incense sticks of time to fly to it by sword.
The other four peaks are in a crescent shape, surrounding the main peak from the north. From east to west, they are Shenlai Peak, Shenxiu Peak, Shenzao Peak and Shengu Peak. There is a spiritual medicine hall on Shenlai Peak, a beast garden on Shenzao Peak, and a weapon refining room on Shengu Peak.
Du Heng felt overwhelmed just by looking at these names. Couldn't the names of the main peaks of Shenxu Palace be simpler? They were too hard to remember!
If Du Heng took Shenxiu Peak as the center, he would have to visit the other three main peaks in the north, which was impossible, at least not this morning.
Du Heng could only pick out the important points. He had to go to the Spiritual Medicine Hall to exchange for spirit stones first, and then go to the Beast Taming Garden to try his luck and see if he could snatch some food from the mouths of spirit beasts.
When passing by the second dining hall, Du Heng happened to see Chef Zhu standing at the door. Chef Zhu called out to Du Heng, "Come here, little Du." Du Heng hurried over. Just because Chef Zhu had sent him food in the past few days, he had to be polite to Chef Zhu.
Du Heng respectfully bowed to Chef Zhu and said, "Chef Zhu, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Chef Zhu patted Du Heng's shoulder earnestly and said, "Xiao Cai came back and told me everything. I, Old Zhu, have been in Shenxiu Peak for more than ten years. You are a good young man, so I will be bold to say a few words to you." Du Heng nodded, "Yes, yes, go ahead."
Chef Zhu said, "That old guy Wang Jian is not a good person. He just wants to push his good-for-nothing nephew into the dining hall. You are a person favored by Master Gu, so you must not be squeezed out by him. Old Zhu, starting today, I will give you food for fifty people every day. There will be no more. You should cook well and don't waste it. I heard from the people in the mountains that your food is delicious and they all love it."
Du Heng was very grateful: "Thank you, Uncle Zhu." Du Heng was very good at climbing up the pole.
Chef Zhu looked at Du Heng with relief and said, "Don't be afraid. The Wangs dare not come openly and can only do things to you secretly. If you endure this period of time, they will stop when they see that they can't do anything to you."
Du Heng quickly bowed and said, "Thank you Uncle Zhu for your advice. Du Heng will take note of it." Xiaoxiao also chirped twice to Chef Zhu in gratitude: "Chirp~" He had a good impression of Chef Zhu. Anyone who is nice to Du Heng is a good person!
Chef Zhu reached out his hand to rub Xiaoxiao's head twice and said, "Hey, this little chicken is very well behaved. I heard from Xiao Cai that this is your spiritual pet. You better take good care of it and don't let those people harm it."
Du Heng nodded repeatedly: "Don't worry, Uncle Zhu, I will take good care of them."
Chef Zhu looked at Du Heng and said, "Where are you going? Servants cannot leave their posts without permission."
Du Heng smiled and said, "Don't worry, Uncle Zhu. I'll go to the Spiritual Medicine Hall to exchange some things, and then look for any edible ingredients in the sect. I can't always eat yours."
Old Zhu smiled innocently, and patted Du Heng's shoulder heavily: "Hey, those things are all distributed by the sect, so it's a waste if they are wasted. But uncle advises you, the people in the spiritual medicine field are watching their spiritual plants very closely, so don't go looking for trouble. If you really want to find food, go to the Beast Control Garden. The spiritual beasts there are all big guys, and they waste a lot of things every day. If you can build a good relationship with them, even Wang Jian won't be able to do anything to you in the future."
Du Heng cupped his hands again: "I'll remember that."
Old Zhu bowed and said, "Go quickly, don't delay the cooking time. I'll ask Xiao Cai and the others to put your dishes for you at the entrance of the dining hall." Du Heng bowed solemnly to Chef Zhu and said, "Thank you, Uncle Zhu. I'm off now."
The people in the second dining hall were really nice. Du Heng happily walked down the mountain path carrying Xiaoxiao on his back.
After their figures disappeared on the mountain path, Xiao Cai asked Lao Zhu in confusion: "Chef, why are you so nice to Du Heng? You send him food and give him advice."
Old Zhu smiled and said, "You don't understand, do you? I tell you, this is wooing. If Du Heng is a good person, he will remember my kindness. He is in charge of a dining hall, and there are inner disciples around him. We will definitely not be left out when he gets benefits in the future. Moreover, this young man is handsome and is a rare talent. Sooner or later, he will achieve great things."
