Chapter 366 — A Unique Skill

Every day I feed Long Qilin half a peck of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills. " "Half a peck of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills? " Lord Dragon-Keeper laughed softly. "It seems your alchemy is truly extraordinary, to refine so many spirit pills every day.

How could a little bean-sprout of a juvenile like this eat half a peck a day?

A single bowl of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills is all he needs. " Shen Mu's face went black at once.

Lord Dragon-Keeper said, "But he has not wasted all those pills he ate; they have become dragon essence and qilin essence stored within his body.

He need only rouse that energy and he can refine the Mystic Water Dragon Pearl and Qilin Fire, most remarkable. Only then will he be counted as just come of age. I see that though you understand alchemy, you do not understand dragon-raising.

Would you be willing to enter my gate?

" "Your disciple is willing! " Long Jiaonan flew into a rage: this black-hearted, black-skinned fellow, climbing the pole the moment he struck a snake, was about to clamber up above her and become her elder in the sect! "I said you may enter my gate, but not that I would take you as a disciple; I mean for you to be a little page boy. " Lord Dragon-Keeper smiled. "Do not be in such a hurry to bow as my disciple; I take no disciples. So long as you serve my dragons well, taking you as a disciple in the future is not impossible.

For now, refine a furnace of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills and let me see.

" Shen Mu's vital essence burst forth at once; he took out some medicinal ingredients from his Taotie Pouch and refined pills in midair. Even as Lord Dragon-Keeper was speaking, he had already finished a furnace of Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills.

Astonishment showed on Lord Dragon-Keeper's face, then great delight; he laughed aloud. "With this little page boy in hand, I shall be spared a great deal of petty trouble.

From now on you will do the alchemy, and I may take my ease! " He lifted a leg and kicked Long Qilin. "Little thing, I will pass on to you the method for cultivating the Mystic Water Dragon Pearl and Qilin Fire; you may help tend the fire for the alchemy.

" Long Qilin could finally stand, and his heart was full of shock and joy. Shen Mu too was set at ease.

"Deaf Grandpa always said that of all trades the lowest are the rest and only reading is high; that Grandpa Alchemist's medical skill was useless, that he killed his patients and lost his family's fortune in compensation, while reading and painting can keep a man alive anywhere. Yet in the end Deaf Grandpa sold paintings and nearly starved to death in the street, while Grandpa Alchemist's medicine was welcome wherever he went. .

. " "Little girl, come here.

" Long Jiaonan came forward with her head lowered.

Lord Dragon-Keeper looked her up and down and shook his head. "You know a little of the art of raising dragons as well, so you will be his attendant and help me raise dragons. Remember this well: do not always be slandering him, or I will not let you off! " Long Jiaonan burned with rage within, yet she had no choice but to nod and say yes. Shen Mu was greatly pleased.

"What has the Dragon Lord come to the Jin River to do?

" "To seek the principal dragon vein of Jingping Kingdom. " One of the earrings on Lord Dragon-Keeper's ear swayed, then swam down from his ear and became a yellow flood dragon; its body grew longer and longer, larger and larger, its aura more and more dreadful, and it swam straight into the river. The Jin River ran swift and urgent; the moment the flood dragon entered the water it began to stir up wind and waves.

At once the waters rose into the air, the flood suspended aloft, becoming a long river in the sky.

"Here is where the Jin River's dragon belly lies; the dragon claw is nearby.

" Lord Dragon-Keeper looked toward the riverbed, disappointment on his face, and shook his head.

"This is not the principal dragon vein. " Shen Mu looked toward the riverbed as well and started slightly: the riverbed had been scoured into sheet after sheet of scale-shaped stones, and from the lay of these stones one could faintly make out the shape of a dragon's claw! "A river has river qi; river qi gathers and becomes a dragon vein, and that dragon vein is water.

Mountain qi gathers and becomes a dragon vein, and that dragon vein is earth. Fire qi and magma gather and become a dragon vein, and that dragon vein is fire.

These three kinds of dragon vein are the ones everyone knows.

But there is a fourth kind: wind. The long wind howls ten thousand li, carving dragon traces across the mountains and the earth; this dragon vein is wind.

" Lord Dragon-Keeper raised his head and gazed upward, murmuring, "The wind vein and the mountain vein I have already seen; the Tu River and the Jin River I have seen as well. Further on, I must look at the three fire dragon veins below. Jingping Kingdom has so many dragon veins, I fear a great dragon is about to be born.

Take away the principal dragon vein, and the host of dragons will have no leader. Heh heh, the world will fall into chaos. . . "