Chapter 448: Boiling Soup with Spirit Ginseng
[Ding!]
[+10,000 Farm Points.]
A crisp System Notification jingled, and Jiang He could not help gasping at the sight of the ginseng in his hand!
So huge!
So thick!
His theory before was that the ginseng he had planted were probably eighteen centimeters long, but he found that it was larger than imagined after he pulled them out—they were around twenty-three centimeters and thicker than a child’s arm.
The upper half was like a white, plump man, while the rear was a long, dense ma.s.s of roots.
Jiang He looked closely, and a bunch of data showed up—
[Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng]
[A spirit ginseng that grew over ten-thousand years and possesses miraculous effects.]
That simple explanation was followed by the introduction of the Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng’s effect.
[Effect: Calms nerves, improves wisdom, greatly replenishes Yuan Qi, improves immunity, delays aging and combats fatigue, cleans liver and toxic substances...]
There were so many Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng that there was a paragraph of over eighty words, which piqued Jiang He’s interest.
“Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng... interesting.”
“It clearly was the mutated ginseng seeds that had grown just days ago after I planted and strengthened them, but the System claims that it is ten thousand years-old...” Holding one of the spirit ginseng, Jiang He rubbed it with his sleeves.
Crunch.
Then, he chewed off a large chunk of the spirit ginseng and munched on it slowly.
“Sweet and crispy... there’s a faint fruity flavor as well...”
Jiang He’s eyes lit up after he had a few mouthfuls.
He could clearly feel that the spirit ginseng, which he had just eaten, contained concentrated Yuan Qi that rapidly replenished his Immortal Yuan Strength. More importantly, the spirit ginseng had other effects too.
Indeed, his spirit was invigorated after a few mouthfuls.
“Calms nerves, improves wisdom... this thing seems to restores spirit, and it could help with spiritual exhaustion... as for greatly replenishing Yuan Qi, it would be restoring Immortal Yuan Strength.”
“From a single mouthful, it restores three immortal crystals’ worth of Yuan Qi. And since each spirit ginseng is this huge, it could restore a thousand immortal crystals worth of Yuan Qi, or even more.”
As for improving immunity...
He did not feel it much for now.
If the meaning could be taken word-for-word, it would strengthen a person’s ability to resist foreign bodies... in other words, eating the Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng would counteract poison and keep one protected from any form of poisoning.
As for combating aging...
“Since it delays aging, it wouldn’t increase lifespan as well, would it?’
“And then there is ‘cleans liver and toxic substances’... it seems this could act as an antidote as well, which is nice since I am Golden Immortal at the moment. The antidote effects of cuc.u.mbers and other older crops are not that effective now, so it’ll be just right for me to use the Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng.”
Jiang He estimated that the true value of each Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng would not be less than ten thousand immortal crystals.
That amount was just right to buy two superior-grade immortal items.
The Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng was planted from mutated ginseng seeds that an old man sold at the Lingzhou City agricultural market. There were just several thousand trees and not that many of them, and even if each was worth ten thousand, they would not gather a hundred million Farm Points.
After plucking every Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng, Jiang He picked one which had a more appealing appearance, plucking its leaves and roots. Then, he had Dumbo get a plastic bag and placed it inside.
After that, he took out the few boxes of Head and Kidney Pills and planted everything.
Jiang He sprinkled some Living Soil of the Nine Heavens, watered them, and then buried. Several fresh leaves grew out of the ground in no time at all.
“There’s still over two hours before the Head and Kidney Pills ripen... I could use this time to plant some immortal crystals.”
Jiang He was very diligent.
He did not rest, however, and instead called Dumbo and Trumbo to start ploughing the ground for farming.
Right now, Jiang He had more than several millions immortal crystals, and he calculated that if he planted all the immortal crystals, that would earn him so many Farm Points that his cultivation could be improved to the next level, and hence ascend to Grand Luo.
“My ascension can wait. Having a hollow cultivation without the combat strength to match it is awkward.”
“After I earn enough Farm Points, I could ascend directly while upgrading my cultivation techniques. That way, I could improve my combat ability at the same time so that I won’t be a bottom-feeder Grand Luo.”
Jiang He knew his position very well.
He is no more than a little Golden Immortal who had cultivated for less than a year... his cultivation talent was lacking as well, and he only managed to improve by farming diligently.
As for the Grand Luo, who among them were not ancient monsters who had lived over ten thousand years or even several hundred thousand years?
That was why he could not afford a moment of delay.
Dumbo and Trumbo were so powerful now that using their earth-type superpowers had become a matter of thought. The cat and dog were simply standing still, but wherever their eyes reached, a hole would appear right there.
Behind them, the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers were skipping around, each of them holding a shovel conjured from Yuan Qi, and began to fill the holes.
The nine Wise Rock Monkeys were left scratching their heads, unsure of what to do.
Jiang He could not help chuckling. Taking out dozens of thousands immortal crystals, he distributed them to the nine monkeys and said, “You guys could plant the remaining immortal crystals. Remember—one immortal crystal in each hole, no more, no less.”
After all...
He had planted the Wise Rock Monkeys.
As such, he should not be biased. Why should he not share a happy job like farming to the nine monkeys as well?
After taking the crystals, the monkeys skipped around cheerfully. Working rapidly alongside Dumbo, Trumbo, and the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers, they soon planted all the immortal crystals.
