Just then, the old man said calmly, "This thing won't harm you. It just prevents you from using the storage space in the medicine garden. Take the medicinal herbs and come out immediately. Register them with me."

So that's how it was.

Only then did Lu Li let go of his hand. After taking a deep breath, he walked towards the small door behind the thatched cottage. According to Xiao Jue's words, there were restrictions on the surrounding wall. Without his token, one would die upon touching it.

Even though he had the token with him, Lu Li still tried it carefully several times. Only after confirming that the so-called restriction wouldn't attack him did he push open the small wooden door.

After entering the medicine garden, he couldn't wait to walk to one side and tentatively sank his spiritual consciousness into his storage bag.

Buzz!

Instantly, the jade plaque around his neck emitted a faint ripple.

"Surprisingly, I really can't use the storage bag." Lu Li's face looked a bit gloomy. In this way, even if there was really Thunderfire Orchid here, he wouldn't be able to take it away.

Lu Li didn't give up and tried to activate the Three Treasures Glazed Pagoda.

Instantly, the storage space of the Glazed Pagoda was completely visible.

"Surprisingly, it works!" Lu Li's expression brightened. He found that the jade plaque that blocked spiritual consciousness couldn't stop him from using the pagoda. In this way, couldn't he do whatever he wanted inside?

However, Lu Li then restrained his joy. The old man had told the location of the Mysterious Pearl Grass and how many there were at once, which indicated that the other party was extremely familiar with the spirit herbs in this medicine garden.

Even if he secretly took the spirit herbs out, it would probably be easy for the old man to trace them back to him.

"Never mind. Let's gather the herbs first."

Shaking his head, Lu Li walked towards the east of the medicine garden. The medicine garden looked quite large, but in fact, there weren't many spirit herbs in it. There was one here and one there, and the distance between each plant and each row was quite far.

Most of the medicinal herbs here were less than first-order, and some were even just seedlings. Lu Li didn't see many qualified spirit herbs along the way.

Come to think of it, first-order spirit herbs were at least a hundred years old. How could there be so many hundred-year-old spirit herbs? Planting the spirit herbs here was probably for the long-term plan of the sect.

As he walked, he had already arrived at the place where the Mysterious Pearl Grass was planted. After a quick look, there were exactly fifteen first-order Mysterious Pearl Grass plants. He thought to himself that the old man was indeed very familiar with this medicine garden.

Just when he had pulled out the eighth plant, he suddenly found that a nearby plant had a branch, looking like two plants planted together.

After taking a closer look, he found that the spiritual patterns on the small branch were only thirty circles, which meant that its age was only thirty years.

He couldn't help but have an idea. He directly pulled up both the big and small plants, then looked back before secretly throwing the small one into the Spirit Treasure Hall.

Then he sank his spiritual consciousness into the Spirit Treasure Hall, dug a small pit, and planted the Mysterious Pearl Grass in it.

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The moment he planted it, Lu Li clearly felt that the Mysterious Pearl Grass became much greener and full of vitality. Its quality was completely different from that of the Mysterious Pearl Grass planted outside.

"What a treasured place!"

Lu Li's face brightened with joy. After withdrawing from the Spirit Treasure Hall, he picked ten Mysterious Pearl Grass plants. After that, Lu Li didn't leave the medicine garden immediately. Instead, he wandered around in it. To his disappointment, he didn't encounter any other branched spirit herbs.

Moreover, there was no Thunderfire Orchid in this medicine garden.

After leaving the medicine garden, the old man guarding it counted the number of Mysterious Pearl Grass in Lu Li's hands. Then he felt around Lu Li's body, making him feel rather uncomfortable. Only then did he take off the jade plaque around Lu Li's neck and let him leave.

As soon as he returned to the square, Lu Li saw Xiao Jue waiting for him. He quickly walked over and saluted, "Senior, were you looking for me?"

