by Dragon King
Sitting before her while steering Little White, Hao Ren suddenly felt Xie Yujia’s arms tighten around his waist. Thinking that she was cold, he pressed his hands on hers and injected some fire-elemental nature essence into her body.
This simple gesture showed Xie Yujia that Hao Ren did care for her. Secretly scolding herself for being too sensitive and melancholy, she dozed off on Hao Ren’s broad back.
She didn’t sleep last night since she studied the rare technique for growing Seven-Core Five-Color Lotus.
“This is Kunlun, a restricted zone. Any trespasser will be killed!”
Suddenly, a loud shout startled Xie Yujia from her warm dream.
Meanwhile, dozens of flying swords shot toward Hao Ren.
Hao Ren was only at Gen-level which was a little above the Core Formation Realm, so he didn’t have a chance to explain himself.
Not expecting that he would be attacked suddenly while he was only meters into Kunlun’s territory, Hao Ren was alarmed and immediately released hundreds of sword energies, blocking the flying swords.
As soon as his sword energies met these flying swords, he was able to tell that the people who attacked him were all at Core Formation Realm.
The flying swords retreated half a meter before attacking him again.
Last time when Su Han passed this place, she released the aura of a top-tier Qian-level cultivator. Sensing her aura and seeing her inspector’s token, the patrolling human cultivators had no choice but to let her pass.
However, Hao Ren who tried to break into the Kunlun Mountain was only at Gen-level. Therefore, they wouldn’t let him pass!
Forming an Eight Trigram Array Formation, the flying swords swirled toward Hao Ren, intending to destroy him.
“Two Dragons Array Formation!” Hao Ren’s sword energies formed two light beams that were entangling with each other, and they rushed into the center of the Eight Trigram before exploding and scattering the flying swords.
Afraid that Hao Ren would lose in the fight with his rivals, Xie Yujia released a big silver note!
The golden one was Life Note, and the silver one was Death Note.
Nature Five-Elemental Life-Death Notes!
Suppressed by the huge note which was at least one meter long, the cultivators who were hiding in the clouds screamed and tumbled down into the mountain.
The Life-Death Notes Xie Yujia got from old Grandma had the power of Nascent Soul Realm!
Soon, dozens of more light beams shot toward Hao Ren.
“This is no good…” Hao Ren only planned to have a look around the outer edge of Kunlun and didn’t expect to be attacked the moment they stepped within the range of the mountain. If the situation continued, they would be in big trouble.
He kicked lightly on Little White’s belly.
Knowing they needed to retreat, Little White emitted colorful light from its paws while it immediately ran out of Kunlun’s range.
“Hit and run? Are you here to mess with us?!”
A thunder-like voice sounded from the depth of Kunlun.
In the air before Hao Ren, a huge pale silver palm suddenly appeared and scooped toward Little White.
Hua… 320 sword energies stabbed into the vague palm and disappeared. Xie Yujia hurriedly launched a huge silver note, but it only created ripples when it hit the palm.
“Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll… A weird technique to cultivate… Five-element Life-Death Notes…”
From the depth of the mountain, that voice muttered while the palm in the sky crashed toward them like a huge mountain or a tsunami. The palm engulfed Little White while the fingertips caught Hao Ren and Xie Yujia.
At this moment, the dozens of light beams finally reached Hao Ren’s side and surrounded them.
Now, Hao Ren found out that the patrolling cultivators were all young girls in green robes of almost the same age!
They glared at Hao Ren and Xie Yujia while the longswords in their hands shook slightly as if they were going to kill these two despicable trespassers of Kunlun.
The cultivators who had been struck down to the valley by Xie Yujia’s attack flew up one by one and joined their team. They were also young girls wearing green robes.
“Snow lion… The Sky Mountain Sect? No, no, the young man has a dragon core in his body, and more strangely, he has 1,000-year cultivation strength stored in him. He’s also an inspector from the Dragon God Shrine. It’s not a good idea to kill him…”
That voice in the depth of the mountain was still murmuring to himself.
In the grip of the vague palm, Hao Ren was panting but couldn’t move a muscle. He looked at Xie Yujia and saw that she wasn’t doing any better.
“Huh? The mark on this girl’s left shoulder…” The palm that was gripping them suddenly loosened a little, and the voice from the depth of the mountain turned serious. “Girl, who is your master?”
