Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 37: Herb King Spirit Elixir

Under the resplendent night sky, the Dao Enlightenment Tree’s imposing figure blocked out the moonlight. The little herb kings were still playing gleefully in the water, and even Lu Yang joined in the fun. Time seemed to have come to a standstill in front of this harmonious sight.

After the little herb kings were comfortable with their bath, they sprawled out on the ground and ceiling of the wooden hut, snoring loudly as they slept. The Dao Enlightenment Tree didn’t let this time go to waste; it put away the wooden bucket and water, something Lu Yang found puzzling.

“What are you doing?” Lu Yang asked.

The Dao Enlightenment King casually replied, “Oh, this is for Little Ba. He said that their bathwater is worth a lot of money. The Dao-Seeking Sect disciples love to use it.” It shook its branches like someone shrugging, expressing its helplessness toward the behavior of humans.

As a plant, it was hard for it to understand some of humans’ strange actions. I know that humans like to use my hair or what they call leaves to brew tea. They also like to use my skin to prepare meals, claiming that it can improve the fragrance; I think they call it cinnamon or something.

“Oh, by the way, Little Ba even gave the bathwater a nice name. It’s called Herb King Spirit Elixir. I have to give it to you humans. You are much more cultured when it comes to names.”

“Herb King Spirit Elixir?” Lu Yang subconsciously repeated the name, finding it familiar. He soon remembered where he had seen the term before.

Isn’t this the extremely popular Herb King Spirit Elixir on the contribution points rewards board?! The list described the Herb King Spirit Elixir as a precious elixir specially concocted by the higher-ups of the Dao-Seeking Sect.

So this is what they mean by “specially concocted?!”

Lu Yang began to question the various bizarre items on the board. Although the description may seem to have no problems, it doesn’t mean that it really has no problems!

~~~

In the following days, Lu Yang worked diligently to burrow into the ground, all the while hearing the little herb kings chatter incessantly about medicinal knowledge. With that, his days were very fulfilling.

“I remember that there’s an area of Eight-Treasure Lotus Flowers ahead. They’re pink and tender, and they look amazing. Do you want to burrow there and take a look?” the ginseng doll asked from behind Lu Yang.

“... Lotus flowers grow in ponds, right?”

“That’s right.” The ginseng doll nodded matter-of-factly.

“Then if I burrow there, wouldn’t I be diving headfirst into a pond?”

The ginseng doll finally realized. “Oh, you’re right. That makes sense.”

Lu Yang gave up on communicating.

Following the ginseng doll’s directions, Lu Yang burrowed his way through and emerged from the earth. Not far away were the magnificent Eight-Treasure Lotus Flowers. Morning dew condensed on its petals, some dripping into the water and creating gentle ripples. Eight-Treasure Lotus Flowers could help dispel heat and dampness, and it had efficacies in detoxification and nourishing the heart, so it was often used in concocting pills.

“I just don’t know why Eight-Treasure Lotus Flowers have the term ‘Eight-Treasure,’” Lu Yang remarked, recalling the information he saw from the books.

This was an unsolved mystery among pill-concocting masters. Numerous pill-concocting masters wrote books, citing the classics and mentioning various viewpoints. For example, some mentioned that the reason was because Eight-Treasure Lotus Flowers had eight types of efficacies. Others mentioned that the name evolved from Daoist bagua, while there were even those who claimed that “Eight-Treasure” referred to the eight meridians in the human body and that eating more Eight-Treasure Lotus Flowers could open up the Eight Extra Meridians[1].

Lu Yang leaned more toward the first hypothesis that there were eight types of efficacies. I can’t say much about the rest, but at least the first reason sounds reliable.

The ginseng doll asked, “Are you referring to this? I know.”

“You know?”

The ginseng doll crossed its ginseng roots at its hip, smugly replying, “That’s right! Devotee Guyu was the one who discovered the Eight-Treasure Lotus Flowers. At that time, both of us happened to enter an undiscovered secret domain. Fortunately, both of our cultivation were high, so it wasn’t dangerous for us. The two of us played to our hearts’ content in the secret domain. When we got tired, we would rest, eat, and sleep on the spot for the atmosphere.

“When we were eating, Devotee Guyue found a patch of pink lotus flowers that he had never seen before. I asked him how he wanted to name them. He glanced at the Eight-Treasure Congee[2] in this hand and offhandedly suggested that we could just call it Eight-Treasure Lotus Flower.

”Afterward, he took away a few lotus flowers and made them multiply in the outside world, leading to the scale of propagation you see today.”

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Lu Yang didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t his first time hearing about Devotee Guyue’s story. Every time, the ending would be unexpected.

The other little herb kings had also traveled far and wide, having experienced many matters, but none of their experiences were as exciting as the ginseng doll’s. As the little herb kings interacted with Lu Yang, they gradually came to accept him. Even if Lu Yang returned to his original size, the little herb kings wouldn’t discriminate against him but instead find his big size fun.

A month passed by in the blink of an eye. During this period, Grandpa Ba had taken away the transparent spirit stones and bathwater from the little herb kings, bringing back a large quantity of spirit stones for the little herb kings to bury back in their original places. Grandpa Ba would even pick many ingredients and provide them to the Pill Caudron Peak from time to time.

