"Xiao Li, is this the place where you found the ginseng?"
Lu Qing surveyed the surroundings and asked Xiao Li, who was perched on his shoulder.
At this moment, he was deep within the mountains, several tens of miles away from Jiuli Village.
Dense forests surrounded him, with towering trees exuding a primordial atmosphere.
The contrast between the inside and outside of this mountain was like two different worlds.
Since learning that the Black Wolf Gang had been suppressed by the Wei family and wouldn't be able to trouble him for a while, Lu Qing had felt much more relaxed.
He began to consider how to utilize this opportunity to quickly enhance his strength.
Once his strength increased, he wouldn't have to fear the small Black Wolf Gang anymore.
Currently, the easiest way for him to improve was through the power of blood qi.
As long as he had sufficient pills, he could increase his blood qi power without restraint.
However, due to previous training, he had almost exhausted the bottle of Blood Replenishing and Qi-boosting Pills his master had refined.
So, after some thought, Lu Qing decided to enter the mountains with Xiao Li to gather the wild ginseng it had discovered before.
This was why Lu Qing now found himself in the deep mountains.
Xiao Li let out a cry, nodded, and pointed in a direction with its paw.
Lu Qing immediately activated his ability and began to search the vicinity.
Ignoring the common herbs, Lu Qing's only target now was ginseng.
After a search, he soon made a discovery.
[Ginseng: A precious herb, edible, non-toxic.]
[This ginseng has grown for fifty years.]
Seeing the ginseng emitting a white light in his vision, Lu Qing felt a bit disappointed.
This ginseng hadn't reached a hundred years, and the light it emitted was merely white, making it far less precious than the two ginseng roots Xiao Li had given him.
Leaving the newly discovered ginseng untouched, Lu Qing continued his search.
A fifty-year-old wild ginseng would still be considered valuable in an external pharmacy.
But now, Lu Qing didn't think much of it.
So, he planned to search some more.
Before long, he made another discovery.
[Ginseng: A precious herb, edible, non-toxic.]
[This ginseng has grown for five years, with average medicinal properties.]
To his surprise, this newly found ginseng was even worse than the last, having only grown for five years.
It was nothing more than a baby ginseng.
"Really? Such bad luck?"
Seeing the information from his ability, Lu Qing was somewhat stunned.
"I don't believe it!"
Lu Qing resumed his search.
He could have asked Xiao Li directly, but he didn't.
He had fallen into a mindset of not giving up.
Even Xiao Li, a small beast that didn't understand herbs, could find two hundred-year-old ginseng roots. How could he, who had thoroughly studied the Compendium of Materia Medica and possessed abilities, not find a hundred-year-old ginseng?
Continuing his search, Lu Qing found a few more ginseng roots, but none of them were over a hundred years old. The oldest was only eighty years.
Seeing that the eighty-year-old ginseng still emitted a white light, Lu Qing didn't pick it either.
"Could it be that the only hundred-year-old ginseng here was the two Xiao Li dug up?"
After finding another thirty-year-old ginseng, Lu Qing began to doubt.
"It shouldn't be, otherwise Xiao Li wouldn't have brought me here."
Lu Qing resumed his search, and finally, half an hour later, he had a breakthrough.
However, upon seeing this newly found ginseng, he was stunned.
[Ginseng: A precious herb, non-toxic, edible.]
[This ginseng has grown for over two hundred years.]
[Legend has it that ginseng with enough age possesses various miraculous effects, and some can even develop spiritual intelligence.]
Seeing the ginseng emitting a red-tinted white light on the ground, Lu Qing's eyes widened.
He hadn't expected to find nothing but young ginseng roots before, and now suddenly, he had found such an old one!
A two-hundred-year-old ginseng was even stronger than the two roots Xiao Li had found.
Even the ginseng the Wei family recently brought to his master to nourish Young Master Wei's body didn't reach this age.
This was truly a rare treasure!
Finally, he had struck it lucky.
Looking at the ginseng on the ground, Lu Qing suppressed his excitement, immediately putting down his medicine pouch and taking out a bundle of red strings and a small hoe, preparing to dig it up.
Lu Qing first tied the red strings around the ginseng.
This was a rule among herbalists; when encountering such rare herbs, they must first tie them with red strings to prevent them from suddenly burrowing away during harvesting.
In his previous life, Lu Qing would never have believed such a thing.
But now, he had experienced even the strange occurrence of transmigrating.
This world had magical creatures like Xiao Li and the Blue-armored Fish, and his abilities also mentioned the possibility of ginseng developing spiritual intelligence.
If he still didn't believe, he'd be a fool.
So even though he knew this ginseng might not yet have developed spiritual intelligence, Lu Qing still followed the herbalists' rules and tied the red strings first.
After tying the red strings, Lu Qing began to carefully dig.
First, he cleared the surrounding weeds, then slowly dug along the ginseng's growth lines with the small hoe.
Throughout the process, Lu Qing didn't dare to be careless.
A ginseng root of this age, even a single strand of its roots, was highly valuable and potent.
He wasn't like Xiao Li, who didn't appreciate such things.
If he accidentally damaged this rare herb, he'd be heartbroken.
Fortunately, as a martial artist whose cultivation had reached the peak of the Qi and Blood Realm, Lu Qing had excellent control over his body.
With his careful efforts, he finally dug out the over two-hundred-year-old ginseng intact.
Seeing the complete and undamaged ginseng in his hand, Lu Qing couldn't help but smile.
Ginseng of this age, when refined into Blood Replenishing and Qi-boosting Pills, would be much more potent than those made from hundred-year-old ginseng.
With this ginseng, his journey to reaching the peak of the Qi and Blood Realm could be significantly shortened.
Xiao Li, seeing Lu Qing's silly smile, was puzzled.
Wasn't it just a root? Why was he smiling like an idiot?
After admiring the ginseng he had personally harvested for a while, Lu Qing wrapped it in a piece of turf, tied it with red strings, and placed it in his medicine pouch.
After finishing all this, he straightened up, looking at the forest before him, his eyes filled with excitement.
Since this place could produce a two-hundred-year-old ginseng, was it possible that there were even older ones hidden here?