36 Road Protectors Arrive

Chapter 38: The Road Protector Arrives

Hearing Lupe's final demand, Yuan Chen didn't speak immediately. After a moment of silence, he nodded.

"Aren't you worried I'll drag your family back into the abyss?"

"I am worried, but I'm old... I trust my intuition," Lupe said calmly.

"Besides, you are Milio's teacher. With that identity, no matter what, outsiders will see my family as representing a part of your will. It's better to be more straightforward."

"Because of your Prophet status?"

"No, because you're a half-baked Prophet... well, that's what you call yourself."

Lupe chuckled, "I've read the notes on Prophets. It's a realm beyond our comprehension.

One moment you might save someone, the next you have to kill them. In one book, the author said:

In the endless future, knowledge is like a curse."

"And you say you're a half-baked Prophet... that truly put my mind at ease. At least you're understandable to ordinary people, not cursed by knowledge and the future."

Hearing Lupe's words, Yuan Chen nodded and said, "Then it's a deal. Because you spoke so well, eating this should give you a bit more time to live."

As he spoke, Yuan Chen took out a Dragon Blood Secret Medicine Pill and tossed it to Lupe.

Catching the pill nimbly, Lupe looked at the dark, slightly bitter and bloody ball in her hand. After a simple perception with her magic, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.

Being well-traveled, Lupe could sense the solid ingredients in this pill.

If nothing else, the unique, powerful magic from the Dragon Flesh and Blood alone was something ordinary materials couldn't possess.

Now, after being refined with a large number of ingredients, the already extraordinary pill possessed even deeper energy.

"This is..." Lupe looked at Yuan Chen with a questioning gaze.

"Dragon Blood Secret Medicine," Yuan Chen explained casually.

"Dragon Flesh and Blood, Essence Spirit, unique plants from the Miasma Jungle, poisonous substances, medicinal herbs, and your grandson Milio's Healing Fire, all blended together and coordinated using Ionian methods to form this pill."

"Consider yourself lucky. This thing is priceless outside, with a secret recipe. It can quickly replenish qi, blood, and vitality..."

He paused, then shrugged nonchalantly, "However, you've lost too much vitality. A full recovery is unlikely... at least, I can't do it. But it should extend your lifespan by more than a year."

Hearing this, excitement flashed in Lupe's eyes--

A year was enough time for Lupe to return to Yishuaoken, settle affairs with her family, the old Nobles, and Elemental Master Yuentar, and witness Milio's rise firsthand!

"What if you took it continuously..."

"Don't overthink it. This thing is a healing potion, not a longevity tonic. You can't achieve immortality with it."

Hearing Yuan Chen's words, a flicker of disappointment crossed Lupe's eyes, but she quickly rallied—

Being able to live another year was already enough for her.

Seeing the excitement in Lupe's eyes, Yuan Chen teased:

"What? Having second thoughts? Wish you'd asked for more when you made your request?"

"Not at all, I'm just more grateful," Lupe said relaxedly.

"Friendships without vested interests are often more stable. Help in times of need is far more precious than adding flowers to brocade. Transactions will eventually end, but friendship won't."

Lupe saw things very clearly.

Compared to transactions, the master-disciple bond between Milio and Yuan Chen was the most precious connection.

After all, when her sister rebelled, none of her former Noble "friends" offered any help. They even severed ties, fearing they'd be dragged into the vortex of rebellion by association.

Interests could indeed connect families, but they couldn't bridge the gap between people.

Yuan Chen merely chuckled twice at this, not engaging in a deep discussion with Lupe, who had become a political creature, a former Elemental Master. He simply nodded and turned to leave.

It wasn't out of dislike or hatred. It was purely a desire to avoid adding bothersome interest-based relationships to their interactions.

Returning to the Village Entrance plaza, Yuan Chen was busy until late into the night.

Milio was also not idle. His Healing Fire could more gently fuse the potion's properties with the Dragon Blood's characteristics, and to a certain extent, directly enhance the potion's efficacy, making the effects after consumption more pronounced.

By the next morning, just as dawn was breaking, these dozen cauldrons of Dragon Blood were finally purified.

Truly pure, natural, and pollution-free—

No preservatives were needed. The Dragon Blood and the materials within possessed inherent preservative properties from their magic. At least, until the magic dissipated, there would be no worries about spoilage.

