Chapter 386: An Exchange Of Favors
Though Zen had made rapid progress to his refinement, it was still not enough.
He knew that his progress was still far from those members of the noble clans in the Eastern Region. Took for example his friend, Roger. Zen first met Roger while he was completing a task that the Cloud Sect had assigned to him. Roger was only at grade one of nature level back then. But when Zen had seen Roger again after a few months, he could tell that Roger had quickly progressed to grade five. It had amused Zen how much Roger improved in a short period of time!
However, it was common knowledge that some martial arts cultivators could use some pills to speed up their progress. When they did, their cultivation base would normally be unstable. It was like hastening the baking of a pastry. The outside looked good, but the inside would turn out to be half-baked. But some cultivators would opt to pay the price of unstable cultivation just to speed up their progress. However, a half-baked cultivation base would often have a bad effect on their further progress.
Nonetheless, it was the pride and reputation these cultivators were after. Despite having an unstable cultivation base, once a cultivator reached the Illuminating Soul Realm, he would immediately become a respected figure in the Eastern Region. This was enough for many cultivators. Without a stable cultivation base, progressing from Illuminating Soul Realm to the next level would be like a thread passing through a needle hole. Hence, some cultivators would forget about progressing from Illuminating Soul Realm to Internal Elixir Realm and other higher stages of martial refinement.
But Zen wasn't like everyone else. He had a very solid cultivation base. Sometimes, he would even restrain himself from leveling up until his body made a breakthrough on its own. This was the same as men's nocturnal emission which happened naturally after a long period of accumulation.
Inside the pond, Zen had finally stabilized his new breakthrough. But instead of relaxing, he continued to sit in a lotus position and do his breathing exercises. He felt that staying in that environment for a longer period would be helpful to his body.
Although it wasn't a real dragon, the flood dragon's blood contained so much strong and pure power. However, due to Zen's low refining level, he could only absorb a limited amount of that power. The flood dragon's blood was a priceless treasure even for a grade-six sect, so it was only fitting that it was stored in this elegant pond. The flood dragon's blood seemed endless in this pond, so even if Zen stayed in the pond much longer, the blood wouldn't dry out.
While he was meditating, Zen heard an embarrassed titter coming from his mind. It was from the cyan dragon.
The flood dragon spirit that the cyan dragon had absorbed had nourished him and made his waking hours longer.
Zen tried to ignore him. He focused his mind on meditating. However, the cyan dragon grew more irritating. So, Zen was left with no choice but to acknowledge it. “What do you want?” asked Zen.
“Finally, I thought you would seriously ignore me! I was just wondering… Can I absorb the rest of flood dragon blood?” the cyan dragon asked with an awkward smile.
Zen could not help but roll his eyes. The cyan dragon had been deliberately ordering Zen to get whatever he wanted in the past. It wasn't the type to “ask” or wonder what he could or could not get. But this time, to Zen's surprise, the cyan dragon was asking him a favor.
Zen thought that maybe the cyan dragon was embarrassed to ask for more because he just got his fair share of the flood dragon spirit.
But despite the plea from the cyan dragon, Zen could not immediately answer because the flood dragon blood didn't solely belong to him. But he also saw this as an opportunity to get something in return from the cyan dragon. He pretended to think, then sighed, “As much as I want to, I can't. You know Tia owns half of the flood dragon blood. It's up to her who to use her share of it.”
But the cyan dragon wasn't born yesterday. He told Zen, “Well, you just got played by that girl. She's a smart aleck, you know. The herbs in the herbal garden are of greater value than this pond of blood. Say, that eighty-thousand-year-old Lunar Anesthesia Herb alone is equal to this pond full of blood. I don't think she would need her share of the flood dragon blood! Come on, think about it!”
Obviously, the cyan dragon had a wide knowledge of everything. He knew exactly the value of things and wouldn't be fooled by anyone even Zen. Zen could also estimate the value of those herbs just by scanning them with his soul.
Both the Lunar Anesthesia Herb and the flood dragon blood were valuable to Zen, but not to the cyan dragon. Even the valuable Heavenly Fruit Tree that Zen would die to have could only be described as “not bad” by the cyan dragon. If it wasn't for this awkward situation, the cyan dragon would never take the flood dragon blood seriously. But because of the experiences that put him in such occasion, he had no other choice but to consume the flood dragon blood in order to regain his strength.
“But still, she has the right to her share. And if I take it all by myself, I'm afraid she won't let me see another day,” Zen insisted stubbornly as sly guilt flashed in his eyes.
The cyan dragon fell silent for a while. He was assessing the situation and finding ways to make Zen agree to his bidding. Suddenly, he said, “Okay, tell me what you want. I can do anything under my power. Maybe, I can teach you something useful. Say, our cultivation method? Sounds good, eh?” the cyan dragon said. Sensing that he had aroused Zen's attention, he continued, “However, I must warn you. The cultivation methods of dragons like me aren't suitable for you because your body is still very weak. Even if I teach you some of our cultivation methods, you won't be able to use them with your current strength.”
Zen laughed. He knew that the cyan dragon had sensed his eagerness to learn any new cultivation method, but he had to act like he was not that interested. “Hey, I never asked for anything in return. Besides, I have never agreed to give you Tia's share. But since you're offering, who am I to resist? I'll accept it with pleasure,” Zen said laughing.
“You're a cunning but smart boy! Fine! I'll teach you a set of rune-making methods. It's one of the best attainments we dragons have acquired in runic learning,” the cyan dragon said proudly.
He had long planned to teach Zen something useful. Imparting even a little part of his broad knowledge to Zen would benefit the latter a lot. But he had held the thought for a while since Zen's low refining stage would limit his ability to grasp or exert the cyan dragon's inheritance.
