As the mist from the Snow Condensation dispersed, a faint floral fragrance filled the entire room. It smelled quite pleasant.
However, Mu Wanwan felt as though her heart were bleeding.
Cultivating a single Snow Condensation plant was no easy task!
She had only cultivated seventeen Snow Condensation seedlings during her enlightenment, and now one had been wasted just like that.
“Chirp~”
Mengmeng sniffed the fragrance in the air and seemed rather intoxicated by it. It released a pleased chirp beside Mu Wanwan.
Mu Wanwan sighed and pulled out an ordinary-quality jade bottle from her pocket. She poured the Bell-Lantern Grass liquid that was still suspended nearby into it.
It could not be wasted.
Afraid of ruining another Snow Condensation plant, Mu Wanwan decided not to attempt another Snow Condensation Pill.
She carried Mengmeng into the courtyard and placed it down to play by itself. Then she picked several Spirit-Recovery Fruits, along with some Bell-Lantern Grass and Purifying Flowers.
It would be safer to begin with the cheaper medicinal pill.
This time, she was even more cautious.
She watched the situation inside the pill furnace closely. Once the Spirit-Recovery Fruits had gradually been refined into a pale-red liquid, she immediately used her spiritual energy to control the semi-solid mass.
At the same time, she quickly threw the prepared Purifying Flowers into the furnace.
Only after the Purifying Flowers had almost completely melted did Mu Wanwan swiftly pour in the Bell-Lantern Grass liquid she had stored earlier.
Her idea was wonderful—
She would use her spiritual energy to knead the three masses of liquid together like dough. Once they reached the correct temperature, she would be able to condense them into a pill.
However, imagination and reality were very different.
The moment Mu Wanwan placed the three ingredients together, she discovered that her spiritual energy could not manipulate all three masses simultaneously.
Even after exhausting all her strength, she could not make the three liquids merge.
Because all her concentration was focused on combining them, Mu Wanwan neglected to control the pill flame.
Her spiritual energy failed to connect for a moment, and the flame suddenly surged.
She failed again.
The three masses of liquid, which had originally possessed fairly good colour, were all burned black.
Mu Wanwan extinguished the flame with an aching heart and cleaned the pill furnace.
Could the problem be the order?
The sequence written in the pill formula was indeed to refine the three ingredients into separate liquid masses first, then combine all three into one.
There should not be anything wrong with the formula.
Had she overlooked a particular step?
Remembering the obstruction she had felt while attempting to condense the pill, Mu Wanwan wondered whether her spiritual energy was not powerful enough.
However, that did not seem right.
According to Uncle Zong, she should have been able to refine both types of pills even when she was still a second-rank cultivator.
There was no reason her spiritual energy would be insufficient now that she had reached the third rank.
Mu Wanwan fell into deep distress.
Since she could not solve the problem, she did not continue experimenting. Every failure cost her more than the pill flame and her spiritual energy—it also consumed a large quantity of ingredients.
After merely two failures, she had already wasted one Snow Condensation plant and many other spiritual plants.
Mu Wanwan thought for a long time while staring at a Purifying Flower in her hand.
Only when her eyes began to ache did she finally stand up. She planned to check the time and return to her old profession of cultivating spiritual plants.
She would be able to leave the residence in approximately three or four days.
She had not successfully refined even a single pill yet. Perhaps she would remain unable to produce one before her next trip outside.
To prevent Mr. Dragon, Mengmeng, and herself from having to eat dirt for the following month—and for the sake of buying new clothes—she had better cultivate more spiritual plants.
By the time she packed everything away and left the side hall, it was almost dark outside.
The temperature was dropping lower each day, and the sun set very early.
After thinking briefly, Mu Wanwan went to the study.
She wanted to collect some paper and a brush to record the causes of her failures, along with her experiences and some relevant data, so she would not repeat the same mistakes.
She did not visit the study frequently, but she was not unfamiliar with it—
The study was also extremely luxurious and spacious. However, nearly everything valuable had already been taken away.
Books were expensive in this world, so almost none remained in Mr. Dragon’s study.
The ink and inkstone Mu Wanwan had previously found had been dug out from obscure corners.
She did not clean this area often either, perhaps only once or twice a month.
