Chapter 878 - Ripe

Chu Li felt extremely satisfied and enjoyed his meal immensely that day. As he recalled how helpless Qin Huaichuan was before him, he felt exhilarated.

As expected, the storm came and passed very quickly. By the time he finished his meal, the rain had already stopped and the sky had cleared up.

Judging the fresh air and sunny sky, it seemed as if the storm just now had never happened at all.

Chu Li returned to the ravine where his Spirit Medicine Nursery was. Just as he stepped into the ravine, Zhou Huang came and blocked the path ahead of him with his plump body while he glared at him in fury.

Chu Li gave him a fist salute. “Elder Zhou, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong!” Zhou Huang muttered through gritted teeth. “You little brat, don’t you know that you need to cover the Golden Glow Grass right away when it rains? They can’t endure heavy rain like this. They’ll be drowned to death.”

Chu Li replied, “It’s okay. I can chant my Buddhist scripture to help them pull through this hardship.”

“Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist scriptures. You’re always talking about Buddhist scriptures!” Zhou Huang gnashed his teeth in anger and said, “Young fellow, if the Golden Glow Grass dies, I’ll seal off your mouth so that you can never chant scriptures again!”

Chu Li nodded. “Sure, no problem!”

“…Fine, hurry up and go take a look!” Zhou Huang muttered and huffed.

Chu Li said, “Elder Zhou, you’re violating the rule we’ve agreed on.”

“What rule?”

“When we made our bet, we agreed that you are not to interfere with how I grow the Golden Glow Grass!” Chu Li replied while he shook his head. “Elder Zhou, you’ve violated the rule now.”

“…Have I interfered with anything? I didn’t interfere at all!” Zhou Huang retorted and scoffed. “Have I gone to visit your place? Have I entered your Spirit Medicine Nursery?”

“…Alright then!” Chu Li shook his head in resignation. “In that case, I can leave now, right?”

“Off you go!” Zhou Huang waved a hand before he stepped aside. “Stop blocking my path!”

Chu Li shook his head as he walked away. On his way back to his Spirit Medicine Nursery, he passed by Cui Er’s Spirit Medicine Nursery and saw Cui Er busily trying to drain the rainwater away in his nursery with a shovel.

Chu Li went over to greet him. “Senior Brother Cui Er.”

When Cui Er lifted his head and saw that it was Zhao Dahe, he quickly lowered his head, pretending that he had not noticed his visitor.

Now, he had become afraid of this Zhao Dahe who had been hiding his true nature all this while. Despite his reckless and rough demeanor, Zhao Dahe had turned out to be a cunning and vicious fellow. He had managed to drive Qin Huaichuan into a corner and forced the guy to transmit the Earth Matrix and Reincarnation Scripture to him. On top of that, he had caused Cui Da to be driven out of the Great Light Peak!

Cui Er knew that he was incapable of handling such a ruthless person, so he would be better off pretending not to know this guy.

Chu Li chuckled and said, “Senior Brother Cui Er, we’re neighbors after all. We should look after one another from now on.”

Cui Er waved a hand. He did not even bother to raise his head.

Chu Li smiled and went on speaking, “I’d like to talk about what happened with Senior Brother Cui Da. He brought it upon himself when he decided to uproot all those Golden Glow Grass to the point where none of them survived.”

Cui Er could not stop himself from raising his head to speak this time. “Cui Da said he didn’t uproot that many of them in the first place.”

“Well then, perhaps God was punishing him for harboring such evil intentions,” Chu Li replied.

“You…” Cui Er let out a scoff and then continued to bury himself in his work.

Chu Li said, “What you’re doing is useless.”

Cui Er did not bother replying anymore as he carried on with his work.

Chu Li shook his head and walked back to his Spirit Medicine Nursery with his hands behind his back.

The Golden Glow Grass looked very fresh and green after having been showered with rainwater, but he knew that this was not a good thing. The spirit herbs had absorbed too much water by now and would not be able to take in any more water.

He sat on his bed and circulated a surge of death energy that swept over the Golden Glow Grass.

Soon after, the Golden Glow Grass became droopy and did not return to their former state. They looked exactly like a sick patient.

After entering this state, the herbs stopped taking in nutrients nor absorbing water.

They remained in this state until the evening. At that time, the moisture in the spirit land had sunk deeper into the ground. So as the herbs started to absorb the remaining water again, everything went back to normal and the herbs were no longer affected by the heavy rain.

Although Zhou Huang had promised not to interfere in his work, he secretly kept a close eye on him.

