Danger of the Herb Plane

Cao Mao wanted to say that he wanted out, but it was too late. The elder seized his arm and flew to the outer sect zone. Then, he dropped Cao Mao to his affiliated institution, the Xin Garden.

Upon reaching the public portal of the garden, Xin Pi, the elder that brought Cao Mao here, pointed at the magic circle.

"Junior Cao, my garden has already activated the portal to the other realm. My disciples have already entered there. You should hurry and get in before it's closed."

Cao Mao rubbed his right eyebrow. It didn't twitch, but he didn't trust the elder.

"What's the difference between this place and the magic circle in front of the city?"

"Oh that," Xin Pi laughed, "You see, the herb realm is our sect's property. Why should we allow them to plunder our precious resources for some chump changes?"

"What? It's not safe!?" Cao Mao widened his eyes and walked back a step. He was wary of the sub-dimension world now.

Xin Pi's face revealed his dark smile, but no killing intent was directed toward Cao Mao, "Have you read the brochure properly?"

"Uh, I don't think I understand everything about this event. Could you explain?"

"Of course. First of all, do you know that sentient plants, trees, and trap arrays exist there?"

"Yes."

"Then, do you know how strong the guardians are?"

"… No."

"Each of them can easily take down 5th-stage cultivators. Their combination of wood, water, wind, and earth element power can overwhelm everyone without elemental resistance. A few of them can even use advanced element and dao, so 6th-stage cultivators will even have a rough time if they run into one of them."

"But will the disciples and I be okay in there?"

Xin Pi continued to laugh, "There's no way that you'll run into trouble in there. First, the public portal in front of the city will send them into the most dangerous areas. As for us, we send our disciples and insiders to the safe zones with plenty of good medical herbs."

In other words, this event was rigged. Even though these alchemists belonged to an orthodox sect, they were never shy away from killing others.

Cao Mao was relieved that he sold orc strength pills to Ju Shoufen and maintained a friendly relationship with the sect. Had he acted like an egotistic lone-wolf protagonist who refused to bow his head to anyone but demanded more profits, these people might have tricked or killed him long ago.

"Is there anything you haven't told the outsiders?"

"Yes," Xin Pi snickered. Then, he whispered, "Don't tell any of those morons out there if you were to encounter the guardians in there, especially the dryads. I'll tell you something. Keep it to yourself…"

Cao Mao spent half an hour listening to Xin Pi's secret intel. The more he listened, the wider his evil crescent smile expanded.

"Hey, we are merely honest and harmless alchemists. We gotta do what we gotta do."

"I can't deny that. Good guys don't live long, but we're VERY HONEST AND HARMLESS alchemists. Hahaha!"

"HAHAHAHA! We'll be living for a long time!"

"HAHAHA!"

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Cao Mao teleported to the alternate plane, where everybody named them [Botany Realm], [Plant Realm], and [Herb Farm Realm]. As soon as he opened his eyes, he understood why they were called by the names.

Lines and rows of medical herbs covered the farmlands. No tree was in sight, just herb farms.

At the horizon to the north, west, east, and south, a dome barrier wall stood tall, extending from the ground to the clouds. Cao Mao couldn't even see how far the dome reached.

A few hundred meters away from Cao Mao, several groups of alchemist disciples were busy digging the herbs on the farm.

Cao Mao knelt and examined the nearest plant next to his feet. He didn't even need to use his memory since there was a little sign on the ground.

Level 1 Area, Spirit Ginseng

There was no indication of how old this ginseng plant was. It was up to Cao Mao to determine its age.

The red flowers on top of the plant blossomed in leaked natural Qi to the air. Its woody scent was homey, and it reminded Cao Mao of the freshly plowed soil's smell.

'The smell is a lot stronger than the system's ginsengs. Is it 10 years old?'

As the system never identified anything unless the items were in his space inventory, Cao Mao began digging the ginseng with his bare hands, planning to put the entire plant into the system inventory and identify its age.

Cao Mao had read a couple of books during the month. He still remembered how he could extract ginsengs and other common spirit herbs.

Harvesting ginseng was simple. Cao Mao only needed to dig out the entire plant, including its roots.

After digging for a while, his fingers accidentally touched the roots. His fingernails pierced it.

A streak of lightning struck Cao Mao and knocked him backward. Fortunately, it was not a fatal attack. He wasn't injured by the lightning.

The soil of the ginseng returned to its original place.

"Wow. Everything resets because of one mistake."

Cao Mao wiped a drop of sweat. Yet, he admired the mechanism of this world.

This penalty system was perfect for nurturing alchemist and herbalist disciples. They could test their skills here, and they would be warned of their mistakes. Cao Mao even wished that he could also have this kind of feature in his isolation space one day.

