72: Chapter 72 Completing the Mission

Following the address written on the slip of paper, Su Jiuchuan arrived at a courtyard at the foot of East Mountain. From the outside, it occupied a considerable area, and one could smell the fragrance of medicinal herbs from afar.

He walked up and gently knocked on the door knocker.

Before long, an old man in grey clothes opened the door.

"Old sir, may I ask if this task was issued by the owner of this place?" Su Jiuchuan asked, raising the slip of paper in his hand.

The old man looked him up and down before saying, "That is correct, it was issued by my Master. Follow me."

After entering the gate, one could see a large area planted with shrub-like plants. As the two walked through them, they happened to see an old man in blue clothes tending to a medicinal herb. This old man was none other than Master He, who had insisted on grading Su Jiuchuan as a C-grade that day.

"Master, someone has accepted the task!" the servant said respectfully.

Only then did Master He straighten up. He casually grabbed a rag from a nearby branch to wipe his hands and said, "Let's go inside to talk."

Su Jiuchuan followed him inside obediently.

"This task is to search for one thousand and eighty specified plants within the East Mountain area and process them; there is no time limit. The reward is answering three questions. Is that clear?" Master He said indifferently.

"This student understands!"

Master He nodded, took out a small booklet, and handed it over, saying, "This booklet records the characteristics of these one thousand and eighty medicinal herbs, as well as the methods to process them."

Su Jiuchuan took it and flipped through it; the descriptions were very detailed. Most of these plants were medicinal herbs, and it contained illustrations of each plant, their growth preferences, how to use them, how to process and preserve them after picking, and so on. It was practically a dictionary of medicinal plants.

"Come see me again after you have completed the task. If you intend to give up, return this booklet to me as soon as possible."

Su Jiuchuan cupped his hands in agreement.

...

After leaving Master He's place, Su Jiuchuan returned to his residence. He carefully flipped through the small booklet. With this thick stack, who knew how long it would take to gather all one thousand and eighty medicinal herbs? He did not have that much time to waste.

Choose Simulation.

[At eighteen, you become a Half-Step Innate. You accept Master He's task and prepare to search for one thousand and eighty medicinal herbs.]

[Five years later, you successfully complete the task and prepare to find Master He to exchange for the task reward.]

[Only then do you learn that Master He went out two years ago and never returned.]

...

After finishing this simulation, Su Jiuchuan felt depressed. Five years! He had spent so much time looking for these herbs, and Master He had gone missing before he could even complete the task. In other words, those five years had been wasted.

Afterwards, it allowed him to choose between Martial Realm, martial experience, and life wisdom. This time, he did not hesitate and chose life wisdom.

Countless memories of searching for herbs in the mountains flooded his mind. Su Jiuchuan hurriedly took out pen and ink to roughly record the locations of the herbs he found in his memories.

In the following days, Su Jiuchuan shuttled through the forest paths of East Mountain every day. Relying on his memory, he quickly collected the medicinal herbs. Even if he had forgotten the location of a few, he could find them within a few days.

Upon returning in the evening, he would process them according to the instructions in the booklet.

In just over half a month, Su Jiuchuan had actually collected all the medicinal herbs recorded in the booklet.

However, before Su Jiuchuan went to see Master He, he needed to prepare a bit more.

He took out the treasure map he had obtained from Ouyang Xian. It certainly would not do to show this map directly to Master He, as that would be equivalent to leaking the secret of the treasure map. He found paper and a pen, copied the annotated text from it, deleted the repeated characters, scrambled the order of the remaining text, and repeatedly confirmed that one could not link these words to the sentences of the treasure map before he stopped.

Afterwards, he went out and hired a carriage, loaded all the medicinal herbs into it, and then headed toward Master He's residence.

Knock, knock, knock!

Su Jiuchuan knocked on the door knocker, and the old man in grey clothes opened the door again. Upon seeing Su Jiuchuan, he was stunned for a moment, then said disappointedly, "You are here to give up the task, right? Just return the booklet to me."

Clearly, many people had accepted this task before and given up after persisting for a period of time.

"No, I am here to submit the task." Su Jiuchuan smiled slightly and asked the carriage driver behind him to open the carriage door, revealing the neatly stacked medicinal herbs inside.

"This... this..." The old man in grey clothes hurriedly walked over to check. After examining them carefully, he quickly said, "Good... good... wait for me."

After saying this, he turned and ran inside.

Before long, Master He and the old man in grey clothes walked out quickly. He walked briskly to the carriage, grabbed a few handfuls of herbs from the carriage to examine them, and then brought them to his nose to sniff. After a long time, he said, "Good... good... not bad, not bad..."

"Speak, which family are you a descendant of?" Master He sighed and said, "Although I do not like people from noble families, since it was someone from your noble family who completed this task, then I... will still follow the rules."

Su Jiuchuan was stunned. What was going on? He felt like he had triggered some incredible side quest.

"What noble family? I am not from a noble family." He replied, feeling a bit bewildered.

Master He only lifted his eyes to look at him and said, "Things have reached this point, why must you pretend? How could one person possibly collect all one thousand and eighty medicinal herbs in just half a month?"

Su Jiuchuan chuckled. This was indeed a loophole. Even he, relying on cheating, had spent half a month; how could an ordinary person do it? However, there was no other way. If he had waited a few years, Master He would have disappeared, and he would not be able to find anyone to exchange for the reward.

He could only bite the bullet and say, "I am just naturally sensitive to plants."

Master He did not respond. He simply gestured to the old man in grey clothes, who nodded repeatedly and then left quickly.

"Throw all these things away!" Master He said to the carriage driver, and after saying this, he turned and went inside the gate.

Su Jiuchuan was a bit confused. He had put so much effort into these one thousand and eighty medicinal herbs, and this old man He wanted to throw them away just like that? Was he playing with him? Now, full of doubts, he hurriedly followed him inside.

The two entered the house. Master He did not speak; he sat in the main seat and just quietly held his teacup, drinking tea. Su Jiuchuan stood to one side, feeling a bit awkward and not knowing what he should do.

About an hour later, the old man in grey clothes walked in quickly from outside and handed over a letter.

Master He took the letter, read it once, and said as if relieved, "You are actually not from a noble family, haha! Not bad, not bad!"