This time, however, Mu Wanwan clearly sensed that something about the study was different.
The moment she entered, it felt as though she had stepped into a place where some kind of mechanism or formation had been established.
She could not explain it, but something felt wrong.
Mu Wanwan merely sensed that something was unusual.
Mr. Dragon, who had been quietly recuperating in bed, slowly opened his eyes.
A trace of vigilance and indifference appeared within his black eyes. However, the coldness quickly disappeared once he confirmed that the person entering the centre of the formation was his wife.
It was replaced by something resembling indulgent helplessness.
Mr. Dragon spread out his spiritual sense.
He could only secretly observe his wife like this while she had not yet reached the fourth rank and developed spiritual sense of her own.
Mr. Dragon—the outwardly expressionless, inwardly shy and fanatical dragon with the cold and formidable public image—completely exposed his true nature through his spiritual sense.
Like a clingy large cat, it followed Mu Wanwan from the study entrance all the way into its depths.
She seemed even more beautiful than before. (´ω`)
Mm.
She truly had become more beautiful.
Mr. Dragon was staring in fascination when Mu Wanwan suddenly discovered a slightly yellowed sheet of paper beneath the desk in an inconspicuous corner.
She had never noticed it during her previous cleaning.
She might as well pick it up and have a look.
Thus, Mr. Dragon watched as his wife slowly bent over.
Her moderately thin clothing outlined her slender waist, and farther down…
Mr. Dragon’s spiritual sense abruptly retreated several steps before making an almost humanlike turn in another direction.
Heat surged through his heart, and he felt as though the tip of his nose had grown slightly warm.
After covering his face for a while, Mr. Dragon finally lowered his hands.
With his handsome, icy face slightly flushed, he resumed solemnly observing—secretly peeping at—his wife.
Fortunately, she had already picked up the object.
It was a yellowed sheet of parchment whose edges had begun to curl.
Mr. Dragon tried hard to remember what was written on it, but nothing came to mind.
He had lived for over a hundred years and served as a leader for several decades. Although he was still considered an extremely young dragon among the dragon race, he had written many things over the years…
A terrible premonition suddenly arose in his heart.
Mr. Dragon nervously watched Mu Wanwan slowly unfold the parchment.
The moment she saw the writing, Mu Wanwan’s expression became extraordinarily complicated—
The handwriting was truly…
Calling it ugly would almost be a compliment.
The writing system in this world was far less complicated than traditional Chinese characters.
After obtaining the original owner’s memories, Mu Wanwan had learned to write after only a couple of attempts. Although her writing was not exceptionally beautiful, it was at least extremely neat.
But the writing upon this parchment…
How should she describe it?
It possessed something of an abstract artistic style.
Mu Wanwan wondered whether something was wrong with her eyes.
She stared at it for a long time without understanding anything. Frowning slightly, she covered the lower portion with her hand and attempted to identify the characters one by one.
“I…”
After struggling for a long while, Mu Wanwan finally recognised the first character.
She softly read it aloud.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dragon, lying in the bedroom, was already overcome by the urge to ram his head into a wall.
He truly had been immature back then.
He had possessed only a vague understanding of relationships between men and women, yet people of unknown origin were constantly trying to become his Dao companion.
They had irritated him to death.
At the time, he had happened to be learning how to write, so he had casually complained upon a sheet of parchment.
How had his wife managed to find it?!
What if she understood what it said…?
He was already a useless, disabled dragon.
He could not endure her questioning his abilities as well…
Mr. Dragon was terribly conflicted.
On one hand, he believed it would be best if his wife hated him.
Yet deep inside, he could not suppress the hope that she might like him a little more.
Mr. Dragon pressed his lips together and nervously gripped the quilt.
“Don’t…”
“Know how?”
*I don’t know how?*
Mu Wanwan stared for a long time but became completely stuck on the next character.
She therefore gave up and continued farther down, identifying the writing one character at a time.
She finally reached the end and, through a mixture of guessing and interpretation, managed to determine the sentence’s approximate meaning—
The first line read:
“I don’t know how to [illegible].”
The following sentence read:
“She actually tried to seduce me. I’m still young. Hmph.”
**Author’s Note:**
Mr. Dragon: “Wife, I’m capable! I really am capable!”
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