Chapter 524: Healing the Spirit Vine

"I..."

Garden Master Xue's face flushed red; she wanted to rage but could not speak.

As the master of the First Medicine Garden of Wanguo City, her understanding of medicinal herbs was no less than that of Elder Liu or Elder Lu, and perhaps even surpassed theirs.

Precisely because of this, after learning that she could do nothing about the Earth Pulse Spirit Vine, no one dared to respond.

Although both spirit medicines and spirit artifacts bear the word 'spirit,' they are completely different from the human soul. One hears of special spirit medicines that can nourish the soul, but never that absorbing their spirituality could repair a damaged soul.

Their essences differ, like a hungry tiger being told to eat grass like a goat—impossible!

"This..."

The surrounding crowd also looked over in shock.

In their eyes, Garden Master Xue was a great cultivator of medicines; how could she make such a mistake?

No wonder she had cultivated so many herbs over the years without selling them, even refusing the Alliance Lord's Mansion when they tried to buy—so this was the root cause!

She hoped the spirituality of the medicines could supplement her soul; naturally, the more the better. Once sold, the medicines would decrease, and that spirituality would naturally diminish.

For a cultivator, as long as it could help break through to the Harmonious Spirit Realm, any cost was worth it!

But these were secrets... how did this fellow know?

Everyone had watched for so long without noticing the problem with the Earth Pulse Spirit Vine, let alone imagining that Garden Master Xue would do this... This fellow only touched the vine and the ground, watched a set of fist techniques, and knew...

Wasn't that too exaggerated!

Lu Zhan, Song Chao, and the others also widened their eyes.

They knew he was a master teacher, but they never expected him to be this formidable.

"When Garden Master Xue entered, I observed her. Her internal energy was pure and full of power. Judging by her age, she should be just over a hundred. Women care about their appearance; under normal circumstances, with her strength and age, her looks shouldn't be so aged—unless... there was some special变故!"

Zhang Xuan did not stop but looked over calmly and continued: "So I observed carefully. The fist technique she just performed, if I'm not mistaken, is the [Great Sun Fist], vigorous and righteous, full of power. According to its normal circulation path, internal energy should emerge from the Baixin acupoint, but she made it travel an extra fifth of the distance, emerging from the Zhangxin acupoint."

"For a Mortal Transformation Realm Fourth Layer expert who has long mastered cultivation to perfection, this can only happen for one reason... the Huiming acupoint is damaged, preventing her from correctly identifying the subtle differences between acupoints! Huiming, meaning wisdom and clarity, is one of the important acupoints for soul integrity. Since it is damaged, soul damage is only natural!"

"As for this Earth Pulse Spirit Vine, you have all examined it—no disease, no pests, yet it is withering, and medicine is useless. At first, I didn't think of spirituality being absorbed, until I saw the ground where Garden Master Xue practices."

Saying this, Zhang Xuan pointed.

Everyone looked in unison and saw that where Garden Master Xue had been practicing, the grass grew vigorously, lush and green, much better than elsewhere.

"The grass here grows better than elsewhere; you can all see that at a glance. Cultivation gathers spiritual energy, so plants flourishing is understandable. But... look at this and you'll understand!"

Approaching the grass, Zhang Xuan reached out his hand toward it.

Whoosh!

The grass, as if seeing something terrifying, swayed without wind and dodged away.

"These ordinary grass blades are everywhere on the ground and have no spirituality. Yet now they can dodge my hand... From this, one can deduce that someone has absorbed the spirituality of medicines, and the leakage has imbued even these common plants with the ability to seek good fortune and avoid disaster!"

Zhang Xuan smiled lightly: "Seeing this, the rest follows logically!"

"This..."

"As expected of a master teacher, such sharp eyes..."

Hearing the explanation, everyone was filled with admiration.

They had long heard that master teachers had astonishing insight, adept at spotting problems from the smallest clues. Now it seemed the reputation was well-deserved.

From just a set of fist techniques and a patch of grass, he deduced the crux of the Earth Pulse Spirit Vine and identified Garden Master Xue's cultivation problem... If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it.

"This..." Song Chao swallowed his saliva, his face turning pale.

The other party's analysis was meticulous and flawless.

It sounded simple, but in reality, it was as difficult as reaching the heavens. Even he, a four-star master teacher, could not do it!

In fact, not only he, but even his teacher, the sect elder, probably could not deduce all this from just a single glance.

From a tiny trace to find the cause... deducing the line from the point, the surface from the line, the whole from the surface, and without error... Was this guy cheating?

Even a five-star master teacher would find it difficult!

Could it be... that the person before him was a five-star master teacher?

No wonder he had been bewitched by the Master Teacher's Heavenly Oath several times without the ability to resist. Now he understood—compared to this Zhang Xuan, he still had a long way to go!

"It seems that mid-grade spirit stone is not coming back. If I go ask for it, I'm afraid... even those low-grade spirit stones won't be safe..."

He looked dejected.

Every time he went, he was bewitched. He feared that if he went to ask for that mid-grade spirit stone, the wealth he had painstakingly accumulated would be cleaned out, leaving nothing.

