Chapter 196: Handing Over the Herbs
“Hello, Sis Wang!” Yi Yun entered the office with the herb basket on his back. A silly smile plastered over his face.
Wang looked unfriendly, but Yi Yun was already accustomed to it.
“Sis Wang, I see you are reading a book…” Yi Yun tried to make small talk, but Wang’s mean look made people swallow their words.
Wang stayed silent. She threw the book in her hand on the table and looked coldly at Yi Yun.
“Uh…” Yi Yun did not know what to say. He took down the herb basket and placed it on the counter. The two jade boxes that contained the Blood Yang Flower and the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng were of course within the herb basket.
“You sure came back early!” Wang glanced at the light herb basket and said with a cynical voice. Her sharp voice was ear-splitting.
“Yes… It’s because I managed to obtain some extra bonus. I was worried about the loss of the herbal essence, so I came back early. Besides… I have something else to deal with.”
Yi Yun’s words were the truth, but of course it sounded like excuses.
“Hmph!” Wang could not be bothered to expose Yi Yun. She felt that it would be a waste of her breath to say anything to this lazy and self-deprecating youth.
“You applied for seven days of continuous herb-picking. Each day is 35 dragon scale runes. Even if you came back early, I will still deduct all the dragon scale runes, not one less!”
By applying to pick herbs continuously, the rent was even more. This was because typically herb-picking was done in the day, but picking herbs continuously allowed one to pick through the night.
Typical cultivators would spend the night cultivating in the Divine City, so very few cultivators applied for this.
“That is expected.” Yi Yun was not bothered about a mere 200 or so dragon scale runes.
Seeing Yi Yun’s indifferent attitude, Wang felt that he was really hopeless.
By lifting Yi Yun’s herb basket, it was as Wang expected. The herb basket was mostly empty.
Wang randomly grabbed some herbs, she was planning to dry them before weighing them. But as her fingers went in to the basket, they brushed against a hard object.
Herb box?
With her sharp instincts as an alchemist, Wang immediately identified what the hard object was. She was slightly stunned, and using her slender fingers, she opened the box with a snap.
When the herb box opened, there was a red object. This object was seriously damaged and looked like a bloody pulp.
This is…
A trace of uncertainty flashed in Wang’s eyes, but it disappeared in the next second.
As an alchemist, she may not be able to identify the herb immediately, but her instincts told her that this was at least a Heaven-ranked rare herb.
The feeling she got from the herb couldn’t be wrong!
Wang picked up the red object and tried to discern it. It was likely the fruit a size of a fist. It was most likely due to the damage that the red fruit’s juices had leaked out.
“Could this be…”
Wang’s face flashed a look a disbelief. With her finger, she dabbed a tiny bit of the pulp before tasting it.
That strong Yang Qi and the taste of blood confirmed Wang’s own guess.
Blood Yang Flower!
And it was a Blood Yang Flower that had born fruit!
Middle-grade Heaven-ranked herb!
Wang looked up with disbelief at Yi Yun, “You… you actually picked a Blood Yang Flower?”
Ever since Wang took over the office for decades, this was the first time a cultivator had brought back a Heaven-ranked herb. And it was even a middle-grade Heaven-ranked herb. This was astonishing!
“Yes, my luck was good…” Yi Yun scratched his head. As a Heaven-ranked herb, the Blood Yang Flower was extremely difficult to find. But in the long history of the Tai Ah Divine City, there were quite a few cultivators with keen senses who managed to pick Heaven-ranked herbs.
Only those among the best, like Zhong Yi, had gathered more than one.
Hence, for this Blood Yang Flower, Yi Yun did not need to do much explanation.
Luck?
Hearing Yi Yun say that, Wang’s eyelids twitched. Even if she had gone personally, it was not easy to find a Heaven-ranked herb. And Yi Yun had just used an understatement like luck to explain it away.
This Blood Yang Flower was one of the more hidden kinds among the Heaven-ranked herbs. How could one find it just from luck?
Wang stared deeply at Yi Yun. She was unhappy. This kid had been lacking in perseverance and diligence, yet he managed to pick a Blood Yang Flower. How was this fair to those cultivators who were diligently picking herbs?
It was not fair!
“You sure have good luck to find such a herb!” Wang said it unhappily. It was impossible for a typical person to pick a Blood Yang Flower just with luck. But for someone with keen senses like Yi Yun, with luck, it was normal for him to pick a Blood Yang Flower.
“Don’t be too happy yet. This luck doesn’t happen often! Also, this Blood Yang Flower is seriously damaged. Don’t you know how to pick a herb? You actually picked it in such a sorry state! I will, at most, give you a third of its price!” Wang said coldly and was constantly suppressing Yi Yun.
She had a great amount of authority on deciding a herb’s price, but she did not wish to give even more dragon scale runes to Yi Yun. It would be better off giving them to those who lacked talent but worked hard.
As Wang said that, she reached to open the second jade box.
Pa!
With a soft sound, the green cover opened. It revealed a dried and cracked item that resembled a carrot.
“Yet another damaged herb!” Wang became angry. Yi Yun’s herb-picking methods were destroying heavenly treasures!
So many good herbs had been destroyed by him!
“Are you blind? Can’t you be more careful when picking herbs? Don’t you know that once it’s damaged, it will…”
Just as Wang was beginning to reprimand Yi Yun, she stopped. Her words got stuck in her throat.
She was like a clucking chicken hen which was suddenly being strangled.
Wang stared with her eyes wide open. Again, she looked carefully at the dry and cracked ugly carrot-looking herb within the jade box…
After looking carefully for about ten seconds, her body slowly froze. Her eyes became rigid and her mind went blank.
This… This is…
Wang felt like her heart had been mercilessly pinched. Her breathing turned irregular as her bloodstream turned turbulent as she stared with a daze!
An absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable conclusion appeared in her mind.
Pri… Primordial herb!!?
The dry looking herb that a twelve-year-old child turned in, was actually a…. primordial herb!?
How could this be?!
Wang reached out with trembling hands. Picking up the jade box, she carefully looked at the herb within. She looked at every tiny root carefully.
No matter how much she looked, she was more and more convinced of her earlier conclusions.
This was a primordial herb. Comparing it to the books, it had to be a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!
A kid had managed to pick a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!?
Wang’s neck seemed to rust. Her actions became slow. With difficulty, she turned her gaze from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng inch by inch towards Yi Yun.
This must be a dream…
This thought appeared in Wang’s mind. But how could this a dream feel so real?
As a human lord warrior, how could she be confused between fantasy and reality?
She opened her dry mouth, asking Yi Yun, “This herb… was picked… by you?”
Yi Yun nodded, “Yes…!”
“How… How did you pick it?”
“Uh… Good luck…”
When Wang heard Yi Yun’s soft explanation, she nearly vomited blood.
To explain it like that, was this a game?
“You think I’m an idiot?” Wang gnashed her teeth and stared at Yi Yun with burning eyes. At the same time, she quickly closed the jade box to prevent the herbal essence of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng from leaking.
Of course, Yi Yun was not expecting to fool Wang with such ease.
As for how he picked the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he had already prepared a tale.
For this, Yi Yun had spent the past few days to search through the library for every detail on the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Even some alchemists, who have never seen a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, could not beat Yi Yun in his knowledge of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.
After all, there were too few primordial herbs. Some alchemists might have seen other primordial herbs, but not seeing a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was very normal.