At the same time, Jiang He leaned on his cane chair beneath the Old Tea Tree of Enlightenment. To his left, Boa Hanc.o.c.k was fanning him.
Nearby, Sora plucked a bunch of grapes from the mutated grapevine replanted in the Farm, cleaning and skinning them for Jiang He.
As he ate, he could not help sighing as he watched Dumbo and the rest finished their farming. “What a shame that I would only earn Farm Points if I manage the crops. Otherwise, I could leave everything to them while I sit and reap the rewards, earning Farm Points even while I sleep.”
Then, around two hours later, the boxes of Head and Kidney Pills were ripe.
Fingernail-sized pills dangled at the tips of several weirdly-shaped branches.
Jiang He walked up and plucked one.
[Ding!]
[+1,000 Farm Points.]
[Strengthened Head and Kidney Pills]
[Effect: Strengthens head and supplements kidneys.]
The summary of the Strengthened Head and Kidney Pills was as simple as it was direct.
Unable to help laughing, Jiang He lift his hand and plucked every pill.
There were six trees, and a total of 600 pills.
He then took another plastic bag, and put ten of those inside.
Bringing along the Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng, Jiang He said, “Dumbo, Trumbo, I’m going to Jingdu City. Stay still at home—just contact me with the communications jade charm if anything happens.”
***
In Jingdu City, Elder Lin sighed beside w.a.n.g Hou’s sickbed. Shaking his head, he walked over to another corner.
“How is Minister w.a.n.g, Doctor Zhou?”
“His spirit is excessively worn out and his Yuan Spirit therefore wounded.” Doctor Zhou lowered his voice after sliding a glance at w.a.n.g Hou, who was sound asleep in his sickbed. “We can only depend on Minister w.a.n.g to recover by himself, and only hope that his essence has not been hurt after he heals.”
Frowning, Elder Lin asked, “Didn’t Jiang He come by?”
“He did. He asked about Minister w.a.n.g’s condition as well before saying that he would be leaving to get some medicine, and would bring it in the afternoon.” Doctor Zhou flashed a pained smile and said, “Still... Mister Jiang might not actually have a solution for Minister w.a.n.g’s condition.”
As they spoke, Secretary Zhou entered.
With w.a.n.g Hou incapacitated, every task at the Martial Arts Department (MAD) fell upon Secretary Zhou’s shoulders. That was not important since w.a.n.g Hou had never really dealt with much of MAD work before he was taken ill, mostly calling the shots on major matters while Secretary Zhou handled the rest.
And yet...
No matter how busy he was, Secretary Zhou felt that he had a pillar with w.a.n.g Hou around. Now that he had taken ill, he was unsure how to go about most matters.
It was especially so with the distress calls from foreign nations, which was no different from piling snow after the storm.
Moreover, while there were many elites among the immortal sects in the country, Secretary Zhou could not order them around.
Most importantly, those sects were unconcerned about foreign matters.
One of the Heavenly Immortals from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect whom Secretary Zhou had spoken of such matters with before appeared to revel in the schadenfreude, even saying that those barbarians would be better off destroyed.
In fact, Secretary Zhou shared the same notion, though opinions were opinions and he must not stick to it.
Even if there were many nations that had been wiped out, there were still more than two billion people out there. If that Ape King was allowed to rampage on, it would not be long before every place other than the Hua Nation would turn into a playground for Ferals.
“Whatever. Who cares what happens on foreign soil with Minister w.a.n.g maimed and bedridden?”
Secretary Zhou chuckled bitterly.
That was when a knock on the door could be heard and Jiang He entered, smiling when he saw Elder Lin. “You’re here too, Elder Lin? Why, is Three Blades Lin around? Why haven’t I seen him lately?”
“Mister Jiang.”
Elder Lin offered him a fist palm salute before saying, “He has gained some increase in cultivation, and is cultivating under seclusion to ascend up to Void-tier.”
It was not merely Three Blades Lin either. Recently, there were countless martial artists who had ascended in martial arts within the country. One reason was because of the Second Revival of Qi, while the other was that w.a.n.g Hou had reached the key path of martial arts, invoking the world’s Dao to ease the cultivation of martial arts.
After some small talk, Jiang he turned his hand and took out two plastic bags from his Void Storage.
The plastic bags had been given when he made a purchase at a supermarket, and the words ‘Lingzhou City Happy Mall’ was still imprinted on it.
One bag contained the ten Strengthened Head and Kidney Pills, while the Ten-Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng was in the other.
Jiang He handed both plastic bags to Doctor Zhou, saying, “I’ve prescribed the medicine, Doctor Zhou... oh, and here’s the prescription details.”
Feeling around himself, Jiang He then took out a prescription manual.
It came along with the box of Head and Kidney Pills that he had bought, which Jiang He kept so that w.a.n.g Hou did not overdose.
Doctor Zhou could not help becoming baffled after reading through the prescription manual.
He rapidly finished reading it and took one of the Strengthened Head and Kidney Pills, holding it before his own nose and sniffing it...
He was a Chinese medicine doctor who had worked for years, and a sniff was all it took for him to determine the ingredients used in the Strengthened Head and Kidney Pills.
As for the other plastic bag...
He did not even open it.
Studying it from outside the bag, he appeared even more perplexed.
A carrot?
A carrot that huge?
Jiang He then said, “By the way, Doctor Zhou, that’s a piece of ginseng inside. It might be useful for Minsiter w.a.n.g’s condition and you could make soup with it.”