"Forget it, I'd better take this coffin back first. If it pleases the elder, I might recover my losses..."

Having witnessed Zhang Xuan's methods, Song Chao was truly afraid.

But deep down, he was genuinely impressed.

To deduce all this from just a few clues—worthy of being a master teacher who could bewitch him.

...

While the crowd was stunned, Garden Master Xue also trembled, unable to believe it: "I found this method in an ancient book. Over the years, my soul injury has indeed recovered somewhat..."

Back then, her soul was damaged, and she was judged to have no hope of reaching the Harmonious Spirit Realm.

She refused to accept it, consulted countless ancient texts, and finally found this method in a book: absorbing the spirituality of medicinal herbs to supplement her soul...

Although she had doubts, it was the only option she had.

Moreover, after years of persistence, her damaged soul had indeed recovered somewhat.

"Recovered somewhat?" Zhang Xuan shook his head: "Is it still far from complete? Can you live another eighty-seven years?"

Garden Master Xue staggered.

The lifespan of a Mortal Transformation Realm expert is limited; at over a hundred, she was already past middle age. She could live one eighty-seven years, but a second?

Even if she repaired it, she wouldn't live to see it.

Then... what was the point of repairing?

"I was wrong..."

All along, she had thought only of how to restore her damaged soul and then break through to the Harmonious Spirit Realm. Now she realized all her efforts were a dream.

The Harmonious Spirit Realm was forever out of reach.

Shaking her head, she instantly seemed to age decades, from looking about fifty to resembling a seventy- or eighty-year-old crone.

Seeing her like this, although everyone felt pity, they knew there was no stopping it.

A belief upheld for over eighty years shattered in an instant—anyone would be crushed.

"Master Teacher Zhang, is there a way to heal this Earth Pulse Spirit Vine?"

After who knows how long, Garden Master Xue recovered and looked at the young man before her.

Since he could spot the crux at a glance, perhaps he had a way to treat it.

She had no hope of breaking through, so she would no longer struggle, but this medicine garden had accompanied her for most of her life; she did not wish to see it perish.

"You have cultivated here for years, devouring its spirituality. Now this spirit vine is just an empty shell. Restoring it is difficult! But not impossible—it may require some cost."

Zhang Xuan said.

Before going to the Witch Soul Tomb, he knew little about souls. How to heal a plant whose spirituality had been devoured, he truly did not know.

But now, having acquired all of Mo Hansheng's knowledge, he understood souls deeply. Even if the Earth Pulse Spirit Vine's spirituality was extinguished, he could still treat it, though it would take some effort.

"As long as it can be saved, I am willing to pay any price!" Hearing there was hope, Garden Master Xue quickly looked at him.

The others also looked over.

That a spirit medicine that had lost its spirituality could still be healed—even they, as great medicine cultivators, had never heard of it. They all wanted to learn.

"Actually, it's very simple—that is, grafting!" Zhang Xuan said.

"Grafting?"

Everyone was puzzled.

As medicine cultivators, they were all familiar with grafting: taking a branch or bud from one plant and attaching it to the stem or root of another, so that the two parts grow together into a complete plant.

Many new varieties of spirit medicines were developed this way.

"Correct. Plants can be grafted, and so can spirituality!"

Zhang Xuan smiled faintly: "Simply find another Earth Pulse Spirit Vine branch with intact spirituality, graft it onto this vine, and as it grows, the spirituality from the branch will merge into it, becoming one."

A branch with spirituality, grafted onto this vine, would fuse into one once it took hold.

"However, at the normal rate of fusion, it would take decades to complete. If we wait that long, I fear all the medicines in your garden would have long since died... To speed up the process, the cost is not small!"

Spirituality grafting sounds simple but is difficult in practice.

First, transferring the spirituality intact to the branch requires a witch soul master; there is no other way.

Second, during fusion, one must prevent rejection.

It's like possession. Even if the Earth Pulse Spirit Vine, like the Soul-less Golden Man, has lost its soul, it is still difficult for the spirituality on a tiny bud to completely devour and occupy such a large body.

Like an ant trying to pull a cart.

To make this weak spirituality grow quickly, paying some price is inevitable.

"What do you need? I'll prepare it immediately!" Garden Master Xue gritted her teeth.

If the Earth Pulse Spirit Vine died, all the herbs in the garden would die, and the loss would be even greater.

"One Earth Pulse Spirit Vine seedling, fifty medicinal herbs with a hundred years of age, ten buckets of Rootless Water..." Zhang Xuan listed the required items.

Hearing this, everyone exchanged glances, their faces sour. No wonder he said the cost was high—it truly was.

An ordinary family probably couldn't produce these items, let alone to save a plant.

"Good, I'll prepare them immediately!" After hearing the list, Garden Master Xue's eyebrows twitched, but given her wealth, she could still afford it.

"Wait..."

Just as she was about to prepare the items, the young man's voice rang out again.

"Also prepare a Chenqing Flower, over five hundred years old, and if you have any mid-grade spirit stones, the more the better!"