Mu Wanwan tucked Mr. Dragon’s quilt securely around him. She then removed the spirit stones that had not yet been absorbed from the wheelchair and pressed the concealed button along its side, just as Uncle Tie had shown her.
The wheelchair quickly folded itself into a rectangular silver object.
After putting it away, she placed the spirit stones beside Mr. Dragon’s pillow. Then she took out a small bottle of ointment and applied a layer to the wound on her ankle where his sharp scales had cut her.
“Chirp.”
Having finished nibbling on the pill, Mengmeng clung tightly to its little cushion and tilted its head, acting coquettishly towards her.
The little chirp had truly been terrified and was completely unwilling to remain alone.
Mu Wanwan carried the ointment over and gently applied some to the scraped area on its tiny wing. She rubbed the little scarf of feathers around Mengmeng’s neck.
“Mengmeng was so brave!”
“Chirp~”
“Then can Mengmeng stay inside and help me watch over the big dragon?”
A faint smile appeared on Mu Wanwan’s lips. She did not know why, but she had the feeling that Mengmeng might actually understand her.
“Chirp!”
Mengmeng shook out its feathers and immediately became energetic again. It turned its slightly plump body towards the ugly dragon and chirped twice, as though declaring that it would certainly complete the mission perfectly.
Mu Wanwan’s mood improved slightly at the adorable sight.
She had originally intended to choose one of the seedlings placed beneath the corridor outside, nurture it into producing fruit, and leave it beside Mengmeng.
However, when she stepped outside, she discovered that the corridor was covered in tainted blood. All the remaining seedlings had withered, and even the soil appeared unusable.
Mu Wanwan cast a sorrowful glance at the unconscious dragon lying on the bed, her heart aching.
There had been dozens of seedlings.
Now they were all gone.
Losing the seedlings was one thing, but the soil had also been ruined. She would have to dig up more.
Mu Wanwan surveyed the courtyard.
Pools of blood and fallen scales covered the ground, while the walls and gates had also been stained. The snowflakes melted before they could accumulate, turning into bloody water.
At first glance, the scene looked even more terrifying than the aftermath of a massacre.
Fortunately, it was daytime, and Mu Wanwan’s heart had grown much stronger than before. Otherwise, she might not have been able to remain calm.
She quickly calculated everything she needed to do next.
Boil water. Wash the dragon. Earn money.
The smell of blood filled her nose, and she could hear Mengmeng coughing softly.
Mu Wanwan simply shut all the doors and windows.
Leaving them open had previously allowed fresh air into the room, but it was now freezing outside, and the courtyard was filled with the smell of blood. Wisps of black mist also occasionally rose from Mr. Dragon’s fallen scales.
That mist was unlikely to be anything good.
Mu Wanwan frowned and held her breath. Carefully avoiding the scales on the ground, she walked to the courtyard gate and gathered the broken basket and scattered belongings that had been blown away by the force of the bad dragon’s landing.
There had been nothing particularly valuable inside, only several inexpensive items.
The hat she had bought for herself and the fabric intended for Mengmeng’s new nest had both been ruined. They were soaked in blood and torn beyond repair. It would be easier to purchase replacements than to mend them.
Mu Wanwan felt somewhat heartbroken.
She had finally earned some money and bought herself a rather pretty hat, yet it had been destroyed just like that.
The basket was broken too.
It had not been expensive, but she would have to make do with a sack the next time she went out.
After gathering everything, Mu Wanwan felt as though she was about to suffocate.
The weather was poor today, and there was hardly any wind, so the smell refused to disperse.
She went to the kitchen and began boiling water.
Seeing the three spiritual chicks trembling as they huddled together inside their cage, she released a breath of relief.
Fortunately, they were unharmed too.
While waiting for the water to boil, Mu Wanwan took a shovel and the remaining flowerpots from her Spatial pouch and prepared to dig up more soil.
