When Immortal Ascension Fails Time Travel to Try Again

Story 3 - Spiritual Vines and a Smokey Pill Cauldron (1)

Little Spring and I walked in a forest made up mostly of spiritual bamboo, thick special grasses, luscious crawling vines and some few shrubberies... More accurately, he walked and I blurrily stumbled toward the destination I'd seen with my divine sense. With how many times I’d already fallen today, I was glad that I insisted on us wearing our old mortal attire.

It had only been a half-dozen hours since we first arrived and, out of the five spirit plants we had still needed, we’d already collected three. These were for my Lin’s Super Awesome Repair Dan, a pill I’d come up with a few hundred years before... Or would it be seven hundred years from now? Whatever.

It was a pill that could perfectly heal these damn injuries so they wouldn’t come back to haunt my ass when I broke through to Foundation Establishment.

My side burned with pain. I clutched it even though I knew it wouldn't help.

This body was so disappointing. I wanted my literal old one back so I didn’t have to train it all over again.

With a grimace, I listlessly gestured to a group of vibrant grasses. Little Spring grabbed my arm, used to this already, and helped me over.

I sat down on a nearby stone and pointed to the indigo tip on one of the blades. “You see this?”

He nodded.

“This deep blue-purple is one of the ways you can tell it’s a Verdant King Spiritual Grass.”

He grinned. “That’s the next one on your list!”

“Yep! You can also tell by its size. It’s not crazily large but a perfect...” I placed my open palm near the plant to show scale then paused. My hand had been larger before I time-traveled... “Well, it's the size of a beautiful woman’s hand.” I huffed in annoyance. “And do you know how else to tell this blade apart from other grasses?”

He bit his lip as he stared at the needle-like plant. “It’s curved like a tube at the base but flares out closer to the tip?”

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“And?”

I could see him try and remember the lecture I gave him on our flight over here that consisted of twenty of the thousands of spirit plants and hybrids that I’d memorized back in the day.

“You shouldn’t touch it directly because that might harm the grass, but if you did, it would feel soft to the touch instead of smooth.”

I beamed at him. Ah, main characters were so smart. “Good job.”

He blushed.

“And do you remember how we collect them?”

“By slashing a wide hole around it to ensure we don’t hurt its roots and then moving—“

“Zip it!” I cut him off and placed my index finger to my lips. “How do normal cultivators collect this particular grass?”

I’d already lectured him on learning to fake it so others couldn’t tell he had a space.

He rolled his eyes and said, “But there is no one around here.”

“When you’re out in the open in an area with heavy spiritual energy, you can never be too sure. There are very old monsters hidden everywhere. They have a tendency to make a cave somewhere and cultivate for a hundred years. But as unlikely as it is to meet one of those assholes, you can never be too safe.”

He nodded with a sigh.

I admit, since my injury and increase in realm, I’d become paranoid. I liked to think that I had a healthy amount, but sometimes Little Spring gave me a look like I was pushing it. Whatever.

I held up a finger. “Rule one?” For Little Spring’s Rules for Using the Space.

“Don’t talk.” Don’t talk about the space unless you use telepathy.

“Rule two?”

“Keep Hidden.” Keep the space hidden. Keep yourself safe.

“Rule three?”

“Use formations.” If you’re going to use the space, make sure to use an obfuscation formation.

“And the last?”

“Emergencies.” If you are about to die then use the damn space. We’ll deal with the aftermath later.

“Excellent!” I reached out to pat his head, but I didn’t want to get up just yet so I held my arm out awkwardly.

“...”

“...”

After air-patting his head, I dropped my hand and politely cleared my throat. “Now the real way to collect this?”