Chapter 93: Unknown Seed

秦峰’s gaze was fixed on the pile of nutrient-rich soil. With a flick of his foot, he removed the protective barrier above it, and a foul stench immediately wafted up from the earthen-looking mass.

Qin Feng, who had been about to eat, hastily stepped back. This soil was beneficial to him, but he could not bring himself to consume it unless the Scarlet Iron Spirit Insect took control of this body.

Having finally gained the ability to maintain a clearer mind, he naturally did not want the Scarlet Iron Spirit Insect to seize control of his body.

From the smell alone, and from the fact that this was a medicinal field, Yun Qing instantly knew what the pile was: the raw material for fertilizer.

Sure enough, the system text prompt appeared: Raw material for fertilizer. Collectible with level 31 gathering skill.

This thing had always been something Yun Qing wanted to avoid, and yet fertilizing was indeed excellent; it could increase the yield of farmland by more than sixty percent, and the more valuable the seeds were, the more suitable it became.

More yield now meant silver; in the future, it might mean spirit stones.

Some things could be endured by gritting one’s teeth and closing one’s eyes. With the system automatically gathering it, she could think about something else.

Seeing Qin Feng’s reaction, Yun Qing asked knowingly, “Senior doesn’t want it?”

What Qin Feng did not want, Yun Qing did; that much he could understand. For instance, the broken wood fragments and luminous stones along the way had all been picked up by Yun Qing.

He could understand why the ugly girl wanted such fertilizer. Qin Feng said, “Miss Yun Qing, please do. And please be quick about it.”

Yun Qing sealed her nose and mouth with inner force and approached the pile of raw material. She had never gathered the raw material for fertilizer before, and she had to gather it once by hand before the system would do it automatically.

She only hoped she would not have to touch it with her hands once before the system could use the gathering skill automatically.

With a thought, she took out a wooden board and inserted one end into the pile. Through the board, Yun Qing could sense the other end’s soft texture and slightly sticky state.

With the array’s protection, even a hundred years had passed without drying it out.

She did not know what species this fertilizer came from, and disgust churned in her stomach. After digging out a large chunk, she did not dare look at it again and even stored the board in the system backpack.

“Gathering experience +31!”

Obtained: Raw material for fertilizer x1.

Fortunately, it counted as manual gathering. If it had not, she truly did not know whether she could have used her hands.

Enduring the nausea, Yun Qing used the gathering skill on it.

“Gathering experience +93!”

Obtained: Raw material for fertilizer x3.

“Gathering experience +155!”

Obtained: Raw material for fertilizer x5.

Fortunately, the gathering skill was extremely powerful, and each use yielded more and more.

Watching Yun Qing dig out one large chunk, then an even larger one, of that indescribable substance, Qin Feng looked at her face, now smeared with patches of black and white dust. Only a woman like her could do such a thing; even he, no longer possessing a human body, could not bear to look.

Qin Feng turned around and no longer even wished to observe with his divine sense.

“Gathering experience +310!”

Obtained: Raw material for fertilizer x10.

Obtaining ten portions at once was already the limit of Yun Qing’s gathering skill, but digging it out was fast, and the experience gains were high. At this rate, it would not be long before she had collected the entire pile.

Achievement obtained: Fertilizer Digger. Reward: 1 achievement point, 1 skill point.

Fertilizer Digger: Cumulatively gathered 100 portions of raw material for fertilizer.

Yun Qing: ...

“Gathering experience +310!”

Obtained: Raw material for fertilizer x10.

From the sounds of it, one could tell that Yun Qing was digging out larger and larger chunks. Qin Feng no longer even wanted to hear the noises, and he went elsewhere to search for other iron puppet men or a possible exit.

Qin Feng’s departure, of course, did not escape Yun Qing. After all, when he was here, the oppressive pressure he gave off was tremendous.

No matter where Qin Feng went, Yun Qing continued gathering the raw material for fertilizer ten portions at a time.

Halfway through the collection, she suddenly spotted a black sealed jar about the size of a palm buried in the raw material. The jar gave off no spiritual fluctuation and had not been noticed by Qin Feng.

Not knowing what it was, Yun Qing stored it in the system backpack and continued collecting the raw material.

“Liu Liu, can this jar be opened?”

“This jar’s lock is somewhat difficult to break, and it is not a key element for leaving the secret realm.”

“But it was also found in the secret realm. By that logic, many of the texts inside the secret realm are not key elements for leaving it, and yet they were translated.”

“Translating those requires very little energy from the system. Breaking this open requires quite a bit.”

“Then can I afford it?”

“If this were outside, you definitely would not be able to open it right now. But under the effect of the hint scroll, my authority is much greater. By spending five low-grade spirit stones to buy a low-level universal key, you can open it. Do you want to open it?”

It really was not trying to cheat her out of her spirit stones. Yun Qing wanted to know what heavenly treasure lay inside, so she had no other choice. Besides, she had just earned a little; if she missed this chance, it might be a long time before she could open it.

Since it only cost five low-grade spirit stones to buy a low-level universal key, whatever it opened should definitely be something good at her current stage. Yun Qing said, “Open it.”

Low-grade spirit stones -5;

Obtained: Unknown seed x1.

Looking in the system backpack, Yun Qing saw that the black jar had vanished, replaced by a reddish-brown seed.

“Liu Liu, how can a seed be unknown? Give me a hint through the scroll.”

“This seed is relatively rare, and it has nothing to do with leaving the secret realm, so no hint is provided. Of course, the system can identify what it is, as long as you pay one hundred low-grade spirit stones.”

Yun Qing rolled her eyes inwardly. It had only just asked her for five low-grade spirit stones, and now it wanted another one hundred.

A relatively rare seed might be plantable in the farmland; she could study it later.

Liu Liu seemed to know what she was thinking and said, “Unknown seeds cannot be planted in farmland. Known ones can.”

Yun Qing said weakly, “Liu Liu, do I look like someone who has one hundred low-grade spirit stones?”

“Actually, my authority is quite high now, and I can also let you owe part of it.”

She could owe money just to identify a seed? Was there something wrong with her? Yun Qing ignored Liu Liu and sped up the gathering.

“Gathering experience +310!”

Obtained: Raw material for fertilizer x10.

“Congratulations, your gathering level has risen to level 34.”

...

Yun Qing’s gathering speed was astonishing. Very soon, she had collected all the raw material, leveled up once, obtained a mysterious seed, and gathered all the wooden blocks left from the shattered wooden house.

What had once been a medicinal field with a wooden house was now only a medicinal field.

By the time Yun Qing was gathering those things, Qin Feng had already thoroughly examined the place. Aside from returning the way they came, there was only one path upward.

Qin Feng pointed above and said, “We need to find a way up.”

Yun Qing followed his finger and looked upward. It was still pitch-black above, with nothing visible, but after careful observation, it seemed there were buildings overhead as well.

“May I ask whether senior can fly?”

“No. There is a sky-sealing array here. Let us search together and see how we can get up.”

The cultivators from the Azure Cloud Sect whom Yun Qing had met a few times were able to fly with swords. Since the Outer Realm Heavenly Demons had built this place, they themselves must have been able to fly; only those they captured were forbidden from doing so.

Cultivators could fly freely; they probably had not considered how mortals were supposed to get up there.

Was this meant to force her to break the sky-sealing array so Qin Feng could fly up? But even without the array, she could not fly.

Just as she was beginning to doubt whether they could get up at all, a system prompt appeared:

A staircase leading to the platform in the sky has been discovered.