Garden of Shadows

by Tinalynge

  “By raising your position, you will be very useful to me too,” Gu Bing’er said with a calm and collected voice as if she was completely fine with the fact that she was trying to marry herself off for political gain.

  While the two were speaking, everyone else in the room had quietened down and were looking expectantly, at the two speaking friends, curious as to whether or not this would turn into a marriage.

  “Well, let’s say that I agree to marry you, how will you convince your family to allow their only miss to marry me? Although I am in the running to become the next heir to the Yuan family, I am not the smartest of the candidates, so my chance of success is not very high.”

  “That is why you need me,” Gu Bing’er smiled sweetly. “You are indeed a bit simple-minded, but then you will have me to take care of all our scheming for you.”

  Yuan Bailong had not really considered this possibility, but the more he considered it, the more plausible it sounded. He would benefit greatly if he married Gu Bing’er, but was she really okay with him?

  He was not so gullible as to think that she had fallen in love with him—she was far too apathetic when facing him, but why should this mean they could not marry?

  Love was a luxury that commoners could pursue; they were nobles, and for them, it was about marrying for family connections and benefits. Still, it was not like they hadn’t grown somewhat fond of each other after spending so much time together; it certainly made it more bearable for both of them, instead of the chance that they would be matched with someone they didn’t get along with at all.

  Finally reaching a conclusion, Yuan Bailong looked at Gu Bing’er with shining eyes, “How are we to make them approve of us though?” he asked curiously.

  Although the wedding would increase his standing in the Yuan family even further than his current performance with Xue Wei’s deal, he was not sure that the Gu family would approve of him as their son-in-law.

  “That’s simple,” Gu Bing’er smiled, now that she realized that Yuan Bailong was accepting her proposal. “I will tell my brothers that I have fallen deeply in love with you and that you are equally enamored with me. My brothers spoil me silly since I am the only sister they have, so they will definitely help me convince my family elders, and I believe we will succeed.”

  Yuan Bailong nodded his head; it sounded like a plan. Then he turned around and noticed that the whole room was silent. All of the people within the room were either leisurely seated in chairs or leaning against something, looking at Gu Bing’er and Yuan Bailong with rapt attention and a knowing smile on their lips.

  “Big Brother, what is marriage?” Luoluo suddenly asked, “can it be eaten?”

  Xue Wei smirked when he heard the small child’s question, but he answered honestly, “It is when two people promise to be together all their lives.”

  “Then can I marry Big Brother?” Luoluo asked with sparkling eyes, making Xue Wei laugh out loud.

  He shook his head, “No,” he said. “We are family, and family cannot marry one another. And I already have a wife waiting for me to return to the Chang’an continent.”

  “So family is more important than marriage?” Luoluo would not let go, and Xue Wei gently rubbed her head.

  “It is different but just as important,” he promised her. “I will never leave you alone, but one day, when you’re grown up, you will also find someone who makes your heart warm, and you’ll want to spend your entire future with them.”

  Luoluo thought about it before she nodded her head solemnly, “I cannot marry Big Brother, because you are my big brother.”

  Xue Wei smiled when he saw that the child had understood. He then turned to Gu Bing’er and Yuan Bailong and smirked at them too, “I wish to congratulate you on your engagement,” he said teasingly, and while Gu Bing’er was completely unaffected, Yuan Bailong was turning crimson as he realized that everyone in the room had been listening to their conversation.

  “Thank you,” Gu Bing’er did not see anything wrong with accepting Xue Wei’s congratulations, neither did she feel uncomfortable about it. She was, in fact, very pleased that she had managed to convince Yuan Bailong to marry her.

  She had interacted with him quite a few times recently. They had met each other often at the academy, not to mention they had gotten to know each other quite well from their deals with Xue Wei about the Qi cultivation—it was not like they got along poorly.

  When push came to shove, she was quite pleased with her decision. She quite liked the naive but friendly Yuan Bailong, and she was sure that he would treat her well in the future. He was an honorable man who—although slightly naive and simple-minded—would do anything in his power to do the right thing. Such a person was hard to find, and Gu Bing’er was sure that if they were given enough time, then they would learn to treasure one another as well.

  “Well then, we will have to appear in love to the rest of the world, so I am relying on your acting ability,” Gu Bing’er said as she looked at Yuan Bailong with a contemplative look. Was he going to be able to act it out?

  Seeing his embarrassed expression when, instead of maintaining eye contact with her, he desperately looked anywhere else, all while a deep red hue spread out over his face, Gu Bing’er could not help but let go of her worries. He clearly looked like someone suffering from puppy love!

  Satisfied with this, Gu Bing’er nodded to Xue Wei, “I have conveyed the information I needed to convey. Stay safe, as our future business depends on it—and don’t hesitate to request our help. I will go to sort out my marriage. Bailong, do nothing, for now. We will come to the Yuan family to formally request the marriage soon.”

  Unless the woman was gifted as a concubine, it was usually men were the ones who went to request marriages, but it seemed that Gu Bing’er did not care about these common customs of Yan Dalu. Not only had she proposed to Yuan Bailong, but she had also said that they would be the ones to propose the marriage.

