Jiang Chen didn't stand on ceremony. He summoned a batch of Gold-Munching Mice and set them to sweeping the area clean.
He wasn't about to sit idle himself—those True Saint Grade spiritual medicines required a personal touch. Harvesting them demanded real skill. The Gold-Munching Mice could serve as porters well enough, but for high-grade spiritual medicines, Jiang Chen preferred to handle them personally. Even one damaged stalk would have been enough to break his heart.
Before long, all dozen-plus True Saint Grade spiritual medicines surrounding the lake were in his hands.
Jiang Chen studied the mirror-still water. "What a shame I already have the Wood Spirit Spring. Otherwise, scooping up all this lake water wouldn't be a bad idea."
The water might not qualify as a spirit spring, but a place capable of nurturing so many spiritual medicines had to be rich in spiritual energy. It would have been excellent for cultivating spiritual medicines.
But with the Wood Spirit Spring already in his possession, this lake was rather underwhelming—hardly worth the effort.
After the Gold-Munching Mice finished their sweep, there was practically nothing of value left around the lake. Jiang Chen was just about to leave when—
His gaze froze. He looked at the lake, scarcely believing what he saw.
In that moment, he almost thought his eyes were deceiving him.
Reflected in the water stood a tall, slender pine with pale-yellow bark. Yet when he looked across to the opposite bank, there was clearly no pine tree there.
"This..." Jiang Chen stood rooted to the spot, staring at the sight with undisguised disbelief.
He looked at the reflection again—the straight pine had vanished.
"An illusion?" He nearly doubted his own eyes.
But the next moment, the reflection reappeared. This time, the pine seemed to have turned green.
Jiang Chen slapped his forehead as something clicked, and a look of elation spread across his face.
He circled around to the opposite bank.
After pacing several small circles on the far side, Jiang Chen formed a series of hand seals. Streams of primordial magnetic force erupted from his palms, sweeping around the perimeter of each small circle.
The next moment, something astonishing happened.
A straight pine tree, roughly ten feet tall, materialized right before his eyes.
"Ha! It really is one! A Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine—I've struck it rich!" Jiang Chen was overjoyed. If not for the reflection on the water's surface, he would have completely overlooked its existence.
He slapped his forehead. "Here I thought I'd hit the jackpot with a dozen-plus True Saint Grade spiritual medicines, and I nearly missed the real treasure."
This Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine had clearly not been growing for long. At only about ten feet tall, it couldn't be more than twenty years old—just past the seedling stage.
In the Myriad Heavens Planes, the Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine wasn't particularly remarkable. But in the mundane world, it was absolutely a Heaven Grade spirit species. True Saint Grade, Earth Grade—compared to the Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine, they could all step aside.
This was an unambiguous Heaven Grade specimen, and a relatively high-end one at that.
Most astonishing of all, the Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine could continue to advance as it matured.
In his previous life, Jiang Chen had seen Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pines that far surpassed the Heaven Grade. But this particular tree had only just left its seedling stage and could only be ranked at Heaven Grade for the time being.
The Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine was an extraordinary species. Its appearance was ever-shifting—its color, its shape, constantly in flux. Its greatest trait, however, was its ability to become invisible. Ordinary naked eyes, even those trained in eye techniques, would struggle to detect it. And this concealment was unique in that it masked not only the tree's physical form but its spiritual energy as well.
If not for a fortunate coincidence, Jiang Chen would have missed this Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine entirely.
"The Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine—reflected upon meeting water, revealed upon meeting gold. So it truly is one. What incredible fortune, what incredible fortune!"
Jiang Chen circled the tree several times, his heart pounding with excitement.
Obtaining this Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine meant that even if he were teleported out right now, he'd still have come out massively ahead. He'd entered Phantom Wave Mountain with nothing more ambitious than plundering some True Saint Grade spiritual medicines and sweeping up a batch of Saint Grade ones. As for Earth Grade specimens—finding them would be a blessing, but he wouldn't push his luck if they didn't appear.
But who could have imagined his luck would be this extraordinary, granting him a Heaven Grade spirit tree? And this was no ordinary spirit tree. One could say that every part of the Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine was a treasure.
Its pine needles shed once a year, and with each shedding, the tree's quality improved by a tier. The shed leaves and needles were all excellent alchemy ingredients.
The Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine also bore fruit once a year. Though the yield was modest, its pine cones were one of the two primary ingredients needed to refine the Pine Crane Pill.
If the Longevity Pill was a quasi-Earth Grade pill that extended the lifespan of Saint Realm powerhouses, then the Pine Crane Pill was a true Heaven Grade pill that extended the lifespan of Emperor Realm powerhouses.
One of the two core ingredients of the Pine Crane Pill was the pine cones of the Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine.
A single Longevity Pill had been enough to send an old monster at the peak of the Saint Realm like Xiang Wentian into a frenzy. A single Pine Crane Pill would likely send shockwaves through every Emperor Realm old monster on the entire Divine Abyss Continent—and even Great Emperor-level powerhouses would take notice. Because the Pine Crane Pill retained half its efficacy even for beings at the Great Emperor level.
If the Pine Crane Pill could extend an Emperor Realm powerhouse's lifespan by eight hundred years, then for a Titled Great Emperor, it would extend their life by at least three to five hundred years.