Chapter 140: Odious Crown Imperials

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The depths of the Apothecary contain all sorts of treasures. Some, like the Reverse Tree, are marvels that exemplify the might of the Eternal Flame Clan. Many powerful and influential people will go their entire lives without laying eyes on one, yet in the Apothecary, it is simply another plant to be grown. The quality and quantity of the resources harvested from the Apothecary every day are such that even a City Lord will be left looking like a pauper. Truly, the Apothecary is a place full of secrets and wonder.

Then there is the room of Odious Crown Imperials.

While not as large as the chamber of the Reverse Tree, the room of Odious Crown Imperials contains a large field of flowers nourished by artificial orbs of light. Eight talismans surround the flowers, creating a cube around them that keeps the heat and humidity inside, greatly easing their growth.

More importantly, the talismans keep the smell from spreading.

No one can deny the Odious Crown Imperials are charming plants. They have long, slender stalks, and their flowers resemble the shape of a crown when they blossom. If looks alone were all that mattered, Odious Crown Imperials would pretty up any garden.

It is, for that reason, quite unfortunate that their smell is the worst, their stalks cause sores to appear on those who touch them, and after receiving moonlight for a few hundred years, they may even start whispering how they plan to kill you.

The ones in the room of Odious Crown Imperials have yet to reach that last threshold, but the former two qualities are all too true. A disciple who is sent into this room is truly an unlucky one.

“How long have you been doing this?”

“I believe this is my twentieth hour, Senior Brother Luo.”

Senior Brother Luo whistles, impressed. He is leaning against the door, standing well outside the barrier that keeps the plants’ smell from spreading.

Liu Jin is not so fortunate.

The youth walks in between the long stalks. Green leaves and peach-colored petals are stuck to his robes. Big, bulky gloves cover his hands, though Liu Jin does not really need them. While Odious Crown Imperials are not safe to touch, that warning only holds true for people much weaker than he. The only thing the bulky gloves do for Liu Jin is make any precision task a chore.

That is the point.

“It is not as bad as it seems,” Liu Jin adds while carefully harvesting the nectar from one of the flowers. It is what he has been doing for the past several hours. “I have long since shut down my senses of taste and smell.”

Liu Jin had kept them active at first, thinking it would go against the point of the punishment if he were to block his senses right away. At least, those had been his thoughts back then.

His sense of fairness could only go so far.

Truly, Lu Mei proved to be the most fortunate of the two this time. Thanks to the pamphlet Elder Xun gave her, Lu Mei managed to avoid the same fate as he. With Elder Xue’s blessing, she is currently in isolation training.

“You should be grateful for such a mild punishment then,” Senior Brother Luo says. “Though I cannot claim to know what you did, everyone already knows Elder Xue was quite irritated by your actions.”

Liu Jin went to Elder Xun without asking for permission. While Liu Jin will freely admit his actions were reckless, they did give him a clearer view of the conflict between the Feng siblings. Still, it is only logical that he be punished. There is no telling how his meeting with one of the strongest men in the Eternal Flame Clan could have gone.

“Had you been anyone else, you would have received a far heavier punishment,” Senior Brother Luo adds. “You are lucky Elder Xue shows such favor to you.”

Liu Jin shakes his head.

“It is not just because Elder Xue favors me,” he says, though that will certainly not stop some disciples from being jealous of the preferential treatment Elder Xue gives him. “It would be counter-productive to levy a heavier punishment on me. All disciples are needed right now.”

Instead of being locked in some dark room without being able to cultivate, Liu Jin’s punishment is merely to harvest the nectar of the Odious Crown Imperials for the foreseeable future.

The nectar of the Odious Crown Imperials, it must be understood, is not some sort of miracle ingredient that can boost someone’s cultivation or heal grievous injuries. Its only use is of a more… mundane nature.

The nectar of the Odious Crown Imperials is the main ingredient in a highly efficient virility potion. While useful for those less fortunate, it is wholly unneeded for high-level cultivators. The Eternal Flame Clan grows them only because many people will pay handsome amounts of money for a good virility potion.

That Liu Jin has been given such a mundane task while others handle important jobs all around the compound is another aspect of his punishment.

“I cannot help but notice you felt the need to add ‘just’ to that sentence. That is good. It would be disappointing if you didn’t believe you were receiving preferential treatment. You will definitely make enemies because of it.”

“I already have enemies,” Liu Jin counters. “Is Senior Brother Luo going to become one of them?”

Senior Brother Luo holds Liu Jin’s stare for a moment. The scars on his face have greatly healed since the last time they saw each other.

“No, Brother Qing,” the older disciple says at last, shaking his head. “I did not come here to observe your misery as I imagine some people have done.”

“Five disciples so far,” Liu Jin confirms, nodding. Of those jealous of him, a few of them proved either brave or foolish enough to taunt him in his perceived moment of weakness. “Four of them got bored when I did not react to their words. Only one stayed for more than an hour.”

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That one had been quite creative with his insults.

It was a learning experience.

“Rest assured, I am not here to mock Brother Qing,” Senior Brother Luo says. “Every time I see Brother Qing, he’s either working or being assigned a new task. It would be foolish to deny preferential treatment exists. It’d be just as foolish to argue it is not deserved. Furthermore, there is already an agreement between us. I have no wish to endanger it.”

When Soaring Feather had been but a small chick, Senior Brother Luo had approached him to speak of an elixir that required the feathers of an adult Black-Winged Imperial Eagle. While it would have been possible for Senior Brother Luo to procure the feathers through other means, making an arrangement with Liu Jin ensured he’d have a steady supply of them.

“Is it that time already?” Liu Jin asks. “Based on the information on Black-Winged Imperial Eagles Senior Brother Luo gave me, Soaring Feather has yet to reach his full size.”

“A notion that fills me with wonder and maybe a little dread. Reading a number on a page cannot compare to seeing something first hand. However, I believe he has reached sufficient size for our purposes.”

“Interesting.” Liu Jin’s gloved hand closes around a stalk. “Rest assured, I have no wish to renege on our agreement. After all, it is because of Senior Brother Luo that I learned more of Soaring Feather’s species. Still, I must confess I am surprised at how much importance Senior Brother Luo places on this Body Strengthening Elixir.”