Chapter 423 - Thieves on Training
Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er sat on a leaf of a green vine as they were carried toward the West Barren. Qiu Jin'er asked, "Senior martial brother, why are we going to West Barren?"
"For adventure and training!" Zhong Yue replied as if he were really going for training.
“By the way, how’s everything with the【Mystical Infinite Transformation】I taught to you?”
Recently, he merged the【Million Gods Saint Ice Saint Art】with the Immortal Body technique of the Kui Long Celestial Race, selecting 108 patterns from the million gods picture to create the【Mystical Infinite Transformation】.
Qiu Jin'er had previously cultivated the immortal body technique when both of them studied the Kui Long's hide, so she also possessed quite a considerable amount of knowledge of this art. She might not be as strong as Zhong Yue was but only by a fine margin.
After all, as the Innate Wood Spirit Body, she had an abundance of life essence, and her unique physique granted her extraordinary advantages in cultivating this technique. The only reason she was not as strong as Zhong Yue was that she lacked the precious herbs, like the saint herb lotus, that Zhong Yue had access to.
In other words, if Zhong Yue had not obtained the saint herb lotus, his progress would be slower than Qiu Jin'er's; that was the incredible advantage of possessing any type of innate spirit body.
Qiu Jin'er then laughed and replied, "This art that senior martial brother taught me is more like an art designed for combat, which is incredible! But it's not as smooth as I expected when I cultivated this art because I am not creative enough."
Zhong Yue then advised, "Which is why you need to practice more. Go out and experience things to broaden your horizons. I too struggled for a very long time, but I stood up on my feet again and again whenever I fell. Only with such perseverance did I manage to cultivate to this point. Now, we will go to West Barren, and once we are there, you and I will go on an adventure and train ourselves."
His words filled Qiu Jin'er with happiness, and she thought, Senior martial brother will accompany me to train. This is great! But why must we go to the West Barren?
A few days later, the duo arrived at the West Barren, and after alighting from Qiu Jin'er's green vine, they continued on foot. Zhong Yue opened up his divine third eye and peered into the distance. He smiled, "We will now train ourselves in the Gui Shen Celestial Race. Jin'er, disguise as one of them right now."
"Then, the duo walked into the Gui Shen Celestial Race's territory and entered their sacred ground.
As a huge clan that was no weaker than the Shan Shen and Xiao Mang Celestial Race, the Gui Shen Celestial Race had quite a number of celestial temples. After all, they have been here for at least five million years, the number of experts they had guarding the sacred grounds was beyond imagination.
Qiu Jin'er looked around carefully as she tried her best to act as naturally as possible while trying to conceal her worry. As she looked around, she noticed that the guards' faces revealed no emotion, and she carefully stared at the Gui Shen Qi Practitioners' movements. She then quickly asked Zhong Yue through a voice transmission, "Senior martial brother, what are we doing where?"
"We are, of course, here to train ourselves. The【Mystical Infinite Transformation】I taught you revolves around the word "transformation." If you don't try to transform, how can you expect yourself to be able to control this art?"
Ling You Garden!
Suddenly, Zhong Yue saw a huge door with a board that read "Ling You Garden," and he heard shouting and smelled thick herb scents from there.
“Jin’er, follow me.”
Under Zhong Yue's lead, they entered the celestial temple where many Gui Shen priests were passing on their teachings to their people. They stood there for a while to listen to them, and Zhong Yue signaled Qiu Jin'er to take a careful note one of the female priest's appearance, voice, behavior, and aura before they walked out of the celestial temple.
The two then changed their appearance where Qiu Jin'er disguised herself as the female priest through the【Mystical Infinite Transformation】, and Zhong Yue disguised as another male priest before they walked towards the Ling You Garden.
Upon seeing them, the guards of Ling You Garden saluted to them and asked, "Priests, may I know your purpose in coming here?"
Zhong Yue glanced at him, and he said, "We need some top-grade herbs."
The guard immediately laughed and replied, "My priests, please tell me what herbs you need, and I will go get them for you."
"There's no need for that," replied Zhong Yue as he walked towards the door and said, "You will know the recipe of my medicinal pellets after I tell you the names of the ingredients. I will go get it myself!"
Hesitantly, the guard had half a mind to stop him, but he didn't dare to, so all he did was follow them into the garden. On the other hand, Qiu Jin'er was by Zhong Yue's side, trying to restrain her body from betraying the worry she felt in her heart.
“Jin’er, this is the training I’m talking about.”
"At first, you may not get it, but with every additional attempt, you will eventually get better. Soon, you will master the【Mystical Infinite Transformation】in no time!"
Qiu Jin'er calmed down again after hearing Zhong Yue's words and continued to follow him tightly. The Ling You Garden was vast; spirit herbs that emitted a pleasant fragrance speckled the ground abound, and arrays of seals surrounded the entire garden. These seals served two purposes: to prevent thievery as well as prevent the spirit herbs from escaping!
