“Don’t worry about it. We have the most valuable herbs from the list. As for the simpler ones, you’ll have to gather them yourself. Tomorrow, before we depart, I’ll give you a list of the herbs we can provide for making the pills, so you’ll know exactly which ones you’ll need to collect.”
“Alright” - I nodded.
“Do you have any other questions?”
“No. All the best. See you tomorrow” - I said, taking the hint.
In truth, this condition of having to make so many pills felt more like a disguised refusal, because the list contained hundreds of them, and each required a ton of time to prepare. After all, these weren’t mass-produced pills that could be churned out by the barrel. But I was sure I’d manage to get everything done within three weeks.
Returning home, I discovered that my “mouse trap” had already caught a mouse. The same servant who had brought the treasures decided to relieve me of a portion of them and fell for the simplest trick, ending up with a poisoned spike in his leg. Frankly, I had set this trap only to warn potential thieves how dangerous it would be to steal from me, but this one was so foolish that he didn’t even watch his own step. And judging by his cultivation level, he could have just flown. Instead, like some barefoot peasant, he headed straight for the pile of gold and stepped on a small “anti-tank hedgehog” coated in poison and imbued with Qi to improve its “piercing power.”
Tossing the corpse out of the house and watching it plummet into the ravine; I sat back down to meditate. I even managed to retrieve the stolen stone charged with Spring Forest Qi, so my mood improved. Until the next morning, I meditated, restoring the seemingly minor damage I had received when getting rid of the seals. I also embedded a healing pill into my chest to trigger in case the slave seal was activated. That was my “last line” of defense.
In the morning, I headed to the Alchemists’ Guild. A somewhat worried Mu Niam quickly handed me a piece of jade listing two dozen plants. The storekeeper was supposed to give them out once I brought all the other herbs required for the corresponding pills. Then I went to the squad’s gathering spot. O Hu Yan was already there, pestering his subordinates with one complaint or another.
We assembled fairly quickly and loaded everything onto the Heavenly Ark. While we were flying, I sat comfortably on a soft seat and breathed in the fresh air. Since there weren’t many alchemists in the sect, “Icarus” (the Heavenly Ark) was less than half full.
I tried to study how this contraption was put together, but I only managed to figure out that the Qi formations embedded in it were fundamentally different from my enslavement and energy-absorption seals. Moreover, by using psionic scanning on the debris lodged in the cracks of the floor, I discovered that this transport vehicle was thousands if not tens of thousands of years old. It was clear there had been lengthy stretches of time in its history when no one used it.
The sheer antiquity of it left me stunned; it was no worse than that of the Ancients or Eldar. At the same time, it became obvious that the current level of knowledge is far inferior to that of old, by several orders of magnitude. Alas, my present knowledge and cultivation level weren’t nearly enough to understand how the Heavenly Ark truly worked. The only thing I found out was that it isn’t powered by any Heavenly Laws or Demonic Curses.
After an hour of flight, we landed. Then, a tenth-level Core Crystallization (30) cultivator entered the cabin. He carefully inspected and sniffed around the entire ark, and then… a search began.
“Hand over all your rings” - O Hu Yan addressed me.
“Hand over rings belonging to a grandmaster alchemist, filled with countless treasures?” - I smirked.
“We need to seal all your rings to prevent the theft of priceless herbs” - said the leader of the ‘customs’ unit, stepping up to me.
“Seal them, not take them” - I emphasized, focusing on the part of his remark I cared about.
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“After sealing them, we’ll return all the rings to you. Elder O Hu Yan forgot that there’s no need to take away the artifacts of grandmaster alchemists.”
O Hu Yan scrunched his face at those words but didn’t argue.
“Oh, grandmaster, how forgetful you are. You must urgently give up all your spatial rings so they can be sealed. I’ll be sure to keep a close eye so you don’t forget to collect them afterward.”
“Yes, Elder, you need to have all your rings sealed, too” - added the customs officer, apparently not fond of that snob either.
