by Dragon King
“Listen!” Hao Ren gave her a hard look.
Seeing his determined expression, Zhao Yanzi relented and took the pills and water glass obediently. She raised her head and swallowed the pills.
Her obedience surprised Hao Ren.
“Are you satisfied now?” Zhao Yanzi glared at Hao Ren, and her fierce look convinced Hao Ren that she had recovered.
Despite that, Hao Ren needed proof of her recovery. He took out a thermometer he bought in the pharmacy yesterday. “Let me take your temperature.”
Zhao Yanzi pouted, but at Hao Ren’s mild but determined look, she took the thermometer reluctantly and put it into her mouth.
Hao Ren sat beside the bed and looked at her like a supervisor.
A few minutes later, she took out the thermometer from her mouth and handed it to Hao Ren. Then she noticed it had her drool on it; she was ashamed, but it was too late for her to rub it off.
Hao Ren didn’t seem to mind it; he looked carefully at the mark on the thermometer. “Well, 38 degrees. The fever has abated a bit but not completely. Today, you stay here and rest.”
“You…” Zhao Yanzi couldn’t bear it anymore. “When did you become my supervisor?”
“Your parents are not here, and it’s my responsibility to supervise, no, to take care of you.” Hao Ren put away the thermometer. “Remember to take your temperature at noon. If you’re still feverish, take some more pills.”
Zhao Yanzi looked at him in a daze. She wanted to retort but found there was not enough strength in her. Her heart suddenly felt warm.
“And this is some herbal powder; remember to take it, too.” Hao Ren picked up a green packet of medicine and poured its content into her water glass.
“You’re annoying! Ok, I’ll take it!” Seeing Hao Ren had become such a nag, Zhao Yanzi didn’t bother to argue with him. She took the glass and poured the medicine into her mouth.
“Cough!” Suddenly, she choked, and some water spewed from her nose.
Hao Ren immediately leaned over to take the water glass from her hand, patting her on the back. “Are you ok?”
While he was wiping water from her mouth, Zhao Yanzi looked at him strangely. Without warning, she bit lightly on Hao Ren’s neck.
The wet feeling was more of a kiss than a bite.
With the water glass in his hand, Hao Ren looked at her in surprise.
“It’s nothing. Just a thank-you for taking care of me.” Zhao Yanzi looked away.
Ugh… Hao Ren touched his neck and stood up, confused. “I… will go and buy you some breakfast.”
Seeing Little White’s greedy and expectant gaze on him, Hao Ren sighed and tossed an Essence Replenishment Pill at it.
Little White jumped up joyously and swallowed it.
“Well… It seemed the stock of a dozen Essence Replenishment Pills would quickly run out at this speed.”
Zhao Yanzi pulled up the quilt and laid back in bed. Little White jumped up happily and snuggled into the quilt, too.
With the water glass in his hand, Hao Ren stood there while his heart raced.
Exhaling deeply, he touched his neck subconsciously. With his eyes on Zhao Yanzi who lay in the quilt motionlessly, he backed out of the bedroom.
When he walked into the living room, he smelled a delicious scent. Following the smell, he found that Su Han was making breakfast in an apron!
Looking at her cold and earnest expression, Hao Ren became nervous and suspected that she was cultivating a difficult technique. He walked over and saw that she was, in fact, frying eggs!
And the eggs had been burned!
At Hao Ren’s approach, Su Han immediately dumped the two burned eggs into the garbage can. However, from the corner of his eyes, Hao Ren saw six to seven burned eggs in the garbage can.
Su Han coughed slightly. “Zi is awake?”
Obviously, she was trying to distract him from the burned eggs. Not wanting to embarrass her, he nodded. “She woke up a moment ago. If you have no class today, would you stay home and take care of her?”
“Ok.” Su Han gripped the pan which had begun to smoke.
“I’ll… go downstairs to buy some breakfast.” Hao Ren walked to the door. It dawned on him that none of them had eaten anything last night, and his stomach grumbled in complaint. The only one with a full stomach among the four of them was Little White who had eaten two Essence Replenishment Pills.
