Dragon Canon

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan had finally put the Xuanming Hall sick ward behind him. While washing his wound, the Daoist treating him had used a little too much poison and melted a little too much flesh. Thus, he had to toss in a second dash of Flesh Growing Powder to regrow the lost flesh. However, the second dash of Flesh Growing Powder was still too much, so he was forced to sprinkle some poison again to melt away the extra flesh. If Wei Yuan wasn’t as tough as he was, his injuries would probably be worse than when he initially entered the sick ward.

While the Daoist was panicking, he accidentally revealed that he was only eighteen years old, and that he hadn’t graduated from his studies. He also revealed that the reason he was stuck being an assistant was because he was pretty untalented in the art of healing. However, the hall was constantly short on manpower, and the H-rank sick wards in particular had always lacked a proper healer. Thus, his higher-ups had dispatched him to handle Wei Yuan.

After putting the sick ward behind him, Wei Yuan thought that it was only proper if he paid Bao Yun a visit and thanked her for risking her life to save him. Naturally, he should prepare a gift to properly express his gratitude. There was just a small problem though: he was penniless and did not possess anything of value to offer as a gift. After scouring his whole house for something, anything at all, he finally found a bottle of Vigor Nurturing Pills. Thus, he took it with him and left to visit Bao Yun.

Bao Yun’s courtyard was at least tens of li away from Wei Yuan’s, but he wasn’t willing to pay for a horse carriage. Thus, he ran all the way there. He was a young and healthy lad. He could handle this much.

From the outside, Bao Yun’s courtyard appeared no different from Wei Yuan’s. Both were built against a mountainside and shared the same standardized design. Both houses were two-storey tall with the cultivation chamber directly integrated into the building.

Standing at the entrance, Wei Yuan detected a faint, lingering fragrance that refreshed the mind. He knocked on the gate, and an old servant opened it. When the old servant saw him, he immediately gave him a smile and welcomed him inside.

The moment he set foot inside the courtyard, he immediately noticed a flower tree at the center of the garden. It was a little over a zhang tall and covered in blue, pentagonal leaves. When they rustled, blue dots would fall to the ground like stars. It was the Star Dragon Tree!

Wei Yuan had recognized the tree in one glance. Why? Because it was beyond famous. Its leaf was one of the main ingredients of the Vigor Nurturing Pills, and judging from the size of this tree, it was at least a thousand years old. A single leaf from this tree could probably produce hundreds of bottles of Vigor Nurturing Pills, and every single pill would be of the highest quality. A top-tier Vigor Nurturing Pill was twice as potent as an ordinary one. Thus, it was also twice as expensive. Of course, Wei Yuan had never eaten one before.

Wei Yuan could scarcely imagine how much immortal silver this thousand-year-old tree was worth, but assuming he wasn’t mistaken, it wasn’t planted here for harvesting purposes. It was a faux wall; something to prevent people from seeing into the main hall immediately after entering the courtyard.

Wei Yuan was still stunned when he caught a glimpse of bright red out of the corner of his eye.

In one corner of the courtyard stood a strange tree that was fiery red throughout and shaped like coral. It had branches but no leaves, and flames were rising from between the branches. The faint fragrance he had smelled outside the gate had emanated from this tree.

Again, Wei Yuan recognized this tree. It was called the Red Jade Coral, and it was one of the three treasured medicines used to assist the forging of a Dao Foundation. Again, it was a priceless treasure. Their teacher had shown off a Red Jade Coral during a Techniques Theory class, but not only did he forbid them from touching it, he refused to show it off for more than a few seconds. The tree was only half as big as the one before him. On a related note, one of the treasured medicines Cui Yu would be using to guarantee that his Dao Foundation was at least Heaven-tier was a Red Jade Coral.

Besides that, the furniture in the courtyard was forged from Cryptocrystalline Northern Sea Ice Jade. An ice jade was pretty cheap, but throw the word “cryptocrystalline” into the term, and suddenly it was priceless. This was before mentioning the stuff that Wei Yuan could not identify at all such as the materials used to make the tea set on a tea table, the grass growing on the ground, the vines with small red fruits growing along the walls of the courtyard…

“You’re here, Junior Brother Wei! Come in!” Bao Yun’s voice came from inside the main hall.

Wei Yuan followed the old servant into the building. As soon as he crossed over the threshold, he noticed that the ambient spirit qi inside the house was so thick that it was almost liquid! Its concentration was easily a dozen times greater than his residence’s. Even without the use of pills, anyone who cultivated in this space would progress twice or thrice as fast as normal.

