Chapter 302 Flamegrass
Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
The one who stopped them was an elder that guarded the purple card zone. Before they entered, the elder suddenly stretched out his arm, blocking them.
You XiaoMo asked respectfully, “Might I know your name, elder?”
That person said, “My surname is Zhou, you may refer to me as Elder Zhou.”
You XiaoMo again, respectfully asked, “Elder Zhou, may two people share a card?”
If possible, he wouldn’t need to show his card, and he could go with Ling Xiao to the red card zone together.
But then, Elder Zhou said without hesitation, “No. One card per person. If you only have one card between you, only one person can enter.”
The passersby began to whisper among themselves, hearing You XiaoMo’s words, some even mockingly laughing, like You XiaoMo’s question was funny.
You XiaoMo didn’t think his question was funny, and he thought for a moment before asking, “Can we lend our cards to others, then?”
Elder Zhou cast a cold glance the laughing bystanders, causing them to fall silent. He then replied, “There are no rules about that.”
The reason that there were no rules against that was because no one was dumb enough to lend their card to someone else in the first place.
In this world, there was no such thing as an absolute friend, and even your kin could betray you. That was why the school didn’t set rules against it. Even if people like that existed, they definitely wouldn’t be the majority.
You XiaoMo was delighted, no rules meant no restrictions.
Upon realizing this, he immediately took out his red card.
When the surrounding people saw his red card, sounds of surprise immediately erupted from the crowd. Everyone’s incredulous gazes also held traces of jealousy, envy, greed…
Elder Zhou’s surprise was also clear. He asked, “You don’t happen to be You XiaoMo, one of the two champions among the new students, do you?”
You XiaoMo was taken aback. “You know me?”
He had only just gotten to Ward A; no matter how big of a reputation he had, they wouldn’t recognize him, right?
Elder Zhou’s serious expression softened a little. “Your name is known to practically the entirety of Ward A.”
How could anyone have not heard of Duan QiTian’s pupil? However, the reason why he was identified was because of his red card as the news had spread on the day of their enrollment. Many people already knew of how You XiaoMo had defeated an old student and also how he had a red card.
You XiaoMo scratched his head in embarrassment; he could guess why.
Elder Zhou soon let them in and the two went for the third passage again.
It was probably because many people had heard of them, so there was no lack of curious heads that turned their way, gazes curious. There were much less people in the purple card zone, probably less than a fifth of the amount of people in the black card zone. But, those who could enter the purple card zone were either powerful or had powerful backers.
The further they walked, the less people there were. They stopped in front of room number 49, at the end of the hall.
You XiaoMo opened the door, revealing two dais.
There was a specialized lock on the door. If one didn’t want anyone to come in, one could lock it and the people outside would be locked out. Since there were plenty of rooms, there had never been a situation where someone couldn’t find a free room.
You XiaoMo pushed Ling Xiao inside, closing the door as he walked in rather fast and separating them from all those gazes.
The rooms on the third hall required seven points. It was a little expensive, but worth the expense.
You XiaoMo paid seven points, sat down cross legged, and began to cultivate. Doubtlessly, the influx of energy was far faster than the black card zone, so it wouldn’t have problems keeping up with the speed at which he took it in; conversely, he might actually be unable to keep up with it.
Having realized this, You XiaoMo was filled with elation and began to absorb the energy like crazy.
After half a day, You XiaoMo looked inwardly and found that the central light green crystal had become fully green. Before, he was always that much away from changing it, so hadn’t been expecting that he would make so much progress these few hours. The effects were amazing; no wonder everyone scrambled to get here first.
As he absorbed energy, Ling Xiao had already stopped cultivating, sitting opposite him and watching him with his chin on his hand.
Though he didn’t look like he was cultivating on the outside, but if one used their sixth sense they would find that the energy from the dais was really being absorbed, little by little.
In comparison to his uncaring mood, You XiaoMo was frantic.
For him, a day passed in the blink of an eye.
When You XiaoMo next opened his eyes, it was already the third day. Ling Xiao had helped him swipe his card in the middle, allowing him to keep cultivating without a disruption for another day.
You XiaoMo didn’t know this. He jumped up happily. In these few days, he could feel himself approaching a breakthrough, having gained progress that would usually take him half a month.
