Chapter 418

Chapter 418: Harvesting Spiritual Plants

After some inspection, the group didn’t find any ferocious beasts guarding the spiritual plants.

Only Ji Yang focused on the thorny vines below the Pepperwood Grass, a hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes.

The others, seeing no issues, hesitated no longer. Even with the unknown risks, their combined strength was sufficient to handle any threats.

Hesitation was not their style.

Soon, the team formed a line and made their way into the dense forest.

“This Pepperwood Grass is at least a thousand years old,” a disciple from the He Dao Sect remarked, which excited the others. After all, finding such many high-level spiritual plants in the middle level of a secret realm wasn’t easy.

Just as they were moving steadily, the previously calm forest suddenly erupted with unusual sounds.

“Rustle rustle rustle…”

A vine that had been lying still surged forward, attacking the group.

With the movement of the first vine, the entire forest seemed to come alive, and countless vines attacked from the ground and air.

As the vines swarmed, the group also spotted many bones hidden deep within the forest.

It turned out this place wasn’t unguarded; most cultivators who entered here never made it out.

Faced with this sight, the group quickly regained their composure. After all, they were inner disciples from the He Dao Sect; in terms of strength and mindset, they were outstanding among their peers.

Although the vines were many, they were not enough to instill fear in them.

Before the vines could reach them, the two members at the front took decisive action.

With each strike, several vines were sliced into pieces.

Yet the vines in the forest seemed endless, continuously pouring toward the group.

Seeing this, the others stopped hesitating and joined the fight.

Cui’s team already included three Spirit Transformation Stage cultivators, with two of them being in the Late Spirit Transformation stage. With the two new additions, they had a total of five Spirit Transformation Stage cultivators.

Moreover, all five were inner disciples of the He Dao Sect, possessing superior magic artifacts and spells.

With their combined effort, the sheer number of vines could not breach their defenses. Instead, they began to retreat under the five’s relentless attacks, diminishing in number.

In the midst of the crowd, Cui and Ji Yang didn’t even get a chance to strike.

Watching the organized assault, Ji Yang felt a flicker of admiration. Even a Void Refinement stage cultivator would be flustered if trapped here, but under the coordination of these five, the vines posed no real threat.

Recognizing this, Ji Yang chose not to alert the others to the vines’ abnormalities.

With their teamwork, the vines in the forest were quickly cleared away, and the remaining vines seemed to realize the group was formidable and retreated.

The group wanted to chase after them to finish them off, but Cui stopped them, saying,

“Brothers, don’t pursue. Let’s harvest these spiritual plants first.”

“Senior Brother Cui is right.”

The others nodded and stopped. Their goal was to collect the Pepperwood Grass, and the vines held little value, so it was best to focus on harvesting the plants first.

The group stood guard nearby to prevent any further vine attacks, while Cui approached a Pepperwood Grass, slowly crouching down to prepare for the harvest.

At this moment, Ji Yang remained calm, quietly observing. He joined Cui’s team with the intention of harvesting spiritual plants and gathering Light points, but now he felt no urgency, as if waiting for something.

Just as Cui prepared to start the harvest, he furrowed his brows and turned to the others, slowly speaking:

“This Pepperwood Grass has roots stretching for miles. If we forcefully harvest it, we will surely sever the roots and diminish its medicinal properties. Does any brother here specialize in harvesting this spiritual plant?”

If it were an urgent situation, Cui wouldn’t have cared about these details. However, given the ample time, it would be a waste to let the plant suffer damage during harvesting, reducing its value.

Hearing Cui’s words, the others exchanged glances.

They had some experience in combat, but when it came to harvesting spiritual plants, they indeed lacked expertise, as none of them were disciples from Qiyun Peak.

If it were an ordinary spiritual plant, they could use standard methods to harvest, but that would not work for this difficult-to-harvest Pepperwood Grass.

As the group fell into silence, Ji Yang spoke up:

“Junior Brother Ji has some experience in harvesting spiritual plants; let me give it a try.”

Ji Yang’s words drew skeptical looks from the others.

They acknowledged Ji Yang’s talent; after all, he was the only one with Talent Jealousy in the sect. How else could he have entered Jingtan Peak?

But when it came to claiming Ji Yang could harvest such a special spiritual plant, their first thought was disbelief.

After all, given Ji Yang’s age and level, surely he had been focused on his cultivation in Jingtan Peak and had little time to learn these skills.

Just as two of them prepared to refute, Cui’s face lit up.

“Look at my memory; I completely forgot that Junior Brother Ji has worked in the spiritual herb garden.”

Cui’s words caused the others to remain silent. They didn’t interact much within the sect, so they were unaware of such details.

But since Brother Cui said so, they decided to let Ji Yang give it a try. If he failed, they wouldn’t hold back. After all, having someone who was purely a burden wouldn’t benefit them at all, and it was just the right opportunity to let him go. This thought passed between them with shared glances.

On the other hand, Ji Yang was eager to start.

With just a touch of primordial spirit energy, he quickly sensed the difficulty of harvesting the Pepperwood Grass.

Though it seemed small, its roots were numerous and tangled, and they extended deeply into the ground. As Ji Yang gently touched it, the roots tightened like a drawn bowstring. If he pulled too hard, they would surely break.

On some level, this was like the plant’s survival instinct, seeking a way to survive by sacrificing part of itself.

However, this kind of “tail severing” was unsuitable for this spiritual plant. Most of its medicinal properties resided in the roots.

It could lose part of itself, but it couldn’t risk losing the entire body and leave only a useless head behind.

If he couldn’t lift it entirely from the ground, the usefulness of this spiritual plant wouldn’t be as great as expected.

Such a deformed “severed tail” could only fool those cultivators who didn’t understand this plant or the foolish ferocious beasts.

Moreover, this was a secret realm, and since it was their first time here, they might never return. If they didn’t finish harvesting properly, they wouldn’t be kind enough to leave it for other cultivators.

If they didn’t harvest it fully, the quality of the Light points produced would surely decline, and Ji Yang wouldn’t allow that to happen.

As for sustainability? Ji Yang cast that thought aside.

Spiritual plants within his peak were about sustainability; those outside were about resource integration.