Chapter 4

The next day, until the sun was high in the sky, Ye Yiming finally woke up. There was no way around it; he was so excited last night that he couldn't fall asleep, tossing and turning for half the night before finally dozing off.

After eating a meal that could have been breakfast or lunch, Ye Yiming left the Duke's Mansion and went out to wander the streets. In reality, Ye Yiming was heading to a herbal medicine shop.

Because after last night's research, Ye Yiming finally understood one thing: the system was activated because it absorbed the ginseng soup from last night. This also meant that herbs contained cultivation points!

On the way to the herbal medicine shop, Ye Yiming kept muttering to himself: he wasn't the same frivolous young man he used to be. With his current poor physical condition, he might accidentally die at any moment.

Considering all these factors, Ye Yiming ultimately decided to start cultivating. Not for any other reason, just to make his body stronger. Besides, he had a super cultivation system; not using it would be a waste!

However, this time, Ye Yiming had more people with him. As the only heir of the Ye family, the incident had caused a commotion in the Duke's Mansion. Now, when Ye Yiming went out, he had more people protecting him, including a ground-level expert leading the group.

Through his recent understanding, Ye Yiming knew the cultivation levels in this world. From the lowest low-level warrior to the most powerful heaven-level warrior, they were: low-level warrior, mid-level warrior, high-level warrior, human-level warrior, ground-level warrior, and heaven-level warrior.

A ground-level warrior was a dominant figure in a region. Even in the Tianyang Kingdom, only the mayors of larger towns were ground-level experts. Among the people protecting Ye Yiming, there was a ground-level expert, showing how much the Ye family valued his safety.

After walking down several streets, Ye Yiming and his group finally arrived at a herbal medicine shop called "Ye's Herbal Shop." The name clearly indicated it was a Ye family business.

As soon as Ye Yiming entered the shop, a clerk immediately came forward, bowing and smiling, "Ah, Young Master, you've come. What do you need? I'll get it for you right away."

"Um!" Ye Yiming nodded and said, "Bring me some herbs that have been around for a long time. Preferably those that are over a hundred years old."

What? Long-aged herbs? Over a hundred years old? And he wanted some???

The clerk was stunned by Ye Yiming's request.

Although "Ye's Herbal Shop" had many herbs, most were ordinary. As for those long-aged, even over a hundred years old, they were extremely rare and not something a small clerk could decide on.

The clerk, seeing his young master come to "Ye's Herbal Shop," had intended to flatter him, but never expected this situation!

Fortunately, the clerk was quick-witted. After a moment's hesitation, he replied, "Young Master, the long-aged herbs are all stored by the old shopkeeper. I'm not aware of them. I'll go get the old shopkeeper for you. Please wait a moment." With that, the clerk ran into the shop.

While the clerk went to fetch the shopkeeper, Ye Yiming used the detection skill to examine the herbs in the shop.

"Midnight Flower, growth period 1 year, cultivation points 0!"

"Sweet Grass, growth period 2 years, cultivation points 0!"

"Xanthium Fruit, growth period 5 years, cultivation points 0!"

...

Ye Yiming quickly used the detection skill, but the herbs he found were all 1 to 3 years old and had no cultivation points.

Until a moment later, the system gave a prompt.

"Pueraria Root, growth period 10 years, cultivation points 1!"

Finally! Seeing the grayish-yellow plant root, Ye Yiming's eyes lit up, and he immediately picked it up to examine it closely. However, after a while, he gave up because he couldn't tell anything; he knew nothing about herbs.

Putting away the Pueraria Root, Ye Yiming continued to use the detection skill to examine the herbs. By the time the shopkeeper came out, Ye Yiming had only found one herb with cultivation points.

The shopkeeper of "Ye's Herbal Shop" was a slightly overweight man in his sixties. From the memories of this body, Ye Yiming had seen this man before. His name seemed to be Li Yuan, but most people respectfully called him "Old Li."

Old Li used to be a military doctor for his grandfather, highly regarded by him. It was said that most of the imperial physicians in the palace were his students. Therefore, the old Ye Yiming would always politely call him "Grandpa Li."

