Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

As the dizziness gradually subsided, Mo Yuming slowly got up from the ground and looked up, only to find himself in a cave.

"Out?"

Mo Yuming was filled with doubt. Wasn't the teleportation array already closed? Could someone have reopened it?

"Brother, you fell! Are you hurt?"

Seeing that Mo Yuming had been lying on the ground for a long time before struggling to get up, Xinlan asked him with concern.

"It's alright, we're out, that's great. Let's go outside and talk more."

Mo Yuming felt slightly embarrassed by his disheveled state in front of Xinlan, but his mood improved considerably after successfully escaping.

He hurriedly took out two fluorescent stones from his pocket and led Xinlan outside.

Just as the two left the cave, the dwarfs from the secret realm suddenly appeared at the exit of the teleportation array, standing there furiously.

"That despicable human child dared to steal my spiritual herbs, and even picked ten 100,000-year-old Fire Dragon Purple Cherry Fruits! It's utterly hateful! Those are 100,000-year-old spiritual fruits! There aren't many of them in total!"

I...I...Hmph, don't let me see you again! Otherwise, I'll make you pay! ..."

After a helpless roar, the dwarf turned around and disappeared into the light curtain, filled with resentment.

When the two emerged from the cave, it was already dusk outside.

Xinlan's grandmother was still sitting quietly on the stone by the pond, waiting for them.

Upon seeing the two of them emerge, the grandmother did not speak, but simply took their hands and led them quickly down the mountain.

By the time I got back to my lodgings, it was completely dark.

Everyone sat around the grass, lit a campfire, and chatted leisurely while grilling skewers. Several second-generation old men, who loved to join in the fun, sat around Mo Yuming and Xinlan, listening to Mo Yuming recount his experiences in the Wangchuan Cave.

"...The cave is devoid of sunlight and moonlight, yet the celestial phenomena change precisely on schedule, alternating between day and night...The surroundings are filled with medicinal herbs, making it difficult to discern directions...If one cannot find the teleportation array in time, it will be difficult to emerge..."

Mo Yuming made no attempt to conceal anything, only slightly omitting some parts and glossing over others. For instance, he chose to completely omit the scroll that could control the secret realm.

"I thought it was just an underground palace, but I never expected it to be a secret realm!"

"Luckily, that teleportation array can travel in both directions. If it could only travel in one direction, this kid would be stuck inside with those old bones! Haha!"

"The time flow in the secret realm is three times faster than in the outside world. Won't those old men who went in die even faster?"

"No, it means you can live longer. For example, you might only have one day to live outside, but you can live for three days inside."

"That little demon said that none of the people who entered the secret realm had reached the Venerable Realm it spoke of?"

"seems like it!"

"The old man who went in 180 years ago had a cultivation level at the peak of the seventh level. According to that, the lowest level of the Venerable Realm is at least the eighth level of the Heaven Rank. To reach the eighth level of the Heaven Rank before the age of 100! Does that mean that one must break through to the Earth Rank before the age of 15 and to the Heaven Rank before the age of 30!"

"The minimum standard for inheriting that secret realm is reaching the Venerable Realm before the age of one hundred! How is that possible! As far as I know, in the past thousand years of our Tianxuan Continent, we have never heard of anyone breaking through to the Heavenly Rank before the age of fifty. Even breaking through at the age of sixty is unheard of!"

"I think that little devil is talking nonsense and deliberately deceiving Yu Ming! There's no such thing as a bewitching genius in the world!"

"But the secret realm is real! The medicinal herbs inside, the alternation of day and night, and the flow of time all demonstrate that the power of the secret realm's master is beyond our imagination!"

"Indeed, even the canyon secret realm we are in now is not something a person with peak Heaven Rank strength could accomplish. Let alone creating a secret realm space! That would be many times more difficult than creating this canyon secret realm!"

"Stop thinking about it, we don't need to think about that kind of thing! Let's think about what we can do!"

"This is so discouraging. I thought I was pretty good, but in other people's eyes I'm nothing..."

……

"Are there exceptionally tall medicinal herbs everywhere in this secret realm?"

Mo Wen developed a strong interest in medicinal herbs.

"I brought a few plants with me; you'll see when you see them."

Mo Yuming made no attempt to hide anything, taking out a medicinal herb from his storage bag and handing it to Mo Wen.

"This, this is actually the Fire Dragon Purple Cherry Blossom?"

Mo Wen held the herbs in both hands, examining them repeatedly, his face filled with disbelief.

"The 800-year-old Fire Dragon Purple Cherry tree that I transplanted is less than a foot tall. Decades have passed, and it is almost the same as when it was first transplanted, with almost no changes."

This Fire Dragon Purple Cherry, easily three feet tall, must be a sacred herb at least tens of thousands of years old! Sacred herbs tens of thousands of years old are extremely rare, even in the entire Tianxuan Continent. You're saying this kind of sacred herb is everywhere in that secret realm?

Mo Wen was excited, and his hands holding the herbs trembled slightly.

"Grandpa, what is this sacred medicine? Is it very precious?"

Xinlan had never seen Mo Wen so excited before, and asked curiously.

"Except for some special rare herbs, most herbs are divided into three grades, namely ordinary, spiritual and sacred, regardless of their rarity."

These three qualities are classified according to the growth years of the herbs: those less than 100 years old are considered ordinary, those less than 1000 years old are considered spiritual, and those over 10,000 years old are considered sacred.

Although this is only a rough classification, even the most ordinary herbs become extremely precious medicines once they reach the Saint-grade level.

