"You are finally here, Junior Martial Brother Zhao!" Qing Bian immediately put down his tools and walked over.
Qing Bian was someone who could not look more ordinary.
Dressed in his current farming outfit, he looked no different from any regular farmer in his early twenties. If he were to leave Purple Plum Mountain and head to the nearest town, probably not a single person there would believe that he was a cultivator.
On the other hand, the other person walking over alongside him looked slightly more reliable.
Lei Wenzhang looked to be in his late twenties, and was also dressed in a farming outfit.
But unlike Qing Bian, his outfit remained clean and tidy despite working at the herb garden. With his long black hair tied up in a topknot, he looked more like a scholar inspecting the fields.
"Junior Martial Sister Gu is here as well? That's great! Please help us take a look at our crops to see if everything is going okay," Lei Wenzhang said before his gaze fell upon Lu Zhiying. "And this is...?"
"Wow, who is this young lady and why is she all beaten up?" Qing Bian exclaimed in shock. "Damn Zhao Yunxiao! Have you finally fallen so low to forcibly abduct a random mortal maiden to be your servant?"
"What nonsense are you saying? If I wanted a servant, all I have to do is ask and there will be plenty of girls willing to follow me," Zhao Yunxiao shrugged.
"It's already noon, time to wake up from your dreams," Gu Qiansi rolled her eyes. "Greetings, Senior Martial Brother Lei, Senior Martial Brother Qing. This is Junior Martial Sister Lu. She just joined the sect a few days ago."
"Greetings, Senior Martial Brother Lei, Senior Martial Brother Qing," Lu Zhiying greeted.
"So it is a new junior martial sister," Qing Bian nodded.
He was not exactly surprised to hear that. After all, not just anyone could enter the sect grounds.
"But what happened to her face?" Lei Wenzhang asked out of concern.
Lu Zhiying could not help but touch the bandages on her face.
First the group of inner disciples from earlier, and now them.
Do her injuries really look that bad?
"She was mesmerised by my looks and accidentally tripped and fell," Zhao Yunxiao said matter-of-factly. "This is a problem that you guys will never understand."
"What kind of fall would give such bad injuries? And what kind of person would be mesmerised by such a face?" Qing Bian snorted in disdain.
"It's true. You can ask her if you want!" Zhao Yunxiao turned towards Lu Zhiying. "Was I lying?"
"Hahaha, not at all. I indeed tripped and fell while deeply mesmerised by Senior Martial Brother Zhao's handsome face!" Lu Zhiying had the wits to play along immediately, just like what Zhao Yunxiao had expected.
"I see that a few days is all you need to corrupt the young ones with your ridiculous thoughts," Lei Wenzhang shook his head with a smile. "Since you can still joke about it, I guess you are not in any trouble of sorts at least. In that case, I won't press any further."
"Don't worry, Senior Martial Brother Lei. It really is nothing serious," Zhao Yunxiao assured.
Zhao Yunxiao had glossed over the matter with a joke, but there was good reason why he did not want to say the truth.
What would the two of them think if they heard that Lu Zhiying ended up this way because Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi allowed her to challenge the Hundred Puppets Array even before she entered the Foundation Building realm?
They could try all they want to explain that Lu Zhiying was talented enough to do so, but her current condition did not exactly help with their case.
All that would happen was for the duo to think that Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi were bullying Lu Zhiying!
"Enough about us, how are the herbs doing?" Zhao Yunxiao asked.
"What can go wrong with us in charge? Come take a look yourself," Qing Bian said confidently before leading the way into the garden plot.
Hearing this, Lu Zhiying could not help but feel slightly confused.
From what she understood, each garden plot was split into plot sections, which were in turn allocated to individual disciples. Therefore, each disciple was solely responsible for their own plot sections.
In that case, what does Qing Bian mean by saying that they are in charge?
"They work a little differently here," Gu Qiansi suddenly said, seemingly having read Lu Zhiying's thoughts from the subtle changes in her expression.