“My master…” Suddenly remembering that old Grandma told her to give out her name when in danger, Xie Yujia said, “My master is Qingfeng Hermit!!”
“Oh? The disciple of Qingfeng on First Heaven? I’ll be in trouble if I mess with this crazy and over-protective old woman…”
The voice in the depth of the mountain muttered again.
The mysterious master in the depth of Kunlun lowered his power and said, “Ok. I won’t punish you two kids. But if you dare to trespass my Kunlun Mountain in the future, I’ll do more than a spanking!”
The huge palm suddenly opened, and it flicked its finger onto Little White’s butt.
“Ouch!” Little White flew out more than ten meters with a wronged expression and tears in its eyes, wondering why it got the spanking while it was Hao Ren who tried to break into Kunlun.
However, knowing that they shouldn’t stay here any longer, Little White endured the acute pain in its butt and fled swiftly with colorful lights on its paws.
Before they could rush out of the boundary of Kunlun, the huge palm suddenly caught up and blocked Little White.
With four paws swimming frantically in the sky, Little White just couldn’t get out.
“Why did you come to Kunlun?” the voice in the depth of the mountain suddenly asked.
“We came to look for Seven-Core Five-Color Lotuses,” Hao Ren said.
The voice was silent for a few seconds. “I don’t have any Seven-Core Five-Color Lotus. The last one was given to the Dragon God Shrine dozens of years ago.”
He continued, “You are both in luck and out of luck since I just came out of seclusion cultivation this month. Girl, what do you want?”
“I want…” Xie Yujia thought for a while and said, “10,000-year-old Black Herb, 10,000-year-old Green Wood, 10,000-year-old Iron Essence Flowers, 10,000-year-old Soul Grass, 10,000-year-old Golden Hammer, 10,000-year-old Daphne, and Ten-thousand Bronze Drum Skin. If you have 10,000-year-old Seven-Color Snow Lotus, it would be great.”
“Well, well. Damn… I wonder why Qingfeng took in such a greedy disciple. You want eight out of ten best elixir making materials in the world. I have lots of female disciples but don’t have many herbs. Ok, I’ll give you three kinds!”
Three boxes suddenly flew out from the center of Kunlun.
Sitting on Little White’s back, Xie Yujia immediately caught them. When she opened the boxes, she saw ten 10,000-year-old Colorful Snow Lotuses, three pieces of 10,000-year-old Green Wood, and five blocks of 10,000-year-old Daphne!
With some knowledge about spiritual herbs, Xie Yujia was happy to see these great herbs.
“I hope these gifts will stop you from telling your master about me hurting you with my pinch! If you dare to venture into Kunlun in the future, I won’t be so merciful!”
The pale silver palm sent Little White flying for at least 1,000 meters.
Little White tumbled several times while Hao Ren and Xie Yujia had to clutch tightly on its fur to stay on its back.
When they looked back, there was no trace of Kunlun.
The cultivator living in the dept
h of Kunlun was obviously a peer of old Grandma and thus was someone Hao Ren and Xie Yujia couldn’t mess with. However, he seemed to fear Xie Yujia’s master.
Otherwise, he could have kicked them out without giving Xie Yujia spiritual herbs on the condition that she wouldn’t tell old Grandma about this incident.
Xie Yujia rubbed her shoulder. Despite the pain inflicted by the palm in the sky, she was pleased to receive three kinds of rare spiritual herbs.
“We got unexpected gifts, but we can’t go to Kunlun anymore,” placing the three boxes into her bracelets, Xie Yujia said to Hao Ren with a smile.
From her perspective, the final warning of the Soul Formation Realm cultivator was very harsh, and they shouldn’t retake such risks.
Hao Ren nodded, regretting that he had put Xie Yujia in danger by bringing her here. However, from this incident, he found his identity as an inspector of the Dragon God Shrine quite useful.
They were simple-minded and didn’t know that the old eccentric Soul Formation Realm cultivator in Kunlun spoke those last vicious words to prevent them from blackmailing him in the future after receiving gifts from him.
