Promise!

Chapter 89, Qing Yuan

Outside the city, there are small green hills.

The Shen family's medicinal field is right here. Zhuang Jin brought Chen Yun here and the room they were assigned had two rafters, but it was much smaller than the residence of the street guard in the north of the city.

——The space outside the city is limited, which is already good. You know, here, the first-level warriors still share a room with four people, the second-level warriors also share a room with two people, and only the third-level team leaders have a single room, but it only has one rafter.

Chen Yun and the two maids who brought them here cleaned the room.

Zhuang Jin went to the medicinal field he was guarding to meet Yue's men and gathered them together. There were two teams, a total of ten people, one of whom was Bi Kai.

——This place is different from the north of the city. There are only two teams in one Long. As for the Long assigned to Bi Kai, it is because the General Affairs Department is based on the principle of familiarity to facilitate the Long's garrison and work.

This month, his two team leaders, one was called Huang Chuanhe, who looked tall and thin, with a somewhat gloomy temperament; the other was called Zhang Zigao, with short flat hair, who looked like a flat-headed baboon, especially the way he stretched his neck, which was somewhat like Gao Shi in the past.

Zhuang Jin got to know Huang Chuanhe briefly. Huang Chuanhe was okay. He seemed respectful and cooperative on the surface. As for Zhang Zigao, he seemed to have some opinions about him. He answered every question he was asked. He was non-violent... No, he kept silent unless asked.

He remained calm on the surface. After meeting them, he let them go on their normal patrol and only pointed out one person: "I'm going to walk around here and look for a guide. The team leader is busy, so an ordinary team member will do. You'll be the one!"

The person pointed out was Bi Kai.

"Brother Zhuang!" Bi Kai came out and called out after he was a little further away.

"Yeah, Kaizi."

Zhuang Jin nodded slightly. Compared to the others, Bi Kai was his real core team here. "I don't think they know we know each other. Didn't you tell them?"

"Yes, I didn't say it on purpose. I asked for leave on the first day of the new year to attend your wedding, Brother Zhuang, but I didn't say anything specific." Bi Kai replied.

Ever since the night he became a warrior and was nearly strangled to death, he learned from his mistakes and never did any unnecessary showing off again.

Zhuang Jin could guess some of Bi Kai's thoughts, so he wouldn't open up any old wounds. He got straight to the point and said, "Kaizi, tell me about our medicinal fields!"

"Hey, Brother Zhuang, you're on three days of wedding leave. Gan Jugan is guarding and helping you..."

Zhuang Jin nodded slightly. Three days of wedding leave was a written rule, and the man named Gan who was taking over was compensated by the Shen family.

"In our herb farm, Zhang Zigao's brother, Zhang Ziqiao, is stationed at the front of the herb farm. This month, he applied to go north of the city to earn military merit and seek a breakthrough... Zhang Zigao didn't want his brother to go north of the city and even tried to dissuade him. This has led to some unpleasantness between the two brothers..."

Actually, this was also partly due to Zhuang Jin. Last month, Zhuang Jin had made great contributions in the north of the city. He conquered two streets in one night, and was awarded seven or eight hundred military merits and a Shuluo Pill... He had just broken through the fourth meridian and had accomplished such a big thing. It was inevitable that other warriors at the same level would have a feeling of "I can do it too". This month, several Long garrisons outside the city's medicinal fields took the initiative to apply to go to the north of the city.

"Is that so? No wonder." Zhuang Jin felt that Zhang Zigao seemed to have something against him.

"Our team leader Huang Chuanhe seems to have a good relationship with Zhang Zigao, but I feel that he is actually a little jealous and looks down on him. It's not what he seems..."

It was not a good idea for Bi Kai to say these things behind his back, as it offended his own team leader Huang Chuanhe. However, in terms of closeness, the other party naturally could not be compared with Zhuang Jin.

Besides, he was not afraid of offending Huang Chuanhe. The current defender of Long was Zhuang Jin. Moreover, he sensed the bottleneck of the Third Sutra last month, and he would probably be able to break through it in one or two months. When it came to the Third Sutra, the team leaders of the medicinal fields outside the city were all busy, and it was highly likely that they would not be able to stay here and would be assigned to the north of the city.

Zhuang Jin listened and nodded slightly, thinking about the previous conversation. Huang Chuanhe seemed respectful, but in fact, his words were a bit like adding fuel to the fire.

"Interesting." He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Of course, it's just a little interesting.

A higher-ranking official can crush a lower-ranking official. The superior naturally has an advantage over the inferior, especially the warriors, who have great power within themselves. It seems that Zhang Zigao had no opinion about him, and he only dared to resist through non-violent means and did not dare to confront him openly.

"No matter what these two captains think, as long as they keep it to themselves and complete their basic duties, I can turn a blind eye and pretend not to see it."

After all, Zhuang Jin didn't know how long he could stay in the medicinal fields outside the city. These two people weren't trained according to the standards of direct descendants. As long as they could be used together and didn't cause him any trouble, that was enough. "But if they are dishonest and want to make trouble, then I don't mind giving them a beating or two to show my skills."

