My Martial Arts Level Never Drops

Chapter 426: Chapter 198: Orderly

Qin Fang had, after all, been in the Sect for a year. During that time, he had come to recognize most of the Heavenly Gang Wuji Sect’s elders who were often seen around the sect grounds.

He rarely visited the Hundred Herbs Courtyard, but these Elders all belonged to the Guiyuan Lineage. After the discipleship ceremony, Fan Zhengchu had taken Qin Fang around to meet everyone...

...It would have been a joke if, despite belonging to the same lineage, the Hall Master’s True Inheritance didn’t recognize his own elders, and the elders in turn didn’t know their own True Inheritance.

So, Qin Fang had come to recognize basically all the Elders of the Guiyuan Lineage.

As for the Elders of the other Peak Veins, he had also met many of them due to his time as a Lecturer at the Tempering Martial Hall.

...This, Qin Fang felt, was the reason for the Sect’s great atmosphere.

Even Elders from other lineages conducted themselves with a senior’s grace. They were incredibly friendly toward him, the new Hall Master’s True Inheritance, and even treated him like their own nephew.

...This included the Elders from the Luzhan and Wuhui Two Veins, who had the most direct temperaments. They were just a bit more blunt in their speech, their expressions looked a bit sterner, and they spoke with fewer twists and turns.

But Qin Fang could sense that, in their hearts, they too accepted him as a junior of the sect, like a nephew.

Hearing Qin Fang’s words, the several Elders from the Hundred Herbs Courtyard all smiled.

”Good, good. Heaven and Earth Spirit Essence is of great benefit to one’s Martial Arts path. Linyuan, as our Guiyuan Lineage’s True Inheritance, you indeed should have some understanding of Spiritual Treasure Plants... After all, the Guiyuan Lineage is in charge of the Hundred Herbs Courtyard. In the future, when we old things have either died off or retired, we’ll be counting on you to shoulder the heavy responsibility of carrying on our lineage’s legacy... It truly won’t do if you don’t know much about Spiritual Treasure Plants.”

An old man with a full head of white hair and a matching beard, his face round, smiled warmly and nodded in approval.

Qin Fang quickly replied, ”You Elders are all in your prime. Living for another few thousand, even ten thousand years, will certainly be no problem. How can there be any talk of passing on such a heavy responsibility? My cultivation is shallow and my knowledge is crude... I’m still counting on you Elders to shield me from the wind and rain.”

He ended with a chuckle.

His words made all the Elders stroke their beards and laugh heartily, but the way they looked at Qin Fang grew a bit more affectionate.

After a bit more conversation, the kindly old woman smiled and said, ”Come with me. The Hundred Herbs Courtyard has a large collection of texts on Heaven and Earth Spirit Essence and Treasure Plants. Since you’re interested in this path, you should take a good look... Hmm, if you’re also interested in the art of Refining Elixir Powder, the courtyard also has many Elixir Recipes you can look at... However, Elixir Recipes are not like other texts; they cannot be casually circulated.”

Qin Fang heard this and quickly replied with respect, ”Yes, I understand.”

In truth, these texts on Heaven and Earth Spirit Essence and Treasure Plants contained extremely precious knowledge. An ordinary disciple would not be permitted to read them without the express approval of the Hundred Herbs Courtyard’s Elders.

As for Elixir Recipes, that went without saying... They were of the utmost importance!

...Disciples from other Peak Veins couldn’t exchange for them even with contribution points.

Even the Inner Sect Disciples of the Guiyuan Lineage could only read the relatively superficial ones.

Anyone who wanted to learn the precious Elixir Recipes would have to be carefully observed for a long time.

But for Qin Fang, as the Hall Master’s True Inheritance, all of this was open to him, free of charge.

Led by Elder Wen, Qin Fang arrived at a side hall of the Hundred Herbs Courtyard. As soon as he entered, he was greeted by the fragrance of old books.

The entire side hall was densely packed with string-bound books.

