STNS: Chapter 521 (Patreon)

“Loong Mei…” Wu Jian repeated the name as he stared sharply at the woman. Her hair, eyes, wings, tail, and horns all reminded him of a certain someone. “Would you by any chance be related to Loong Chen?”

Loong Mei closed her eyes as a look of reluctance or maybe even revulsion overcame her fair features. She eventually sighed, however, and opened her eyes again.

“Yes… that foolish man is my brother, and he was our clan’s leader.”

“Aah.”

It was early morning and everyone had gathered around the campfire. Loong Mei sat on a cushion she had brought with her. The posture she used to sit in was called Tianting, otherwise known as the Heavenly Sitting Posture. It was a formal, albeit outdated, and respectful posture named after the Heavenly Court found in many of their world’s history books and scriptures, though few understood it. Legends said it came from an otherworldly cultivator who traveled herer. He taught them this sitting posture before leaving to the heavenly realm. Wu Jian believed that the unknown cultivator was someone from the Nine Heavens who ended up here on accident.

This posture involved the practitioner sitting with their legs folded beneath their body, with their feet positioned on the sides. The right foot was placed flat against the floor with the heel touching the inner thigh of the left leg, while their left foot was folded inward to rest beneath their right thigh. The back was straight but relaxed, almost as though the practitioner was going to mediate.

Wu Jian had never seen anyone sit like this before, so he was taken aback by her elegant and composed mien.

While she sat on cushions that wouldn’t look out of place at a palace, the rest of them made do with their bedding. It was all they really had. None of them had planned on being forced to warp to another continent, so they hadn’t brought much.

Wu Meiying was awake, though she was still weak. Loong Mei eyed her contemptuously as Wu Meiying rested her head on Wu Jian’s shoulder.

“I see. I didn’t realize he had family,” Wu Jian murmured.

“So he never mentioned his sister at all, did he? Typical of him. That man has never put myself or anyone else in his eyes. To us, we might as well be bugs… not even worth the time it would take to step on us.”

It seems I stepped into a disaster zone…

Wu Jian knew better than to press after getting a good look at the woman’s face. Zhou Lihua was even quicker on the uptake. Sitting next to him, but not touching him like Wu Meiying, she coughed into her hand.

“You come bearing a message for us from Hou Jingshu?” Zhou Lihua inquired.

“Yes.” Loong Mei shook her head as though to dispel her previous thoughts, then straightened her spine. She reached into her clothing and removed something. It was a storage ring. She placed it on the ground between them. “First, she bade me to give you this.”

“This is Jingshu’s storage ring…” Wu Meiying murmured as Wu Jian used Spatial Folding to teleport the ring into his hand.

He turned it around in his fingers several times, then activated the ring, summoning the items within it. There wasn’t much. Just a scroll and a jar. Inside the jar was blue and had a spongy, porous texture. Wu Jian studied the small, interconnected cavities. It had a soft, gel-like consistency filled with things he couldn’t begin to guess at.

“Is this… Azure Dragon Bone Marrow?” asked Wu Jian.

“That’s right.” Loong Mei placed a hand on her chest. “Your mate got this bone marrow at great cost. You should be suitably grateful to her.”

“At great cost…”

Wu Jian let that sit in his mind for a moment as a growing sense of dread filled him. He once more focused on Loong Mei, his expression serious.

“What exactly happened?”

“The contents of that scroll should contain what you want to know… but to cut a long story short, Hou Jingshu is being forced to marry Xie Longshan. He is the heir of the Azure Dragon Clan. He took a fancy to Hou Jingshu Xiaojie from the moment he laid eyes on her…”

Wu Jian listened to what Loong Mei said with half an ear as he opened the scroll and read the contents. Zhou Lihua, Wu Meiying, and even Youmei sitting behind him were reading over his shoulder.

Dear Jian,

By the time you get this letter, I will likely be at the Azure Dragon Clan’s home.

I am being forced to marry the heir of their clan. I have managed to force him to wait one year until we wed. You need to stop him by that time.

I am sorry for having to write this all in a letter. I’m sorry for being forced into this position. It was the only way I could think of to get you the ingredient you need. I hope you will not be too upset with me when we see each other again.

Love,

Your Jingshu

“…Xie Longshan is not a man to be trifled with. He lacks empathy and has an inflated sense of self-worth. His arrogance truly knows no bounds, and he has no trouble using his position to belittle and torment others. I shudder to think about what might happen if Hou Jingshu Xiaojie is forced to marry him,” Loong Mei finished. Then she furrowed her brow. “Are you listening to me?”

“I heard everything you said,” Wu Jian spoke, though he was paying attention to Zhou Lihua instead of Loong Mei. “We now have all the ingredients. Can you do it?”

Zhou Lihua hesitated underneath his powerful stare. Wu Jian wanted to back off a little, to ease the pressure she must no doubt be feeling. What this woman was about to do was refine a pill far more complex than anything she had made before. The chances for failure were high, and she would only have one chance to succeed. If she didn’t, Wu Jian could say goodbye to his legs. He’d have to learn how to move without them.

“You can do it,” Wu Meiying suddenly said, eyes glazed over.

Zhou Lihua looked at her. Then, a smile appeared on her face. Determination appeared in her eyes as she looked at Wu Jian with her back straight.

