Chapter 980: Divine Herbs, Herb Garden
TL: Etude
“This time, quite a few True Monarchs have been drawn here!” Ye Tian muttered to himself.
Ignoring the tens of thousands of True Monarchs still observing from afar, there were already over a hundred of them engaged in battle at the entrance to the herb garden.
Strictly speaking, nearly a hundred True Monarchs were besieging two True Monarchs from the True Monarch Rankings.
These two ranked True Monarchs had joined forces, intending to monopolize the herb garden, but the other True Monarchs naturally refused. Thus, they allied to force their way into the garden.
That was the reason for the battle! As for the other True Monarchs on the sidelines, they were too weak—just the residual force from the clash had gravely injured them, making them reluctant to engage further. Yet, they couldn’t bear to abandon such a grand opportunity either.
“The Dao Child of Ten Thousand Laws has arrived!”
Ye Tian’s arrival caught the attention of many True Monarchs.
Even the hundred or so True Monarchs who were locked in combat began to withdraw one by one.
After all, Ye Tian was the number one True Monarch on the True Monarch Rankings. His strength far surpassed that of the others. If Ye Tian decided to join the fray, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
It was safe to say that even if all the True Monarchs present combined their efforts, they might not be able to stop Ye Tian.
In an instant, the battle ended. One by one, the True Monarchs turned their gazes toward Ye Tian, waiting for him to make a decision.
If Ye Tian planned to seize the herb garden and the entire opportunity for himself, they would not simply give in. They would unite to resist him.
Even if they couldn’t defeat him, they could still call for other nearby True Monarchs. As long as they had enough numbers, no matter how strong Ye Tian was, he couldn’t oppose all of them.
Truth be told, Ye Tian did have thoughts of monopolizing both the herb garden and the opportunity at the Dao Field. However, seeing so many True Monarchs present, he knew that doing so would offend far too many individuals and factions.
“I suggest we all enter the herb garden. Whatever divine herbs you can obtain will depend on your own abilities. What do you say?” Ye Tian proposed.
The crowd of True Monarchs was stunned.
After all, in their minds, Ye Tian should have taken the herb garden for himself. If they had his level of strength, they certainly wouldn’t share the divine herbs with others. They would stop at nothing to seize everything for themselves. While they thought this, none of them dared to voice it aloud.
“The Dao Child of Ten Thousand Laws is right! I agree with his suggestion!” one True Monarch shouted.
The other True Monarchs echoed their agreement. If they objected, they might not even get a single stalk of divine herb. Now that there was a chance to enter the herb garden and collect some for themselves, they weren’t foolish enough to oppose it.
The only ones displeased were the two ranked True Monarchs.
Had Ye Tian not shown up, they could have killed the other True Monarchs one by one and taken control of the herb garden. Though they wouldn’t be able to monopolize the Dao Field in the long run—since stronger True Monarchs would eventually arrive—just gaining exclusive access to the herb garden and its divine herbs would have been a massive reward in itself.
But now, with Ye Tian sharing the opportunity, how many divine herbs could the two of them possibly obtain? This wasn’t the outcome they had envisioned at all. However, with Ye Tian having spoken, they dared not oppose him. Otherwise, if he acted against them, they would likely die on the spot.
“We agree as well!”
The two ranked True Monarchs nodded in reluctant acceptance.
“Then let’s all go in!” Ye Tian spoke.
A rush of True Monarchs surged into the herb garden, and no further battles took place.
After entering the garden, Ye Tian saw some corpses—remains of True Monarchs who had entered from the outside, not native to the Dao Field itself.
Earlier, when the herb garden had first been discovered, some True Monarchs had entered and started fighting one another. When the two True Monarch Rankings Monarchs arrived, they slaughtered everyone inside and blocked others at the entrance. But with so many True Monarchs gathering, the two were forced into a fierce struggle, leading to the current situation.
“Formations!”
Ye Tian observed numerous restrictive formations within the herb garden. Nearly every stalk of divine herb was enveloped by a formation, each occupying a small patch of land without interfering with the others.
These formations were mainly designed to prevent the mingling of different medicinal auras. Without them, the presence of other herbs would easily influence the maturity of certain plants, hindering them from reaching peak age.
In some cases, certain herbs—capable of devouring qi—could consume other divine herbs entirely.
To prevent such accidents, the caretakers of the Dao Field had separated the herbs and arranged these formations accordingly.
Of course, these formations weren’t particularly strong. Otherwise, no one would have been able to retrieve any of the divine herbs.
As soon as the True Monarchs entered, they began dismantling the formations one by one. Once a formation was broken, the divine herb inside could be claimed.
Ye Tian wasted no time and began breaking the formation on a nearby herb.
Crack! With a casual strike, Ye Tian shattered a formation and carefully retrieved the herb inside. Judging by its maturity, it was at least 1.1 billion years old—extremely valuable, far surpassing the worth of a top-tier innate origin artifact!
He glanced around and noticed that some True Monarchs struggled with the formations, needing considerable time just to break one.
At their pace, each of them would likely only manage to obtain a single herb.
Ye Tian didn’t slow down. With full focus, he shattered formation after formation, collecting herb after herb.
The others watched with envy as Ye Tian harvested the herbs at an astonishing pace. However, no one dared to compete with him—doing so would be courting death.
Ten stalks. One hundred stalks. One thousand stalks. Ten thousand stalks.
The herb garden contained at least 100,000 stalks of divine herbs, and Ye Tian’s speed was terrifying. In a short time, he had already collected more than 10,000 herbs, and he continued to gather even more.
The two True Monarch Rankings Monarchs also managed to harvest a significant amount, collecting over a thousand herbs each. Though their haul was nowhere near Ye Tian’s, it was still an unimaginable fortune.
Just as Ye Tian anticipated harvesting more than 50,000 herbs, he sensed new presences arriving from the outside.
Among them were three powerful auras—belonging to Half-Step True Ancestors!
When the three Half-Step True Ancestors descended, Ye Tian immediately recognized them:
True Monarch Seafall, True Monarch Golden Throne, and True Monarch Violent Bear!
These three formidable figures arrived at the herb garden but didn’t immediately confront Ye Tian. Instead, they quickly began dismantling formations to collect herbs themselves.
Their speed in harvesting the herbs wasn’t slow, and True Monarch Seafall’s speed even surpassed Ye Tian’s!
However, this didn’t mean True Monarch Seafall was stronger than Ye Tian—only that his method of breaking formations was more refined.
Ye Tian watched as True Monarch Seafall wielded a small wooden stick, tapping lightly on each formation. Wherever the stick touched, the formation shattered like glass struck by an iron rod, crumbling into pieces.
Seeing this, Ye Tian realized he could now only hope to gather around 30,000 herbs at most.
The only consolation was that he had prioritized collecting herbs aged billions of years early on. Additionally, since he had started collecting before the three Half-Step True Ancestors, his harvest was still bound to be the largest.