Meteorite Grass
Meteorite Grass
With 200 cauldrons of the Flowing Mercury Gown weighing him down, Yi Yun had to be careful with every step he took. He could not step on mud and he had to step on rocks, or his entire leg would sink into the ground.
In the Divine Wilderness's mountains, there were many rocks, and their hardness was sufficient for supporting Yi Yun's weight.
After stepping on a particular piece of rock, Yi Yun was just about to take the second step when the large granite rock he had rested his weight on flipped over suddenly. It was as if it could not handle the heavy weight Yi Yun possessed, causing it to be pried out of the soil.
This sudden turn of events surprised Yi Yun. With the rock's flip, his entire body crashed downward.
With 200 cauldrons of weight in the Flowing Mercury Gown, if he did not change the weight in time, falling would be no laughing matter.
If Yi Yun fell on any normal rocks, they would shatter and injure him at the same time.
Despite him about to crash into a large rock, Yi Yun still chose not to change the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown; instead, he twisted his body in the air and drew out his Thousand Army Saber from his back!
Cha!
The long Thousand Army Saber that rivaled a human's height sliced through the rock wall like tofu. Using this force, Yi Yun swung his body and somersaulted back into the air. With the strength from this backflip, Yi Yun's body, which was about to crash into the ground with his back first, managed to swing to the side.
He was like a lively monkey. After traversing a distance of ten feet and tipping his toes on a rock, Yi Yun regained his stability. But the simple tip of his toes had crushed the rock to pieces.
As a result, Yi Yun finally had enough power to firmly land on top of a boulder.
The series of moves he executed was a result of reaching the threshold of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety. If not, he could only have reduced the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown while falling off the large rock.
Climbing a mountain with a weight of 200 cauldrons was difficult since he could accidentally crush the rocks he walked on.
Yi Yun was continuously attempting and experimenting. Under all these attempts, he slowly gained more and more precise control of his strength. Each ounce of strength was no more, no less than necessary. It was like he was dancing on the tip of a blade.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Step after step, Yi Yun climbed up the mountain. Each step was swift and cautious.
Every spot he passed by left behind an imprint that resembled a behemoth's footprint. There was a large crater left behind wherever he rested his feet.
Every time he encountered a situation with the rocks he stepped on, Yi Yun would emerge safely through the use of his movement skills.
"Oh?
Yi Yun suddenly realized that there was a shimmering light by a tree a hundred meters away. It was like starlight.
The Purple Crystal within Yi Yun's body began to pulsate slightly, bringing the light's existence to Yi Yun's attention.
With Yi Yun's cultivation level getting higher, his spiritual energy was growing more powerful. It allowed him to now perceive things in a keener manner. Yi Yun could perceive every bit of energy in a hundred-meter radius.
And if there was a primordial strain filled with pure energy in the vicinity, Yi Yun would still be able to detect one even if it were several kilometers away. Yi Yun's perception was not affected even if the energy was sealed. Of course, being able to perceive sealed energy was one thing. Absorbing it was another!
This was the fantastic vision that the Purple Crystal gave Yi Yun—a world with energy as its building blocks.
Under the guidance of the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun easily found the source of the energy.
Brushing away the shrubs, Yi Yun found a fist-sized flower in between the cracks of a tree trunk.
"Void Star Flower?"
By looking at the flower's colors and the way the petals moved, Yi Yun identified the flower.
When he came to the Tai Ah Divine City, he had read the book 'Divine Wilderness', which had records about the Void Star Flower. It absorbed Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and rain to grow. It was rooted in an ordinary large tree as a parasite.
But this tree was actually no different than the Void Star Flower's own roots. Upon removing the Void Star Flower, the tree would slowly wither away.
In the Divine Wilderness, there were all sorts of treasures that had the ability to hide and protect themselves, if not, they would be easily eaten by desolate beasts or picked by humans.
The Void Star Flower was a high-grade Yellow-ranked herb and he could exchange it for about three dragon scale runes.
"After going so far, all I've found is this high-grade Yellow-ranked Void Star Flower. If it's the other cultivators from the divine city without the Purple Crystal, they can only find herbs by rummaging through grass and stones. Their efficiency at picking herbs will be much lower. To find a dozen Yellow-ranked herbs in a day would be quite amazing. If one were lucky, one or two Mystic-ranked herbs would be a great harvest."
"Low-grade Yellow-ranked herbs can only be exchanged for two dragon scale runes. Mystic-ranked herbs can get a bit more, but it's only around ten dragon scale runes. By this way of counting, a herb-picking cultivator can, at best, receive 40-50 dragon scale runes in a day!"
"But, by choosing the herb-picking job, there is a requirement of handing over at least 25 dragon scale runes of herbs a day. This is firstly a way for the divine city to gain resources, and secondly, to prevent people from being lazy. Once 25 dragon scale runes are deducted, there will be even less!"