“I can’t let Little White eat all day and do nothing.” He yelled at the direction of the bedroom, “Little White!”
Little White jumped out of the bedroom and trotted to follow Hao Ren.
Su Han took the opportunity to turn off the gas and put away the pan. Then, she walked to the windows.
She pulled open the curtains, and the sky entered their sight.
It was like a painting of a fantasy world. The frame of the window was the frame of the painting, and in the frame was the Nine Dragon Palace hovered in the dark clouds 1,000 meters high in the sky.
“Take a closer look,” tucking a steak of hair behind her ear, Su Han said.
Hao Ren activated his Nature Essence to its full force and looked hard. Suddenly, he saw countless cultivators, like dragonflies after a shower, flying on swords in colorful stealth energy sphere toward the Nine Dragon Palace, which looked like an upside-down mountain in the air!
224 Coming for the Treasures
“How come there are so many of them?” Hao Ren looked at the sky in surprise.
Zhao Yanzi’s birthday party had gathered most of the water-elemental cultivators, but they were outnumbered by the group Hao Ren saw around the Nine Dragon Palace.
He estimated more than 500 cultivators were hovering around the Nine Dragon Palace.
“There are more coming so get used to the sight. You’d better go and buy breakfast,” Su Han said coolly.
“Ok…” Hao Ren took a deep breath before taking Little White out of Su Han’s apartment.
Anyway, if anything happened, there were masters like Su Han who would handle it. Besides, the Nine Dragon Palace didn’t belong to East Ocean, and such a scene repeated itself every fifty years. It was nothing to be surprised about.
Walking a “lion” in the morning was a luxury that not everyone could afford. Little White had returned to its original magnificent form. It was quite a sight to walk such a huge “dog.”
On the way, Labradors, Great Pyrenees, golden retrievers, Dalmatians all gave ways to Little White.
Little White walked majestically with its head high, temporarily forgetting its cute and adorable ways.
The girls who were on their way to school all gathered around it, admiring its snow-white silky fur with surprise and envy.
They were not afraid of the big version Little White. Instead, they offered their own breakfast, such as sausages and bread, to it.
Little White accepted all their food, swallowing the delicacies happily. In exchange, it let the girls touch and hug it.
Hao Ren was surprised that the girls liked Little White regardless of its size. He began to envy this creature.
With a full belly, Little White wagged its big tail and followed Hao Ren to a nearby restaurant.
He bought three packs of pork and vegetable wontons. After a moment of consideration, he purchased two bags of frozen dumplings for Su Han and Zhao Yanzi for lunch.
Hao Ren was about to return to Su Han’s apartment with Little White when a white light flashed, and a middle-aged man in a Taoist robe appeared, cupping his hands at him. “Are you a disciple of the Sky Mountain Sect?”
Hao Ren stared at him in surprise while Little White stood beside him with wide eyes.
When Hao Ren didn’t answer, he continued, “Are you a young disciple of the Yuan Generation? I’m a good friend of your master, Lu Gaoyang. I’ll take you back!”
Hao Ren looked at him in mounting astonishment and shook his head.
“You are not a disciple of the Sky Mountain Sect?” The man was confused. He backed up several steps and murmured, “Stran
ge. You obviously have five-element essence root and even have a snow lion with you. Am I wrong about you?”
He didn’t dare to stay long. Staring at Hao Ren for a few seconds, he vanished.
Baffled, Hao Ren looked at Little White by his side, and Little White looked back at him in confusion.
Snow lion; Sky Mountain Sect… Suddenly, Hao Ren understood.
Was it possible those cultivators around the Nine Dragon Palace were not all from Dragon Tribe?
The Nine Dragon Palace had dropped from Fifth Heaven to First Heaven, and according to Zhao Hongyu, the ancient cultivation sects were living in Fifth Heaven and above.
The Nine Dragon Palace was concealed in Fifth Heaven, which meant that the cultivation sects living on Fifth Heaven had been coveting it for a long time!
With three packs of wontons and two bags of frozen dumplings in hands, Hao Ren hurried back to Su Han’s apartment.
