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Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng
Three days had passed.
Pang Bai arrived at the Chen Bell Platform as promised.
"Senior Brother Pang, I’ve taken on this task. But as agreed before, I want half of the Life Gathering Pills refined."
Li Qian said straightforwardly.
"Junior Brother Li, since I’ve made a promise, I will definitely keep it."
Pang Bai revealed a smile, "We should not delay, let’s head to the Task Hall now."
"Okay."
Li Qian nodded.
With Liu Ming at the Chen Bell Platform, there was no need for him to worry too much. The two of them went straight down the mountain and headed to the Inner Sect Task Hall.
Upon arriving at the Task Hall, Pang Bai first issued the task, then designated Li Qian to take on the task.
This operation was permissible.
However, there would be a series of strict regulations in place to prevent disciples from exploiting loopholes to shirk their tasks.
Half an hour later, two fast horses left the Divine Sword Sect.
"Senior Brother Pang, can you now reveal where the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng is?"
Li Qian said.
"It’s in Yuzhi County of Xuanzhou. The specific location, we’ll need to obtain from Qianyu Tower."
Pang Bai said.
"Yuzhi County? Isn’t that Xuanming Sect’s territory?"
Li Qian exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes, that’s why we must be very careful when we go there this time."
Pang Bai said, "Junior Brother Li, have you heard about the recent conflict in Dream Cloud Swamp?"
"I’ve been at the Chen Bell Platform all this time; I had no way to acquire such information."
Li Qian shook his head.
"Junior Brother Li, you really are oblivious to the affairs outside, focusing solely on martial arts."
Pang Bai said with emotion, "Recently, several of our Divine Sword Sect’s Innate experts were doing a task and got into a conflict with the people from Xuanming Sect..."
He briefly explained the situation.
"These Xuanming Sect people are really too much, not only crossing the boundary, but they also stole the corpse of the Exotic Beasts Alligator Dragon, occupied the Spiritual Date Tree on top of it, and even harmed our disciples."
Pang Bai became increasingly indignant as he spoke, "The Sect Leader and the others are too weak, with no means of retaliation or counteraction; are we really expected to just endure it like shrinking turtles?"
"Senior Brother Pang, the Sect Leader and the others might have deeper considerations."
Li Qian said.
"Well, there should be some action, right? The Inner Sect is in an uproar now..."
Pang Bai said.
Li Qian listened as Pang Bai continuously complained about the high-ranking officials of the Divine Sword Sect, and didn’t say much else.
Two days later.
Noon.
In Xuanzhou, the city of Yuzhi County.
Qianyu Tower.
A travel-worn Li Qian and Pang Bai appeared here.
To avoid revealing their identities, the two of them had specifically concealed the insignia representing the Divine Sword Sect on their fast horses.
"Shopkeeper, I’ve come to retrieve information."
Pang Bai took out a dark-gold token and handed it to the attendant.
This Qianyu Tower was a famous intelligence organization within the Great Chang region, with branches in over twenty counties south of the Chang River, capable of information exchange.
"Please wait a moment, sir."
The attendant took the dark-gold token and entered through a door.
Behind the door was a spiral staircase. Upon ascending to the second floor, there was a large room with rows of bamboo tubes neatly arranged on shelves, categorized systematically.
Many Qianyu Tower attendants were busy sorting various kinds of intelligence information.
"Mr. Cao."
The attendant passed the dark-gold token to a middle-aged man with a goatee.
Mr. Cao nodded as he took the dark-gold token: "Jiashen year forty-eight, delivery."
Before long, an attendant came over with a small wooden box.
After checking the label on the small wooden box, Mr. Cao nodded his head and gestured for the attendant to take it out.
....
Li Qian and Pang Bai didn’t wait too long before an attendant came out with a small wooden box.
"Dear customer, here’s the merchandise you requested."
Pang Bai couldn’t wait to hand over the small wooden box, tearing open its seal and opening it to reveal a stack of papers densely inscribed with words.
After looking it over, he passed it to Li Qian.
Li Qian glanced at it and saw it was information about the location of the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng.
It even thoughtfully provided a simple map.
After leaving Qianyu Tower, out of curiosity, Li Qian asked, "Senior Brother Pang, aren’t you afraid that the intelligence provided by Qianyu Tower might be false? Or that they sell the same piece of information to multiple buyers?"
"Junior Brother Li, you can rest assured. Qianyu Tower has been in business for hundreds of years and has always had a good reputation."
Pang Bai said with a smile, "In the information business, credibility is of utmost importance. Once the reputation is ruined, it’s an utter loss."
"I was just overthinking it."
Li Qian nodded.
The two mounted their horses and left Lanxi County City.
The Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng was sure to be found in the deep mountains and dense forests rarely trodden by man.
The two entered the mountains overnight.
Although the woods could become very dangerous at night, that was only for ordinary martial artists.
Both of them were innate martial artists, capable of handling even ordinary exotic beasts.
By the time they reached their destination, it was already the next morning.
"It should be just ahead in the valley."
Pang Bai held a map in his hands.
One could faintly hear the sound of flowing water ahead.
They turned around a slope, and a babbling brook lay hidden amidst the trees.
There was virtually no path to speak of.
However, as experts, utilizing their qinggong to traverse the dense forest was not difficult.
Following the brook upstream, they arrived at a narrow valley entrance—the valley, surrounded by mountains and obscured by the dense tree cover, was difficult to detect.
In the small valley was a modest waterfall, the very source of the brook’s flow.
The two silently reached a slope on the side of the valley.
Daring not to make too much noise.
Although the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng would not run away at the slightest disturbance... as soon as it felt threatened, it would surely flee.
"Junior Brother Li, look... that should be the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng."
Pang Bai pointed to a plant about a foot tall growing in a crevice next to the waterfall.
The plant had a bare stem crowned with three palm-sized leaves.
"Wow, the world is truly full of wonders. To think there’s even an insect that can disguise itself as a plant." 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝒸ℴ𝓶
Li Qian marveled.
The two conversed using the Sound Transmission into Secrets technique, preventing their voices from startling the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng.
"Junior Brother Li, quietly make your way above the stone wall, then use your qinggong to leap down from above, channeling the Divine Sword to suppress the spirit of the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng while I extract its physical body."
Excitement filled Pang Bai’s face.
He had spent a considerable price to locate the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng, and now it was right before his eyes. Capturing it would enable him to refine the Life Gathering Pill, which could extend his father’s life for another twenty or thirty years.
"Okay."
Li Qian nodded.
He was highly curious about the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng.
He immediately made his way to the side of the waterfall, under which the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng was hidden in the stone crevice.
He concealed his presence, and moving became even more silent.
Pang Bai gestured to Li Qian from the opposite side.
Li Qian nodded.
He drew the Divine Sword and used his qinggong to leap down.
The stone wall had a drop of only more than ten meters, a negligible height for Li Qian.
As he descended from the stone wall, he didn’t hesitate to activate his Sword Intent, unleashing a wave of invisible fluctuations fiercely.
The previously hidden part of the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng in the crevice—the stem and three leaves—suddenly shook vigorously. Then, surprisingly, the three leaves rapidly shrank.
Bang!
Li Qian landed on the ground, his Sword Eighteen thrust into the earth, and the invisible Sword Intent waves radiated out, enveloping an area.
Just as the visible part of the Three-leaf Purple Spirit Ginseng was about to completely retract into the crevice, it suddenly halted and struggled to move.
Squeak squeak squeak...
A sharp sound emerged from the crevice, like a mouse desperately struggling.
....