Xiao Cai suddenly realized: "Chef, do you mean he can become the head chef?"
Old Zhu looked at Xiao Cai, who immediately lowered his head and smiled. Old Zhu patted Xiao Cai on the shoulder and said, "Learn from this!"
Du Heng, who was being watched by others, kept an eye on the flowers, plants and trees along the road, hoping to find ingredients for cooking. When he went up the mountain before, he only saw the lush greenery and didn't look closely, but now he found something wrong.
As long as the trees on the ordinary mountains grow well, you can feel the strong wood spirit energy as long as you are among them. However, there is not much wood spirit energy on the mountains of Shenxiu Palace. The tall trees actually emit golden spirit energy!
Du Heng casually picked up a piece of grass from the roadside. He pulled it and found that the grass was as tough as a rope, and there was a faint golden light flashing on the cross section. He threw the grass away in frustration. In this situation, he still wanted to grow vegetables...
After coming down from Shenxiu Peak, walk east past a lake and you will see a basin in front of you. There is a powerful spirit gathering array above the basin, and you can see thousands of acres of spiritual medicine fields below. As soon as he walked into the barrier, Du Heng sighed comfortably. No wonder the surrounding wood spirit energy is so sparse, it turns out that it has been concentrated in the spiritual medicine fields by the spirit gathering array.
Looking at the spiritual plants in the medicinal field, he didn't recognize many of them. But there were some that he was familiar with, such as ginseng, wolfberry, and Paris polyphylla. However, when he looked at them for a few more times, the servants in the spiritual medicinal field looked at him like a thief. Du Heng could only look away and walk towards the main peak in the east.
The Spiritual Medicine Hall is at the foot of Shenlai Peak. You can reach it by walking along the path next to the spiritual medicine field for an incense stick of time. Before reaching the Spiritual Medicine Hall, Du Heng smelled a bitter smell of medicine. Looking around, he saw that the ground in front of the Spiritual Medicine Hall was covered with purple-red spiritual plants, leaving only a small path for the monks to pass.
There were quite a lot of people coming and going in the Spiritual Medicine Hall, and it was even more spectacular when you entered the door. There were rows of cabinets in the medicine hall, and the names of herbs were marked on the cabinets. Most of the people in charge of the Spiritual Medicine Hall were monks in the foundation-building stage. The day-to-day work made their expressions as steady as the smell of medicine in the air.
Du Heng saw that there was no one in line in front of one of the monks. He took out a bamboo jar from his sleeve and walked over: "Hello, I want to exchange some spiritual stones." The man raised his eyelids and looked Du Heng up and down: "What do you want to exchange?"
Du Heng opened the bamboo jar and said, "Chongzi, someone told me that I can exchange spiritual stones here."
The man looked at Du Heng suspiciously and asked, "Who told you that?" Du Heng thought for a moment and said, "Jiang Shangzhou."
Shenxu Palace is so big, with tens of thousands of monks inside, how could this person know Jiang Shangzhou? Du Heng gave out Jiang Shangzhou's name without any burden.
Hearing Jiang Shangzhou's name, the cultivator in front of him smiled and said, "Yes, it can indeed be exchanged for spiritual stones. Here are 138 black gold cicadas, each worth 80 spiritual stones. Would you like to take the spiritual stones or look at other spiritual plants?"
Du Heng was secretly delighted. Eighty spirit stones for one. He was getting rich! He said calmly, "Just change it to spirit stones."
Soon, Du Heng's storage bag had 11,040 more spirit stones, and he was in a good mood. Just as Du Heng was about to leave, the monk who exchanged spirit stones for him asked, "Did Jiang Shangzhou say anything else besides asking you to exchange spirit stones?"
Du Heng asked, "What aspect?" Jiang Shangzhou talked a lot. Except for the first day when he was a little reserved, he talked a lot every day in the past two days. He came to Du Heng to talk as soon as the sun rose in the morning. Du Heng had no idea what he was talking about.
The monk smiled and rubbed his hands: "It's nothing, nothing, have a safe trip."
The monk's attitude changed so much that Du Heng thought he might be an acquaintance of Jiang Shangzhou. Why not ask him after returning?
