The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 445: Long Xuan’s Scheme

"Please stop right there, you two. This medicinal herb garden was planted by this ginseng. No humans are allowed to enter."

"This ginseng is in a good mood today. If you leave now, you might still make it in time. But if you dare to take one more step forward, don’t blame this ginseng for killing you and throwing your corpses into the garden as fertilizer."

A ginseng spirit emerged from the soil, speaking rudely and without any hint of politeness. Its strength was unknown, but its gaze completely disregarded the two intruders.

Long Xuan couldn't gauge the strength of this ginseng spirit and didn't act rashly. Instead, he looked toward Zhu Jiuge.

Zhu Jiuge carefully examined the ginseng from head to toe. With a look of intense interest, she smiled and said, “A spirit herb that has gained sentience? The ancient texts do record such things, but this is the first time I’ve seen one in person.”

“The records state that the Heavenly Dao does not permit spirit herbs to gain intelligence. No matter their grade, any spirit herb that gains sentience will trigger a tribulation of lightning.”

“If it manages to survive the first tribulation, it can live on. But in fixed intervals, the tribulation will strike again—second, third, and so on—each stronger than the last, until all Ten Great Thunder Tribulations have been endured.”

“Very few spirit herbs can withstand all ten tribulations. Naturally, even fewer dare to awaken spiritual consciousness.”

“Judging by your intelligence, you seem quite capable. I wonder how many tribulations you've survived?” Zhu Jiuge asked with curiosity, without a hint of malice.

Upon hearing this, the ginseng showed a smug expression and was just about to speak—when suddenly, a thunderous boom roared through the skies.

The once-clear blue sky suddenly darkened with clouds, accompanied by deafening thunderclaps.

The ginseng abruptly looked up. Its expression froze as it stared at the gray lightning forming in the sky. Its face turned pale in an instant.

“Crap! It’s the Life-Transformative Lightning, ranked eighth among the Ten Great! Today’s my tribulation day?!”

“It couldn’t appear sooner or later—why now, of all times? This can’t just be a coincidence!”

The ginseng was completely stunned, then quickly snapped out of it, its face contorting in fury as it roared,

“Damn it! That little girl must be a jinx! Whatever she mentions comes true!”

“This is bad! I absolutely can’t let the tribulation destroy the hebr garden!”

In a panic, the ginseng could no longer concern itself with the two intruders. Gritting its teeth, it bolted into the distance, trying to draw the thunderclouds away from the garden.

As it ran farther and farther away, the tribulation clouds began to shift and chase after it.

But in the face of a tribulation, running is useless. The lightning will find you no matter where you go—even to the ends of the earth.

Soon, a gray bolt of Life-Transformative Lightning descended in the distance. The earth shook violently under its force. Even though Long Xuan was far away, he could feel the terrifying power clearly. The sound was deafening, like the end of the world.

Feeling the might of the Life-Transformative Lightning, Long Xuan was visibly shaken, silently mourning the poor ginseng in his heart.

The Life-Transformative Lightning is ranked even higher than the Reincarnation Lightning and is vastly more powerful. He wondered whether that poor ginseng could possibly endure it.

Clearly, the ginseng’s tribulation had come early. Otherwise, how could it be such a “coincidence” to appear at this exact moment?

Long Xuan glanced warily at Zhu Jiuge’s back, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

There was no need to guess—this was definitely the work of her heaven-defying luck. No matter the difficulty, her absurd fortune would always resolve it.

What if the ginseng was strong? Even the strongest would still be struck by lightning.

Zhu Jiuge was invincible.

As expected, following her was the right decision. Traveling with her was like stumbling upon treasures—no danger ever seemed to linger.

Long Xuan's eyes gleamed as he looked at the medicinal garden in front of him.

Now that its guardian had left, didn’t that mean the spirit herbs inside were free for the taking? He breathed heavily with excitement.

Zhu Jiuge glanced at the ginseng being struck by lightning in surprise, then stepped into the medicinal garden.

Seeing the Heaven-Favored Daughter walk in, Long Xuan no longer hesitated and rushed into the garden.

The garden was enormous, and after countless years of accumulation, its spirit herbs couldn’t possibly be harvested in a short time.

