Chapter 223: Tasting a Hundred Herbs
The news that Shennong Valley had produced a newly ascended Nascent Soul True Lord—one who had even cultivated a self-created technique and thus triggered a dual tribulation—spread across the entire Tianyuan Realm in no time.
The name "Myriad Laws True Lord Qi Chunde" instantly resounded throughout the realm. On the righteous path, people were overjoyed. A Nascent Soul True Lord who had survived a special heavenly tribulation was a force whose combat power could not be underestimated.
With such a powerhouse added to their ranks, confronting the demonic path would naturally become much easier.
Meanwhile, upon learning this information, the demonic sects swiftly dug up all records related to Qi Chunde. As a former member of the Heavenly Chosen Rankings, the demon sects naturally had some intelligence on him, but most of it was already outdated.
"We must collect more information."
The intelligence operatives of the three great demonic sects gathered together, deciding to jointly investigate this so-called Myriad Laws. A Nascent Soul cultivator who had survived a unique tribulation was definitely worth their combined attention.
But the problem was obvious—gathering intelligence on a Nascent Soul True Lord was no easy feat. Especially one like Qi Chunde, who cultivated an entirely self-created technique. That left them completely in the dark.
For other Nascent Soul cultivators, one could at least infer some information from their known cultivation methods. But with a self-created technique no one knew anything about, what could they possibly deduce?
Of course, aside from intelligence gathering and inference, there was another highly effective method—directly testing him. A single battle could reveal a wealth of information.
The issue was—who would do the testing? In the face of a Nascent Soul cultivator who had overcome a unique heavenly tribulation, blindly probing him could very well mean death.
And sneaking into enemy territory to attempt such probing was inherently dangerous.
"That Myriad Laws seems to have a disciple. Should we perhaps start with him?" one demonic operative suggested.
"You mean that spirit plant master called Gu Mo—the one who cultivated the Sunlight Glazed Flower?" The demon sects naturally had dossiers on Gu Mo as well. Since Gu Mo had entered the Heavenly Chosen Rankings, every bit of information about him had been carefully collected.
"Yes. The Sunlight Glazed Flower he cultivated can be refined into many pills that restrain us. In the future, he'll certainly become a major threat."
"But hasn't that kid always stayed inside Shennong Valley? We can't get to him."
"Isn't there still the Heavenly Chosen War? He'll most likely participate. We can act during the competition. Eliminating Gu Mo would not only remove a future danger but also force the Myriad Laws to reveal himself. That way, we both deal with a problem and gather intelligence in one move."
Once Gu Mo's name was raised, everyone began discussing him. Although Gu Mo's ranking on the Heavenly Chosen list was relatively low, the demon sects rated him as a high-level threat. And that threat level would only increase with time.
Why? Because their intelligence analysis was based on the cultivation rate of the Sunlight Glazed Flower. The longer Gu Mo lived, the more flowers he would cultivate, and the greater the danger he posed.
Luckily for him, the demon sects did not yet know the true number of Sunlight Glazed Flowers Gu Mo had grown. Otherwise, they might have ranked him directly in the top ten—or even the top three.
A handful of Sunlight Glazed Flowers would not sway the grand war between righteous and demonic paths. But hundreds or even thousands of them? That was another matter entirely.
Even the number-one prodigy on the Heavenly Chosen list did not possess the ability to affect the overall righteous–demonic war. Yet a sufficient number of Sunlight Glazed Flowers could.
Before long, a plan targeting Gu Mo was drafted. Of course, since the action had to take place during the Heavenly Chosen War, it could only be carried out by their own Heavenly Chosen participants.
The competition would be jointly overseen by both righteous and demonic sides, so there would be no opportunity to tamper with the rules. They could only act within the framework of the contest. But since their target was merely a spirit plant master with little combat ability, it shouldn't be difficult.
…
"Huuuh~~ The Shennong Compendium of a Hundred Herbs… I've finally grasped the entry stage."
Gu Mo exhaled a long breath. After days of contemplation, he had finally managed to reach the entry level of the Shennong Compendium of a Hundred Herbs—the most supreme cultivation method for spirit plant masters.
At this moment, the alchemical force condensed by the Taiyi evergreen sutra within his body underwent a transformation, becoming a purer, more vitalized wood-type power. This power brimmed with vitality and had a tremendous effect on the growth of spirit plants.
Of course, compared to Sun Essence, it was still inferior. But the power cultivated from the Shennong Compendium of a Hundred Herbs had more than one use—it could also be applied in restorative techniques, and its healing effect was exceedingly strong.
If Gu Mo had been considered an ordinary healer before, now he was undeniably at the level of a top-tier one.
