Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

In just one night, Wuzhui became much more familiar with the horses in the stable.

Like humans, horses are social animals. In the village, Wuzhui did not live with its kind. Ordinary horses were far less intelligent than it and could hardly be considered its kind.

When it's with other horses, it always stands out from the crowd.

When it arrived at the stables of Xuanqing Temple, it seemed as if it had finally found its kind.

The horses at Xuanqing Temple are all very intelligent. Although they don't have as many legends as the famous horse Jueying, these horses have lived with the Taoist priests of Xuanqing Temple for many years, and have bred many generations.

In fact, they have many stories, but they have never been told.

The Taoist priests were not their masters, but their companions.

The horses carried the Taoist priests on their long journeys, and the priests provided shelter for the horses from the wind and rain.

Seeing that Wuzhui and the little horse next to him were eating and playing together, and eating hay together, Zhuang Xing was no longer worried that it would be lonely down the mountain.

When I have time in the future, I'll come down the mountain often to feed it and play with it.

He stroked the neck of the black horse, gave it a hug, and then walked up the stone steps to the mountain.

He walked up the bluestone steps and returned to Xuanqing Temple after a long absence. He passed the dining hall, the medicinal herb field, and returned to the door under the big birch tree.

I took out a key that I hadn't used in a long time, opened the door, and saw no one inside, but the room was still spotless.

He put down his luggage, went out, and greeted his neighbors whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

After chatting for a while, he learned that more than half of Bai Sui's disciples had cultivated true qi.

After all, four years have passed since they went up the mountain. After four years of hard training, they should have reaped the rewards. This winter, they will participate in the Bai Sui disciples' kowtow ceremony.

Compared to Zhuang Xing and Yun Ling, this is the normal process: three to five years of arduous cultivation on the mountain to develop true Qi, and then one to two years of further cultivation as a prospective disciple. On average, it takes about six years to train a Qing Sui disciple.

It is extremely rare for someone like Zhuang Xing and Yun Ling to become Qing Sui's disciples in less than a year.

When Da Chun returned to the house, it was already evening.

After a year apart, Da Chun has grown much stronger.

"Zhuang Xing, you're finally back! How are things down the mountain? I heard a lot has happened there."

"A lot has happened."

Zhuang Xing told Da Chun about the changes that had happened in the village.

Da Chun didn't seem to understand.

"So you're saying that because it's getting cold, there's not enough food, so many people have come to the village to farm?"

"That's pretty much the gist of it. The village has grown a lot bigger now. If you go back, you might not even be able to find your own home."

“Impossible,” Da Chun said, patting his chest. “I could find my way home with my eyes closed.”

"That's hard to say. If you go back and see for yourself, you'll know how much it has changed."

"Wait a minute, Zhuang Xing, do you mean you went back to the village?" Da Chun suddenly grasped the key point.

“If I don’t go back, how can I tell you about what’s happening in the village?” Zhuang Xing laughed.

"Oh right!" Da Chun suddenly realized.

He scratched his head and asked, "You went back to the village? Did my family write to me?"

"No," Zhuang Xing answered truthfully.

Da Chun looked a little disappointed and said, "Okay."

"Didn't you cultivate true qi? You can just go back and talk to your family about it."

"Don't worry, your family is doing well."

Zhuang Xing heard from his neighbor about Da Chun's success in cultivating true qi. This kid was really focused on practicing. Every day, apart from eating and sleeping, he practiced. Although he was a little later than the top disciples, he still successfully cultivated true qi last month.

“That’s true.” Da Chun nodded. “Then I’ll go out and practice for a while longer.”

He's still the same; he only knows how to do one thing.

Chapter 146 Searching for the Spirit Herb in the Snow

It's snowing, and the mountains are covered in a blanket of white.

Zhuang Xing sat quietly under the birch tree, circulating his inner energy and slowly meditating, breathing in the spiritual energy of the mountain.

Snow fell on his shoulders and hair, but he remained motionless, sitting there like a stone, blending into the surrounding snowy landscape.

Returning to the mountain, free from worldly affairs, he continued his solitary practice.

In swordsmanship class, there wasn't much more his teachers could teach him; they simply let him arrange his own practice time.

When Senior Brother Lingyi has free time, the two of them will still have a sword duel, simply comparing their sword skills without using any other techniques.

Aside from Taoist rituals, talismans, and demon identification, he had to arrange most of his own time.

In his spare time, he would practice asceticism alone.

There are no shortcuts in spiritual practice; the only way is to take each step steadily and practically.

Even with exceptional talent, one won't improve if they don't practice regularly.

When he was at the foot of the mountain, he was often on the move.

When he got home, his younger sister was too clingy, making it difficult for him to have any peace and quiet.

The environment is really important. When he returned to the Taoist temple, he immediately regained that feeling.