"Alright. I'll do my best, too!"

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An hour later, Cao Mao managed to dig up five ginsengs. Each of them was older than 10 years.

Cao Mao was in a bad mood. The process was getting tedious, and he got fewer herbs than he had expected. After the sixth ginseng, he had an urge to cheat.

'System, once I touch the herbs, can you store them in my inventory right away?'

Ding

Affirmative.

Cao Mao widened his eyes in shock. He asked the system on a whim, but he had never expected it to be this useful.

Without hesitation, Cao Mao reached for the nearest plant.

'Here, take this one!'

The plant disappeared like smoke after Cao Mao touched it.

Ding

You have stored an 11-year-old ginseng.

"Hahaha! Whoops."

Cao Mao wanted to cackle, but he didn't want to attract too much attention to himself. He covered his mouth and sat down, avoiding the eyes of other alchemist disciples nearby.

Had Cao Mao been shameless, he could have run through the farm and touch everything. Then, he would have looted all ginsengs in the field. However, everybody would notice his deeds, and dire consequences would follow after he returned to Yeet City.

For the sake of keeping a low profile, Cao Mao pretended to dig the soil, but he secretly touched several plants nearby. After five minutes, he gathered 20 ginsengs. Then, he stood up and walked toward a secluded area, away from the disciples.

While Cao Mao was walking toward a new area, he also tested the system's flexibility. He touched plants with his shoes and tried to store them in his inventory.

It also worked.

Upon getting the confirmation, Cao Mao wasn't satisfied with getting ginsengs anymore. He wanted to try his luck in the other farms.

As such, Cao Mao skip-danced from the ginseng field to another field. He didn't forget to loot a few plants that his feet and legs touched, but he intentionally left 70% of the plants behind to disguise his abilities.

No disciple noticed how Cao Mao looted his herbs with his feet. They only glanced at him and returned their focus on their tasks, thinking that he was a dump freak.

Ten minutes later, Cao Mao reached a cornfield. He intentionally walked here as the corn stalks were at least 5 meters high. They were tall enough to hide his actions and his cheat abilities.

'Now, what can I get from this farm, I wonder?'

After walking into the forest of the corn farm, Cao Mao began looting the corns.

Ding

You have stored 12 spirit corn ears and a corn stalk.

Cao Mao rubbed his chin as he tried to remember what these spirit corns were for. The recipes in the alchemy menu didn't require this ingredient.

As Cao Mao couldn't remember. He checked the corn's description.

Spirit Corn

Spirit corns are popular ingredients for grain pills. It is also delicious if you eat it raw.

Effect: Increase your satiety. Contains high calories and carbs.

Cao Mao was disappointed. It was another common plant.

'So that's why I don't see many people here. Welp, I'll just loot everything as I go.'

Cao Mao opened his arms and marched forward. His arms and body were like a harvesting truck as they sucked all crops into his body.

Walking blind, Cao Mao traveled a kilometer closer to the barrier border, but he still got stuck in the endless cornfield.

Cao Mao rechecked his progress. After walking randomly for another hour, he harvested over 2,000 ears of corns without running into any alchemist.

Getting bored of storing corns into the system inventory, Cao Mao lost focus and started daydreaming. Yet, his body and arms didn't stop taking everything into his inventory.

Then, changes occurred.

Ding

You have stored 12 spirit wooden corn ears and a corn stalk.

They were no longer spirit corns. It had a different prefix.

Spirit Wooden Corn

Spirit wooden corns are the staple food for wooden elements and spiritual creatures of Botany Plane. It contains strong wooden element essence. Do not eat it raw!

Effect: Increase your wooden element power. High wooden element resistance?is required before consumption.

Cao Mao stumbled on something interesting.

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Meanwhile, 300 kilometers away from Cao Mao's current location, Xie Tian and other cultivators got stuck in a deep forest maze. They found high-level spiritual plants, but none of them could harvest them.

In fact, none of them had the luxury. In this forest, every plant was alive.

Xie Tian and many cultivators stood their ground against trents, wooden golems, man-eating flowers, blood-sucking worms, parasite grasses, and an army of two-meter tall killer wasps.

At a glance, they were threatening enough. But all cultivators looked at the figure behind these monsters in fear.

A female silhouette with green long hair stood on top of the tallest ent, staring at the horde of cultivators.

The female figure was naked, revealing her genital and ample breasts. However, her legs and her arms were not something of a human being. They were made of tree vines and roots.

It was a 7th-stage dryad queen.

"Surrender, or else!"

The dryad's nascent soul came out from her body. Then, her domain expanded. Everyone, including Xie Tian, could sense her domineering killing intent and aura.