Chapter 11 Herbalism

"Hubby, are you not intending to go to work today?" Uncle Ye's wife asked when she saw him resting in the living room.

"Wife, half the day is already gone. Why don't you let me rest at home for today?" Uncle Ye sighed before turning to Lu Tianzi. "Look, Ah Zhan, we have only just returned and I am already being hounded. I wasn't lying about my wife asking me to work every day, was I?"

"This…" Lu Tianzi did not know how to reply.

"Stop talking nonsense! I am only thinking for the sake of the family. If you don't go pick herbs, then someone else would pick them away first. During winter, how many herbs would there be available in the wild? Every herb taken by others is a huge loss!" Uncle Ye's wife continued.

"I know, I know, but going out to the wilds and back would already take a few hours, so how much time would there be even if I do go now?" Uncle Ye insisted. "Tomorrow! I will definitely go tomorrow!"

Uncle Ye's wife merely bit her lower lips in helplessness before turning back to her chores. Seeing that, Uncle Ye finally relaxed.

"How long have you been doing this? I mean, picking herbs for a living," Lu Tianzi asked, curious about the man whose roof he was under.

"Hahaha! I have been picking herbs since I was a kid! When it comes to herbalism, if I claim second place, no one will dare to claim first place!" Uncle Ye laughed out in pride.

"By claiming first place, do you mean being able to pick the most expensive basket of herbs within the shortest amount of time?"

As a martial artist, Lu Tianzi had, on more than one occasion, taken medicine brewed from herbs or spiritual plants to aid his cultivation. However, he had never truly delved into the field of herbalism and thus was almost clueless about it.

All he knew was that in the Ivory Rock Martial Academy, all aspiring martial artists were given a book with information on herbs and what to buy for what purposes, listed along with their prices.

Herbalism was a huge umbrella category that covered everything from regular herbs to spiritual plants. As long as they were of use to a martial artist, be it as medicine, cultivation aids, or even poison, all of them fell under the field of herbalism.

While it might not seem like an illustrious field of study, it was said that all professions had their merits. Apart from the regular herbs, certain rare spiritual plants were extremely high in demand, able to draw astronomical prices in sales.

Finding one might even be enough to have a regular herbalist set for life, at least financially.

Of course, these spiritual plants had to be really rare, and even the greatest herbalists might not be able to find one after decades of searching.

Otherwise, if they could be found on a regular basis, then why would people still place such a high price on their sales?

When Lu Tianzi heard Uncle Ye bragging about his herbalism skills, he immediately linked it to being able to obtain expensive herbs, since that was his only gauge towards how good herbs were.

"Pick the most expensive basket of herbs? You sure make it sound simple, but how would it be that easy to find expensive herbs?" Uncle Ye shook his head disapprovingly.

"Herbalism is far more complicated than that! What you just mentioned, the art of picking herbs, is only a small part of it. Even so, just this alone can be considered as a field of its own. It depends on luck to encounter an exceedingly rare spiritual plant, but without the right skills, the layman would only end up destroying the true essence of the plant during the extraction process! You are in luck, Ah Zhan. Since we have time right now, let this master herbalist teach you the basics of herbalism!"

Lu Tianzi watched in disbelief as the excited Uncle Ye hurried into his roof to retrieve multiple books on herbalism.

He had only asked that as a passing remark!

Why was Uncle Ye acting as though he was about to give a public lecture on herbalism?

It looked like he had somehow managed to touch on Uncle Ye's greatest interest. So be it then, he would just take the chance to learn something new.

After all, it was not conducive for him to cultivate in Uncle Ye's house in the middle of the day when Uncle Ye might look for him at any moment. Earlier today, he had tried cultivating while basking in the light of the Essence Stone, but compared to last night's rapid progression due to tapping into the energy within the Essence Stone, it felt far too slow.

Unfortunately, there were no other places that Lu Tianzi could go where he could cultivate in peace.

Within Ivory Rock City, apart from the City Lord's Manor, the best place to cultivate would be the Academic District where there were wide and isolated areas designed for martial artists to mediate. Moreover, there were multiple formations set up to aid martial artists in gathering Spiritual Essence, making it much easier for them to progress in their cultivation.

However, there was no way that Lu Tianzi could head over to the Academic District the middle of the day and just start cultivating!

The martial artists at Ivory Rock Martial Academy were not like the people in the Workers District. Many of them had had prolonged interactions with Lu Tianzi before he was named Holy Guardian, and were thus familiar with how he looked like.

His pathetic disguise of using a piece of cloth wrapped over one of his eyes would serve almost no purpose at all before these familiar characters. On top of that, many of them had a martial foundation, allowing them to have heightened perception.

If Lu Tianzi really went to the Academic District to cultivate, then his identity might be revealed in an instant!

While he would still choose to cultivate while basking under the light of the Essence Stone if left to his own devices, Lu Tianzi did not feel that it was too much of a waste to skip a few hours of such slow cultivation if he could learn a thing or two about herbalism in exchange.

After all, herbalism was a field that was closely related to the martial path. If he could learn more about it, it would only be beneficial in the future.

This was also the same reason why blacksmiths were highly valued in the circle of martial artists.

Even so, blacksmiths could influence the gear of a martial artist, but herbalists directly influenced the body of a martial artist itself!

To a martial artist, improving the body definitely had priority over improving weapons or armour. This was because no matter how well made or exquisite their equipment was, without the strength to wield them, these fanciful equipment would be nothing more than dead weight in battle!

For example, if the current Lu Tianzi, at his Advanced Essence Building cultivation realm, were to encounter a Primary Essence Building realm martial artist, then Lu Tianzi would definitely be able to easily subdue his opponent even if Lu Tianzi was completely unarmed.

