Qiu Zu: From an apprentice in a medicine shop to an immortal ancestor.

Cultivation requires four essential elements: methods, wealth, companions, and land.

All four are indispensable.

Among these, "methods, wealth, and companions" are self-explanatory. As for "land," it generally refers to a secluded place away from the hustle and bustle of the city, suitable for closed-door meditation and tranquility, free from noise and disturbances.

Beyond a "secluded place," there is also the legendary "Blessed Land."

This place gathers the blessings of mountains, rivers, and water veins, where spiritual energy converges and heavenly secrets are profound.

"No wonder Bai Shu is so intelligent and understands human nature so well."

Qiu Zhen suddenly realized.

Bai Shu is truly blessed, having built its nest near a blessed land, benefiting greatly from its subtle influence and possessing abundant spirituality.

However, Bai Shu is, after all, just a mountain demon beast with limited means, unable to further explore and discover this treasure land.

"Bai Shu, you are truly a little lucky star!"

Qiu Zhen was overjoyed and rushed towards the spiritual herbs and precious medicines in the barren valley without much hesitation.

Upon closer inspection.

A small patch of verdant plants came into view.

They had thick rhizomes, brown outer skin, short, soft hairs on both sides of the leaflets, slightly wavy edges, and purple, white, or yellow corollas; the pods were curved like scimitars, densely packed into balls.

"This is... licorice!"

Qiu Zhen recognized this herb at a glance.

As a main ingredient, licorice can benefit qi and replenish the center, treating cold and heat evils in the five internal organs, strengthening tendons and bones, growing muscles, increasing energy, detoxifying, and prolonging life with long-term use.

As a harmonizing agent, it can harmonize various medicinal herbs, alleviate the potency and toxicity of other medicinal materials, and reduce the bitterness and spiciness of medicines, earning it the reputation of "good prime minister among medicines" and "national elder."

It can be called the king of all medicines.

"Good stuff!"

Qiu Zhen was overjoyed, and immediately began to count the precious medicines in the licorice patch.

After some counting.

He found eight licorice treasure medicines among the hundreds of licorice plants.

This was indeed a great joy.

However, there were also some imperfections.

Among these eight licorice treasure medicines, only one had rich spiritual light, with spirituality similar to the "Bai Shu Treasure Medicine."

The rest only had scattered spiritual light and had not yet reached the time for mature harvesting.

Forcibly picking them would be a waste of natural resources.

"Anyway, they can't run away. With this blessed land, they will sooner or later grow into excellent spiritual herbs and precious medicines, so I can slowly enjoy them in the future."

Qiu Zhen was not an impatient person.

This blessed land naturally formed a "ghost wall," with a "blindfold" to conceal it, so outsiders could not find it.

These treasures all belonged to him and could not escape.

Immediately, Qiu Zhen suppressed the excitement in his heart and left with Bai Shu not long after.

There was no other way, the sun was rising high, and it was getting late. The working oxen and horses had to go to work, and it would be difficult to deal with the precious medicines after digging them up.

That night.

Qiu Zhen returned from work and went straight to the valley, picked the mature licorice treasure medicine, returned to the Xiangyang Courtyard, decocted it, and boiled it into a pot of licorice medicinal soup.

"Whirr ~"

Qiu Zhen poured 30% of the licorice medicinal soup from the pot into a bowl and placed it in front of the white fox, who was squatting aside watching.

Bai Shu: "Σ(⊙▽⊙"a"

"This is for you. Finders keepers. If there are any gains in the future, you will have a share."

Bai Shu was overjoyed, stood upright on its hind legs, bowed three times to Qiu Zhen, and then happily held the medicine bowl, licking it in small sips.

"Awoo ~"

In the past, when it found treasure medicines, it would gnaw and chew them raw. As a carnivorous demon beast eating grass, it was extremely uncomfortable. It was nothing like the refinement it was experiencing now.

"Tap tap tap ~"

Bai Shu licked the slightly sweet medicinal soup, making joyful cheers.

This was truly "demon life."

Qiu Zhen smiled lightly at the sight.

Although precious medicines were very important to him at the moment as he was trying to break through to Martial Master, he still did not monopolize them.

This was a matter of principle.

The previous "Bai Shu Treasure Medicine" was offered to him by Bai Shu, and he did not share it with it, accepting its offering with peace of mind.

Bai Shu was also happy to offer it, rejoicing that the "God" had accepted its offerings.