“Let’s go try out the red card zone together tomorrow.”
Having tried out the benefits, You XiaoMo’ thoughts turned towards the red card zone.
Ling Xiao said, “You’re wrong.”
You XiaoMo blinked, “Huh?”
Ling Xiao glanced at him. “Did you forget how it’s one card per person?”
You XiaoMo rubbed his nose. “Uh… I did forget. Then what do we do?”
Ling Xiao folded his arms in front of his chest, thinking for a moment before speaking. “We have two solutions. One, is that we split up. The other is that we get another red card.”
You XiaoMo said, “The second is a little too hard isn’t it? To get a red card you need ten thousand points in your card and pay eight hundred of them. That’s too expensive.”
That wasn’t all. Ten thousand points was no anthill, especially in Ward A. Once everyone had gotten enough points, they would come to cultivate in the Cultivation Center. The amount of points spent was probably equal to the amount the earned, unless it was a large power, like one that specialized in selling magic pills. They might be able to make enough.
Ling Xiao said, “There’s got to be another way.”
There were less than twenty red card holders in Ward A, but that was because every year, a bunch of students would graduate and, among them, there was no lack of red card holders.
There had to be another way of getting a red card. It was just that they didn’t know.
You XiaoMo thought that that was logical, too, and stood up, saying, “Then let’s go. Tong YueXu should know. Let’s find him.”
So the two stopped cultivating and went to find Tong YueXu.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find him. After entering the Cultivation Center together, he hadn’t come back out and neither had Feng ChiYun
They couldn’t do anything about that, so they returned home to rest. After an hour, they left again.
This time they headed for the Magic Herb Pavilion, having yet to collect their rewards for first place.
The Magic Herb Pavilion was in the South East and the security was just as heavy as the Soul Training and Skill Training Pavilions. The security measures were almost exactly the same.
After identifying him as You XiaoMo of Block Two, the Elder guarding the place stared at him for moment before letting him in, and saying, “Come out immediately after finding the herb you want.”
You XiaoMo nodded at once. “Understood, Elder.”
Then he went in with Ling Xiao. The elder had never said they couldn’t go in together.
The Magic Herb Pavilion was massive, with transparent barriers everywhere. Inside these barriers were stalk after stalk of rare and high levelled magic herbs. Most of them were mid-grade, though there were a few low and high grade ones.
You XiaoMo was glad that he had spent so much time learning inside the old geezer’s library. He could knew most of the level eight and nine magic herbs and though some he didn’t know much about, he could still name them
“Heart Blossoms, Twilight Herbs, Demon Grass, Open Spirit Herbs…”
You XiaoMo had to repress the urge to salivate as he named them each aloud. These were all level eight and nine herbs, and it made his heart itch, but he knew these weren’t to be touched.
Soon enough, he found his target – Flamegrass!
Flamegrass was red all over. Not just the leaves, even the roots were a vivid fire red. Through the barrier, he could see the slight white glow of the leaves and stem. This was a mid-grade magic herb and there was plenty of energy within the leaves and stem. If he soaked it in spiritual water, it could very well breakthrough mid-grade and become a high-grade magic herb.
Thinking of this, You XiaoMo immediately took out the badge the elder had given him and, after swiping it, the barrier disappeared, exposing the Flamegrass.
You XiaoMo happily picked it up along with the jade box for storing it. It was most likely for the person who came to collect it anyways. Before he left, he glanced back at the other herbs with some longing.
“Do you want to take them?” Ling Xiao suddenly cuffed him around the head.
“… I’m just looking,” You XiaoMo replied.
If he didn’t look now, he would probably never get another chance, because these herbs were far too expensive. A level eight magic herb needed more than a thousand points. Level nine was even more expensive, topping two, three thousand. He wouldn’t be coming back any time soon. If only they had seeds; those probably wouldn’t be nearly as expensive.
Ling Xiao said, “If you want, we can…”
You XiaoMo hurriedly covered his mouth. “My friend, the walls have ears. It’s better to not say things like that. Let’s just go.”
Then, he pulled Ling Xiao from the Magic Herb Pavilion. He checked in with the elder before leaving, returning the badge.