Chapter 1714: Powerless
Qu'er's body then flashed again, and in the next instant, she appeared in the air above another area of the medicine garden before harvesting the spirit plants there using the same method.
Meanwhile, Han Li made his way over to a couple of nearby patches of spirit medicines, each of which consisted of batches of spirit plants that numbered between five or six to over 10, and he was only able to just barely identify a small portion of these plants.
As for the remaining spirit medicines, which was more than half, there were no records about them in the tomes of the human world or the Spirit Realm. However, the small portion of plants that he had managed to identify were all extremely remarkable ones.
Some of them were already extinct in the Spirit Realm, like the Corrosive Poisonweed, while others still existed in the Spirit Realm, but were extremely rare and precious. As such, all he had to do was source some other spirit medicines that were a lot easier to find in comparison, and there was a good chance that he really would be able to fulfill the list of items that Qing Yuanzi had entrusted him with.
Han Li forcibly repressed the excitement in his heart as he immediately leaned down to harvest these smaller batches of spirit medicines himself, then carefully categorize them before placing them into jade vials.
After he finished collecting all of the spirit plants in these two patches, Qu'er was already standing obediently beside him. All of the three types of spirit medicines had already been completely harvested by her and neatly placed into jade boxes.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face, and he afforded her a benevolent compliment, in response to which a wide elated smile also appeared on Qu'er's face.
Even though it hadn't been a long time since she had attained this human form, she had been with Han Li for countless years in her rabbit form, so she wasn't unfamiliar with or distant from Han Li at all. Instead, she felt a sense of intimacy and closeness toward him.
After harvesting all of the spirit medicines in this section of the medicine garden, Han Li finally cast his gaze toward the other side of the medicine garden.
There were a dozen or so areas of different sizes that were separated into independent sections by wooden fences that were several feet tall.
The spirits plants in those areas included spirit trees that were several tens of feet tall, and spirit flowers that were several feet tall. There was also a spirit spring that was around 70 to 80 feet in size, and floating on the surface of that spring was a petite lotus seed pod that was flashing with silver light.
Han Li took a deep breath before making his way over to that side of the medicine garden before beginning to carefully appraise these spirit medicines one by one.
However, a resigned look then appeared on his face mere moments later. He knew that the fact that these plants had been separated into individual sections clearly indicated that they were far more valuable than the Red Silk Fruit and Corrosive Poisonweed from before, but regardless of whether it was the spirit trees that bore fist-sized green fruits or the peculiar spirit flowers that were of 10 different colors, he was unable to identify any of them.
It appeared that these spirit medicines were unique to the True Immortal Realm and didn't exist in the Spirit Realm.
As such, he would only be able to determine their uses through future experimentation.
With that in mind, Han Li no longer hesitated and made a grabbing motion toward the ground in the distance with a single hand. A white jade box immediately rose up into the air before flying into his hand as a streak of white light.
He then turned toward a spirit tree, which was laden with green fruits, and he flipped his other hand over to produce a small green shovel.
He raised his hand, and the small shovel shot forth toward the ground in that area as a streak of green light, only to be repelled by the soil amid a crisp clang, unable to dig into the ground in the slightest.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, and he was slightly incredulous as he activated his magic power again.
The jade shovel immediately circled around before striking the ground again, and the same outcome eventuated as it was repelled once again.
Han Li's eyelids twitched upon seeing this. He had solely been examining the spirit medicine itself earlier, and he had failed to inspect for any abnormalities in the soil down below.
With that in mind, blue light immediately flashed through his eyes as he cast his gaze toward the soil down below, upon which a hint of surprise flashed over his face.
He discovered that there were faint golden threads interlaced through the soil, and all of these threads had been constructed from extremely pure metal-attribute spiritual Qi. He didn't know if these spirit trees required this metal-attribute spiritual Qi to grow or if the owner of this medicine garden was trying to protect these spirit plants, but the fact of the matter was that another restriction had been placed here.
Han Li raised an eyebrow, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he suddenly let loose a cold chuckle.
An inky-black hand emerged from within his sleeve before sweeping downward, and a burst of grey light emerged from his palm, surging toward the ground before silently vanishing into the soil at the foot of the spirit tree.
Divine Essencefused Light was extremely potent against powers of all five elements, so it should be a simple matter for it to eradicate this metal-attribute spiritual power.
Or at least, that was what Han Li thought.
However, the scenes that unfolded next completely went against his expectations. The gey light swept downard, but the golden threads weren't easily eradicated as he thought that they would be. Instead, they abruptly intertwined to form a golden net that desperately resisted the oncoming grey light.
