Chapter 30, Task Handover

Translator: StarReader

 

After three months, Executive Zhou arrived at the herb garden on time, accompanied by a new errand disciple. He was there to relieve Su Chen of his duty of guarding the ten-acre herb garden.

 

The unfortunate young errand disciple shuffled along behind Zhou Mieyan, unwilling but helpless. This task had been forcibly assigned to him by Zhou Mieyan; he had no choice but to comply.

 

Su Chen, who had been counting down the days, was waiting outside the crude fence of the herb garden. He greeted Zhou Mieyan and his group politely.

 

“Executive Zhou, you’ve arrived!” Su Chen addressed him respectfully.

 

In his mind, the impending departure filled him with mixed feelings as he glanced at the herb garden. Over the past three months, since using blue water to irrigate the herbs, tending to the herb garden had no longer been a monotonous or burdensome task for Su Chen.

 

During this period, his cultivation had skyrocketed, making significant progress in the Lower Dantian. He also managed to stockpile enough herbs for over half a year, which could be used for future body tempering and cultivation.

 

It could be said that this herb garden was his stepping stone to success. Now, he finally had to leave this place.

 

“How have you been these past few months? Let me check your work,” Zhou Mieyan said, keeping his hands behind his back and not sparing Su Chen a single glance. He had already prepared a set of criticisms, intending to nitpick some issues in the herb garden to deduct some of Su Chen’s wages.

 

Although the amount of copper coins he could deduct wasn’t substantial, it was the greatest joy Zhou Mieyan derived from his position as an executive at Errand Hall. Despite being nicknamed Zhou Mieyan (Cold Eyes) by the juniors in the hall who despised him, he didn’t care; on the contrary, he took pride in the name.

 

At this moment, Zhou Mieyan inadvertently glanced at Su Chen, who was waiting respectfully nearby. To his astonishment, he noticed that Su Chen looked exceptionally vibrant and even seemed reluctant to part with these ten acres of herb garden.

 

Zhou Mieyan realized something was off and couldn’t help but blink.

 

This was highly unusual!

 

Guarding the herb garden was such a tedious errand, with not even a single person to talk to. Spending three months alone in this place felt like sitting in jail, which would drive any errand disciple crazy and make them want to die.

 

In the past, when those errand disciples were assigned this task, after enduring the three-month period, they all looked utterly exhausted, as if they had seen a ghost. When they saw someone coming, it was like seeing a savior, eager to hand over the responsibility and leave.

 

That was why there was a rule at Errand Hall: an errand disciple could only be assigned the herb garden caretaking task once every three years, and each assignment was limited to three months. If it were any longer, no errand disciple could handle it.

 

Zhou Mieyan had never seen anyone like Su Chen before. After spending three months here, not only did Su Chen not look exhausted or hopeless, but he actually looked better than ever—radiant and refreshed, as if he had been sightseeing in the mountains instead of guarding the herb garden.

 

Looking at Su Chen’s rosy complexion, it seemed his Lower Dantian energy had improved significantly. Zhou Mieyan, with his limited skills, couldn’t tell from just looking at Su Chen’s face what level of martial arts he truly had.

 

Alarmed, Zhou Mieyan scanned the area carefully. He noticed a row of ten practice wooden posts in front of the straw shack, all broken by a single palm strike, and the scattered wooden chips everywhere.

 

Zhou Mieyan grimaced.

 

The sturdy training posts, each at least arm-thick, required more than fifty kilograms of strength to snap. This suggested that Su Chen had overcome his unskilled level and reached the realm of a third-rate martial artist.

 

“Have you… activated your Lower Dantian?” Zhou Mieyan’s expression darkened as he voiced this question, his certainty growing to nearly eighty percent.

 

“Yes,” Su Chen replied with a faint smile, acknowledging the change without concealment.

 

For future convenience within Errand Hall, where disciples could autonomously choose their tasks upon reaching third-rate status, Su Chen aimed to quickly ascend to a junior executive. After departing the fields, he intended to return to Errand Hall for his promotion.

