My Wife Is A Sword Immortal
Chapter 347 - 257: The Well Water Contains Dragon Energy

Chapter 347: Chapter 257: The Well Water Contains Dragon Energy

The assessment during the class, before even starting to correct the exam papers of all the students, Zhao Rong had already become the acknowledged champion of calligraphy.

With a single character, he had surpassed all the other students.

This unexpected occurrence, something the students of Shuaixing Hall had never imagined could happen, had actually taken place.

Although the prize had already been claimed by Zhao Rong, Zhu Yourong still took the correction of the papers seriously. Adhering to Mochi Academy’s default "ten-point system" of scoring, she carefully wrote her comments. It was only occasionally that she would ask for Zhao Rong’s opinion on the characters.

Adhering to the principle of not offending anyone and not being too conspicuous, Zhao Rong glanced symbolically at the exam papers under the watchful eyes of the other students. He mostly offered vague praise and refrained from candid criticism. However, when he caught a glimpse of a set of exquisite and graceful small scripts, he frowned and pondered, then nodded as he inhaled before finally expressing his admiration with a sigh. Without changing his expression or skipping a beat, he told some ’hard truths’.

Zhu Yourong cast a glance at Zhao Rong and also curved her lips slightly, nodding her approval. With a stroke of her vermilion brush, she scored the exam paper with the elegant female handwriting a high "seven", a score relative to the entire Shuaixing Hall, excluding Zhao Rong.

This scene caused many students to turn their heads to look at a petite jade-like female student, Li Xueyou, who shyly lowered her head, hiding behind Xiao Hongyu. After a while, she raised her head to sneak a glance at Zhao Rong’s calm profile, despite him not looking her way.

In the end, excluding Zhao Rong’s ’correct’ character, which was not graded and needed no grading, only Yu Huaijin, Li Xueyou, and Wu Peiliang out of all the students achieved the high score of "seven".

This calligraphy class at Lan Xuan Crossing had come to an end amid the clattering of desks and the sounds of Shuaixing Hall’s students standing up to bow and send off their teacher.

At that moment, the sharp howling Jiang wind blew again. Amidst the autumn breeze that carried flying red maple leaves, Zhao Rong carefully stowed away the precious small bamboo tube in his hand. He looked up at his classmates around him packing up their things, ready to disperse, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

All the graded exam papers had been distributed, and in the end, he was the only one in Shuaixing Hall with empty hands, while everyone else had received their papers.

Just before class ended, a conscientious female Confucian Scholar solemnly told Zhao Rong that the paper with only one character on it was a bit large in workload to correct, and she would need to take it back and grade it carefully, so she would not give it to him right away. If Zhao Rong needed it urgently, he could find her at Yilan Pavilion, where she would be all day...

Zhao Rong turned his head to take a look at the path through the woods, watching Zhu Yourong’s receding figure. She was holding the rolled-up exam paper in both hands behind her back, seeming to ’stride forward with her head held high’; her steps looked light and nimble, but her current facial expression was unknown.

Zhao Rong shook his head with a smile and then, without heeding the varying degrees of attention from the surrounding students, he finished gathering his belongings on the table and turned to Fan Yushu saying,

"Yushu, I have an urgent matter to attend to and must leave first; I won’t accompany you back to Nanxuan Academy. Please tell Teng Ying on my behalf."

"Sure," Fan Yushu nodded, but his gaze lingered on Zhao Rong with a hint of complaint.

During the teacher’s correction of his exam paper, Fan Yushu had looked forward to Zhao Rong’s opinion with great expectation. Yet he once again witnessed his good brother’s upright and unyielding character. What left him speechless was that the next paper after his was Li Xueyou’s, and boy, the speed at which he changed his face, his mastery over facial expressions, and the precision and appropriate intensity... Indeed worthy of being ’the unflinchingly loyal Ziyu brother’. Fan Yushu felt a chill in his heart.

Zhao Rong blinked, ignoring his friend’s rueful gaze, turned around, and departed amidst the stares of everyone else.

A lot had happened in the two classes this morning; Zhao Rong needed to take some time to digest it all...

Around noon, on the west side of Linlu Academy, there stood two hills tinted yellow by the autumn.

