Chapter 3669 — The Jade Pendant Sounds the Alarm

Wei Zhao focused his senses and surveyed the area, but all he could see were the utterly barren cliffs on either side. There was no sign of the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass anywhere. Indeed, within the range of his vision, even the most ordinary grasses and trees were a rarity.

To put it in a phrase commonly heard in the mundane world, this was such a godforsaken place that anything capable of growing here at all would already count as a miracle of nature.

"Could the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass really grow in a place like this?" Wei Zhao's heart sank. Finding even this barely suitable location had been no easy matter. If the grass was not here, then although the Heavenly Thunder Pig could help him locate another potential destination, whether he would have enough time was another question entirely.

The first day was already drawing to a close. Once darkness settled in completely, even Wei Zhao, despite his considerable skill and courage, would not dare move recklessly through the outer reaches of this rear mountain, where one could casually run into a Foundation Establishment spirit beast. And once the time needed for the return journey was taken into account, the opportunity left for him to search for the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass was truly not much.

The dilemma before Wei Zhao was whether to continue searching these canyon walls, which met the necessary conditions but seemed almost incapable of growing any spirit medicine, or to save time by hurrying on to the next suitable destination.

Just as Wei Zhao was weighing the options, unable to make up his mind, an excited cry suddenly came from the distance: the Heavenly Thunder Pig.

"Could it have found something?" Wei Zhao's spirits lifted, and he hurried over.

"Squeak! Squeak!" When Wei Zhao arrived, the Heavenly Thunder Pig poked out its head and pointed with a forepaw toward the section of cliff beneath his feet.

Wei Zhao followed the direction it indicated and looked down. About fifteen zhang below him, a section of tree trunk jutted horizontally from a crack in the cliff. It was nothing compared with the towering trees on the ground, each of which easily reached a dozen zhang or more, but amid these bare cliffs, it was already a rare and welcome sight.

But in the end, this was only a tree, not the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass he needed.

Just as Wei Zhao was beginning to feel disappointed, the Heavenly Thunder Pig beside him continued squeaking without pause. It even impatiently wrote in the mud: "Look carefully beneath the tree, to the right."

Wei Zhao froze. Along the journey, to make the search easier, he had carefully explained the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass's distinguishing features to the Heavenly Thunder Pig. Could its excitement mean that the grass really was here?

Following the Heavenly Thunder Pig's hint, Wei Zhao examined the area once more. A moment later, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Beneath the tree, hidden in a gap screened by its branches and leaves, he could make out the faint outline of a spirit herb. From its appearance, there could be no doubt that it was the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass.

At last, Heaven rewarded the determined! Wei Zhao immediately let out a breath. As long as he had found the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass, his mission was as good as accomplished. This trip had not been in vain.

However, finding the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass was one thing; harvesting it was another. Although Wei Zhao was now an expert at the early Foundation Establishment stage, there was one crucial problem: he could not fly.

The Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass was fifteen zhang below his feet, and the cliff face was astonishingly smooth. Looking down, he could not find even a single foothold. To climb straight down was simply out of the question.

And even if he had the nerve to jump, there was no guarantee that the tree below could withstand the impact. It would probably have no trouble supporting one or two people standing on it, but with a powerful force crashing down upon it, the result hardly bore thinking about: the branch would snap on the spot.

If only he had brought a rope! Wei Zhao sighed regretfully. Had he prepared one in the jade pendant's space, he would only have needed to use it as a temporary foothold, and with his strength, making ten trips up and down would have been effortless.

"Looks like I'll have to make one from whatever's available." Wei Zhao glanced around. Numerous vines hung from the giant trees not far behind him. They looked reasonably sturdy, and weaving a rope from them should not be difficult.

Once he had decided, he acted at once. While the sky was still bright, Wei Zhao got to work, with the Heavenly Thunder Pig scampering about nearby to lend a hand. After less than half an incense stick's time, a vine rope more than twenty zhang long had taken shape. Wei Zhao gave it a careful test and found it surprisingly sturdy.

He tied one end of the vine rope to the nearest giant tree. Then, gripping the rope with one hand and bracing both feet against the cliff, Wei Zhao swung lightly down toward the bottom. In the blink of an eye, the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass was within reach.

After winding the vine rope twice around his waist, Wei Zhao settled onto the protruding branch and leaned out to look below. What he saw there filled him with even greater delight.

Every characteristic matched. This was unquestionably the genuine Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass. The only thing that disappointed Wei Zhao was that there was just one plant.

As an essential ingredient in refining the Foundation Establishment Golden Elixir, the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass was an exceptionally precious and rare medicinal herb. Even the markets did not carry it in stock. Ordinary people could forget about owning one; most had probably never even seen one.

Just think: even in the rear mountain, where rare treasures were found everywhere, and even with the help of the Heavenly Thunder Pig, an expert spirit beast at treasure hunting, Wei Zhao had needed to expend so much effort to find it. A single Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass, casually put up for sale, would be worth at least several dozen pieces of spirit jade. If it found its way to someone who knew its value and desperately needed it, an offer of more than a hundred spirit jades would likely attract buyers.

So finding even one Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass was already an enormous stroke of good fortune. Wei Zhao was not the sort to be dissatisfied. At his current stage, with one Foundation Establishment Golden Elixir and a Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill to supplement it, his upcoming cultivation would surely proceed as smoothly as water flowing along its natural course.

As for breaking through beyond the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, that would require other opportunities. Wei Zhao never expected a single trial to provide the materials for ten or eight Foundation Establishment Golden Elixirs. That was simply unrealistic.

Having long since learned in the mundane world that advancing in cultivation was no easy matter, Wei Zhao was quite capable of being content.

Carefully lowering his body, he reached out to pluck the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass. Yet just as his fingertips were about to touch it, a soul-shaking howl suddenly rang out from above. A violent blast of astral wind followed, whipping the protruding branch beneath his feet into a frenzied sway. Wei Zhao himself was left tottering on the brink of a fall.

Fortunately, the vine rope was still wound twice around his body. Otherwise, that sudden blast alone would have sent him tumbling down. Breaking half his body would have been the least of his worries; if the rushing river below swept him away, finding his way back here to harvest the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass would have been next to impossible.