Chapter 27 - Spirit Spring

Within the dark and gloomy cave, the pond which glowed brightly, immediately drawing the attention of both Wang Jian and Li Fen.

It didn't take a genius to tell that whatever it was, through the obvious signs left behind by the Snake Demon that it had deemed the pond its most valuable possession.

Unlike cultivators, a magical beast does not value treasures or valuables like they do, instead they only truly consider something precious if it was able to aid their strength. It was one of the reasons why most spirt plants which can increase an individuals strength was found guarded by a magical beast.

Within the area, the Snake Demon would be considered a bit too strong of a Magical Beast to make such an area its territory as the deeper within the Devil Fall Valley, the more valuable resources there were.

Not to mention the density of essence increases the further within the Valley, so it appeared a bit strange why such a strong Demon Beast did not carve its territory in a better location.

There may be numerous reasons why the Snake Demon would remain in such a place, such as it might not be confident within its strength to take over the territories of the other Demon Beasts, but Li Fen was willing to bet this was not the reason behind the Snake Demons decision.

She could tell instantly that the Snake Demon did so for benefits, otherwise, it would have escaped, and not have fought so desperately earlier.

Li Fen had to admit, despite reading through some of the knowledge contained in the library, which includes some spirit plants, natural treasures and so forth, she had no idea what the strange pond was.

And going by the look of evident confusion of the nearby Wang Jian, who had had a far more extensive education than her, despite his young age, indicating that this was no ordinary treasure.

Knowing that both of them had no idea of what it was, she decided it was best to confide in Zhang Wei for answers.

'Hmm. It looks like your in luck kid, this encounter has come at the perfect time for us. This sort of thing is indeed to rare to obtain, even if it is in such a little amount, it is not something which can be found through ordinary means.' Zhang Wei said calmly.

Zhang Wei's response instantly made Li Fen curious, what is something which even the old dragon viewed as something difficult to obtain. After all, it was only the second time something within the Kingdom had something of value in his eyes, the other being the encounter he sensed within the Academy which could help them.

'So spit it out then, what is it, and how can it help me?' Li Fen said impatiently.

'Ahh. The young generation these days have no manners, in regards to their seniors. What this is kid, is something which will aid you greatly at this moment in time, it is something capable of purifying and increasing your bloodline. Such treasures are hard to obtain in this World, although to the old me, something such as this would be useless towards my bloodline, to the present you, it is truly something good! Although I transplanted a bit of my bloodline into you, in the end, it was truly too little, despite the high purity in comparison to most awakened human bloodlines, it is indeed a bit too weak in comparison to another human who had similarly awakened their bloodline.' Zhang Wei said.

'Hmm, so it truly is a good thing. Though, I thought you said the Silver Dragon Bloodline was strongest, even among Dragons, so how could a bunch of humans who awakened their bloodlines have a stronger one?' Li Fen uttered.

'Are you doubting me, kid? What I said wasn't wrong, it just that your bloodline has been transplanted from me, and it was merely a drop of it. The humans who usually awaken their bloodlines had done so through their ancestors, and no matter how diluted it has been, it is still more sizable than the amount I bestowed upon you. However, despite that, your bloodline still outmatches them greatly and is by far superior. Your bloodline would only lose out to the best ones within this Kingdom just because they directly received their bloodline from a mere few generations, leading to the amount and purity of it to be great. But, even then you have seen the gifts you possess just because of the Silver Dragon bloodline, such as the affinities and talent, this is merely having a pitiful amount of it. Once its purity grows and your body starts to further integrate with the bloodline, increasing the amount within your blood, then further talents will be awakened.'

Hearing the Dragons explanation, she quickly grasped it and found it made sense. After all, she received her bloodline directly from the Dragon, with it being a mere drop, yet she already outmatches most of the bloodline naturally awakened within the Kingdom whose bloodlines have been directly inherited from powerful magical beasts with the strongest bloodlines within their race.

It would be weird if she transcended to the top with such little of the bloodline given to her, though the Silver Dragons words still left much encouragement to Li Fen. How powerful would she become if she kept increasing the density and purity of her bloodline? Zhang Wei already hinted of the potential benefits that would be provided, and to Li Fen who already thought of unlocking every affinity is already amazing, feel even more determined in progressing her bloodline.

