Chapter 143

Chapter 143: Visiting Greenwood Sect
After she calmed down, Mu Ye wiped away the tears at the corner of her eyes and asked in a joking, curious tone: “Yu Zhao, why did you come alone this time? Did Senior Sister Zhou not come with you?”

Yu Zhao smiled and said: “I went out to train on my own this time. I did not travel together with Senior Sister Zhou, so it is just me. You are not unhappy that only I came, are you?”

“How could I be? I am already so happy you came.” Mu Ye puffed out her cheeks and said: “Come on, I will take you around Greenwood Sect. You have not been here before, right?”

“No.”

“Perfect. There are a few places in Greenwood Sect that are especially beautiful. It would be a shame if you missed them. Come with me.”

Mu Ye was a very direct person. After only a few words, she could not wait anymore. She grabbed Yu Zhao and pulled her out of the guest hall, heading toward the Inner Sect of Greenwood Sect.

As they walked, Mu Ye explained the layout to her: “There are two mountains inside Greenwood Sect. One is Pill Peak, where the disciples of Alchemy Hall do their alchemy. The other is Herb Peak, where the Herb Fields disciples plant spirit herbs. The Martial Hall disciples live in the valley between the two mountains…”

These things were not sect secrets, so Mu Ye told Yu Zhao without any pressure on her heart.

Yu Zhao listened and nodded quietly, while in her heart she kept thinking about how to bring up her request to borrow an alchemy room.

An alchemy room, as the name said, was meant for alchemy.

She wanted to borrow the alchemy room to do artifact forging there instead. If she said that directly, she would probably offend a whole group of alchemists.

In fact, Yu Zhao could spend a lot of spirit stones to hire a Qi Refining master to refine the artifact for her. But the cultivation technique she practiced was special, and the materials needed for the artifact had very strong hallucinogenic effects.

She worried that the forging might fail and end up hurting the artifact refiner instead. It would be safer if she did it herself. Even if she failed, at least no one’s life would be in danger.

Right now, what troubled her was how to find the right chance to explain everything to Mu Ye.

Soon Mu Ye pointed ahead and asked: “Yu Zhao, Pill Peak and Herb Peak are just up there. Which one do you want to visit first?”

Yu Zhao answered without thinking: “Let us go to Herb Peak first.”

She wanted to give herself a bit more time to think.

Mu Ye nodded happily: “That works out. It is about time for me to pick up my spirit herbs from Herb Peak anyway. We can do that at the same time.”

No alchemist could promise that every furnace of pills would succeed. Someone who could keep a fifty percent success rate was already an amazing master alchemist.

And almost all great alchemists were built up by burning through piles and piles of spirit herbs.

Every month, Mu Ye used spirit herbs worth at least one hundred mid-grade spirit stones. It was impossible for her to afford such a big cost on her own. Most of the spirit herbs she used were supplied by the sect.

The disciples of Alchemy Hall could go to Herb Peak every month and get a set amount of spirit herbs. Of course, this was not free. At the end of the year, they had to hand in a certain number of pills to pay back what they had used.

Talking like this, Mu Ye and Yu Zhao walked up the main road leading to Herb Peak.

In less than the time of one incense stick, Yu Zhao felt that the spiritual energy around them had become very thick. A familiar medicinal fragrance wrapped around her nose.

She could not help thinking of the times she had looked after the Herb Fields on Lone Moon Peak for Cui Jue.

In her heart, she did not dislike taking care of Herb Fields at all. As long as she carefully tended the fields, the Herb Fields would give her honest feedback.

It was not like some people, who treated all her effort as if it were air, not seeing it at all, and even blaming her for not doing better.

Also, when she was in the Herb Fields, no one would suddenly show up to scold her for no reason. She could enjoy the quiet all by herself.

So when she smelled that familiar, calming scent, Yu Zhao’s mood relaxed.