The Hundred Herbs Courtyard’s unique fragrance of herbs and plants mingled with the rich scent of books. Incense similar to Nourishing Spirit Incense was also burning within the hall, making one’s mind feel clear and relaxed.

”These are the various texts on Heaven and Earth Spirit Essence and Treasure Plants that our Guiyuan Lineage has collected over more than three thousand years. Every single volume here would be considered priceless if taken outside...”

Elder Wen sighed with emotion as she looked at the bookshelves before her, then turned to Qin Fang with a gentle smile. ”As the True Inheritance of Guiyuan Hall, you must read and memorize these texts well. If you can read and fully digest all the texts here... you will understand just how much of an advantage you’ll have when you travel the world in the future.”

”Power, sometimes, does not come from True Essence and the physical body alone. Knowledge is also a source of power.”

Qin Fang let out a soft breath and bowed. ”Yes, I will take your words to heart.”

”Alright, go on and have a look for yourself.”

Elder Wen smiled, gave a slight nod, then turned, left the side hall, and closed the door behind her.

Qin Fang stared at the room full of books, his eyes shining...

...His Divine Sense had formed early, and his memory was excellent, to the point where it was practically photographic.

When studying these kinds of herbal texts, a good memory was precisely the most important thing.

He walked forward, randomly pulled a book from a shelf, and looked at it.

’*Hundred Herbs Atlas*...’

The title was rather plain. Qin Fang flipped through the pages as he walked over to a cattail cushion.

He then began to read.

The content was incredibly thorough. It introduced various Treasure Plants and Spirit Essences, detailing everything from their medicinal properties, growth periods, and natural habitats to their physical appearance... and so on.

At the end of each entry, there was even a hand-drawn illustration.

Qin Fang gradually became fully engrossed, completely immersing himself in the vast world of Spiritual Treasure Plants...

...

「Time passed, day by day.」

Every day, Qin Fang would return to Guiyuan Valley before the Zi hour (11 PM), ride Xile back to Linyuan Peak, and begin his cultivation at the stroke of midnight. After sunrise, he would head to the Hundred Herbs Courtyard to study the texts.

His memory was exceptional; he forgot almost nothing of the knowledge he absorbed from the texts.

Gradually, he began to notice the benefits.

When walking along the road, a single glance would cause information about the dense, once-unidentifiable weeds by the mountain path to naturally surface in his mind...

’Snake Tongue Grass. Its leaves are long and thin like a snake’s tongue, with dark red patterns on the edges, and are slightly rough to the touch. Non-toxic, but its pungent smell repels snakes and insects. Crushed and applied topically, it can relieve the itching from bug bites. Commonly used by ordinary farmers...’

’Three-leafed Grey Thistle. It has a thin, weak, grayish-green stem with three small, serrated leaves at the top. Non-toxic. Its root, however, can be used in medicine, possessing a weak hemostatic effect. When dried and ground into powder, it can be used as a supplementary ingredient in Golden Sore Medicine...’

’Ghost Needle Fleece. Grows close to the ground, with fine hairs, barely visible to the naked eye, covering the undersides of its leaves. Mildly toxic; contact with skin easily causes a red, unbearably itchy rash, but it subsides after rinsing with clean water for half a day. Its juice, however, is one of the ingredients used to ”fight poison with poison” in several low-level Antitoxic Pills...’

These plants, which in the past had been nothing more than ”roadside weeds” in his eyes, now appeared to him with absolute clarity—their names, properties, uses, and even the most subtle characteristics...

He could even notice that the tip of a Snake Tongue Grass leaf curled slightly more than described in the texts, perhaps a mutation from growing in the shade;

He could also determine that because a patch of Ghost Needle Fleece had not yet bloomed, its toxins were concentrated solely in the roots...

...Knowledge had brought a brand-new perspective.

It was making the world in his eyes become ’clearer’ and ’more orderly’...

...This truly was the power of knowledge.

He marveled.