Unknowingly to Li Fen though, her current thoughts were actually what Zhang Wei wanted to accomplish through his words. Through motivating Li Fen, his agenda would be closer to being achieved.

'So, how do I use it? And can Wang Jian benefit from it in any way? He is the one which dealt with the Snake Demon, enabling us to even think of enjoying such a benefit.' Li Fen remarked.

In the end, she wasn't a selfish person, now that Zhang Wei told her the value of such a resource, she isn't just going to skimp out on the one who defeated the Snake Demon, which enabled them access to it.

'Unfortunately, it will only be useful to those with bloodlines, such as the Snake Demon. It will be useless to the boy, even if he entered the pool as he does not possess a bloodline, so this is one fortunate encounter he cannot obtain. Though there are a few things useful to him which can make it up to the boy, the few spirit plants within the Snake Demon's den are fairly good cultivation resources for him.' Zhang Wei commented.

Now knowing it was useless to Wang Jian she didn't continue talking to Zhang Wei and turned to face him.

Upon seeing Li Fen turning around to face him with a calm appearance, Wang Jian said, "Do you know what it is? I can't seem to recall anything which matches up this, maybe I should have listened more to those tutors my Father gave me."

"Yeah, I recognise it. Luckily, I found a bit of information about it in the library. Though unfortunately, it is something not of use for you, but for those with bloodlines it is priceless" Li Fen answered.

Hearing Li Fen's words, Wang Jian couldn't help but feel sceptical, as even he coming from a noble upbringing could not distinguish the treasure. Even though he didn't put his full efforts into his studies on the identification of spirit plants and heavenly treasures, he still felt he knew enough and was far more knowledgable than his peers.

Nonetheless, after a thought, he decided to trust Li Fen, as from his judgement towards her character, he felt that Li Fen wasn't an untrustworthy type of person who would deceive him. Otherwise, she would have kept the beast core to herself.

"Ahh, alright then. I guess it seems, my luck is not good compared to yours. But, I guess both of us cannot be considered very fortunate people, otherwise, we wouldn't have ended up here in the first place, now I know what Father meant when he said to not focus too much on the background. In the end, strength is all that matters, maybe I should've trained harder as my brother did." Wang Jian said despondently.

"You shouldn't have to worry about such a thing, your only a young boy after all. It is not your responsibility to care about such matters, none of the powerful experts, your Father included had such strength at a young age. It is not your fault that we ended up in this way." Reassured Li Fen.

"Ahh, you did it again. You talk as if we are not of a similar age, I always felt I was mature around people my age, but to you, I feel like a child, even the way you treat me as if I'm way younger than you." Wang Jian asked his round eyes filled with confusion.

Not knowing how close he was to the truth, Li Fen quickly brushed it off it is a result of her bloodline causing her to mature faster.

After disclosing the information of the pond to Wang Jian, she then began to approach the pond under the orders of Zhang Wei.

'Now, this treasure is known as a natural heavenly resource known as the spirit spring. Beasts would usually use them as means of evolution and breaking through into the next rank with the power of the spring, as it is a means of refining and upgrading their bloodline, allowing them to break the shackles of the innate talent of their bloodline. To you, however, it would have less of an impact than to a weaker bloodline such as the Snake Demon, but a resource which could even affect the Silver Dragon bloodline is rare, and it came at the right time for you at your present stage.' Said Zhang Wei.

'How do I use the spirit spring?' Li Fen asked.

'You just need to bathe within and channel the energy from the pond through your beast core. By doing so it will distribute within your body, truly not only refining your bloodline, but your physical body will also receive benefits.' Zhang Wei responded calmly.

Li Fen nodded inwardly in agreement and took a step into the spirit spring, immediately she felt a warm sensation spreading through her skin.

Confirming it was truly as Zhang Wei said it was, she lowered herself into the pool, submerging herself within.

Instantly, she felt what Zhang Wei said would occur, copying his orders, she channelled the energy contained from the spring through her body, leading it to her beast core.