The name of Qingfeng Hermit was quite notorious for her fierceness in the circle of Soul Formation Realm cultivators. On the one hand, Qingfeng Hermit’s Life-Death Notes were powerful, and any sane cultivators didn’t dare to mess with her. On the other hand, Qingfeng Hermit was known for her over-protectiveness, and anyone who messed with her disciples would receive great retaliation.
“Let’s head back!” Hao Ren lightly rubbed Xie Yujia’s sore shoulders and steered Little White toward the direction of East Ocean.
455 Third Uncle, This Is Called Youth!
Upon returning to East Ocean University, Hao Ren left Little White with Xie Yujia and went to Zhao Yanzi’s place on his own.
Zhao Yanzi was indeed a little spoiled, but Hao Ren was still worried about her school work. After all, she needed to have good grades at her age in order to live a normal mortal life.
It looked like Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang didn’t plan on keeping her in the dragon palace. On the other hand, they wished to let her grow up on land. Zhao Yanzi didn’t enjoy staying at the boring dragon palace anyways, and she had always considered herself a mid-schooler.
Hao Ren arrived at the stop after half an hour on the bumpy bus. Then, he walked to Zhao Yanzi’s door.
A few vines climbed up on the iron gate with fresh green leaves, and there was a layer of dark green moss over the wetland.
“Summer is really coming…” Hao Ren pushed open the iron gate and knocked on Zhao Yanzi’s home’s door.
“You are here, Ren!” Zhao Hongyu opened the door with a bright smile.
“Auntie,” Hao Ren smiled cheerfully, and he carried his bag into Zhao Yanzi’s house.
“Humph!” Zhao Yanzi pouted in the living room when she saw Hao Ren coming in.
Zhao Guang was busy as usual in the study room, flipping through documents.
Premier Xia was in his Hawaiian T-shirt, and he stood beside Zhao Guang’s desk in the study room, reporting some matters.
Zhao Kuo had his arms crossed in front of his chest, and he sat on the couch with a stern face, watching a TV show.
“Time for dinner!” Zhao Hongyu shouted as she walked out of the kitchen with dishes in her hands.
Zhao Yanzi quickly ran over since she was starving.
Hao Ren saw Zhao Guang coming out of the study room, so he went over to the dinner table and sat beside Zhao Yanzi.
Zhao Kuo turned off the TV and sat down opposite to Hao Ren, and his serious look pressured Hao Ren.
Zhao Guang walked beside the dinner table calmly and sat in his usual seat.
Premier Xia walked out of the study room with his back hunched. He didn’t know if he should stay or leave since the Dragon King’s family was having dinner together.
“Come and eat with us, Premier Xia!” Zhao Hongyu said.
“How could I!” Premier Xia immediately shook his head.
He had been the Premier of the Dragon Palace for hundreds of years, so he knew exactly the difference between him and the King’s family.
“Come and join us,” Zhao Guang said calmly.
Premier Xia slowly walked over at Zhao Guang’s command. After picking the furthest seat, he sat himself down.
“Would you like some rice or noodles?” Zhao Hongyu asked.
“Um… I shouldn’t…” Premier Xia waved immediately.
It was a great honor to sit with the Dragon King; how could he imagine dining with them?
“Forget about all the rules now that we are on land, Premier. I think you should have some noodles,” Zhao Guang said to Premier Xia.
“Yes… My lord,” Premier Xia nodded with reverence and awe.
Zhao Hongyu got a bowl of noodles for him, but Premier Xia was too shocked to take the bowl when he saw Zhao Hongyu handing him the noodles herself.
“Ok, let’s eat.” Zhao Guang waved.
Zhao Yanzi picked up a piece of pork rib with her chopsticks. Then, she put it in Premier Xia’s noodles. “Premier, have some ribs!”
“Thank you… Princess…” Premier Xia was too touched to talk.
“Have some more, Ren,” Zhao Hongyu said to Hao Ren.
“Um,” Hao Ren nodded.
Zhao Kuo was busy eating the big bowl of rice.
Hao Ren thought to himself, “Although this is the family of the Dragon King of the East Ocean Dragon Clan, they are still lovely and intimate.”
“Why are you crying, Premier Xia?” Zhao Yanzi asked all of a sudden.
Hao Ren turned over and found Premier Xia crying ceaselessly with the bowl of noodles in his hands.
“What’s the matter, Premier?” Zhao Hongyu asked.
