Chapter 39
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Spirit Herb Field (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
One day, a ridiculously powerful medicine master whispered to me.
"Wanna cultivate a spirit herb field?"
Now, the key thing we need to understand here is that what she proposed wasn't some neighborhood community garden or a herb patch on the back mountain—it was a spirit herb field.
Get it?
A spirit herb field where you just yank the roots out and chomp them down raw, and boom—they're elixirs!
"Is... is that even possible?"
"Of course it is. Why else would I suggest it?"
"...!!!"
My heart was pounding.
Fiercely.
Me, Unyielding Magic Sword.
I'd failed to uphold my bro's legacy and become the top-ranked genius pill refiner in the land, but I still had paths open as an alchemist, deputy, or formation master.
Well... cultivating a herb field didn't seem directly related to any of those,
"But is that really feasible? You might not know this, but our world's a total shitshow right now—like, five minutes ago."
"I've heard all about it. A frost age swept in and wiped out the world, right?"
"You know your stuff."
My world? The author lost their mind mixing every genre under the sun—biohazards, eternal frost, nuclear fallout—in one unholy threesome of an apocalypse.
Any one of those is a nightmare on its own, but all three hitting at once turned it into some godforsaken stew where you can't even taste the flavors anymore.
Frail plants withered away ages ago, and even the tough ones got devoured root and stem by even tougher predators. Could a spirit herb field even work here...?
"Naturally. And from my perspective, that's not even a big issue. Think about it—if the frost age is the problem, how do you explain spirit herbs like the Millennium Frost Ginseng growing?"
"Huh...? Now that you mention it?"
"Certain spirit herbs only thrive in specific environments. The Millennium Frost Ginseng is a prime example. And you live in an abandoned mine, don't you? That means you could grow ones infused with metal and earth qi too."
"Ooooh!!"
Spirit herbs that grow absorbing metal qi?
Long live wuxia worldbuilding.
If this were a modern setting,
That shit would've poisoned you with heavy metals ages ago.
"Well, even if not, with that much ambient energy overflowing, you could neutralize it artificially with a formation and balance it with other elements."
"Huh? You can do that?"
"Didn't I already show you?"
"Oh... you mean the Five Elements Harmony Formation?"
"Exactly."
The Five Elements Harmony Formation that Medicinal Sage Sifu showed me on day one.
Its original purpose was an auxiliary qi circulation method to neutralize excess energy and cultivate harmony,
"In this case, it'd neutralize the overflowing energy in a specific space by converting it into other elements. Think of it like setting up an artificial flower garden."
"Ooooh!!!"
What the hell? Turns out the formation master route really is still on the table!
A formation master is a legit specialist even in xianxia worlds.
This could work.
This could actually...
...Huh?
"Heh heh. Why the sudden gloom?"
Just as excitement bubbled up, a worry popped into my head.
"Um, Medicinal Sage ma'am?"
"Speak."
"That formation stuff... it's gotta be insanely hard, right?"
"No proper study leading to mastery is ever easy, but the path of an ordinary formation master does tend to be more brain-melting than most. You need to read the stars and fortunes, be versed in geography to find the right spots..."
Kyraaaaagh!
Just as I feared.
Exactly!!
Formation master—I'd suspected from the name alone, but it's the ultimate boss of all the "-shi" professions!!
Like I said, for a battle-focused, knowledge-base noob like Unyielding Magic Sword, that's an impossibly high wall!
But,
"Heh heh heh, no need to fret that much. Didn't I say 'ordinary' formation master?"
"Huh?"
"Did you ever learn martial arts like an ordinary warrior?"
"!!!"
I went wide-eyed like a clueless kid who'd just gotten reality-warped.
"You mean...!!!"
"It won't be as tough as you think. You'll need a few materials, but you already have them, and best of all, I'll do remote lectures via the gallery. What do you say—wanna give it a shot?"
Give it a shot?
Is that even a question?
"Hell yes!!!"
Aaaah, farewell, mortal Unyielding Magic Sword chasing the pill refiner route.
Now it's formation master Unyielding Magic Sword's turn!
Leaving the serene sparring ground at the mountain's foot, I returned to my original world.
What greeted me? The abandoned mine reeking of mold and damp rot.
"Whew. No matter how many times I come back, it's still a barren hellhole."
It's been almost a year in my little shelter,
But there's zero coziness here.
That ends today, though.
After getting the essence of housing content from Medicinal Sage Sifu, things are different now.
"Medicinal Sage Sifu... you're a horizontal content veteran."