There is a small path under the spiritual medicine field that leads directly to the Beast Garden, without having to go around Shenxiu Peak. This road is close to the lake on one side and the mountain on the other, and it is quite quiet. There are lotus leaves and lotus pods in the lake. I don’t know if these are planted by the sect, so Du Heng doesn’t dare to take them casually.
The path by the lake was quite quiet. After walking for a cup of tea, he didn't see anyone. After turning a corner, the road was so quiet that only Du Heng's footsteps could be heard.
Du Heng felt a little guilty: "I should have brought wontons with me earlier." It was Chef Zhu and the others who told him to keep an eye on his spirit beasts. Now he didn't dare to bring his spirit beasts with him around the sect. Without wontons to give him courage, Du Heng always felt like he was being watched.
Xiaoxiao encouraged Du Heng in the backpack: "Chirp." If Du Heng was really scared, he would sing for him. But his uncle said that his magic could only cover his appearance but not his voice. If his voice was too loud and attracted other birds to respond, his identity would be exposed.
It's really hard to be a phoenix these days. This charm that has nowhere to go really gives Xiaoxiao a headache. After combing the fluff on her belly, Xiaoxiao lay down obediently.
After walking for a while, Du Heng saw a lot of gray-black plants piled up on the roadside. He looked closely and realized that they were Gorgon fruit. To be more precise, they were plants that grew Gorgon fruit.
The whole body of the Euryale ferox plant is covered with thorns, even its leaves lying flat on the water surface have thorns. Its structure is somewhat similar to that of water chestnuts, but it is much larger than water chestnuts. A mature Euryale ferox plant can occupy a large area on the water surface. Among other things, its leaves are much larger than ordinary lotus leaves.
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Gorgon fruit is an aquatic plant. After it grows its rhizome from the water, it strives to grow and float on the water surface. After it stands on the water surface, its stem begins to grow gorgon fruit bags. The shape of the gorgon fruit bag is very similar to the chicken head, and it is also covered with sharp thorns. Therefore, gorgon fruit is also called chicken head rice in Du Heng's hometown, and the gorgon fruit bag with gorgon fruit is also called chicken head bubble.
Peel off the fierce skin of the chicken head bubble, and you can see the water chestnut seeds inside. The fresh water chestnut seeds are densely wrapped in the water chestnut bag, and there is a layer of reddish-brown skin on the outside. After removing the skin, you can see the white and tender water chestnuts.
Gorgon fruit can be used in soup, stew or Chinese medicine. Whether fresh or dried, it has a unique flavor. These Gorgon fruit stems piled on the roadside were obviously planted by the sect members. Most of the Gorgon fruit pods under the leaves have disappeared. Only the thick stems and the undeveloped Gorgon fruit pods are left standing.
It can be seen that these water chestnuts have been pulled out of the water for some time, and the wet stems have been blown dry. However, they are still tender inside. Even if the water chestnut plants stay on the shore for a few days, they can still continue to grow after being put into the water.
Du Heng used his spiritual energy to roll up a small Gorgon fruit bag and handed it to Xiaoxiao. There were purple petals on the top of the Gorgon fruit bag. He said, "Xiaoxiao, you can eat the seeds inside, but be careful not to get pricked by the thorns outside." Xiaoxiao trembled in surprise in the backpack. He had never seen this thing before!
Du Heng looked at the Gorgon fruit plant in front of him with nostalgia. He said to Xiaoxiao, "This thing is called chicken head rice in our hometown. The thing that grows chicken head rice is called chicken head soaked stalks. This can be eaten."
He hadn't eaten the stems of the chicken head for a long time. This thing is regional and seasonal. If you are not in the right place after the right time, you can't eat it even if you want to. The fried stems look like lotus stems, but the taste is different from that of lotus stems.
He didn't expect that in the world of cultivation, he would actually see such a large area of chicken head bubble stems.
He looked at the stalks piled on the roadside, and the dishes of stir-fried stalks, cold stalks, and so on floated before his eyes. With so many stalks, does anyone want them? If no one wants them, he will pick them up, peel off the skin, and stir-fry them to make a delicious dish!
Du Heng stood up and looked around. Not far ahead, some servants were using a small boat to pick up the gorgon fruit stems from the water and put them on the boat. Their movements were very rough. After taking the plump gorgon fruit bundles, the rest were piled up in a mess on the shore.
Du Heng quickly ran to the servant who was throwing water chestnut stems onto the shore and said, "My fellow disciple, are these water chestnut stems still useful?"
