Alex had already made up his mind.
He would stay far away from the medical pavilion.
The moment he showed his face there, people would start noticing him. And once people noticed him, questions would follow. Questions meant attention. And attention always brought trouble.
Alex had no intention of inviting trouble.
So he kept to himself.
He stayed inside his small courtyard hut and stopped going anywhere near the medical pavilion.
Life as an Outer Sect disciple on Thousand Herbs Peak turned out to be surprisinglyfortable.
Back when he worked in the Kitchen, he had ess to all kinds of delicious food. That was the one thing he genuinely missed. But aside from that small regret, everything else suited him perfectly.
The environment on Thousand Herbs Peak was excellent for cultivation. The spiritual energy in the air was rich and pure, far better than most ces in the sect. Alex could simply sit in meditation and steadily absorb the energy around him.
For someone focused on cultivation, it was almost an ideal life.
At times, he truly felt as though he was living life to its fullest.
There was only one small problem.
His courtyard residence stood farther away than any other disciple''s, isted at the very edge of the settlement.
Most days passed without him seeing another person. Silence surrounded him constantly.
Alex stood in the courtyard one afternoon, staring up at the blue sky.
A soft sigh escaped his lips.
"Could it be that all cultivators live like this?" he muttered to himself.
Lonely.
Alex considered it again. Perhaps he could do something productive while cultivating-nt something before meditation, then return to find it growing by the time he finished.
He folded his arms and slowly studied the courtyard, his gaze sweeping across the empty patches of soil.
Maybe... he really could nt herbs here.
If he cultivated his own spirit herbs, he could use them to support his cultivation.
The idea clicked immediately. It simply made sense.
Back when he won those bets in the servant area, he had earned quite a bit of money, the spiritual stones. With those resources, buying herb seeds and young saplings would not be difficult at all.
Gaia had alreadypiled numerous records about herb cultivation.
The system had even updated the information recently.
Techniques for nting. Soil requirements. Growth cycles. Nutrient bnce.
Everything he needed was already recorded.
The more Alex thought about it, the more excited he became.
Without wasting another moment, he left his courtyard and headed straight toward the market area on Thousand Herbs Peak.
The ce was lively as always. Outer Sect disciples, herb farmers, and traders filled the narrow streets. Stalls disyed bundles of herbs, jars of medicine, spirit seeds, and young saplings.
Alex carefully selected several varieties of herb seeds and a few saplings that looked promising.
Then he returned home.
The moment he arrived at his courtyard, he got to work.
He loosened the soil, prepared nting beds, and carefully ced each seed and sapling into the earth. After that, he watered them and monitored their growth daily. Days passed.
Then weeks.
Finally, an entire month went by.
Alex stood in the courtyard again, staring down at the small patch of herbs growing from the soil.
He sighed.
The nts were growing.
But painfully slowly.
Too slowly.
Spirit herbs were not ordinary nts. For an herb to truly be considered a spirit herb useful for cultivation, it usually needed at least ten years of growth before it could be harvested-whether seasonally or once every year.
Looking at the tiny sprouts barely pushing out of the ground, Alex rubbed his forehead.
"At this rate," he muttered under his breath, "I''ll grow old before these things be useful."
As Alex thought about it, he began wandering around the outer disciple areas of Thousand Herbs Peak.
While walking through the mountain paths, something slowly caught his attention.
There were severalrge cultivation fields scattered across the mountain. Each one was clearly marked and carefully fenced off. After observing them for a while, Alex realized something important.
These areas were assigned to outer disciples.
They were responsible for managing the herb fields.
Alex''s eyes slowly narrowed as the thought sank in.
"Spirit herbs..."
He nced around cautiously.
The path behind him was empty. The wind rustled through the bamboo, and distant birds called from somewhere in the forest. No one seemed to be paying attention.
Only then did Alex move.
He slipped quietly into a nearby thicket, his body disappearing with a soft whoosh among the leaves. Lowering his posture, he crept forward through the brush, silent and careful.
A few momentster, he emerged near a wooden fence.
Beyond that fence stretched one of the spirit herb fields belonging to Thousand Herbs Peak.
Alex froze.
Rows upon rows of rare herbs filled the field inside the enclosure. Their leaves shimmered faintly with spiritual energy.
And most importantly-
Many of them were old.
Very old.
At least twenty years of growth.
Alex''s eyes began to shine.
"All of these herbs..." he whispered to himself, voice low with excitement. "If they
were refined into pills, my cultivation would skyrocket."
He had already studied the rules of the Wudang Sect carefully. Especially the regtions regarding outer disciples.
Each outer disciple on Thousand Herbs Peak was assigned a herb field to manage.
All the herb fields were the personal property of the Thousand Herbs Peak Lord.
Outer disciples were simply caretakers. Their job was to nt, protect, and raise the herbs until they matured.
Across Thousand Herbs Peak, dozens of such fields existed. Each one specialized in different types of medicinal herbs.
Alex leaned slightly against the fence and studied the garden carefully.
His eyes moved from nt to nt.
The soil.
The spacing.
The irrigation channels.
The condition of the leaves.
His mind began racing, and Gaia immediately started assisting him in his work.
Within seconds, ideas poured into his thoughts one after another.
He could already think of at least twenty-five different ways to improve the long-term productivity of the field.
"For example, he murmured softly to himself while studying the rows, "nt certain herbs between the main crops to increase resistance against insects... install small water channels so the moisture spreads evenly introduce spirit worms into the soil to break up overly dense earth..."
The more he analyzed the garden, the more possibilities he saw.
The currentyout was decent.
But it could be much better.
After observing the field for quite some time, Alex finally straightened up.
He did not act recklessly.
Instead, he quietly retreated the way he came and descended the mountain toward
the market area.