  When Gu Bing’er left, Yuan Bailong also left, his expression rather amused, as if he still had not determined what to think about the whole situation. However, he had already accepted the proposal, and as a man, he was not going to go back on his word.

  When he left, Xue Wei made Lin Xiao and Hei Gou look after Luoluo, while he locked himself in the pill room to concoct pills.

  He had many pill formulas with him, and amongst these pill formulas were the rainbow pills.

  Rainbow pill formulas were not that rare, but the pills themselves were incredibly rare as they had a very low success rate when being refined, and the materials needed to be used were also quite rare.

  Xue Wei had not concocted pills since he made the Sky Knight Pills some time ago, so he started by created some Spring Powder Pills again—the very common healing and minor cultivation boosting pill that works for Ordinary Knight-ranked experts. Fortunately, he quickly found the right state of mind, and all of them came out at a high purity.

  Although he had just succeeded in creating a good batch of Spring Healing Pills, he was not satisfied. He tried the more challenging Sand Dust Pill, a pill that was meant to be activated rather than consumed, creating a large sandstorm in its wake.

  Any pills that were not designed for consumption were always the most difficult ones to concoct, due to their volatility—with the exception of the rainbow pills.

  The first pill was refined properly, but it had a low purity, which was something that Xue Wei did not create that often. It quickly showed him how difficult it was to successfully concoct these pills.

  But Xue Wei did not give up. He kept at it, and eventually, he ended up concocting ten more Sand Dust Pills, out of which were eight high, one middle and another low purity pill.

  Feeling confident after his successful concoctions, he was ready to try his hand at a Rainbow Pill. First, he found the materials needed to make this specific One-colored Rainbow Pill. There were many different formulas to make rainbow pills, but they all had one thing in common—the materials needed were more
than just herbs, and the difficulty of the refinement was through the roof.

  Xue Wei took a deep breath as he organized the metals, precious stones and herbs that he had bought with merit points and prepared for these pills.

  The various hunks of metal were first sent into the cauldron, then the precious stones, and finally the herbs.

  All of it was being melted down by the spiritual energy flame that he was using. As the ingredients began to merge, a red light started to appear in the cauldron—the light that was a trademark characteristic for a One-colored Rainbow Pill.

  At the start, the red light was faint, but as the materials merged together, it grew brighter and denser in color. As the pill was being formed, the intensity of the light became so overwhelming that Xue Wei had to squint his eyes to be able to see what was going on within his cauldron.

  Finally, after two hours that felt more like an eternity, the flame within the cauldron died down, and a single red pill was lying within the steaming-hot cauldron.

  Xue Wei reached out and picked up the pill, and gave it a thorough examination. It was definitely a red pill, and it seemed to be intact, with no signs of cracking. Rainbow pills were only capable of being profound purity pills, and anything beneath a profound purity pill would have cracked and been made incapable of releasing any of its medicinal properties. If one were to consume a cracked one, it would be like consuming an overpriced, tasteless candy.

  Fortunately, it seemed that the first pill that he attempted had been a success. He had not encountered any big problems when refining it, so now that he was done with it, he felt that something had to be amiss.

  Xue Wei did not have the materials to make more than three of the One-colored Rainbow Pills right now, so he considered how he might divide them amongst his group. He got up and quickly went to the front room, but upon seeing Lin Xiao and Luoluo playing together, he decided not to disturb them and quickly withdrew again. Returning to the room, he sat down on the bed, crossed his legs and steadied his breathing.

  He looked at the pill once more, before he closed his eyes and popped it into his mouth. As always, when one consumed a Rainbow Pill, one would not know which energy would be enhanced. When the pill started to turn into energy as it slid down his throat, it became evident to Xue Wei that it was his Qi cultivation that was being enhanced.

  It had been a long time since Xue Wei last focused on cultivating his Qi, but now he felt how the Azure Dragon spirit in his dantian was floating with happiness and excitement. It was like a man stranded in a desert who finally managed to find an oasis and had a great thirst for every last drop.

  Chapter 29 - Sparring with Hei Gou

  Xue Wei felt all the air surrounding him turn into an energy-filled storm. The heaven-and-earth-essence rushed into his body at a speed unlike any he had ever experienced before.

  Despite the rush of energy, his body felt comfortable; the energy cascaded through his meridians, and into every pore of his body. He felt the bottleneck he had been fighting since before he even arrived on Yan Dalu finally loosening up, and the Qi within his dantian rushed to improve his cultivation base.

  After breaking through the bottleneck, there was nothing stopping his explosive advancement. It was like an endless stream that flowed into his body, and soon he felt another breakthrough rapidly approaching.

  While cultivating, Xue Wei completely forgot about everything else; the outside world was but a fleeting dream to him, and all he could focus on was his body and the energy that was constantly being refined in it.

  Another five hours went by as he cultivated, churning and refining more Qi than he had ever had to before, before Xue Wei finally finished his cultivation. At this point, he’d had multiple breakthroughs, bursting through into the Earth Knight rank and then even another two layers after that. His Qi level had now settled on the third layer of the Earth Knight rank—a tremendous increase, especially considering how he had completely neglected his Qi cultivation after arriving in Yan Dalu.

