The rarity of the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb cannot be overstated.

It is the primary ingredient for refining Foundation Establishment Pills, which help Qi Refining cultivators break through their bottlenecks and achieve Foundation Establishment.

In the Qin family, one of the three major cultivation families in Nanling County, there is only one Foundation Establishment cultivator—the family Acenstor.

Foundation Establishment Pills can directly enhance a family’s top-tier combat strength, and this top-tier strength essentially determines a family’s power and potential.

Thus, while the lottery result might not have immediate benefits for Qin Ruqing personally, it is a windfall for the Qin family.

This is truly an enormous advantage!

Understanding this clearly, Qin Ruqing couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter when she saw the lottery result.

However, she quickly realized a problem: she couldn’t use this item directly, and it was beneficial for the family.

How should she present it? In other words, how could she explain having it to the family?

When Qin Ruqing asked the system about this, the system responded:

“Items from the mall can appear in two ways: if they can be used directly by the host, they will appear directly; if not, the system will manifest them in a reasonable manner.”

Hmm? Manifest in a reasonable manner? Sensing something amiss, Qin Ruqing cautiously asked, “Does this ‘reasonable manner’ sound a bit uncontrollable?”

Indeed, the system coldly replied, “The system’s reasonable manifestation doesn’t guarantee it will be in the host’s possession; the host needs to acquire it through certain means.”

I see.

This makes things tricky.

While it avoids the problem of explaining where the item came from, it increases the risk of acquiring the item.

Who knows where the system might manifest it? Someone else might find it.

Thinking of this, Qin Ruqing could only be thankful that the Divine Cultivation Elixir she previously exchanged was directly usable, sparing her this “reasonable manifestation” step.

“Where did the system manifest the three Four-leaf Lingzhi Herbs now?” Qin Ruqing wondered, hoping it was somewhere easily accessible since she couldn’t go far at her young age.

The system responded promptly, “The Four-leaf Lingzhi Herbs have been manifested in the Qin family’s medicine garden.”

Phew! They manifested in the family medicine garden!

Fortunately, this location is not difficult to access and is quite reasonable—what’s wrong with the Qin family’s exclusive medicine garden growing Four-leaf Lingzhi Herbs?

Qin Ruqing didn’t dare delay, fearing the herbs might disappear before she could retrieve them.

She quickly called her brother to go to the medicine garden.

She needed a reliable witness to back her up.

“Brother, I’ve been studying the Lingzhi Herb Compendium recently, but I still can’t identify some rare herbs. Let’s go to the medicine garden and take a look!” Qin Ruqing dragged Qin Ruyu by the arm, urging him towards the garden.

Qin Ruyu smiled, not at all annoyed, and matched his steps to hers.

However, he thought to himself: Since when is Qingqing so studious? She’s probably bored at home and wants to find some fun outside.

Although he suspected this, he had no intention of exposing her.

Instead, he indulged her whims happily.

The Qin family’s medicine garden is divided into the inner and outer gardens.

The outer garden mainly contains common medicinal herbs, while the inner garden houses rare and valuable plants, guarded by dedicated personnel.

As soon as they reached the entrance to the outer garden, an elderly man dressed in grey appeared.

He was the caretaker of the outer garden.

Bowing slightly, he hesitated before speaking, “Young Master, Fifth Miss, what brings you here?”

Qin Ruyu held Qin Ruqing’s hand and glanced at the old man before saying steadily, “I’m here with my sister to identify medicinal herbs. You may continue with your duties.”

The old man nodded and quickly disappeared.

As soon as he left, Qin Ruqing happily freed herself from Qin Ruyu’s hand and ran to the herb fields, her small head looking left and right.

Qin Ruyu stood nearby, watching with a smile and occasionally offering reminders.

“Qingqing, don’t touch the herbs with your hands; some leaves and petals are poisonous.”

“Don’t walk directly in the fields; you’ll be punished if you damage the newly grown herbs.”

Qin Ruqing replied with a series of “uh-huhs,” while secretly pondering.

Her knowledge of medicinal herbs was just beginning.

She knew that Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb was a mutated form of Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb.

The Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb itself was a high-grade herb known for its nourishing and restorative properties.

Therefore, it was impossible to find Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb in the outer garden; all of the Qin family’s precious herbs were planted in the inner garden.

Scanning the area, she began to nonchalantly head towards the inner garden.

Qin Ruyu frowned and reminded her, “Qingqing, the inner garden is ahead. It is guarded by elders, and unauthorized people are not allowed to enter.”

Qin Ruqing replied, “I just want to take a look at the edge…”

As they approached the entrance to the inner garden, an invisible spiritual sense seemed to sweep over them.

A gust of wind blew, and an elderly man with wide sleeves appeared before them.

