The spirit stones piled across nearly half the room gradually dissolved into a hazy mist, which seeped into Mu Wanwan’s body little by little.
Inside her dantian, the round solid sphere representing her third-rank cultivation began spinning rapidly.
With a crisp *crack*, fine fractures appeared across its surface.
Specks of wood-element spiritual energy spilled from Mu Wanwan’s body. As the spirit stones were rapidly consumed, the surrounding seeds also grew swiftly into mature spiritual plants.
One strangely shaped plant after another flourished throughout the room.
Mr. Dragon noticed a purple spiritual plant whose blossoms resembled coral and was somewhat surprised.
This spiritual plant was extremely rare and notoriously difficult to cultivate.
He had not expected Madam to nurture it so easily.
A tiny sense of pride rose in his heart, accompanied by an equally small feeling of inferiority.
While continuing to pour out spirit stones, Mr. Dragon placed a soundproof barrier around Mengmeng, who was so comfortable that it was almost rolling around.
Breaking through from the third rank to the fourth was extremely important. She could not be disturbed.
The little chirp was rather unhappy about being silenced.
However, it glanced at a certain dragon who was bathing comfortably in the lustrous green light, the sparse fur on his bald ears practically standing on end with pleasure.
Mengmeng wriggled its fat body around and pointed its little bottom towards its old father.
Bah!
What an embarrassment to male dragons.
Mr. Dragon’s eyelashes trembled.
He extended an arm and caught several drifting points of spiritual energy.
He did not reject the lively specks of light as they entered his body. Although this was a different kind of spiritual energy from his own, he felt no discomfort whatsoever.
His long fingertip rested upon a spirit stone.
Mr. Dragon could clearly sense that tiny point of light travelling through his meridians and gradually dispersing, leaving behind only a warm sensation.
Was this…
Her talent?
Perhaps calling her mutated wood-element spiritual energy “life force” would be more appropriate.
Warmth appeared in Mr. Dragon’s eyes.
He gazed at Mu Wanwan, who was clearly in the middle of a breakthrough yet remained preoccupied with something and still refused to put down the Spirit-Fortifying Pills she was refining.
His heart felt completely full.
Inside their new home, he had no reservations.
His ears, broken horn, and hidden tail with its missing tip all emerged.
He…
Liked her a little more with every passing moment.
The sentimental, wife-loving dragon had begun growing emotional again, while Boss Wan remained fully focused on developing her practical strength.
The sensation of breaking through was extraordinary.
Mu Wanwan felt as though she had transformed into a giant magnet, while the spiritual energy inside the stones resembled countless specks of iron being drawn towards her.
It gave her the illusion that she had suddenly become extremely powerful.
However, the exhilarating feeling of her strength increasing rapidly lasted for only about an hour before Mu Wanwan sensed that the rate at which she absorbed spiritual energy had begun to slow.
The amount of spiritual energy her dantian could hold had grown tremendously.
The golden core that had previously resembled a sphere had transformed into a tiny miniature version of herself.
At the same time, the small cluster of divine sense previously locked inside her sea of consciousness rapidly grew stronger with the appearance of the little figure.
It gradually spread outwards with her at its centre.
Its range was much larger this time.
She could just barely “see” the spiritual plants growing wildly around her, the fat fluffball rolling across the floor, and a small section of dragon tail swaying from side to side.
Mr. Dragon seemed to be in a very good mood.
Mu Wanwan’s lips curved upwards.
The dragon, who guiltily had not dared release his divine sense, remained unaware that Madam had discovered his little habit of wagging his tail whenever he was happy.
He merely stayed comfortably within the range of Madam’s spiritual energy, his scales spreading open as he relaxed in a thoroughly undignified manner for a dragon.
Besides discovering Mr. Dragon’s little secret, Mu Wanwan noticed something else.
Within the range of her divine sense, the spiritual plants seemed to have been marked with labels unique to each of them.
Every plant was broken down into fine detail beneath her divine sense.
When she had first worked with Snow Condensation flowers, she had relied on whether Mengmeng wanted to eat them to determine where their impurities were.