~~~

“Devotee Guyue originally didn’t go by this name. His surname was Hu, so he called himself Devotee Hu. However, his handwriting wasn’t very good. There was once he wrote his surname “Hu” with the components written too far apart, causing people to read it separately as Devotee Guyue.[3]

Right then, Little Ba transmitted an auditory message[4] to Lu Yang. “Lu Yang, come out for a bit.”

When he arrived at the entrance of the herb garden, he saw a loving husband and wife. The husband was radiating sunlight and confidence, while the wife was adorable and reliant on her husband. However, Lu Yang didn’t dare to commend their choice of clothing.

The couple was wearing ordinary clothes that resembled a swimming ring, looking so incomparably swollen to the point they could even stay afloat if they fell into the sea.

This was their clan’s custom for clothing.

“These two are...”

“Let me introduce, these are your seniors, the Silver-Ringed Monarch Earthworms,” Grandpa Ba presented.

Realization hit Lu Yang. It looks like they’ve settled their marital conflict and made up with each other. I don’t have to dig the soil anymore. To think that they resolved their emotional dispute so quickly in just a month. I thought it’d take a television series of at least forty to fifty episodes with the female lead losing her memories and the male lead awakening her memory before they welcome their happily-ever-after.

“He’s called Lu Yang. The both of you probably have heard of him before. He is the sect leader’s fourth disciple and personally trained by Yun Zhi.”

“Nice to meet you, seniors.” Lu Yang bowed, frightening the Silver-Ringed Monarch Earthworms until their hearts were shuddering. They quickly got him to stand up straight, not daring to receive his greetings.

“You are Yun Zhi’s little junior brother. I’m Li Yin, you can just call me Little Li. This is my wife Xiaoli.”

Who dares to treat the she-devil’s little junior brother as a junior?!

Lu Yang was completely oblivious to everyone’s impression of Yun Zhi.

“How did you solve your relationship issue?”

“What’s so difficult about that?” a voice came from beneath the ground.

A husband and wife burrowed out of the ground, their appearance exactly the same as the Silver-Ringed Monarch Earthworm.

“Since my wife has split herself into two and became a pair of beautiful sisters, I naturally can also split myself into two and create a brother,” Little Li said proudly.

Little Li husband-and-wife the second were also very affectionate.

Little Ba nodded with satisfaction. I was the one who came up with this idea.

I’m a very responsible person. Since I caused the problem, I should solve it.

1. Common in TCM, it is also very popular in wuxia and xianxia novels. ☜

2. Eight-Treasure Congee is a very common Chinese dish. ☜

3. The character used for “Hu” in this case contains the characters for “Guyue.” Hu is 胡 and Guyue is 古月. ☜

4. You would hear the voice in your head if you are re the intended recipient. This is very common in xianxia novels. ☜