Chapter 1583 - 1538: Salted Fish Turns Over 9

The garden guard of the spiritual medicine garden, Xiao Yuan, knew about it.

That person used to be an elder of the Cang Mountain Sect, but later his cultivation went astray and he fell into demonic ways. With his Heart Demon unresolved, it was very hard for him to keep cultivating, so he simply abolished his own cultivation and came to the spiritual medicine garden to be a garden guard. These years, that elder kept watch over the spiritual medicine garden, and gradually the Heart Demon could no longer affect him. He then started picking his cultivation back up bit by bit.

Xiao Yuan told Anning about Elder Yu who guarded the garden, and Anning immediately formed a plan in her heart.

She promptly picked up two jugs of Spiritual Wine and headed for the spiritual medicine garden.

Because over these years Anning would from time to time refine things like Beauty Pills, she often came over to the spiritual medicine garden. In order to get some medicinal herbs, she would also regularly help water with spiritual water or help with planting, so she was quite familiar with Elder Yu.

When she went over carrying the two jugs of wine, Elder Yu was in the middle of tidying up the medicinal herbs.

"Old Yu, stop tidying for now. How about coming over for a few drinks?"

Elder Yu turned his head and saw it was Anning. He washed his hands and came over: "You’re here to ask for Spiritual Medicine again. Let me tell you, there isn’t any."

Anning smiled and poured a full cup of wine for Elder Yu: "Drink first. We’ll talk after you drink."

Elder Yu looked at Anning with great vigilance: "I said there isn’t any, so there isn’t. Trying to bribe me with wine won’t work either."

"Listen to yourself."

Anning downed a cup herself first: "With the kind of relationship we have, if I’m not here to ask for herbs, can’t I at least buy you a few drinks? Honestly, at your age your guard is still this high. Fine, fine, since you don’t want to drink, forget it."

Anning made a show of leaving with the wine.

Elder Yu snatched one jug of wine away in one grab: "You bring something to honor me with and then think you can take it back? You really don’t understand how things work, child. Is this any way to treat your elders?"

Anning stayed put and plopped down on the seat: "Look at you—you get more bad-tempered the older you get. Just now when I asked you to drink, you wouldn’t. When I go to take it away, you won’t let me."

Elder Yu glared at Anning: "And whose fault is that, you tell me? Over these years, how much of my Spiritual Medicine and Spirit Plants have you ruined?"

Anning hurriedly put on a fawning smile: "Wasn’t I just young and ignorant back then? You’re the magnanimous one, don’t lower yourself to a kid’s level."

As she spoke, Anning even carelessly patted Elder Yu’s shoulder: "Old Man Yu, how many years have you been staying in the spiritual medicine garden?"

Elder Yu drank a cup of wine: "This wine is good. When you have more in the future, send me a few jugs."

"Alright."

Anning nodded and drank a cup as well.

Elder Yu drank another cup: "It’s been quite a few years. I can’t even calculate myself how long I’ve stayed here."

Anning clinked cups with Elder Yu: "Then do you know my parents?"

Elder Yu nodded: "I know them."

Anning tossed an entire jug of wine into Elder Yu’s arms: "Tell me about them, will you? By the time I was old enough to remember anything, they were already gone. All these years I’ve never seen them, and I don’t even know what they look like, what kind of people they were, I..."

At this point, Anning choked up. Her eyes turned red, and she looked terribly pitiful.

Elder Yu stared blankly at Anning for a long moment: "Your father, ah, his talent was excellent, and he had great understanding. Back then, among all those fellow disciples, he was outstandingly good—not just in our Cang Mountain Sect, he was also a famed figure among the Ten Great Sects. Your mother was really very good-looking, and you look a lot like her..."

As Elder Yu spoke, he was clearly reminiscing.

Anning poured another brimming cup of wine: "Old Man Yu, I... no longer have parents. My parents’ soul lamp has gone out."

As soon as those words left her mouth, the cup in Elder Yu’s hand fell straight to the ground.

He hurriedly picked the cup up, then stopped using the cup altogether. He lifted the jug and drank directly from it, gulping down half a jug of wine. Elder Yu choked and coughed hard.

Anning thumped his back with all her might: "Before, even though I’d forgotten what they looked like and they’d had no news for so many years, there was always some hope. I would often go to take a look at their soul lamp. Seeing the lamp still burning, my heart... my heart would always feel steady. But now..."

Elder Yu took another large swig of wine: "Do you know how they met with misfortune?"

Anning shook her head: "I don’t. Master, the Sect Leader, isn’t very clear either. Anyway, their soul lamp suddenly went out."