As a result, I got to observe the procedure. O Hu Yan put all his trinkets into a special pouch, which he then handed over to the customs officer. The officer activated the seal placed on the container, blocking access to its contents. It wouldn’t be too hard to break this seal, but returning it to its original state afterward would be nearly impossible. After that, I went through the same process, tucking all my valuables away in my pocket.
Once everyone had undergone a thorough “anal” inspection, three more fighters boarded, taking the remaining free seats. The Icarus took off but landed again after only ten minutes.
“Out!” - barked O Hu Yan, practically fuming with anger as soon as the doors opened.
Stepping outside, I found myself in a forest filled with pure, pleasant Qi. Everything around me was blooming and fragrant. The environment was something between wild jungle and sparse steppe woodland. On one hand, there were almost no thickets of bushes or vines; on the other, at decent intervals, there were sprawling plants radiating waves of diverse Qi. Overall, this place lived up to its name — the Land of the Sacred Foliage.
“All right, each of you will now receive a spatial ring and a jade slip with a list of the plants you must gather” - O Hu Yan began, pacing importantly in front of his subordinates. - “You are required to fulfill your assigned tasks completely. If you find any especially valuable plants, you must also collect them. Each of you will be assigned an escort who will monitor your performance of your duties to the guild. We’ll stay here for three days, and anyone who fails to complete the tasks will be punished upon our return.”
At that point, O Hu Yan shot a malicious look my way. After this rousing speech, he began handing out the rings and jade slips, starting with me. I read the information from the jade slip and found that it had been recorded by the head of the Alchemists’ Guild, so all those literal “haystacks” were not an attempt by O Hu Yan to inconvenience me.
“I also plan to collect herbs for my own pills” - I told him, speaking at his back.
“What pills?” - The squad leader immediately turned around, eyeing me suspiciously.
“These.” - I showed him the jade slip with Cheon Chu Han’s assignment.
“All right.” - O Hu Yan nodded, hesitating a moment. - “Just make sure it doesn’t stop you from completing your main task.” - A vengeful grin spread across his face.
Well then, we’ll see.
I decided not to waste any time and headed off immediately, scanning the surroundings with psionics.
“I will be your escort” - a second-level Core Crystallization (22) cultivator piped up, catching up to me right away.
I looked him over and noticed that his slave seal wasn’t just on his heart but extended to his head as well.
“Which direction has the highest concentration of rare herbs?” - I asked him.
“Follow me” - he beckoned invitingly, then… slowly drifted through the air at the speed of a lazy pedestrian.
“I asked a question, and I’m waiting for an answer” - I stated, not budging from my spot.
“The area you need is that way, about one hundred fifty kilometers distant” - he indicated, turning back toward me. - “Do you want me to carry you there?”
“No need” - I refused that dubious honor.
I sprinted through the air at my top speed. Once I was far enough from the camp, I stopped moving my legs altogether and switched the shields beneath me into “flight” mode. My speed increased tenfold, and I even had to surround myself with shields to keep the wind from ripping off my clothes. My would-be “porter” could only gape at that speed, but he did manage to accelerate and keep up, though it clearly wasn’t easy for him.
After about twenty minutes, I sensed I’d entered an area where the natural Qi was denser. I slowed down and started flying low, carefully scanning my surroundings with psionics. Everything was overgrown with grass and flowers, and in places there were small, gnarled trees stretching their branches toward the sun.
I soon located patches of “ordinary-quality” plants I needed and began harvesting them. According to the proper technique, each plant had to be picked or dug up individually to keep its inner energy from dissipating. Essentially, that’s what I did, just not by hand, but using Qi threads, which allowed me to “process” a hundred plants simultaneously. My escort gaped so wide, he never closed his mouth again.
Like a combine harvester, I swept across the meadow, instantly clearing it of medicinal plants. In doing so, I took only those that I needed or that were on my list. As for valuable plants that weren’t listed, I left them to grow. There’s no way I’m doing anything more for the sect without detailed and specific orders. I will show them ‘Italian sciopero bianco’ aka Work-to-rule.
Having finished gathering my harvest, I surveyed the area and headed for another meadow a few hundred meters away that also had plenty of useful growth. Hopping from one place to another like a bee, I completed a five-year plan in three days.