The result would not change even if the other party had a full set of powerful equipment.

This was the difference brought about by a large enough gap in cultivation realm!

But of course, the effects brought about by the works of blacksmiths were far more direct and obvious as compared to herbalists. This resulted in blacksmiths still having a generally higher level of prestige than their counterparts in the herbalism field.

Uncle Ye was shocked when he realised that Lu Tianzi had almost no clue about the subject. However, it only served to further spur on his pride as a herbalist, deciding to start from the very basics as he went on and on.

Even though Lu Tianzi had his doubts when Uncle Ye shamelessly claimed to be a top herbalist, these doubts started to be dispelled when he listened closely to what Uncle Ye explained. When Uncle Ye fervently shared his knowledge on herbalism, each line seemed to be filled with profoundness and every sentence invoked thoughts.

Trained from going through multiple cultivation manuals in the Ivory Rock Martial Academy, Lu Tianzi was already quite proficient in detecting discrepancies. Yet he still could not spot a single line of discrepancy in what Uncle Ye had mentioned.

When Uncle Ye finally got tired from speaking so much, Lu Tianzi's impression of him had already taken a complete turn for the better.

What was previously just gratitude was now replaced with admiration!

After a short afternoon of listening and clearing his doubts, Lu Tianzi's knowledge on herbalism had already risen to a whole new level!

If he was a complete layman before, right now he could be considered as having taken a solid first step into the profession!

"Here, have some tea," Uncle Ye's wife served them with a teapot when she realised that her husband was looking tired. "Please pardon my hubby. He gets a little too excited when the topic of herbalism is raised. Since both my daughter and I have no interest in the topic, he rarely gets the chance to talk about it to anyone."

"It's no problem, I benefitted a lot from this session," Lu Tianzi smiled in response. No wonder Uncle Ye was so eager to speak to him about the subject, so it was because his family never bothered listening to him.

"Wife, did you hear what Ah Zhan said? He is truly a young man with a bright future!" Uncle Ye laughed in satisfaction. "Now then, Ah Zhan, since the sun has not set yet, let me bring you to the marketplace so we can take a look at the actual herbs instead of just talking about it!"

"Gladly!" Lu Tianzi was interested as well.

After so much discussion about the descriptions of herbs, it would definitely be beneficial consolidate all that information by seeing the herbs with his own eyes!

Uncle Ye's wife only shook her head helpless as she watched the old and young pairing leave the house excitedly after downing their tea in one gulp.

Located right at the heart of the Workers District was a large marketplace where workers set up stalls and sold their goods. While this marketplace was extremely large, it was neat and orderly at the same time. Stalls selling similar goods were all located in close proximity, allowing people to quickly find the items that they were looking for.

Needless to say, Lu Tianzi and Uncle Ye headed straight for the herbs section.

As a herbalist who picks herbs himself, Uncle Ye also had an assigned spot at this section. On certain days when he felt like he had accumulated enough, he would also bring his herbs here to sell rather than going to pick herbs outside of the city.

However, Uncle Ye had not had much luck since the last time he sold his goods, and the amount he managed to pick during this winter was truly insignificant. Thus, his spot had been vacant for a while now.

"This is a Red Vein Ginger. Judging from the width of the red streak, it should have a maturity of around 50 to 70 years."

"This is a Snowflake Lotus. It is able to help relieve heat symptoms and muscle tension."

"This is a…

One by one, Uncle Ye introduced each and every herb as they passed by the many stores set up in the marketplace. His passion for herbalism could be seen from the bright light in his eyes, as well as from how his mouth never once stopped moving.

However, this also took a toll on the man who was already nearing his 50s.

"Why don't you head back first? I will continue taking a look around," Lu Tianzi suggested after seeing the exhausted on Uncle Ye's face.

"Look at how useless I have become, becoming this tired after just a bit of talking. All right then, I shall return first. Take your time looking around and don't hesitate to ask the stall owners if there is anything you are unsure of!" Uncle Ye could not help but sigh at how his body had transformed with the passing of time.

"I will," Lu Tianzi nodded with a smile as Uncle Ye left.

After Uncle Ye left, Lu Tianzi continued looking around in the market and took in all the information he could remember. Since he had already started getting into the field of herbalism, then he would see it through to the end.

In the field of herbalism, only having some half-baked knowledge might even be worse than not having any knowledge at all.

At least if someone had no knowledge about herbalism, he could humbly consult others who were well learned. If someone only had some form of surface knowledge and tried to handle herbs on his own, he could end up ruining the herbs or, worse still, result in poisoning someone whom he was trying to save!

It was only until the sky was turning dark that Lu Tianzi decided to return. He knew that it was impossible to learn everything in one day, and there was no point in rushing things.

What was more important at the moment was still to increase his cultivation realm!

For that, he could not waste even one moment of the precious night time!

In order to return to Uncle Ye's house, Lu Tianzi had to pass by a straight alley that was usually deserted. This time, however, when he was only halfway through the valley, Lu Tianzi noticed five men suddenly enter from each side of the alley, heading straight in his direction.

Lu Tianzi had no idea who these 10 men were, or if they were truly heading for him, but he dared not let down his guard.

He immediately stopped moving forward, choosing to step aside and lean against the wall, hoping that the two groups would just pass him by peacefully.

But things failed to turn out the way he wished.

Just as the first group was about to walk right past Lu Tianzi, the one closest to him suddenly turned his body and charged straight at Lu Tianzi, punching towards Lu Tianzi with all his might!