There were seven divisions amongst Spiritual Herbs – the Common, Black, Earth, Heaven, Mystical, Ancestral and Origin Grades. However, similar to the Unique Grade of treasures, the Crown Spiritual Herb was a sort of wild card.
Crown Spiritual Herbs could be of any grade, but they were special in that they were unparalleled in benefits among those of their grade. Essentially, they provided the perfect result every time.
A Crown Spiritual Herb was an Herb on the verge of evolving to the next Grade. Herbs with the ability to evolve in this way were incredibly rare, so much so that they pained Ryu to simply sell even though Crown Spiritual Herbs could be sold many times that of Herbs several Grades above them.
The reason for this is simple. Crown Spiritual Herbs could provide the benefits of a Spiritual Herb of higher grade without the restrictions that came with eating one.
For example, a Qi Refinement Realm expert could only consume Black Grade Herbs at best. However, if they found a Crown Black Grade Spiritual Herb, they could consume it and gain as many benefits as if they had consumed an Earth or sometimes even Heaven Grade Herb!
Ryu himself had only had a few of these Spiritual Herbs in his first lifetime. As a man who had had a weak body, his parents had relied on such Spiritual Herbs so that he could extend his life without dying. But even then, the total wouldn't exceed a hundred.
A hundred may sound like a lot, but it had to be considered that Ryu was the Scion of the most powerful Clan of the most powerful Plane of their Shrine Realm. In addition, his life depended on these Herbs. To only have a hundred in a thousand-year timespan was enough to prove the rarity of such Herbs.
On top of this, it also had to be considered that Ryu could only consume Crown Common Grade Herbs. After all, his body was too weak to consume anything better. Yet, it still only totaled less than a hundred.
The reason for this rarity was obvious. Unless such an Herb was found in time, it would leave its Crown state after evolving to a higher Grade. Sometimes, there was only a gap of a few seconds. One had to freeze this process with a spatial ring or other special means, or else it would all be lost.
Luckily, Ryu had the Realm Heart. He could immediately sense Spiritual Herbs on the verge of evolving and stop the process personally.
'What are you crying so much about? The Incubator already allows you to absorb Spiritual Herbs above the Grades you can normally handle with absolute ease. The effect is many times better than a Crown Spiritual Herb. When did you become such a money grubber?'
'When indeed…' Ryu couldn't help but mumble to himself. He had never worried for money in his first life. In fact, he gave most of his savings away to his Clan. But it seemed the situation in this life was much different.
Shaking his head, Ryu quickly snatched the final Qi Source for himself. Though they wouldn't be very useful after the Connecting Heaven Realm, they were otherworldly treasures to the current him. If he passed one off to the Death Worm Immortal Cave, he wouldn't have to worry about powering it either.
In just a month, Ryu had uprooted this Small Realm's most valuable resources.
'It seems that that Zu Clan's elder's treasure wasn't hidden here, or else I would have already found it.'
Ryu didn't mind. He hadn't cared much for the treasure to begin with. He just thought it was a shame he couldn't enrage the Zu Clan more by taking what they had been searching for this whole time.
Though he didn't say it, something else weighed on Ryu's shoulders as well. He couldn't find his grandfather even with the Realm Heart. He had been mentally prepared to find a desecrated corpse, but even that wasn't here.
'…' Ryu's gaze turned cold. '… There's only two weeks left. I'll break into the Divine Vessel Realm in a single step!'
Ryu didn't bother to leave the underground space. His senses immediately trained on a particular herb planted within the Incubator.
Peak Black Grade Spiritual Herb: Hidden Vessel Wings.
It was the flower from a bush-like main body. Its center was a puffed outward with a pure and fluffy almost cotton-like substance. However, the reason for its name were the patterns that could be found on the leaves attached to its stem. These patterns cut the leaves almost like pinecone seeds. However, instead of taking a rounded appearance, they remained flat. This gave the leaves the appearance of green wings.
For breaking into the Divine Vessel Realm, there was no better Spiritual Herb. In addition, its Earth Grade evolution, Awakened Vessel Wings, was excellent for awakening subsequent Spiritual Herbs. Ryu was very lucky to find a Crown of this Spiritual Herb, however he wouldn't be using it. The Crown Hidden Vessel Wings Herb would sell for at least a few dozen Middle Immortal Qi Stones to some wealthy young master.
Instead, Ryu planned to directly use the Awakening Vessel Wings evolved form to breakthrough. The lesser form might be enough for normal people with relatively solid foundation to breakthrough, but Ryu needed more!
'Upon opening all six Qi Vessels, the number of Meridian Nodes will increase from my current 333 to 999. Every new Vessel provides an addition 111. This means I need to form 111 abyssal vortexes for [Abyssal Vortex Qi] upon entering the Divine Vessel Realm. Also, I need to form my seventh miniature dantian for [Six Realm Opening]. The first six were formed in my Qi Pulses. Now they will be in my Qi Vessels as well.
'But before any of that, I must compress my qi to the Divine Vessel Realm standards for [Revolutions Amplifier]…'
Ryu immediately got to work. Cultivating within the support of seven Qi Sources was the sort of treatment only the absolute geniuses of the Shrine Realm would receive, but Ryu had relied on himself to gain the same experience.
It was then his cultivation talent began to shine through once more. Even with almost thirty percent of his qi constantly leaking, it hardly affected him at all. The Incubator surged, changing the volatile energy of an Earth Grade Spiritual Herb to such a gentle form that even a baby could bask in its presence.
Ryu's eyes flashed open, a roar escaping his lips as an earth-shattering change erupted in his body.
He had succeeded in doing the impossible, becoming maybe the first ever to skip an entire cultivation realm. The process had been… remarkably simple. As though this was his path all along…