The massive three-tiered platform looked lofty and sacred from afar.
Up close, one could feel even more strongly the archaic aura emanating from this altar, instilling an immediate sense of reverence.
The elders from the various sects had finished a sweep of the first-tier platform, eliminating all potential dangers.
Only then did Elder Xiang Qian speak: "Alright, there are four spirit fields here, with well over ten thousand Saint-grade spirit medicines. But there are only twenty-odd Origin Realm martial artists. So my proposal is this — the Saint-grade spirit medicines obtained by Origin Realm martial artists, they keep half, and the other half is handed over to their sects."
Over ten thousand Saint-grade spirit medicines distributed among twenty-odd Origin Realm martial artists — each person would get three to four hundred plants.
That number was quite staggering.
According to the harvesting rules of the Phantom Wave Mountain, the spirit medicine obtained should be half surrendered to the sect.
This proposal drew no objections from anyone.
With rules in place, the division became straightforward. Jiang Chen activated his Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil and scanned his surroundings. Before long, he spotted Thousand-Layer Jade Ginseng in the second spirit field.
And there was more than one stalk.
What luck — when it was Ling Bier's turn, the Thousand-Layer Jade Ginseng hadn't been snatched away by anyone else first. So this particular stalk of Thousand-Layer Jade Ginseng ended up in Ling Bier's hands.
Just like that, all four types of spirit medicine on Jiang Chen's list had been fully collected.
After roughly an hour, the ten-odd thousand Saint-grade spirit medicines on the first tier were completely divided up.
The team pressed onward, heading toward the second-tier platform.
"Brother Chen, how many Earth-grade spirit medicines do you think are on the second tier?" Mu Gaoqi asked curiously.
Jiang Chen smiled. "The more the better."
Mu Gaoqi looked a bit dejected. "Even if there are a lot, none of them are ours. I'd actually prefer there to be not a single one — that way they wouldn't get to act all smug."
Wang Han, walking ahead, overheard this. He turned around with a look of contemptuous mockery: "Is this the classic case of sour grapes?"
Mu Gaoqi's lips curled downward. "What's there to be smug about?"
"What? Can't I be smug? I can claim Earth-grade spirit medicines from the second tier. Can you?" Wang Han was clearly showing off on purpose.
Jiang Chen, however, simply tugged at the corner of Mu Gaoqi's sleeve. "Gaoqi, pointless bickering is boring. These Earth-grade spirit medicines are fine and all, but who they'll ultimately end up with is anyone's guess."
Wang Han let out a cold, haughty laugh. "Whoever they end up with, they won't be ending up in the hands of puny characters below the Saint Realm."
"Is that so?" Jiang Chen replied with a faint smile. "Want to make another wager? If an Earth-grade spirit medicine ends up in my hands, will you go eat shit again?"
Those two words — eat shit — had long since become Wang Han's taboo.
His expression darkened upon hearing them. "Ants of the Origin Realm, insignificant creatures — what is there to be smug about? The day you cross paths with me, I'll show you what it means to wish for death but be unable to die!"
At that moment, Elder Chen suddenly turned his head: "Wang Han, why are you wasting your breath on a few Origin Realm nobodies? Don't forget who you are — a genius of the Saint Realm. Keep your eyes looking upward, not always staring down."
The old man and the young one were putting on quite the little act together.
Mu Gaoqi's face had turned the color of pig liver — he was clearly furious.
Shen Qinghong had remained silent throughout, but inwardly he was steeling his resolve: this time, when he returned, he would enter secluded cultivation without fail. He would not emerge until he broke through to the Saint Realm!
As for Ling Bier, even now she was still lost in joy. Her thoughts were not on this ancient medicinal garden at all — they had already flown back to Danxia Valley, back to her own cave dwelling, back to her father's side.
She simply wanted to leave as soon as possible, return to her father's side as soon as possible, and rid him of the Mishenxiang poison.
Jiang Chen, for his part, wore an expression of complete indifference.
In his previous life, he had faced countless Myriad Heavens–level powerhouses who all had to show him proper respect.
Wang Han was merely a first-level Saint Realm cultivator. Even a Titled Emperor — in the Myriad Heavens Planes of his previous life, that wouldn't even be enough to qualify as a gatekeeper.
No matter how strong a Titled Emperor might be, they were merely powerhouses of a mundane plane.
In the Myriad Heavens Planes, they were nothing more than minor characters at the very bottom.
So when Elder Chen and Wang Han tried to provoke him with such words, it was like a breeze passing by his ears — not leaving the slightest trace behind.
After ascending roughly three to four hundred stone steps, they finally reached the second-tier platform.
The platform was remarkably spacious. Its surface was carved with all manner of strange figures — ancient characters, ancient patterns, and dense clusters of tadpole-like runic script that made the whole thing look utterly mysterious.
"This must have been a sacred site for ritual sacrifices in ancient times."
Jiang Chen observed for a while. He recognized most of these things roughly, but the patterns and characters themselves should carry no offensive power whatsoever.
Everyone else, of course, clearly could not read these patterns or characters.
Still, they generally understood that these carried immense symbolic significance — likely totemic script and patterns from antiquity — so they kept to the edges to examine them, not daring to venture closer.
The four spirit fields were situated at the four corners — east, south, west, and north — filled with lush, vibrant Earth-grade spirit medicines competing in splendor, as if they had been blooming uninterrupted since the ancient era, brimming with exuberant vitality.
Jiang Chen swept his gaze across them and felt a jolt of genuine surprise.