Chapter 4: Leaving the system in silence for a while, then...
The system was silent for a while, then reluctantly said, "The host can settle for the next best thing."
"Oh?" Xu Hui raised her eyebrows. How could this be a second best option?
After picking the Bu Tian Zhi fruit, the Ganoderma Lucidum will not wither instantly. One tenth of its power will remain in the body, enough to make up for the original owner Xu Shan's congenital deficiency and acquired heart meridian damage.
Xu Hui nodded seriously. "Yes, it's a good idea. It avoids risks and can definitely cure my weak body. But, system, do you think the cultivators in this world are fools? If there is such a benefit, would the cultivator let it go?"
[Host, you may not know this. The methods used to collect medicinal plants in this world are crude, preserving less than 30% of their medicinal properties. Furthermore, each plant has its own unique method, and it's not something that can be easily harvested with a medicinal hoe. Bu Tian Zhi is special; if collected improperly, its medicinal properties will instantly dissipate. It must be collected perfectly, preserving 100% of its properties to be useful. That cultivator cannot collect it, and the medicinal properties will be completely lost after harvesting it.]
In other words, the monk would not do useless work, and Xu Hui just had to wait for him to leave before picking it.
She thought of the learning space, searched, and found that it took 8 points to learn perfect collection.
"One last question. How long does it take for the Bu Tian Zhi to wither? Can I wait until everyone leaves before picking it?"
【Withered after one hour! 】
"...Okay," this meant going against the wind. She had to rush there when the fight started and pick the fruits as soon as the people left, otherwise the medicinal properties could not be guaranteed.
Closing her eyes, Xu Hui made up her mind. Since the system gave her a guarantee, why not take a gamble?
He struggled to get up from the ground and dug out the original owner's only property, a low-level storage bag left by his mother.
The original owner's father's was of intermediate level, which had been taken away by his grandfather long ago and given to Xu Lan along with the things inside.
This was something the original owner had hidden with great difficulty. Inside it were only 132 low-grade spirit stones, a lowest-level spirit sword, and a few medicine bottles, spirit-replenishing pills, and the like.
Xu Hui packed a few clothes and went to the kitchen to cook the remaining food and put it in the storage compartment.
Thanks to the system, time in the backpack is still. It is the same as when you put it in.
The storage bag cannot do this. The elixir has been kept in it for five or six years, and because it was stored in an ordinary porcelain bottle, it has long lost its medicinal properties.
It's just a souvenir. Xu Hui won't touch the things inside unless it's absolutely necessary.
I went to the original owner's parents' room, collected some relics that were meaningful to the original owner, put them into a storage bag, and threw them into the storage compartment.
Finally, he took a look at the courtyard where the original owner was born and died, sighed, cast a magic talisman, pushed open the gate, and walked out with big strides!
With the magic talisman, she felt her whole body was light and if her feet had not been firmly touching the ground, she would have thought she was a ghost.
This way, I feel much more relaxed. I don't have to worry about my internal injuries due to movement. Although it still hurts, it's not unbearable.
The Xu family lived in a large village with thousands of people living together, all of whom were branches of the Xu family.
As soon as Xu Hui appeared, she felt that someone was watching her. When she was approaching the village entrance, she heard footsteps coming hurriedly. She turned around and came to the house of an uncle.
"Ahem, is Sixth Aunt here? Ahem—" She knocked on the door gently, said a word, and then leaned against the door and started coughing loudly.
The courtyard door creaked open, and a woman looked out. Seeing her, she asked in surprise, "Shan girl, what's wrong with you?"
"I'm fine, Auntie. Do you have a medicine hoe at home?" She smiled sadly. "I'll dig up a few seven-leaf Epiphyllums to exchange for medicinal pills."
This village has two main ways of income. One is to grow spiritual rice, keep a part for themselves, and hand over the rest to the owner, and get some money in return.
But this requires high-quality spiritual land. The original owner's family was allocated four acres, but they were all occupied by her grandparents, and not a single grain of rice was given to her.
The other one is the seven-leaf Epiphyllum, which can only be planted in the canyon halfway up the mountain. The head of the Xu family has set up a formation there, and only those with certain identities can enter.
Each person only has a small piece of land, but it is enough to grow ten to twenty Epiphyllum plants, and one Epiphyllum plant is worth ten low-grade spirit stones.
Of course, Epiphyllum is very precious and difficult to grow, so we should be thankful if we can keep ten plants alive every year.
To cultivate this kind of spiritual plant, you cannot use spiritual power or spiritual tools, you can only rely on your hands, and it can only be maintained by wood spiritual roots.
The original owner relied on this to raise himself, with a survival rate of three or four plants every year.
Her sixth aunt's family was the only one who was willing to help her since her parents passed away, and it was her sixth cousin who taught her this craft.
According to my sixth uncle, "As long as you learn this, you'll have a skill to support yourself for the rest of your life. It'll be tiring, but you won't have to live under someone else's roof and depend on others for your livelihood."
Seven-leaf Epiphyllum is the lead ingredient for Huiling Pills. The dosage is not large, but it is necessary. In addition, it is difficult to keep alive. During its growth process, you need to dig the soil with your hands to avoid damaging the roots and rhizomes with the spiritual weapon.
When the fruits are almost ripe, we have to squat in the fields at night to catch insects, which often requires us to stay up all night long. It is really hard work.
The original owner's hands were rough and cracked, with thick calluses covering the fingers. The nails and skin turned yellow and black no matter how much they were washed. They did not look like the hands of a twelve-year-old child at all. They were caused by loosening the soil with the hands.