Mu Ye suddenly stopped and looked back at Yu Zhao with pride in her eyes as she said: “Yu Zhao, are you ready? The next scene will definitely shock you.”

Yu Zhao smiled and nodded.

Mu Ye gave a mysterious smile. She took the disciple token from her waist and waved it toward the front.

The air in front of them rippled, and then the trees and bushes at the sides of the road moved aside. A path forced itself open in the middle.

Mu Ye tugged on Yu Zhao’s hand and said as she ran: “Let us go. This passage will only last for five breaths.”

The moment they stepped into the passage, Yu Zhao felt as if she had entered the home of immortals. Thick spiritual energy rushed toward her, and every pore of her body opened wide, greedily drinking in the spiritual energy all around.

She could not help letting out a long sigh of comfort.

Then she suddenly snapped awake and forced herself to stop her cultivation technique.

This was not some secret realm left behind by the ancestors. It was the Herb Fields of Greenwood Sect. Strictly speaking, by grabbing the spiritual energy here, she was fighting the Herb Fields for nutrients. That was very rude.

She turned and started to say: “Mu…”

But Mu Ye spoke first with surprise: “Hm? You stopped that fast?”

Yu Zhao had planned to apologize, but Mu Ye was not angry at all. Instead, she looked surprised.

Seeing that Yu Zhao’s expression was a bit stiff, Mu Ye waved her hand as if it did not matter and said: “I know what you are trying to say. Do not worry. The spiritual energy you just absorbed is like a drop of water in the ocean compared to what the whole Herb Fields holds. Sometimes, when disciples of Alchemy Hall or Herb Hall get stuck at a cultivation bottleneck, they also come to the Herb Fields to cultivate. As long as they do not get in the way of the Herb Hall disciples when they fertilize, no one will complain.”

The spirit herbs on Herb Peak were tended by the disciples of Herb Hall, but the Spirit-Gathering Grand Array of the Herb Fields had been built with the strength of Greenwood Sect as a whole. It did not belong only to Herb Hall. Because of that, the Herb Hall disciples did not mind other disciples coming here.

Mu Ye cared even less.

But the fact that Yu Zhao could stop herself in the face of such strong temptation, and that she acted with such restraint, made Mu Ye feel very respected. Her smile grew even brighter.

They walked forward again and soon saw large, flat, wide Herb Fields stretching into the distance.

The fields were divided into many sections, each planted with different spirit herbs. A few Herb Hall disciples were in the fields, checking the condition of the spirit herbs.

Looking at the Herb Fields that spread out so far she could not see the end, full of healthy plants, Yu Zhao felt a pure joy and a hard-to-name sense of satisfaction.

Mu Ye raised her chin and asked with a grin: “How is it? Impressive, right?”

Yu Zhao nodded honestly: “It really is impressive.”

Mu Ye laughed and said: “Come on, I will take you to the Herb Storehouse next. You can have a look, and I will pick up my spirit herbs while we are there.”

The spirit herbs that the Herb Hall disciples harvested would first be stored in the Herb Storehouse. Later, they would be processed in different ways depending on what was needed.

To make things easier, the place where Alchemy Hall disciples came to pick up their spirit herbs was also set at the Herb Storehouse.

The Herb Storehouse was built against the cliff on the east side of the Herb Fields.

Yu Zhao and Mu Ye had just walked up to the door of the Herb Storehouse and were about to go in when a figure stepped out from inside ahead of them.

The two sides looked up and met each other’s eyes. Both of them froze.

Wang Qian blurted out in shock: “Why is it you?”

He had never dreamed that he would see Yu Zhao in Greenwood Sect.

Thinking of Yu Zhao’s “great achievements”, his face turned green and then white, like he had just seen a ghost.

Mu Ye did not know that Wang Qian was talking about Yu Zhao. She thought he was speaking to her. Her willow brows shot up as she replied without any politeness: “Herb Peak is not your private place. Why can it not be me?”