Wei Yuan looked around and came to a realization. The courtyard might look identical to his from the outside, but in reality it had been dismantled and rebuilt into something wholly different on the inside.

Bao Yun was wearing her usual goose yellow dress. She was already quite beautiful to begin with, but now that she was in the stage of tempering her spirit, her skin looked almost translucent, and she was glowing from the inside out. The tiniest gesture or smile from her seemed to brighten the entire hall.

“Take a seat, Junior Brother!” The girl sat him down before taking her own seat on the opposite side of the table.

Sitting opposite Bao Yun, Wei Yuan couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. However, it felt wrong to stay quiet while she was watching him intently, so he forced himself to speak up, “I came to thank you for your selfless rescue. I’ve brought a small token of appreciation, though it’s hardly a fitting gesture.”

Wei Yuan felt stiff and awkward as he placed the bottle of Vigor Nurturing Pills he brought with him on the table. He wondered why it felt as heavy as a little hill. Hardly a fitting gesture? Just look at that thousand-year-old Star Dragon Tree! I might as well give her a leaf from the tree; one that’s not even a thousand years old.

Bao Yun didn’t accept the gift immediately. Instead, she kept staring at him while the corners of her lips curled slightly upward. “Why are you nervous, Junior Brother? Is it because I’m not pretty?”

“I’m not nervous!” Wei Yuan denied it immediately, though he knew that he was just reluctant to admit the truth. He was nervous because one, he simply could not bring her a better gift than the Vigor Nurturing Pills, and two, she was her creditor. Who wouldn’t feel smaller in front of their creditor?

Bao Yun suddenly broke into a smile, and it was as if flowers were blooming in every inch of the main hall. By now, she had shedded much of her youthful innocence and begun to reveal glimpses of her unmatched beauty. She was only more captivating when she smiled.

Bao Yun finally took the bottle of Vigor Nurturing Pills and replied, “Let’s not talk about my ‘selfless rescue’ anymore, okay? To tell you the truth, I wasn’t thinking about saving you at all, much less putting myself in harm’s way to do so. Still, this is the first time you’ve given me a gift, so I’ll accept it!”

Wei Yuan simply assumed that Bao Yun was as bashful as him and could not bring herself to admit that she had done a good deed. After all, everyone had seen her taking a dagger for him. No matter how much she denied it, there was no changing the fact that he owed her. Thus, he let out a sigh of relief when she accepted his gift. Something felt odd about Bao Yun’s tone, however.

He made idle chat with her for a little longer before getting up to leave. Bao Yun didn’t try to keep him and walked him to the exit.

It was at this moment the old servant handed a gift box to him saying that it was a return gift from his Miss. Of course, Wei Yuan couldn’t accept it. He quickly and firmly turned it down.

Bao Yun said, “We’ve been classmates for three years. Are we really that estranged? Will you not accept even a small return gift from me?”

Since she put it that way, Wei Yuan could no longer refuse. Once he had accepted the gift, he hurried away like he was beating a hasty retreat. Only after watching him disappear into the distance did Bao Yun and the old servant close the courtyard gate.

The old servant nodded slightly, saying, “This kid’s got potential! There is not a whit of showmanship in him—he keeps tempering his body even on the way here and back. He’s a whole lot better than those deadbeats you call friends.”

Bao Yun let out a cute hmph and replied, “He just doesn’t want to spend the money to take a carriage, that’s all. Speaking of, you’re getting younger and younger in the head, aren’t you? I’ve never heard anyone spin stinginess as hard work before. Anyway, it’s so annoying having to fake a smile around him.”

The old servant grabbed the bottle of Vigor Nurturing Pills Wei Yuan brought and said, “Is that so? Then I shall throw this away for you.”

“No way!” Bao Yun snatched the bottle from his hands and returned to her study. She then slammed the door behind her.

At first, she wanted to dump the bottle of Vigor Nurturing Pills in a random drawer. But after a moment of thinking, she ultimately placed it on the antique rack. Every single item on the antique rack was worth at least several hundred bottles of Vigor Nurturing Pills.

Bao Yun sat in front of the window and thought about heavens-know-what. Suddenly, she clenched her teeth and growled in irritation, “If I find out who pushed me back then, I’m gonna…”

After returning to his residence, Wei Yuan carefully opened the gift box and found a pair of translucent, egg-sized fruits inside. Each fruit was etched with blue patterns as well. His teacher had talked about the fruits during a Techniques Theory class. They were the seeds of the Star Dragon Tree, and each one was worth at least ten thousand silver.