The words from the drifting bottle cast a heavier shadow on Xu Mo's face.
He had originally thought he had a few more months to prepare, but he hadn't expected the Crossing to be advanced again, leaving him less than twenty days!
"Have you decided which path to take yet?" the drifting bottle suddenly asked.
Xu Mo shook his head, "Not yet, I don't know which path is suitable for me."
He wasn't interested in the gentlest path of spreading the Dao and gathering disciples. He was already a ruler of a nation; what was the point of opening another dojo?
As for the brutal and inhumane methods of slaughtering a city or destroying a nation, he hadn't even considered them.
The drifting bottle suggested, "I think you could try the path of a 'herb gatherer'."
"What is a 'herb gatherer'?" Xu Mo asked, confused.
"It means searching for the locations of great luck-bearing herbs on Earth, picking and absorbing their luck. Once enough luck is accumulated, you can succeed in the Crossing and ascend to immortality."
The drifting bottle explained slowly.
It mentioned that many solitary saints walked this path. Their strength was neither weak nor strong, mostly at the Great Saint stage.
They weren't interested in spreading the Dao, engaging in slaughter, or traveling the mortal world. And they were not qualified to participate in the power struggles of the Ultimate Saints.
So, they chose a middle ground and became 'herb gatherers'.
During the Crossing, various great luck-bearing herbs would continuously appear on Earth, and consuming them would increase one's luck.
The so-called 'herb gatherers' would arrive the moment these luck-bearing herbs showed their traces and pick them.
There would also be conflicts among 'herb gatherers', but since they were all at the Great Saint stage, there would be back-and-forth exchanges, and no overwhelming power disparity. It was considered a rather good path.
"This is quite good," Xu Mo understood what the path of a herb gatherer entailed after listening.
However, he had a doubt: "If herb gatherers continuously collect great luck-bearing herbs, and once they absorb enough luck, won't they attract even more powerful Ultimate Saints to seize it?"
He felt that these herb gatherers were like plump sheep, waiting for stronger beings to reap the harvest when they were locked in a life-and-death struggle. Wouldn't that be a wasted effort?
"Of course, they will!" the drifting bottle replied with certainty, then added, "That's why I said the early stages of the Crossing are relatively orderly. In the later stages, it basically becomes chaos, turning into a slaughterhouse."
"If that's the case, why bother gathering herbs? Wouldn't it be better to just lie low until the later stages and then come out to kill? Wasting effort in the early stages, only to have to fight for real later?"
Xu Mo frowned, finding the rules of the Crossing quite peculiar.
"You're thinking too simply. Do you think luck is just a score for succeeding in the Crossing?"
"Isn't it?"
"Naturally, it isn't." The drifting bottle floated up a dozen centimeters and continued, "Firstly, luck doesn't appear out of thin air. If the saints didn't go out to spread the Dao, engage in slaughter, or become herb gatherers in the early stages to collect luck, what would they fight over in the later stages? The air?"
"And luck is not that simple. It can also be used to rapidly increase cultivation, heal severe injuries, and even serve as a trump card for survival in the later stages of the Crossing, which is to self-detonate one's luck. Self-detonating enough luck has the chance to severely injure an Ultimate Saint. You could say luck is a kind of universal energy."
After hearing the drifting bottle's explanation, Xu Mo finally understood.
When the Crossing began, no one had any luck. Therefore, the early stages were all about collecting and accumulating luck. Once enough was accumulated, and there was no more luck for others to collect, the Crossing would enter its later stages, and everyone would start snatching the luck from other saints.
The fact that luck was a universal energy was quite surprising to Xu Mo.
He took out a luck fruit he had picked on Earth that day. It was crystal clear in his hand and emitted a faint fragrance.
He had almost forgotten about this luck fruit during this time and hadn't tried its effects yet.
Xu Mo took a bite, and immediately juice flowed out, filling his mouth with fragrance. The flesh was sweet and delicious, melting in his mouth with an endless aftertaste.
The milky white peel was very tender and smooth, like jelly in the mouth. The flesh had a crisp texture, and the combination of the two different textures created a unique flavor.
Xu Mo finished the luck fruit in a few bites, still feeling somewhat unsatisfied.
"This fruit is amazing, the taste is incredible. And this one isn't even ripe yet. Will the taste be even better when it's ripe?"
Xu Mo began to anticipate the taste of a ripe luck fruit.
The drifting bottle looked at Xu Mo in this state, feeling speechless.
The most precious thing about a luck fruit was the luck it contained, yet this fellow was only concerned about its taste?
But speaking of which, seeing Xu Mo eat with such relish, juice splattering everywhere, it made the bottle itself want to taste what a luck fruit was like.
Unfortunately, it was just a bottle with an opening, no mouth.
"Don't just focus on the taste, what about the luck? How much luck did this unripe luck fruit add to you?" the drifting bottle urged.
Xu Mo sent his spiritual sense into his body and saw the flesh of the eaten luck fruit transform into threads of golden light, slowly converging into a small cluster, and then merging with the cluster of luck he had obtained when killing Shan Zu to form a larger cluster.
"Not much, about the same as the luck gained from killing Shan Zu," Xu Mo said.
After all, it was an unripe great luck-bearing herb, and the increase in luck wasn't very significant. However, Xu Mo had expected this and wasn't too disappointed.
The drifting bottle said, "That's good. Shan Zu has been hiding since the last Crossing. Even though his luck has been slowly declining, he still has quite a bit. A single luck fruit added so much luck to you, you've made a huge profit this time!"
Hearing this, Xu Mo suddenly asked, "Those old saints, who have been hiding on Earth for thousands of years, can they still retain their luck?"
"They can, but it will slowly decline and dissipate. Generally, not much will remain. Just like Shan Zu, his initial luck was a hundred or even a thousand times more than what he has now, which shows how fast it decays."
The drifting bottle replied.
These old zombies, to some extent, still possessed some luck. This was also one of the reasons why, when the myriad realms descended and new saints entered Earth, they immediately cleared out the old zombies.
That reason was to plunder luck!
Xu Mo suddenly understood, and some of his doubts were resolved.
He pondered for a moment, then his gaze became sharp, and his tone firm, "Herb gatherer, I'll take this path!"
The path of a herb gatherer was not complicated; it was simple. It was just about collecting various great luck-bearing herbs.
Moreover, these great luck-bearing herbs tasted very good. After eating a luck fruit, Xu Mo felt he was starting to like great luck-bearing herbs.
"A wise choice. With your strength, and the assistance of that furnace, walking the path of a herb gatherer gives you at least a fifty percent chance of succeeding in the Crossing."
The drifting bottle greatly approved of Xu Mo's choice, feeling that Xu Mo had accepted its suggestion.