Upon doing so, she felt an instantaneous impact, as the energy of the spirit spring was circulated her body with the first circle, she felt a refreshing feeling as if her body was cleansed.

As a martial artist with a grasp of controlling her strength, she already felt that her body had already strengthened a little, upon feeling just a few of the gains within only a moment of using the spirit spring, she became even more enthusiastic in absorbing the energy of the spirit spring.

With that, a large amount of the Spirit Springs energy was devoured by Li Fen who began taking in the energy at an astonishing rate.

Wang Jian stood on the sidelines stared with a look of amazement contained on his face as the pond began steadily growing smaller, showing that the pace of Li Fen taking in the energy contained within pond was increasing.

Sitting himself down, Wang Jian waited patiently for Li Fen to finish her fortunate opportunity, there wasn't a hint of jealousy within Wang Jian's eyes, as it was nothing to do with him as it was no use to him. Li Fen even let him touch the water a moment earlier, but it was as she said, and there was no special reaction to him.

As a noble heir, he had access to all manners of heavenly resources, so he didn't feel that envious of Li Fen, after all, he gained a few spirit plants left by the Snake Demon and the beast core, things which his family can quickly turn into cultivation resources. From now on he also decided to cultivate even harder after seeing Li Fen's talent himself, as he couldn't let himself fall too far behind her in the future, potentially becoming a person who could drag her down, and be too weak in the future in contributing his own strength.

From seeing Li Fen's talent and hard work from the visits within the Academy, he had finally learnt that just having good talent was not enough, and to fulfil the potential of having his talent.

He would have to work hard like everyone else, otherwise, he would be left behind in the dust by those who have both talent and are dedicated to the cultivation.

Becoming even further resolute in these thoughts, Wang Jian now had a new revolution, to become a true genius, following his brother footsteps in cultivation!

The cave remained silent for the next twelve hours, the spirit spring's volume was continued to be depleted by Li Fen until eventually it was dried up. Something the Snake Demon couldn't accomplish within years was done so by a Li Fen, and that was to completely assimilate the spirit spring.

Emerging from the Spirit Spring, Li Fen outwardly appeared the same, however, there was one contrasting difference, which was her silver pupils. Noticeably they had grown an even deeper shade of silver, and a faint discernable aura of nobleness was released subtly through her body.

Li Fen didn't notice such a change, but the awaiting Wang Jian who had just seen her appear after waiting for a few hours, felt a complete difference presence emerge from Li Fen's body.

"It went successfully?" Wang Jian couldn't help but ask, breaking the silence.

"Yes, in fact, it was far better than even I thought it would be." Muttered Li Fen.

She indeed truly did gain big this time, coming out from the Spirit Sprit, she already felt as if her body was more attuned within essence within the air, alongside all of the talents to do with her bloodline improving, her cultivation level which was previously at the fifth apprentice rank, had also broken through to the sixth. So, at the moment she couldn't help but be any happier at the rewards brought from the Spirit Spring. Though that didn't prevent her from thinking about their current situation.

"Did anything unusual happen since I entered the spirit spring?" Asked Li Fen worriedly.

"Nope, in fact, that was what I was worried about. But, it looks like you may be right, and all we need to wait was for my Fathers reinforcements to arrive after all..." Commented Wang Jian.

But, as if foreboding that things were not just going to end that easy, for the first time the peace and quiet within the cave was disturbed as the sound of footsteps emerged with the voices of men chatting echoed throughout the cave.

"Ah, you think those brats are in here? We've been searching everywhere through these parts, and not a whiff of them was found. I reckon they had long been devoured by the magical beasts." A gruff voice sounded.

"You tell Shadow Crane then, that we should stop searching because you believe the brats to be dead. Or better yet, go and skimp off your duty, not following the orders given." A voice snidely responded.

"What, you think I got some sorta death wish, I'd be long dead if I try messing with Shadow Crane, the last guy who did didn't even know how he was killed before his head was chopped off..." Replied the gruff voice.

Upon hearing these voices, both Wang Jian and Li Fen immediately faced each other, a gloomy expression-filled both of their faces, as they began to ponder how to get themselves out of such a situation.