Chronicles of the Green Vine: A Mortal’s Path to Immortality

At this moment, Zhang Ling and Mu Xiaoyan had found a secluded place to recover their spiritual power. They also briefly recounted their experiences to each other.

Mu Xiaoyan was quite lucky, being teleported not far from the center of Burning Flame Valley. In the first few days, she gained quite a bit.

However, a day ago, she encountered a team of rogue cultivators. There were six of them, and she was invited to join their team to search for spiritual herbs. Until a few hours ago, they discovered some Heavenly Star Grass, and three of them attacked the others.

The little girl was quite clever, taking advantage of her opponents' carelessness to kill one person and flee in panic, only to be chased by the fat cultivator and the female cultivator.

After hearing about her experience, Zhang Ling was quite moved. However, in Mu Xiaoyan's account, he also obtained useful information.

The fat cultivator and the others suddenly attacked because they discovered several Heavenly Star Grass.

The two discussed their next plans. They decided to act together, their primary goal naturally being to head to the location of the Heavenly Star Grass, which was not far from their current location.

More than an hour later, Zhang Ling and the other arrived at a small valley. This valley was surrounded by black stone peaks on all sides, but the inside of the valley was full of vitality.

Upon entering this place, they were greeted by a scene of singing birds and fragrant flowers, with various exotic flowers and herbs covering the valley. There were also some thick ancient trees.

This kind of environment is common outside, but it is very strange in Burning Flame Valley. Here, the temperature in the air has also dropped by more than half, already the same as outside.

What rich spiritual energy! Feeling the dense breath of vegetation, Zhang Ling couldn't help but feel a burst of energy. After probing with his divine sense, he didn't find any traces of other people. It seems that no other cultivators have come here yet.

He also discovered that the ground under his feet was different from other places, actually presenting a black-blue color, which was very strange. Could it be that the different environment here is due to the soil? Zhang Ling thought to himself.

"Brother Zhang, if you go along the front, you will see a waterfall after a while. That is where the Heavenly Star Grass was discovered before."

"Okay, let's go."

After walking through the sea of flowers for a while, the two did not encounter any danger. On the contrary, they found a few spiritual herbs. Soon after, they heard bursts of rumbling sounds in their ears, and in a blink of an eye, they saw a pool of water.

The pool water was clear and cold, with a layer of thin mist floating above it. A silver waterfall hung on a black stone cliff not far away. Upon arriving here, the temperature dropped sharply and became somewhat gloomy.

"That is the Heavenly Star Grass!"

They saw many raised stones on the surface of the water. On a black stone, about two zhang in size, in the southeast corner of the pool, grew three or four gray-black small grasses.

On the leaves of these small grasses, there were thin lines presenting a cyan-blue color, and at the end of the lines, thin grass vines extended out, with some silver light spots shining on them, swaying in the wind, twinkling like starlight.

Zhang Ling released his divine sense to probe the surroundings. He did not find anything unusual within twenty zhang, but the situation under the pool could only be detected seven or eight zhang away, and he could not probe any deeper.

"Be careful."

Saying this to Mu Xiaoyan beside him, he took out a talisman and patted it on his body, forming a layer of translucent water shield around him.

Zhang Ling no longer hesitated and jumped, rushing towards the bluestone on the water.

Mu Xiaoyan also took out a magic weapon and looked around solemnly. She also took out a talisman and activated it, forming a layer of white light shield to protect her whole body.

Zhang Ling used the Wind Control Technique and lightness skill, tapping his toes lightly on the water surface, and leaped two zhang away. Although Mu Xiaoyan was not as fast as him, she followed closely.

But when they reached halfway, a sudden change occurred, and a strange sound came from underwater. The swooshing sound became louder and louder. With a clang, Zhang Ling's defense shield shook and was attacked.

It turned out to be a slender fish hitting him. The fish beast's body was flat and black all over. Strangely, a pair of white and shiny wings grew on each side of its gills.

Upon closer inspection, Zhang Ling recognized this as a flying knife fish, a low-level fish beast.

This kind of fish survives in the special water veins of Falling Star Mountain. It has considerable attack power when it leaps and attacks, and usually appears in groups.

A bad idea rose in Zhang Ling's heart. A single flying knife fish is not to be feared, only having the strength of the first or second level of Qi Refining, but if trapped in a school of fish, it would be quite troublesome.