But seeing the improvement in Zen's strength and his stable cultivation base, he finally decided to teach Zen the methods of writing runes. After all, runes were widely used in this world and could be applied to many different fields. If Zen would become a runic expert, he could deal with many troublesome situations without the help of the cyan dragon.
Runes took many forms and could be used for different things. For example, a magic-array expert was a special type of runic experts in the Eastern Region. A large array was usually made of hundreds or thousands of runes, and it required special runes to build magic arrays.
Runes could also be used in refining weapons. For example, if a weapon refiner could use some special runes while refining a weapon, it could increase the success rate of the refinement and the weapon's grade would also improve. The same process was used for refining pills.
Upon hearing the cyan dragon's offer, Zen could not help but smile. It could be recalled that he had earned his money mostly by selling his heavenly essence. He had thought about becoming a weapon refiner by right of his heavenly essence but had only learned the way of smelting. He hadn't even once tried the most important part of refining a weapon.
But if the cyan dragon could teach him the method of using runes, it would be much easier for Zen to master weapon refining.
Without hesitating, he immediately answered, “Hey, I like that idea! That's exactly what I have in mind right now. If you can really teach me, you can absorb as much flood dragon blood as you want. As for me, I've absorbed what I needed, so it's useless for me now.”
“You're a tricky mongrel!” The cyan dragon felt annoyed but had to accept that he was tricked by Zen.
Meanwhile, in the herbal garden, Tia was patiently counting and recording all the herbs. Each herb required a specific method of handling, otherwise, they would immediately wither once touched. For example, the rhizome herb called Nurturing Primrose would produce the sound of a crying baby when casually touched, then eventually withered in one breath and lost its value. The Fiery Dragon Saliva, on the other hand, contained a fiery toxin that would infect people when they touched the plant.
Hence, Tia dealt with all the herbs accordingly. As she was carefully dealing with the herbs, the thought of Zen bathing in the pond came to her mind. She blushed momentarily but shrugged the indecent thought off her mind. She focused on the idea on her mind that some herbs in the garden could be added to the flood dragon blood that would purify Zen's life vitality and refresh his body.
Though she envied Zen's current status, she wasn't a stingy person. She believed that Zen held great potential for the Cloud Hall. She wouldn't want to waste such a great talent. As she had seen it, Zen could muster a sword spirit that had a real shape when he was still in a low refining level. And that proved that he could be a promising talent to the Cloud Hall.
With excitement, she dug up those herbs and headed towards the blood pond. She couldn't keep her mind off the thought of seeing Zen half naked in the pond. She blushed again, and despite the attempt to shrug it off her mind, she couldn't. As she approached the pond, an unexpected view greeted her. She froze in stunned silence.
Instead of a half-naked Zen, she saw a completely empty pond. “Where's the flood dragon blood?!” she asked in astonishment. She was dumbfounded to see that all the flood dragon flood had disappeared after Zen stayed in it for some time. How could that be possible?
The flood dragon blood was a priceless treasure. It would be extremely improbable for an ordinary human to absorb all the energy in its blood. In fact, it would be a great achievement for an ordinary person to even manage to absorb several drops of the blood at once. Tia could still remember leaving the pond full just some moments ago, only to come back to nothing. Absorbing that amount of flood dragon blood would cause a person to suffer a violent death. A normal body would not be able to contain the huge power in the flood dragon blood thus it would explode. It was like filling up a small bag with water. The bag would expand but it could only take so much water that it would eventually explode once it reached its limit. This would be the same fate even for a powerful cultivator like Tia.
“The flood dragon blood? I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it. I absorbed all of it while you were gone.” Zen replied in an apologetic tone. He couldn't tell Tia what really happened. He also felt somehow guilty about giving all the flood dragon blood to the cyan dragon without letting her know first.
“What did you say? You absorbed all of it? That's absurd!” Tia's eyes widened in astonishment as she stared at Zen. She couldn't imagine that Zen managed to consume so much flood dragon blood and still be here talking to her as if nothing had happened.
Nonetheless, she knew Zen hadn't left the pond and there was no way he could move the blood somewhere else. Thus, even though it was hard to believe, she knew that Zen wasn't lying about absorbing all the flood dragon's blood.
“Goodness, that's a pond full of flood dragon blood!” Tia said in dismay as she approached Zen. Her face darkened a little in disappointment. It might be true that the flood dragon blood was no use for her, but it could serve as a reward for the disciples in Cloud Hall.
“Didn't we make an agreement that we will share all of these treasures? Now, since you consumed the flood dragon blood all by yourself, I don't see a need for me to share these treasure chests with you now!” Tia spat angrily as she glanced at the treasure chests on the ground. Since there was no way to return the flood dragon's blood, she might as well play with Zen a little.
“Hey! That's unreasonable!” Zen argued back. “You've taken all the herbs from the garden! The Lunar Anesthesia Herb alone is more valuable than the pond of blood. Do you seriously think you can trick me?”
“You're haggling like a woman! Or maybe, I should also own half of that giant sword of Blood Fiend Emperor. Do you want it that way?” Tia rebutted. She liked it when Zen was getting annoyed.
They had quite a quarrel over the rest of the precious inheritances of the grade-six sect. Although Tia was just playing around, she liked the idea of getting square with Zen after he had selfishly consumed all that flood dragon blood. Zen, on the other hand, wouldn't agree on anything that Tia offered.
And after failing to reach an agreement, they both agreed to open the treasure chests first.
Once they saw what was inside each box and how one could use the item, then they could determine how to divide the treasures.