The green Spiritual Energy moved swiftly, like a mini scanner, and the woman didn’t chase after it but just followed leisurely behind.
On the snowy mountain, beasts like wolves and foxes that occasionally appeared would flee upon seeing the green energy, seemingly avoiding it with apprehension.
It wasn’t until it flew over three mountain peaks that the bizarre cluster of green energy finally stopped, settling on a high, protruding mound of snow.
The woman calmly reached the place dominated by the green snowy energy, and upon arriving, she snapped her index and middle finger together, causing the cluster of green Spiritual Energy to continuously shrink until it finally turned into a leaf, gently falling onto the snowy mound.
"They say leaves return to their roots, a principle from which none of the myriad plants in the world can escape, even the centuries-old Snow Peak Blood Lotus that knows how to avoid Medicine Gatherers can’t hide from the Root-seeking Lotus Leaf I specifically plucked from you years ago," the woman snapped her fingers again, and the Blood Lotus Leaf trembled and began moving, amidst a whirl of fluttering snowflakes.
Clouds of snow vapor rose, revealing a gleam of red light from within the snow.
A blood-red lotus flower appeared, its leaves like jade and its petals like blood, a rare Tianshan Red Lotus bursting through the snow in the bitter cold, desperate to bloom even in the face of death.
Beneath layers of white snow, apart from the snowdrops, there was still a red light. It turned out this snowy area was unique, with white snow on top and gold-melting, bone-dissolving underground magma below.
This cold, hundred-mile snowy, thousand-mile icy land lies in the Tianshan Mountains between Xinjiang and Tibet in China. And what the woman came to the mountain to seek was this top-quality item within the snowdrops, the Tianshan Red Lotus.
Regarding the Tianshan Lotus variety, the most famous saying comes from the White-haired Witch, and the Devoted Witch Lian Ni Chang who turned white-haired overnight; only the Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus could heal it, rumored for its miraculous anti-aging effects.
The Tianshan Blood Lotus, compared to the Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus, gets more precious the older it is, and the conditions for the growth of the Blood Lotus can only be described as harsh. It not only has to be in the high latitude and bitterly cold snow mountains, but it also must grow within thermal cracks. After the Blood Lotus sprouts, it will move and hide its whereabouts according to thermal magma movements.
If it weren’t for the fact that the woman had accidentally encountered an immature Blood Lotus years ago and managed to snatch a leaf, today, under the vast snowy conditions, it would be very difficult to confidently find the Blood Lotus.
"With the Blood Lotus, I can think of ways to refine an elixir for ascension and promotion," the woman was overjoyed, considering secrets like everlasting youth trivial, prioritizing advancing her own cultivation as more important.
As the Blood Lotus bloomed, the woman did not pick the red lotus by hand but stood and watched it for a while longer. One has to know that with a spiritual material like Tianshan Blood Lotus, random contact with ordinary flesh and bones would be like touching concentrated sulfuric acid, instantly dissolving the flesh and bones into sludge.
Luckily, the woman came prepared; she took out a brown bottle, the size of an ordinary pesticide bottle used in rural villages, and between her fingers, a green Spiritual Energy Rope burst forth, wrapping around the Blood Lotus.
The Spiritual Energy Rope tightened more and more, and the Blood Lotus, initially struggling frantically, eventually weakened due to being bound by the Spiritual Power Rope, with its petals and leaves withering. The red and green Spiritual Energies alternated, being drawn into the brown bottle by the Spiritual Energy Rope.
With the Blood Lotus reduced to just dry stems and leaves, the woman was content to take the bottle away, "After many years, I, Mei Nian, have finally gathered most of the necessary medicine. Just one more Purple Ginseng, and I will be able to ascend to immortality, break through the void and uncover the secret of eternal life." Her laughter echoed through the myriad peaks of Tianshan, traveling far and wide.
Huang Yaoshi was waiting in the shop for the delivery truck to return, from dusk until the next day’s dawn when the dusty truck finally came back.
Upon asking, the truck driver mentioned that two young guests did not come back with the truck but had him drive directly to a small town in Hebei.
"Hebei? Judging by the accent, the two guests are not from Hebei," Huang Yaoshi wondered, but he didn’t have the mind to worry about the truck’s fuel cost at the moment.
"Exactly, I was surprised myself when I heard I had to drive to Hebei, but recalling your instructions, Huang Yaoshi, to safely deliver the herbs and that the two were very important guests, I just did as told." The destination for the medicine delivery was a small-scale pharmaceutical factory, employing merely seven or eight workers.