"In what way?" Lu Zhiying asked.
"The official arrangements are the same in that each disciple is responsible for their own plot sections, but they made some internal arrangements among themselves here," Gu Qiansi explained. "To put it simply, you can say that Zhao Yunxiao passed the management of his plot section over to Senior Martial Brother Lei and Senior Martial Brother Qing."
"Passed the management over...?" Lu Zhiying raised an eyebrow.
You can do that?
"That's putting it a little crudely, Junior Martial Sister Gu," Lei Wenzhang turned around to say. "We are just working together to maximise efficiency."
"That's right, all for the sake of resource optimisation and fostering closer relations among fellow disciples!" Qing Bian nodded in agreement.
"But aren't sect jobs mainly for the sake of earning sect points?" Lu Zhiying turned towards Zhao Yunxiao. "And what happened to learning cultivation skills on the job?"
"It is not like I'm not doing anything at all," Zhao Yunxiao said. "I do tend to my plot section on a regular basis too. It's just that I can't spare the time to keep coming regularly, so the two kind seniors here are helping me to take care of my plot section while I am away. But I still do enough to learn about the basics of plant cultivation."
"What you have learnt from the little time you spend in the herb garden can't amount to anything," Gu Qiansi remarked.
"That's where you are wrong," Zhao Yunxiao confidently disagreed. "I already have the theory down, so I just need a bit of practice to fully understand most things. It's not like I need to be a plant obsessed freak like you anyway."
"Don't say that, Junior Martial Brother Zhao," Lei Wenzhang quickly hushed. "Junior Martial Sister Gu is helping us by checking the health of our herbs from time to time as well, so let's not dismiss her useful skills."
"But if it is for the sake of more sect points, isn't it more worth it to just manage another plot section by yourself then?" Lu Zhiying asked. "I mean instead of helping Senior Martial Brother Zhao with his."
"That's mean, Junior Martial Sister Lu," Zhao Yunxiao frowned. "Anyway, I am leaving most of the profits from the herb garden to them as well, so there is not much difference from what you suggested. All I need is a small part of the plot section to work on plants that I want to experiment on."
"It still doesn't sound very worth it for them..." Lu Zhiying was unconvinced.
Why would they help Zhao Yunxiao work on his plot section for only a portion of the profits, no matter how large the portion was, when they could just work on another plot section for the full share of profits?
"That reminds me," Zhao Yunxiao reached into his bamboo backpack and pulled out two pouches. "Here."
"You are too kind," Lei Wenzhang received his pouch with a smile.
"Thanks! But you know this is not why we are helping you with your plot section, right?" Qing Bian was excited about receiving his as well.
"What's in the pouch?" Lu Zhiying asked curiously.
"This," Qing Bian opened his pouch and pulled out a small pill. "Winterwarmth Pills!"
"Winterwarmth Pills?" Lu Zhiying blinked in confusion.
"Cultivation pills," Zhao Yunxiao explained. "Sometimes I do get a few extras as gifts from seniors, so I share some with them as well. Purely out of goodwill, of course."
While working at the Alchemy Chamber, Zhao Yunxiao would receive inferior Winterwarmth Pills at times, mostly from inner disciples had no need for them whatsoever.
Since a cultivator could only absorb one pill a day, Zhao Yunxiao would sometimes end up with excess pills when he received more than seven in a week.
That was why Zhao Yunxiao could afford to share some with his fellow outer disciples from time to time, especially when doing so benefited him in some way.
Lu Zhiying turned towards Gu Qiansi, only to see the latter shrug nonchalantly.
It was obvious that Gu Qiansi had long known about these transactions going on between the trio, and was not surprised at all to see this.
"Is it really all right to do this?" Lu Zhiying asked doubtfully.
So that was why they were willing to help take care of Zhao Yunxiao's plot section.