It's like when you're at home, no matter how much you vow to study hard, it's hard to sit down at your desk alone to read books and do practice papers. But when you're in a quiet place like a library, full of atmosphere, you can quickly immerse yourself in it.

He remained calm and composed until mealtime. When he felt hungry, he stood up, shook the snow off his shoulders, and went to the canteen with Yunling to eat.

"Zhuang Xing, are you free on the 15th?" Yunling asked.

Zhuang Xing asked, "Is there something you need?"

"I want to go to the back mountain to find a magical herb."

Yunling told Zhuang Xing what had happened; it turned out that she wanted to find a spiritual herb called Ruixuecao.

The snowwort only grows in winter, but it doesn't sprout in winter. It just burrows into the mud when it's not snowing, making it almost impossible to find.

It is dormant during spring, summer and autumn, and only wakes up when it gets cold.

The snow-white herb with a touch of green is quite beautiful when it blooms, but it only emerges from the mud when it is very cold, so it is rarely seen and therefore has no ornamental value.

Rue Xue Cao is not a rare spiritual herb. In fact, it has no medicinal value. At most, it can only be added as a water-attribute auxiliary ingredient when refining pills.

There are plenty of water-attribute spiritual herbs that can be used as alternatives, and they are much easier to find than the Snow Grass, which can only be found in winter. Therefore, few people cultivate it, and many people don't even recognize it.

Although the Snow Grass has little value to cultivators, it might just be a way for it to survive.

Zhuang Xing roughly guessed why Yunling wanted to find this Ruixue Grass. It wasn't for medicinal use, nor for cultivation for ornamental purposes. It seemed that her vitality magic had encountered a bottleneck, and she wanted to use Ruixue Grass as "material" to try it out.

"Have you managed to grow the dragon fruit seeds yet?" Zhuang Xing asked.

“It’s grown.” Yunling nodded. “It sprouted before we went back to the mountain. We used soil from Master’s herb field, and it quickly grew vines. I had some ideas, so I thought I’d find a few Ruixue Grass plants.”

Just as Zhuang Xing had guessed, Yunling had spent most of her energy tending to the wheat while down the mountain. Now that she was back on the mountain, she finally had some free time to attend to her own affairs.

Since Ruezekiel is hard to find in the city, she thought of inviting me to help her find it.

This thing should exist in Qingxuan Mountain. Qingxuan Mountain is a blessed land with abundant spiritual energy, which is very suitable for the growth of this kind of spiritual herb.

Yunling needed his help, and of course he couldn't refuse.

We can't just let Yunling go to the mountains alone and search for her all by herself.

"Then let's go look for it together," Zhuang Xing agreed.

"Yes, thank you for your trouble." Yunling smiled.

"It's a small matter," Zhuang Xing said.

Several days later, the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month arrived.

The two then packed their things and headed out of the temple towards the back mountain.

Qingxuan Mountain is a very large mountain, and Xuanqing Temple only occupies a corner of its mountainside.

There is a large uninhabited area behind the mountain. The higher you go, the more remote it becomes, and there are many wild animals.

The two walked through the snow, which was quite deep this year, and made their way into the mountains and fields.

Few people usually come here, and the two searched everywhere for traces of the snowwort.

You have to look very carefully to see it. The color of that thing is very similar to snow. After all, if it were a snowy day and a patch of green suddenly appeared out of the snow, the passing deer and lambs would definitely be eager to pluck off its grass leaves and eat them.

After walking around the mountain for most of the day, they found three Rue Snow Grass plants.

Yunling was very careful when picking the herbs. She first bent down and swept away the snow, and then carefully used a small wooden shovel to take out the snow grass by the roots.

She carefully wrapped all three Rue Xue Cao plants in cloth and nurtured them with her true Qi.

"These are enough." Yunling placed the last Rue Xue Cao (a type of medicinal herb) in the box.

Zhuang Xing looked around; they were already close to the mountaintop.

The sky was somewhat gloomy, and light snow began to fall.

Although there was no clock and it was difficult to calculate the time, Zhuang Xing judged from the feeling of hunger that it should be around two or three o'clock in the afternoon.

He brought dry rations, which were meat-filled flatbreads baked with flour. He heated the flatbreads slightly with a fire and gave one to Yunling.

"Let's head back soon," Zhuang Xing said, looking at the sky. "Otherwise, if the snow gets heavier, the roads will be difficult to travel on."

"Mm." Yunling nodded.

The two ate guokui (a type of flatbread) as they walked towards the Taoist temple. Zhuang Xing remembered the way they had come very clearly.

The journey is not far, at most an hour's walk.

But as they descended the mountain, fog suddenly rolled in, obscuring their vision and making it difficult for Zhuang Xing to discern the direction and the way back.

It doesn't look like naturally occurring fog...

Is it a monster?

As Zhuang Xing was thinking, the sound of a tiger's roar suddenly came from the fog.