When she reached the area behind the palace, she discovered that a few of Mr. Dragon’s scales were scattered across the ground there as well.
Mu Wanwan belatedly raised her head and looked at the roof.
A glittering sheen of blood gleamed across it.
Mu Wanwan: “…”
That dragon had probably flown into the air and rolled around wildly!
She hurried to the place where she had previously dug up soil.
It remained exactly as she had left it and had not been contaminated by Mr. Dragon’s blood.
Mu Wanwan sighed in relief.
Many plants could not be cultivated solely through spiritual power.
Or rather, her current strength was not sufficient to transform every type of seed directly into a mature plant.
When Mu Wanwan had only been a first-rank cultivator, she could directly stimulate firegrass seeds with her spiritual power, but she had been unable to do the same with first-rank Blue Star Grass seeds.
Now that she had reached the third rank, she could stimulate second-rank Blue Star Grass seeds. However, she still could not do anything with Snow Condensation plants, despite them also being second-rank.
Soil was essential.
Naturally, the more spiritual soil she possessed, the better.
Fortunately, her current strength and stamina were incomparable to before.
She quickly filled more than a dozen small flowerpots with soil and even cleared the snow surrounding the side hall.
After temporarily storing the flowerpots inside a small Spatial pouch, Mu Wanwan decided that she would use another side hall as her workplace from now on.
It was spacious, and she could clear the area in front of the study to store her seedlings.
By the time she returned to the room carrying the freshly boiled water, Mengmeng was nearly asleep.
It struggled to keep its eyes open while staring in the dragon’s direction, its tiny head repeatedly drooping.
When it heard Mu Wanwan slowly push open the door, its entire body jolted in fright, and it nearly rolled off its cushion.
Mu Wanwan set down the water, took a small cloth, dampened it, and wrung it dry.
She first walked over to Mengmeng and wiped the blood from its head. Then, rather forcefully, she stuffed the utterly exhausted little chirp into its nest.
Mengmeng’s small belly felt so comfortable beneath her hand that it naturally closed its eyes and fell asleep, resembling a fluffy ball that trembled faintly with every breath.
Mu Wanwan calmly withdrew her hand and hung up Mengmeng’s personal cloth.
Then she took out the larger cloth reserved for the dragon and walked towards Mr. Dragon, preparing to wipe him clean as well.
She cautiously examined him.
He lay there quietly, his brows faintly furrowed as though he were in pain. Blood stained his face.
Mu Wanwan whispered, “Mr. Dragon, I’m going to clean you now. I won’t take advantage of you.”
The more she spoke, the stranger the words sounded.
After all, physical contact was unavoidable while cleaning someone.
Previously, Mr. Dragon had not been awake, so it had not mattered much when she touched him. He had not known about it anyway.
But now he was conscious.
Mu Wanwan’s cheeks grew warm.
Nevertheless, she slowly wiped his face clean.
There was not much blood in his long hair. She had only cleaned it recently, so it remained very smooth.
Mu Wanwan frowned at the tattered pale-blue brocade robe covering his body and slowly inhaled.
After thinking for a moment, she carefully removed the clothing wrapped around him.
The sight of the wounds beneath made her heart tremble.
Dense, crack-like injuries crisscrossed his chest and extended downwards. They were covered in dried scabs, and she did not even know how to begin cleaning them.
It felt as though the slightest movement would cause his wounds to split open again.
Mu Wanwan’s hands trembled helplessly.
Then she noticed one of the scars across his chest slowly healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The dried scab fell away.
At the same time, one of the mid-grade spirit stones beside him shattered into powder.
Mu Wanwan: “…”
She suddenly realised that she had been worrying unnecessarily.
Mr. Dragon possessed an extremely powerful ability to heal himself. As long as he had sufficient spiritual energy and medicinal pills, his wounds would probably recover rapidly.
Feeling slightly better, Mu Wanwan carefully avoided the deeper injuries and wiped the entire dragon clean.
