Chapter 519 - Herbologist Clans
That young man was actually... a 4-star master teacher!
"Luo Qingyan pays respect to Song shi!"
Upon seeing the young man, Luo Qingyan hurriedly clasped her fist respectfully.
If Zhang Xuan was here, he would surely recognize the other party as the man who'd bought the Soulless Metal Humanoid from him in Honghai City.
"Garden Owner Qingyan, this..." Seeing the beautiful and proud garden owner covered with mud from head to toe, Song Chao muttered doubtfully.
After receiving the Soulless Metal Humanoid, he immediately returned back to the Myriad Kingdom City. Recalling the guidance of Zhang shi, he immediately visited all the herb gardens to buy the necessary herbs. It was because of this that he'd met this garden owner several times.
The other party's beauty had bewitched him, leaving him burning in desire. Upon seeing the other party in such an unkempt state, he couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"Song shi, I beseech you to save me!"
Luo Qingyan's eyes shone as she recalled something. She immediately put on a tearful face that seemed as though she was going to kowtow to the other party at any moment just so that he would stand up for her.
"Save you? What's wrong?" Raising his hand to stop the other party, Song Chao asked doubtfully.
"Someone tried to barge into the herb garden earlier, and knowing that Garden Owner Xue disliked strangers disturbing her, I stopped him. Who knew that... the other party would actually send his tamed beast after me!"
At this moment, Luo Qingyan seemed nothing more than a pitiful weak lady. "Song shi, I really didn't know that he's a master teacher. If only I knew earlier, I surely wouldn't have stopped him..."
"Just because you stopped him, the other party sent his tamed beast after you?" Song Chao frowned.
"Actually, it's not that master teacher's fault. Even though he isn't wearing a master teacher robe and he didn't indicate his identity, I should have been asked him about it beforehand... Song shi, I won't do it again. Save me..." Luo Qingyan cried.
Even though she seemed to be regretful of her actions, she was actually playing down her disrespect and emphasizing on the other party's domineering nature instead.
This way, she made it seem as though Zhang Xuan was the one who was unreasonable. Not only did he not flash his identity, he even injured a person who was just acting within her scope of responsibility.
"Atrocious! How dare a master teacher act in such a manner... This cannot be overlooked!"
As expected, after hearing Luo Qingyan's distorted version of the story, Song Chao's face darkened.
Master teachers were a representation of the Master Teacher Pavilion. As such, wherever they went, they had to make sure to act in a manner appropriate for their identity. How could the other party act so domineeringly as though he was a hoodlum?
"Don't worry. The blame is not on you for this matter. When I see that fellow later on, I'll make sure to teach him a lesson. I'll drill the idea of respect into him and have him apologize to you!"
Song Chao waved his hands grandly.
How could a master teacher beat someone who was just doing her responsibility? This was something that only a tyrant would do!
"Thank you, Song shi!" Seeing that the other party was going to stand up for her, Luo Qingyan's eyes glowed in excitement. She turned to look at the young man in admiration.
Did you see that? This is the might of a 4-star master teacher!
Only a person of his level would dare to teach other master teachers a lesson!
Humph, you sure acted arrogantly back then, having your tamed beast to sit on me. Let's see how you fare before Song shi!
In her view, given how the other party wasn't even twenty yet and his cultivation was clearly beneath hers, even if he was a master teacher, he would be at most 3-star only. Before a 4-star master teacher, he would still have to bend his back and act obediently!
"Song shi, I'll take you to him now!"
The more she thought about it, the more excited she felt. Thus, she offered to lead the way.
"Un!" Nodding his head, Song Chao placed his hands behind his back and followed Luo Qingyan.
Under the lead of the maid, Zhang Xuan and group walked through a long corridor and arrived at a grand hall.
At this moment, quite a large crowd had already gathered here. Taking a brief look, there were at least a hundred people here.
The banquet hadn't even started but the guests were already gathering in groups, discussing something.
"Zhang shi, this is the banquet venue. The garden owner will be arriving soon to welcome all of you. I'll be leaving now then!"
Nodding her head, the maid took her leave.
If her impression of the young man before was reckless, arrogant, and a braggart, after the other party offered a solution to her affliction, all of these negative emotions turned into admiration, and the other party became her idol.
"Un!" Knowing that the maid had to return to guard the entrance, Zhang Xuan waved his hands and proceeded into depths of the hall.
"Garden Owner Xue usually doesn't allow us into her herb garden, why would she suddenly invite all of us over? Did something happen? This banquet can't be as simple as it looks!"
"Don't you know?"
"I've been outside during the past few days and I only returned to Myriad Kingdom City today. I rushed here as soon as I saw the invitation letter so how could I know what is going on?"
"Rumors have it that the herb garden's Centerpiece is severely ill, and it is on the verge of death. The banquet is just a cover. In truth, what she hopes to achieve is to bring all of us garden owners together to think of a solution!"
"Centerpiece? You mean that..."
"Shhh, lower down your volume! This is all that I heard from my sources. As for what exactly happened, I don't have a clue either!"
"Since that's the case, why is she being so secretive about it? To even go to the extent of using a banquet as a cover..."
"That I'm not too sure as well. It's not like you are unaware of Garden Owner Xue's eccentric temper. She must have her own reasons for doing so..."
"That's true!"
Amidst the crowd, the lowered voice of a trio sounded.
