The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#437 - Opening new fields

It wasn't until Lu Jing revealed his Lush Growth technique that Wu Han finally believed the former wasn't just using the guise of farming to freeload goods from him, only to resell them for profit.

However, Wu Han immediately fell into a new bewilderment. Could it be that his Lush Growth, practiced for over a decade, was actually wrong? Otherwise, why was there such a difference in the speed of advancement between them?

Lu Jing could now use Lush Growth to cultivate five plants at once, while Wu Han could barely manage seven. Moreover, Wu Han doubted he could simultaneously cultivate two thousand ginseng plants.

Even if he cast the spell once a day on each plant, he would have to cast Lush Growth nearly three hundred times.

What was the concept of three hundred Lush Growths? Wu Han was now a Second Palace cultivator, but if he had to continuously cast Lush Growth two hundred times, he would be completely drained, in a state of utter exhaustion.

Not to mention the large amount of time it would take to recover his secret power afterward. It was impossible to maintain that intensity every day.

Wu Han also didn't believe anyone could do it. Fourth or Fifth Palace cultivators might be able to, but they probably wouldn't be idle enough to use their secret power to grow vegetables all the time.

So, after thinking it over, Wu Han concluded that Lu Jing must have helpers, and after asking Lu Jing, he received confirmation.

"Helpers? Oh, I do have some thoughts in that regard," Lu Jing nodded.

He could be considered to be reaping the consequences of his own actions. Thanks to his unusually rough planting method, the difficulties he faced during harvest were several times greater than those of ordinary people.

Everywhere he looked, the medicinal field was full of overgrown weeds. Even with Lu Jing's eye technique, it would take some effort to find the ginseng, and that was just at the beginning of the harvest. Once he had harvested most of the ginseng in the field, what remained would truly be a game of 'find the difference'.

Lu Jing had neither the patience nor the time. Plus, he had some money in hand, so he naturally considered outsourcing this troublesome task to someone else to worry about.

As the saying goes, division of labor brings efficiency.

Meanwhile, Wu Han was now having a headache. He hesitated for a moment, then decided to tell Lu Jing the truth, "I didn't expect you to… uh, be so good at growing. Although I have quite a few seeds on hand, they are mainly vegetables and crops."

"I occasionally grow things like ginseng, but I usually only grow a few dozen plants because I can't take care of any more than that. So, I really don't have many ginseng seeds stored. Maybe seven or eight thousand. You already took five hundred before, and now, less than a month and a half later, you're asking for another two thousand."

"That's like taking a third of my entire stock. I can give it to you this time if I grit my teeth, but if you come asking again later, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to produce them."

Lu Jing thought for a moment, "Then give me a hundred more. I'll use them specifically for breeding, and then I won't bother you anymore, Uncle Wu."

Wu Han was stunned again when he heard this. Seeing Lu Jing's appearance, it was clear that he planned to make ginseng planting a long-term career. Although Wu Han didn't want to be nosy, he couldn't help but advise him.

"You finally embarked on the path of cultivation, and you're already starting later than others. At this time, you should strive to catch up, cultivate diligently, and put all your energy into the right path, instead of thinking about how to use your secret power to make money at the first opportunity. Silver is ultimately just material wealth. If you delay your studies because of it, it would be a greater loss than gain."

Lu Jing knew that Wu Han was thinking of him, so he didn't argue with him and agreed immediately.

Of course, he was still going to grow ginseng.

Everyone's situation was different. Silver was still very important to Lu Jing. He was earning money not only to pay off the huge debt he owed Chi, but also because he would need silver to buy various medicinal materials for refining pills later.

However, Lu Jing did indeed have the idea of cultivating something else. He had already practiced Lush Growth to the bottleneck, and after that, he could only slowly grind it down with time. It would be difficult to make any breakthroughs in a short period of time.

And the secret power in his Niwan Palace was still increasing. Fortunately, according to Han Shan Ke, the poison pills Lu Jing had asked him for would be ready in three to five days at the earliest.

If they were really effective, then Lu Jing could safely cultivate for a while afterward.

But before that, Lu Jing still had a lot of things to do.

He quickly opened up two larger new medicinal fields. Well, to be precise, it should be three, and Lu Jing planned to use a small one for breeding.

After realizing the value of ginseng, Lu Jing also imitated others and set up two relatively basic illusion formations, mainly to confuse the beasts in the mountains. As for the other students in the academy, they generally wouldn't barge in randomly when they saw an illusion formation.

Then Lu Jing thought about it and still came to Wen Xiaochuan's small courtyard.

He had dealt with Wen Xiaochuan twice before and knew that this woman was not an easy person to deal with, but she had the widest network of contacts in the entire academy. If Lu Jing wanted to hire someone to help, finding her would be the most convenient.

Wen Xiaochuan, as usual, had just gotten out of bed after the sun had risen three poles high. After washing up, she heard a knock on the door, opened the courtyard door, and saw Lu Jing standing outside. Her eyes immediately lit up.

But when she heard Lu Jing's intention, she was stunned.

"What, dig ginseng?"

Wen Xiaochuan suspected that there was something wrong with her ears. She thought for a moment and asked, "Lu Daxia, are you planning to join forces with someone to dig ginseng in the Northern Lands through the Well?"

"No, it's right here in the academy. I planted some ginseng myself and need people to dig it up," Lu Jing said.

"You planted… ginseng?"

Hearing Lu Jing say this, Wen Xiaochuan vaguely remembered someone mentioning to her before that he was farming, but Wen Xiaochuan didn't expect Lu Jing to actually do it, and what's more, he was growing ginseng.

But since he grew the ginseng himself, digging it up should be very easy.

Wen Xiaochuan asked curiously, "How much ginseng did you plant?"

"It's hard to say, I didn't count carefully, but it should be around a hundred plants," Lu Jing said vaguely. It wasn't that he couldn't count carefully, it was that he simply couldn't count it.

If it were outside, hiring someone would be quite convenient. The work Lu Jing wanted people to do wasn't difficult. He could just find one or two peasants to do it, but it would be too shocking to ripen ginseng field by field outside, and if it spread to the ears of pharmacies and buyers.

His ginseng might be labeled as fake and shoddy, and it would be too troublesome to run back and forth, so Lu Jing gave up the idea of farming outside.

But the academy also had its difficulties. Outsiders couldn't come in, and many of those studying here were from aristocratic families. Those people would definitely not work for Lu Jing.