“I can do it. You may leave the matter of refining the Eternal Genesis Rebirth Pill to me.”

***

Because the pill Zhou Lihua aimed to refine was a tier 7 pill that required heavenly lightning to fully refine, their group was forced to move outdoors and find a place with a higher elevation. Loong Ming agreed to let them come to her village. She said that it was her responsibility since Hou Jingshu had been taken under her watch, and it was her duty to help get her back.

Wu Jian wasn’t about to turn down such an offer.

The dragon village was somewhat underwhelming to Wu Jian, who had been expecting something more grandiose than the humble hamlet Loong Mei led them to. He had been expecting a massive city filled with dragon folks and statues of ancient dragons from a time long passed. Very little of that existed here.

Still, it was a nice-looking place, serene and peaceful.

Not everyone was happy with their arrival. One of the flood dragon elders, a man who went by the name Loong Feng did not like that Loong Mei had brought outsiders into the clan. He had been very vocal in expressing his dissatisfaction over their arrival, and Loong Mei had only been able to shut him up after giving an overwhelming display of her power--basically, she beat him down.

The other two elders, while not necessarily happy with their presence, did not cause a fuss. It seemed they had decided to adopt a wait and see approach. The elder called Long Xian seemed to be the wisest of the three. He had remained calm when Wu Jian and his group were introduced to them, simply welcoming them and stating that they should not cause trouble while they are here. Loong Yin, the only woman among the elders, had the most measured response. She struck Wu Jian as the calmest among the three.

Loong Mei had given Wu Jian’s group a building to stay in. It was located further away from the citizens, so as to not attract attention.

“There are many dragons who do not like outsiders,” Loong Mei had explained when showing them their new residence. “They will pick a fight with you, especially you, Wu Jian, since you smell of tiger.”

Dragons and tigers have never gotten along from a historical standpoint. According to legend, the Azure Dragon of the east was associated with spring, wood, and renewal, while the White Tiger of the West was tied to autumn, metal, and justice. While there were no direct references to them being mortal enemies, their symbolic roles in the history of this world placed them in opposition due to their inherent associations. The Azure Dragon was yang, while the White Tiger was yin.

Personally, Wu Jian thought that was all the more reason they combined their efforts. Yin and yang had always been complimentary.

After they had gotten situated, Wu Jian, Youmei, and Zhou Lihua traveled outside of the village, taking a meandering path up the mountain.

Towering, razor-sharp ridges that resembled the spine of a dragon loomed over head. Combined with the treacherously steep cliffs, narrow passes, and deep ravines, this mountain looked incredibly dangerous to unwary travelers. There were, according to Loong Mei, many hidden caves and tunnels carved into the mountains, which only made it seem more treacherous since the Flood Dragon Clan could use those caves to ambush attackers if forced to retreat. The mountains were perpetually shrouded in thick, swirling mist, obscuring their true height and making navigation difficult.

They went all the way to one of the many peaks. This peak was at a lower elevation than the rest. None of the others would serve their purpose, since they were too small for Zhou Lihua to perform alchemy on.

“You’ll want to keep some distance while I work,” Zhou Lihua said to them. “I can’t afford to become distracted.”

“Don’t worry. We won’t bother you,” Wu Meiying said with a smile.

She had recovered quite well. While her Qi was still unstable and her meridians damaged, she had recovered enough to at least perform daily activities without a problem. Her complexion had also improved a great deal. No longer did she possess the deathly pallor of someone who looked like they were walking side by side with the god of death.

Wu Jian nodded at her words and added. “We’ll also make sure nobody else bothers you.”

“Thank you both.”

Zhou Lihua walked further up, until she stood on a flattened section. She sat down with her legs crossed, summoned her cauldron, and began working.

Watching Zhou Lihua work was fascinating. Her movements were refined and methodical. After setting up her cauldron and taking out the ingredients, she went through them one by one to ensure all of them were fresh and usable. While most of the ingredients looked plain, quite a few also had a very mystical appearance, such as the Azure Dragon Bone Marrow, which emitted a soft blue glow, or the Golden Thread Root, which had gold Qi wafting from it like streamers.

After checking and rechecking each ingredient, she snapped her fingers and a ghostly white flame appeared above her hand. She pushed the flame into the cauldron, which lit up with glowing runes, and then she began placing each ingredient into the fires one by one.

She’s being extra careful…

Zhou Lihua’s body glowed faintly as Qi emanate from her palms and fingers. The flowing energy looked like streams of ghostly white light as it flowed into the cauldron, and the ingredients bubbled and simmered as they were energized and refined by her power. White flames licked the sides of the cauldron as she channeled her Qi and adjusted the temperature. Loud hissing soon erupted from the ingredients, and yet, still she continued to slowly feed the cauldron more and more. A strong scent soon wafted from the cauldron. It was so powerful that even Wu Jian and Wu Meiying could smell it.

“That smell is a good sign,” Wu Meiying said. “The purer the pill, the stronger its scent will be.”

“Hmmm.” Wu Jian nodded, though his attention was drawn away from Zhou Lihua to something else that caught his eyes. “Though it looks like that scent is about to bring us trouble.”

Climbing up the mountainside path with greed shining in his eyes was none other than Loong Feng.