Urban Super Medical Sage-Chapter 713 - 707: Anticipation (8 more updates)

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"Do you have Spirit-Returning Grass?" Su Chen asked.

"Yes, young master, how many years old do you need? We have half a year, eight months, one year, and two years old Spirit-Returning Grass!" Little Qing replied without hesitation. She was very professional and knew the herbs of the Ling Pavilion like the back of her hand.

"What are their respective prices?"

"Half a year’s is three Black Xuan Stones per plant, and if you buy ten at once, you get one extra. Eight months’ is five Black Xuan Stones per plant, and the same deal applies—buy ten and get one free. One year’s is eighteen Black Xuan Stones per plant, also with the buy ten get one free offer. Two years’ is fifty Black Xuan Stones per plant, without any extra given."

Hearing Little Qing’s explanation, Su Chen couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air.

It seemed to cost even more than he had expected!

Seeing Su Chen’s expression, Little Qing knew what he was thinking and couldn’t help saying, "Spirit-Returning Grass has always been indispensable but extremely rare. On the Divine Martial Continent, the supply of Spirit-Returning Grass is dwindling, and the price has been climbing continuously. And it’s absolutely not going to drop. This month’s price might not be the same next month."

"Then, what if it’s a ten-year-old or even thirty-year-old, fifty-year-old Spirit-Returning Grass?" Su Chen curiously asked, "How much would they cost?"

"Young master, you must be joking. I’ve been at the Ling Pavilion for three years now, and I’ve never handled Spirit-Returning Grass older than ten years. The oldest I’ve ever seen was a plant that was eight years old, and it was somewhat withered. Even so, that Spirit-Returning Grass was sold for the high price of three thousand Black Xuan Stones, and that was almost two years ago. Now, you wouldn’t be able to even think about it without eight thousand or ten thousand Black Xuan Stones."

Su Chen was almost speechless.

Damn!

That’s seriously expensive!

But it was also quite understandable.

Advanced Qi-Replenishing Pills require Spirit-Returning Grass, and the older, the better.

Unless one day, Martial Cultivators on the Divine Martial Continent stop fighting altogether, and no longer need Qi-Replenishing Pills, the issue would be unsolvable.

However, this was a good thing for Su Chen, wasn’t it?

"Does the Ling Pavilion have sprouts of the Spirit-Returning Grass?" Su Chen continued to inquire.

"Ah?" Little Qing was startled and looked at Su Chen with an odd expression. "Young master, you aren’t thinking of cultivating Spirit-Returning Grass yourself, are you? I must speak out of turn, but many martial cultivators have thought that since Spirit-Returning Grass is so expensive, they could cultivate it themselves. However, the final outcome is, almost no one succeeds. Spirit-Returning Grass requires a very specific environment for growth—air, moisture, soil, and so on. If the conditions aren’t met, the Spirit-Returning Grass can barely live for three to five days before it dies!"

"Three to five days?" Su Chen was already quite satisfied inside. If it could live for one day inside his Azure Mysterious Ring, that was more than three years. If he was lucky enough to have it live for two days, that would be almost seven years’ worth.

"Yes, three to five days, generally not more than ten days," confirmed Little Qing with a nod. "So, I advise you, please don’t entertain the idea of cultivating Spirit-Returning Grass on your own."

"Now, how many Spirit-Returning Grass sprouts does the Ling Pavilion have in total?" Su Chen wasn’t offended by her concern and asked with a smile.

"Young master..."

"I have my own plans. Just answer my question truthfully," Su Chen said earnestly.

"Well... right now, the Ling Pavilion has about ten thousand Spirit-Returning Grass sprouts in total!" Little Qing said seriously. "The sprouts of the Spirit-Returning Grass are in a state of semi-hibernation, so they won’t die if stored for a short period. However, once you awaken the sprouts from their semi-hibernation state for cultivation, they will demand a very high-quality environment."

"Ten thousand sprouts? How much for one?" Su Chen’s eyes lit up.

"One Black Xuan Stone each."

"I’ll take all ten thousand!" Su Chen declared firmly.

"What?" Little Qing was dumbfounded.

She had seen martial cultivators entertain the foolish notion of cultivating Spirit-Returning Grass themselves, but usually, they would purchase ten or eight plants at most. Yet this oddly dressed young man in front of her...

Was intending to buy all ten thousand at once?

"""

Madness!

Utter madness!

10,000 stalks that’s 10,000 Black Xuan Stones!

Little Qing had a feeling that Su Chen might be spouting nonsense.

With a thought, Su Chen directly took out a Storage Bag from his Azure Mysterious Ring and handed it to Little Qing, "Check this."

Little Qing checked in confusion, indeed there were 10,000 Black Xuan Stones in the Storage Bag.

"Give me the 10,000 Spirit-Returning Grass seedlings," Su Chen already could hardly wait.

"This... okay!" Little Qing swallowed and turned to head towards the back hall. She needed to report to her supervisor, but her supervisor was nothing but thrilled, why would they not seize such a big deal?

They agreed at once.

Not long after.

Su Chen received another Storage Bag.

Inside this Storage Bag were the 10,000 Spirit-Returning Grass seedlings.

Each seedling was like a seed, enveloped by a faint halo, seen from afar, they looked like fireflies. They were all in hibernation, sleeping through winter.

After Su Chen received the 10,000 Spirit-Returning Grass seedlings.

He still didn’t leave.

Instead, he continued to ask Little Qing, "Are there any other herbs that are extremely difficult to cultivate? Remember, they must be finished products with very short maturity periods, preferably similar to Spirit-Returning Grass."

"Young Master, why do you ask this?" Little Qing really couldn’t understand Su Chen. She had worked at Ling Pavilion for three years and had never encountered such a strange customer.

"Just tell me," Su Chen naturally didn’t answer.

"There’s also Dust Purple Flower, which is an essential herb for refining advanced healing medicines. Dust Purple Flowers on the market are generally divided into three kinds of maturity periods: three months, half a year, and one year. Its maturity period might even be shorter than that of Spirit-Returning Grass mainly because Dust Purple Flowers glow, and they are extremely conspicuous in the mountains, so demon beasts and some human adventurers can easily find them. Therefore, the chances of Dust Purple Flowers being picked are too high, almost no Dust Purple Flower lives past one year." Little Qing’s voice carried a hint of regret. Dust Purple Flowers aren’t particularly demanding of their growing environment, but it was unfortunate that their luminescence... resulted in their short lifespan.

"What’s the price for Dust Purple Flowers?"

"One Black Xuan Stone for three months’ maturity, ten for half a year’s, and thirty for one year’s."

"What if it’s a ten-year maturity?"

"I don’t know, I’ve never encountered that, but I think not less than 5,000 Black Xuan Stones per flower!" Little Qing looked at Su Chen strangely, she really couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.

Afterwards, Su Chen and Little Qing traded for another whole Shichen.

After one Shichen.

Su Chen not only took away the 10,000 Spirit-Returning Grass seedlings but also took 3,000 Dust Purple Flower seedlings, 10,000 Sky Wind Grass seedlings, 30,000 Scarlet Reversal Grass seedlings, and 100,000 yuan of Qi Flower seedlings.

He had spent nearly 100,000 Black Xuan Stones in total.

This expenditure had nearly drained Su Chen’s entire fortune in one go.

However, he didn’t regret it at all; instead, he felt anticipation.