By the time Elder Yu finished an entire jug of wine, he was visibly drunk.

He looked at Anning, his own eyes red: "We who cultivate are, by nature, defying Heaven. Since we defy Heaven, there are countless dangers waiting for us. Those who fall during cultivation are far more than one or two. Your parents..."

Elder Yu was clearly trying to comfort Anning, but he wasn’t good with words. The more he talked, the worse it sounded.

Anning instead began to laugh: "Old Man Yu, if you don’t know how to talk, then don’t. Who talks like you, honestly. I brought good wine mainly for you to have a taste, and by the way I wanted to ask you about my parents. And look at you—you’ve gone and drunk yourself senseless."

Elder Yu grinned as well: "The wine is good, and your parents were good people too. In the early years, your father once drank with me for three days and three nights straight. What a pity..."

He didn’t finish that sentence before he passed out drunk.

Anning was helpless and could only drag him into the little hut beside the medicine garden.

Then, while Elder Yu was drunk, she took the opportunity to stroll around the medicine garden.

The next day, Elder Yu woke up and went to check the Spiritual Medicine. After turning around the medicine garden once, he roared so loudly that nearly the entire back mountain could hear him.

"Yu Anning, you little brat, you’re just like your father, not worth a damn—got me drunk and then stole herbs. You scheming little villain!"

At that moment, Anning was in the middle of refining medicine.

Yesterday she’d gotten several high-grade herbs and was currently refining some pills that could repair internal injuries. Elder Yu was shouting so loudly, yet she didn’t hear a thing.

However, the Cang Mountain Sect was soon abuzz with the story that Senior Sister Yu really had guts—last night she’d plied Old Man Yu with wine and then stole herbs.

Not only the Inner Sect, but even the Outer Disciples all knew about it.

Quite a few disciples spoke up for Anning, saying that Old Man Yu was too stingy. Senior Sister Yu only wanted a few herbs and he wouldn’t give them, even making her go to the trouble of getting him drunk with wine.

They even said that if they were the ones guarding the medicine garden, Senior Sister Yu could have as many herbs as she wanted.

Gai Ling heard this talk as well.

Her eyes rolled a couple of times, and she came up with an idea.

Just then, the sect was assigning tasks to the Outer Disciples.

The disciples of the Cang Mountain Sect weren’t all idle, doing nothing but cultivating. Otherwise, who would do the work inside the sect? Whether Inner Sect Disciple or Outer Disciple, they all had to work.

Of course, the work the Outer Disciples had to do was much heavier than that of the Inner Sect Disciples.

So, when tasks were being assigned, Gai Ling took the chance to ask for the job of planting Spirit Plants in the medicine garden.

She went over to the medicine garden with a few disciples, and the work there really was exhausting.

Many Spirit Plants were very hard to plant, requiring a lot of effort to get them into the ground. Moreover, some Spiritual Medicine and Spirit Plants were extremely delicate. After planting, they needed painstaking care—watering with spiritual water every so many two hours, how to prevent pests and diseases, and so on. In short, it was very troublesome.

Following the other disciples, Gai Ling spent an entire day and only managed to plant a small patch of spirit field.

By evening, when everyone sat at the edge of the field to rest, Gai Ling was so tired she was about to collapse. She just wanted to lie down and have a good rest, but the work wasn’t finished. After dinner they still had to work a bit more.

Gai Ling panted and thought to herself that she’d assumed once she entered the sect everything would be smooth sailing. Who would’ve thought Cultivators still had to farm, and that it was this exhausting.

Two disciples carried over the food, and Gai Ling queued with everyone to receive her meal. When she got her portion, she took a look. Honestly, the food wasn’t much—just some vegetables with a bit of rice.

But although the food didn’t look like much, it tasted especially good. One could easily guess why: all this food carried Spiritual Energy, so naturally the taste was far better than the food of the mortal world.

After Gai Ling finished eating, she worked along with everyone for a while longer, then was informed that they would be sleeping over here tonight and taking turns on night watch.

Gai Ling was worn out, in no mood whatsoever to worry about winning the garden guard’s favor. She went into the quarters, ignored everything else, and fell straight onto the bed, sleeping immediately.

Only after working for two full days did Gai Ling finally adapt to the labor intensity here.

That day, after dinner, she saw a white-haired old man sitting at the edge of the field, staring at something.

Gai Ling knew that this was Old Man Yu, the garden guard.

She didn’t know why the system had given her such a task, but she thought of the Sweeping Monk and figured that this Old Man Yu’s identity was certainly not simple. If she could win his favor, she might obtain some remarkable benefits.

With that in mind, Gai Ling slowly drew closer.