The servant waved his hands and said, "It's useless. This year's water chestnuts have been harvested. If we don't salvage these that are in the way, they will rot in the water. You want water chestnuts? Here, I'll give you two." As he spoke, the servant on the boat threw two water chestnuts, each bigger than a fist, into Du Heng's backpack.
Xiaoxiao, who was hit in the face, poked his head out of the backpack: "Chiu!" Who hit him? !
The servant laughed: "So you are from the Beastiality Garden. Your little pet is quite cute." Xiaoxiao was no longer angry: "Shhh~"
Du Heng smiled and bowed: "Thank you, fellow Taoist. What I want to ask is, do you still want these water chestnut stems?"
The servant on the boat asked, "What do you want to do with this?" Du Heng asked boldly, "Can I... take some?"
The servant waved his hand: "Take it all!" Du Heng became bolder: "Can I... take it all?"
The servants looked at each other and laughed: "If you can take them all, we would be more than happy. But this thing is covered with thorns, and the delicate beast only eats the water chestnuts inside. What's the point of you taking it back?"
Du Heng scratched his head awkwardly: "I want to take it back..." The servant on the boat said: "I want to take it back to make the elixir, right?"
Du Heng laughed vaguely. If they knew that he took it back to eat, what if they looked down on him and refused to give it to him?
The servants were very generous: "Hahaha, take it, take it. We have been fishing for this thing for the past two days and will put it on the shore. If you can lift it, do it yourself." Du Heng was overjoyed. He bowed to the servants and said, "Thank you very much!"
The seasonal vegetables delivered to your door are now in your hands! When Du Heng opened the storage bag, he was floating. What is this called? I couldn't eat it after looking for it~ Great!
Du Heng put all the soaked chicken head stems piled on the shore into a storage bag. With so many stems, if he made a special dish of soaked chicken head stems, it would last for at least two or three days if it was kept in the cafeteria, right?
When the servants saw Du Heng raise his hand, they put away the stalks. They looked at each other and said, "So you are the immortal."
It was no wonder that the servants didn't think Du Heng was a cultivator. It was mainly because Du Heng's attitude was too good. They had never seen such a kind immortal. The cultivators in Shenxu Palace walked with a gust of wind and looked at people with their noses. Especially the sword cultivators, even those at the first level of Qi training would wear a sword on their waist, for fear that others would not recognize that they were cultivators.
Du Heng was very gentle from the beginning, speaking politely and courteously. They were short-sighted and thought he was a servant in the Beast Control Garden, but they didn't expect that he was a genuine cultivator, and it seemed that his cultivation was not low.
Du Heng waved his hand modestly: "No, no, I'm not an immortal, I just know a little magic. By the way, do you want to catch all the stalks on the lake? Do you need my help?"
The servants were overjoyed: "Thank you, Immortal!"
Du Heng's spiritual energy spread along the water surface, and complete Gorgon fruit plants emerged from the water. Du Heng pulled off the large and plump Gorgon fruit bundles and placed them in the servants' cabin, and stuffed the plants dripping with water into his storage bag.
The whole process took only a few breaths, and the monks on the boat were stunned.
Du Heng's move won the favor of the servants. They had to work on the lake for several days to catch all the stalks, but Du Heng freed them with just a wave of his hand. They could have a much easier time in the next few days!
The happy servants bowed one after another: "Thank you, Immortal!" Du Heng waved his hands: "It's okay, I also want to thank you for giving me so many water chestnut stems." His kitchen was saved, at least today's vegetarian dishes were settled.
The servant who had spoken to Du Heng at the beginning stopped him and said, "Master, you only want the stems and not the water chestnuts? If you don't mind, you can take the water chestnut rice in the cabin as well."
Du Heng was stunned for a moment: "Hey? You don't want it?"
The servant said, "The five of us brothers are responsible for raising these water chestnuts. This year's water chestnuts have been harvested. The remaining ones are too tender to be used as medicine. Instead of going back and peeling them laboriously and getting no thanks, why don't you take them back to feed your spirit beast?"
Du Heng thought about it and said gratefully: "Then I'll obey your command. Thank you." Xiaoxiao poked his head out of the backpack and chirped twice in gratitude. His snacks were found.
Du Heng was different from other cultivators. The servants dared to talk to him boldly: "Master, I don't know your face. Which peak are you from?" Du Heng said: "I am from Shenxiu Peak."
