"Before you practice the art of alchemy, you still have many, many things to learn."
Senior sister Min stood in the hall and spoke to the dozen or so female disciples below. She deliberately emphasized the word "many, many" in order to dissuade the junior sisters from starting to make alchemy right away.
Below are a dozen female disciples from Qixia Mountain, each with a wooden case, a wooden plate on the case, a green grass placed on the plate, and many other objects on the case.
"Most of the attributes of elixirs come from spiritual herbs. According to the rules of the master's sect, before refining elixirs, all junior sisters must work hard on this spiritual grass. The main thing is to know the grass, select the grass, and pick it. There are many steps such as washing the grass, dividing the grass, etc., all of which are very important.”
"I will explain this to the junior sisters here about grass recognition, grass selection and picking. To put it simply, it means that you can distinguish the types of spiritual grass and know which are useful spiritual grasses. However, not all spiritual grasses can be picked when you see them. , it also depends on the year of the spiritual grass. Different spiritual herbs can be used as medicine in different years. Also, where to find these spiritual herbs, some like shade, some like sun, and the place where they grow is also Different. To truly become proficient, you need to go to your master's spiritual herb garden frequently and take a closer look at how the brothers and sisters there do it, or to help them. It will be very beneficial to you. of."
"Washing grass, there is a grass courtyard in the master's gate, which is a place specially used to clean the picked spiritual grass. If you want to learn alchemy, each junior sister must go there. Don't think that washing grass is like washing vegetables in the kitchen. Just rinse the spiritual grass with water several times. Different spiritual grasses have different washing methods. This is also a relatively deep knowledge. If the spiritual grass is not washed cleanly or is injured, it will directly affect the efficacy of the elixir. of."
"As for dividing the grass, the requirements are even stricter. Generally speaking, a spiritual grass has roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits. Different parts have different medicinal effects. Some roots and leaves have similar medicinal effects. The strengths and weaknesses are different. Some stems and fruits have opposite medicinal effects. If they are combined together, they will become a useless elixir. Even if the roots and leaves have the same medicinal effect, the leaves may be suitable for using an elixir furnace to refine the elixir, while the roots Use a mortar to pound it carefully, drain out the juice and then steam it to remove the water to prepare the elixir."
"There are no less than 400 kinds of spiritual grass in our spiritual grass garden in Qixia Mountain, and there are more spiritual grasses picked from outside the sect. So many spiritual grasses require the hard work of the junior sisters. You have to be very familiar with the grass.”
"Don't think these are too complicated. You will definitely remember them every time you come into contact with them in the future. However, if you want to learn alchemy, if you can't wash and separate hundreds of kinds of spiritual herbs skillfully, then you are not qualified. , we can only continue to work hard on Huancao Courtyard and Lingcao Garden, and we can only start when we are done."
"Don't frown, it's not difficult. Within one month from today, we only require everyone to master twenty kinds of spiritual herbs. Of course, the more, the better."
In the Spiritual Grass Garden in Qixia Mountain, senior sister Min was taking Yanxuan and other dozen female disciples to teach them how to identify various spiritual herbs.
This Spiritual Grass Garden is said to be a garden, but it is actually a small mountain peak. There are many similar places where Spiritual Grasses are planted in Qixia Mountain, but only a few are specially used for Qi Refining disciples. Most of the Spiritual Grasses planted in the rest of the gardens are It is much higher level than here, and the guards are much stricter. It is like a forbidden area, and Qi refining disciples are not allowed to enter.
In the past few days, this senior sister Min has taken these junior sisters around the front and back mountains of the spiritual grass garden, pointing out various spiritual grasses to them one by one. In fact, Qixia Mountain has given them to every disciple who practices alchemy. They all distributed a book called "Collection of Spiritual Herbs". It was a thick book with drawings and text of various spiritual herbs. The appearance, habits, efficacy and treatment methods of those spiritual herbs were recorded in great detail. .
But reading a book a hundred times is not as good as taking a walk in the garden. This is Senior Sister Min's original words, which she heard when she first learned the alchemy technique. It's true. Practicing the art of alchemy is not like studying hard to get fame like scholars in the world. Even if you can memorize the books given by your master, it's really better to go to the garden and see with your own eyes what the spiritual grass grows. Look at them, pinch them, smell them, see where they grow, which ones are ready for picking, and which ones will have to wait a few more years.