Moreover, this improvement in the quality of his alchemical force meant an elevation of his fundamental foundation. In terms of combat power, the boost was even greater.
But that was only one side of it. With most advanced techniques, such foundational improvements alone would already be considered outstanding. However, as a supreme cultivation method, the Shennong Compendium of a Hundred Herbs was far from simple—it even came with a built-in divine ability.
The moment Gu Mo achieved entry, he obtained a divine ability. That was one of the reasons the Shennong Compendium of a Hundred Herbs was so notoriously difficult to master.
The divine ability he gained was called Tasting a Hundred Herbs.
This divine ability was not offensive but rather an auxiliary one meant specifically for spirit plant masters. Its effect was exactly as its name implied: by tasting a plant, one could directly discern detailed information about it. What's more, the user would be immune to the poisons or negative effects contained within the plant while using this ability.
With this divine ability, if he ever encountered an unfamiliar plant, a single bite would reveal its information. Truly a divine skill tailored for a spirit plant master.
As for how detailed this information could be—Gu Mo glanced around, his eyes landing on the Sword-Heart Bamboo that Ding Shiyan had gifted him earlier. He picked up a stalk, activated Tasting a Hundred Herbs, and took a bite.
At once, an immense stream of detailed information about the Sword-Heart Bamboo surged into his mind. The level of detail far exceeded his expectations. With such comprehensive data, he could instantly identify certain flaws in Ding Shiyan's cultivation of the plant.
If he used this divine ability to continually refine and adjust his cultivation methods, success was virtually guaranteed.
Of course, the divine ability had its limitations—or rather, the limitation did not lie in the divine ability itself, but in the user.
Tasting a Hundred Herbs could indeed provide a vast amount of information, but understanding and applying that information depended entirely on the practitioner's skill.
The higher one's mastery as a spirit plant master, the more insight one could glean. Conversely, a mediocre cultivator, even when presented with all the data, would still be unable to make sense of it.
"Master, what are you doing?"
Xiao Li stared curiously at Gu Mo, who was chewing on a Sunlight Glazed Flower in the spiritual fields. A giant question mark hovered in her mind. She had tried a Sunlight Glazed Flower before—it was tough and hardly edible.
That said, the condensed Solar Energy within it was delicious. The Sun Essence refined from that Solar Energy, which she often exchanged with her master, tasted even better.
"Nothing, mind your own work."
Gu Mo waved her off. Having acquired a new divine ability, he naturally wanted to test it thoroughly. He wandered through the fields, deliberately avoiding the fourth-rank plants, as the higher the rank of the plant, the greater the cost of using Tasting a Hundred Herbs.
He also wanted to see whether this divine ability could help him identify particularly outstanding individuals among the Sunlight Glazed Flowers—those with potential for advancement.
---
"Hmm? This one's not bad."
After testing dozens of Sunlight Glazed Flowers, Gu Mo's eyes suddenly lit up. The data of the flower before him was clearly much higher than the rest.
Without hesitation, he cast Plant Probing, and in the next instant a complete vein diagram appeared. With the aid of the Hundred Herbs Comprehension, he quickly obtained the full vein structure of this Sunlight Glazed Flower.
"So that's it!"
Moments later, Gu Mo realized the reason this flower's data surpassed the others—it was because of a mutated hidden vein structure.
And this mutation was clearly a beneficial one. After committing the structure to memory, Gu Mo immediately experimented by replicating it onto another ordinary Sunlight Glazed Flower.
Once the mutated vein structure was copied over, Gu Mo could distinctly feel the enhanced data from the modified flower.
"This Hundred Herbs Comprehension truly is a divine skill for spirit planters." After this experiment, Gu Mo couldn't help but sigh. With this technique in hand, so many things had become much simpler.
Suddenly, Gu Mo recalled that Shennong Valley also possessed half of the Shennong Hundred Herbs, and as long as one stepped into it, they could master this very Hundred Herbs Comprehension.
That meant that the true heirs of Shennong Valley also wielded this ability.
At last, Gu Mo understood the weight behind Shennong Valley's inheritance. A spirit planter who had mastered the Hundred Herbs Comprehension was guaranteed to be at least a grandmaster-level figure. Moreover, grasping this ability also signified that they had begun cultivating the Shennong Hundred Herbs Canon, a supreme cultivation method.
If that was the case with Shennong Valley, then what about the other top sects? Since they were all apex sects, their foundations couldn't be much weaker—each must have its own unique trump cards.
