Chapter 413: Revisiting Herb Plane

With Uriel's help, characters from an unknown language had been successfully inscribed to the arena platform. Over 50,000 symbols, words, alphabets, and odd doodles that only appeared in fantasy genre novels shone as soon as the array was completed.

"Alright, it's done. Let's leave the stage, and let the array do the work," Uriel nodded in satisfaction as he levitated away from the platform.

Miaomiao followed after the archangel, flying to the sky and watching the magic.

The random words and symbols slowly merged together at the center of the platform, and a green portal emerged, hovering over the array.

"Oh!" Miaomiao rubbed his hands, looking forward to reuniting and uniting with a certain MILF dryad.

"Okay. My job here is done."

"Wait. How can I open or close the portal? Could you teach me?"

"Nay. The portal will be permanently opened because of the presence of the Life Essence Pylon Tower. Life Essence has a high affinity with Wood Element Core of the plane, so it will continue to attract to each other until the core is moved to this world."

"If we bring the core to this world, what about the plane?"

"Obviously, it will cease to exist."

"..."

"You don't have to worry about that. That plane is on the verge of falling apart after that wood dragon kicked the bucket. You might want to migrate the dryads and the monster beasts from that plane here."

Not only Uriel suggested Miaomiao migrate the dryads to Siren City, but he also wanted the latter to take in the residents of that plane.

Miaomiao was reluctant whether that was a good idea. He still remembered wild monster trees, insects, and man-eating plants that elders from Myriad Cauldron Sect had told him about.

"Oh, well. Since it's permanently open, can I travel back and forth between planes?"

"Sure. Go ahead. Oh, by the way, I've done everything I could. It's time for me to return home."

"Already? Why don't you stay for a day or two?"

"No can do. The world guardians will have a heart attack if I keep staying here."

"Ah, too bad."

"Well, at least, no sane world guardian will find trouble with you ever again after all the stunts you pulled. Now, they know who has your back."

Miaomiao smiled at Uriel and extended his hand, gesturing a handshake by reflex.

As if Uriel understood the modern culture, his gas hand grabbed Miaomiao's hand.

"Again, thank you. Give my regards to Joshua, please."

"You're welcome. We always welcome good angel candidates."

"You're too kind. Are all angels and Joshua's followers as friendly as you?"

Uriel shrugged, "Depends. Some are kind, but some are downright assholes. In the end, everyone walks a different road, but they are heading to the same finishing line. I'm just a shepherd, and the rest of the mortals and immortals are lost sheep."

"..."

"Alright, enough preaching. I need to smoke, and I can't smoke "IT" in this mortal world. Also, I'll be waiting for you in Heaven."

Uriel left Miaomiao, but he hadn't departed from the planet yet.

Despite saying that he needed to smoke, Uriel and Azazel talked to the beastmen, the yin slaves, Zhao Bao, monks, orcs, and children in Siren City. Everyone received a mini-bible pocketbook and a strange leaflet, which summarized the teaching of 10 commandments.

Strangely, the monks, Zhao Bao, Zhang Jue, and the orcs welcomed the free stuff since the books promoted peace, order, and moral integrity.

Uriel and Azazel opened another light portal in the middle of the sky and disappeared into the gate afterward. The door to the divine realm was gone along with the duo.

Now that the guardians were gone, Miaomiao decided to visit the herb plane once more. He approached the green portal.

"Wait, Miaomiao."

Wei Yuan and several girls grinned. They carried their weapons as if they had prepared for a wild adventure trip.

"You're not going to follow me, aren't you?"

"If we don't, you'll probably bring another woman home. Also," Wei Yuan got closer to Miaomiao and sent a system message.

[You haven't properly introduced the spider woman to us yet. There's also an issue about Wu Guotai since she can't openly join us during the daytime.]

Miaomiao glanced at the message and nodded.

"I'll do something about them. For now, I need to introduce you girls to a new big sister. She is our benefactor and the origin of the hollowed spring water."

"Oh?"

Now, the girls were more interested.

"Is she the dryad queen you told me about?"

"Yeah. The 7th-stage dryad."

"Cool, another powerful sister..."

Wei Yuan patted her forehead and sighed. Her husband's indiscriminate sexual desire made her peaceful family life complicated.

Still, all Miaomiao's concubines and yin slaves were either talented individuals or influential figures. As long as they were useful for Miaomiao and Siren City, she didn't mind having another big sister or little sister.

"Oh, check your spatial rings. Make sure you have a lot of room in there since we will probably need to carry a lot of stuff back."

...

Miaomiao, Wei Yuan, Kang Yan, Ma Xingjuan, Ju Shoufen, Dandan, Mao Xueyan, and the girl gang entered the herb plane.

Most of them had never entered this place before. When they found themselves in the middle of a wide herb farm, they were astonished.

As for Ju Shoufen, who was familiar with this place, she took a deep breath, inhaling the greenish smell of various herbal plants.

"I miss this place. It has been a while."

The endless field of greenery and the aroma of precious herbs soothed everyone's mind, except for Miaomiao.

As his brain had been constantly improved by the system and his cultivation base, he remembered this place.

It was supposed to be the interior of the herb farm, which was close to the wood element cornfields. However, there was no good corn left, only a field of plucked vegetables remained.

Secondly, this place should have been rich in wood Qi to the point that weak 4th-stage cultivators might get suffocated from staying around here for a few seconds. Yet, Miaomiao could only sense a few strands of wood Qi in the air.

Something might have happened when Miaomiao was away.

"Shoufen, where is the protective array?"

"Hmm?"