He wasn’t sure whether that ginseng could survive the tribulation, but he definitely didn’t want to stick around to find out. Before the tribulation clouds dissipated, he needed to escape.

Time was limited—he had to collect as many spirit herbs as possible before the clouds disappeared. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Long Xuan activated his Heavenly Secret Eye to its maximum, trying to locate the most valuable herbs in the entire garden.

Soon, he made a curious noise.

“Hm? There’s another spirit herb here that has also gained sentience?”

Looking toward one area of the garden, he spotted an adorable little girl with double buns styled like ram horns. Long Xuan’s expression turned strange.

The little girl was sitting cross-legged on the ground, with a piece of cloth spread out in front of her. On the cloth sat a teapot and teacups.

At that moment, the little girl was sipping the steaming tea one mouthful at a time. With each sip, a look of bliss would appear on her face, accompanied by a cheerful “ya-ya!” sound.

Clearly, this was a Spirit Herb that loved drinking tea.

Long Xuan could be certain—this little girl was definitely a Spirit Herb that had taken human form. No human could possess such rich vitality and an aura so full of nature’s essence.

Long Xuan pondered for a moment. As expected, this tea-loving Spirit Herb was likely the most valuable herb in the entire medicine garden. Judging by her adorably silly appearance, her spiritual intelligence was low, and her spiritual power was thin. She should be on the same level as that rabbit from before—capture-worthy.

No matter what this Spirit Herb's original form was or what effects it might have, capturing it would definitely not be a loss. He could simply toss her into his spatial domain to keep the rabbit company.

A greedy gleam rose in Long Xuan’s eyes.

"Well, well! Another Spirit Herb that has developed intelligence. This one’s quite adorable—I wonder what its original form is."

Just as Long Xuan was preparing to make a move, a crisp female voice rang in his ears, startling him.

He turned his head to look at a young girl with a vertical black pupil between her brows. Long Xuan sighed inwardly. Clearly, Zhu Jiuge—with that eye of hers—had also discovered this intelligent Spirit Herb.

With her here, things were going to get tricky. This woman’s luck was absurdly strong. How could he possibly compete against her?

If he tried to snatch a fortune from her, the Heavenly Fire and Heavenly Water within his body might immediately rebel. Shui Wuqing had already served as a cautionary tale.

"I didn't expect you to find it too. Seems like I won’t be enjoying it alone. This Spirit Herb with awakened intelligence is the most valuable in this entire garden. How do you plan to split it?" Long Xuan smiled as he looked at her.

Zhu Jiuge returned the smile and chuckled lightly, “You’re actually thinking of taking it? Do you know that all Spirit Herbs that awaken intelligence can instantly burrow into the ground when sensing danger, and their speed underground is incredibly fast—almost impossible to catch.”

“Even if a peak-grade Gu King were here, it wouldn’t be able to capture this little thing, let alone us two Spiritual Sea realm Gu cultivators.”

“If you can catch it, that’s your own ability. There’s no need to split it with me.”

“You only get one chance before it notices us. Once it’s alerted, it will dive underground, and you won’t get a second shot.”

Upon hearing that, Long Xuan let out a long breath. It was a relief that Zhu Jiuge didn’t seem too interested in the Spirit Herb. If she had been, then under the support of her heaven-defying luck, no amount of strategy on his part would help him seize it from her.

“I’m well aware that intelligent Spirit Herbs are hard to catch. They must be captured with wit, not brute force.”

“If I succeed, I’ll shave off her twin pigtails and gift them to you. A share for the witness—don’t you dare decline.”

A sly smile tugged at the corners of Long Xuan’s lips. His mind was full of schemes—those words weren’t just casually said.

He intended to once again take advantage of Zhu Jiuge’s heaven-defying luck. If the Spirit Herb counted Zhu Jiuge as part of its destiny, then that luck would surely activate and help her claim the opportunity.

With that heavenly luck aiding the effort, the chances of capturing this Spirit Herb would become one hundred percent.

Otherwise, how could Long Xuan possibly be so generous? Helping Zhu Jiuge was, in essence, helping himself.

His scheming thoughts ran deep. Plotting against Zhu Jiuge had become something of an addiction for him.