Sure enough, as soon as his idea appeared, the water surface boiled, and a buzzing sound rang loudly. Flying knife fish broke out of the water one by one. Zhang Ling quickly commanded his flying sword to surround his body, killing the attacking flying fish.

In a blink of an eye, he killed twenty or thirty of them, but the attacking flying knife fish became more and more numerous, impossible to kill them all. Fortunately, the flying fish were not strong, and they could still cope.

After a few breaths, the two arrived at the boulder where the Heavenly Star Grass grew. "Yan'er, you resist for a while, I will pick the spiritual herbs."

Mu Xiaoyan didn't think much when she heard this. She urged her magic power, and two water snakes flew out from the jade tablet magic weapon in her hand, surrounding the outside of the boulder. The attacking flying knife fish were all bounced away at once.

In a short period of time, there were as many as seventy or eighty flying knife fish surrounding them.

Mu Xiaoyan gave a cold shout and urged the magic weapon with all her strength. The water snakes released moved at high speed, like water tornadoes, and the attacking flying fish were torn to pieces, and blood stained a small area of the water.

Zhang Ling quickly squatted down, patted the storage bag, took out a jade box, and quickly picked the white light spots on the Heavenly Star Grass.

Zhang Ling and other cultivators who entered the Burning Flame Valley had long remembered the two main medicines for the Foundation Establishment Pill, the Flame Sun Flower and the Heavenly Star Grass.

Among the light spots on the leaves of the Heavenly Star Grass, there are blue-black flattened round seeds, each about the size of a soybean. This is the seed of the Heavenly Star Grass, and also the main medicine of the Foundation Establishment Pill. On the contrary, the roots and leaves have no value.

And on the boulder, there were also some black-brown wrinkled small balls falling, which seemed to be some withered seeds, without any spiritual light on them.

But Zhang Ling's mind moved and he collected these wrinkled seeds together. In a blink of an eye, he had finished picking the Heavenly Star Grass. At this time, there were already hundreds of flying fish gathered, and he reactivated the black sword to kill the gathered flying fish.

"Let's go!"

The flying sword flashed with a yellow light, drawing several arcs in the air, and dozens of flying fish were killed. Zhang Ling took the lead in opening a path and beckoned to Mu Xiaoyan to go to the shore.

Now that the goal was achieved, naturally they would not entangle with these flying fish. Returning to the shore with surprise and joy, the two were very happy to have successfully picked the Heavenly Star Grass.

……

Not long after, in a secluded mountain area.

"Brother Zhang, why did you collect these wrinkled seeds too?" Mu Xiaoyan said, looking at the spiritual light seeds and the black seeds.

"Are these useless?" Zhang Ling touched his nose, his face darkened when faced with the little girl's questioning.

"To say they are useful, they are useful, but to say they are useless, they are really useless." The little girl glanced at him, picking out the seeds of the Heavenly Star Grass, while muttering.

"The reason why Heavenly Star Grass and Flame Sun Flower can grow in Burning Flame Valley is because of the special environment here. The formation of Burning Flame Valley is special. The soil and stone contain Heavenly Star Spiritual Qi and Heavenly Fire Spiritual Qi, which can breed two kinds of spiritual medicines. It is difficult to find this special environment outside."

"Therefore, even if you take the seeds and seedlings of these two spiritual medicines to the outside world, you can't cultivate them. Over the past few hundred years, the nine major sects have spent a lot of time on this, and none of them have succeeded."

"Burning Flame Valley is not an ancient secret realm left by ancient cultivators, but a specific environment formed by the fall of a celestial star. This place is a breeding ground for two kinds of spiritual medicines for the nine major sects, so it is opened once every thirty years."

"Heavenly Star Grass matures about every twenty-five years and can be used to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, but once the seeds fall to the ground, if not properly preserved, they will lose their medicinal effect in a short time. Although these wrinkled seeds are naturally dropped, the starlight on them has dissipated. Unless they are buried in the Burning Flame Valley and wait for them to germinate again, they have no medicinal value at all."

Listening to the little girl's words, Zhang Ling looked embarrassed, but his mind was pounding.

This special spiritual medicine has high requirements for the growing environment, but he has a mysterious pearl. If he takes out some seeds, maybe he can catalyze them, then can't he refine the Foundation Establishment Pill himself?

As soon as this idea rose in his heart, he couldn't suppress it.