  Now his cultivation base was more-or-less equal in both spiritual energy and Qi, and he was capable of fighting with much more proficiency than before.

  Xue Wei stretched his body as he felt that the wanton absorption and refinement of the heaven-and-earth essence had finally slowed down to a more regular rate, and he left the room, only to find that the rest of the house was silent.

  Looking out the window, he saw that the sun had already set and the moon had risen in the sky, blanketing the entire courtyard in a silvery light. Stars were also shining brightly, illuminating the otherwise dark night.

  Taking a moment to explore the house and spread out his spiritual energy, he could sense that everyone had returned to their own rooms, with Luoluo having already fallen into a deep sleep while the others were immersed in their cultivation.

  Xue Wei felt rejuvenated after his explosive cultivation with the aid of the Rainbow Pill. His body felt lighter than ever before, he could feel strength pulsating in every muscle of his body, and he pondered on what to do next.

  Should he head to the training grounds and hope that there was someone to spar against, or should he return to cultivating on his own in the room?

  Having reached a conclusion, Xue Wei wrote a message that he slipped under the door into Lin Xiao’s room before he made his way to Hei Gou’s room.

  Arriving, he knocked on the door, “Hey, Gou,” he called out. After a short while, a rather disgruntled looking Hei Gou opened the door. Being interrupted when one was cultivating was not very comfortable, but he understood that Xue Wei would not interrupt him without purpose.

  “What is it?” he asked while leaning against the door frame. His posture made his entire being ooze arrogance, making the corner of Xue Wei’s lips twitch as he tried hard not to laugh at the handsome young dog’s pretentiousness—especially since he needed his assistance now.

  “I just had a few breakthroughs,” Xue Wei explained. “I need someone to spar with, so I can get used to my new strength, but here, it is quite difficult to find someone who is capable of withstanding my attacks. So, I thought of you. Are you interested in a sparring match with me?”

  Although Hei Gou had been cultivating, a better way to get results with one’s cultivation was to spar with a worthy opponent. Not only would it improve the speed with which one would absorb the heaven-and-earth essence, but it also helped one improve their combat ability—not to mention a better comprehension of their abilities.

  Hei Gou had been eager for someone to spar with, as after his blood awakening on the way to Yan Dalu, he had not had any other choice other than to spar with Lin Xiao. And by now, the two of them knew each other so well that they no longer benefitted from sparring with one another.

  It was different to spar with Xue Wei. Xue Wei was half a Sovereign Beast. He could use martial art techniques that were made for humans, but he could also use powerful innate abilities that belonged to the Azure Dragons.

  He has become quite good at switching between his Qi and spiritual energy attacks with one another so that the opponent never knew what was coming for him—it could be anything, making it all the more difficult to counter.

  This excitement made Xue Wei an interesting opponent, and even after having known him for as long as Hei Gou had, he still had not grasped a full scope of Xue Wei’s battle form. Throughout their travels Xue Wei’s mental state had changed, his personality was also heavily affected by his transformation from a trash human into a revered Sovereign Beast.

  Xue Wei could easily guess what Hei Gou was thinking when he saw the excitement shining within the handsome dog’s eyes.

  Shaking his head in amusement, Xue Wei just turned around and began walking out of the house. “Let’s go then,” he laughed.

  The note that Xue Wei had left to Lin Xiao stated that he had gone to the training grounds with Hei Gou to spar and that if they were not back before the time that Luoluo woke up, then he should bring her to them so that they could get breakfast together.r />
  Xue Wei practically came to see Lin Xiao as a nanny. He was the most responsible, and capable of almost anything, so looking after a child should not prove to be too problematic for him. Bai Tianyi, on the other hand, would be completely incapable of looking after a child, so Xue Wei did not even consider him. It was fortunate that he hadn’t already attempted to kill her to consume her soul power yet.

  As they walked through the academy, Xue Wei noticed that the previously bustling roads were now deserted. Even the facilities that had often been occupied by students now stood empty.

  Many of the students of the more prominent families had already gone back home. It was as if the academy lost most of its worth, now that the Soul Tower was broken.

  As they reached the training grounds, they found that only a handful of experts were present, and all of these were Qi cultivators—Primordial Beasts.

  Although the majority of important people within Yan Dalu cultivated spiritual energy, there were still quite a few Primordial Beasts that cultivated Qi, and they were not to be belittled.

  Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked around, quickly finding a sparring arena that was unoccupied. They casually went towards it, chatting with one another as if the perilous situation they were actually in had no effect on their mental state.

  The Baili family must be planning their revenge on Xue Wei and could strike at any given time. At the same time, the Soul Tower becoming nonfunctional meant that not only was the entire continent worried, but the elders within the Garden of Shadows were far too preoccupied to give them any assistance. Nonetheless, they were completely carefree as they joked around.

  Noticing their carefree behavior, the other students were stumped for words. Were these two delusional, or were they being overconfident?

  The Baili family were not to be denigrated, and everyone knew that Xue Wei had killed a young master Baili already. Everyone had heard about the academy’s response, and the Baili family’s manhunt was scheduled to begin shortly.