Thus, when Ye Yiming saw this old man, he immediately bowed and said, "Grandpa Li, good day! I'm sorry to trouble you today."

While bowing, Ye Yiming even noticed that the guards behind him, including the ground-level expert, slightly bowed to Old Li.

Old Li looked at Ye Yiming and felt puzzled: This little rascal usually fears me so much. Why did he come to me today? Is his head still a bit muddled?

Thinking this, Old Li took two steps forward and grabbed Ye Yiming's left wrist to check his pulse. This left Ye Yiming speechless.

Old Li's pulse-checking was very brief, just a few breaths. He frowned, withdrew his hand, and said irritably, "What are you doing here, you little rascal?"

Ye Yiming quickly explained his purpose to Old Li, not surprised by the old man's nickname for him.

From the memories, Ye Yiming knew that Old Li could call his grandfather "Old Rascal." Even the current emperor of the Tianyang Kingdom privately called his grandfather "Uncle Ye." This showed how highly Old Li was regarded by his grandfather. Calling him "little rascal" was already quite lenient.

"Hmph!" Hearing Ye Yiming's explanation, Old Li snorted and raised an eyebrow, saying, "What do you want those old herbs for, little rascal? You usually only take Yangyuan Grass and Fire Flower. Why the change today?"

Old Li's words made Ye Yiming blush. Just from the names, one could tell that Yangyuan Grass and Fire Flower were aphrodisiacs.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the original owner of this body was only 18 years old; he was already a seasoned player, visiting brothels regularly. This left Earth-native Ye Yiming feeling quite uncomfortable. Over time, this body naturally had some issues, so he often came to "Ye's Herbal Shop" to get Yangyuan Grass and Fire Flower to strengthen his body.

This was why Ye Yiming came to get herbs, and he had already prepared an excuse.

Ye Yiming chuckled and said, "Hehe, Grandpa Li! I recently found a new formula, so..."

"Hmph!" Old Li snorted again, saying, "What new formula could you, a little rascal, find? Forget it, let's go inside." With that, Old Li led Ye Yiming into the shop.

Old Li naturally didn't take Ye Yiming's "new formula" seriously. He figured that after Ye Yiming got the herbs, he would check them to see if they were harmful to his body, and let Ye Yiming do as he pleased.

Ye Yiming followed Old Li all the way to a small room at the back of the shop. As soon as he entered, he smelled a strong herbal fragrance and saw the small boxes on the three rows of shelves. His eyes lit up, and he immediately opened one.

"Essence Grass, growth period 12 years, cultivation points 1!"

Hearing the system's prompt, Ye Yiming was excited and quickly opened several more boxes, using the detection skill.

"Blue Lotus Seed, growth period 30 years, cultivation points 3!"

"Sweet Fruit, growth period 50 years, cultivation points 5!"

"Xia Grass, growth period 20 years, cultivation points 2!"

A series of system prompts made Ye Yiming grin from ear to ear.

Too powerful! If all these herbs could be converted into cultivation points, he would be set!

Although the cultivation points of these herbs were few, their quantity was significant. Moreover, Ye Yiming noticed that herbs needed to be at least ten years old to have cultivation points, and each additional ten years added one point.

Looking at the numerous herbs, no, the numerous cultivation points! Ye Yiming was in a dilemma. His current basic absorption skill was only at the beginner level, absorbing only 1 point per hour. With 3 points of insight, he could absorb 4 points per hour. Taking too many herbs would be useless.

In the end, Ye Yiming took ten Sweet Fruits, twenty Blue Lotus Seeds, and two hundred-year-old ginseng roots, after much pleading with Old Li.

When Ye Yiming left "Ye's Herbal Shop," his face was beaming with satisfaction.

"Hundred-year-old Ginseng, growth period 102 years, cultivation points 10!"

Two hundred-year-old ginseng roots, ten Sweet Fruits, and twenty Blue Lotus Seeds totaled 310 cultivation points, enough for Ye Yiming to absorb for seven to eight days.