Chapter 6: The Violet Spirit Ginseng

Shen Qinghe immediately felt a powerful force pulling at her palm, as if the withered Ziyun Ginseng had awoken and was actively absorbing her spiritual energy. She could clearly sense the power within her core rapidly draining, surging through her meridians like a breached dam straight into the ginseng in her hand.

Fortunately, she had been prepared for this after her previous experience. Shen Qinghe took a deep breath, steadied her mind, and focused intently on the Ziyun Ginseng wrapped in spiritual light. Under the nourishment of her energy, the ginseng gradually began to emit a faint glow, its shriveled surface starting to smooth out.

After about half a cup of tea’s time, the spiritual light in her palm faded. Beads of sweat dotted Shen Qinghe’s forehead, and a hollow emptiness echoed in her core; this single effort had consumed nearly eighty percent of her spiritual power.

When the last traces of light disappeared, the sight before her caused her brows to knit slightly. The once-dead Ziyun Ginseng had not only regained its vitality, but its body had turned a strange purplish-brown. Cloud patterns on its leaves had taken on a dark red hue, and the entire plant now radiated a chilling, unsettling aura.

“Zi Jue Ginseng?” Shen Qinghe muttered, her gaze shifting to the golden ancient book floating before her. A new line of archaic script shimmered into view.

Beside the Ziyun Ginseng illustration, a new branch appeared—this very Zi Jue Ginseng. Below, detailed notes read: "Zi Jue Ginseng—formed through partial integration of the Jue Ling Grass's properties; severs spiritual energy, impedes the flow of qi and blood."

“It’s become a poisonous ginseng.” Her first attempt at fusing mutations had ended this way, and disappointment flickered in her eyes. She also noted from the ancient book that this result was only due to partial integration of the Jue Ling Grass’s properties.

“If I can produce Zi Jue Ginseng, there must be other possibilities...” Lost in thought, Shen Qinghe put the mutated ginseng aside, took a low-grade spirit stone from her storage pouch, and sat cross-legged. She began to circulate her cultivation technique, absorbing the spirit stone’s energy to replenish herself.

She was determined to try again.

The spirit stone’s energy unraveled like silk, threads of white mist entering her body. After about a quarter of an hour, her core brimmed with power, while the stone in her hand had grown more translucent.

“One low-grade spirit stone should be enough for three full recoveries,” Shen Qinghe estimated.

Given her current cultivation at the first level of Qi Refinement, her capacity was small—a single low-grade spirit stone allowing three full recoveries was already quite fortunate.

Yet for most cultivators at her stage, using spirit stones to replenish power was a luxury. Ordinarily, low-level cultivators would meditate and slowly absorb the world’s ambient energy, unless in dire need.

Shen Qinghe, however, paid this little mind. For a researcher like her, any usable resource would be exploited without hesitation—there was no such thing as saving. As long as she made progress, any loss could be regained.

She picked up another withered Ziyun Ginseng, summoned the golden book, and unhesitatingly selected mutation fusion again.

The familiar sensation of power draining swept over her. Spiritual light enveloped the ginseng, her energy vanishing swiftly.

Another half cup of tea passed, the glow faded, and once more she held a Zi Jue Ginseng.

“Is this what they call a streak of bad luck?” Shen Qinghe laughed at herself, but did not falter. She took out another spirit stone, replenished her strength, and prepared for a third attempt.

Though the body’s former owner had left her few stones, there were still ten low-grade spirit stones—enough for more than thirty tries.

With over thirty chances, could she not produce a new mutated branch of Ziyun Ginseng?

So she pressed on, again and again—third, fourth... up to the eighth time, always with the same result.

By the twenty-eighth attempt, Shen Qinghe’s face was ashen with frustration.

Just as she was about to give up, the spiritual light in her palm at last shifted to a lustrous purple glow, no longer that chilling purplish-brown.

“It worked!” She breathed a long sigh of relief, tension melting from her features. Eagerly, she looked to the golden book, where new words shimmered into view:

“Zi Ling Ginseng—formed through partial fusion with the mutated properties of Jue Ling Grass. Restores vitality and spiritual power, aids cultivation, hastens recovery from injury.”

Reading this, a satisfied smile finally curved Shen Qinghe’s lips.

“The Zi Ling Ginseng is quite promising. I wonder if there are other possible mutations...”

A blazing curiosity was now alight within her, but a glance at the pile of shattered spirit stones brought a sigh. The original owner’s resources were nearly depleted; only two low-grade spirit stones remained.

Now, for the first time since her transmigration, Shen Qinghe truly felt the pinch of limited funds.

Faced with a room full of withered ginseng, she could only set her ambitions aside for now.

She took a flower pot from her storage pouch, filled with spiritual soil from the fields, and planted the Zi Ling Ginseng within. She buried a low-grade spirit stone in the soil as well.

This was necessary, for once removed from the spiritual veins beneath the fields, the soil would gradually lose its energy. Burying a spirit stone would replenish it.

With these tasks done, she glanced once more at the golden book, where information about Zi Ling Ginseng was now displayed:

Name: Zi Ling Ginseng (Registered)
Condition: Good
Growth: 13/100

Cultivation: Novice (1/10)
Mutated Properties: None
Note: Zi Ling Ginseng is a continuously growing spirit plant; as long as ample energy is supplied, it will grow without end.

Shen Qinghe noticed, just as with Ziyun Ginseng, this plant could grow endlessly. The sect’s botanical records also mentioned this trait.

However, cultivating such endlessly growing plants came at a steep price—not only in resources, but also in time. Even with a cultivator’s long lifespan, few could afford it.

There was a saying in the cultivation world: “A single ginseng passes through a thousand generations; people are gone, but the ginseng remains.”

Thus, in her sect, they only let Ziyun Ginseng grow until it produced seeds, then would harvest it, unwilling to waste more time or resources.

Shen Qinghe did not agree with this approach.

Her eyes settled on the “growth” entry in the book, and she wondered, “If the growth reaches full, will the Zi Ling Ginseng advance to the next stage?”

Having formed the idea, she decided to test it.

She fixed her gaze on the “growth” entry in the book and silently willed it to increase.

Immediately, she felt her spiritual energy rush out like a floodgate had burst. In just a few breaths, her core was completely drained, and a wave of weakness left her unsteady on her feet.

When she looked again, the book now read: Growth 14/100.

“It really works,” Shen Qinghe murmured, although she had more or less expected it. The consumption, however, was staggering.

Fusing and removing mutation properties, as well as accelerating plant growth, all drew on her own spiritual power.

This was both her advantage and her limitation. The golden book gave her the power to accelerate the growth of spirit plants, but with her meager cultivation at the first level of Qi Refinement, even if she exhausted herself each day, she could only add a few points of growth—barely faster than normal cultivation, hardly worth mentioning.

“I must find a way to improve my cultivation first!” Rubbing her weary temples, Shen Qinghe looked to the Zi Ling Ginseng, her mind already set on her next move.