Chapter 3669 — The Jade Pendant Sounds the Alarm
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
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.