Chapter 1437
Phoenix"s Blood Fruit
The thing he wanted her to review was none other than that red fruit in the jade bottle.
If it turned out to be what he had guessed, it would be extremely useful for him!
Since Yang Chen had recovered his cultivation, it only took a few minutes for him to return to Zhonghai. Soon, he was already standing on the balcony outside Xiao Zhiqing’s room.
As it was the dead of the night, she was already fast asleep. Yang Chen, too excited to wait any longer, knocked on the gla.s.s door.
Xiao Zhiqing woke up to the noise. With a groggy expression, she turned on the light switch. When she saw Yang Chen grinning outside the window, she rubbed her eyes and made sure she was not dreaming.
Immediately, she jumped out of bed and ran to open the door for him. “Hubby, why are you here?”
After a brief moment, she exclaimed, “You recovered your cultivation!”
Yang Chen nodded and pulled her to the bed. After sitting down together, he recounted the incident in Seoul to her. Lastly, he said, “I obtained a lot of herbs. I recognize most of them, and plenty of them can be used to concoct upper-rank medicinal pills and some can be used for forging upper-rank artifacts. Since I don’t know how to forge artifacts, I’d like to start with the pills. I found this amongst the herbs, but I wasn’t sure if it’s the spiritual fruit I had in mind. So I came over to ask you.”
As he said the last sentence, he retrieved the jade bottle and put it on Xiao Zhiqing’s hands.
Under the light, a faint red round fruit could be seen through the translucent jade bottle. Once the bottle was opened, a refres.h.i.+ng surge of spiritual energy was emitted.
Xiao Zhiqing stared at the item inside unblinking for a long while. Then, she sniffed it. With an overjoyed expression, she uttered, “Hubby, I… I never knew such a spiritual fruit existed in this world. There’s no doubt that this is the Phoenix"s Blood Fruit!”
“It’s really the Phoenix’s Blood Fruit!?” Even though Yang Chen had a rough guess earlier on, the affirmation from Xiao Zhiqing still made him spring out of bed.
“The legend has it that dragons and phoenixes exist in the Great Ancient times. The dragon was an actual mythical being, the ancestors of the dragons in the Ten Thousand Demon Realm. As for the phoenixes, they were immortal and had come into existence due to the will to land on the parasol tree. Since they were immortal, the only thing that could make them be reincarnated and go through the suffering in six realms was their tears—the Phoenix"s Cry of Blood. They only shed tears when they are moved by something. That tear would turn into blood, and any fruit that touched the blood would evolve into Phoenix’s Blood Fruit, far more powerful than any herbs!”
Xiao Zhiqing continued, “I don’t know how Master Insect obtained it, but I guess he knew nothing about it and only stored it in a good jade bottle because of the spiritual energy it possessed. You have to know that the spiritual energy within one Phoenix"s Blood Fruit is enough to add a century’s worth of cultivation to someone whose cultivation level is greater than the Soul Forming stage. He must be thinking of using it after finding out its function. Unfortunately, someone got to it before him!”
“This is all thanks to the G.o.ds for arriving at Earth or else the cultivators in China would have found this. The monk wouldn’t have had a chance to get it. Hehe, I got lucky. With this fruit, I can concoct the most powerful medicinal pill in the book, the dragon forming pill, which would help you guys to break through the Xiantian stage!”
Yang Chen could not suppress his joy. He had been intrigued by the dragon-forming pill from the moment he saw the formula. After all, it would take a long time for the ladies to advance into the Xiantian stage based on their efforts.
However, with the dragon forming pill, it could strengthen their cultivation and physique without any side effects.
Though, the only downside was the excruciating pain they would have to suffer.
At that time, he was disappointed that he had all the rare ingredients except for the Phoenix"s Blood Fruit that seemingly only existed in legends.
“What? Hubby, are you planning to concoct the dragon-forming pill?” Xiao Zhiqing frowned, appearing to be conflicted.
