Chapter 155: Husband
Two weeks later, the group of three arrived at the centre of the inner region.
When they did, they found many others, including cultivators from the Great Zhu empire, the border guards, and the BlueStar Treasure Pavillion waiting on the periphery.
"As expected." Li Futian muttered and sighed.
"Do you know what is going on?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
Li Futian sighed again and then spoke, "the core region may not open."
The thousand herbs garden was like other secret realms, and killing was an unavoidable outcome.
However, the heaven and earth laws of the thousand herbs garden were relatively peaceful.
If killing exceeded the acceptable limit, the heaven and earth laws would react.
In fact, Li Futian had expected the secret realm to eject them and close prematurely. However, his expectation did not come to pass, and it looked like the much-awaited core region would not open.
"It’s a pity." He said with regret on his face.
"Do you know something about the core region?" Jiang Yue asked.
"I know a little." Li Futian nodded and said.
"There are several medicinal pools in the core region and only one herb. I don’t know its name, but I know it’s a rare heaven and earth treasure. The kind that can only be met, but never sought."
Since Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue entered the thousand herbs garden, they had collected a lot of herbs.
A few were the kind that could only be met and never sought, but most were only rare. They were expensive, but they weren’t impossible to find.
Naturally, they were interested in the only herb in the core region.
"The herb has nine leaves, and each leaf is shaped like a cup. Every one thousand years, a dewdrop would condense in each cup."
"As for the effect...," Li Futian paused for a moment before he continued.
"One drop of dew can increase the comprehension ability of an origin forging realm cultivator by twenty per cent."
Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were shaken when they heard that.
With regard to cultivation, there was a difference between comprehension ability and talent.
A talented cultivator could comprehend techniques and martial arts much faster than their less talented counterparts.
However, even talented cultivators were limited by the comprehension ability of each cultivation realm.
At the origin forging realm, an average cultivator could comprehend a low-grade silver rank technique or martial art.
Genius cultivators were better and could comprehend mid-grade silver-rank arts and grasp a little of high-grade silver-rank arts.
However, it was impossible to comprehend a high-grade technique to completion or even grasp a peak grade silver rank art.
Other than techniques and arts, many things could not be understood in the origin forging realm due to the innate limitation in comprehension.
Although this was not a problem for most cultivators, it was a frustrating hurdle for the more ambitious ones.
At this moment, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue understood why cultivators like Zhu Bing had suppressed their cultivation to get a chance to enter the thousand herbs garden.
With a single dewdrop, one could increase their comprehension ability by twenty per cent. Although this did not sound like a lot, it was very substantial.
Most importantly, a twenty per cent increase in comprehension ability was enough to understand the complete dao behind qi transformation.
This meant they could fully transform their qi before breaking through to the qi transformation realm.
"It’s really a pity." Jiang Yue said and looked at where the entrance was supposed to appear.
"Maybe it’s for the best." Li Futian said.
At the moment, close to two hundred people were waiting for the core region to open. If it opened, blood would soon flow in the fight for the nine drops.
"It could be we aren’t fated for this opportunity." He sighed again and looked away.
"I wonder how brother Ke is doing." Jiang Yue suddenly said.
The time to meet had already come, but Xuan Ke had yet to appear.
"He should be fine." Li Futian said.
After that, the four fell silent.
A while later, they set up defences and began to cultivate as they waited for the core region to open.
In this way, they didn’t wait for the core region to open or for Xuan Ke to appear, but they waited for Lin Huang.
Three days before the secret realm closed, Lin Huang suddenly came to where the four were cultivating.
She didn’t say anything, but she occasionally looked at the boys before turning redder than her phoenix fire.
’Is she okay?’ Jiang Yue wondered for the hundredth time.
He had observed her odd behaviour for the past two days and didn’t understand what was wrong with her.
Just when he was planning to ignore her strange behaviour, she stood up and moved a little closer. Her face was red, and she looked clumsier than at any time since he met her.
"Is there something?" Jiang Yue asked.
He really couldn’t stand her strange behaviour, and he hoped to deal with whatever was happening as soon as possible.
"Hus..., hus..." She stuttered.
Jiang Yue and the rest were flabbergasted.
’What in the world is she trying to say?’ They wondered.
’Most importantly, why is she stammering so badly?’
"Fellow Daoist Lin can say whatever is on her mind." Li Futian assured.
"Husband." She called loudly.
Li Futian was shocked, and he turned to the other two.
Jiang Yue looked extremely surprised, and Yu Nianzhen had a black face.
"Who is your husband?" He asked through gritted teeth.
A little sword aura was leaking from his body, and the surroundings felt a tad sharp.
"Husband, I have come to formally introduce myself." Lin Huang finally managed to say.
Silence fell among the four.
A moment later, Jiang Yue’s face turned black, and he glared at Yu Nianzhen.
Yu Nianzhen, the person who was shot while lying down, didn’t know what to say.
However, he knew he was in grave danger if the look on Jiang Yue’s face was anything to go by.
"This..., this..., don’t misunderstand me. I have nothing to do with her." He quickly explained.
He then turned to Lin Huang and glared, "tell him that I have nothing to do with you."
"Husband is right." Yu Nianzhen wanted to die when he heard that.
’What kind of explanation was she giving while calling him husband? Was this a cruel and unusual means of vengeance?’
Yu Nianzhen turned to Li Futian and begged for help.
However, Li Futian was rather amused, and his lips curled in a smile as he watched the show.
’As I thought, following XiaoYue to become brothers with Xuan Ke and Li Futian was a wrong decision. Neither of them is a good thing.’ He glared at Li Futian and then turned to Lin Huang.
"Fellow Daoist Lin shouldn’t tell these kinds of jokes." Yu Nianzhen spoke through gritted teeth.
If he had his way, he would cut this woman down.
However, he worried that he would be suspected of destroying evidence, so he kept his calm.
’Let’s settle the matter first.’ He thought, and his hand instinctively tightened around his sword.
"Huang’er is not joking." Li Futian couldn’t hold it, and he burst out laughing.
’The monk is missing a good show.’ He thought and felt pity for his missing brother.
’Wait...’
In a great hurry, he removed an image stone from his storage ring and began to record the show.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, we only met in the battle platform. How can I be your husband?"
If one listened closely, they would hear a helpless undertone in Yu Nianzhen’s words.
This was the first time he had encountered such an unreasonable situation, and he wanted it to end quickly.
Although he knew Jiang Yue wouldn’t really misunderstand him, he still wanted to quickly prove his innocence.
After all, XiaoYue was a very vengeful person.
Even if he knew Yu Nianzhen wasn’t to blame for the current situation, he would still make him pay for it.
"It is true Huang’er has only met her husband once, but..." Her face turned redder, and the three men were at a complete loss.
’Where is the vixen with the half-exposed chest and a whip in her hand? Why had she turned into a demure miss?’
Yu Nianzhen fervently hoped for the reappearance of the vixen because he didn’t know how to deal with the demure miss.
With such thoughts in mind, he looked at Jiang Yue and pleaded for mercy.
Jiang Yue saw it and sighed.
Although it was uncomfortable to hear someone calling his person ’husband’, he didn’t blame Yu Nianzhen.
On one hand, he knew beyond a doubt that Yu Nianzhen loved him and wouldn’t provoke Lin Huang.
On the other, the two had been together after the initial separation when they first entered the secret realm. He could be sure that Yu Nianzhen had never met Lin Huang before the competition.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, can you explain what you are doing?" He asked.
His voice was cold, and Lin Huang turned to look at him.
Her face looked very unwilling, but she still called out, "second husband, my..."