Ju Shoufen looked around for a moment. Then, she realized the anomaly.

At the border of the herb field, no protection array was active. The Qi in the air was scarce, and the area near the border was in ruin.

"Ah, crap. I think the ents and the bugs might have invaded the field."

"Are they friends or foes?"

"They're the dryad queen's subordinates. Considering your connection... relation with her, we'll be fine."

"Hmm."

Miaomiao leaped to the sky and started scanning the plane.

When he visited here last year, he was a 3rd-stage weakling. But now, he could see the scenery and the geography of the plane for the first time.

It was a bit bigger than the shadow realm of Liu Bian as no mountain existed here. The forest occupied half of the realm while the other half was cultivated farmlands.

A massive tomb with a dragon statue, which Miaomiao had never seen before, was located at the edge of the plane, far deep inside the dryad forest.

As soon as Miaomiao gazed at the statue from a distance, the piece of time-and-space mural, which Hopea had entrusted him, emitted strong Qi as if it resonated with the statue.

"Seven murals... Seven dragons..."

Curious by the background of Hopea's time-and-space mural, Miaomiao decided to pay the statue a visit. He turned to the girls, "I'm going to visit the statue in the dryad forest! If you want to collect the herbs, stay here and avoid the forest. Anyone that isn't confident of taking on nascent soul realm monsters, stay in a group and don't wander around!"

After warning the girls, Miaomiao rushed to the statue right away.

The girls didn't even have a chance to reply. Miaomiao had already departed.

Wei Yuan, Ju Shoufen, Kang Yan, and Ma Xingjuan took flight and followed Miaomiao. As for the rest, they stayed behind as they were attracted to the herb farms.

...

Several minutes later, Miaomiao reached the giant stone statue of a dragon.

He landed before the monument. At the base of the statue, there was an inscribed plaque.

[Protect the nature, and the nature shall protect you. The same goes with Karma and Luck. Keep doing good deeds and the good deeds will reward you when you least expect it. Keep committing murders and your heart and soul will be devoured by anger, desire, and vain pride.]

The dragon's message seemed like what a kind grandfather would teach their grandchildren.

Miaomiao wryly smiled as he patted the stone monument. Strangely, not a speck of dust was on the text.

Someone had been taking care of this monument.

"What's that, Miaomiao?"

Ju Shoufen and others arrived. They looked at the memorial plaque at the base of the statue.

"Probably a tombstone of the deceased dragon."

Miaomiao remembered what Uriel had just told him earlier. A wood dragon, who might be the core of this plane, had already died. He figured that by the time that he had met Hopea, the dragon might have already passed away long before.

After all, from Nero's testimony, murals of time and space were under the protection of various sealed dragons in mortal planes or worlds. The piece of mural in Hopea's hands might have been given to her by the dead dragon.

Miaomiao gazed at the stone statue on the top of the stone base. The dragon gazed at a distance while it sat. Yet, it looked majestic and dignified like what an honorable dragon should be.

As Miaomiao was looking at the stone statue, he noticed the flow of water, which slowly dripped from the statue's eyes as if it was crying.

"..."

Miaomiao flew closer to the eyes of the dragon statue and wiped the teardrop. Then, he inspected the clear water on his finger.

The water drop seeped into his skin right away.

At first, Miaomiao felt like the water drop was similar to hollowed spring water, but it was different.

A few seconds later, the drop of water entered Miaomiao's bloodstream. Then, it consumed Miaomiao's blood cells and multiplied!

"!!!"

Miaomiao flew away from the dragon statue and attempted to eject all external substance from his body.

But it was too late. The previous water drop had taken over half of his blood and flowed all over his body, including his heart and his brain.

"Ah, fuck. What have I done!?"

Miaomiao took out a one-liter bottle of unified spring water and chugged the content down his throat in one gulp. He exhaled and closed his eyes, concentrating on his blood and Qi within his body.

Before Miaomiao could figure what the water drop was doing inside his body, Dion gave him a system notification.

Ding

[Congratulations, you have ingested a drop of Wood Dragon's Blood Essence!]

[The bloodline of the wood dragon shall be integrated into your blood system and your physique. Estimated time of merging process - one week.]

[Due to the insufficient Life Essence Capacity, the system shall automatically adjust your physique, dantian, blood vessels, bone marrow, and Life Essence allocation.]

[You will be forced to sleep until the adjustment is completed. You also won't be entering the Isolation Training Space as the system needs your conscience to take a short rest.]

[Good night, Miaomiao.]

"Huh!?"

BADUMB

Miaomiao's heart suddenly shook, and his vision blurred. He clenched his left chest as if he was having a heart attack or a stroke.

Then, he fell from the sky.

"MIAOMIAO!!"

The girls caught him before his head could crash on the hard ground. They were panicked as well.

Miaomiao fell unconscious. For once, he didn't enter the Isolation Training Space after sleep.

He really fell asleep.

While the girls were confused about what had happened to Miaomiao, Wei Yuan glanced at Dion's system messages with a dark expression.

At the same time, the written message on the monument plaque changed. Instead of the preachy and philosophical words, they became direct messages to Miaomiao.

[Mao Miaomiao, the irregular existence of Planet Earth, thank you for visiting me, and thank you for helping my disciple, Emerald Hopea.]

[I have foreseen the future. I saw the day that you would come here and inherit my bloodline instead of Xie Tian. I have foreseen this day's event when you swipe my tear of regret. And I have foreseen the cruel future that you'll experience in the years to come.]

[You, who carry the great fate and the devil's star on your shoulders, are the hope of us, dragons. You are the hope of all humans, demons, and beastmen alike.]