“Hardships prompt changes, changes bring solutions!” Meng Hao’s eyes shone with the light of obsession. This saying was something he had come across in a book he had read when he was a scholar living at the foot of Mount Daqing.
Nowadays, he had not forgotten the true meaning of the phrase. However, because of his personality, he had come to a new understanding. To him, the first character of the expression… referred to being poor! 1
“If I can’t make a profit when it comes to merit points, then it means I’m poor… therefore I need to think of some ways to change the situation. That’s the only way to make it through the impasse. After I make it through, then I can start earning merit points again.”
After stepping into the first level of the Medicine Pavilion, Meng Hao was surrounded by mists. He took a deep breath, and his eyes began to shine brightly.
“In the past, I didn’t have a lot of spirit stones, but with over 100,000,000, it couldn’t count as being in short supply…. But, dammit! The Nirvana Fruits basically consume spirit stones! I barely have thirty percent of my original stockpile….
“It’s like a bottomless pit! Considering I’ve spent so many spirit stones on them, I definitely can’t stop now. I have to keep going! I wonder if the Grand Elder knew all along that I had a lot of spirit stones, and wanted to use this method to force me to go broke!
“A tier 7 alchemist sitting next to me, lecturing about plants and vegetation, cutting off my path to wealth! That’s outright bullying! Unbelievable!” Meng Hao was actually very angry.
Fueled by obsession and anger, he stalked into the first level of the Medicine Pavilion and was surrounding by swirling mists. In the blink of an eye, three incense sticks materialized in front of him.
Black smoke rose up from the first incense stick, swirling through the air to surround Meng Hao. Shockingly, a brilliant light appeared, as well as the images of countless medicinal plants.
At first glance, there appeared to be at least 10,000,000, packed together endlessly. It was only by looking closely that it was possible to clearly make any of them out.
In the space of a single breath, before Meng Hao could imprint any of them with divine sense, the 10,000,000 medicinal plants suddenly flickered with light, and then began to superimpose over each other. In the blink of an eye, they all merged together in the form of an ancient tome.
The book seemed archaic and old, and three characters were written on its cover.
Classic of Plants and Vegetation. (草木经)
Next, an ancient voice echoed out through the first level.
“In the time it takes three incense sticks to burn, identify the first 10,000 medicinal plants in the Classic of Plants and Vegetation. If you make a hundred mistakes or more, the result will be failure.”
“Now that the rules have changed,” thought Meng Hao, “this test is certainly a bit more impressive.” He sent out his divine sense to open the Classic of Plants and Vegetation to the first page. Visible there was a single medicinal plant.
“Quickspirit Flower!” he thought, identifying it immediately, branding it with divine sense, and also providing a quick description of its properties and use in medicines.
The tome flickered, and the second page appeared. Meng Hao made another divine sense imprint with incredible speed. Gradually, it began to appear as if a strong wind were blowing across the tome in front of Meng Hao. The pages flipped rapidly in quick succession.
Meng Hao stood there, not speaking, his divine sense covering the tome. To him, identifying these medicinal plants was a simple matter.