Yang Chen was surprised. “Qing’er, what’s wrong? Is it not useful?”
“No. Dragon forming pill is a long-lost formula, and its effect far surpa.s.ses any other pills. But…”
She sighed. “I think you can have two centuries’ worth of cultivation if you ate the fruit yourself. Then, you might have the chance to advance into the Tai Qing Heavenly Lightning stage. By then, Hongmeng and the hidden clans would dare not cross you. On the other hand, if you concoct the dragon forming pill, the girls can advance into the Xiantian stage, but to reach the Soul Forming stage, it would depend on their encounter and comprehension. Their powers would not increase greatly, and the only thing that would benefit them would only be a longer lifespan. They won’t be able to help you in battles.”
Yang Chen’s gaze softened when he heard that. He stroked her hair and said softly, “I know you’re concerned about me, but what’s the point for me to get stronger if I have to watch you guys get old day by day. I’m not living my life for myself. Besides, I was lucky to survive the Tai Qing Heavenly Lightning tribulation last time. I bet the Shang Qing Heavenly Lightning tribulation would only be even stronger. I might not survive it. So I would rather work hard in my cultivation to prepare myself for it.”
Xiao Zhiqing knew he would say that. She pouted and said, “You said so yourself. I don’t want to be old, so you have to cure my body for me.”
Yang Chen was baffled. “What? The dragon-forming pill doesn’t cure your Nine Yin Meridian body?”
Xiao Zhiqing smiled wryly. “Only those in the pinnacle of the Houtian stage can withstand the dragon forming pill. Since I can’t cultivate, I’ll die from being overflowed from spiritual energy in the pill. Only a cultivation technique that disperses the Nine Yin Cold or a super Yang artifact would be able to cure my body. However, I’ve yet to see something like that in the current world.”
Xiao Zhiqing had been suppressing the bitterness in her heart, having been forced to watch her beloved and friends enter another stage one by one. She was well-educated and yet was not given the chance to put her knowledge into practice.
Yang Chen’s heart felt heavy too. He pulled her into his ears and comforted her, “Don’t worry. You’re still young. Besides, I’m very lucky, so I’m sure I’ll stumble upon something sooner or later. I’ll cure you.”
Xiao Zhiqing was swelled with warmth when she heard that. Tears welled up in her eyes as she nodded and hummed in agreement.
Yang Chen comforted her for some time. Once she was all cheered up, Yang Chen returned to Seoul.
After all, he had to attend Zhenxiu’s wedding ceremony, which would in a sense be a farewell to her. He hoped that one day she would come to realize an ordinary life was hard to come by.
Xiao Zhiqing stood at the balcony and watched his retreating figure. The cold wind blew against her skin, the smile on her face vanis.h.i.+ng as she looked up at the starry sky. At that moment, she was shrouded by loneliness.
On the next day, Yang Chen walked out of the suite in Hilton Hotel while holding hands with Jane.
The couple did not sleep the whole night as they had a heated discussion over their future plans.
Jane was naturally excited to hear that Yang Chen had a way to improve their cultivation quickly. Still, she was meticulous about it. Since it was unsafe for the news about the dragon forming pill to leak out, Jane suggested sending everyone to the Forgotten Realms where they would advance to the Xiantian stage together under Yang Chen’s protection.
Thus, for the rest of the night, Yang Chen called his other ladies to head to Zhonghai. Lanlan would also join them at the island since her cla.s.ses had yet to start.
Everyone else was taken care of except for Lin Ruoxi. Yang Chen’s head throbbed at the thought of her. He kept wanting to send her all the good stuff but was worried that she would be angry at him and ignore him.
They got into the lift. On their way to the lobby, the lift stopped at a floor and a young couple walked in. The woman was holding onto her husband’s arm tightly with a sweet expression on her face.
However, when they noticed Yang Chen and Jane in the lift, their faces stiffened, and they smiled awkwardly at them.
Jane saw right through them and asked with an ambiguous tone, “Zhang Ru? Is this your husband?”