Chapter 49: Nature’s Gift
The mountain was huge. Whether it was Chen Beiwang’s villa district or the area where the Training Camp had been, both were merely a corner of the complex terrain. A normal hike along the winding mountain road would take an entire day to cross.
Yang Shen had wanted to explore the mountain during the Training Camp, but he hadn’t been allowed to go off on his own.
Yang Shen checked the map on his phone, confirming that the area before him was a vast stretch of undeveloped, wild mountains. Then, from his backpack, he pulled out several bright yellow, walnut-sized hemispheres.
Sun Worms.
The Bee Control Technique was a method for commanding insects, which would act as helpers for Cultivators tending to their Spirit Fields.
Insects couldn’t be called intelligent, so only species that formed swarms possessed a kind of ’organizational instinct’ that could be manipulated by a Cultivator.
Yang Shen planned to release the Sun Worms and let them follow their instincts to search the mountain for any plants containing ’Source’.
The prices at the medicinal herb market were so damn high. He needed to prepare for multiple rounds of experiments and couldn’t just keep throwing money at the problem.
Having received their orders, the Sun Worms lazily extended their six legs, unfurled the transparent brown wings beneath their carapaces, and flew off into the wild forest.
These little creatures were no ordinary beings; they flew at incredible speeds. Yang Shen had to sprint at full tilt just to keep up. He couldn’t fall too far behind, or the Magic would fail.
Having six Sun Worms searching the mountain was far more efficient than him searching blindly, especially since he had no experience with wilderness hiking. But the cost was considerable.
The Di Di Boy on his wrist chimed incessantly like a microwave, each notification reading: ’Qi and Blood Value -0.1’.
He was so broke his face turned green.
He could only hypnotize himself. ’It’s all an investment. I’ll earn it back later!’
Time ticked by. Just as Yang Shen was about to give up, having already consumed 2 points of his Qi and Blood Value, one of the distant Sun Worms finally sent a signal back to him.
And not just from one location, but two!
Yang Shen quickly commanded the Sun Worms to hold their positions. He then deactivated the Bee Control Technique and headed for the closer of the two locations.
He bounded forward, and as his view opened up, he saw that the signal was coming from a stone cliff...
The Sun Worm here wasn’t on the exterior of the cliff, but inside it.
It was less of a ’cliff’ and more of a sudden, four-to-five-meter drop where the steep mountainside had broken away.
The forest floor was a messy tangle of dead branches and rotting wood. Yang Shen climbed up to take a look and found a crevice in the middle of the rock face...
The crevice was perfectly flat, as if it had been cut. The Sun Worm was inside, buzzing around a few strange plants.
Thoughts of ’Treasures of Heaven and Earth’ and ’profound destiny’ immediately flashed through Yang Shen’s mind.
When he got a clear look at them, however, he grew skeptical...
’Aren’t these just... succulents?’
Grape-sized green beads clustered tightly together in long strands, resembling furry tails. There were about three of these plants in the crevice, and every one of them was flourishing.
Yang Shen waved the Sun Worm away and cradled the unknown succulent in his palm.
’It feels kinda cute...’
’And... it’s actually a Spirit Plant!’
It wasn’t something mentioned in his inheritance. After all, the names used in the Cultivation Realm and on Cyan Blue weren’t interchangeable. But by following the method from his inheritance and infusing it with Spiritual Qi from his palm, he could vaguely sense its properties.
’Ugh, another pay-to-view feature. The Di Di Boy is chiming again!’
’Contains Source... Inedible... Poisonous.’
’Edible by Spirit Insects... Highly beneficial for their advancement.’
Yang Shen was speechless. He looked at the Sun Worm, which was still circling the plant, wanting to eat it but not daring to.
’I tell you to find Treasures of Heaven and Earth, and you go and find me bug food!’
Yang Shen scratched his head. In the end, he used the small trowel he’d bought at the herb market to carefully dig up the ’verdant tails’.
’Whatever,’ he thought. ’It’s still a type of Spirit Plant. I’ll check if there are any records of it on Cyan Blue when I get back. If it’s a named High Source plant, I might be able to sell it for a good price.’
But Yang Shen thought it was a long shot. There might be a market for it if it were fodder for High Source beasts, but insects... He’d never heard of anyone on Cyan Blue specifically cultivating insects. At least, not that he knew of.
After packing away the ’Fleshy Tail’ plants, Yang Shen headed toward the other location the Sun Worms had marked. The two spots were about three hundred meters apart, but with the poor visibility in the mountainous terrain, it felt like a completely different area.
This Sun Worm was waiting at the base of a massive tree, one so thick it would take three to five people to encircle it with their arms. There was a hollow at its base, and the object of interest seemed to be inside.
Yang Shen recalled the Sun Worm into his backpack before prodding at the dead branches and weeds inside the hollow.
He’d expected to find some sort of High Source medicinal herb. Instead, after rummaging around for a bit, he discovered a backpack...
’A wild backpack?’
The backpack was heavy. Though covered in bits of twigs and debris, it clearly hadn’t been sitting there for years. It had probably only been a few days.
Worried about what might be on it, Yang Shen put on the cotton work gloves he’d bought at the herb market. He opened the backpack to find just four items inside.
A wooden box, a plastic pill bottle, and a notebook.
And a letter...
Yang Shen opened the letter first.
’This was... written by Liu Yuankui?!’
There was no signature, and the letter was typed, but based on the contents, there was no mistake.
Because the backpack contained the payment for the three Marrow Refining masters from that night!
The letter’s contents must have been prepared by Liu Yuankui for after his ’grand success.’ It stated that once the job was done, the three of them were to go into hiding separately. He, meanwhile, would return to the school to maintain his cover and contact the others when the time was right.
