v6c3: The Forest and the Trees Part 2

From there they continued their tour of the grounds, much to Shou’s delight.

The bathhouse teemed with Spiritual Herbs, like walking into a hidden grotto of surprising quality—similar to the one he had ventured into in Pristine Lotus Vale, where he had first acquired these seeds, near four hundred years ago. Steam filled the air, and mortal plants.

“Of course, we’ll have a bath prepared for you tonight. The herbs do make for a nice experience.”

It had been a long time since Shou had had an actual bath, rather than simply using his Qi to cleanse his body—yet he was looking forward to it.

The fireplace of the main house was resplendent with Volcano Ginseng, the Spiritual Herbs poking up from around the charcoal and filling the room with a pleasant smell. Heat and flame made them grow.

“We actually started these in the glass furnace—they need toxic fumes from volcanic vents for their initial growth period, and we were able to replicate those with the glass we were making, thanks to Miantiao,” Jin continued, nodding to, of all things, a snake. The Spirit Beast bowed politely at the acknowledgement, and then returned to his work with a silver-haired woman, stoking the flames.

The cold storage contained a tangled curtain of Snow-Phoenix Vine, the soft, pale leaves swaying in the underground breeze as Young Jin fanned them rather vigorously.

“Now these ones are annoying. I have to fan them at least once a day—and hard enough that they look like they’re going to rip off the walls! Polar storms are no joke!”

Shou gazed upon each solution, so mortal in its implementation, yet holding treasures of cultivation. Each and every one was ingenious—especially the method he used to infuse Qi into them. This was truly the height of artistry. Shou, at the apex of the Sky Realm and halfway into the Imperial Realm, could only bow his head before the work of a fellow master.

It truly was too bad Shen Yu had found him rather than Shou. The urge to add this talent to his family was nearly overwhelming, and adoption would have been the most expedient course.

There was also marriage. His union with Yukong had of course produced fruit, as the Founders had decreed all true unions should. And though the Great Enemy had claimed their children, their line still continued in two great-great grandchildren still at the Sect. Core Disciples who had known nothing of the rot, thankfully.

Though that held less appeal. Firstly, because that meant he would be kin with Shen Yu. The second reason?

Shou saw the way Jin and his wife looked at each other. It was the same way he looked upon his wife, and Shou desired no woman but Yukong. Adding another woman to that would be difficult at best.

His mind thus consumed, Shou had to admit that he let some of the tour pass by him. He did not think he missed anything too important, but he would speak with Yukong tonight.

They reconvened in the greenhouse—an accurate name indeed—and as the formalities of the introduction to his house were completed and refreshments started being set out by a pink-haired servant. Meanwhile, Jin pressed a scroll into Shou’s hands.

“These are all of my notes on how every Spiritual Herb is grown, including the ones I can’t. They are the ones that need altitude and atmospheric conditions I can’t provide,” Jin said.

Shou took the scroll with the respect it deserved. Shou hadn’t really expected anything from Rou Jin; the seeds had been a gift at the end of the day, and an apology from the Sect. The seeds themselves were relatively useful for cultivators, so if the young man had decided to refine them that was perfectly acceptable, too.

That he had grown them was one thing. That he was willing to share the secrets of their growth, rather than just keeping them to himself, was quite another.

Shou made the gesture of respect.

“It may mean little to you, but Rou Jin, you walk in the path of the Founders. Truly, your craft is the equal to my own,” Shou said over his clasped fists. The young man blushed. “The fact that you have figured out one of these is a feat worthy of accolades. But so many of them? And so well? Your methodology in figuring out these secrets is most worthy of respect.”

“Methodology…? That’s giving me too much praise. I cheat,” the young man said bluntly. “I just ask them how they’re grown and they tell me, if they’re in the mood.”

Shou’s eyes widened. I just ask them and they tell me.

Cheat? A technique that told one everything a Spiritual Herb needed? That was even more impressive than having a method for figuring it out! It was a technique on par with the abilities of the Divine Sovereign Shennong, the Yan Emperor!

That kind of technique… it was a Heavenly treasure that every man who grew Spiritual Herbs sought.

To fools, being able to ask a plant how it’s grown would seem a limited, useless technique. And to most it would be, because even if one knew how a plant was grown, growing it was another matter entirely.

The cultured soil, the exacting detail, the temperature control formations, and the Qi to nurture the Spiritual Herbs—Shou knew many cultivators who would look at a garden and say, “I’ll either find them or buy them.” Or the more thuggish ones would try to take them, with no scruples in their race for the Heavens.

That, for most, was more efficient.

And even those who would see its value might hesitate to dedicate time to learning it because it would not directly improve them. It was a technique of pure knowledge.

How utterly sublime.

“What a Heavens shaking scripture,” he whispered.

“Something like that,” Jin said with a wry smile.

Shou left it at that. There was a limit to intruding on another’s techniques, especially when he had no proper recompense to begin to make such a request at the moment.

His mind was still reeling as he sat down at the round table… when he paused.

He blinked, his eyes focusing on an unassuming twig poking out of the soil. It had a slightly reddish tint to it, and had a feeling of fiery Qi. If it was just that, Shou would have confidently said it was some variation of the Pearlescent Flamebud—most had no idea what the First Shoot of the Spiritual Herb looked like.

But there was something deeper beneath the fire. Something of wood, something of water…

“…Rou Jin,” Shou asked. “What Spiritual Herb is that?”

Shen Yu, who had been blessedly rather quiet other than the occasional boasting statements Shou had largely tuned out, raised a brow.

“You don’t know either?” the man asked. Ge, Yukong, and Minyan all turned to look at the Herb.

“Hmm,” Ge said, stroking his beard. “It looks similar to some I have seen, but… it is rather strange.”

Minyan, probably the most well-travelled of them besides Shen Yu, spoke next. “It is nothing like I have seen, either.”

All of them turned to Jin.

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“All I know is that it’s not dangerous, so I’ve just been letting it grow,” he said with a shrug.

It was a Spiritual Herb Shou was unfamiliar with. Excitement blossomed in Shou’s soul.

“You said you have no methodology. May this old man show you his methodology to deduce the nature of a Spiritual Herb without destroying it?”

“As long as it doesn’t hurt it… Please,” the young man said, clearly interested.

Shou rose from his seat, a smile on his face.

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Jin Yukong could only smile with amusement as her husband and Rou Jin got into it. Both of them were immensely passionate about herbology, and the grin on Shou’s face and the light in his eyes was as fetching as it always was.

“Aaand we’ve lost them,” Shen Yu said with a smirk on his face.

“Ah, that’s Shou for you,” Ge replied. Both of the men were utterly relaxed, to the point of nearly uncouth uncaring.

Shen Yu only truly acted like this around those he trusted utterly, and Ge was happy to play along. Shou had obviously thrown any sort of propriety to the wind as well. Only Tianzhe Minyan stayed apart—she was obviously still studying Shen Yu and his grandson, but her thoughts were her own, hidden behind her veil.