Senior Sister Na Min taught her in more detail, what kind of spiritual grass likes the sun, what kind likes the shade, which kinds should be found in places with sufficient water near streams, and which kinds can only grow in the darkness of caves. In this way, she led these junior sisters around for more than ten days, working tirelessly. These female disciples kept chattering with questions, and she patiently answered them one by one.
After these junior sisters could initially identify the spiritual grass, Senior Sister Min asked them to go to the spiritual grass garden every day to help. Each garden has a dedicated disciple who is responsible for picking the spiritual grass that is old enough. After coming down, these disciples watched first, and then started picking them themselves under the guidance of their senior brothers and sisters.
Here I want to talk more about the age of the spiritual grass. Generally speaking, the spiritual grass can only be used when it is old enough. For example, if the ten-year-old Danzhu grass grows in ordinary places, it will take ten years before it can be used as medicine. However, in the Spiritual Grass Garden of Qixia Mountain, the red vermilion grass here can be used as medicine for up to three years. Although it is only used for three years, it is still a ten-year-old spiritual grass. The reason is that the Spiritual Grass Garden is a place rich in spiritual energy. , as long as the spiritual grass grows, it must absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Danzhu grass growing in the garden can naturally absorb the spiritual energy faster than those growing elsewhere, so it will grow much faster every year. Therefore, the year of the spiritual grass is not necessarily how many years the spiritual grass has been growing. It is just a criterion for whether the spiritual grass is enough to be used as medicine.
The determination of the year is very detailed in the "Collection of Spiritual Herbs". The year of various spiritual herbs is generally determined based on the stems, leaves, flowers and fruits that can be seen. There are also some special spiritual herbs that can only be judged by their appearance. If you cannot judge the year, you must take a little grass blade and taste it, which is called "taste the grass". By tasting the grass, you can identify the nature and flavor of the spiritual grass, so as to determine the year. Don't take too much, just a little, otherwise it will hurt you. That spiritual grass.
In addition to identifying the spiritual grass and helping the brothers and sisters pick it, Yanxuan and the others in the courtyard also did one other very important thing, which was to drive away the birds in the mountains and the wild beasts in the forest. Not only are spiritual herbs extremely precious to monks, but the birds and beasts in the mountains covet the spiritual herbs all over the mountain in the Spirit Grass Garden. If one can eat one when someone is not prepared, it will be of great benefit to those birds and beasts.
Yanxuan once saw with his own eyes a senior brother who was whispering to them how to pick spiritual grass. Suddenly his body suddenly rose, and after flying into the air, he fired a blazing fireball at a flying big bird. Knowing that the big bird was not afraid, he fluttered his wings and raised his body to avoid it. Then he saw the senior brother flying straight towards the big bird in anger, and when he was still more than ten feet away from the big bird, he puffed up his gills and sprayed out a stream of water. The big bird couldn't bear the heat of the long tongue of fire, so it had no choice but to flap its wings and make a strange sound before escaping.
"These snitches are very troublesome. If you don't watch closely, they will get you." After the senior brother fell back and saw a group of junior sisters looking at him blankly, he whispered again, "I just used These are all fire control skills taught by the master, you should practice them well, and drive away those birds and beasts when you see them in the garden, otherwise they will destroy the spiritual grass."
But later, Senior Sister Min told these female disciples that they could just drive away the birds and beasts that came to steal the spiritual grass, and do not hurt them. Qixia Mountain is not far from Shuiyun Valley, and maybe those guys who came to steal the spiritual grass were Shui. Even if the spirit beasts raised in Yungu are injured, it won't be good. All in all, these thieves are quite a headache.
In addition, Senior Sister Min also said that the spiritual grass garden inside the gate is guarded. The same is true for the unowned natural spiritual grass outside the sect. If you see spiritual grass when you go out in the future, you must be careful. You can usually find spiritual grass. Most places are also guarded by monsters that are not easy to mess with. The reason why these monsters and monsters are given the word "demon" is because they can find those spiritual grasses more easily in the wild than monks, who are looking for spirits outside. Grass must be found carefully according to what is written in the book or taught by the predecessors, but they can find it only by relying on their natural induction. In comparison, the monks are much worse.
Yanxuan's mother is known as the "Goddess Doctor", and the Yan family is in the medicine business. She has helped her mother since she was a child, and she can identify nearly a hundred common herbal medicines at a young age. Among the disciples who came here, Yanxuan made the fastest progress. After wandering around the Lingcao Garden for more than half a month, Senior Sister Na Min was impressed by her.