When Chu Li had returned to his Spirit Medicine Nursery, Zhou Huang noticed that Chu Li had no intention of draining the rainwater at all. Instead, he sat on his bed and chanted scriptures. After an hour of chanting, he entered into a meditative state and started to cultivate. He showed no interest in the Golden Glow Grass and did not even bother coming out to check on the condition of the Golden Glow Grass.

When the Golden Glow Grass soon became droopy, Zhou Huang flew into a rage. He wished he could rush over and give Chu Li a good beating, but when he remembered their bet, he held himself back. Nonetheless, his heart continued to burn with anxiety.

As he looked at those droopy and wilting Golden Glow Grass, it felt as though he was watching his own children get sick. He could not even bring himself to have his lunch and dinner because he had been feeling so upset and resentful toward Chu Li.

Later that night, when the Golden Glow Grass restored their spirits under the moonlight, Zhou Huang became worried again as he thought this was just a momentary recovery before their death. So, he continued to keep an eye on the herbs until the morning of the next day in which he found that Chu Li’s Golden Glow Grass had remained filled with vitality unlike the Golden Glow Grass in the other Spirit Medicine Nurseries.

Finally, he heaved a sigh of relief and let go of his worries but he could not help but feel amazed. Could it be that chanting scriptures was really so effective that it could even help prevent the Golden Glow Grass from being drowned to death? This was too incredible!

In the following days, Chu Li would occasionally come out and get rid of some weeds. Then, he would not pay any more attention to the spirit herbs.

As Zhou Huang continued to be in a state of anxiety and fright, time flew by very quickly and a month passed by in the blink of an eye.

Throughout this month, Chu Li never left the Great Light Peak. With Zhou Huang constantly watching him in secret, he could not find a suitable time to free himself and leave this place without raising suspicions.

Aside from going to the Flavorful Tower to have his meals, he did not visit the martial arts field anymore. Instead, he would usually go straight back to the Spirit Medicine Nursery to cultivate diligently.

Now that he was cultivating three scriptures at the same time, he had managed to improve his cultivation at an incredible rate. With that, he had achieved rapid advancement in the Divine Light Technique. This one month’s worth of cultivation for him was equivalent to a few years’ worth of cultivation for others. Thus, his inner energy had become much more profound and had far surpassed Qin Huaichuan’s inner energy level.

Among the disciples at the Flavorful Tower, if none of them possessed any secret techniques that he did not know of, his cultivation level could be considered the highest and no one there would be able to defeat him now. He had indeed benefited a great deal from the Earth Matrix and Reincarnation Scripture.

He had been going to the Flavorful Tower less frequently too. Sometimes, he would go there once a day. At other times, he would go once in a few days since he was capable of cultivating in a meditative state for a few days in one go. By using the Concentration Talisman to keep him filled with vigor, he was able to cultivate continuously without resting.

He would chant scriptures once in a while but he was no longer spending that much time on chanting. Instead, he worked on it in fits and starts, devoting most of his time to cultivate.

Zhou Huang’s worries gradually went away too as he began to see the difference between Chu Li’s Golden Glow Grass and the ones in the other Spirit Medicine Nurseries. His Golden Glow Grass had been growing at an extremely fast rate and it seemed unusually full of vitality.

After a month had passed, the Golden Glow Grass were already ripe and ready for harvest.

At dawn, Zhou Huang came into the Spirit Medicine Nursery and lowered his head as he examined the Golden Glow Grass carefully. Then, he pulled out one of them and studied it closely. He found that the spirit herbs had indeed ripened and should be harvested right away. If they delayed it any further, they would miss the herbs at their best efficacy.

Zhou Huang peeked in through the window and found Chu Li still sitting on his bed in a meditative state while he cultivated. His breathing was long and slow as though he had entered into hibernation. He seemed like he would only come out of this meditative state after a day or two.

Seeing this, Zhou Huang could no longer hold himself back. So, he knocked on the window.

Chu Li awoke from his meditation and turned to look at Zhou Huang with a distant, peaceful gaze.

“Young man, it’s time to harvest the Golden Glow Grass!” Zhou Huang called out.

Chu Li got off his bed and went to open the door. He then gave a fist salute before he asked, “Elder Zhou, what are you doing here?”

“If I didn’t come today, how much longer would you stay there on your bed!” Zhou Huang replied impatiently. “The Golden Glow Grass is already ripe and ready for harvest!”

Chu Li swept his eyes over the Golden Glow Grass and smiled. “Okay, let’s harvest them today.”

He turned back to Zhou Huang and asked, “Elder Zhou, what type of medicinal drugs can I exchange these Golden Glow Grass for?”

“What type of drugs are you looking for?”

“Is there anything that can make me better-looking?” Chu Li touched his face. “This face of mine is too ugly.”

“What’s the use of being a good-looking man!” Zhou Huang pursed his lips.