 

He had hidden the remaining herbs long ago. Even if Zhou Mieyan suspected him, there was nothing concrete to grab onto.

 

When Zhou Mieyan heard Su Chen admit this, he jumped in shock, his hand trembling as he pointed at Su Chen, spittle flying from his mouth as he exclaimed furiously, “T-this is impossible! You’re a new recruit to the Medicine King Group who’s only been here for six months and has just started your work at the Errand Hall. How could you possibly break through to the third-rate realm in such a short time?! It’s unheard of without at least three years of hard cultivation.”

 

Thinking back to his own journey, Zhou Mieyan had spent nearly five years climbing to a junior executive position and another fifteen grueling years to reach mid-level executive status.

 

Su Chen, that brat, had only been assigned to guard the herb garden at the Errand Hall three months ago. And now, he was already at the Lower Dantian stage? That was simply too fast.

 

This filled Zhou Mieyan with equal parts jealousy and anger.

 

Such a drastic improvement in cultivation speed was highly suspicious. It must be cheating—using tempering herbs to aid his body tempering process and skyrocket his cultivation to third-rate in just three months!

 

Zhou Mieyan suspected the worst. If Su Chen had indeed stolen tempering herbs for his breakthrough, that would explain it all…

 

Su Chen was brimming with vitality and reluctance to leave this herb garden, a clear indication of his intentions. Zhou Mieyan narrowed his eyes and glared at Su Chen with fierce anger. Within the martial group, any disciple caught stealing herbs faced severe punishment. The group didn’t hand over offenders to the authorities; instead, they sent them to their own Punishment Hall, where they were beaten to death as a warning. If the stolen herbs were of significant quantity, the consequences could be dire—even for Zhou Mieyan, a mid-level executive. To steal from the group’s herb stores right under Zhou Mieyan’s nose was pure suicide. Zhou circled around Su Chen, his nose twitching suspiciously. However, Su Chen had anticipated this. The previous evening, he had bathed and soaked in rice water to cleanse himself of any lingering scent, leaving only a faint, refreshing aroma behind, completely free of herbal odors.

 

“Humph, kid, you’ve been hiding really well, haven’t you?” Zhou Mieyan sneered. “Do you think washing the herb smell off your body means I can’t find your faults? But under my keen eyes, everything will be exposed!”

 

Zhou Mieyan showed a menacing expression and warned, “Kid, three months ago when we came here, I kindly advised you not to touch the herbs in the medicine garden. Do you know how cruel the elders of the Medicine King Group are? They use horrific torture methods like twisting limbs at the worst angles. It’s something a lowly laborer like you can’t even begin to imagine… If you confess now, you might be able to redeem yourself, and I could intercede for you, sparing you some suffering.”

 

“Executive Zhou,” Su Chen replied coolly, “if you’re going to accuse me of stealing in front of the elders of the Medicine King Group, you better have solid evidence. The elders only care if I stole the herbs, not why you broke through the Lower Dantian.”

 

Medicine King Group has thousands of disciples, with most being new inner disciples. These individuals typically broke through into the Lower Dantian anywhere between two to five months. This marked their entry into the third-rate realm.

 

In contrast, a new errand disciple from the Errand Hall, since joining the group, took eight months to advance to third-rate. Such a minor detail was insignificant compared to the achievements of the inner disciples, and thus, other factions within the group hardly paid attention.

 

The elders of the Medicine King Group were preoccupied with their numerous responsibilities and had little interest in trifles like ‘why a lowly errand disciple has managed to break through into a third-rate after eight months.’

 

Su Chen showed no fear of Zhou Mieyan. He anticipated that once he became a junior executive, he could select tasks according to his preference, rendering Zhou Mieyan powerless to find opportunities to hassle or manipulate him.

 

“Hah, you’re just asking for trouble! You’ll see. No matter how gifted you are, I will uncover the truth.”