At the foot of the mountains was a valley, within the valley, a pavilion, and in the pavilion, a well.

At this moment, the traffic around the Scripture Teaching Pavilion was sparse, and inside there was a young Confucian scholar who occasionally looked up at the ceiling or down at the ancient well.

Zhao Rong observed for quite some time.

This was an eight-sided, pointed ancient pavilion, not very large. Besides covering the ancient well, there was barely enough space for two rows of people standing next to the well. Directly across from the well opening, at the top center of the pavilion’s roof, there was a round painted wooden bas-relief of a dragon. The reflected dragon in the well, especially on a clear day like today, seemed to dance with the rippling of the well water, as if a dragon was playing in the waters.

He stood at the mouth of the well, leaning over its edge to look down. The well was very deep, about twenty to thirty fathoms, with water so serene it was like a bronze mirror. This must have been the "Zhengguan" mirror for the academy’s scholars and teachers in the past.

Zhao Rong carefully inspected the reflection of his face in the well water, as well as the dancing shadow of the dragon above his head. Suddenly, his gaze caught sight of a stone tablet embedded halfway down the well’s wall, from his angle, it appeared to bear no inscription.

He craned his neck and leaned over for a good while, but still could not make sense of it. He was nearly ready to jump into the well himself.

This pavilion and well, despite their ancient design, were not particularly prominent within the academy. Most of the structures there were built in ancient fashion and would seem even older than the pavilion and well.

However, the well water that Zhu Yourong had recently used to make tea came from this very ancient well.

Zhao Rong stood upright again, exhaled lightly, and couldn’t help but speak internally to Heart Lake: "Gui, do you think... there’s dragon energy in the well water?"

"Hmm."

Gui was silent for a moment. "Look at the red snake that emerged from the Innate Primordial Qi in your meridians."

On hearing this, Zhao Rong introspected once more. He saw inside his meridians the red snake that had mysteriously returned to its initial state during the dream he had in the first Music Art class. It seemed largely unchanged, lacking the ferocity it showed after drinking the lotus seed porridge given by Qing Jun the previous day, but... there were some unusual signs in its body.

On the small red snake’s body, inexplicably, some golden spots appeared. This "golden color" showed some signs of spreading, and even beside its mouth, golden stripes began to emerge, seemingly about to detach from the body and transform into some kind of filament-like object.

Gui spoke solemnly, "These are signs of dragon scales and whiskers about to appear. All this happened after you drank those two cups of tea. I have witnessed this scene with my own eyes."

Zhao Rong frowned and thought for a moment before he couldn’t help saying,

"Why me? I am not the only one who has drunk the water from Zhengguan Well. All the teachers in the Academy, um, and those several Reading Seeds, should have tried it too. If such strangeness occurred to everyone who drank the well water, I guess this matter would have quietly spread by now, and the well water would become highly sought after. But as far as the current situation goes, it seems that nothing similar has happened or been leaked, Yushu, Teng Ying, and Zhu Yourong all just said that this well water is suitable for making tea and nothing more."

Above his Heart Lake, he paused, "Or could it be that the teachers and Reading Seeds who have drunk the well water all know something but have tacitly kept it a secret?"

Zhao Rong pondered for a while, shaking his head, "It’s unlikely... Why me?"

Upon hearing this, Gui pondered for a moment, "As for the specifics, I do not know either and cannot explain it to you."

"I’m too weak right now. I didn’t sense the Dragon Energy from this well water; even now, this Zhengguan Well water doesn’t seem to have anything strange. I’m just observing the anomaly in your body, combined with some memories of secret tales from the past, to speculate. It must be Dragon Energy, no doubt. But there’s still one possible explanation..."

Zhao Rong bowed his head, staring at the moss-covered walls of the deep ancient well, frowning, "What explanation."

After thinking, Gui slowly said,

"Pure-blooded Dragon Descendants are almost innately Seventh Realm beings. Later-born aquatic descendants that transform into dragons mostly also travel through rivers to enter seas and reach the Seventh Realm in order to shed their mortal coil. However, now at the Great River Estuary, almost all are deterred by the presence of the Dragon-Slaying Swords, and that path for all aquatic descendants under heaven is nearly extinct... Regardless of how one becomes a Seventh Realm True Dragon, their Dragon Energy is almost impossible to absorb, even more so for the Human Clan."