Zhao Yanzi was already up, though still tired. At the sight of Zhao Yanzi, Little White immediately shrunk to its mini size before jumping into her arms.
It purred adorably and rubbed its furry head against Zhao Yanzi’s chest.
Hao Ren picked up a piece of candy and threw it at Little White’s head to stop its behavior.
“The three packs of wontons are breakfast, and the two bags of dumplings are your lunch.” Hao Ren turned to Su Han. “Can you cook the dumplings?”
Su Han gave him a dirty look. Although she hadn’t learned to fry eggs, she could cook dumplings since it was quite similar to cooking instant noodles.
Her faked anger revealed another side of her that was rarely seen in public.
“Su Han, the cultivators who are trying to break into the Nine Dragon Palace are not all from the Dragon Tribe, right?” Hao Ren continued to ask.
“As a primeval palace, the Nine Dragon Palace is not the private property of the four ocean dragon palaces. The other clans don’t want to offend them by pointing it out due to the great power of the four ocean dragon palaces and the fact that they know the ways of opening the palace. As to the cultivation sects, they are here to fish in troubled waters,” Su Han said, eating a warm wonton.
Zhao Yanzi blinked, not understanding what they were talking about.
However, Hao Ren had his own interest in Sky Mountain Sect which was the expert in growing seven-colored snow lotuses. They probably know how to grow the 10,000-year snow lotus.
“But the cultivation sects don’t dare to mess around under Fifth Heaven, and they don’t even dare to land on the ground. Otherwise, they will break the rules and can’t make a fuss if they are killed on land,” Su Han continued as if to comfort him.
Hao Ren nodded, understanding why the middle-aged cultivator had come and gone in such a hurry. If he stayed too long on land, he would be in danger.
Fifth Heaven was the dividing line. The human cultivators and their sects lived above it, and the dragon cultivators governed the land and ocean under the Fifth Heaven. Of course, it was not a strict restriction. The powerful ones like Zhao Kuo could still push the boundary and fly up into Seventh Heaven as long as he didn’t break the rules of the Heaven. However, if they reached Eighth Heaven, they may activate powerful Heaven Tribulation.
Only the gold-elemental dragon cultivators, which were the smallest group among the Dragon Tribe, could reach Eighth Heaven. The privilege was given to them because one of their elders had passed the Heavenly Tribulation and become a Heavenly Dragon in the past hundreds of years.
Hao Ren finished his bowl of wantons. He stood up to say goodbye to Su Han.
Zhao Yanzi fidgeted in her seat at the dinner table, but she finally stood up and walked Hao Ren to the door with Su Han. With a blush, she avoided looking at Hao Ren.
“It was just a kiss!” Thinking of her previous bold talks and her current bashfulness, Hao Ren couldn’t help grinning.
“You take your rest here for the day. If you parents don’t come back, you can live here for a few days,” Hao Ren instructed.
Su Han glanced at Hao Ren, amazed that he was making the arrangements without consulting her first. However, despite the slight disturbance it would bring to her cultivation, she liked Zhao Yanzi and didn’t mind her living here while she was sick, and her parents were absent.
“I’ll come and see you when I’m free in the evening,” looking at Zhao Yanzi standing at the door with her head lowered and hands clutched, Hao Ren told her.
“I don’t want you to come and see me!” Zhao Yanzi lifted her head abruptly, baring her little canine teeth.
“Little White, what are you doing?” Little White was still moving around Zhao Yanzi’s feet. Hao Ren bent down and picked it up by its ears before tossing it into his hidden space.
“I’m off now!” Hao Ren walked to the elevator without looking back.
225 Let’s Fight!
Walking out of the apartment complex to the nearby bus stop, Hao Ren looked up and could still see the Nine Dragon Palace hovering in the air and the many cultivators flying on swords.
Out of sight, out of mind. He withdrew his Nature Essence and looked up again. This time he saw nothing but dark clouds as if it would rain at any moment.
He got on the bus, and it was still early when it arrived at East Ocean University. The bus stopped at the north gate of the school, and he had to cross the entire campus to reach the southern dorm area.