I'd suspected it from the tip about sprinkling underground water with ether to make source water,
But she was a master at enhancing and upgrading everyday objects and natural features.
Now everything's got that xianxia flair.
"The coordi being locked to one style is kinda busted... but who am I to complain."
To truly savor horizontal content, you gotta mix every flavor, right?
But let's not forget.
I'm a character in the world of an Earth author who went mad mixing genres into apocalypse dog-meat-fruit-kebab-rice-cake-stew hell.
"Stay... no more mixing..."
Even I, a hardcore mix-it-up guy, have swung to the pour-sauce-on-top camp thanks to Earth author's wild steps.
Pour-sauce-on-top... it's good.
At least nothing else gets added here.
"Alright, let's jump right in."
In this apocalypse, "leisurely" is the furthest thing from my life,
So I decided to get moving immediately.
Here?
Yup. Medicinal Sage Sifu.
What first?
Gotta start with what's already got a base, right?
Good. Turn on live mode.
Roger.
I hit the live button as instructed.
Gallers soon flooded in.
No announcement?? What's this?? Another fight??? Nothing's even here?
The most loyal viewer of my stream—which has the population of a back-alley dive bar—Sickle Low High Birth End Ugly hopped in first.
This guy's been quietly catching all my streams.
"Ah, this is my hideout. No ambush or combat happening. Just testing what Medicinal Sage Sifu taught me and getting remote advice."
I explained the situation as I walked.
Since I'd spent so long in the sparring ground, not everyone had watched it all, so they wouldn't know the context.
After a quick rundown for them, I reached my destination.
"Alright, this is where we'll set up the herb field."
The spot? Not the abandoned village spring, but the pool of source water.
The mine's sole water source, where I come to fetch water every time I brew Purple Mist Divine Pellets.
Why here? To enhance this source water and turn it into a spirit herb field.
So, what do we need for that?
What else? Ether, duh.
If ether turns regular spring water into source water, then taking source water to spirit herb field levels requires ether too.
That's right.
Ether was the universal secret sauce!
Glug glug.
I poured the ether from my canteen into the source water.
The stuff that used to be just a few drops now poured with a audible trickle—that's how much I had.
Honestly, it hurt like hell to use.
I hadn't even tasted a single drop myself, and now I'm dumping it into plain water... er, the ground... no, source water.
But investments demand boldness.
Swallowing tears equal to the ether, I emptied the canteen completely.
And then,
A majestic hum erupted from the water's surface.
Focus now.
"Got it, Sifu."
I sat cross-legged above the water surface.
Why cross-legged? Just felt comfier.
And it gave that "I'm doing something profound" vibe.
Same as before. Put your hands in the water and circulate the Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture. Since it has small-universe scalability, circulating it will spread harmonious energy outward. In other words, the water's energy—altered by ether—will pass through the scripture and find balance.
The principle Medicinal Sage Sifu explained was simple.
The Five Elements Harmony Formation was invented to create balance and harmony in a space via the five elements' flow. Circulating the Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture—which had already reached pinnacle in that domain—could produce similar results.
The difference? The formation required setting it up in a fixed space, while the scripture used me as the medium.
So, as I circulated the Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture, a chilling energy began sucking into my hands submerged in the source water.
Ngh... fucking cold.
Now I knew.
I'd thought it was just water, but it held not only water qi, but also frost-age chill and cold qi, plus deep-underground metal and earth qi.
Some didn't fit neatly into the five elements, but that didn't matter.
Just like the human body's 361 vessels branch from 12 meridians and 8 extraordinary ones, all worldly energies stem from yin-yang taiji and five elements flow.
What mattered was circulation.
Create an endless, unbroken flow, and secondary attributes would merge into the greater current.
That was my goal.
The vibrations grew stronger.
The energy flowing into my body flowed back out into the source water, tracing paths.
Once the circulation orbit formed with me as the core, that completed the Five Elements Harmony Formation centered on me.
And when that orbit hit peak speed,
Now!!!
With Medicinal Sage Sifu's shout, I snapped my eyes open and yanked out of the orbit with all my might!
Crash!!
I tumbled roughly across the ground.
Couldn't even use proper landing technique breaking free—scraped and skinned everywhere—but no time to worry about pain.
"Did it work?!!"
I clenched my fists, praying to the god of pixel thrust.
Reach the ceiling!
The result—
"Fuck yes! It worked—jackpot!!!"
Like a woodcutter hurling his axe, summoning the mountain spirit to duplicate items.
lolololololol
Sincere congrats.
Still pretty lacking...
You've created your own Jade Pool.