Chapter 4247 — The Infant Ginseng
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
The group exchanged glances. Feng Hongyu was one of Chu Bubai's own party and showed no particular reaction, but Guo Dengtao and Wei Zhao and the rest wore expressions of some doubt. After all, fixing one's position was not something that high cultivation alone could solve; even if Chu Bubai was a late-stage Golden Core expert, surely he could not be so certain.
"No need to doubt me—I happened to come to this place once before, so I still have a vague impression of it," Chu Bubai said, waving a hand as though it were nothing, dispelling their doubts. Then he went on: "On this trip to the Rufeng Forest, I imagine everyone has come for the rare treasures?"
"Naturally," Guo Dengtao and Wang Feng said, nodding again and again.
"That's right," Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao echoed.
At a level like the Golden Core stage, if one wished to advance one's power, apart from diligent cultivation of one's own, the so-called miracle elixirs on the market—save for a scant handful of varieties—could hardly do much to improve them anymore. And even those few, where they existed at all, were priceless and unavailable; without some stroke of fortune, a man might clutch a great heap of spirit jade and still fail to buy them.
By comparison, if one truly wished to advance swiftly in power, it was better by far to pin one's hopes on all manner of rare treasures. Should luck smile and one come by a Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruit, that would be worth decades of bitter cultivation.
"Very well. Since we have all come this far, I see no reason to keep secrets from you," Chu Bubai said, his gaze sweeping over each face in turn, his expression grave as he spoke slowly. "I wonder—have any of you heard of the Infant Ginseng?"
At those words the others could not help but be taken aback, yet Wei Zhao's heart stirred. Not only did he know of the Infant Ginseng—he had once used it to refine pills!
Back when he was on Middle Island, refining the Gestating-Infant Golden Core for Tianxing Dao, the single most important principal ingredient had been the Infant Ginseng.
The Infant Ginseng Tianxing Dao gave him at the time had not been a whole plant, but only a small piece the size of a thumb; even so, he had in the end succeeded in using it to refine the Gestating-Infant Golden Core!
And according to Tianxing Dao, the Infant Ginseng was an exceedingly rare material, rarer even than the Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruit. Even that tiny piece had cost him great effort to track down in his early years at the height of his powers; as for a whole plant of Infant Ginseng, not to mention Tianxing Dao himself, it had never once appeared on the open market.
If a mere small piece was already a treasure beyond price, then what value would a whole, naturally grown plant of Infant Ginseng command?
At the thought, even a man of Wei Zhao's calm temperament could not help but feel his breathing grow heavy, and the look he turned on Chu Bubai now held a few more degrees of astonishment. Could it be that this man actually had word of the Infant Ginseng?
"Brother Chu, have you come this time for the Infant Ginseng?" Guo Dengtao's breathing had quickened as well. He had seen a fair share of the world, and so had heard of the Infant Ginseng too, knowing it to be far more precious than even the Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruit. Now that Chu Bubai had suddenly brought the matter up, his heart surged at once.
He and Chu Bubai were on somewhat friendly terms, though not especially close. The reason he had been the one to organize this party was that Chu Bubai, bringing Feng Hongyu along, had come to him of his own accord, proposing a trip to the Rufeng Forest; that was why he had called on Wang Feng, and afterward recruited Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao as well. (To be continued) R466