Zhuang Jin's eyes were deep as he walked with Bi Kai. Passing by a medicinal field, he saw two servants using a light green liquid to water the dark grey to black medicinal herbs in the field, which was blocked by sheds and rope nets. He asked casually, "Is this the black jade grass?"

"Yes, Brother Zhuang, the main ingredient of the Black Yuan Powder we use for cultivation is this... The Black Jade Grass has a strong attraction to both exotic and ordinary beasts, so we use a rope net to block it. However, this can only protect against ordinary beasts. Exotic beasts can easily penetrate it, and then our warriors will have to take action."

"What is that light green liquid used for irrigation?" Zhuang Jin looked at it and guessed that it was this world's 'insecticide' or something similar to 'fertilizer'?

"That's Qing Yuan Liquid. When watered with Qing Yuan Liquid, the Black Jade Grass will grow as much in one day as in one year."

"One day, one year...huh? What did you say, one day, one year?" Zhuang Jin looked at Bi Kai as if it was a matter of course and he was used to it, and wondered if he was too inexperienced.

Making herbs grow for one day is equivalent to a year. This is not only a serious violation of the laws of nature, but it is simply rubbing biology to the ground. Isn't it shocking?
"Brother Zhuang, you don't know?" Bi Kai was surprised.

Before participating in the martial arts selection, his family took him to visit Chang Hetong, who told him this as an interesting story. Before he chose the job in the medicine field outside the city, he mentioned it again. When he came here and saw it with his own eyes, he was quite shocked at first, but over time, he gradually got used to it.

"When watering Black Jade Grass with Qing Yuan Liquid, one day is equivalent to one year. There are several other similar herbs, which also take one day to one year. Those are the main materials for the cultivation of the Patriarch, the Young Master, and the servants. For other herbs, it only takes one day to one month... I heard that there is a limit to the number of years Qing Yuan Liquid can be used to cultivate herbs. The later it is, the higher the concentration required. I'm not sure about the details..."

As Zhuang Jin listened to this, all the information connected in his mind, and he suddenly figured out a question.

"Black Jade Grass and other herbs, watered with Qing Yuan Liquid for one day, will last a year. Black Jade Grass is the main ingredient of Black Yuan Powder. It is said that every low-grade Black Yuan Powder contains a 10-year-old Black Jade Grass. This also explains why the Black Evil Technique is so popular, because it has the best cost-effectiveness!"

This gave Zhuang Jin more ideas: "Since the Black Jade Grass corresponds to the Black Evil Technique, the other several herbs that last a day and a year also correspond to the Shen family's direct descendants' practice of strengthening the foundation and nourishing the essence... In other words, those so-called advanced techniques, as a powerful family in the prefecture, only have a few?"

"Also, Black Jade Grass and several other herbs have a special attack effect on them, one day a year. Qing Yuan Liquid has a special attack effect on them, which means they are probably from the same family and genus, or even the same order. If so, is the Black Evil Art also closely related to those so-called higher-level techniques that strengthen the body and nourish the essence?"

"Wait, the effect of Qing Yuan Liquid on other herbs is one day, one month!"

Zhuang Jin suddenly realized another problem: "The main ingredients for Shuluo Pills require ten years of age, while Shuluo Dan requires twenty years of age. Cultivating it to ten years of age with Qingyuan Liquid takes about four months, and cultivating it to twenty years of age takes eight months."

"Starting from the first month of martial artist recruitment, it took four months to cultivate the medicinal materials, one month to refine and store them, and the sixth month... which is February of this year, to launch Shuluo Pills. It just happened to coincide with that! Similarly, the main ingredients for Shuluo Pills took eight months to cultivate, one month to refine and store them, and the tenth month, which is this month, to launch... everything matched up!"

Putting these clues together made Zhuang Jin feel suddenly enlightened.

However, as old doubts were resolved, new questions arose: 'Where did this miraculous Qing Yuan Liquid come from? Is the sudden rise of the Yao Wang Gang related to this? Are the exotic beast meat and breeding techniques provided in large quantities by the state capital special items similar to Qing Yuan Liquid? Or is it a special environment? Do they have the same effect?'

Various details are intertwined and connected, and it seems that something is about to come out, but because some key clues are missing, the entire puzzle cannot be completed.

"However, one thing is certain, this world is not as simple as it seems!"

Zhuang Jin pondered secretly and asked about the origin of Qingyuan Liquid. Bi Kai just said that it was distributed by the higher-ups and didn't know anything more.

To be honest, other warriors would be surprised at first when they saw the Qingyuan Liquid, and would ask a few questions. However, if they didn't get an answer later, they would just let it go and wouldn't insist on digging deep into the matter.

"The mysteries of this world have finally been revealed to me. I'm afraid that more secrets can only be accessed by reaching a higher realm and status... No rush! No rush!" Zhuang Jin thought to himself.

……

As the Long garrison commander of the medicinal fields, Zhuang Jin is similar to the street garrison commander of the northern streets of the city. He is more of a pressure bearer. He only needs to take action when there is a small or large-scale skin-grinding beast that his subordinates cannot deal with. Such a situation may not occur once a month.

Therefore, after understanding the situation with Bi Kai, he returned to his two-beam room where he was guarding Long Town, and found that the originally simple, small and extremely cramped house had changed a lot.

……

(End of this chapter)