 

With a display of disdain, Zhou Mieyan retrieves a thick ledger from his bosom and proceeds to the herb garden. There, he meticulously cross-references each entry with the actual herbs in the ten-acre field.

 

To prevent any disciple from pilfering, every herb in the herb garden that has reached at least one year of growth was documented in the ledger. This included their quantity and exact years of growth. However, young seedlings were exempt from such detailed scrutiny.

 

They had no medicinal properties at all—useless for body tempering and worth practically nothing in value. Plus, loss of sprouts was high during their early growth stages, and with so many being cultivated, the loss of a few was considered normal and wouldn’t be recorded.

 

Only when a year or more of growth was lost would wages be docked, and losing a decade-old herb would bring about serious punishment.

 

Zhou Mieyan strolled from end to end of the herb garden, meticulously checking each entry in the ledger against the herbs in the fields. But what he saw left him utterly baffled: not a single herb that was over a year old was missing!

 

This was strange—how could this be happening? The herbs were all accounted for, yet the punk had made remarkable progress in his cultivating, completing the Lower Dantian stage in just a few months. That seemed downright suspicious.

 

What had gone wrong here?

 

Zhou Mieyan grew frantic, his brow furrowed as he scratched his head. He double-checked everything—still no change in the results.

 

The new errand disciple was also visibly shocked, completely clueless about what was going on. He couldn’t help but feel envious as he gazed at Su Chen. Just like him, Su Chen had been a lowly new recruit to the Errand Hall, and now, in the blink of an eye, he had become a junior executive. From this point on, Su Chen would stand above him in status within the Errand Hall, no longer having to endure Zhou Mieyan’s harassment. It was no wonder he looked so calm and confident.

 

“Executive Zhou, how are the plants?”

 

Su Chen stood by, arms crossed, as he waited for Zhou Mieyan to go through a thorough inspection multiple times without finding any issues. Only then did he inquire with a smile.

 

“They’re… adequate,” Zhou Mieyan stammered, clutching his ledger and sitting dazedly on the edge. He was completely baffled about what was happening. With his keen eyes, he couldn’t spot anything wrong—clearly, this was beyond him. He didn’t even have the heart to nitpick about the herb field’s weeds or plants, since there was nothing to find fault with. The ten-acre herb garden was thriving, with adequate watering and fertilizing, and areas that needed loosening had been properly tended to, showing just how diligent Su Chen had been in maintaining this plot.

 

Even if he tried his hardest to be critical and nitpick a few copper coins’ worth of issues, it didn’t matter. That tiny amount meant nothing to someone about to become a junior executive.

 

“Executive Zhou, if there’s nothing else, we can complete the task handover. I’ll head to Errand Hall to collect my payment… Oh right, I also need to pick up my junior executive token!”

 

Su Chen gave a smile.

 

The herbal scent on him was masked by other odors, and the leftovers had been tossed into the furnace and burned. Zhou Mieyan wouldn’t be able to detect anything anyway.

 

He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief—it was finally over. Even Zhou Mieyan couldn’t find any fault with it, so no one would ever know about the blue water and body tempering he had done during his cultivation.

 

It had been a flawless operation, done in complete secrecy.

 

He certainly wouldn’t be foolish enough to try selling the leftover herbs. Medicine trafficking across the thirteen counties of the Wu Region was monopolized by the Medicine King Group. The business was riddled with layers of exploitation, leaving no room for others to interfere. Not even a disciple from the same faction could engage in private herb trading—it was only permitted within the group, and even then, they were fleeced of a hefty profit.

 

Including the medicine shops in Gusu County City, nearly eighty percent of them were under the ownership of the Medicine King Group. The remaining twenty percent, while not directly tied to the Medicine King Group, still maintained close relations with it and dared not provoke its displeasure.

 

If one were to sell medicinal herbs on their own, they would arouse suspicion from the pharmacies about the origin of the herbs. If the Medicine King Group investigated and the individual couldn’t provide a satisfactory explanation, the consequences would be severe—a disaster waiting to happen.