332: Chapter 332 The Weight of the Spirit Stone

A month passed quietly as he followed his routine to Cultivate.

Ling Ye had fully adapted to the rhythm of life as an Outer Sect Disciple—morning lessons at the hour of Mao, lectures at the hour of Chen, training in the afternoon, and meditation in the evening.

His progress in how he would Cultivate was also steadily improving; the Spiritual Qi in his Dantian had grown from the initial thin thread to about the thickness of a little finger, and it flowed more and more smoothly as it circulated through his Meridians.

According to Instructor Sun in class, he could now be considered to have officially stepped across the threshold of the early stage of Qi refining.

However, at the same time, he also gradually realized a realistic problem—to Cultivate requires resources.

On the first day of every month, Outer Sect Disciples could go to the General Affairs Hall to collect their monthly allowance: five Low-Grade Spirit Stones, one bottle of bigu pill, and one bottle of Pei Yuan pill.

Spirit Stone were used for Cultivate and trading; bigu pill could replace meals to save time, while Pei Yuan pill could consolidate one's foundation and accelerate the accumulation of Spiritual Qi.

For a newly entered Disciple, this allowance was not generous, but it was enough to maintain the most basic needs to Cultivate.

However, Ling Ye's consumption rate was faster than the average person.

He discovered that his Dantian was like a container that could never be filled—the same amount of Spirit Stone that other Disciples could use for ten days or half a month would be completely consumed by him in five or six days.

By the middle of the month, his Spirit Stone were already used up.

He did not mention this to anyone, just silently reduced his usage of Spirit Stone, relying more on meditation to absorb the wandering Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth to maintain his ability to Cultivate.

But the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the mountains was limited after all, and relying solely on meditation to absorb it was far less efficient than using Spirit Stone directly.

His speed to Cultivate had slowed down significantly.

That afternoon, after training ended, Wang Dazhuang leaned over and asked him in a mysterious, hushed voice: "Ling Ye, have you finished your Spirit Stone for this month?"

Ling Ye glanced at him: "Just about. Why?"

Wang Dazhuang looked left and right, ensuring no one was paying attention to them, before pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his bosom and stuffing it into Ling Ye's hand: "I took a task at the General Affairs Hall—to go to the back mountain and collect fifty 'Blood-Coagulating Herb'. The reward is three Low-Grade Spirit Stone. I can't handle it alone and want to find a helper. After it's done, we'll split the Spirit Stone."

Ling Ye looked down at the paper; it had a drawing of the Blood-Coagulating Herb and a brief textual description.

The Blood-Coagulating Herb was a Low Grade Spiritual Plant often used to refine hemostatic ointments, which he had seen in the herb encyclopedia in the Scripture Pavilion.

It was indeed distributed in the back mountain, but it usually grew under damp and shady cliff walls, making it somewhat difficult to collect, and occasionally there would be snakes and insects.

"Are there many people who have taken this task?" Ling Ye asked.

"Not many." Wang Dazhuang scratched his head, "The Blood-Coagulating Herb isn't worth much money, and it's a hassle to collect, so the Senior Brothers all find it troublesome and would rather take other tasks. It's just that I... really don't have enough Spirit Stone."

Ling Ye did not hesitate for too long: "Fine. We'll meet at the back mountain entrance after tomorrow's morning lesson."

Wang Dazhuang was overjoyed, thanking him repeatedly, and then scurried away.

After the morning lesson the next day, Ling Ye arrived at the back mountain entrance as promised.

Wang Dazhuang was already waiting there, carrying a bamboo basket and holding another one; seeing Ling Ye, he handed it over with a grin.

The two walked along the mountain path for about half an hour, turning into a remote mountain gully.

The gully was damp and dark; the rock walls on both sides were covered in thick moss, and water droplets slid slowly down the stone walls, pooling into shallow puddles on the ground.

The Blood-Coagulating Herb were indeed growing in such an environment.

Ling Ye found the first cluster on a rock wall—the leaves were heart-shaped with dark red edges, growing tightly against the damp rock wall.

He carefully pinched the leaf stalk with his fingertips, pulled gently, and removed it completely with its roots and soil, placing it into the bamboo basket.

The two spread out to search separately.

Ling Ye's movements were fast, and his technique was clean and efficient; every plant was removed completely with its roots without damaging the leaves.

While collecting, he kept an eye on the surrounding environment—he had not carefully explored the terrain of this mountain gully before, so this was a good opportunity to familiarize himself with it.

About an hour later, both of their bamboo baskets were nearly half full.

Ling Ye straightened up, stretched his somewhat sore waist and back, and his gaze inadvertently swept over a section of rock wall at the end of the gully.

The surface of that rock wall was not quite the same as other places—the color was slightly darker, and the densely growing vines seemed to have traces of having been disturbed by someone.

He set down the bamboo basket and walked over.

Pushing aside the vines, a narrow crevice was revealed on the rock wall, just wide enough for one person to pass through sideways.

Inside the crevice, some light could be vaguely seen, as if it connected to another space.

Wang Dazhuang also came over, leaning in to look inside: "Eh, there's a crevice here? I've never noticed it before."

Ling Ye was not in a hurry to go in.

He stood at the entrance of the crevice and listened for a while—there was no sound inside, nor any feeling of wind flowing.

He turned back to Wang Dazhuang and said: "Wait for me outside, I'm going in to take a look."

"Hey, wait—" Wang Dazhuang wanted to say something more, but Ling Ye had already squeezed into the crevice sideways.

The crevice was deeper than it looked.

He moved sideways, slowly inching forward through the narrow passage for about ten steps, and the path ahead suddenly opened up.

On the other end of the crevice was a small valley surrounded by rock walls; it was not large, about two or three zhang square.

Sunlight slanted down from a fissure above, illuminating an area at the bottom of the valley.

And in the center of that area grew a plant he had never seen before—the entire body was translucent white, about a foot tall, and at the top hung a fruit the size of a Dragon eye, which shimmered with a pale golden luster in the sunlight.

Ling Ye did not recognize this plant.

But he did recognize the concentration of Spiritual Qi permeating around that fruit—even standing a few steps away, he could clearly feel the dense Spiritual Qi that far exceeded that of ordinary Spiritual Plant.

He did not rashly approach, but first carefully observed the area from where he stood.

There were no traces of other living creatures in the valley, and the ground was covered with thick fallen leaves; it looked like no one had been here for a long time.

The plant grew alone in a spot where the sunlight could reach, like a Treasure Trove forgotten in this place.

He considered for a moment, then, without picking the fruit, turned around and retreated along the original path.

Wang Dazhuang was still waiting at the crevice entrance, and seeing him come out, he hurriedly asked: "What's inside?"

"A small valley surrounded by rock walls, where sunlight can reach, growing some weeds, nothing special." Ling Ye said without changing his expression, "Let's go, keep collecting herbs."

Wang Dazhuang made an 'oh' sound, not suspicious, and shouldered his bamboo basket to continue searching for Blood-Coagulating Herb.

Ling Ye followed behind him, but his gaze inadvertently looked back at the crevice hidden by vines.

He did not know that plant, but its value was clearly not low.

Before figuring out exactly what it was, he would not pick it lightly—to avoid wasting a true treasure out of ignorance.