Later, whenever she encountered a new spiritual plant, she would similarly have Mengmeng taste-test it, then experiment repeatedly until she memorised which portions were suitable for refining pills and which were not.
Now, however, she could clearly “see” the distribution of impurities inside every spiritual plant.
To her surprise, a small portion of the Snow Condensation flower’s core—which she had always discarded—was also pure.
Even the nearly completed Spirit-Fortifying Pills inside the furnace contained impurities that she had never previously detected.
She had to improve them.
Having settled on her goal, Boss Wan rapidly separated the impurities from the pills, added Snow Condensation flowers, and raised the pills’ spiritual rank.
With the assistance of her divine sense, she did not need to strain herself as she had before.
She quickly completed the rank-raising process that had nearly made her cough up blood last time.
The pills she produced this time were of excellent quality.
Moreover, perhaps because she had the support of so many spirit stones, she did not feel that the process had consumed much of her strength.
At the instant the pills successfully advanced, violent vibrations came from inside the furnace.
Mu Wanwan’s expression sharpened.
She swiftly suppressed the pills with spiritual energy and sealed them inside a jade bottle.
After completing everything, she opened her eyes and finally saw Mr. Dragon sitting in the corner.
At some point, he had hidden the tip of his tail again.
He sat on a stool nearly buried beneath spirit stones, looking at her with his phoenix eyes raised.
Perhaps because wagging his tail had felt so pleasant, a faint blush remained on his handsome face.
The corners of his lips were curved, and the loose strands of hair across his forehead trembled slightly as his clear voice sounded.
“Congratulations on your breakthrough, Madam.”
He was so obedient that it was almost unbelievable.
“Mm.”
Mu Wanwan smiled and handed him the jade bottle.
“For you.”
“?”
Mr. Dragon looked at the jade bottle, then at his smiling wife.
He lowered his head in embarrassment.
“You don’t need to.”
The little chirp watching from the side became furious.
It had wanted to eat those pills for ages but had never received an opportunity, yet this dragon actually did not want them!
“Chirp!”
The large white fluffball jumped up.
Although it had been muted, that did not prevent it from reaching Mu Wanwan.
“Mengmeng wants some?”
Mu Wanwan lowered her head and looked at Mengmeng’s watery eyes and its little beak opening and closing without producing any sound.
She glanced helplessly at Mr. Dragon.
The dragon stiffened.
He caught her arm, took the jade bottle from her hand, and argued like some shameless sort of dragon.
“The dragon wants to eat them now.”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
“All right. Let Mengmeng out.”
After Mu Wanwan spoke, Mr. Dragon reluctantly stretched out his hand and tapped the barrier.
Mengmeng finally returned to the world of sound, although its sense of grievance remained.
Mu Wanwan stroked its head.
“I’ll refine something for you later.”
The moment she said this, she sensed a certain dragon staring at her.
She turned and met his gaze.
“What’s wrong?”
Mr. Dragon tightened his grip around the jade bottle and swiftly lowered his head.
“Nothing.”
Mu Wanwan felt suspicious.
Mr. Dragon was truly terrible at lying. His current behaviour clearly showed that he was concealing something.
The things he generally failed to conceal were always connected to her and made the dragon feel extremely embarrassed…
Mu Wanwan thought for a moment and roughly guessed the answer.
She was not stupid.
Combining this with Mr. Dragon’s previous habit of pretending to be asleep, it was probably related to divine sense.
Heat gradually spread across her face.
Mu Wanwan suddenly felt extraordinarily embarrassed.
If Mr. Dragon had awakened long ago and had been capable of using divine sense to watch her while she did certain things…
The human and dragon both blushed in mutual understanding.
Mu Wanwan cautiously said, “Divine sense…”
The instant the words left her mouth, she felt a certain dragon stiffen violently.
She continued, “It can distinguish the impurities inside spiritual plants. It’s very useful.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw the dragon gradually relax.
He responded quietly, “Mm.”
“I still have several pill formulas I want to test.”
Mu Wanwan changed the subject.
“All right.”
Mr. Dragon answered.
However, when Mu Wanwan turned away, he could not resist standing and catching her arm.
“Hold me for a while.”