"You don't have jade utensils to preserve the spirit herbs. I'm worried that the medicinal efficacy will be lost, so I'm waiting here specially for you. Give them to me." Xiao Jue stretched out his hand and said.

So jade utensils could preserve spirit herbs.

Lu Li remembered this and handed the Mysterious Pearl Grass to Xiao Jue.

Xiao Jue counted them and nodded, saying, "I don't have many medicinal herbs left. I'll stop refining the Condensing True Pills after one more round of refining. You've done well. Tomorrow, accompany me to finish refining, and then stay here to cultivate. You can go back when the one-month period is over."

"Thank you, senior."

The spiritual energy on Tianjue Peak was extremely rich. If he could cultivate here, it would surely get twice the result with half the effort. However, the other party obviously didn't mean to let him live here permanently, so Lu Li didn't shamelessly beg to stay.

After all, he was just a handyman disciple. It was normal for the other party to look down on him.

The next day, Lu Li waited outside the alchemy room as promised. Later in the day, Xiao Jue arrived.

Without any nonsense, the two of them entered the alchemy room one after another and began the last round of alchemy. Xiao Jue had a good impression of Lu Li and gave him some pointers from time to time while refining. Naturally, Lu Li remembered all of them in his heart.

This time, Xiao Jue refined faster than before. By the afternoon, he had already finished refining ten sets of Condensing True Pills. After refining, Xiao Jue took out a yellowed pamphlet from his bosom and handed it to Lu Li:

"Kid, you're quite shrewd, but unfortunately, you only have five spiritual roots and are destined not to go too far. Alchemy requires extremely high spiritual consciousness. Even if I intended to take you as my disciple, there's nothing I can do. This 'Alchemy Journal' was compiled by me when I had nothing to do. It mainly tells some common knowledge about alchemy. For an entry-level apprentice like you, it's quite helpful. Take it."

"Many, many thanks, senior." Lu Li's eyes lit up and he quickly took the pamphlet.

"Alright, off you go. Counting up, there are still ten days left until the one-month period is over. The spiritual energy on Tianjue Peak is rich. Don't waste it."

"Yes." Lu Li saluted again and turned to leave.

After leaving the room, Lu Li couldn't help but sigh, "Twenty days have passed just like that. It's a pity that I've only learned some theories. I'm still far behind in actual operation."

Recalling his gains in these twenty days, Lu Li could only say that he had made great progress in his understanding of medicinal herbs and the basic knowledge of alchemy. As for the actual operation... Since he burned the medicinal herbs to ashes last time, Xiao Jue hadn't let him control the fire anymore.

Come to think of it, spirit herbs were so precious. How could he be allowed to waste them?

After returning to his room, Lu Li directly entered the Time Hall. Time was precious and he didn't want to waste a single moment.

He first took out the Alchemy Journal and read it several times. He found that what was written in it was almost the same as what Xiao Jue had said when he was refining alchemy. After roughly memorizing it, Lu Li put the Alchemy Journal away.

Then he began to cultivate frantically. The spiritual energy here was quite rich, and the speed at which he refined it was far from keeping up with the speed at which he absorbed it.

Lu Li couldn't help but sigh, "It would be great if I had Condensing True Pills to help."

Condensing True Pills could double the refining speed and were extremely precious for Qi Refining Stage cultivators. In Qingyang Sect, one low-grade Condensing True Pill required a full one hundred contributions.

At noon the next day, Lu Li suddenly felt a strong sense of hunger in his body and had to stop.

When he came to the kitchen, he found that Min He was nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately, there were still quite a few steamed buns in the steamer. Lu Li lit the fire and heated them up by himself and ate them. He also found some shriveled pancakes in a big basin. With the attitude of cultivating until the end of this month, Lu Li took all the pancakes as well.

By now, there was nothing left in the kitchen.

Just when he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered the jade bottle that Min He had given him and had said mysteriously, "Don't open it until a day later."

Out of curiosity, Lu Li took out the jade bottle.