It sounded unsure, "But now, the situation is that your Innate Primordial Qi can actually absorb Dragon Energy, showing signs of dragon transformation, yet your flesh and body have not absorbed the Dragon Energy and mutated... That can only mean, the Dragon Energy is naturally close to you, there must be some obscure connection."

Hearing this, Zhao Rong’s frown deepened.

He rubbed his face, sarcasm in his voice, "Turns out I really am a child of destiny."

Gui agreed, "Indeed, who doesn’t know that? Zhao Gongzi, why don’t you jump into the well now and see if there’s a True Dragon ancestor hidden inside, perhaps suppressed or sealed. If you release it, maybe your fortune would be even greater, and who knows, it might even be female, in which case Zhao Gongzi might be overjoyed."

Zhao Rong: "..."

After laughing for a while, Gui thought more carefully and then cautioned,

"Cultivators climbing mountains often encounter phenomena that are hard to explain. Cultivation is mysterious within the mysterious, like a gateway to all wonders, how can you scrutinize everything clearly? Even the Great Emperors of old faced insoluble mysteries... So don’t fret over it too much now, but Zhao Rong, you should still be cautious in your heart. Blessings and misfortunes are interconnected, being favored by this unknown Dragon Energy seems like a great boon, a tremendously good fortune, but it’s also undetermined whether it conceals any hidden dangers and disasters."

Zhao Rong nodded, looking at the face reflected in the deep well water, and behind his reflected head, the solemn dragon carved on top of the well, and nodded once more, "Understood."

Then, the Sword Spirit said with a light laugh, "Speaking of the present, this red snake transforming into a dragon, no matter where it happens, is a huge opportunity, symbolizing a transcendence from the mundane to the holy, a complete transformation. Its meaning is tremendous. Although perhaps it’s still not as outrageous as your wife whose Heart Lake harbors a Lotus Pond, nurturing two Class A Flying Swords, and even with half shattered, they are still of the top quality Sword Immortal Seeds, it’s definitely not small either."

Zhao Rong rubbed his face again.

"Enough, enough, I’ve finally hit the jackpot again. I thought that the Thunder and Rainbow Purple Gold Furnace and the now-gone Li Ji Sword Pill had totally exhausted my luck, and on top of that your bad omen... but I didn’t expect to stumble upon this peculiar well. Seems like I’ve accrued some verbal karma by not arguing with you lately, which is beneficial after all."

Gui: "..."

After thinking, the Sword Spirit decided not to bicker. It wanted to accrue some verbal karma too and see if it could exchange that for Heavenly Thunder to strike Zhao Rong dead.

Above the Heart Lake, it became quiet for a while.

Gui suddenly spoke with a hint of excitement,

"This Red Snake transforming into a dragon holds many wonders. I vaguely remember an ancient Cultivation Technique that seems to resonate with it. The meridians... transforming into a dragon... traverse rivers, let me sleep for a while and think about it. Zhao Rong, whether you can break through the blockages in your veins and the limitations of your innate talent to advance to the Vast Realm might depend on it. Now go and fetch more well water, whether it’s for brewing tea or whatever else, drink it all, the two cups you had before are nowhere near enough!"

At first, Zhao Rong was also somewhat excited, but then seemingly thought of something and said helplessly, "Enough, enough, I got it. You’re just drawing me a big pie, when have you ever really been a big help? Every time it’s still me working hard... I’ll figure out what to do with this well water, but this well..."

Zhao Rong looked up, glancing around. At that moment, the valley below was silent and deserted with no one else around, it seemed that if he jumped into the well now, nobody would know.

But Zhao Rong felt that he wasn’t foolish, and neither was the Academy. They explicitly decreed that apart from the most senior Mountain Master in the first division, students, scholars, even esteemed and respected old teachers, were not allowed to use the Zhengguan Well water at will, but still, the Academy left the well so carelessly unattended, which meant there must be a reason. Only a fool would go down to fetch water without thinking...

Zhao Rong sighed softly, reluctantly looking down at the sparkling water that filled the well, then touched the small bamboo tube in his sleeve.

He fell silent for a moment, then turned and walked away...