Despite the ferocious assault being unleashed by the Divine Essencefused Light, it was unable to dispel this golden net in a short time.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this. Following a brief moment of contemplation, the fingers on his inky-black hand moved slightly, and the projection of a small mountain appeared before encompassing his entire hand.
The grey light at the center of his palm instantly congealed, and the grey light that was expelled thereafter became as viscous as liquid.
He was trying to draw upon the power of his Extreme Essencefused Mountain to maximize the might of his Divine Essencefused Light.
The golden threads were unable to resist such a fierce assault in the end and vanished in the face of the powerful grey light.
Han Li's heart eased slightly upon seeing this, and he waved his inky-black hand through the air, upon which the small mountain projection instantly vanished. At the same time, the color of his hand also returned to normal.
Immediately thereafter, he pointed a finger into the air again, and the small green shovel shot forth, plunging itself into the ground before digging in a circle around the base of the spirit tree, then flying back into Han Li's sleeve.
A vast expanse of azure light then immediately appeared in the places that the jade shovel had dug through, and this azure light enshrouded the entire spirit tree within.
Han Li immediately made a hand seal and cast an incantation seal toward the spirit tree upon seeing this. The incantation seal vanished into the spirit tree in a flash, and the entire tree shuddered slightly before being uprooted from the ground in a slow and steady manner.
A hint of elation flashed through Han Li's eyes. However, in the instant that the roots of the spirit tree left the soil, a layer of unsettling green flames suddenly appeared over its surface without any warning.
The green flames only flickered a few times, and the spirit tree, as well as all of its fruits, were incinerated into nothingness.
Han Li's mouth gaped open in exasperation upon seeing this. He only heaved a long sigh after a long while, and he appraised the empty patch of ground where the spirit tree had once been with a gloomy look on his face.
However, there was no use crying over spilled milk; Han Li immediately turned before striding toward another fenced-off area, which contained a strange flower that was around three feet tall and as pristine white as jade.
The soil around this flower didn't have any restrictions, and the jade shovel was able to plunge into the ground without any impediment. However, in the instant that this flower was uprooted, it abruptly shuddered before melting into a puddle of green liquid that seeped into the soil and vanished from sight.
Han Li could only lament his ill-fortune after encountering such "delicate" spirit medicines twice in succession.
He took one final indignant glance at the spot where the puddle of green liquid had seeped into the soil, and he grumbled something unintelligible to himself before progressing onto the next area in a resigned manner.
For the next three spirit medicines he attempted to harvest, all of them displayed different reactions in the instant that their roots left the ground. One of them suddenly wilted away into dust, one of them suddenly self-detonated, and a net of lightning appeared over the surface of the final plant, which zapped itself into nothingness.
Five consecutive spirit medicines had destroyed themselves on the spot, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that something was amiss.
This inability to be transferred definitely wasn't an innate quality that all of these spirit medicines shared; this was most likely a result of some restrictions the owner of this medicine garden had set up. Otherwise, how could five of these plants have destroyed themselves one after another?
Thus, as Han Li approached a fist-sized spirit flower that was split up into 13 different vibrant colors, he didn't immediately try to harvest it. Instead, he began to inspect the spirit medicine in a meticulous manner.
His spiritual sense hadn't detected anything amiss earlier, so he naturally had to rely on his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to see if he could sense anything.
Thus, extremely piercing blue light flashed through his eyes as he inspected every single inch of the flower from petal to stem. However, even after inspecting the entire flower seven or eight times, he was still unable to glean anything of use.
Thus, he was left feeling rather perplexed. He couldn't even see what kind of restriction the owner of the medicine garden had set up, so there naturally wasn't going to be any way for him to remove the restriction.
However, he naturally couldn't bear to just leave behind these spirit medicines, many of which couldn't even be found in the Spirit Realm.
He crossed his arms and stood on the spot with a contemplative look on his face, and after around 10 minutes, he heaved a faint sigh before murmuring to himself, "The plants self-destruct as soon as their roots leave the soul, the restrictions have most likely been set up on their roots. In that case, I won't be able to take the entire plant, but I should be able to forcibly preserve the fruits and seeds..."
With that in mind, he immediately cast his gaze toward the vibrant flower again. He then tossed one of his jade boxes forward, and controlled it so that it hovered in a stable manner directly below the flower.
Immediately thereafter, he quickly rustled a sleeve, and a pristine white hand emerged from within.
Azure light flashed, and a sharp sword thread shot forth in a flash, brushing directly past the stem of the flower. At the same time, a burst of five-colored flames also hurtled forth.
The strange flower had only just had its stem severed when the five-colored flames engulfed it, and it was instantly sealed as a block of translucent five-colored ice.
Following a faint clack, the block of ice fell into the jade box down below with unerring accuracy.