The servants' eyes were full of admiration: "Shenxiu Peak is great. The master of Shenxiu Peak is Elder Ye, who is currently the number one in the cultivation world. You can't go wrong if you practice with Elder Ye!"
Du Heng smiled and nodded: "Yeah." In fact, his mind was full of question marks. He knew only a little about Shenxiu Palace. It seemed that he had to ask Jiang Shangzhou about the situation of Shenxu Palace when he returned. However, he had more important things to do at the moment. He wanted to go to the Beast Garden for a walk.
After the water surface was cleared of the Euryale leaves, the fish in the water became more active. As he spoke, the fish in the water formed ripples. Looking at the ripples, Du Heng had an idea: "By the way, are the fish in this lake wild or raised by the sect?"
The servants said, "Of course they are wild. Sometimes the food in the cafeteria is too bad, so we brothers will go fishing to catch a few fish to satisfy our hunger. What's the matter? Immortal, do you want fish?"
After Du Heng thought about it, he took out five spirit stones from his storage bag and handed them to the servants: "I want to ask you a favor."
The servants waved their hands and said, "If the Immortal has any instructions, just tell him. This is too valuable."
Du Heng said with a smile: "It's not expensive, you will know after listening to me. I would like to ask everyone to keep some fish for me when you go fishing in the future. I will come to get the fish from time to time. There is no requirement for the variety and quantity of fish, more is fine, less is fine. These spirit stones are my money to buy fish, what do you think?"
The servants thought about it and decided that the spiritual stones were too tempting. They really couldn't resist the temptation of the spiritual stones, so they finally accepted them and said, "Okay! Immortal, do you want some fish now? We caught a few big fish yesterday, so if you need them, take them away now."
Du Heng smiled and said, "Okay!"
The fish were kept beside the boat, and the servants used a net bag to hold the fish. Du Heng used his spiritual sense to explore, and saw that there were many large crucian carps in the net bag, perhaps more than 20 of them. In addition, there were two silver carps and several yellow fish.
This yellow fish is called Anggong in Du Heng's hometown, and its scientific name is Pelteobagrus fulvidraco. They have spines on their backs and fins, which can hurt people. When the spines are lifted, they will make a sound. This fish is delicious whether it is cooked in soup or braised.
Du Heng happily took out the storage bag, which he brought back from Yunyanlou when he packed seafood, and could hold live things. He felt relaxed and happy holding the fish, and he saw that he had gained something from going out, as he had both vegetarian and meat dishes.
Du Heng saluted the servants and continued walking along the path. When he was out of the barrier, the sudden increase in golden spiritual energy made him uncomfortable again.
Just as he took out the bamboo tube to drink water, Xiaoxiao handed him a mouthful of peeled chicken head rice. The chicken head rice was still tender and tasted a bit like tender water chestnuts.
Du Heng couldn't bear to reject Xiao Xiao's kindness, he thought about eating the chicken head rice and then drinking water. Unexpectedly, after the chicken head rice entered his mouth, the anxious feeling actually disappeared.
Du Heng tasted the chicken head rice carefully. This shouldn't be the case. This is just ordinary chicken head rice. The spiritual energy in it is far inferior to the chalcedony mixed with water, but why can it suppress the discomfort brought by the golden spiritual energy?
Seeing Du Heng enjoying the food, Xiaoxiao peeled the fruit even more happily. Xiaoxiao peeled one fruit after another, and the two of them scattered the husks of the water chestnuts as they walked.
Suddenly, he heard a sharp cry in his ears, and at the same time he heard a cry from the side: "Get out of the way!"
Du Heng looked up and saw a python with a head bigger than a sandbag quickly attacking Xiaoxiao in the backpack on the tree next to him.
On the mountain path, a monk in a moon-white robe was rushing down: "Get out of the way!"
Seeing that the python was about to wrap around Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao raised one foot and pinched the python's head while eating rice. In a flash, Du Heng only heard a slight snapping sound, and Xiaoxiao crushed the python's head with one claw.
The body of the python fell from the tree and hung on the backpack. Although its head was broken, its red body was still twisting, looking very alive.
Xiaoxiao excitedly grabbed the python and sent it towards Du Heng: "Chirp!"
Look! Snake meat delivered to your door! Shenxu Palace is not as desolate as they say. There is still a lot of edible meat.
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