Chapter 198 – Sadness
Shiguan’s mind was stirring while she sat quietly in her room. Everyone assumed Xuanyuan and her to be in a romantic relationship. The misconception made her feel strange. Not discomfort but embarrassment. She had decided that they needed to discuss this and clear up other people’s misunderstanding. However, staying in a room alone with Xuanyuan was inappropriate. She suddenly remembered the time on the island - when Xuanyuan teased and tickled her - with her face blushing. She sighed. In the end, she sat down on the bed made with linglong stones and concentrated.
In Xuanyuan’s room, he was doing the same thing. The bed seemed to have a magical power to clear his mind. His body relaxed and his mind freed. Without him noticing, two days went by. When he flashed his eyelashes open, he saw the deep red blood on the bed. It was the impurity being pushed out from his body and slowly being absorbed by the linglong bed.
"There’re things the Body of All Creations cannot consume, after all." Xuanyuan sighed.
"That’s because you haven’t fully understood the Devouring Technique yet. The blood was not only formed from your bodily impurity but also emotional impurity. Emotional unrest causes many illness." Greed explained. Xuanyuan breathed out. A blue light covered him and cleaned the impurity away from his body.
He stood up. In just two days, his strength enhanced from a thousand eight hundred dragons to a thousand nine hundred dragons.
"What amazing progress!" Xuanyuan was happy. He opened his room and saw Youxue floating in mid air with the cloud dragon’s spine in his hand. Xuanyuan didn’t disturb him.
Shiguan heard the sound of door opening and thought she should seek for a meeting with him. However, Xuanyuan went to Zhixuan’s room.
He knocked on the door lightly. Zhixuan answered gently, "Come in!"
Inside, Zhixuan was sitting on the stone bed. Her face was still covered with the white veil. "Looks like you’ve made much progress in two days."
"I revised what I’ve learnt and strengthened my foundation. I have you to thank for such opportunity." Xuanyuan smiled.
"Oh, then you should do something for me." Zhixuan said.
"What do you need?"
"Haven’t you promised to nurture my plants with the Water of Heaven?" Zhixuan’s room was full of pots and plants. All were useful medicine or powerful species.
"That wouldn’t be a problem. I just didn’t think it’s a good enough thank you gift." Xuanyuan chuckled, "Which plants do you want me to nurture? They’re all extremely healthy already since you grow them with Spiritual Soil."
"This one. The Fire Dragon Orchid." Zhixuan smiled, with her finger pointed at a fiery red plant. It looked as if it was actually burning.
"Of course!" Xuanyuan said. He summoned the Lady Saint of Heaven and covered the orchid with blue light. They could see the orchid growing.
"The Water of Heaven is indeed incredible. You can surely lure many alchemists to your aid with it." Zhixuan was both curious and excited, "Tell me, did you lure Princess Shiguan with the Water?"
Xuanyuan was caught off guard. He didn’t think the Lady Saint of the Linglong Sect would indulge in gossiping. "You misunderstand. Princess Shiguan and I are only friends."
Shiguan happened to be outside of the room and heard their conversations. She was surprised at her sudden heartache over Xuanyuan’s clarification of their relationship.
Zhixuan giggled, "How incredible! My orchid grew so fast! Brother Xuanyuan, why don’t you stay here for three years before your challenge with Jiang Yitian? It’d benefit you."
"Is that appropriate? The stone bed would certainly benefit me but I’m not a disciple of here." Xuanyuan said.
"I’ll talk to the Head of our Sect. When you have time, you’ll help me nurture the plants."
"It’s my honour to help you."
"It grows again! I’ll have to keep you here or I’ll have to wait so many years for these plants to mature."
The two of them were laughing casually. Shiguan returned to her room with her head down.
Xuanyuan helped nurture Zhixuan’s plant for another two days. The flower of the Fire Dragon Orchid grew from thumb size to the size of a human head, warming the surrounding with its gentle fire. Xuanyuan sensed the warmth in his heart as if the orchid was thanking him for his help.
"It would’ve taken it a thousand years to grow this big. Now it only took a few days. Brother Xuanyuan, you should go rest. You are about to go to the Dark Phoenix Mountain. I shouldn’t be wasting your time." Zhixuan put the pot back to a shelf she made and smiled, "Nurturing plants is a good way to train one’s patience. It always brings you joy to see their growth. I’ve learnt a lot in these few days."
"Me too." Xuanyuan smiled and stood up. "You are right. I’ll go back to prepare."
"Wait." Zhixuan took out a talisman and a jade pendant, "This is the Talisman of Heavenly Fire. It’s only a first rank Xian class talisman. I hope it’ll help. The pendant, Golden Jade, is an upper rank Heaven class instrument. It can suppress the Dark Phoenix of Gold for a while. Take these as the reward for nurturing the orchid."
"Thank you, Lady Saint." Xuanyuan knew they were valuable gifts. He suddenly thought to ask, "Lady Saint, I’m wondering, why do you cover your face?"
Zhixuan’s eyes were gentle. She said softly, "It’s a rule of the Linglong Sect. Before the Lady Saint marries, she must cover her face with white veil."
"What if someone sees your face?" Xuanyuan was slightly confused about this rule.
"We can’t anticipate all the if's. Only her husband could unveil her or when the Lady Saint steps down." Zhixuan chuckled.
"Thank you for explaining. Goodbye!" Xuanyuan shook his head. He still hadn’t fully comprehended the reasoning.
"Master, Princess Shiguan was looking for you when you weren’t in your room." Youxue suddenly said before Xuanyuan returned to his room.
"I see. I’ll go look for her." Xuanyuan approached Shiguan’s room and knocked, "Are you there, Shiguan?"