As soon as it was in its mouth, several slender snakes from the Snake Willow immediately hung down, each holding a pen, writing on the ground.

"My big brother said he'll come to fetch it in three months."

Yu Ziqing watched as the Snake Willow's writing became more and more fluid, the characters looking much better, each stroke having a hint of sleekness amidst its firmness.

"Have you grown up? Passed the seedling stage?"

Yu Ziqing sized up the Snake Willow; it hadn't grown much in size, but its spiritual wisdom had noticeably increased, as had its aura.

Upon hearing this, the Snake Willow glared with a bundle of snake heads.

"Once you're at the growth stage, then..."

Before Yu Ziqing could finish speaking, the Snake Willow swiftly wrote a line on the ground.

"No, I'm still young, I'm still a child!!! Not like that dumb dog!"

It even learned to use Yu Ziqing's punctuation.

Yu Ziqing was a bit speechless. I wasn't about to make you patrol the mountain. Why is it that, as Magic Plants, you're always thinking about living idly?

Laziness won't do, Jinlan Mountain doesn't support freeloaders, Magic Plants included.

But sending the Snake Willow to guard other places, it's definitely not willing.

"You're the one who eats the most; others just take a bite, and you eat hundreds at a time.

Now just guard this area well for me. That shouldn't be a problem, right?

If you're not willing, I'll find another Magic Plant to ask."

The moment it heard this, the Snake Willow hurriedly nodded with all its hundreds of heads, unwilling to provoke Yu Ziqing.

Nor did it want to upset the 'wealthy dog' as even its big brother had to work.

Just guarding one area, not going elsewhere, and not having to patrol like the dumb dog, it certainly was willing.

"You're all the same; you don't know how hard it is to gather Five-Colored Soil. Even Lihuo Institute and Langya Institute can't gather all the Five-Colored Soil.

In this environment of yours, how many Spirit Plants, how many Magic Plants, beg but couldn't get it.

I'm not making you patrol the mountains, just guarding a side. If that doesn't work either, I'll just grow some Spirit Plants that can work."

Upon hearing this, all the Magic Plants swayed their bodies, quivering.

A bewildered expression appeared on the trunk of the Little Bodhi Tree Demon, observing the other Magic Plants and then the Snake Willow.

Yu Ziqing didn't know how these Magic Plants communicated, but from the look of the Snake Willow, they were definitely using very unpleasant words.

The Snake Willow, as if dehydrated, wilted down and wrote rapidly.

"No need, no need, we can do anything; Spirit Plants are too dumb. Guarding the mountain, they can't compare to us..."

In the end, the Magic Plants voluntarily requested that once they reached the growth stage, they would take turns guarding each side of Jinlan Mountain for a time, everyone taking shifts.

In any case, with more than thirty Magic Plants, as long as they were in the fast-growing stage, half of them could be spared to guard, which was enough.

Once they were fully grown, in maturity, one or two could guard a direction, making everyone more relaxed.

Letting Yu Ziqing not have to raise Spirit Plants anymore, those things were not only delicate but also dumb; just keeping them to eat was fine, guarding the mountain, they couldn't do.

After joking around with the Magic Plants, Yu Ziqing cheerfully left.

Yu Ziqing still remembered the original ideal of raising these Magic Plants. A pile of fragile seedlings, they certainly wouldn't exploit child labor, but once grown and stronger, they shouldn't think about freeloading.

A circle of Magic Plants guarding Jinlan Mountain, plus the dumb dog, was much more efficient than people laboriously patrolling the mountains.

Due to racial differences, many hidden Secret Techniques particularly useful to cultivators might just look like empty weed patches to Magic Plants, suddenly seeing a health bar and name appear.

This was also one of the major reasons Yu Ziqing made the dumb dog patrol the mountains.

Of course, another reason was that there were too few people at Jinlan Mountain, and the Forbidden Land area was too vast.

Returning from the southwest corner, Yu Ziqing then followed Fish Bone to learn the ritual and Sacrificial Techniques he mastered. The division between ritual and Sacrificial Techniques that Saints mastered was unclear, somewhat unorthodox. Some could be directly used, while others that couldn't be used offered significant reference value.

Yu Ziqing immediately passed these to Mo Huitou for reference.

Mo Huitou said, although many materials came from the sea, they greatly helped him advance the ritual from ancient times to fit this era.

These days, Mo Huitou had been solely researching modern materials, reading who knows how many Artifact Refining and Alchemy classics.

He had already tried to use certain Pills as materials for rituals.

A few months flashed by, and Fish Bone quietly found Yu Ziqing.

"A Saint is approaching, a few hundred miles away."

"You can sense them from that far?"

"The power from the Black Ship Saint cannot be fully controlled, and there are occasional fluctuations; I'm too familiar with it.

Someone is definitely coming, and it's definitely a Jellyfish. Initially, it should have been him to come first.

But he made a mistake, giving me the opportunity.

Now it seems the High Priest has other tasks for him."

Fish Bone spoke calmly, but there was an unmistakable hint of superiority, a touch of pride in his words.

He could completely control his power now, no longer worrying about turning into an Evil.

Naturally, he was different from the Black Ship Saints.

Yu Ziqing's thoughts raced.

"Are you going to lead him down the third Saint's Road?"

"Everything will follow your lordship's wishes." Fish Bone spoke with sincerity.

Without Yu Ziqing's nod, no one could walk the third Saint's Road.

Yu Ziqing smiled gently and patted Fish Bone on the shoulder.

"I merely decide whether to nod or not, but the third Saint's Road was developed by you.

Whether you wish to bring others here, that's your choice.

This is two different matters."

Fish Bone trembled gently, greatly moved, increasingly feeling that his choice was correct.