Chapter 172: Chapter 168 Plants vs. Zombies_2
This talk is for the ghosts, even ghosts would laugh themselves back to life.

Two days after the trip to the Shen Residence, Shen Menghan took the initiative to find Jiang Cheng again.

In front of Jiang Cheng, she took out two storage bags.

“Jiang, this bag contains six top-grade Spirit Stones, and this one holds twenty Foundation Establishment Pills, along with some other elixirs useful for Foundation Establishment. Take them.”

Jiang Cheng sensed Shen Menghan’s ninth level Qi cultivation, then glanced at the storage bag filled with elixirs.

“Sister Shen, these elixirs, they were meant for your own Foundation Establishment, weren’t they?”

“I won’t be establishing my foundation just yet. The pills are of no use to me. You take them, and if you can’t use them all, you can sell them for money.”

“I don’t want them.”

“Jiang Cheng, stop dreaming about your Plant Autonomy Talisman. I know my father better than you do. He won’t change his mind. Take this money so at least you haven’t been busy for nothing.”

“Sister Shen, have you ever heard this saying, ‘Success does not have to come to me, but my efforts will not be in vain.’ Although the Plant Autonomy Talisman might not bring me direct benefits, its advent will still change many things, and my efforts won’t be wasted.”

Shen Menghan frowned, unable to think of anything more valuable than six million low-grade Spirit Stones combined with twenty Foundation Establishment Pills.

“How about this, Sister Shen, if you really want to help me out, then help me keep an eye on the promising young Pill Masters at the Miaodan Workshop, along with some of the more important certified pills, especially those related to female cultivators, such as skin whitening, beauty treatments, slimming, body sculpting, beauty preserving, and the like.”

The Miaodan Workshop, as an old-time alchemist shop in the Capital, had been handed down through several generations, and while the accumulated patents for elixirs were not incredibly numerous, there were still quite a few, with no shortage of beauty-related ones.

But Shen Menghan couldn’t understand why Jiang Cheng would ask her to take note of these things.

Could a few young Pill Masters, along with a host of beauty patents, really be worth more than six million low-grade Spirit Stones?

“What are you planning to do?” Shen Menghan asked.

Jiang Cheng smiled and said, “I won’t tell you just yet, but when the time comes, you will come looking for me.”

Shen Menghan: Riddle-talking, be damned!

Under the full blast of the Talisman Shop’s work in the Capital, the Plant Empowerment Talisman custom-ordered by the Miaodan Workshop was growing at an exponential rate.

In order to maximize the production of the Blood Orange Fruit, the Miaodan Workshop resolutely adopted a method of planting while producing.

The first day, the first batch of five thousand Blood Orange Tree saplings, equipped with Self-Enhancement Talismans, was arranged in place.

The second day, the second batch of five thousand Blood Orange Tree saplings, equipped with Self-Enhancement Talismans, was arranged in place.

The third day, the third batch of ten thousand Blood Orange Tree saplings, equipped with Self-Enhancement Talismans, was arranged in place.

Although the saplings and talismans were in place, planting them one by one was still quite troublesome.

Even with Immortal Law to help, the task was not easy.

Fortunately, the Miaodan Workshop was very generous this time, offering substantial rewards, so that many planting cultivators were even willing to work overnight for the Workshop.

“Old Zhang, why is one of the trees you planted crooked?”

“Which one is crooked? I’ve always planted them this way, don’t just say anything without seeing. Planting trees is hard. You should look for your own mistakes.”

The two teased each other a bit and continued to work with their heads down.

Two hours later, when they looked up again, they realized not a single tree was straight.

“Could our tree planting skills be that bad?”

“It can’t be that the trees grew legs and walked crooked on their own, right?”

“Shit, Old Zhang, look at the trees!”

“Making a mountain out of a molehill—not just a… shit!”

Under the silent moonlight in the outskirts of the Capital, the hills full of Blood Orange Trees suddenly stood up and moved locations, either left or right by one spot.

The two tree-planting cultivators dared not breathe too heavily.

“Old Zhang, what do we do?”

“How about we run? Let’s go!”

“I’ll count one, two, three. One, three!”

“Damn it! Wait for me!”

Qi cultivation practitioners couldn’t fly, so the two could only run wildly up the mountain.

The result was obvious, for having knocked down a few newly planted fruit trees, the two instantly became “thieves attempting to steal saplings.”

In their field of vision, endless Blood Orange Trees “stood up,” holding “kitchen knives,” in a menacing stance.

The two cultivators were sweating profusely, “Respected Trees, let’s talk this out.”

The extraordinarily agile Blood Orange Trees effortlessly captured the two “thieves.”

Due to the high planting density of the Blood Orange Trees within the grounds of the Miaodan Workshop, coupled with the stronger effect of the Plant Autonomy Talisman, the soil’s nutrients were drained by the tens of thousands of Blood Orange Trees in less than one night.

To replenish nutrients, the Blood Orange Trees started “weeding” according to Jiang Cheng’s preset instructions.

First were the short grasses on the ground.

Then the medium height grasses on the ground.

Then the grasses as thick as one’s arm.

And then the grasses that looked much like large trees.

The forest around the grounds of the Miaodan Workshop was disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Among the Emperor of Liang’s few remaining military rights, the Mausoleum Guard Squad dedicated to the imperial tomb was one of them.

However, due to the long-standing peace and their location within the Capital, center of the Liang Kingdom, the most common task of the Mausoleum Guard Squad was cleaning the mausoleum.

Beyond that, there was also the symbolic standing guard.

Early in the morning, two soldiers yawning came to the edge of the mausoleum to change the guard.

“Stop sleeping, stop sleeping, time to change the guard!”

“Yawn, alright, I’m going to take a leak. Wait for me a bit.”

A quarter of an hour later.

“Guoping, does your constipation also affect your peeing?”

The soldier arrived at the bushes and saw Guoping pinned to the ground and a row of strange trees holding kitchen knives.

The soldier’s Adam’s apple bobbed, hesitated for three and one-third seconds, then turned and ran!

“Tree monsters are coming! Tree monsters are coming!”

With the soldier’s shouts, alarms instantly rang throughout the entire mausoleum.

More than two hundred soldiers from the Mausoleum Guard Squad rushed over from all directions.

Then, they were faced with what seemed like an endless army of strange trees, each holding a kitchen knife.

The individual attack power of the strange trees wasn’t high, but what was odd about these trees was that they were exceptionally good at working together, using various tactics, and were sly and despicable!

Some trees would even play dead on the spot.

The soldiers thought they had killed the trees and let down their guard. But after a while, the ‘dead’ trees would suddenly rise up, launching a shameless sneak attack!

A fair number of the guards were thus hit and taken captive by the trees.

“Damn! What on earth are these trees!”

“Boss! Hurry up and think of something!”

The captain of the Mausoleum Guard Squad was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Although he could overpower all the trees, the despicable and shameless trees would use the captured soldiers as hostages, making it impossible for him to exert his full strength.

“Don’t be afraid! I’ve already contacted our allies. For now, let’s retreat into the mausoleum. Hold firm, and we will find a way!”

PS: For those who haven’t joined the group, you can join the readers’ group through the link in the book’s introduction. (Available only on Qidian platform) There will be red envelopes given out on New Year’s Eve in the readers’ group. (200 RMB, 100 packets)