Chapter 796: Chapter 315: The Strange Cold Apple Trees and the Seized Silver Mine (2)

Sometimes heading east, sometimes west, suddenly diving down, and then climbing up a slope again.

This tunnel was clearly dug according to the direction of the roots’ extension, so convoluted and chaotic, it already proved what Li Tiancheng had said.

The three of them had been walking underground for more than ten minutes before finally reaching a circular stone chamber over five meters in diameter.

In the center of the stone chamber, a thumb-thick jade-green root stood silently, surrounded by a dozen iron trays. Xia Hong counted them carefully; there were still nine drops of Jade Dew that had not been collected.

“In about ten minutes, based on our previous pace, we must have covered seven or eight kilometers, meaning the root’s length exceeds seven thousand meters.”

After saying this, Xia Hong shook his head immediately.

No wonder Long Mountain doesn’t transplant this Cold Apple Tree to the camp. A root length of more than seven thousand meters is already bizarre enough, coupled with the fact that it’s only thumb-thick, attempting to transplant it without damaging the root is too difficult.

The key issue is whether the root can continue producing Jade Dew after being damaged, and no one knows that. Long Mountain only has these two trees, leaving them untouched and slowly collecting Jade Dew seems to be the safest approach.

“It’s a double-edged sword. Although the Cold Apple Tree’s root grows chaotically underground, which makes harvesting extremely difficult for us, its chaotic growth, combined with its colorless and tasteless nature, means that even if a Cold Beast discovers the treetop above ground, they usually give up after failing to locate the root.”

Not only is it colorless and tasteless, but the root buried underground is only as thick as a pinky finger. Cold Beasts, whose bodies can be several meters long, would find it nearly impossible to use their eyes to follow the root back here, even if they live underground.

“Alright, take me to see the second one!”

Without changing his expression, Xia Hong took out a wooden box and collected the nine drops of Jade Dew, then signaled for Li Tiancheng and the others to continue leading the way.

The second Cold Apple Tree was at the mountaintop, over twenty kilometers from the first.

“This tree’s crown diameter must be over a hundred meters. No wonder its yield is so high!”

Before even seeing the root, Xia Hong, upon observing the enormous treetop, understood why this tree’s yield was so high.

According to Li Xuanling, the Cold Apple Tree absorbs cold light during the day through its crown, which then condenses into Jade Dew along its root. The larger the crown, the greater its capacity to absorb light, and naturally, its yield is higher.

Not just the crown, but the second Cold Apple Tree’s root was also about three times thicker than the first, with a diameter of approximately three centimeters.

The length of its underground root was even more incredible, stretching over thirteen thousand meters, nearly twice that of the first tree.

Following Li Tiancheng back underground to the root’s end, there were a lot more Jade Dew drops on the ground this time, as many as seventy.

“We usually collect every three months, and as soon as the Jade Dew is brought back, it’s immediately distributed to those at the Cold Resistance Level, so there’s hardly any stock at the camp.”

Upon hearing Li Tiancheng’s words, Xia Hong raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Li Xuanling.

The Long Mountain warehouse had long since been inventoried, and indeed not a drop of Cold Apple Jade Dew remained. This showed that Li Xuanling was a capable leader. With no point in holding onto Jade Dew when not distributing it for cultivation at the Cold Resistance Level, Long Mountain’s strength at this level was likely connected to her.

However…

Xia Hong’s lips curled into a slight smile as he teased Li Xuanling, “It looks like you’ve got twenty-one drops stashed away in your boudoir, reluctant to hand them over?”

“You scoundrel, how dare you sneak into my room…”

Having her stash of twenty-one Jade Dew drops exposed, Li Xuanling wasn’t particularly fazed but realized that Xia Hong had already secretly rifled through her room. Her face flushed with a mix of embarrassment and anger, causing her to reflexively curse out loud.

She hadn’t even finished cursing when she remembered she had already been completely won over by Xia Hong. Getting mad about her room being invaded seemed rather ridiculous now.

“You always wear white clothes, yet your room is filled with red things. Woman, you sure have a split personality!”

“Shut up!”

With her second uncle nearby, Li Xuanling was so embarrassed by the teasing that her face turned beet red, and she angrily stamped her foot and berated Xia Hong, almost feeling tempted to draw her sword.

Xia Hong chuckled softly, shaking his head slightly before collecting the Jade Dew from the ground and then pulling out a porcelain bottle from his bosom. From it, he poured out two Spirit Pills covered in a layer of black cracks and passed one directly to each of Li Tiancheng and Li Xuanling.

“The Holy Sun Pill that Li Xuantian put out is definitely problematic. If you still have any, I advise you to hand them over quickly;

This Yangyuan Pill was developed by our Great Xia, specifically for Cold Resistance Level cultivation. A single pill’s medicinal power equals that of three to four pounds of Jade Bone Medicine;

The materials for brewing three pounds of Jade Bone Medicine can make a batch of nine pills, so if you have any Cold Apple Jade Dew, it’d be best to hand it over for brewing Jade Bone Medicine; otherwise, it’s too wasteful…”

Upon Xia Hong’s mention of the Holy Sun Pill, Li Tiancheng and Li Xuanling’s expressions subtly changed, but soon their attention was drawn again to the Yangyuan Pill in their hands.

A single pill having an effect equivalent to three to four pounds of Jade Bone Medicine?

With three pounds of Jade Bone materials able to brew nine pills, the efficiency in medicinal effect would be at least thirty times greater than Jade Bone Medicine itself?

This…

The two of them stared at the Yangyuan Pill in their hands, their expressions instantly frozen in place.