It had to be said, Cao Jin might appear arrogant, but he was actually very cautious. He understood how to assess the situation perfectly, just like back at the Dan Qian Palace—when things looked bad, he turned and left immediately.
Now, entering the ancient medicinal garden, although the intelligence from the Three Stars Sect suggested nothing other than the Divine Confusion Miasma posed a threat to him, he remained vigilant, adopting the posture of a lion using its full strength to capture a rabbit.
Influenced by Cao Jin's mindset, Fatty Wu and Shi Zhen also didn't dare to relax.
Although they both felt that neither Jiang Chen nor the elder from the Holy Sword Sect posed any real threat to them, they knew that while accidents were rare, they weren't impossible.
The trio spread their spiritual senses to the fullest, forming a triangular search pattern as they began scouring the ancient medicinal garden.
The area of the garden was less than one-tenth of the main Huanbo Mountain. Their spiritual senses were all very powerful, especially Cao Jin's, whose coverage was astonishingly broad.
After two or three hours, all three had found many clues. However, these were traces left behind by the people of the six great sects long ago. The people were gone, the tea was cold, and while some remnants remained, they clearly weren't of much help.
Shi Zhen, in particular, felt somewhat frustrated. During the search, he'd seen many traces of Earth-grade spiritual medicines having been harvested, making him beat his chest in vexation.
"Senior Brother Cao, look at this..."
Shi Zhen's tone suddenly became urgent. "This is the residue left by Holy Infant Grass. This patch of land definitely produced a large quantity of Holy Infant Grass!"
"How many?" Cao Jin asked in a deep voice.
If it was just a few dozen or a hundred stalks, the attraction for Cao Jin wouldn't be significant.
"Judging by the area this grass covered, I'd say it should have been several thousand, even up to ten thousand stalks." Shi Zhen's breathing grew heavy.
That much Holy Infant Grass—even for the Nine Sun Heavenly Sect, it was astonishing wealth.
Cao Jin's blue eyebrows lifted. He pondered, "Does that mean the rumors from the Holy Sword Sect about Jiang Chen getting several thousand stalks are most likely true?"
"Real or not, once we grab that kid, won't we know everything?" Fatty Wu sneered.
The three exchanged glances and set off again.
Before long, they arrived at a high cliff. Shi Zhen suddenly held up a hand, a strange look flickering across his eyes.
"What is it?" Fatty Wu frowned.
"There should be a high-grade spiritual medicine around here." As a Second-Rank Alchemist, Shi Zhen's judgment in this area obviously surpassed Cao Jin and Fatty Wu's.
"How high-grade?"
Shi Zhen's gaze pierced towards the cliff face, and he nodded. "Let me go take a look."
Cao Jin and Fatty Wu both frowned, clearly somewhat displeased by Shi Zhen's action.
Shi Zhen smiled lightly. "Relax, whatever I find, just deduct it from my share later."
Cao Jin and Fatty Wu exchanged a glance. After all, whatever they found after catching Jiang Chen would be split anyway. However much Shi Zhen got now, they could deduct it then.
"Be careful," Cao Jin cautioned.
Shi Zhen nodded, grabbed something, and pulled out a medicinal hoe. His figure turned into a streak of light, gliding towards the cliff wall.
A Saint-realm expert already possessed the divine ability of flight. Shi Zhen had obviously cultivated a special movement technique, and as he leaped, he resembled a great bird, arriving at the cliff face in the blink of an eye.
The cliff was overgrown with shrubs and bushes. Shi Zhen extended his spiritual sense fully, probing around, until his gaze suddenly locked onto a patch of grass fifty or sixty meters to his right.
"Heaven-grade spiritual medicine? Sun-Eating Celestial Luo Fungus?"
Shi Zhen was overjoyed. He hadn't expected that a Heaven-grade spiritual medicine would be hidden here!
Moreover, this Sun-Eating Celestial Luo Fungus wasn't an ordinary Heaven-grade medicine.
However, why hadn't such a conspicuous Heaven-grade spiritual medicine been discovered by anyone from the Myriad Phenomena Region before? As Shi Zhen was about to step forward to harvest it, he suddenly stopped.
He felt the appearance of this Heaven-grade medicine was somewhat strange.
Could there be a trap?
Shi Zhen wasn't a reckless person. Thinking of this, he didn't rush to pick it. Instead, he stayed put and observed for a while, circling the area near the medicine, scrutinizing whether it was real or fake.
Obviously, this Heaven-grade medicine was real beyond doubt. The rich spiritual energy and its lifelike appearance couldn't be simulated by any illusion.
While Shi Zhen hesitated, Fatty Wu called from below, "Senior Brother Shi Zhen, time is pressing. Why are you dithering?"
Cao Jin, however, asked, "Junior Brother Shi Zhen, what did you see?"
Fearing the two would press him and come up to check themselves, Shi Zhen quickly replied, "Better safe than sorry. I'm just checking if there are any traps in the area."
Having said that, Shi Zhen stopped hesitating. Thinking it over, he wondered if he was being too cautious? With Cao Jin and Fatty Wu down below, and considering his own strength was not inferior, there was really no need to be this wary of mere Myriad Phenomena Region people.
A Holy Sword Sect elder? At most, he was an Earth Saint realm expert.
And as for Jiang Chen, the intelligence clearly stated he was only a Yuan realm martial artist.