Chapter 87

87. Chapter 87 Going into the mountains to collect ginseng

“Xiao Li, is this where you found the ginseng?”

Lu Qing looked around and asked Xiao Li who was standing on his shoulder.

At this moment, he was in the deep mountains, dozens of miles away from Jiuli Village.

The surrounding jungle was dense, with towering trees, full of primitive atmosphere.

The mountains and the outside of the mountains were really like two different worlds.

Ever since he knew that the Black Wolf Gang was suppressed by the Wei family and would not be able to find trouble with him in the short term, Lu Qing felt much more relaxed.

He began to think about how to use this opportunity to quickly increase his strength.

As long as his strength improved, he naturally would no longer have to worry about the small Black Wolf Gang.

And now, the easiest thing for him to improve is the Qi and Blood Power.

After comprehending the secret of Qi and Blood Perfection, the Qi and Blood Realm no longer had any bottlenecks for Lu Qing.

As long as he had enough elixirs, he could improve his Qi and Blood Power without restraint.

However, because his previous training had nearly consumed the bottle of blood-replenishing and qi-invigorating pills his master had refined,

Lu Qing, after some consideration, decided to take Xiao Li into the mountains to collect the wild ginseng he had discovered earlier.

This was why Lu Qing was now deep in the mountains.

“Ah~”

Xiao Li cried, nodded, and pointed in a certain direction with his claws.

Lu Qing immediately activated his supernatural powers and began to search the area.

Ignoring more common medicinal herbs, Lu Qing’s only target was ginseng.

After a thorough search, he soon made a discovery.

[Ginseng: A precious herb, edible, non-toxic.]

[This ginseng is of good age, over fifty years old.]

Lu Qing was somewhat disappointed as he looked at the ginseng plant shimmering with white light.

This ginseng plant wasn’t even a hundred years old, and the supernatural light it emitted was only white. Its rarity was far less than the two plants Xiao Li had given him.

Leaving the newly discovered ginseng untouched, Lu Qing continued his search.

Fifty-year-old wild ginseng, even if sold in a pharmacy, would still be considered precious.

But Lu Qing wasn’t so impressed.

So he decided to look for it again.

Before long, he had another harvest.

[Ginseng: A precious herb, edible, non-toxic.]

[This ginseng is of average age, only five years old, and has average medicinal properties.]

Unexpectedly, the ginseng he found this time was even worse than the last one, having only grown for five years.

It was a complete brat among ginsengs.

“No way, such bad luck?”

Lu Qing was stunned by the information provided by his supernatural power.

“I don’t believe it!”

Lu Qing began to search again.

He could have asked Xiao Li directly, but he didn’t.

He fell into a state of mind that was a bit unwilling to admit defeat.

Even Xiao Li, a little beast who knew nothing about medicinal herbs, had been able to collect two hundred-year-old ginsengs. He was familiar with the “Bai Cao Jing” and had supernatural powers. How could he not find a hundred-year-old ginseng?

Next, Lu Qing found several more ginseng plants, but without exception, none of them were over a hundred years old. The oldest one was only eighty years old.

However, seeing that the supernatural light emitted by the eighty-year-old ginseng was still white, Lu Qing still did not pick any.

“Could it be that the only hundred-year-old ginseng here are the two that Xiao Li dug?”

After discovering another thirty-year-old ginseng plant, Lu Qing couldn’t help but wonder.

“That shouldn’t be the case, otherwise Xiao Li wouldn’t have brought me here.”

Lu Qing continued his search, and finally, after half an hour, he found something.

However, upon seeing the ginseng he had found, he was stunned.

[Ginseng: A precious medicinal herb, non-toxic and edible.]

[This ginseng is very old, over two hundred years old.]

[Legend has it that ginseng possesses a variety of magical properties, and when old enough, it seems to possess psychic abilities and can give rise to spiritual intelligence.]

“Two hundred years old!”

Lu Qing’s eyes widened as he gazed at the ginseng on the ground, emitting a white tinge with reddish light.

He hadn’t expected that, after repeated setbacks, he had only found small, average-aged ginseng.

Now, suddenly, he’d found a ginseng this large!

A two-hundred-year-old ginseng—it was even more impressive than the two Xiao Li had found.

Even the ginseng the Wei family had brought to their master a while ago to nourish the young master Wei didn’t seem to be this old.

This was a truly rare treasure!

This time, he had finally struck gold.

Looking at the ginseng plant on the ground, Lu Qing suppressed his excitement and immediately set down the medicine basket he was carrying. He pulled out a bundle of red string and a hoe, preparing to begin digging.

Lu Qing first tied the red string around the ginseng.

This was herbalist tradition: when encountering a rare medicinal herb like ginseng, they first tied it with red string to prevent it from burrowing into the soil and escaping while being dug.

If this were Lu Qing’s previous life, he would have definitely refused to believe such a thing.

But now, he had even experienced time travel.

This world also contained miraculous creatures like Xiao Li and the strange fish, whose supernatural powers revealed the possibility of ginseng possessing psychic powers.

He would have been foolish not to believe it.

So, even though he knew the ginseng before him likely wasn’t psychic yet, Lu Qing followed herbalist tradition and tied the red string.

After tying the red string, Lu Qing began to carefully dig the ginseng.

He first cleared the surrounding weeds, then used the hoe to slowly dig along the ginseng’s veins.

Throughout the entire process, Lu Qing took no chances.

Even a single root of ginseng of this age was priceless and possessed potent medicinal properties.

He was no naive little creature like Xiao Li.

He would be heartbroken if he accidentally damaged such a rare and precious herb.

Fortunately, as a martial artist who had reached the state of Qi and Blood Perfection, Lu Qing maintained a strong control over his own abilities.

With such care, he ultimately unearthed this over two-hundred-year-old wild ginseng without a scratch.

Looking at the intact, undamaged roots in his hand, Lu Qing couldn’t help but smile.

A blood-tonifying and Qi-boosting pill made from a two-hundred-year-old wild ginseng would surely be far more potent than a hundred-year-old one.

With this ginseng, he could significantly shorten the time it took to reach Qi and Blood Perfection.

Xiao Li, observing Lu Qing’s smirk, was puzzled.

He’d only dug up a blade of grass, why was he grinning like a fool?

After admiring the ginseng he had dug himself for a while, Lu Qing wrapped it in a piece of grass, tied it with a red string, and placed it in the medicine basket.

After doing all this, he straightened up and looked at the forest in front of him, his eyes filled with excitement.

Since this place can produce ginseng that is more than 200 years old, is it possible that there are even older ones hidden?

(End of this chapter)