Spirit Plant Harvest on Mount Wuling

The view on Mount Wuling was stunning to say the least. The rugged cliffs contrasted perfectly against the verdant hillsides, creating an exotic appeal.

The second he arrived, Di Tian was immediately taken by the natural beauty of the terrains, but he did not dare let his guard down. No one needed to remind him that the area could possibly be a danger zone. He proceeded to move with caution, exploring the small bushes that grew on the sides of the mountain.

It seemed luck was on his side today as he discovered a peculiar shrub less than ten minutes into his hike. From a distance, it glowed with a faint luminescence. In fact, it was the glow that caught Di Tian's attention.

Typically, spirit plants were distinguishable from normal plants by some characteristic features that set them apart, an example of which was luminescence. As the shrub was glowing, it most likely was a spirit plant. Di Tian was naturally excited but he did not approach the plant immediately.

His caution was not altogether unfounded.

"The Life Encyclopedia mentioned that it's common for spiritual plants to have creatures guarding it," he mumbled to himself. Such animals were usually smart enough to slowly consume portions off the spirit plants so that they could regrow the eaten parts over and over again; a primitive method of herb cultivation.

Di Tian first brought out a pair of binoculars from his backpack and scouted the area. There were no bears or wolves in sight, and as their physical forms were hard to hide in the plain landscape, Di Tian eliminated the possibility of them being present nearby.

Instead, he strongly suspected that small creatures like snakes and scorpions might be secretly guarding the spirit plant. Their features made it such that they could blend perfectly with the background to escape from any detection anyways.

"It's a good thing I have a plan," Di Tian chuckled and brought out another item from his backpack.

It was a weird looking contraption that had an inbuilt lasso, a hook and a retractable pulley base.

The person Di Tian purchased it from had called it a SnagLasso. While the equipment was low-tech, its function was very practical as it was capable of being controlled remotely to latch on to small plants from a distance for retrieval. It basically worked like a fishing rod, but for small plants.

Di Tian calculated the target carefully and ejected the hook at the end of the line. His aim was successful as the hook pierced through the stalk of the shrub in the distance.

That done, he waited first to see if a scorpion or a snake would reveal itself. Nothing happened.

Di Tian proceeded to reel the SnagLasso back in with the inbuilt remote retraction mechanism, yanking the roots of the shrub free from the soil in the process. In no time, the shrub was in front of him.

Even without touching the spirit plant, Di Tian could sense the abundant energy contained within it. But just to be safe, he did not consume it immediately. After all, for all he knew, the spirit plant might have adverse properties.

He planned to peruse some information about the native herbs and plants in the region later to make guesses about what plant this spirit shrub was before its mutation. That way, he would be able to speculate the nature of its medicinal property.

Wearing a glove, Di Tian removed the hook from the shrub's stem and carefully wrapped the root in a damp paper towel before placing it in a plastic bag. This was the most basic preservation method he could make use of, given his limited tools.

*****

Di Tian continued his hike and found two more spirit plants before the day ran out.

He recognized one of the two to be a Wild Ginseng, now a mutation Spirit Ginseng. Di Tian didn't know what the other herb was, but he retrieved both from a distance with his SnagLasso.

Strangely, Di Tian didn't encounter any wild beasts guarding these spirit plants and was able to retrieve them with ease. While he had no idea if this was an anomaly or just a coincidence, he still maintained his caution.

"I'll sleep here for the night here," Di Tian found a rocky plain that looked relatively safe and set his makeshift tent there. But to be on the safe side, he added a few extra precautions to bar potentially intruding insects or reptiles before entering the tent to sleep.

The next day, he woke up feeling refreshed.

"I'll be leaving here tomorrow morning, so let's make the best out of today as much as possible," Di Tian resolutely decided to explore more ground today.

Just like yesterday, he discovered and successfully retrieved three more spirit plants before the day ran out. This time, he didn't recognize any of the herbs.

"This is the second day, and I've not encountered a single creature," Di Tian was most confused about this.

The parts of Mount Wuling he had explored so far were completely devoid of animal life. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen as much as a single insect over the past two days.

"Am I just being paranoid, or is something truly amiss here?" he thought to himself, knowing fully well that it was impossible for the ecosystem of this mountain to consist of plant life alone.

Just to be sure, Di Tian ended up actually venturing into the small bushes nearby to see for himself if he would find something; pollinating insects, worms in the soil or even herbivorous insects such as grasshoppers. He found nothing.

"Maybe a mass migration happened, given the recent mutation factor introduced to the planet," Di Tian speculated.

Only a tenth of Mount Wuling had been explored by him so far, and although he was curious to know if he would indeed find some animal life upon further exploration, there was actually no need too as he had already gotten what he was looking for. This was the train of thought running through Di Tian's mind as he made his tent for the night and went to bed.

******

Barely a few minutes into dawn, the tent shook softly.

From his sleep, Di Tian was gripped by a strong sense of danger. Abruptly, he jerked awake and cast his gaze towards the entrance.