Chapter 35: Weeding, Triggered by Wang Liang...

Led by Qingfeng and Mingyue to the back courtyard, Wang Liang was stunned by the scene before his eyes.
When he was on his way, he had already guessed that the ginseng fruit tree must be massive.
However, he never imagined it would be outrageously, absurdly huge.
When he first glanced into the back courtyard through the side gate, he had only seen a fruit tree no taller than three meters standing alone within the yard. He had formed this judgment entirely because the courtyard's three-and-a-half-meter-high wall completely blocked the fruit tree from view.
Yet, the moment he stepped through the side gate into the back courtyard, everything changed. It was as if he had arrived in another dimension; the first thing that met his eyes was a giant tree towering thousands of meters into the sky.
Looking up, he couldn't see the top of the tree at all. Its canopy completely blotted out the sunlight, giving the back courtyard a somewhat eerie and gloomy atmosphere.
The ground was covered in thick, solid earth, and when he stepped on it, it felt as hard as an iron plate.
Next, he saw the roots of the massive tree. The trunk of the tree before him was of an unfathomable width; Wang Liang looked to the left and right, but could not see the boundaries of the tree at all.
Weeds half a person tall grew luxuriantly beneath the tree, yet those weeds were unable to surpass the exposed roots spreading across the ground.
"This tree..."
"This is the ginseng fruit tree. Come, I will teach you how to weed." Mingyue led Wang Liang beneath the tree and pointed at the half-person-high weeds on the ground, saying, "You can't pull these weeds out by hand, nor can you cut them with a blade. No metal-bearing objects are allowed in this small courtyard; as you can see, your magical treasures and the like were left right outside at the entrance.
Therefore, you can only use spells. I will teach you a weeding incantation here. It's a very simple spell, but its range isn't very large, and your weeding speed must be fast. Otherwise, if you walk a circle and come back, you will find that the weeds you just cleared over here have already grown back."
Wang Liang tried reciting the weeding incantation. With a single cast, the weeds in the surrounding area quickly withered and turned into black mud sludged across the ground.
Yet Wang Liang did not feel excited because of his successful spellcasting. When he sensed the spiritual energy consumed by casting the spell, and then looked back up at the sheer volume of weeds under this tree, his expression grew somewhat grim.
Even so, he lowered his head and walked toward the weeds.
Watching Wang Liang move forward, a trace of curiosity flickered in Mingyue's eyes.
For the past thousand-plus years, the task of weeding this place had always fallen to him. Now, he quite wanted to see what methods Wang Liang might come up with to accelerate the weed clearance.
Actually, Wang Liang had no particular methods at all.
If he could have brought his magical treasures inside, he would undoubtedly have chosen to use the Life-Slashing Saber at the very first moment.
If he were allowed to use fire, he would certainly have found a way to burn the weeds here to ashes in one sweep.
Now that neither method could be used, Wang Liang could only honestly and obediently rely on this weeding incantation.
However, Wang Liang was not a rigid person; his mind had been constantly turning.
After using the weeding incantation a few times, he discovered that the spell Mingyue taught him actually still had some room for improvement.
This discovery made Wang Liang stop in his tracks and gently tap his own head.
Wang Liang did not believe he possessed the insight to instantly spot problems that others had failed to notice for thousands of years. Thus, this weeding incantation was most likely a test given by Great Immortal Zhenyuan to his disciples.
This must be intended to make his disciples master this weeding incantation while also learning some foundational spells.
Could it be that Great Immortal Zhenyuan wanted him to learn this?
While clearing weeds, Wang Liang's thoughts wandered restlessly.
In the end, Wang Liang decided to give his own idea a try.
He finally stopped, sat down beside the roots of the ginseng fruit tree, and fell into deep contemplation.
Wang Liang's actions naturally caught Mingyue's attention. Just as he was about to step forward to remind Wang Liang, he unexpectedly saw Great Immortal Zhenyuan appear nearby.
"This little fellow's mind is cluttered with stray thoughts, much like the weeds in the garden. He could have come straight here, yet he stirred up trouble all along the way. Let him ponder deeply and root out the weeds in his heart so that he may quiet his mind for cultivation."
Hearing Great Immortal Zhenyuan say this, Mingyue finally understood their master's intention. He did not dare to ask what his master planned to do next, and simply stood there watching Wang Liang sink into deep meditation.
Great Immortal Zhenyuan knew very well that this kind of contemplation would take some time.
He pointed toward the sky above the back courtyard garden, and the sun, previously blocked by the ginseng fruit tree, actually stopped in its tracks across the firmament. Even the breeze rustling the weeds froze halfway, making the foliage look rather bizarre.
However, Great Immortal Zhenyuan truly underestimated the troubles Wang Liang had stirred up along his journey.
He assumed Wang Liang had merely arrived a step late due to delaying himself with some matters along the road, and therefore didn't take it to heart. In truth, starting from Chang'an City in the Xin Dynasty, the disturbances caused by Wang Liang were beginning to ferment one by one. Wang Liang was like a butterfly that had already triggered a massive storm.
Because Wang Liang had slain the Tiger Pioneer and reported the matter upward, the internal authorities of Chang'an City uncovered a sinister conspiracy.
Although they did not yet know what the Yellow Wind Monster intended to do, the garrison guards throughout Chang'an City were now conducting a full-scale manhunt for anyone connected to the Yellow Wind Monster.
As it happened, the Yellow Wind Monster, rushing in from the west, appeared once more. He had originally intended to sneak into the city covertly, but because Chang'an City was currently in an extraordinary state of heightened alert with troops massed everywhere, he was spotted the moment he approached the city.
The city's garrison directly sortied, riding out to wage a fierce battle against the Yellow Wind Monster whom Wang Liang had encountered on the road.
The brutal battle lasted for a day and a night, culminating in the Xin Dynasty army slaying over a hundred tiger demons and a yellow-weasel spirit, seizing a barrel of lamp oil as their spoils of war.
According to circulating rumors, that battle was choked with billowing yellow sand, and soldiers could not even see their own hands in front of their faces. Many soldiers were ambushed and killed precisely because they could not see the enemy.
Some martial experts also deduced that this yellow sand was a composite-type monster: the presence of the tiger demons was meant to whip up the gale force winds, the yellow-weasel spirit was the true controller of the sandstorm, and that barrel of lamp oil served as the source of their power.
Consequently, those martial experts had transported the lamp oil into Chang'an City, intending to find a secure place to thoroughly study where the oil came from and what effects it possessed.
They did not know that, taking advantage of the blinding yellow sandstorm, Liu Xiu had slipped into the ranks of the army and managed to become part of the contingent escorting the lamp oil into Chang'an City.
Thus, Liu Xiu knew precisely where the lamp oil had been delivered.
After entering Chang'an City, Liu Xiu secretly sneaked into the repository where the lamp oil was stored, hoping to acquire some of it for himself.
This was because, while escorting the cargo, he had sensed a relatively powerful force of faith and destiny stored within the lamp oil.
For Liu Xiu, this represented a valuable supplement to his own power.
As a result, when he pried open the barrel of lamp oil, the oil unexpectedly surged forth, spilling into the drainage system of Chang'an City and triggering a massive conflagration across the city.