His features were gentle, and his most notable trait was a long, flowing beard.

He was the second elder of the Qin family.

The second elder looked at the siblings with a puzzled expression, “What are you two doing here?”

Seeing the distinctive long beard, Qin Ruqing breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was the second elder on duty today.

The second elder was the most approachable and kind-hearted among the elders.

If it had been any other elder, sneaking into the inner garden today would have required much more effort.

Qin Ruyu bowed to the second elder and calmly explained, “I brought Qingqing to the garden to identify some medicinal herbs.”

This was a perfectly valid and studious reason, one that no one could fault.

The second elder nodded and gently said, “Identifying herbs can be done in the outer garden. The inner garden is a restricted area for the Qin family. You two should keep your distance.”

At this moment, Qin Ruqing quietly asked, “Second Elder, can’t we… just go inside for a look?”

The second elder glanced at the cherished young girl of the Qin family, his eyes widening in a mock stern look, “Nonsense!” Though he scolded, his tone was far from harsh, “The inner garden contains rare herbs. What if you accidentally damage them?”

Qin Ruqing wasn’t intimidated by his tone.

She even grabbed the second elder’s sleeve, pleading, “Second Elder, just let Qingqing take a look. I promise not to damage any herbs.”

The second elder looked at her sternly.

At this moment, Qin Ruqing, feeling a bit guilty, lowered her head and said softly, “I just want to see the Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb.”

The book mentioned that the Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb can mutate into the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb, so Qingqing wanted to go inside and check if the family’s herb garden had experienced such a mutation.

The second elder glared, “So from the start, you had the bad idea of sneaking into the inner garden, huh!”

This little girl was still just a child.

Did she think that a mutation of the Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb was that easy to come by?

Qin Ruqing giggled, accepting the scolding with a playful attitude.

She knew that with such experienced elders, honesty worked better than tricks.

What she said was true—she wanted to find the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb.

The only difference was that she already knew it was there…

Qin Ruyu was also surprised, not realizing Qingqing had this in mind.

However, the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb? He shook his head at the thought.

He knew more than Qin Ruqing about how rare the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb was.

The Qin family indeed had a plot in the herb garden dedicated to growing Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb, a nourishing and relatively common high-grade herb.

But the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb had never appeared since the garden was established.

Ultimately, the second elder couldn’t resist Qin Ruqing’s persistence and allowed them to enter the inner garden under certain conditions:

They could only look at the Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb and were not allowed to touch any other herbs.

Qin Ruqing wasn’t surprised by this outcome.

On one hand, the second elder was genuinely kind. On the other hand, the inner garden was indeed an important place but not a forbidden one.

As direct descendants with close ties to the family, entering to look at the Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb under the elder’s supervision wasn’t a big deal.

The second elder led Qin Ruqing and her brother to the plot where the Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb was grown, repeatedly reminding them, “You can look, but don’t touch!”

“Just peek from the edge…”

Qin Ruqing ran ahead excitedly, saying with deliberate innocence, “I’m sure I can find the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb!”

The second elder scoffed and rolled his eyes.

She was still just a child.

Finding the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb wasn’t so simple.

If it were, the Qin family would have long been the top family in Nanling County.

The second elder had already decided to give Qin Ruqing a good lesson in herbal knowledge.

However, before he could start, he heard Qin Ruqing’s excited voice.

“Brother! Second Elder! Come quickly, this plant has four leaves. It must be the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb!”

What? Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb? How could that be? The second elder’s first reaction was disbelief.

He knew some Lingzhi herbs could grow four leaves without being true Four-leaf Lingzhi Herbs.

A true Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb required complete mutation from root to medicinal properties.

However, if a herb had grown four leaves, it could be the beginning of a mutation.

If transplanted and carefully nurtured, it might eventually become a true Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb.

Had the garden caretakers been slacking? How did a four-leaf herb grow without anyone reporting it?

And now, a child had found it first.

The second elder walked over with a mix of suspicion and delight, already thinking of summoning the garden’s caretakers for a scolding.

Qin Ruyu also followed curiously.

In front of Qin Ruqing was a lush patch of Three-leaf Lingzhi Herb.

She pointed confidently at a specific spot, her eyes shining as she said in a childlike, determined tone, “This must be the Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb!”

Seeing this, the second elder smiled to himself before looking where she pointed.

What he saw left him stunned.

His gaze fixed on the spot as if enchanted.

The second elder gasped in surprise, examining the plant up and down and even using his spiritual sense.

He didn’t notice that several of his precious beard hairs had been pulled out.

At that moment, he couldn’t care less. Because, in the most absurd and dramatic twist, the plant Qin Ruqing had casually pointed to was likely, possibly, truly, a Four-leaf Lingzhi Herb…