Zhao Han watched as the little golden kitten dug at the plant furiously. The top of plant grew a large set of compound leaves and around it were smaller leaves that were all oval shaped. He thought it seemed somewhat familiar and hesitated before he said, "Xiaocao, is your cat a spiritual creature? Looks like it somehow recognizes ginseng?"
"Ginseng? Are you saying that Little Glutinous Dumpling is digging up ginseng?" Judging from the little divine stone's obvious excitement, Xiaocao had a premonition that this stalk of ginseng was definitely out of the ordinary. It was probably older than a hundred years! Hundred year old ginseng...they hit the jackpot!!
Xiaocao scuttled a few steps closer and took out a small trowel from the basket on her back. She carefully helped the little golden kitten to excavate the ginseng. Before long, a stalk of ginseng that was shaped like a human and was about thirty to forty centimeters long came out of the ground.
Zhao Han's voice wavered in emotion, "This ginseng must be at least a hundred years old! Legend says that after cultivating for a hundred years, a ginseng starts to have a human shape. Five hundred years, it'll have a face, and if it goes past a thousand years, it'll become sentient! This ginseng is already human shaped and we can faintly see that it has a face——Xiaocao, this ginseng you dug up can be rated as the king of ginseng!"
The little golden kitten flung the dirt off its claws and then hopped into Xiaocao's hands. It wrapped its paws around the ginseng and had a look of infatuation on its face, [Such a dense concentration of spiritual energy, ah! Let me absorb as much as I can!]
"Be careful" Zhao Han quickly plucked the kitten out and into his own hands. He didn't let the cat go no matter how hard it struggled, "This is a priceless treasure, don't let your cat damage it!"
Xiaocao grinned in amus.e.m.e.nt when she saw the little divine stone, who had been caught by Zhao Han, baring its fangs at the youth in an attempt to threaten him. She gave it a placating look and spoke to it through her mind, [Don't be impatient, ah, the ginseng won't run away. When we get home we'll discuss it!]
[This stinky human. If I didn't take into account that he has helped you before, I would have torn him to pieces by now!] The little divine stone bared its fangs and claws, but in the eyes of outside observers, it just looked like false front.
Zhao Han felt that the little animal was quite adorable and used his hand to rub its furry head. Due to a moment of carelessness, the little kitten, whose fur was being messed up, scratched him and left two lines of red on his hand.
"Little Glutinous Dumpling, you're not allowed to scratch people!" Xiaocao rushed over and rescued the little golden cat from Zhao Han's hands.
After getting its independence back, the little divine stone agilely flipped over and jumped onto Xiaocao's shoulder. All of its fur was raised up as it angrily howled a couple of times at Zhao Han. To Zhao Han's ears, its snarls sounded only like a tiny kitten, barely weaned from its mother's milk, throwing a spoiled temper tantrum.
Yu Xiaocao used some long gra.s.s to wrap the ginseng and secretly added a few drops of mystic-stone water to help it stay fresh. This was a treasure and was worth a lot of money! She needed to keep it carefully preserved!
Distances could be hard to judge. When she was looking at the mountain from afar, it didn't seem very tall. However, as she was climbing it, it was a different story. Luckily, Yu Xiaocao had over half a year's worth of nourishment with the mystic-stone water, so her body was much stronger than before. In addition, she also had Zhao Han helping her from time to time, so the two of them were able to easily cross through the mountain in a short amount of time.
"Wow! Is this the pond full of reeds that you were talking about?" Yu Xiaocao was mesmerized by the beautiful scene in front of her.
The tall and lofty mountain had hid a tranquil, dark green lake that delighted the eye. Reeds grew on the sh.o.r.eline and surrounded the lake completely. Sunlight scattered through the reeds and reflected off the water that was so still that the reflection of the plants seemed to be a perfect inverted image.
Clouds of water vapor rose from the surface of the lake and embraced the whole area in a misty wonder. Not far from the water was a tree that she couldn't identify. The branches of tree stretched out widely, and its trunk was tall and straight. The thick, misty fog that enveloped the area created a feeling that they were in a heavenly paradise.
In winter, the reeds lay dormant. The feathery tips of the plants gently swayed in the wind, which looked like the plumage of a red-crowned crane dancing in midair. Towards the bottom of the reeds, a few tender, verdant shoots peaked out of the earth and vigorously reached up towards the sky. Mult.i.tudes of unnamed birds were in the surrounding area. They sang, jumped around on branches, played, and occasionally tilted their heads to size up these two unexpected guests...