When she was about to remove the cloth wrapped around his waist, she suddenly felt a strong urge to skip that area entirely.
Mr. Dragon was no longer in his half-dragon form.
He now possessed two long, straight legs.
What if she saw something she had never been able to see before?
Perhaps it would be better not to.
Mu Wanwan’s cheeks reddened.
She pulled the quilt over him, covering his waist and abdomen securely, then shifted her attention towards his legs.
The injuries there were similar to those across his upper body.
However, Mu Wanwan sharply noticed that, apart from the scars, a faint layer of markings covered his legs from the soles of his feet to his calves.
They resembled the patterns on his face but were much lighter and impossible to notice without looking closely.
Was this the curse Mr. Dragon had suffered?
Had his tail continued rotting because of this curse?
When a dragon transformed into a human and its tail became legs, would those legs be the same as a human’s?
Mu Wanwan slowly extended a finger and gently touched his pale skin.
A faint warmth spread beneath her fingertip.
His skin was smooth and felt very similar to hers, only much larger.
Would his toes still possess a thin layer of webbing like little Mr. Dragon’s?
After cleaning him, Mu Wanwan stared at his feet with some disappointment and discovered that there was no webbing.
Perhaps it disappeared once a dragon grew up.
She prepared to cover him with the quilt, but accidentally tugged at the cloth around his waist.
Her hand seemed to brush against something.
“!”
Mu Wanwan caught a glimpse of the inside of Mr. Dragon’s thigh and nearly saw something she should not have seen.
Her body temperature rose sharply.
From the roots of her ears to her cheeks, her skin became scorching hot. Her previously cool hand seemed to burst into flames and transform into a guilty hoof.
Her movements could hardly be described as gentle as she hurriedly covered the dragon with the quilt.
Perhaps she had used too much strength.
Mr. Dragon’s body was pressed down slightly. His face turned pale for an instant, and a quiet groan escaped his throat.
Mu Wanwan slapped both of her cheeks forcefully.
Stop imagining things.
Stop imagining things.
Mr. Dragon must be exactly the same as he had been in his half-dragon form.
He did not possess that sort of thing.
He had not possessed it while half-dragon, so how could it suddenly appear once he transformed into a human?
That was not scientific.
Therefore, he definitely did not have one.
Mu Wanwan forcibly brainwashed herself, attempting to convince herself that she had touched nothing at all.
Even so, she still felt extremely strange.
She washed her hands several times before finally feeling a little better.
Mu Wanwan gave Mr. Dragon a complicated look.
The dragon genuinely seemed to have fainted.
Dark shadows caused by exhaustion and pain lay beneath his eyes. His eyelashes were even longer than those of the little Mr. Dragon in her dreams.
Without the curse markings, he truly would have been an extraordinarily handsome dragon.
He was handsome while asleep.
He was handsome after opening his eyes too.
Her thoughts began drifting somewhere strange again.
Mu Wanwan shook her head and decided to stop indulging in wild fantasies.
She still carried the responsibility of supporting the household.
She had originally believed that Mr. Dragon would continue pretending to sleep. Who could have expected her to return and discover that he had already awakened?
Some changes had clearly occurred, though she did not know whether they were good or bad.
Mu Wanwan sighed and sat beside the bed.
Looking at the peacefully sleeping Mengmeng, she took out her Spatial pouch.
Her current tasks were to clean the palace, raise the dragon and the chirp, and earn money.
During her visit to the marketplace jointly operated by the humans and dwarves, she had reached an agreement with Uncle Zong and the others.
The profits would be divided seventy–thirty, while the costs of raw materials such as pill furnaces and seeds would be calculated separately.
Uncle Zong constantly claimed that they were taking advantage of her, but Mu Wanwan did not agree.
Without Uncle Zong, forget using pills to post a message at the Xianqing Pavilion and lure Jiu Qing into helping her deal with Bai Shuiyao—she would probably still be only a first-rank cultivator.