From turning the soil to sowing, everything needs to be done by hand. The only exception is that when the seven-leaf Epiphyllum is ripe, instead of picking it, you use a hoe to dig out all the soil around it and put it into pots.
Because they don't know how to prepare medicinal materials, if they don't do it properly, the medicinal effects will be lost and they can't be sold at a high price. They can only use this stupid method, transplanting the roots and soil together, and send them to the pharmacy in town, or hand them over to the medicine collectors sent by the main branch.
Originally, Xu Hui had not planned to do this. The original owner had only raised four plants and left them to her sixth aunt's family, who were very kind to them. Anyway, besides herself, only her sixth cousin could enter that piece of land.
In addition to being busy catching insects, the seven-leaf Epiphyllum also needs someone to watch over it at night and water it on average once every two hours.
Seeing that the original owner was young, the sixth cousin took the initiative to take on the job so that she wouldn't have to work so hard every night.
At least the sixth cousin can rest during the day and his son can take over for him, but the original owner has nothing.
Xu Hui was grateful for their help to the original owner and planned to slip a letter to her sixth uncle's house and then leave.
But when she reached the village entrance, she found someone was watching her. It was probably the original owner's grandfather and his family who prevented her from leaving, probably because they were afraid that she would go to the main house and cause trouble.
After all, even though the badge was stolen, the master always has a record of awards and honors. When such an award is stolen, there must be some punishment. Otherwise, who can be willing to work for the master with peace of mind?
Aren’t you afraid that as soon as you die, the supplies you exchanged for your life will be embezzled by others?
So before Xu Lan actually joined the Mu family, Grandfather Xu was always on guard against her causing trouble.
When Xu Lan becomes a disciple of the Mu family, the master will give you something as compensation and send you away.
At most, I could just give him some extra compensation. If others knew, they would just be jealous of the original owner's good fortune and say something sarcastic, "You've got so many good things, what else do you want? Don't be ungrateful!"
It is impossible to unite against a common enemy, this is human nature!
After realizing this, Xu Hui immediately turned around and went to find Sixth Aunt, using the magic hoe as an excuse to explain that she was going up the mountain to collect herbs in exchange for elixirs, not to cause trouble.
Sixth Aunt's face changed drastically. "What's wrong with you?"
Xu Hui shook her head and didn't want to say more.
Being from the same village, Sixth Auntie knew Xu Shan's situation perfectly. Thinking of the news she had received earlier about the Talent Recruitment Trial and the Mu Family's selection of disciples for training, she immediately said with a look of pity, "That Epiphyllum isn't fully mature yet. Selling it now would be a loss. It's your food supply for the year. I still have some spirit stones. You can use them first and pay them back later."
Xu Hui shook her head, shook her hand vigorously, stuffed a letter into her sleeve, walked to the corner, took a magic hoe and turned away.
Seeing her stubborn look, Sixth Aunt was anxious but helpless.
In this village, Grandfather Xu is the village chief and he always has the final say. He doesn't like Xu Shan, and everyone else avoids him as much as possible.
The sixth cousin is an exception. Xu Shan’s father once saved his life. People should never forget their roots. Although his ability is limited, he has always tried his best to help the original owner.
Otherwise, considering the original owner was still a child a few years ago, he really would not have survived.
The letter didn't say much, just that she was unwilling to give up and wanted to go out and try her luck. Even if she was just a menial disciple in a small family, it would be better than staying here and being suppressed.
Let them feel at ease and don’t have to look for me anymore. At the same time, I also gave them the Epiphyllum to thank them for their care over the years.
Holding the magic hoe, Xu Hui ignored the probing gazes and went straight to the back mountain.
Seeing that she was really going to dig medicinal plants and not planning to cause trouble at the master's house, the surveillance disappeared.
With the magic talisman attached, she could climb the mountain as if walking on flat ground. She planned to go directly over the mountain and take the branch line to the location of the Bu Tian Zhi marked by the system.
Two days later, they finally arrived at the foot of the mountain. Looking at the towering peaks, they knew that if they got any closer they would be noticed by the evil cultivators, so they stopped to rest immediately.
According to the description in the book, the best time to seize spiritual roots is at dawn, when the sky is bright and beautiful.
If I'm not mistaken, it happened the next morning. Normally, few people would appear in the mountains at this time, but a cultivator flew on a sword all night long. Standing high in the sky, he noticed a flash of purple light. The extracted thunder spirit root would naturally emit thunder spirit power, so he thought it was some kind of treasure. He immediately came down to check and discovered that it was an evil practice that violated the law.
This world deeply hates evil cultivators, and anyone can kill them.
The two men started fighting immediately. The Jindan cultivator dealt with the evil cultivator. Seeing that Lei Hong had eaten the Bu Tian Zhi, he took the man back to the Lei family and received thanks and rewards from the Lei family.
Therefore, Xu Hui had to travel while it was still dark and get close before dawn, but not too early because the Breath-Suppressing Talisman had a time limit.
She asked the system to wake her up at the appointed time. She wrapped herself in a quilt and rested for a night. After eating something, she cast a breath-suppressing talisman, a defensive talisman, and a speed talisman on herself and rushed to the top of the mountain.
The cave that the evil cultivator was looking for was at the top of the mountain. It was hollow in the middle and could absorb the essence of the sun and the moon.
When they were halfway there, they suddenly saw a flash of light in the sky. It turned out to be an immortal flying on a sword. It was too far away to see his appearance clearly. He was only wearing fluttering white clothes, just like the immortal Gushe.
Xu Hui knew that the plot time had come, so she quickened her pace. When she was approaching the top of the mountain, she was afraid that anything unusual would attract the attention of two Jindan cultivators, so she found a big rock to hide behind and secretly observed this shocking battle!
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