However, this time was different, this time it was their joint harvest.

He had no reason to monopolize it.

After all, he had promised time and time again that he would not mistreat the white fox, and he naturally did not just say it with his mouth.

Today's treasure medicine was very important to him, and tomorrow he would have to break through to the next realm, so treasure medicines were always in short supply.

So when would he give it to Bai Shu?

Wouldn't what he said before become a joke?

As the "master," it was only right for Qiu Zhen to take the lion's share.

Sharing 30% with Bai Shu was not only a way to "clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments" when managing subordinates, but also his principle of dealing with people.

"Glug glug!"

After the licorice medicinal soup cooled down, Qiu Zhen drank it all in one gulp, then his eyes shone, and he sat down in meditation and entered samadhi to refine the medicinal power in his body.

Not long after.

"The first level of the Medicine King Five Animal Play is expected to be completed in 139 days."

Qiu Zhen internally observed himself, and the primordial spirit Dharma body deduced, and he immediately had a number in his heart.

It had been improved by more than 10%, shortening the hard work by about a hundred days.

This medicinal effect was within his expectations.

"If I had another spiritual herb treasure medicine, I would probably be close to reaching the point where I could practice the first level of the [Medicine King Five Animals] and join the ranks of Martial Masters."

Qiu Zhen was delighted and full of energy.

For the next two days, the man and the fox would enter the mountain in the morning and evening to clean up the valley, remove weeds, and build a settlement, and spend the rest of the time searching for treasures everywhere.

It was a pity that a person's luck was limited.

Good luck would not always favor them.

Even though Qiu Zhen possessed the [Heavenly Eye Vision] and had the ability of a 'spiritual eye' to search for spiritual objects, they were unable to find a second "spiritual herb treasure medicine."

What made him even more depressed was that in the past two days, he tried to cultivate the "Food Qi Method" in the blessed land in order to achieve better cultivation results.

As a result, he also failed.

Cultivating in the blessed land was similar to cultivating in the Xiangyang Courtyard, and there was basically no change in the progress of cultivation.

Obviously, it was not a problem with the "Blessed Land," but that he did not have a cultivation technique for immortality, and the "Food Qi" attached after the hundred-day foundation building to awaken the primordial spirit was too crude.

The pipe was only so big, and there was little difference between drawing water from a pond and drawing water from a large river.

As for the remaining seven "licorice treasure medicines" in the valley, it was not that he had not considered digging them out.

The "Martial Master Realm" was too important to him.

People should not be trapped in a windless place for too long.

For him, achieving "Martial Master" was a great opportunity.

As long as he took this step, he would be able to climb out of the bottom and usher in a different life.

However, after careful consideration, he still held back.

The seven licorice treasure medicines had very weak spirituality and were still growing. Even if he ate them all, the medicinal effect might not be comparable to the two treasure medicines "Bai Shu" and "Licorice" that he had eaten, which would be too extravagant and wasteful.

The next day, the sky was just dawning.

Bai Shu knocked on the door and entered the house, carrying a bamboo basket and a firewood knife in its mouth, full of energy, without being discouraged by the failures of the previous two days.

"Ying ying ying ~"

"I won't go today. You go to the mountains to find treasure medicines by yourself. If you find any, call me in your heart, and I will know."

"Awoo ~"

Bai Shu nodded obediently and put down the bamboo basket.

With a sway of its body, it turned into an afterimage and disappeared.

Qiu Zhen finished meditating, got up, picked up the bamboo basket, and hurried to the kitchen.

In the past few days, he had not been completely without gains.

During the few days of entering the mountain, Bai Shu had captured two wild rabbits.

Perhaps with sufficient meat and grain supplements, his martial arts progress had improved significantly.

After the Dharma body deduced, with sufficient grain and meat supplements, he would be able to achieve Martial Master in just over ninety days, shortening it by a small half.

This reminded Qiu Zhen that he had the supernatural power of "Remote Viewing" and had talent in archery. If he practiced archery well, he could hunt and supplement meat in the mountains in the future, which was also a way to improve his martial arts and life skills.

"There is a market in Qingmu Town in the early morning. Sell the medicinal materials that have been prepared these days to exchange for money, and add some savings to buy a good bow. The Martial Master Realm is just around the corner..."

PS: Thank you "Fat Fatty Round Dumpling" for the reward of 10,000 starting coins, and "Book Friend 20221030172541934" for the reward of 500 starting coins.