If categorized by value, another common method in the market is to calculate based on a century. For every hundred years a herb has been growing, its price doubles from its base price. This price roughly corresponds to the herb's medicinal efficacy.

Generally speaking, the longer the growth period of a herb, the greater its medicinal value.

Some of the best elixirs and pills require herbs to be of very high age.

Like other living things, herbs have their own growth cycle.

Apart from those special and rare herbs, most herbs are difficult to grow for more than a thousand years.

No matter how well they are cared for, herbs will eventually age, wither, and die after a certain number of years.

Therefore, herbs that are older are increasingly rare.

However, there are always exceptions.

In certain special environments, such as grotto-heavens or places where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth converges, the quality of medicinal herbs can change and their growth cycle can be extended.

But such places are extremely rare; there are only a handful in the entire Tianxuan Continent.

Therefore, a thousand-year-old elixir is already extremely precious, let alone a sacred elixir that is over ten thousand years old, which is even rarer.

The Fire Dragon Purple Cherry Grassland is already a relatively rare medicinal herb. Even thousand-year-old spiritual herbs are extremely rare, and those over ten thousand years old are unheard of.

This Fire Dragon Purple Cherry Blossom, which has grown for tens of thousands of years, is undoubtedly a top-grade sacred medicine, and is naturally extremely precious!

Mo Wen explained.

"This soil! This is thick soil! No wonder the herbs have grown so big and haven't withered even after so many years! This secret realm actually uses thick soil to cultivate herbs!"

Mo Wen seemed to have discovered a new continent; his eyes lit up, and he excitedly exclaimed loudly.

What is thick soil?

Mo Yuming asked curiously.

"The so-called thick soil is one of the ten legendary divine soils, characterized by its thickness, stability and strong bearing capacity."

Plants that grow in thick soil can live for a long time without dying.

All living things have a life cycle, and plants are no exception.

Apart from those rare and precious plants that have extremely long lifespans, most plants will eventually grow old, die, and wither, and the same is true for medicinal herbs.

There are very few medicinal herbs in the world that can grow for tens of thousands of years; for most medicinal herbs, growing for a thousand years is the limit.

But plants that grow in fertile soil are different; fertile soil can extend their lifespan indefinitely.

These medicinal herbs can grow for tens of thousands of years in the secret realm, so it is not surprising that they have grown so tall.

"But who exactly is the master of this secret realm, that he could obtain so much thick soil? It's simply unimaginable!"

Mo Wen's hands, holding the herbs, trembled slightly, clearly indicating his extreme excitement.

"Is this thick soil so hard to obtain?"

Mo Yuming was somewhat puzzled, as thick soil was everywhere in the secret realm, which didn't seem particularly unusual.

Do you think just any soil can be called divine soil?

In the Tianxuan Continent, the reason why Medicine King Valley was able to become one of the seven great families was because there was a pot of thick soil in the valley. This thick soil was hidden deep in the underground palace under Thousand Pillar Peak as the treasure of the valley.

Apart from the Valley Master, no one was able to get close to that underground palace.

Similarly, the reason why the Long Kingdom, one of the five kingdoms, was able to coexist with the other four kingdoms and stand for thousands of years was because the Wu family possessed a large wasteland that was also divine land.

It is said that the Wu family possesses even less of the Great Wilderness Soil, amounting to only one box.

Mo Wen said with a serious expression.

"A pot of soil can pacify a nation? Aside from growing some medicinal herbs, this soil doesn't seem to have much use. Does it really have such great power?"

Mo Yuming spent the entire night digging in the secret realm, trying to pile up the soil into a platform, which exhausted him half to death.

He dug around in the thick soil, but apart from its heaviness, he found nothing particularly special about it.

"If it could be called divine land, it would be a gross underestimation of its capabilities."

Divine soil, along with divine water, divine iron, divine fire, and divine wood, are known as the five supreme treasures of the cultivation world.

Its wide range of uses and significant effects far exceed your imagination.

Take thick soil as an example. Besides what you already know—that it can greatly improve the quality of spiritual herbs and extend their growth cycle—it can also greatly help practitioners of earth-based profound arts in their cultivation.

One of its effects is so potent that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it miraculous.

This effect helps the user overcome bottlenecks during advancement.

This alone could drive countless cultivators crazy. Just imagine, when two cultivators with similar aptitudes are stuck at a certain level for years due to a bottleneck, while the other, possessing divine soil, doesn't have a bottleneck at all and can continuously advance in cultivation.

How vast will the gap be between the two years from now? Even if the cultivator with divine soil is less talented than others, with the passage of time, they are destined to go further than those with better aptitude.

At this moment, Shi Potian also came over, gnawing on a beast bone while looking at the herbs in Mo Wen's hand.

"Bottleneck is a topic that every cultivator cannot avoid. No matter how good one's aptitude is, one will always encounter bottlenecks on the path of cultivation."

To break through a bottleneck, you might be lucky and it might only take ten days or a few months, but if you're unlucky, a small bottleneck can sometimes drag on for years without being overcome.

If I had such a small patch of fertile soil around me, I would save at least fifty years of detours!

No wonder I had a strange feeling when I saw this herb; it felt like my spiritual senses were much clearer.

At the time, I was puzzled. No matter how high-grade the herb was, it was still a fire-attribute herb. It shouldn't have any effect on me, and I shouldn't have had this reaction.

It turns out that those sensations came from the soil at its roots.

Even the usually taciturn old man, Dugu, remarked with emotion. He possessed the highest cultivation level in the entire canyon, and moreover, he practiced an earth-attribute profound technique.