Breaking the Day

After harvesting so many Rainbow Sickle Senna flowers, Li Chengfeng realised a serious problem. Who would he sell this to? What use were these flowers to him?

Sell to Zhang Jinbao? Hmm, that’s a valid solution but this fat dude must realise he had been tricked already. After realising that he had been used and tricked into hurting Zhan Qisheng, the dude might be planning to squash Chengfeng to death the next time they met.

Sell to Huangfu Song? That Cangjin Senior Brother might be waiting to skin Chengfeng alive…

Sell to the Cangjian Court? But who would buy from him? This bunch of broke beggars had to resort to swindling and extortion to raise funds. How much money would they have to buy these herbs?

Sell to Cangqing Court? He did not know anyone there. Could he knock on their door and ask?

Wouldn’t he be robbed immediately?

Keep for himself? But how would he use these plants? Chengfeng did not know!

After the initial excitement, the string of questions dampened his spirit.s He realised he was just an old farmer with a granary filled with rotting stock!

The fragile-looking flowers did not look hardy at all!

Chengfeng stared at these freshly plucked flowers and sighed. “You think we should just stir fry these?”

“What?” Su Yuehan, who was drinking water, almost choked. She coughed, then widened her eyes. “Young Master, what did you say?”

He sighed. “Then what do you think we should do? I have so much of these but I don’t know how to use it and can’t sell them either. Keeping them will be trouble too. Might as well eat them, right?”

Su Yuehan was stunned speechless. Naturally, she knew what Senna flowers could be used for.

The Medicine Saint of Nine Cauldrons Sect wrote about the uses of Senna flowers in the Book of Herbs and Pills:

Leaves- mildly sweet, neutral nature, non-poisonous

Stem- bitter, warm nature, non-poisonous

Roots- bitter, cold nature, non-poisonous

Treatment for: unorderly meridians, bleeding and damaged internal organs, unbalanced sanjiao

Consumption: two taels of Black Mist Beast blood, two taels of Wu Ling Zhi*, grind into powder. Pound one thousand Rainbow Sickle Senna flowers into pulp, extract the essence, mix with water from the Heavenly Saint Pond. Able to revive a dead patient.

Pill concoction: mix the 30g of leaves and stems each with a Three Yuan Saint Pill, 20g of Luogen Grass, one scorpion’s sting, 30g of stingray bones, one thousand-faced demon internal pill. Heat in a golden cauldron for 42 hours to create the Heavenly King Saint Pill. Consume to increase internal abilities by several-fold.

[T/L Note: Wu Ling Zhi is a type of flying squirrel’s dried dung, used in trad chinese medicine to relieve postnatal pains]

But… how would she tell Li Chengfeng all of this? How would she explain how she knew about this?

Several sects had worked together to destroy the Nine Cauldrons Sect a hundred years ago so the magical items, pills and land in their possession were all lost. Even the Book of Herbs and Pills were copied by each sect and then declared a forbidden book that could not be circulated publicly. Very few cultivators were qualified to read it.

There were seventeen uses of the Rainbow Sickle Senna stated in the book, most of them for medicine. It was considered a treasure, extremely useful to cultivator and martial arts sects.

However, just as Li Chengfeng expected, the plant was only most effective when it was fresh. Once dried and pulverised, its efficacy would greatly decrease.

However, even then, it would still be worth a few thousand silver pieces! You can’t just stir fry it!

Su Yuehan frowned. “Young Master, what if I bring it down the mountain and see if I can sell it?”

He thought for a moment. “That’s a good idea. That’ll do. You can buy some stuff for me too.”

Both of them discussed as someone yelled outside. “Junior Li, are you there?”

He exited to see Qiu Chuqiu without An Tong. Out of courtesy, he said, “Senior Brother Qiu, how may I help you? Is there anything you need to tell me?”

Seeing how cautious Li Chengfeng was, Qiu Chuqiu huffed. “Junior Li, your Rainbow Sickle Senna helped us a lot but to be honest, we’re suspicious about your identity. However, our sect also emphasises rewarding anyone who has contributed to the court. Therefore, you may follow us tomorrow on Crescent Valley’s open day.”

Li Chengfeng had a very bad impression of the sect. He took the opportunity to ask, “Where is this Crescent Valley?”

“Crescent Valley is opened to the disciples once every four years. It contains a portion of magical beasts and other ferocious animals kept by Spiritual Mountain Sect. Anyone from the sect can enter the valley to capture magical beasts, then tame them as pets.”

Li Cehgnfeng asked cautiously, “What kind of magical beasts? Is it dangerous?”

Qiu Chuqiu looked impatient. “Crescent Valley is divided into three parts. The front part of the valley is where newcomers will be, it contains low-ranked magical beings. The middle valley is where more experienced disciples who have solidified their cultivation foundations can enter, the beings there are aggressive and powerful. The back part of the valley contains high-ranked magical beings and they are few too. Only disciples who have cultivated the golden body may enter or it would be suicide.”

Chengfeng hesitated and did not speak. Qiu Chuqiu huffed. “I’ve already said what I came here to say. Up to you if you show up or not. Tomorrow morning at nine, wait at the entrance of Eagle Mountain. The disciples of Cangjian Court will set off together.”

In a flash, he disappeared and reappeared tens of metres away. Li Chengfeng had been envious of this technique since he was a boy.

“Young Master, should we go?” Su Yuehan watched Qiu Chuqiu, then looked at Chengfeng worriedly. “I keep feeling like… something is wrong.”

“Something is definitely wrong! But if I want to get stronger, I must grab this opportunity! ‘Ve got to go tomorrow morning. You go down the mountain to find a seller for the Senna flowers and I’ll check out Crescent Valley. I’ll come back if anything feels wrong.”

She said hurriedly, “No, I must go with you!”

He glared. “What for? You’ll just be a burden!”

“Young Master, I can help you! More importantly, if anything happened to me, do you think I’ll live?”

He thought for a moment, then sighed and ruffled her hair. “It’s true, guess we’re basically tied together with the same piece of rope. We can’t run.”

She smiled. “I’m sure you’ll be protected by the heavens!”

He smiled too. “I sure hope so.”

They both continued to mend the house without a word for the rest of the night.

Early next morning at seven, before the sky brightened, both were already awake. After retrieving water at the stream behind the house, boiling it and washing up, they left with some luggage.

To prevent their flowers from being stolen while they were away, Su Yuehan arranged them carefully in a cloth pouch, then brought the flowers with her.

After walking an hour, they arrived at Eagle Mountain’s entrance. They saw Cangjian Court’s disciples waiting to leave, with Grand Senior Brother and Qiu Chuqiu leading them.

Li Chengfeng did not step forward immediately. He knew that he was seen as an outsider and he was the only new recruit this year. Everyone else was a senior, he was at an absolute disadvantage. If they bore any ill intentions, no one was there to save him.

At nine, the sun was already in the sky. GRand Senior Brother and about ten other Cangjian disciples walked towards the teleportation array. Li Chengfeng followed a distance away but he did not expect that despite being so careful, he was already stepping into their trap. He was being watched.

“Indeed, he’s here…” Qin Mieqin nodded slightly, cocking his head. He turned to An Tong, who was licking his paw. “It’s all up to you now. Failure is not an option today!”

An Tong snarled, glaring at Li Chengfeng with bloodlust.