She had received a total of fifteen mid-grade spirit stones from Uncle Zong.
Two of those had been exchanged for low-grade spirit stones and different forms of currency, which she had used to purchase many things.
Considering that the weather was growing colder, she had bought more warming stones and an additional quilt.
For the time being, she did not have to consider the unbearably awkward possibility of sharing a quilt with Mr. Dragon.
She had purchased nearly everything the household required.
She had even extravagantly bought some sugar, third-rank spiritual rice, and half a jin of third-rank spiritual ox bones.
She had originally planned to cook them that evening, but it appeared she would have to postpone it.
Fortunately, the temperature was currently low.
Uncle Zong had informed her that her Spatial pouch was a mid-grade storage item. As long as she wrapped the food securely in spiritual power and stored it properly inside, it should remain fresh for two days.
Next came the various seeds.
She had discussed everything with Uncle Chen and the others.
Now that Mu Wanwan had reached the third rank, she would still mainly refine first-rank Spirit-Replenishing Pills, but she could also attempt second-rank ones.
As for Snow Condensation Pills, the higher the rank, the better.
Therefore, the seeds she had brought back this time were quite varied.
The recipe for second-rank Spirit-Replenishing Pills was different from that of the first-rank version.
The main ingredient had been upgraded to a second-rank spiritual material. Besides Lantern Bell Grass and Silt-Clearing Flowers, the formula now required an additional herb known as Spirit-Raising Grass.
Once a pill reached a certain grade, an alchemist could use a process known as “spirit elevation” to raise the pill beyond its original rank.
This pale-purple grass could help increase an alchemist’s chances of successfully elevating the pill’s spirit, which was why it had been named Spirit-Raising Grass.
It was also extremely valuable, costing approximately as much as the main ingredient, the second-rank Spirit-Replenishing Fruit.
Naturally, second-rank Spirit-Replenishing Pills were also considerably more expensive.
The market price was three mid-grade spirit stones per bottle.
Judging from Uncle Zong and the others’ habit of increasing prices by fifty percent, Mu Wanwan estimated that if she successfully refined them, they would probably be sold for four and a half mid-grade spirit stones.
She would also work hard to refine more Snow Condensation Pills.
Not to sell them, but simply to feed the dragon and chirp at home.
When she had gone into the courtyard earlier, she could still sense faint traces of poison in the air.
Wisps of black mist occasionally emerged from the scales Mr. Dragon had shed. Mu Wanwan’s ankle had already been injured by them.
The poison caused mild numbness and a needle-like stabbing pain.
She suspected it originated from the curse afflicting that dragon.
Merely coming into contact with a trace of it had caused her so much pain.
There was no need to imagine how much Mr. Dragon suffered when the curse acted directly upon his body.
Mu Wanwan lowered her head and looked at her fair palms.
Yet she seemed to see them covered in Mr. Dragon’s blood from several hours earlier.
That person had stubbornly stood in the middle of the courtyard, using a pair of seemingly cold and emotionless eyes to maintain an overbearing and intimidating presence.
The corners of Mu Wanwan’s lips rose slightly.
After calculating the time, she fed him another Snow Condensation Pill.
“Chirp~”
Mengmeng shifted in its sleep. Its half-bald wing and damaged tuft of feathers moved along with its small body.
It released a tiny chirp, as though dreaming about something delicious.
Mu Wanwan could not help laughing.
Fortunately, Mengmeng was fine and still alive.
She looked at the grey sky outside, swallowed another Spirit-Replenishing Pill herself, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to work.
Although her current life was filled with danger, she was no longer alone.
For the sake of a happier future, she had to keep working hard!
The first step towards a wonderful life would begin with cultivating seeds!
Filled with confidence, Mu Wanwan went off to develop her business.
The delicate Mr. Dragon continued absorbing spirit stones to resist the curse’s backlash inside his body.
