Chapter 156: Why Are You Asking This?

After leaving the Hall of Conservation, Chu Liang decided to drop by the Hall of Alchemy. He intended to visit all four halls in one day.

In addition to having areas for selling pills and elixirs, requesting alchemy services, and so on, the Hall of Alchemy had a large room known as the Office of Precious Herbs. It supplied information on various treasures of nature.

All year round, the Mount Shu Sect's disciples would report back to the Hall of Alchemy if they saw any treasures of nature outside the mountain or had obtained any information on such treasures. This way, if fellow disciples of the sect needed a treasure of nature in the future, there was a possibility they might be able to find clues about how to obtain it at the Office of Precious Herbs.

There was no reward for submitting information to the Hall of Alchemy. However, there was a custom among the disciples that if someone found a precious herb due to someone else's information, they were expected to thank the disciple who submitted that information.

In particular, there was an immense demand for the natural resources required for advancing through the three realms of the Earth Gate: the Golden Core Realm, the Realm of the Five Elements, and the Transcendence Realm. It was very difficult for individuals to gather all the resources by themselves, so the exchange of information in the Office of Precious Herbs was very important.

It was Chu Liang's first time visiting this office. Upon entering, he noticed there were quite a few Mount Shu disciples present. They were gathered around a large rotating disk, and hanging on it were rows of bamboo tablets with the names of precious herbs and their possible locations.

Chu Liang had already calculated that if he were to develop two high-tier Golden Cores, then the best combination for dual cultivation would be a pair of yin-attribute and a yang-attribute Golden Cores. For that, he would need a treasure of nature with a yang attribute in addition to the Nethersea Golden Lotus that he already possessed.

Earlier, Chu Liang had spoken with Wen Yulong and acquired the names of some precious herbs with a yang attribute that he could use. Those were the names Chu Liang was scanning the rotating disk for.

There was a lot of information on the disk, but it wasn't hard for a cultivator who had the assistance of their divine sense to take in all of the information on the tablets.

After a while, Chu Liang locked onto three pieces of information.

"Sword-Leaf Dark Sunflower, possibly located in the Black Whale Mountain along the coast of the Eastern Regions.

"Three-Hundred-Year-Old Spirit-Ginseng, possibly located in the Mountain of the Roaring Dragon in the Northern Regions.

"Blazing Sun White-Deer Snow Lotus, possibly located in the Scorching Sun Plains in the Western Regions."

Out of all the treasures of nature on the disk, these three were the only ones Chu Liang could use for developing his high-tier Golden Core.

After a moment of contemplation, Chu Liang raised his hand and took down the bamboo tablet for the Sword-Leaf Dark Sunflower.

The Three-Hundred-Year-Old Spirit-Ginseng and the Blazing Sun White-Deer Snow Lotus... were good choices too, but their possible locations were too far away. The Mountain of the Roaring Dragon and the Scorching Sun Plains were ridiculously remote places!

Since Chu Liang had a third choice of the Black Whale Mountain in the Eastern Regions, he obviously decided to go with that.

He turned the bamboo tablet over and read a detailed account that the informant had left about how he'd acquired this information.

It turned out that the informant had accidentally fallen into a dangerous area on a mission at Black Whale Mountain, leading to him spotting the Sword-Leaf Dark Sunflower. However, a powerful treasure-guarding demonic beast then drove him away, so he had no choice but to leave in a hurry without picking the Sword-Leaf Dark Sunflower.

The informant's details were written in a small font below the account:

Jade Sword Peak, Lin Bei.

"

Hmm?

"

A smile crept into Chu Liang's eyes.

So, it was this guy who found the Sword-Leaf Dark Sunflower? What a coincidence.

Chu Liang immediately put away the bamboo tablet and decided to go find Lin Bei to ask for more details about the flower's location. It appeared that while Chu Liang had been rushing about busily of late, Lin Bei hadn't been simply idling about.

After leaving the Hall of Alchemy, the next hall Chu Liang saw was the Hall of Discipline.

The entrance of the Hall of Discipline was cold and gloomy. Chu Liang pursed his lips and decided to give it a pass.

Who would willingly enter this place?

The only time he had ever violated the Mount Shu Sect's rules was when he'd stolen the spirit beast's food, and even then, the one who had gotten caught was Big Head. Other than that, he had been a very upright and well-behaved disciple.

...

Instead of going to Jade Sword Peak, Chu Liang returned to Silver Sword Peak and sent a paper crane to Lin Bei, asking him to come over.

Chu Liang didn't do that because he wanted to order Lin Bei around. It was just that Di Nufeng and Wang Xuanling held long-standing grudges against each other, so if Chu Liang went to Jade Sword Peak, he might encounter some disciples who would use it as an opportunity to pick a fight with him.