Premier Xia put the bowl on the table and wiped the tears off. “The old Dragon King helped me to cultivation, and Your Majesty thinks highly of me… I… I will do whatever it takes to serve you! I wouldn’t say a word if I need to go through fire and blades for you!”
“Why are you saying this suddenly,” Zhao Hongyu looked at Premier Xie and said, “Come on land whenever you have time. Also, don’t always wear Lu Qing’s outfits. Ask him to take you shopping for some suitable clothes.”
“Thank you, Dragon Queen.” Premier Xia wiped the tears off the corner of his eyes. He was too moved to say a word.
Zhao Yanzi put the bowl of noodles in Premier Xia’s hand.
She seemed to be spoiled, but she had a kind heart. She didn’t remember much, but she knew that Premier Xia watched her grow up.
“I… I…” Premier Xia wasn’t able to say anything at this moment.
“Enjoy your noodles. You might need to come over to report to me in the future, so you will have to stay for dinner a lot,” Zhao Guang said.
Premier Xia nodded, and he finally suppressed his emotions and started eating the noodles.
Zhao Haoran used to trust him a lot, but the old Dragon King was never this kind to Premier Xia. After having served two generations of Dragon Kings, Premier Xia was very grateful.
Hao Ren smiled as he thought to himself, “Zhao Haoran, at the peak Qian-level, convinced people with his strength, but Zhao Guang won people by virtue. They each had their advantages.”
Hao Ren wouldn’t have survived a day if Zhao Haoran knew Zhao Yanzi lost her dragon core to Hao Ren. However, if Zhao Haoran oversaw the East Ocean Dragon Palace, the West Ocean Dragon Clan wouldn’t have been so aggressive.
“Ren,” Zhao Guang looked up and said, “Zhao Kuo said that he would try his best to teach you for a while in order to thank you for the Seven-Core Five-Color Lotus.”
“Um?” Hao Ren stopped moving his chopsticks and looked at Zhao Kuo.
Zhao Kuo snorted as he bit a piece of pork rib and carried on eating.
Zhao Guang continued as he looked at Hao Ren, “Don’t doubt it; Zhao Kuo mentioned it himself. He will teach you for a month and leave to cultivate afterward.”
“Is T
hird Uncle still leaving?” Hao Ren thought as he looked at Zhao Kuo in surprise.
Although Zhao Kuo was only at Dui-level, he used to be a peak Qian-level master. He was only one step away from the Heavenly Dragon Realm.
Most importantly, Zhao Kuo was cultivating the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll as well, and he must have a more profound understanding of it. Since he reached Dui-level in such a short time, he must have transferred all his previous cultivation experience into this technique.
If he could devote his heart to teaching Hao Ren, Hao Ren could cultivate more smoothly and make a huge improvement.
For lower-level cultivators, the instruction of a higher-level cultivator was way more valuable than any elixir pills or techniques.
However, most higher-level cultivators would be busy cultivating and wouldn’t have the time to tutor a lower-level cultivator. This was a first for Zhao Kuo to give up an entire month to instruct Hao Ren.
“I will also teach Zi,” Zhao Kuo said abruptly.
“Thank you, Third Uncle!” Zhao Yanzi cried out immediately.
She wasn’t fond of cultivating in the past, so she skipped it whenever Zhao Kuo offered to teach her.
But after entering Fifth Heaven, she felt the pressure when Xie Yujia reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. She needed some guidance from a master.
Zhao Kuo was a peak Qian-level master, and the cultivation of human and dragons were essentially the same. Therefore, it was indeed easy for Zhao Kuo to instruct Zhao Yanzi on cultivation.
Zhao Hongyu was surprised to see Zhao Yanzi’s sudden eagerness in cultivation.
Hao Ren wondered to himself, “Su Han is tutoring Xie Yujia, and Zhao Kuo will be tutoring Zhao Yanzi. Who knows which one of them will improve faster…”
After dinner, Premier Xia opened his umbrella as he was about to head back to the dragon palace.
Zhao Yanzi waved to him at the door and said, “Come here for dinner again, Premier Xia!”
“Yes… Yes…” Premier Xia kept nodding.
He thanked Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu again before he walked onto the road under the umbrella.
Premier Xia slowly walked away, hunchbacked.