It was because Zhao Yunxiao was giving them these cultivation pills as payment for their work.
No wonder the two of them looked so happy while greeting them earlier too.
It was not that they were glad to see Zhao Yunxiao, but because they knew they were about to receive their promised benefits!
"This is why one has to both work hard and work smart at the same time," Zhao Yunxiao said proudly. "I might not be getting much sect points out of the herb garden, but I am at least getting the recognition of having contributed to the sect's herb supply, as well as a place to conduct my experiments. That makes up for it in a way."
"What experiments are you talking about though?" Lu Zhiying asked curiously.
"You will see soon enough," Zhao Yunxiao answered with a smirk.
"Here we are," Qing Bian gestured ahead after arriving at Zhao Yunxiao's plot section. "All clean and tidy."
"Seems like it indeed," Zhao Yunxiao nodded.
He had quite a bit of trust in the duo since they had been working together for a while now.
Zhao Yunxiao merely took a quick glance at the generic herbs to make sure that they had enough to meet the monthly quota, before walking deeper to a small area that was clearly different from the rest.
This was where he grew herbs outside of what was required in the monthly quota, those that he mentioned were more for experimental purposes.
The other herbs in his plot section were planted close to each other in neat rows to maximise space efficiency.
However, that was not the case here.
Though the experimental space was a relatively smaller area, it was still enough to accommodate dozens of plants.
However, there were only two lone flowers growing there at the moment, planted a good distance from each other.
Both flowers grew up to around the knee in height, and were bright purple in colour.
Zhao Yunxiao walked over and carefully inspected each of them.
"How is it? Are they growing properly" Gu Qiansi asked curiously from a distance.
"This one seems to be doing all right, but the other not so much," Zhao Yunxiao rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Seems like for some reason, it really does grow better in soil with less minerals."
"Maybe it is the nutrients that they are getting as well," Gu Qiansi suggested. "Is the feed the same for both plants?"
"I made sure to give them identical feed every time," Zhao Yunxiao answered.
"Are they supposed to be the same plant?" Lu Zhiying asked curiously.
Even at first glance, she could tell that one of the flowers was blooming more vibrantly. In contrast, the other has leaves that were turning yellow, as though the plant was about to start wilting.
But just as Lu Zhiying was about to step forward to take a closer look at the two flowers, Gu Qiansi quickly pulled her back by the shoulder.
"Be careful," Gu Qiansi cautioned.
"Be careful? Careful of what?" Lu Zhiying asked in confusion.
"The flowers," Gu Qiansi said with a smile. "These flowers are called Frozen Spiders. They are carnivorous."
"Carnivorous?" Lu Zhiying looked at the seemingly harmless plants. "But they are this small. Can they really do anything to us even if they are carnivorous?"
Lu Zhiying knew of other carnivorous plants as well, but those she knew were only capable of trapping insects at most.
Of course, she understood that the world of cultivators worked a little differently.
In that sense, she might have been afraid if the two flowers before them were gigantic in size. However, the fact was that these Frozen Spiders could only barely reach her knee in height.
What could they possibly do to humans that were so much bigger than them?
Even if they were carnivorous, shouldn't their relatively small size limit the size of their prey as well?
"It is not about the size of the flower, but the roots beneath," Gu Qiansi explained.
"In that case, why aren't they attacking Senior Martial Brother Zhao?" Lu Zhiying asked.
Unlike the rest of them who were keeping a safe distance, Zhao Yunxiao was inspecting the flowers from literally next to them.
"That's because I am hiding my presence with essence energy, so they don't know I am here," Zhao Yunxiao said with a smile. "I told you that I still know quite a bit about how to handle plants."
"The bare minimum maybe."
Zhao Yunxiao ignored Gu Qiansi's snide remark. He stood up and clapped his hands free of dust. "Well then, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. Now, it's time satisfy Junior Martial Sister Lu's curiosity and show her how impressive our boys here look like when they are feeding!"