Chapter 737: Gift Box
"So that's how it is. Refining dragon blood really isn't that simple." Zhang Ruochen suddenly understood.
Every major power has a god they worship.
The Moon Worship Demon Sect worships the "Moon God," the Dragon-Half-Humans worship the "Divine Dragon," and the Zhang Clan of the former Sacred Bright Central Empire worshipped the "Bright Ancestor."
Major powers use sacrificial rituals to communicate with the gods they believe in.
Only by borrowing divine power can one refine divine blood and condense a divine seal within the body.
Ao Xinyan told Zhang Ruochen the secret technique for unsealing the divine dragon blood. Then, she took out a piece of translucent sacred bone and handed it to him.
The sacred bone was very irregular, like a piece of jade-like coral. Inside it, a mass of crimson light radiated, even more dazzling than the sun.
Vaguely, one could see that it was a cluster of bright red droplets.
It was exactly twenty drops of Dragon Emperor blood.
The energy contained in the Dragon Emperor blood was still terrifying. Using the sacred bone to store it not only prevented the blood qi from leaking but also concealed the blood's aura.
"Captain, I'm going into the Scroll World to go into seclusion and cultivate, aiming to break through to the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm." Ao Xinyan clearly had a Liuli Baodan (Glazed Treasure Pill) on her, which was why she was so eager to break through.
Zhang Ruochen sent Ao Xinyan into the Scroll World, while he stayed outside, a contemplative expression on his face.
Then, he prepared a gift box, put a thousand drops of Black Tortoise Sacred Blood and five drops of Dragon Emperor blood inside, and sealed the box with inscriptions.
Zhang Ruochen held the gift box in one hand, the other behind his back, and walked toward Huang Yanchen's secluded cultivation stone chamber.
Standing outside the stone door, Zhang Ruochen stood tall and composed, saying, "Lin Yue has prepared a gift and wishes to pay a visit to Miss Yanchen. I wonder if it's convenient for you to see me?"
There was no response from the stone chamber.
But Zhang Ruochen was very patient, waiting calmly outside, showing full sincerity.
"Hiss, hiss."
After about a quarter of an hour, the heavy stone door slowly opened.
Huang Yanchen walked out of the stone chamber, standing beneath the stone door.
Her figure was exceptionally tall and slender. Her sapphire-blue eyes stared straight at Zhang Ruochen, then glanced at his gift box, and said with a mocking tone, "As far as I know, you've been getting quite close to Junior Sister Ao lately. Why the sudden gift for me? I didn't expect you to be such a romantic."
Zhang Ruochen still wore a smile, saying, "To be honest, I did make a big deal with Miss Ao recently, so I obtained quite a few treasures. That's why I brought some over for you, Miss Yanchen, hoping you'd accept them."
Then he added, "I only wish to be friends with you, nothing more."
Huang Yanchen had a fairly good opinion of Lin Yue's character, at least considering him a friend worth making. Otherwise, she wouldn't have met him alone or spoken so much with him.
"It seems that piece of divine dragon bone really got you quite a few treasures from the Dragon-Half-Humans."
Huang Yanchen's goal was to find the Nine Nether Sword Saint and take revenge, so she naturally needed a lot of cultivation resources. Without being polite, she took the gift box.
"What gift did you bring?"
Clearly, Huang Yanchen didn't think Lin Yue could give her anything too valuable, so she appeared somewhat indifferent.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Five drops of Dragon Emperor blood and a thousand drops of Black Tortoise Sacred Blood."
Suddenly, Huang Yanchen's hands froze. She quickly looked up, her beautiful face showing a shocked expression, as if she thought she had misheard.
Dragon Emperor blood?
Black Tortoise Sacred Blood?
Leaving aside the Dragon Emperor blood for now, even the Black Tortoise Sacred Blood alone was an extremely precious cultivation treasure, each drop worth a fortune.
Back then, Zhang Ruochen had only refined a single drop of Black Tortoise Sacred Blood to break through from the first transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm to the second. This shows how valuable Black Tortoise Sacred Blood is.
A thousand drops of Black Tortoise Sacred Blood were already worth more than the total wealth of a Half-Saint family.
As for the Dragon Emperor blood, it was even more precious, something that couldn't be bought with money.
A thousand drops of Black Tortoise Sacred Blood and five drops of Dragon Emperor blood were comparable to the total wealth of a slightly weaker Saintly clan.
Even the generous Xue Wuye wouldn't have such a grand gesture.
Could Lin Yue be richer than Xue Wuye?
Therefore, Huang Yanchen simply didn't believe that the gift box actually contained Dragon Emperor blood and Black Tortoise Sacred Blood.
When she opened the gift box, she was stunned.
"You actually... gave me a thousand drops of Black Tortoise Sacred Blood and five drops of Dragon Emperor blood?"
Clearly, Huang Yanchen was very incredulous.
Seeing the change in Huang Yanchen's expression, Zhang Ruochen felt quite pleased inside and said calmly, "Of course."
The reason he gave such a large amount of cultivation resources to Huang Yanchen was that he understood her situation well.
As one of the heirs of the Eastern Domain Saint King Manor, she definitely needed a lot of money and resources to win people over and cultivate her own power and subordinates.
Although Huang Yanchen's parents were both Half-Saints, they simply couldn't support such a huge expense.
Zhang Ruochen didn't mind helping her out, to avoid her awkward position in the Eastern Domain Saint King Manor.
Suddenly, Huang Yanchen trembled all over. She lifted her head sharply and asked in a cold, questioning tone, "Where did you get the Black Tortoise Sacred Blood?"
Huang Yanchen had refined the sacred source of the Azure Flame Black Tortoise, so she was very familiar with its sacred blood.
The thousand drops of Black Tortoise Sacred Blood that Lin Yue gave her were exactly the Azure Flame Black Tortoise's sacred blood.
Zhang Ruochen had already prepared for this and remained very calm, saying, "Black Tortoise Sacred Blood? It was given to me by Shengshu Cainü. Apparently, the imperial court obtained the corpse of an Azure Flame Black Tortoise and extracted hundreds of thousands of drops of Black Tortoise Sacred Blood from it."
Huang Yanchen's five fingers clenched tightly together, her nails almost piercing her skin. From her cold eyes, two crystal tears fell.
She knew that the imperial court must have found the Azure Flame Black Tortoise's corpse from Zhang Ruochen's belongings. It had to be that way.
Seeing Huang Yanchen's sorrowful appearance, Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly.
He wasn't worried that Huang Yanchen would see through the lie. After all, everyone now knew that Lin Yue had an extraordinary relationship with Shengshu Cainü.
At the same time, Huang Yanchen couldn't possibly go to Shengshu Cainü to verify it.
"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave." Seeing that Huang Yanchen's emotions were very unstable, Zhang Ruochen slightly cupped his hands and quickly left.
Only after walking far away did Zhang Ruochen turn back to look at Huang Yanchen. He saw her crouching on the ground, one hand supporting the ground, completely without dignity, looking very pained, tears continuously falling to the ground.
Zhang Ruochen sighed again, feeling quite bitter in his heart. Life was just so uncontrollable.
Loving someone doesn't necessarily mean possessing them; sometimes, what's needed more is silent sacrifice.
Returning to his secluded cultivation stone chamber, Zhang Ruochen worked hard to adjust his emotions before entering the Scroll World.
There was still some time before the Realm Son Banquet, and Zhang Ruochen planned to start cultivating the Four Spirits Treasure Body.
Only by cultivating the Four Spirits Treasure Body could he have the strength to fight against Ouyang Huan.
(The word count for these two chapters is slightly less; an additional chapter will be added in the afternoon.)