No wonder people were reluctant to pick herbs. This was indeed a lonely, boring and dead-end job.
After picking the Void Star Flower, he carried on. By choosing to particularly step on rubble and easy to slip gravel, Yi Yun kept testing his movement skills and his power control.
This naturally slowed down Yi Yun's speed.
A typical herb-picking cultivator would begin searching for herbs upon reaching the herb mountain. They wouldn't have the time to care about anything else. If they could not hand over 25 dragon scale runes, then their dragon scale runes would go in the negative.
Upon reaching negative dragon scale runes for two consecutive days, the divine city would remove the free lodging privileges, causing one to sleep on the streets.
For a warrior, sleeping on the streets was nothing, and not really a punishment, but… it would be extremely shameful.
Those who could come to the Tai Ah Divine City were all prideful people. But to end up being ineligible to live in the divine city's free lodgings to the point of sleeping on the streets would bring great ridicule upon the news traveling back to their family clans. They might as well kill themselves.
Hence, the people who came herb-picking would not dare to skive. But Yi Yun proceeded slowly into the herb mountain. Most of the time, he was practicing his movement skills. As for picking herbs… He did that casually. With the Purple Crystal, he had a 100% efficiency rate.
Soon, Yi Yun's herb basket was filled with a dozen kinds of herbs, mostly of the Yellow-rank.
Yi Yun estimated that the herbs were only worth about 30 dragon scale runes.
"Oh? That is…?"
Yi Yun looked up and discovered that there was a fuzzy energy fluctuation several hundred meters away. The energy fluctuation was more intense than the Yellow-ranked herbs he had previously found.
"It has to be a Mystic-ranked herb."
Yi Yun licked his lips and began using his movement skill to head towards the energy fluctuation like an agile monkey.
Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal. From his perspective, there was a huge blob of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, burning like a fire cluster. It was apparent that there was some spiritual item at its origin.
But when he exited the Purple Crystal's vision, all Yi Yun could see was a black rock. The black rock was rough on the surface and was riddled with tiny potholes. It looked no different than an ordinary rock, with no sign of a herb.
Yi Yun stroked his chin and recalled an entry in the "Divine Wilderness" book. He quickly understood what this rock in front of him was.
Yi Yun drew out his Thousand Army Saber and slashed down!
"Cha!"
With a light sound, the black rock was cut into two!
"So hard! Guess I was right."
Yi Yun's eyes lit up. The Thousand Army Saber was able to cut through metal like mud, and with his strength, even a thick metal wall would be easily cleaved by Yi Yun, not to mention a rock.
Yet, the rock in front of Yi Yun caused numbness in his hands despite him splitting it apart.
This was no ordinary rock, but a meteorite!
"As expected of a meteorite! Due to the falling process, the meteor would turn hot due to the friction with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, eventually combusting into flames. The fire would burn off any impurities, and Heaven Earth Yuan Qi essence will enter the rock. Through this way of casting, the rock would be on a completely different level than typical metals. It has the same principle as a blacksmith forging metal by striking it tens of millions of times!"
The meteorite that Yi Yun split was smooth and grayish-white on the inside. Within the grayish-white texture, there was a hole the size of a thumb which was very conspicuous.
Yi Yun put his finger into the hole to clasp it and a smile appeared on his face.
He quickly dug out a 'worm' from the hole!
However, this was not a worm, but something known as "Meteorite Grass". It was a tuber-like plant.
Meteorite Grass would send its seeds flying tens of thousands of kilometers away into the vast wilderness, finding a place to root.
It would be attracted by meteorites, especially metallic ones, before landing on the surface of a meteorite.
The Meteorite Grass' seed will then secrete a corrosive liquid and, after a few years, it would slowly bore into the meteorite, taking root!
Then, the Meteorite Grass would be like a worm in an apple. It would slowly crawl and make thumb-sized tunnels within. It would absorb the meteorite's essence that aided its growth!
These sort of amazing plants made Yi Yun sigh. In the Divine Wilderness, there were all sorts of wonders. The lifeforms here exceeded Yi Yun's past knowledge.
"Meteorite Grass! Middle-grade Mystic-ranked herb. As there aren't that many, it wasn't easy to find. The Tai Ah Divine City's manual says that this can be exchanged for 82 dragon scale runes!"
After Yi Yun began practicing martial arts, his memory had become extremely good. He had already memorized all the dragon scale runes rewards within the manual.
Mystic-ranked herbs began at ten dragon scale runes. Based on the herb's value, a few rare Mystic-ranked herbs could be worth as much as a hundred dragon scale runes, more than some Earth-ranked herbs.
"Oh… This should do for the day. I'll prepare to leave. I shouldn't be too ridiculous on my first day picking herbs."