Chapter 153: Great Haul

The Spiritual Thread Grass was an extremely precious herb that changed its color according to how many years it had grown! Rank one Spiritual Thread Grass was gray in color, and cultivators referred to them as Iron Thread Grass.

Those that reached the second rank would turn slightly bronze in color and they were called Bronze Thread Grass.

When the grass turned completely silver in color, it would have reached the third rank. That was when it was called the Silver Thread Grass.

As for the fourth rank… Shang Xia’s vision was filled with a strand of grass in the earth that was completely gold in color. Gold Thread Grass!

“Gold Thread Grass? Silver Thread Grass? Wow, you guys are really lucky…” Shang Xia whistled. A trace of envy flashed across his face.

According to what he knew, the Spiritual Thread Grass had a lot of uses! The only problem was that it was extremely rarely seen.

It was so versatile and had so many uses that it could even take the place of many other herbs during the refinement process!

As such, there was another name for the Spiritual Thread Grass. It was also called the Thousand Gold Reserve!

Most importantly, Shang Xia knew that it was one of the two main herbs used to make Tempering Meridian Powder. One of them was the Wind Manipulation Zoysia that he obtained previously, and the other was Amethyst Whiskers which could be replaced with the Spiritual Thread Grass.

That was the true reason he envied their discovery.

Ma Xiaofeng chuckled in response, “You’re equally as lucky! If not for the fact that you killed three of them and caused them to retreat hastily, we won’t be able to keep the herbs! The five of us might even be killed by them! I believe that this strand of Gold Thread Grass belongs to you.”

After he spoke, none of the five rejected his decision. After all, their lives were countless times more valuable than the treasure.

“I can’t accept it!” Shang Xia rejected immediately. The five of them were nearly killed because they wanted to protect the treasure. Now, they were giving him the most valuable of the three Spiritual Thread Grass the moment he arrived. He felt that even if he saved their lives, the Gold Thread Grass was too valuable!

The five of them might be willing to give him the treasure, but he wouldn’t feel good taking it!

“Nonsense! Why not?” Ma Xiaofeng looked at his fellow companions. Their faces were filled with smiles and not a shred of insincerity could be seen.

Even though everyone wanted him to keep the Gold Thread Grass, Shang Xia was still unwilling to accept it. “I still can’t accept it! Fellow senior brothers and sisters, all of us are from the Tongyou Institution… Even if you don’t give me the Gold Thread Grass, I would still have saved you!”

Now that he said that, things started to become awkward. If they still insisted that he kept the Gold Thread Grass, they would be questioning his character.

Ye Mingyuan chuckled to break the silence. “Alright, we’ll keep the Gold Thread Grass. However, the two Silver Thread Grass must belong to Junior Brother Shang. Otherwise, we won’t be able to answer to our conscience.”

Ma Xiaofeng and the others quickly added, “That’s right! Junior Brother Shang, you need to take the Silver Thread Grass. Otherwise, we’ll be too embarrassed to show our faces in the institution!”

Shang Xia nodded helplessly. “Alright, your junior brother here will accept your goodwill. However, I’ll only take one of them!”

Ye Mingyuan and the rest tried to convince him to take the other, but Shang Xia was adamant about only keeping one of the two Silver Thread Grass.

Seeing as he had already made up his mind, all of them could only thank him profusely before getting Hao Yuanfang to retrieve the herbs from the soil.

Shang Xia finally realized why the entire valley-like area was barren. The growth of the rank four Gold Thread Grass and rank three Silver Thread Grass probably sapped up all the nutrients from the ground!

When he mentioned his deduction to Ma Xiaofeng, his guess was somewhat verified.

“Junior Brother Shang, you’re on the right track, but…” Ma Xiaofeng looked all around him before continuing, “... Even if all the heaven and earth qi in this area and the nutrients in the ground were channeled to the growth of these herbs, it should never have been able to reach the rank four level!”

Seeing the look of confusion on Shang Xia’s face, Ma Xiaofeng continued, “Do you know the true meaning of the Dual Season Land?”

“It was said that the Dual Season Land was used by the Zhu Family to grow spiritual herbs in the past, could it be…” Shang Xia frowned.

“Everything in the world is balanced. Even though they used this region to grow precious herbs, did you notice the endless grass plains in the surroundings? The life force of ordinary greenery would be channeled into the precious herbs with the help of the grand formation, shortening the time needed for the herbs to mature!”

