Chapter 37: Medicine King Spiritual Liquid

Beneath the brilliant night sky, the majestic silhouette of the Dao-Enlightening Tree King eclipsed the moonlight, while the little herb kings splashed about in the water, enjoying themselves thoroughly. Even Lu Yang joined in, blending right in with them; time seemed to freeze, and the scene was exceptionally harmonious.

Once the little herb kings had bathed to their heart's content, they lay scattered all over the ground and atop the wooden cabins, sleeping soundly splayed out on their backs.

The Dao-Enlightening Tree King did not remain idle; while the little herb kings slept, it packed away the wooden tubs and the water, which left Lu Yang utterly perplexed.

"What are you doing?"

The Tree King replied casually, "Oh, Old Ba wanted this. He said the bathwater is quite valuable and that the disciples of the Single Dao Sect love using it."

The Tree King’s branches shifted slightly, making a gesture akin to a shrug, expressing its sheer helplessness at the behavior of the human race.

Being a plant, it found many of mankind's strange behaviors difficult to comprehend; for instance, it knew that humans desperately loved using its hair—meaning its leaves—to brew tea, or using its bark for cooking, claiming it enhanced the fragrance, calling it cinnamon or something like that.

"Oh, right. Old Ba even gave the bathwater a pleasant name: Herb King Spiritual Fluid. You humans are truly cultured after all; your knack for naming things is far superior to ours."

"Herb King Spiritual Fluid?"

Lu Yang unconsciously repeated the words in a low murmur, finding the name familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before. Soon enough, he remembered exactly where he had encountered the term.

Wasn't this the highly sought-after Herb King Spiritual Fluid on the contribution point exchange list?

The list described the Herb King Spiritual Fluid as a precious liquid specially refined by the high-level elders of the Single Dao Sect. So this was what "specially refined" actually meant!

Lu Yang began to question all the strange and bizarre items on the list; judged purely by their descriptions, nothing seemed amiss, but that did not mean there really wasn't a catch!

……

In the days that followed, Lu Yang spent his time laboring away, burrowing through the earth while listening to the little herb kings incessantly babble about herbal lore by his ear, making his days quite fulfilling.

"I remember there's a patch of Eight-Treasure Lotuses up ahead. They're pink, tender, and exceptionally beautiful. Do you want to burrow over and take a look?" the ginseng baby said from behind Lu Yang.

"……Lotuses are supposed to grow in ponds, right?"

"Yes, indeed," the ginseng baby nodded, taking it for granted.

"Then if I burrow over, won't I plunge headfirst into a pond?"

Realization suddenly dawned upon the ginseng baby. "Oh, right. What you say makes perfect sense."

"……"

Following the direction indicated by the ginseng baby, Lu Yang burrowed out of the ground. Not far away stood the exquisitely beautiful Eight-Treasure Lotuses. The early morning dew condensed and rolled off the tips of the petals, dripping into the water and creating gentle ripples.

The Eight-Treasure Lotus possessed the efficacy of clearing heat, dispelling dampness, detoxifying, and nourishing the heart, and was frequently utilized in alchemy.

"I just don't know why exactly the Eight-Treasure Lotus is called 'Eight-Treasure,'" Lu Yang remarked, recalling what he had read in books.

This was an unsolved mystery among alchemists; countless alchemists had written books and treatises, citing scriptures and classics to propose various theories.

For instance, some claimed it was named Eight-Treasure because the lotus possessed eight types of medicinal effects. Others asserted that the name was derived from the Supreme Eight Trigrams, while still others suggested that the eight treasures subtly referred to the eight meridians of the human body, implying that consuming more Eight-Treasure Lotuses could open up the extraordinary meridians…… in short, there were all sorts of theories.

Lu Yang inclined toward the first hypothesis; having eight medicinal effects, if nothing else, sounded the most plausible.

"You mean that? I know the reason," the ginseng baby said.

"You know?"