And the disciples qualified to cultivate their sects' core inheritances—their true heirs—were by no means simple. Just take the Yin Corpse Sect's true heir whom Gu Mo had encountered earlier: though only at the late Nascent Soul stage, he had combat strength on par with the Nascent Soul level. Such power, crossing entire realms, was utterly unimaginable for ordinary cultivators.
It was even said that the Yin Corpse Sect's heir whom Gu Mo killed wasn't even among the strongest of them. Due to the demonic sect's harsh method of nurturing, each rank higher among the true heirs meant a terrifyingly vast difference in strength.
"Seems that in this Heaven's Chosen Tournament, I'll need to keep a low profile." With this thought, Gu Mo grew more cautious about the upcoming event.
The newly added rules made it clear that all top sects would be sending their true heirs to dominate the stage. When the time came, Gu Mo planned to avoid direct confrontations with them.
Of course, that only applied to his true self. His sword cultivator clone, naturally, would fight to the bitter end. Especially since the demonic sect would never allow his sword cultivator clone to stay low-profile.
After all, the demonic sect had already dispatched a Demon Lord–level expert against him. In this tournament, his clone would no doubt be one of their top targets for elimination.
As for his true body, if anyone dared to target him, Gu Mo only needed to retreat into his Cave-Heaven space. Once inside, gazing at the lush spirit fields, he instantly felt at ease.
At this point, rows upon rows of Peashooters had already been planted in his Cave-Heaven: two at tier-4, twenty at tier-3 supreme grade, and hundreds more spanning tier-3 high, middle, and low grades.
In addition, there was a tier-4 Torch Stump, a tier-4 Torch Stump, and twenty tier-3 supreme-grade Torch Stumps. When paired with the tier-3 supreme-grade Peashooters, they could unleash attacks at the tier-4 level.
If a tier-4 Torch Stump was paired with a tier-4 Peashooter, the power would rise to nearly mid-Nascent Soul strength. And with the Torch Stump supporting a tier-4 Peashooter, the firepower would definitely reach a higher tier within the mid-Nascent Soul realm. With such destructive force, even if he couldn't rampage through the tournament, defending himself would be more than enough.
Not to mention, Gu Mo had also prepared tier-4 Cherry Bombs, tier-4 Jalapeños, tier-4 Potato Mines, and an entire Wall-nut Formation of tier-4 Wall-nuts.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say Gu Mo had maxed out both offense and defense.
"Master! Master!"
As soon as Gu Mo appeared, Little flower and Little Bean greeted him warmly. Little flower was, of course, the very first tier-4 Sunflower, while Little Bean was the first Peashooter to reach tier-4.
From now on, with Gu Mo's command, Little Bean could coordinate and direct all the other Peashooters to carry out any order.
"Greetings, Lord!"
As Gu Mo passed a black stone stele, a deep voice rumbled—it was Little Black, the tier-4 Tomb Moss, which loved clinging to monuments.
"Hello, Master!"
This time the voice was dull and slow, and it came from a towering Wall-nut, as tall as a person, with a silly face etched on its shell.
Just like the Sunflower and other plants, once the first Wall-nut broke through to tier-4, it gained intelligence. Gu Mo named it Little Dull.
With Little Dull's wisdom, whenever the Wall-nut Formation was attacked, he could precisely redistribute the impact across all the nuts in the array, drastically boosting defensive efficiency.
"Quiet down! Let the Master speak!"
This was the fiery Torch Stump, Little Flame, barking out impatiently.
At that, the others immediately fell silent. Gu Mo couldn't help but rub his temples. With these intelligent plants, his Cave-Heaven was far from lonely—they chirped, muttered, and bickered all day long.
Of course, the chattiest were Little flower and Little Bean. Little Black was silent and brooding, Little Dull was slow and wooden, while Little Flame was hot-tempered and foul-mouthed.
When Gu Mo raised more intelligent plants in the future, this place would probably become even livelier.
Waving them off to do as they pleased, Gu Mo walked over to a scarecrow standing in the spirit fields. It was newly crafted using the core of the scarecrow predecessor from the Cave-Heaven ruins.
This scarecrow was bound to the entire Cave-Heaven and could wield its full power. Gu Mo estimated its strength to be at late Nascent Soul, with the potential to unleash a strike at the Spirit Severing level.
If anyone were to break in by some special method, this scarecrow would act as the guardian of the Cave-Heaven.
In desperate times, if faced with an unbeatable foe, Gu Mo could even drag the enemy into his Cave-Heaven and let the scarecrow eliminate them with its power.
It was, in essence, another of Gu Mo's trump cards. Of course, unless absolutely necessary, he would never use it—this Cave-Heaven concealed far too many of his secrets.
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