It was totally different when Lin Bei went over to Silver Sword Peak; he had Chu Liang to protect him. After all, Chu Liang was unquestionably the eldest senior brother of Silver Sword Peak... with only one person ranked above him and two below him.

Chu Liang gazed at Xiaoyu'er and Big Head playing outside, and the corners of his lips raised into a smile.

Golden rain once again fell outside Chu Liang's cabin; raindrops filled with dragon qi descended onto Silver Sword Peak with a rhythmic pitter-patter. Yet another newly formed batch of Golden Vein Berries was about to mutate.

Chu Liang had a great production chain for Dragon Breath Golden Vein Berries now. The ghost tree produced thorny black balls endlessly, so Chu Liang would go there every so often to kill some of them and plant the harvested seeds in his little garden. After that, the White Dragon's breath would condense into raindrops filled with dragon qi. That rain would fall over the berries, elevating their quality and effects.

Even though Chu Liang's crops were being grown in a small garden presently, he could already envision having a large sea of Golden Vein Flowers in the future. He might even have a plantation of Dragon Breath Golden Vein Berries!

When that time came, there might be too many flowers for Xiaoyu'er to tend to by herself. Perhaps Chu Liang would have to find a few more little demons to work on his plantation.

It was a vision that filled him with great anticipation...

"

Heheheh!

"

Chu Liang's daydream was suddenly ruined by a string of creepy laughs.

A young man who had thick eyebrows and was brimming with yang qi descended toward Silver Sword Peak. As soon as he landed, the Golden-Furred Hou immediately went on alert and took up a crouched position.

"Don't worry. We're all brothers here," Chu Liang said, mimicking Di Nufeng's manner of speaking.

He waved at Big Head, gesturing for it to stand down.

Immediately after seeing that, the Golden-Furred Hou turned and went to play with Xiaoyu'er again.

"Wow!" Lin Bei exclaimed upon seeing Chu Liang. "How impressive! It's only been some days since I last saw you, and you now have a fifth-realm spirit pet!"

"It was just a stroke of luck," Chu Liang replied with a smile.

"This Big Head—I can tell just from looking at it that it's a smart one," Lin Bei remarked enviously.

"You're spot on," Chu Liang said, giving a thumbs up. Then he changed the topic, "Let's not talk about that for now. Do you know why I asked you to come?"

"I do," Lin Bei responded.

Chu Liang was startled. "

Huh?

"

Lin Bei smirked devilishly."Isn't it to congratulate me on breaking through to the later stage of the Spiritual Awareness Realm?"

Chu Liang was quite surprised. "

Eh...?

How did you advance that quickly?"

"Speaking of that, I think it was fate," Lin Bei said. "Some time ago, there was a mission I wanted to do. I came to find you to do it with me, but Xiaoyu'er said you'd gone to Taotie City City, so I grouped up with someone else."

Chu Liang nodded. He had not seen Lin Bei since returning from Taotie City.

"I went to the Black Whale Mountain by the East Sea. Water demons had climbed ashore and were causing trouble for the villagers," Lin Bei recounted with animated gestures. "I chased the water demons and engaged in a thrilling battle. However, in a moment of carelessness, I fell off a cliff and landed somewhere that unexpectedly had several treasures of nature growing there!

"I only managed to pick a Hundred-Year-Old Fiery Lingzhi[1]. I wanted to gather more treasures, but I was chased away by an old ape.”

Lin Bei sighed, slapping his leg in regret.

"After that, I returned to Mount Shu and consumed the Fire Lingzhi, immediately breaking through to the later stage of the Spiritual Awareness Realm and some! I might even reach the pinnacle of the Spiritual Awareness Realm before you!" Lin Bei concluded, laughing as he patted Chu Liang's shoulder.

"Fiery Lingzhi is indeed a rare treasure that can raise one's cultivation level without side effects." Chu Liang nodded, still as serene as clouds drifting in the wind. "It was truly a wonderful stroke of luck."

"

Heheh,

" Lin Bei laughed. Then he asked, "Alrighty. Now, tell me, what exactly did you seek me out for?"

Right. So, you do know that there was a reason why I was looking for you,

Chu Liang thought.

Then Chu Liang said, "I happened to see the information you submitted to the Hall of Alchemy. I know that you once found the Sword-Leaf Dark Sunflower, so I wanted to ask you for the details of the location."

Lin Bei grinned proudly and patted his chest. "

Heheh

. You're asking the right person. That Sword-Leaf Dark Sunflower is also located below that cliff I fell off. I don't think there's anyone else who knows how to find it..."

However, at the next second, Lin Bei's smile suddenly faded away as if he had thought of something terrifying. "Wait a minute... Why are you asking about this?"

1. Also known as reishi mushroom. ☜