After all, some of these herbs had been here for such a long time that they developed sentience, evolving into monsters. If left to their own devices, these spirit herbs would burrow into the ground and run away.
Aside from the array of seals, there were also countless beasts guarding the perimeter of the garden.
"What kind of herb materials do you seek? The ones here are 100 years old, while those over there are 200 years old, and those there are 300 years old…."
The herbs were all categorized by their age; the older they are, the more potent their medicinal efficacy. Qiu Jin'er glanced around and was amazed at the sheer number of herbs that were cultivated in the Ling You Garden. Not only that, but every single herb here was extremely rare in Swords Gate, yet there were more than a hundred acres of such herbs here!
Zhong Yue, however, ignored these hundred-year-old herbs as he continued walking toward the back, "I want the 1000-year-old ones."
The guard quickly led the way and answered carefully, "There are not many of those left. If you wish to use them, I'll have to report to Priest Wei Zheng and get his permission first…."
Zhong Yue shot a glance at him and said with a smirk, "Both of us came for the herbs, do you think that he won't give them to us? Move aside!"
The guard did not dare to speak anymore and quietly led Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er to the herb farm with the 1000-year-old herbs. Upon reaching them, Zhong Yue's heart palpitated when he saw over a hundred of the 1000-year-old herbs!
These herbs were all incredibly strong, and each possessed immense spiritual power!
And right behind these herbs were a few spirit herbs that were more than 1000 years old!
These few spirit herbs must be those herb kings that had been around for at least a few thousand years!
There was even a godly herb!
Zhong Yue couldn't help but feel a little dizzy, as behind the three herb kings, there was a godly herb growing on an altar!
He once ran into a godly herb in the North Barren's ice palace. It was sealed in the ice, but unfortunately, Zhong Yue accidentally burnt it into ash when he tried to melt the black ice.
And today, he saw a godly herb here!
His heart rate elevated, and he dismissed the guard, "You may go now."
The guard then said again, “I….:”
"So, you really want to steal my recipe?" Zhong Yue questioned coldly.
Upon hearing his words, the guard shivered and quickly walked away, but Zhong Yue suddenly halted him and said, "Give me two mounts, I want the fastest ones. Now go!"
The guard then quickly scurried away to carry out Zhong Yue's orders.
"Jin'er, go and harvest the other spirit herbs, the more, the better!"
Qiu Jin'er quickly whispered, "Senior martial brother, is this really ok to do?"
Zhong Yue then assured her, saying, "Have you forgotten that they were also one of those that tried to kill us?"
“It’s fine, don’t worry, now go!”
After that, Zhong Yue dashed towards the godly herb while Qiu Jin'er mustered up her courage to harvest the other herbs. Upon reaching the godly herb, Zhong Yue noticed that the seals around it were also god-level seals. Clearly, the Gui Shen Celestial Race took the godly herb very seriously that their god personally created seals to protect it.
“Xin Huo, any idea?”
"Of course, how can such an easy seal like this stop me?"
Moments later, Zhong Yue got up to the altar and dug out the herb, making sure to retain the soil that contained the roots before carefully placing them in his secret realm. After that, he looked at Qiu Jin'er before rushing toward the three herb kings.
It did not take long before the both of them were out of the Ling You Garden with Qiu Jin'er face flushed.
"My two priests, the mounts are ready."
The guard then walked forward and said, "These are the Lightning Vultures, the fastest mounts we have in our Ling You Garden."
Zhong Yue measured the Lightning Vultures and saw natural thunder totem carvings all over their feathers, suggesting that they specialized in speed. He then nodded, and as he mounted the vulture, he said, "Very good. You may go now."
Qiu Jin’er mounted the other Lightning Vulture and as they both shouted, the vultures flew up into the air and headed straight towards the outside of the sacred ground like lightning.
After a hundred miles, Zhong Yue suddenly jumped down from the vulture, and Qiu Jin'er followed suit. As soon as he jumped off the vulture, he flicked his fingers and launched two Sword Qi that hit the butt of the vultures, which caught them off guard and scared them off. In just a blink of an eye, the vultures had disappeared from their sight.
"Senior martial brother, why…." asked Qiu Jin'er.
Zhong Yue then changed his appearance and replied, "This was all just a diversion. We have to change our appearance, or we will not be able to escape from our pursuers in Gui Shen Celestial Race!"
With a nod, Qiu Jin'er changed her appearance and said with admiration, "Senior martial brother is indeed very experienced."
Moments later, the entire Gui Shen Celestial Race was busy as magnate Qi Practitioners ascended into the air angrily and rushed towards the two Lightning Vultures.
A few days later, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er reached the land of the Fei Yi Celestial Race. It wasn't long before the people of that clan were also sent out in search of the thieves that stole their treasures.
Half a month later, Qiu Jin'er asked Zhong Yue in excitement, "Senior martial brother, where to now? Who's our next target?"