It was quiet on campus in the morning. Near the north gate was the pink dorm buildings for the girls mostly from Business Program and Foreign Language Progam. The University placed the students of the liberal arts in the dorm buildings inside the campus while the students of science and technology lived in dorm buildings outside of the school.
He was crossing a small forest filled with birds singing and flower fragrances when he heard sounds of “He” and “Ha” from a distant meadow.
He turned his head and saw the guys from the Taekwondo Club was practicing on the meadow. Wearing taekwondo suits, their uniformed kicking and punching movements looked quite dashing.
Practicing on the meadow in the center of the girl’s dorm buildings in the early morning; their intention was obvious.
“Everyone! Look sharp! Don’t embarrass yourself in front of the girls!” A man who looked like their captain was lecturing them.
Hao Ren watched them practice as he passed by.
“Su Han said my martial arts skill is poor. Maybe I should find a place to learn some techniques. But the clubs in the school look quite lame…” Hao Ren thought to himself.
Seeing Hao Ren watching them, the captain yelled at him, “Hey, you want to join our Taekwondo Club?”
Hao Ren shook his head and passed through the meadow.
Meanwhile, a guy from the club reminded the captain, “Boss, that guy is the boyfriend of Lu Linlin and Lu Lili. He once defeated Huang Xujie.”
“Really?!” The captain of Taekwondo Club looked after Hao Ren’s back in surprise.
The sky was still cloudy. Among the students walking to different academic buildings for class, Hao Ren looked quite ordinary with his books in hand.
However, he felt the atmosphere was a bit different today. Some girls and guys gathered together whispering to each other.
At first look, they were just students chatting with each other. But upon a closer look, Hao Ren found that they all had some blue or yellow lights around them.
It meant that they were not talking about the news in their daily lives or the activities in the school or anything related to their studies. They were talking about the Nine Dragon Palace in the sky!
The Dragon Tribe members had merged into the mortal world, and there were many young cultivators in East Ocean University. They each had their own groups of common background to trade information.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Xie Yujia appeared beside him and gave him a little punch.
“Oh! Nothing.” Hao Ren looked away from the students and smiled at Xie Yujia in embarrassment.
“You h
ave been quite mysterious recently,” Xie Yujia glanced at him and said.
“No. I’ve been busy,” said Hao Ren.
“What are you busy doing?” Xie Yujia asked.
“I want to work for a designing studio that does architectural work, and I’ve been studying stuff related to it,” Hao Ren said casually.
He glanced at Xie Yujia again and found she was even more beautiful than the day before. The most noticeable part was her skin which was so smooth and resilient that it looked like a boiled egg where the shell had been newly peeled. She could be a model for a skincare product commercial.
“What skincare products are you using?” Hao Ren blurted out.
“Skincare products?” Xie Yujia looked at him in confusion. “I don’t use any. As usual, I wash my face with a facial cleanser before bedtime in the night and after getting up in the morning. “
“Oh…” Hao Ren stared at her face. “But your skin looks so much better than before.”
“So, does yours. Your complexion has improved a lot in the past month,” Xie Yujia said.
“You’ve been checking me out?” Hao Ren asked without thinking.
She froze for a moment before widening her eyes. Nodding, she said, “Yeah. Kind of.”
“By the way, the clubs of Haishi University have come to our school today, and there will be several friendly matches between the clubs of the two schools. Will you go watch?” Xie Yujia asked.
“What matches?”
“Badminton, table tennis, tennis, and others. But I think the Taekwondo competition will be the most fun to watch.” She checked her watch. “How about going over and having a look?”
Looking at her eager face, Hao Ren thought for a second. “Ok. Let’s go and have a look.”
“Good!” Xie Yujia parked her bike at the roadside. “It’s not far from here by foot.”
“Class President, you’ve been in a good mood lately,” Hao Ren said abruptly while walking.
“I’ve always been like this. By the way, how is Grandma?”
“She’s fine, and she is still staying in Zhejiang. Oh, how is the old lady who lives near your home?”
“I borrowed some books about acupoints massaging. I learned some techniques from the book and tried them on the old grandma. She seems a lot better lately,” Xie Yujia said, walking with elegant ease.