"Centerpiece? Could that be..." Zhao Feiwu's eyebrows suddenly shot up.
"You know about it?" Seeing that the other party seemed to have thought of something, Zhang Xuan immediately turned his gaze to her.
"I've once read a book concerning herb gardens so I know a thing or two about it!" Zhao Feiwu nodded her head. Suppressing her voice, she continued, "They should be referring to the 'Earth Vein Spirit Vine'!"
"Earth Vein Spirit Vine?" Zhang Xuan asked doubtfully.
Even though he had read a considerable number of books, he had never come into contact with information regarding herb gardens. As such, he found the name extremely foreign.
"Un!" Zhao Wufei nodded her head. "It's not really a secret. All herb gardens would have this. The Earth Vein Spirit Vine is a unique that grows by aligning itself with earth veins, absorbing spiritual energy, minerals, and water from it... Then, it uses all of these to nourish the ground, thus creating a superior field suited for growing all kinds of medicinal herbs."
If one were to release their cattle at the same location, no matter how lush and concentrated the grass was, it was just a matter of time before it all disappeared. Medicinal herbs were the same as well.
It was still fine to grow a medicinal herb in one location, but if one were to try to grow multiple medicinal herbs on the same field, the herbs would start competing for nutrients... And this would sap the field dry swiftly. Without nutrients to sustain the medicinal herbs, no matter how formidable the herb was, it would wither swiftly.
The reason why herb gardens could supply a steady source of medicinal herbs without fail was due to the existence of this thing.
Its decline and death meant that the entire herb garden was doomed. All of the medicinal herbs in the field would be ruined.
"Medicinal herbs growing on a field nourished by the Earth Vein Spirit Vine have a much more beautiful tone and significantly larger size. More importantly, its rate of maturity would be much faster as well. Some of the legendary five-hundred-year-old herbs could reach maturity here in just two hundred years. Otherwise, who could live for five hundred years just to grow a single medicinal herb?" Zhao Feiwu said.
"I see!"
Zhang Xuan nodded his head.
He had been puzzled by how medicinal herbs could be grown in large groups without any adverse effect. After all, unlike normal grains, they required a huge quantity of spiritual energy and nutrients. No matter how fertile the ground was, it was very difficult to sustain such massive output.
It turned out that it was due to the credit of this mystical plant.
"If they are really talking about the Earth Vein Spirit Vine, then it's no wonder why Garden Owner Xue is panicking. Without the Earth Vein Spirit Vine to condition the field, given how the medicinal herbs were grown in proximity to one another, they would all surely shrivel swiftly..." Zhao Feiwu continued.
The Earth Vein Spirit Vine was like a formation providing the required conditions for the spirit herbs' survival. Once it died, their source of nutrition would be stopped and they would shrivel swiftly.
"Un!" Zhang Xuan nodded. Just as he was about to speak, a friendly voice suddenly sounded not too far away.
"Brother, did you follow your elders here to participate in the banquet as well?"
The one speaking was an amiable-looking young man. Two dimples would appear on his face when he smiled, and this seemed to make him more approachable.
"Elder?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback.
"That's right. The only ones who are privileged to receive the invitation letters are the garden owners, herb kings, and the herbologist clans. I have met the eight herb owners and seven herb kings of the Myriad Kingdom Alliance, and you clearly aren't any of them. Naturally, you must be here with your elder!"
The young man grinned.
"Herbologist clans?" Zhang Xuan was perplexed.
He knew of garden owners and herb kings, but what in the world were herbologist clans?
"You don't know of herbologist clans?" Seeing the other party's perplexed expression, the young man widened his eyes in disbelief.
This was part of the fundamental knowledge of herb gardens. To not even know this, how in the world did the other party manage to get in here?
"The cultivation of medicinal herbs require the care of specialist, and herbologist clans like us provide such manpower to the herb gardens," the young man explained.
There were farmers to care for the fields and shepherds to care for the herds... Similarly, there were herbologists to care for medicinal herbs.
The high tier a medicinal herb was, the harder it was to cultivate it. Similar to pill forging, it was an extremely profound knowledge. To cultivate a formidable herb, not only would one require time, more importantly, one would also require skilled and experienced workers!
The medicinal herb being unable to live up to its full potential was one thing. In the worst-case scenario, an error made could even cause the plant to wither and die!
Using the spirit herb [Noble Grass] as example, this herb needed to be watered by maidens to live. If the maiden were to get into a relationship with a male, as soon as a drop of water from her were to fall onto the spirit herb, the herb would immediately dissipate into a cloud of smoke.
It was exactly due to this nature of Noble Grass that it was used to check whether a lady was still a maiden or not.
Melody Rapture Grass—It would take on an appearance similar to a human's eye once it flowers. To keep it alive, a person had to dance and sing to delight it with a melody. Otherwise, it would die very quickly.
There were many of such bizarre medicinal herbs throughout the world, and without the required knowledge, it would be impossible to grow them.
And this knowledge was passed down only within the herbologist clans who devoted their entire lives to raising herbs.
Back then, when the Master Teacher Pavilion was organizing the occupations, herbologists had been raised in the discussion. However, this occupation had a very divided heritage and there wasn't any clear school. On top of that, it had very little to do with cultivation and skills, being a knowledge-oriented occupation.
As such, it failed to be ranked within the Nine Paths. Otherwise, its name would surely be listed amidst the occupations of the Lower Nine Paths.