God of Pets

Chapter 273, the Two Hundred and Seventy-Three Old Ginseng Mountain

Chen Guan listened to Zhu Hongzhi recount an incident that their Black Tiger Regiment encountered in a place called Laocanshan, a place that had only recently been reclaimed.

Many old ginseng roots were discovered in the nearby mountains; these are rare and precious medicinal materials that are no less valuable than Ganoderma lucidum.

Because that secret realm is a public secret realm, many forces have come here after hearing about it, all digging for old ginseng in that mountain range.

With so many people digging, it became increasingly difficult to find old ginseng in the outer areas. Even if one could find some, one would have to compete with others for it. Therefore, the Black Tiger Gang's temporary team ventured deeper into the mountains to see if there were more old ginseng there.

At that time, Zhu Hongzhi was an ordinary member of that temporary squad. He had just joined the army not long ago and was about the same age as Chen Guan now, not much older.

He followed the team into the mountains to dig for old ginseng, and they actually found some. However, the further they went in, the fewer old ginseng they found.

They were all preparing to return home when one of the team's veteran members excitedly exclaimed that he had discovered a seven-leaf ginseng at the foot of a mountain ahead.

The old ginseng in the secret realm is not the same as the ordinary ginseng outside. This rare and precious old ginseng grows a clump of leaves every hundred years, so the age of the old ginseng is calculated by the number of leaves.

A ginseng with seven leaves is called a seven-leaf ginseng, which means it is at least seven hundred years old.

They dug up a lot of old ginseng outside, but this was the first time they had ever seen one this old.

The captain immediately led his men to check, and sure enough, they found the old ginseng with seven leaves. Overjoyed, he quickly ordered his men to dig it out.

They thought this was already a great achievement, but what they found as they continued up the mountain almost stunned them.

The seven-leaf ginseng they had seen before was nothing compared to the ginseng on this mountain. They had only just started climbing when they saw one after another seven-leaf, eight-leaf, nine-leaf, and even ten-leaf ginseng.

They were really shocked at the time. At first, they dug frantically, treating all kinds of leaves like treasures, and stuffing their bags full.

Later, they discovered that seven-leaf, eight-leaf, or nine-leaf ginseng was nothing but second-rate trash on this mountain; old mountain ginseng with more than ten leaves was everywhere.

Upon discovering this, Zhu Hongzhi and his colleagues simply dug and threw away, then dug again, like a bear breaking off corn cobs.

The higher they went up the mountain, the higher the quality of the old ginseng. They even dug up some old ginseng with more than twenty leaves that were as thick as carrots.

Seeing that things couldn't continue like this, and fearing that if they went back to report to the main force, other forces would get there first, they decided after discussion to go up the mountain directly without digging for ginseng.

They kept walking up the mountain, wanting to see what the best old ginseng on the mountain was like, so they could dig up the best ones first and avoid having others snatch them up when they came back.

Zhu Hongzhi followed the group up the mountain, and the mountain truly stunned them.

I originally thought that a ginseng with more than 20 leaves and over 2,000 years of growth was already quite remarkable.

But compared to the old ginseng they saw later, that was garbage again.

The old ginseng they saw later had leaves growing upwards in clumps, as tall as saplings, over a meter high, with hundreds of clumps of leaves. Those were ginsengs that were over ten thousand years old.

Zhu Hongzhi was completely stunned. He felt as if a mortal had stumbled into a fairyland. He was so excited that he thought he was daydreaming, and everything seemed so unreal.

When they were almost at the top of the mountain, they saw an old ginseng forest that looked like a bamboo grove. Each old ginseng stalk was several meters or even more than ten meters tall, and had countless leaves.

Everyone was so excited they were practically going crazy. Each of these amazing treasures must be priceless. If they dug up just a few, they wouldn't have to worry about money for the rest of their lives.

Some people were pinching their thighs in disbelief, wondering if they were dreaming. It wasn't until they cried out in pain that they realized it wasn't a dream.

People went crazy at the time, they didn't care about teams anymore, they all ran desperately up the mountain, thinking that they would dig up the best old ginseng when they got to the top.

Everyone tacitly agreed to keep this matter to themselves, digging as much information as they could, as their future wealth depended on it.

It's impossible to hand it over; even if I'm expelled from the Heavenly Army, it's worth it.

When they reached the top of the mountain, everyone was stunned.

At the top of the mountain stands a towering ancient tree, its trunk so thick that it would take a dozen or twenty people holding hands to encircle it. No one knows how tall it is, but it is always shrouded in swirling clouds.

But that wasn't a real tree; it was a genuine old ginseng root.

They simply couldn't imagine how much money such an old ginseng could fetch after being dug up. If they could sell just this one item, they could become richer than a country.

At that time, Zhu Hongzhi thought that if he ate a bite of this old ginseng, would he be able to ascend to heaven in broad daylight?

Everyone shared his idea and risked their lives to dig up that towering old ginseng.

No, it shouldn't be called "Old Mountain Ginseng," it should be called "Grandfather Mountain Ginseng."

Zhu Hongzhi originally wanted to go dig as well, but then he thought about how big the old ginseng was and wondered how long it would take to dig it up.

Since it's so big, they can't possibly carry it all by themselves. Everyone will definitely get a share. So why not let them dig first, and I'll dig up a few big old ginseng roots nearby? I can take them back to my family to use, or I can sell them for a good price.

So Zhu Hongzhi started digging around there himself, and the old ginseng he dug up was even bigger than the pumpkin king in the world pumpkin king competition. Zhu Hongzhi only dug up a part of it, but found that the bottom was getting harder and harder, and he didn't know how long he would have to dig.

Moreover, it's so big that it's inconvenient to carry around, and his teammates probably wouldn't agree to him keeping it for himself.

With a determined effort, Zhu Hongzhi abandoned his plan to dig for old ginseng near the mountaintop and decided to go down a little further down to dig for some smaller ones first.

When he reached the lower half of the mountain, he finally managed to dig up some old ginseng, about the size of a white radish, which he could fit into his backpack. After filling his backpack, he hurried back to the top of the mountain.

But when he returned to the mountaintop, he found that his teammates were like unwound puppets, remaining motionless in various ginseng-digging postures. The scene was extremely eerie and almost scared Zhu Hongzhi to death.

He swallowed hard and called out several times, but no one answered. He mustered his courage and walked to the captain's side. He nudged the captain, who was still bent over digging for ginseng, and saw the captain fall down and crash to the ground. His body shattered into pieces, as if his body had turned into porcelain.

Zhu Hongzhi couldn't even describe the terror he felt at the time, and he ran down the mountain like a madman.

He was so terrified that he didn't dare turn around, but he seemed to hear a strange laugh coming from the direction of the towering ginseng tree.

After he descended the mountain, he ran all the way back to the main force's camp. After explaining the situation, the then-commander of the Black Tiger Regiment personally led his men to follow Zhu Hongzhi to that old ginseng mountain.

When they arrived at the place where the old ginseng mountain used to be, they couldn't find it no matter what they did.

Because the impression was so deep, Zhu Hongzhi was certain he couldn't have misremembered, and with their team's makeshift tent nearby, he was even less likely to be wrong.

But the old ginseng mountain was indeed gone, the entire mountain was gone. If it weren't for the old ginseng roots, thicker than an arm, still in Zhu Hongzhi's backpack, everyone would have thought he had murdered the rest of the team and made up this story.

(End of this chapter)