With its roots propped on its waist, the ginseng baby said triumphantly, "Of course. The Eight-Treasure Lotus was discovered by the Hermit of the Ancient Moon. Back then, the two of us accidentally stumbled into an undiscovered secret realm. Fortunately, both of our cultivation bases were profound, so the secret realm posed no danger to us."

"The two of us enjoyed ourselves thoroughly in the secret realm. When we grew tired from playing, we rested on the spot, eating and sleeping right there just for the atmosphere."

"While eating, the Hermit of the Ancient Moon discovered a patch of pink lotuses he had never seen before. I asked him what name he wanted to give these lotuses. He glanced at the eight-treasure porridge in his hand and said casually that they might as well be called Eight-Treasure Lotuses."

"Later, he took a few stalks of the lotus with him and propagated them in the outside world, bringing them to their current scale."

Lu Yang: "……"

This was not the first time he had heard stories about the Hermit of the Ancient Moon, and every single one had an unexpected conclusion.

The other little herb kings had also traveled across vast rivers and mountains and experienced many things, but none of their journeys were as splendid as those of the ginseng baby.

Through their interactions, the little herb kings gradually accepted Lu Yang. Even when Lu Yang shifted back to his original size, they did not reject him, finding the big guy rather amusing instead.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed. During this period, Uncle Ba took away the emptied spirit stones along with the little herb kings' bathwater, and brought back a vast quantity of high-grade spirit stones for the little herb kings to bury in their original spots.

Uncle Ba also harvested many medicinal herbs from time to time to supply the Cauldron Peak.

……

"Originally, the Hermit of the Ancient Moon wasn't called that. His surname was Hu, and he called himself Hermit Hu. His handwriting wasn't very good, and once when he wrote his name, the character 'Hu' was written too far apart, so people read it as 'Ancient Moon'. Being of a completely nonchalant disposition anyway, he simply went along with it and called himself the Hermit of the Ancient Moon, never bothering to change it back." The ginseng baby droned on in Lu Yang’s ear as usual, rattling off the dark history of the Hermit of the Ancient Moon.

Just then, Uncle Ba sent a voice transmission to Lu Yang.

"Lu Yang, come out for a moment."

When he arrived at the entrance of the herb garden, he met an affectionate married couple. The husband was sunny and confident, while the wife was delicate and clinging, though the style of their clothing was something Lu Yang simply could not flatter.

The couple wore outfits that resembled lifebuoys, incredibly bloated, the kind that would keep anyone afloat even if they fell into the ocean.

This was the clothing custom of their tribe.

"These two are……"

"Allow me to introduce them. These are your seniors, the Silver-Ringed Celestial King Earthworms," Uncle Ba said.

Lu Yang understood at once. It seemed their marital conflict had been resolved, the two had reconciled, and he would no longer have to dig dirt.

However, resolving a marital dispute in just one month was remarkably fast; he had assumed it would drag on for forty or fifty episodes of a drama series, culminating in the heroine losing her memory, the hero awakening her mind, and finally a happy ending or something of the sort.

"His name is Lu Yang. You two must have heard of him; he is the Sect Master's fourth disciple, personally trained by Yun Zhi."

"Greetings, seniors," Lu Yang bowed, which terrified the Silver-Ringed Celestial King Earthworms to their very cores. They hurriedly lifted Lu Yang up, not daring to accept his salute.

"So you are Yun Zhi's junior brother. My name is Li Yin, you can just call me Little Li. This is my wife, Little Li."

The junior brother of that female demon—who would dare regard him as a junior?

Lu Yang had no idea what kind of terrifying image his Senior Sister held in the minds of others.

"How did you two resolve your marital issue?"

"What's so difficult about that?" a voice echoed from underground.

Another couple burrowed out from the earth, looking identical to the Silver-Ringed Celestial King Earthworms.

"Since my wife could split herself into two to become a pair of sister flowers, I naturally could split myself into two as well to produce a brother," the first Little Li said proudly.

The second Little Li couple was equally affectionate.

Uncle Ba nodded with gratification; this idea had been his brain-child.

He was a responsible man after all; if he caused a problem, he made sure to solve it.