In order to take the school exam, Senior Sister Min took her around the front and back hills of the Lingcao Garden. When she saw the Lingcao Garden, she asked Yanxuan what kind of Lingcao it was, whether it was old enough, and how to pick it. She also asked Yanxuan to pick some. Senior Sister Min was surprised along the way. If Yanxuan had not gone to Huancao Garden to learn how to wash and divide grass, she would have found a vacancy for Yanxuan in Lingcaoyuan, and she would have earned a lot more every month. A spiritual stone.
Later, Senior Sister Min pointed out a mountain peak to Yanxuan and told her that some spiritual grasses also grow there. The number is naturally not as large as that in Lingcao Garden, but most of them are not found in Lingcao Garden. She can hold the book "Lingcao Garden" "Herbal Collection", go there and take a look, and identify the spiritual herbs there by comparing it with the contents in the book.
Yanxuan followed the instructions and went there. Senior Sister Min said that there was a place inside the door, so there was no need to worry about any danger.
She searched carefully up and down the mountains there, and she really found some things that were in the book but not in the Lingcao Garden. She saw them with her own eyes and touched them with her hands. Yanxuan felt that she had gained a lot of knowledge, but she was Holding the book and flying around in the mountain, he was stopped by a young male monk.
"Little Junior Sister," the male monk called. When he came closer, he looked at Yanxuan and said, "Although the spiritual grasses in this mountain are all ownerless, there are two spiritual grasses that I have taken a fancy to. It's not old enough yet, so I'm going to wait until it's old enough before picking it up for elixirs, so please be merciful, little junior sister."
"Senior brother, don't worry," Yanxuan said, "I am also learning alchemy from my sect's Senior Sister Min. It was Senior Sister Min who told me that there are spiritual herbs here that are not seen in the Spiritual Grass Garden and asked me to identify them. She also told me that the spiritual herbs here may have been picked up by senior brothers and sisters within the sect, so just let me take a look. I haven’t picked any of the spiritual herbs on this mountain.”
"Oh, that's because I'm overthinking." The monk also saw the "Collection of Spiritual Herbs" in Yanxuan's hand, and heard Yanxuan mention Senior Sister Min, so he felt relieved, "Then I won't bother you and leave. "
After seeing off the senior brother, Yanxuan originally wanted to leave, but after thinking about it, he was coming from the left and right, so he might as well see everything on this mountain before leaving, and try to come here as little as possible in the future to prevent others from misunderstanding him.
He found another spiritual grass in a hidden mountain forest. This mountain forest was considered the last place here. After leaving here, Yanxuan planned to go back to his residence or go to the spiritual grass garden again. She flipped through the book in her hand and found a drawing on one of the pages, which looked very similar to the spiritual grass in front of her.
"Green jade sunflower, is this a green jade sunflower? It looks very similar. Well, why is the white glue at the back of the book similar to it? Which kind is it?"
While he was thinking about it, Yanxuan suddenly heard someone talking outside the forest. They were not far away. However, firstly, Yanxuan was squatting there quietly wondering what kind of spiritual grass was in front of him. Secondly, there were trees blocking the way, so outside The speaker did not notice her.
"Brother Zhou, why did you invite me here? Is there something you can't say elsewhere?"
"Say it elsewhere, huh, I'm afraid it will hurt your face if you say it elsewhere!"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean? Wang, don't you still know what you are doing?"
Yanxuan frowned, wondering why the two people outside were quarreling here. Wouldn't it be bad for him to go out at this time? They must have chosen such a remote place to talk because they didn't want others to hear them. Oh, forget it. , wait until the two of them leave before leaving.
"Zhou Zhao, don't talk in such a roundabout way, please speak more clearly!"
"Okay, then let me ask you, why is the purple fairy grass we found that time when we went out together missing?"
"Gone? Wait, you said the Crimson Immortal Grass disappeared. Have you been there again? The two of us have agreed that we must go there together again. Why are you going there again behind my back? "
"Hmph, if I hadn't gone, I would have been kept in the dark. When I went there, I found that not only the purple fairy grass was gone, but the Kui beast guarding the grass was also gone. The only people who know that place are you and me. If not, who else can you ask?"
