"This storm might be our ally," Yukiya whispered confidently.
With rain pouring down on their heads, Long Ki and Yukiya came out into the gardens. It was filled with flourishing herbs. even with the dried up soil, the herbs looked like they were well nourished.
"my family used the lands to raise herbs. Even with the dried up land, we never had any problem raising these herbs," The old lady whispered proudly.
Yukiya was even more baffled. All the information they got was contradicting each other. First the land was dry it is almost impossible to raise herbs in them but the herbs in the old lady's garden were very healthy. And there was also the sand experiment.
Walking under the shade of a tree, she reached the small herb garden. squatting down, she carefully harvested one of the herbs. It was a morning glory flower. It was very useful during labour for pregnant woman.
Yukiya pulled the stigma and the petals apart and checked it. The inside of the flower also looked very healthy and full of spiritual energy.
After doing so, she softly parted the soil under the herbs. But she was not able to find anything.
"Do you have a hoe? I would like to dig a little here. I promise not to damage the herbs," Yukiya assured.
The old lady nodded, but before she could leave Long Ki squared next to Yukiya and digged the soil with his talons.
Yukiya curtly hid his hand with her wide sleeve and sat in a way that it obstructed old lady's vision. "You.... what are you doing? She will know your identity," Yukiya whisper shouted into his ear.
Long Ki softly chuckled. "Arent you protecting my identity? That's more than enough," he whispered into her ears.
Yukiya swiftly sat back and held her tingling ears. 'what.... what just happened?' when the stupid dragon whispered next to her, she felt as if her whole body was on fire. her skin tingled and became quite hot to touch.
She patted her cheeks and watched the dragon dig deeper. he had pulled his sleeves up, revealing his strong upper arm. his muscles were bulging and contracting as he digged through the dry sand. And she could faintly smell a masculine odor from him. it was assulting her thoughts and making her a little dizzy.
'what.... what even is this? why is this stupid dragon is so handsome today? is it just today or was he always this handshake?' she thought as she gulped loudly.
Unfortunately, her gulp was loud and caught the attention of the red dragon.
Long Ki gazed back. Instead of asking if she wanted water, he whispered, "are you thirsty*?"
This pissed the Koi. she smacked him on the head. "why..... why would I be thirsty for you? I'm just.... Just watching.." she stuttered.
The red dragon caressed his head with a confused look. "what? why did you hit me? you did'nt even drink tea since you woke up, so I asked. You shouldn't hit me for that, ah," He mumbled and went back to digging.
Yukiya felt utterly mortified. 'He.... he meant water.... oh my god, something is seriously wrong with me.' she thought as she held her head.
but unknowingly her eyes always followed him.
The old lady saw their actions with a slight blush.
"young love," she whispered and left them alone.
As soon as she left, Long Ki beckoned her close. "look at this," he pointed to a small amount of sand in his nails.
She pinched some and sniffed it. It gave a soothing feeling to her body and soul.
"Spirit crystal," she gasped. Only a spirit crystal had this miraculous property. In lower and heavenly realm, people use it for cultivation. But since the energy on a spirit crystals are so pure it is even used as a currency in the heavenly realm.
"it's in powdered form. And I recon that there is a spirit crystal root down below," Long Ki whispered.
Usually spirit crystals form in volcanic areas. But sometimes due to seismic activities, the spirit crystal takes root underground. It starts to grow in the shape of a large root.
Usually the crystals harvested in this kind of formation were more purer than usual. So major cultivation schools and factions take up these lands.
"so those bastards are aiming for the spirit crystals? Che, how could people be willing to hurt another's livelihood for this," Yukiya muttered.
Long Ki held her clenched fist. "calm down. we are still yet to find proof. and also, we need to do something about the spirit crystal root," he said.
This calmed the Koi down instantly. even if they find the proof of Golden temple people doing something to the land, it still would not be deter their efforts to acquire the land.
"hmm, first let's solve the land problem," She shot up and strode to the open corridor. Long Ki followed after her.
There was no roof overhead, so they both got wet soon.
Long Ki quickly lifted his hand and shielded her head with his wide sleeve. "we should have brought an umbrella," he said awkwardly. his face was slightly tinted pink, so he refused to look at her.
Scent of cedar wood and sandalwood enveloped over her. Slowly pulling back the sleeve, Yukiya gazed up at him through her lashes. even he was getting soaking wet. "won't you get sick then," she whispered.
"I am a man, this little drizzle cannot make me sick," he said.
Yet still Yukiya formed a small enchantment that can repel water over his head. 'Silly guy, he should care about himself,' she was an aquatic creature so getting wet cannot make her sick. But the stupid dragon can get sick easily.
Long Ki also noticed this and blushed red. "come closer," he said and dragged her into the range of the enchantment. But he still held his sleeve over her head. it weirdly gave him a feeling of hugging her, and he liked that a lot.
"What to do now?" he whispered.
"This!" she raised her hands up and held it out.
The droplets of rain showering all collected into her small palm, forming a ball of water. She blew on it a little, making it sparkling blue. She then let it naturally fall into the ground and get sucked up by the greedy soil.
'Why is she infusing spiritual energy into these water balls? hmm she is quite powerful for an earth dwelling beast,' he thought as he watched her do these actions repeatedly.
A small sense of pride enveloped his being. 'hmm my future mate is quite powerful indeed. After getting married she might get even more powerful....' the thought of marriage brought a huge blush on his face.
First came marriage, then came.... duel cultivation. 'oh lord, am I even ready for that? What do people usually do? How do they do it?' so many questions cluttered his thoughts.
The red dragon never had any kind of s*xual encounters before. but he did know the gist of what happens 'cough'.... during duel cultivation.
He gazed down at her delicate form and silently gulped. 'no... she's too delicate. as a man I need to do more research on this topic,' he decided.
"I found it!!" she exclaimed suddenly snapping Long Ki out of his thoughts.
"ah hmm... what?" he stuttered as his tongue refused to form coherent sentences.
"I found this lands problem," Yukiya gazed up at him with a dazzling smile.
Long Ki felt his heart stop for a second and rapidly beat after that. 'ahhhh her smile is..... cute,' he thought, holding his chest.
Yukiya did not wait for his answer. she just held his hands and dragged him towards the direction her water balls were flowing.
She infused the water with her spiritual energy in order to track its path I underground. as she had guessed all of her water balls reached the same place. it was just twenty meter to their left.
Yukiya found the spot easily. she pointed to the ground and whispered, "three feet below this exact spot is where my water balls ended. is it possible to dig it for me?"
The Red dragon nodded his head as if he was pounding ginger. He squatted down, but he still refused to let go of her soft hands.
Yukiya found the spot easily. She pointed to the ground and whispered, "three feet below this exact spot is where my water balls ended. is it possible to dig it for me?"
The Red dragon nodded his head as if he was pounding ginger. He squatted down, but he still refused to let go of her soft hands.
'it's just..... I'm worried. Isn't it natural to be worried for their fiance. It's not like I like her or anything,' he mentally comforted his turbulent mind.
Extending his talons, he started digging fast. soon the mud came out slightly tinged white with spirit crystal powder.
As he reached the three feet mark, his talons hit something hard.
Noticing this, Yukiya also knelt beside him. Both nodded before proceeding to unearth the mysterious object.
Long Ki dragged out a small black plate. It had a white circular enchantment in the middle, followed by few outer enchantments. but this strange plate was not a mysterious thing at all.
it was a.....
"Storm Plate!!" both of them exclaimed in unison.