He wanted to remain with her a little longer.
Even the simplest physical contact made him feel comfortable.
The atmosphere grew somewhat intimate.
Mu Wanwan’s heart itched.
She turned to look at him.
“Would you like a kiss too?”
“Mm…”
After being affectionate for a while, Mr. Dragon said he was going outside to cultivate for half a day.
Mu Wanwan sorted the spiritual plants into categories.
Her breakthrough had not actually consumed that much spiritual energy.
The greatest improvements were the speed at which she could cultivate spiritual plants and the efficiency with which she refined pills.
After searching for some time, she located the primary ingredient required for the Demonic-Energy Purging Pill.
It was the second-rank spiritual plant whose flowers resembled coral.
Tiny bubbles also covered the “coral.” When punctured, they revealed the plant’s seeds.
Because she had advanced, her pill-refining speed had improved enormously.
Unfortunately, this made life difficult for Mengmeng.
The fat fluffball lost its right to play and was repeatedly pressed in front of the pill furnace to breathe fire by its old mother, who constantly encouraged it with:
“Mengmeng is amazing!”
“Mengmeng, keep going!”
By the time Mu Wanwan had tested every combination of formulas she wanted to try, the fluffball had completely collapsed from exhaustion.
Mu Wanwan fed it a third-rank Snow Condensation Pill.
The little fluffball immediately stopped being angry and even released a satisfied burp. *(:3」∠)*
Mu Wanwan stroked the fluffball several times, then organised the results of her work.
The Demonic-Energy Purging Pill was only second rank, but the coral-like spiritual plant used as its primary ingredient was very easy to cultivate.
One plant, combined with several Cleansing Flowers and an ugly first-rank spiritual herb called Demon Grass, was enough to refine one batch.
Each batch produced nearly twenty pills.
Now that Mu Wanwan had reached the fourth rank, refining them was effortless.
Besides the Demonic-Energy Purging Pills, she spent considerable effort refining many improved Spirit-Fortifying Pills.
More accurately, since she had added Snow Condensation flowers, calling them Spirit-Concentrating Pills would be more appropriate.
The remaining pills possessed all sorts of strange medicinal effects.
Mu Wanwan refined some of each.
Towards the end, she even produced a sticky, paste-like substance that could not really be considered a pill.
It had no effect besides providing lubrication and reducing pain.
Of course, Mu Wanwan quickly stored the paste away with a red face.
She firmly decided that Mr. Dragon could never be allowed to see it.
What would she do if he misunderstood and thought she desperately wanted to use it?
After putting everything away, she glanced at the sky outside.
It was still early, probably only two or three in the afternoon.
“Mengmeng, let’s wait at the doorway for your old father to return.”
Mu Wanwan picked up the fat fluffball and walked to the entrance of the wooden house.
She could not help feeling emotional.
The way she was now—tidying the house and waiting for her husband to return—truly resembled…
No, that was not right.
A dragon wife waiting for her dragon husband.
The image was so vivid that she began imagining what her dragon husband might currently be doing.
Would his ears tremble while he cultivated, just as they had earlier?
Or was he searching for sweet-tasting food?
Speaking of that, Mu Wanwan’s thoughts began wandering even farther.
She had once believed that Mr. Dragon had no sense of taste.
No matter what she cooked, he always ate every last bite, giving her the illusion that he loved eating everything.
However, after deliberately observing him many times, she discovered that this dragon actually preferred sweet foods.
Although his face remained expressionless, whenever he ate something sweet, a faint light unconsciously flashed through his eyes.
The curve of his lips would also rise ever so slightly.
He was the one who should be called the sweet little wife.
Mu Wanwan’s smile nearly became impossible to suppress.
She was truly hopelessly poisoned.
Merely thinking about matters related to him caused her heart to accelerate uncontrollably.
This time, Mr. Dragon did not make her wait long.
While she was still daydreaming about his little preferences, he had already endured the pain, hidden his tail, and begun hurrying back.
The seventh fragment of his original core was extremely difficult to reconnect.
Every cultivation session was agonising, and large patches of his scales would fall away.
If she saw them, her heart would ache.
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