Once there, he spent several spirit stones buying various tools and basic supplies.
Small farming tools.
Measuring rods.
Soil probes.
A few utility items he might needter.
After finishing his purchases, Alex returned to his courtyard residence.
Inside his hut, he carefully packed all the items into one of his backpacks.
Then he set out again.
This time, he headed toward the farthest herb field he had seen earlier. The one
located deep in a quiet corner of Thousand Herbs Peak where very few people
passed by.
When he arrived, Alex looked around cautiously.
The area was silent.
Satisfied, he stepped closer to the garden and spoke softly.
"Gaia."
"Yes?" Gaia replied immediately.
Alex studied the herb field and asked, “If I want to improve this garden..... what
should I do first?"
Gaia answered almost instantly.
“There are currently one hundred and fifty possible optimization methods for this
herb garden."
Alex blinked.
"One hundred and fifty?"
"Yes," Gaia replied calmly. “However,
I can provide the top three structural
diagrams. If implementedectly, these improvements will increase the garden''s productivity by two hundred percent or more."
Alex chose the best method.
Out of all the diagrams Gaia showed him, he selected the one that looked the most
efficient. Then he crouched beside the herb field and began writing everything down
carefully.
He copied the entire diagram onto paper.
Every detail.
Every step.
Every measurement.
He didn''t stop the there. Alex also added
clear markings around the field itself-small, deliberate signs ced
exactly where changes should be made. Anyone responsible for the fieldter would immediately understand where to dig, where to nt, and where to redirect the
water flow.
He wanted the instructions to be impossible to misunderstand.
But Alex went even further.
Beneath the diagrams, he wrote the reasoning behind each technique.
Why certain herbs should be nted beside others.
Why the soil needed to be loosened in specific areas.
Why water should flow through certain channels to bnce the spiritual energy of
the field.
It took him about an hour to finish writing everything.
Then he spent another hour walking through the garden, adjusting and cing his
markings.
When he was done, Alex walked to the front gate of the herb field and carefully
ced the paper on the door where the caretaker would easily see it.
Only then did he turn his attention to something else.
Payment.
Then he set out again.
This time, he headed toward the farthest herb field he had seen earlier. The one
located deep in a quiet corner of Thousand Herbs Peak where very few people
passed by.
When he arrived, Alex looked around cautiously.
The area was silent.
Satisfied, he stepped closer to the garden and spoke softly.
"Gaia."
"Yes?" Gaia replied immediately.
Alex studied the herb field and asked, "If I want to improve this garden... what
should I do first?"
Gaia answered almost instantly.
"There are currently one hundred and fifty possible optimization methods for this
herb garden."
Alex blinked.
"One hundred and fifty?"
"Yes," Gaia replied calmly. "However,
I can provide the top three structural diagrams. If implemented,ectly, these improvements will increase the garden''s productivity by two hundred percent or more."
Alex chose the best method.
Out of all the diagrams Gaia showed him, he selected the one that looked the most
efficient. Then he crouched beside the herb field and began writing everything down
carefully.
He copied the entire diagram onto paper.
Every detail.
Every step.
Every measurement.
He didn''t stop there. Alex also added
clear markings around the field itself-small, deliberate signs ced exactly where changes should be made Anyone responsible for the fieldter would immediately understand where to dig where to nt, and where to redirect the
water flow.
He wanted the instructions to be impossible to misunderstand.
But Alex went even further.
Beneath the diagrams, he wrote the reasoning behind each technique.
Why certain herbs should be nted beside others.
Why the soil needed to be loosened in specific areas.
Why water should flow through certain channels to bnce the spiritual energy of
the field.
It took him about an hour to finish writing everything.
Then he spent another hour walking through the garden, adjusting and cing his
markings.
When he was done, Alex walked to the front gate of the herb field and carefully
ced the paper on the door where the caretaker would easily see it.
Only then did he turn his attention to something else.
Payment.
Then he set out again.
This time, he headed toward the farthest herb field he had seen earlier. The one
located deep in a quiet corner of Thousand Herbs Peak where very few people passed by.
When he arrived, Alex looked around cautiously.
The area was silent.
Satisfied, he stepped closer to the garden and spoke softly.
"Gaia."
"Yes?" Gaia replied immediately.
Alex studied the herb field and asked, "If I want to improve this garden... what
should I do first?"
Gaia answered almost instantly.
"There are currently one hundred and fifty possible optimization methods for this
herb garden."
Alex blinked.
"One hundred and fifty?"
"Yes," Gaia replied calmly. "However,
I can provide the top three structural
diagrams. If implemented,ect these improvements will increase the garden''s productivity by two hundred percent or more."
Alex chose the best method.
Out of all the diagrams Gaia showed him, he selected the one that looked the most
efficient. Then he crouched beside the herb field and began writing everything down
carefully.
He copied the entire diagram onto paper.
Every detail.
Every step.
Every measurement.
there. Alex also added
He didn''t stop clear markings around the field itself-small, deliberate signs ced
exactly where changes should be made Anyone responsible for the fieldter would immediately understand where to dig where to nt, and where to redirect
the
water flow.
He wanted the instructions to be impossible to misunderstand.
But Alex went even further.
Beneath the diagrams, he wrote the reasoning behind each technique.
Why certain herbs should be nted beside others.
Why the soil needed to be loosened in specific areas.
Why water should flow through certain channels to bnce the spiritual energy of
the field.
It took him about an hour to finish writing everything.
Then he spent another hour walking through the garden, adjusting and cing his
markings.
When he was done, Alex walked to the front gate of the herb field and carefully
ced the paper on the door where the caretaker would easily see it.
Only then did he turn his attention to something else.
Payment.