’That made sense. Who doesn’t base their plans on the assumption of success?’
’You might not have a Plan B for failure, but you always have a Plan A for success!’
If they had succeeded, the undercover teacher, Wu, would have had to disappear. After all, with everyone else at the Training Camp dead, how could a lone survivor be explained? It would be too suspicious.
But Liu Yuankui could have brazenly returned to school, and the other two could have gone into hiding.
With everyone at the Training Camp dead, the massacre would likely have become a cold case, delaying the investigation for a significant time. Perhaps the Rebel Species wouldn’t have proceeded with the next phase of their plan until the college entrance exams were in full swing.
As a ’minor regional leader’ in a massive plan, Liu Yuankui apparently didn’t have much authority over his three accomplices; he had to offer them rewards to get their help.
First, the wooden box contained several hundred peppercorn-sized pellets. Liu Yuankui’s letter explained that this was special food for cultivating Bone-Eating Worms, which would make them more powerful. This was the reward for the Giant-mouthed Woman.
’The Bone-Eating Worms are obviously the Sun Worms. This stuff must be what led my Sun Worms to the backpack. I can’t believe these lazy, gentle little creatures have such a ferocious name...’
Yang Shen guessed that the cultivation methods of Exotic Witchcraft were likely different, relying on stimulating the creatures’ ferocity to control them. In contrast, the Bee Control Technique from his Spirit Plant Inheritance was much gentler, allowing the insects to retain their natural disposition.
The pill bottle contained something called a Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill. This was for the man who looked like an office worker. According to Liu Yuankui, it was extremely beneficial for those in the Marrow Refining Realm, very expensive, and a proprietary secret medicine from some Martial Arts Clan.
Most of the comparable products on the market were called ’XXX Granules’ or ’XXX Elixirs.’ The fact that this was called a Pill clearly marked it as the handiwork of an old-school Martial Arts Clan.
Likely in an attempt to increase the ’psychological value’ of the reward, the letter also griped that the people who sold this medicine were all black-hearted... a single bottle cost 200,000.
This was a case of a pharma rep getting ripped off by an even bigger pharma rep.
As for the final item, the notebook... it recorded a Horizontal Martial Arts Training Method called *Blood Burning Force*. It wasn’t copyrighted or patented for public sale; it was a reward given to him by his ’superiors.’ Its effect was to burn one’s Qi and Blood Value to temporarily boost combat strength.
It would first consume any ’unconsolidated’ Qi and Blood Value that hadn’t been fully integrated into the body. Next, it would consume one’s own essential Qi and Blood. If pushed further, it would start to drain one’s lifespan.
The letter contained no other information—nothing about where the three were supposed to hide, nor about the ultimate goal of Liu Yuankui’s organization. The entire text was about ’payment,’ with no mention of personal sentiment.
Clearly, Liu Yuankui had no intention of meeting the three again after the job was done. Pleasantries like catching up were naturally absent... The letter was even typed. Liu Yuankui had been very cautious.
Of course, for Yang Shen, who had lived through the entire incident and already pieced together the truth, the full context was easy to deduce.
’How should I put this... Handing this stuff over to the police wouldn’t really help much. The most I’d get is a commendation banner praising a high school student for his integrity...’
Given how difficult it would be for anyone to find a backpack in these woods, if Yang Shen didn’t take it, it would almost certainly rot away inside that tree hollow.
After a moment’s thought, Yang Shen decided to accept this gift from Mother Nature.
’Teacher Liu was really ahead of his time. People talk about ’loot drops’ metaphorically, but Teacher Liu literally left a loot bag...’
He certainly wasn’t going to use the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill or the *Blood Burning Force* right away. He wasn’t that stupid.
He would at least make sure there was nothing wrong with them before deciding what to do. He wouldn’t even mind selling them if the opportunity arose.
The food for the Sun Worms, however, was less of a concern. He had six of them, so he could just feed one or two and see what happened. It wouldn’t be a huge loss if they died.
Yang Shen glanced at the darkening sky. He took the items out of the backpack, checked them for tracking devices or anything similar, then tossed Liu Yuankui’s backpack back into the hollow and headed down the mountain with his new acquisitions.
’Good thing I wore gloves, so I didn’t leave any fingerprints. I’ll just leave the letter and the backpack to the whims of fate. Maybe someone will find them in a decade or so.’
When he got home, dinner was almost ready. His aunt was busy in the kitchen, and of the four little ones, some were helping her while others were doing their homework.
He sniffed the air. His aunt was making braised pork ribs, a dish they hadn’t had in a long time. This was one of the perks of their financial situation finally starting to ease up.
Lei Yi, the little glutton, was already drooling audibly.
Yang Shen, however, went to his room first. He planted the ’Fleshy Tail’ in an empty flowerpot he had on standby.
He had looked it up on the way back. It was a rather obscure plant, but it did have a name: ’Jade Pendant’.
In total, he now had six plants: three Jade Marrow Grass and three pots of Jade Pendant. He placed them all together on his windowsill.
This tiny space, just a fraction of a square meter, was the nascent Spirit Field of the Jianghuai Yang Family.
He performed a Finger Technique and cast the ’Ganlin Curse,’ watering the six pots of High Source plants. Just then, he heard his aunt call him for dinner.
"Shen, have you washed your hands?"
Before leaving, Yang Shen took one last look at his ’One-Meter Spirit Field’.
The six potted plants seemed to stand a little straighter, their green leaves looking more vibrant.
Just like the fortunes of the Jianghuai Yang Family.
Things were looking up.
’Once I have a harvest, I’ll be able to buy a burial plot for my uncle...’
THUMP. He shut the door and put on a smile.
"Coming! A good meal is worth the wait..."
————
[Recommendation Tickets]
[Monthly Tickets]