The 27th Vanished White Mangrove

  For the basic function of Zifu (Floating Island), Baili defined it as "farming". The entire Zifu system, Baili also made a relatively perfect setting.

  However, one person's idea is ultimately not as good as many people's ideas. Brothers and sisters, if you have any thoughts or suggestions on the function of Zifu, feel free to post a message and discuss it, making a contribution to perfecting the function of Zifu. If the idea is good, it may be added to the article. I think this kind of suggestion is beneficial.

  －－－－－－－－

  Ye Qin thought for a long time and decided to spend more time on medicine collection and cultivation, allowing the relationships between him and his few fellow disciples to slowly fade away with time. As long as time passed, whether it was resentment or memories, they would eventually disappear without a trace.

  Ye Qin made a request to Wang, asking him to enter the mountain for three to five months or even longer, and then return to the medicine hall. This way, he could collect more herbs and avoid wasting too much time going back and forth on the road.

  Moreover, he vaguely mentioned that he didn't want to argue with Yang Yicheng and Feng Xiao.

  Wang Caizheng was somewhat surprised.

  There are many old medicine collectors in the Medicine Hall, and most of them only come to Zhuxi County once every half year or even a whole year. The majority of young apprentices can't stand the loneliness and will often run back to the county town every month, where they'll drown their sorrows at the local taverns. Even the younger medicine collectors are unwilling to stay in the deep mountains for long, and will return after one or two months.

  Since Ye Qin wanted to calm down and pick herbs, Wang the herbalist certainly allowed it.

  Ye Qin carried a large basket of medicinal herbs on his back, with enough oil and salt for half a year, and left the county town of Zhujicounty to head towards a place over a thousand miles away. The area under the jurisdiction of Zhujicounty was vast, with deep mountains, old canyons, steep peaks, and numerous rivers and streams.

  The places that the medicine collectors of the Medicine Collection Hall most often go to are within a range of 200 to 500 li, which is about one or two months' journey. Many remote valleys have never been visited by people from the Medicine Collection Hall.

  He walked a bit further, and it was actually more convenient to pick herbs. Maybe he could even pick that kind of top-grade herb that was decades old.

  Several days later, Ye Qin was slightly panting, holding a pickaxe and climbing up a steep mountain peak. He had been to this mountain peak once before a year ago, where he picked some rare dew grass on the convex stone at the back of the mountain waist and even ate a gray egg from an eagle's nest, almost getting buried under the sharp claws of a group of gray eagles.

  All of his changes originated from that adventure.

  He had searched through most of the herb identification books in the library of the pharmacy, but couldn't find any records of that small green grass. He even asked an experienced old pharmacist, who had never heard of such a thing and didn't believe that there was a kind of grass in the world that could produce dew at noon.

  Because he didn't want to take risks gathering herbs again later on, he gradually forgot about this place.

  After a lapse of one year, Ye Qin suddenly remembered this matter and decided to come here again. Since there was once a plant here, it is likely that there will be a second or even more. For a medicine collector, discovering rare medicinal plants but being unable to identify them is an extremely frustrating thing.

  Ye Qin climbed to the top of the mountain peak, after half a day's effort, he arrived at the bottom of a huge stone on the summit.

  Nothing has changed here, it's almost the same as when he left, even the skeleton of the grass snake that was eaten by him is still there, only the ashes left by cooking have been blown away by wind and rain, and the traces are not very clear.

  Ye Qin put the large grass medicine basket on the grass, searched for some wild flavor at the peak, cooked and ate it. Looking at the westward sun, it was already afternoon, and it's not good to climb the mountain cliff to pick herbs at this time, as soon as it gets dark, it's easy to lose sight. It's better to rest early and go again tomorrow morning, it won't be late.

  He sat cross-legged beside a giant boulder at the summit, closing his eyes to begin his meditation and cultivation.

  As usual, first continuously run the macrocosmic orbit, converting the body's essence into white hair, also known as yuanqi in "The Scripture of Sitting and Forgetting".

  Then, the divine consciousness sank into the endless void of the floating island and transformed into a white light sphere.

  Chasing after and absorbing those white motes on the floating island to enhance the energy of the light sphere.

  Ye Qin was already very familiar with this process, and each time he absorbed the energy, although it was extremely limited, it brought him a sense of joy and satisfaction. He floated freely on the floating island, chasing after the faint white mist.

  As Ye Qin became more familiar with the floating island, he also gradually came to know that the purple lightning in the endless void would not easily approach this floating island. Even if they encountered each other by chance, as long as he hid within the light shield of his Benming Yuanshen Monument, the purple lightning would be unable to enter the light shield and pursue him.

  He was perfectly safe on this floating island.

  Ye Qin had "eaten" six white hairs after carefully searching for the last one today. He ran seven big weeks every day, so neither more nor less, there would be seven white hairs every day.

  It's very strange, and the white cotton thread doesn't know where it drifted to, he can't find it even in mid-air.

  A single strand of noodles is also meat. Long ago, when Ye Qin was wandering around, he had developed a habit of not letting go of any food, and he didn't plan on letting this one go either.

  Ye Qin floated in the air, about a dozen feet high, carefully examining the rocky mountains and hills within a radius of nearly one mile on the floating island, trying to find any trace of white fluff. The floating island was mostly flat land, but there were also some rocky mountains and hills.

  Did that white antelope hide in the rock crevice?

  If it's in a rock crevice, it'll be hard to find. There are many uneven rocks on the island, and it might take half a day to search for it.

  Ye Qin didn't rush to find him, but instead floated in mid-air above the island, waiting.

  Normally, even if Bai Mang drills into the rock crevices, he will swim out soon after, and then he can see again.

  But Ye Qin waited for a long, long time and didn't see the white awn come out again, and couldn't help but become secretly anxious. He thought for a moment, then immediately dove down, drifting into the crevices of the rocky cluster, wanting to see what was going on.

  There are too many gaps in the rock, it's hard to find.

  Ye Qin was drilling in and out of the numerous narrow rock crevices, curiously sizing them up with his head poking out. Some of these crevices were only half an inch wide, while others had only a single hole for an eye. If he weren't currently a small ball of light, he probably wouldn't have been able to fit in either. He rarely hadn't drilled through these bare grey rock crevices, because there was nothing here; if not for searching for that white fluff, he wouldn't have come here.

  He was drifting along when he suddenly came to an alert stop.

  Sniffed hard.

  A faintly discernible fragrance, somewhat like the scent of herbs, and also a bit like the dewy aroma of wet grass in the early morning, what is it? This smell was just like the one he had when he went to pick herbs in the forest in the morning.

  Ye Qin was stunned for a moment, and quickly glanced around, but didn't see anything special.

  He caught wind of the fragrance and floated over.

  A few dozen feet away, this smell can no longer be detected, and it must be very close to be smelled.

  After circling around in the rock crevices for a while, the smell became increasingly pungent.

  Through a crack, suddenly, Ye Qin's eyes were wide open.

  Five tender shoots of young grass, each with a single leaf, the tip of which is adorned with a dewdrop on the verge of tears, grew fragilely on a small patch of grey rock. Even their roots still clung to a bit of mud.