Shang Xia recalled the chilly wind he felt when he first arrived and how the lush greenery withered before his eyes.

After hearing their explanation, Shang Xia asked, “Does this mean that every time a huge patch of grass withers, a precious herb would be growing nearby?”

“Probably. That was how the five of us located this place.” Ye Mingyuan added from the side.

Shang Xia’s heart trembled slightly and he continued his line of questioning. “Senior Brothers, do you know about the Resplendent Grass?”

Ma Xiaofeng raised his eyebrows slightly, and Ye Mingyuan chuckled. “Of course I do. It’s a rank three herb. Junior Brother Shang, are you starting to collect herbs to prepare for your breakthrough?”

Shang Xia shook his head and sighed bitterly, “Not yet… I haven’t obtained the medicine formula to enter the Martial Intent Realm, and I have no idea which herbs I need. I heard that many medicine formulas require Resplendent Grass. I wonder if it’s possible to find any in this region!”

“Junior Brother Shang, you’re progressing too quickly! Hahaha, it’s no wonder you haven’t found a medicine formula to advance!” Ye Mingyuan chuckled in amusement and envy before turning serious again. “The Resplendent Grass is similar to the Spiritual Thread Grass in a sense that it can be used to replace many precious herbs when refining rank three advancement medicine! Obtaining it early isn’t a bad choice…”

As Ye Mingyuan introduced everything he knew about the Resplendent Grass, Ma Xiaofeng remained unnaturally silent. In fact, he had quite an unusual expression on his face.

Turning his attention away from the conversation, Shang Xia looked at the corpses of those he killed as Hao Yuanfang was still extracting the herbs.

He was disappointed after looking through their belongings. Even though he found quite a few items, none of them managed to catch his eye.

These people are so much poorer than those in the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World…

Shang Xia looked at the knife lying on the ground. When the cultivator unleashed his martial intent with the blade, Shang Xia thought that it was a graded weapon. However, that wasn’t the case after he examined it closely. Even though it was forged using some precious materials, it was far from reaching the standard of a graded weapon.

“Well… If I manage to find some suitable materials in the future, it might be possible to turn it into a low-grade weapon!” Shang Xia comforted himself before tossing the blade into his Embroidered Cloud Case. After sorting out the rest of the items, all that was left before him were rank one and rank two herbs.

Even though they weren’t too valuable, Shang Xia estimated that some of them could be used when he refined the Tempering Meridian Powder in the future.

“Wind Manipulation Zoysia, Silver Thread Grass… With all these herbs, my preparation to create the Temperting Meridian Powder is more or less complete. All that’s left to do is to find a proper chemist. Once that’s done, I can start to comprehend my martial intent, the Yin Yang Sword Formation!”

After thinking about how he was one step away from completing his preparation, excitement started to boil in his heart.

Hold up…

However, the excitement that was rising in his heart was quickly doused when he thought about how many sword arts he would have to fuse into his Yin Yang Sword Formation. With so many sword arts, the amount of Tempering Meridian Powder required might be more than one portion!

From the current looks of it, one portion was far from enough!

His hands crept towards his Embroidered Cloud Case and he thought about the Meridian Replenishing Powder. He obtained it after killing Murong Yuntian back in the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World. He had one final portion left, but from what he knew, the Rose Party gave Murong Yuntian three portions because that was how many portions it took for the Meridian Replenishing Powder to display its full effects.

Falling deep into thought, Shang Xia also recalled that he needed three portions of Tempering Meridian Powder for it to reach its optimal effects.

Looking at all the herbs he had, all the excitement he felt started to disappear. It seemed as though he had to get his hands on several more sets of herbs!

Shang Xia suddenly recalled Dongfang Mingyu. That guy seemed to have a portion of Tempering Meridian Powder on him…

He also practiced the Dual Interference Sword Manual, a sword art that combined both light and heavy qi. If he carried the manual with him…

It seemed as though he had a lot of items Shang Xia coveted!

Due to the difference in cultivation level, Shang Xia was far from matching up to Dongfang Mingyu. As several sinister ideas flashed through Shang Xia’s mind, his train of thought was suddenly broken by a wave of cheers that came from behind him.

Turning around, he saw that the Spiritual Thread Grass had already been extracted from the ground. Hao Yuanfang placed them in cases that he prepared earlier.

Ma Xiaofeng brought a case containing a strand of Silver Thread Grass over to Shang Xia.