"You...you are betraying your trust and come to ask me? How do I know where the Crimson Immortal Grass has gone? Last time you said that the Crimson Immortal Grass was not old enough, and the Kui Beast is not something we two can defeat. In two years It took three years to pick the magical grass, so I believed you. Now you not only went there secretly behind my back, but you actually said that I stole the magical grass. Zhou Zhao, did you secretly pick the crimson grass? Are you afraid that I’ll find out and beat you up again?”
"Stop talking so much. Let me ask you, have you been out recently?"
"Hmph! Ever since I went out with you that time, I have been staying inside the door. If you don't believe it, go to Jingshiyuan and check it out yourself."
"That's right! You've never been out again, so let me ask you, where did the spiritual stones you used for practice come from in the past few months?"
"Hmph, stop talking nonsense. Not to mention these few months, even in a few more months, the spiritual stones I have saved will be enough for my cultivation."
"Really? But why are you so familiar with Senior Brother Liu recently? I heard someone say that Senior Brother Liu asked one of his senior brothers to transplant a plant of Crimson Immortal Grass from outside for him, and he kept it under his master's care. In the cave, when the years are enough, he will refine elixirs for him. Wang Jun, Junior Brother Wang, you have been so generous recently, why don't you tell me where you got your spiritual stones? Or did Senior Brother Liu agree? How about giving you a pill in the future?"
"How could I know about Senior Brother Liu if you don't talk nonsense? If you doubt yourself, ask Senior Brother Liu, but you. You went out with several people this time. You don't need me to name them. You can take them with you again." What on earth do you want to do there? Don’t you want to secretly kill the Kui beast before I don’t know it, and then collect the Crimson Immortal Grass? You still have the nerve to accuse me here!”
"Haha, Junior Brother Wang, since you know what I am going out for this time, why don't you stop me? You must have known that there was no spiritual grass there anymore but you deliberately let me go in vain! Why didn't I come to you today? In addition, I will share half of the spiritual stones given to you by Liu, and I will never mention this again!"
"Nonsense, wishful thinking!"
"Don't go, stop!"
"What do you want to do? Do you still want to do it inside the door?"
"Do it? Okay, since there is no one here, I will teach you a lesson!"
Yanxuan was leaning against the tree at this time, not daring to move at all, let alone making any noise. She never expected that she who came here to look for spiritual herbs would overhear such dirty secrets between two people outside.
"Will you give it or not?"
"dream!"
The two men had already moved their hands, and there was a whistling and clanking sound outside the forest. Suddenly, there was a "boom", and a wave of heat suddenly hit, burning unbearably.
"Do you want this forest to burn down? Then we might as well find a place with a lot of people and have a fight."
"Okay, it's better if there are more people, let others comment and get to know you, a despicable person!"
"Hmph! I'm despicable, so are you a gentleman? Who...someone, come out!"
Yanxuan was almost suffocated by the heat wave just now. She felt as if her hair was on fire. She couldn't bear it anymore, so she quietly moved from behind the tree, trying to sneak away from the two people and find a chance to escape. What will happen if the two find out that they don't know yet? But he didn't want to be discovered, and when he was hesitating whether to go out, another person outside the forest also spoke.
"What are you shouting? Don't try to deceive me. There is no one there!"
"Are you deaf? There is clearly someone in this forest! How about I go take a look?"
"Don't even think about leaving. Even if there is someone in this forest, I will get my share back today!"
"You are really crazy. If you want to go crazy, go crazy yourself. I won't accompany you."
"Don't go!"
Yanxuan heard that one of the two people outside seemed to have walked away, and the other also chased after him. Knowing that it was an opportunity, he immediately jumped up and did not dare to fly higher. He flew back quickly above the mountain forest and began to I still wanted to fly back to my residence, so I thought about it and flew to Lingcao Garden. Senior Sister Min was there. Now I feel more at ease only after I find Senior Sister Min.
In the forest not far away, two people stood together, looking at Yanxuan flying away with gloomy expressions.
"It looks like she's a little girl who's just starting out. Why don't you catch her and give her a few warnings to stop her from talking nonsense?"
"Go ahead and say such embarrassing things yourself."
"What are you talking about! You knew it was embarrassing and you secretly sold the spiritual grass to others. This matter is not over yet. It's not easy for me to do anything to the man named Wang within the sect. Don't let me meet you outside the sect in the future!"
"Hmph! The same goes for you. I'll teach you a lesson some other time outside the clan."
"Okay! Let's see!"