As for the adorable Mengmeng…
Mengmeng truly was dreaming!
The little chirp was having a very “happy” dream~
In the dream, Mengmeng became extremely, extremely large.
It transformed into a super-invincible, enormous, mighty chirp!
Then Princess Wanwan appeared!
She wore a beautiful pale-green dress and carried an enormous basin filled with spiritual fruits and medicinal pills.
They were all Mengmeng’s favourite foods.
She smiled gently at the chirp.
Mengmeng was deeply moved.
It shook the beautiful, majestic tuft of feathers on its head and prepared to rub against Princess Wanwan’s hand before enjoying the food she had carefully prepared.
However, just as the chirp was about to approach Princess Wanwan, an evil dragon descended from the sky!
He possessed a vicious broken horn, a wicked face, cruel methods, and a powerful body even taller than Mengmeng’s.
He stood between the chirp and Princess Wanwan.
“Chirp—!!”
Mengmeng cried fiercely.
It became furious and charged forwards, intending to knock the evil dragon aside.
However, the evil dragon moved extremely quickly.
With a single wave of his hand, he flung the chirp away and sent it crashing into the wall.
“Wife.”
Right in front of Mengmeng, the evil dragon lifted the princess into his arms and revealed an evil smile.
“Chirp!!”
Wanwan belonged to this chirp!
The evil dragon was preparing to kiss the princess when Mengmeng interrupted him.
Growing impatient, he pressed one hand against Mengmeng’s head and transformed the bird into a spinning, plump chirp-top~
Mengmeng spun and spun.
Then it suddenly felt a terrible pain on top of its head.
Looking over, it saw the bad dragon holding its beautiful tuft of feathers and presenting it to the princess.
Princess Wanwan was delighted.
“These are my favourite kind of feathers! They’re fluffy and beautiful. Thank you, my dear Mr. Dragon. I truly like you so much!”
Then the two of them leaned against each other.
Princess Wanwan even fed the bad dragon spiritual fruit.
The little chirp’s head hurt terribly.
The plump bird sat dejectedly on the ground, clutching its head and crying accusingly.
“Chirp!”
And so, when Mu Wanwan returned to the room after working for a long time, she discovered that the plump chirp was in an extremely low mood.
It even refused to acknowledge her.
She assumed that Mengmeng was feeling unwell, so she placed extra fruit and pills beside it.
Only after she gently comforted it for a long time did Mengmeng regain some energy.
Nevertheless, its eyes remained filled with tears, as though it had suffered countless grievances.
Mu Wanwan believed that it was still terrified by what had happened, so she treated it even more patiently than usual.
She had no idea that the fluffy chirp was merely heartbroken over a dream!
…
There were many things to do, and Mu Wanwan was worried that Mr. Dragon’s injuries might worsen during the night.
Now that she was a third-rank cultivator, she chose not to sleep in order to recover her spiritual power and stamina.
Instead, she cultivated throughout the night.
At the same time, she kept watch over Mr. Dragon.
By the time the dragon regained consciousness, four days had quietly passed.
The heavy snow had finally stopped.
Outside the room was the bright sunlight they had not seen for a long time.
Warm light streamed through the freshly cleaned window and formed patches of brightness across the spotless floor.
The smell filling his nose was not that of his own foul, tainted blood, but the pleasant fragrance of blooming Snow Condensation flowers.
His body felt dry and clean.
She must have wiped him down.
And also…
Upon noticing that one particular area felt completely different from the rest of his body, Mr. Dragon’s sensitive thoughts immediately became impossible to conceal.
Redness spread from the roots of his ears across his cheeks.
He moved his arm and touched the awkward piece of cloth wrapped around his waist.
With trembling eyelashes, Mr. Dragon slowly opened his eyes.
The familiar palace entered his vision.
He gently pushed himself into a half-seated position, and his long black hair slid down around him.
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