"How's the purification coming along?"

Mordas yawned as he walked from the Hunter's Camp to the village plaza.

Despite the Dragon Blood Enhancement, Mordas's face clearly showed fatigue.

To gather the materials needed for purifying the Dragon Blood, Mordas and the other still-able Fleshfang Hunters, along with the village's own hunters, had been foraging in the wilderness almost non-stop.

While Mordas, due to the Dragon Blood Enhancement and his Natural Dragon Might, was avoided by ordinary Beasts, ordinary people and Fleshfang Hunters had to make thorough preparations—

Dragon Blood was unlikely, as the blood of superior beings like dragons might instead attract troublesome beasts.

"About right," Yuan Chen nodded, pointing to a jar beside him.

"Eighteen pots of Dragon Blood, yielding three and a half jars of Pure Dragon Blood. Used reasonably, each jar should be able to create about three warriors with Dragon Blood Enhancement."

Hearing Yuan Chen's words, Mordas also nodded. "As agreed, I'll take one jar first."

"Take it. It's one jar each."

Yuan Chen nodded indifferently.

Three jars of Pure Dragon Blood: one for him, one for the Meat-toothed Beast, one for Lupe's family collectively, and half a jar for the villagers collectively.

No one found this amiss, as the Dragon Hunt plan was entirely led by Yuan Chen, and the Meat-toothed Beast provided the crucial finely crafted Ballista and Hunting Poison (Azure Starfire).

Lupe herself personally oversaw the engraving of the Gravity Spell, the enchantment of weapons, and protected countless people during the battle...

In contrast, while the villagers participated, their involvement was mostly in miscellaneous tasks like setting up traps. If any credit was to be given, it would be to the Blacksmiths.

During the battle, without the Ballista, victory would not have been easy...

In truth, every participant was important, but the distribution of such resources had been decided long before the operation, based on individual contributions.

For ordinary villagers, rather than getting less than a few drops of Pure Dragon Blood each, it was more comfortable to become a glorious citizen of the Prefecture.

Of course, even a few drops would be enough.

This specially refined Dragon Blood was a top-tier magical material. Whether used for enchanting, forging, or quenching weapons, it could greatly improve the quality of the finished product.

Upon reaching the Prefecture, it could be exchanged for wealth to settle their households and stabilize their lives.

"Then what about those?"

Mordas's gaze shifted to the two large pots still burning—

Unlike the previous refinement of other Dragon Blood, these pots were not heated by Element Apprentices using their breath. Instead, they were heated with firewood, with spices like chili, star anise, cumin, and fennel floating on top, acting as both medicine and ingredients.

"These two pots were heated by Element Apprentices who got distracted, and the refinement failed. The medicinal properties didn't fuse together."

Yuan Chen shrugged. "Otherwise, we should have gotten four jars of Pure Dragon Blood."

"Since it's unusable anyway, I added some more ingredients and made it into Blood Tofu."

Blood Tofu, also known as Blood Curd, is a food made by heating animal blood with salt until it solidifies. Common Blood Tofu is made from duck blood, chicken blood, or pig blood.

In Yuan Chen's previous life, the Bashu region was extremely fond of Blood Tofu, known for its fresh, fragrant, spicy, and numbing flavors. Coincidentally, Ixialia's tropical rainforest climate was somewhat similar to Bashu, and chili peppers were good for dispelling dampness, so Yuan Chen decided to improvise.

Although eating spicy food first thing in the morning wasn't great for the stomach and backside, considering the powerful physical capabilities of the hunters and warriors, their digestion should be fine.

The climate was tropical rainforest. Ixialia did not have the habit of eating rice or flour; their staple foods were mainly fruits, dried meat, fish, and lettuce. Toast bread was only introduced by Noxus during their external explorations.

However, the rations carried by the Fleshfang Hunters contained some wheat flour, which greatly delighted Yuan Chen.

He mixed it evenly with Water Element, then performed a set of military exercises on the dough. Before long, Yuan Chen had a bowl of noodles for his breakfast.

Yuan Chen was very satisfied with the spicy, fresh, and fragrant Blood Curd Noodles. Although the Dragon Blood, a top-tier magical material, failed to be purified, it was still an excellent supplement after some adjustments.

Just as bards on the Valoran Continent would sing of men bathing in Dragon Blood becoming invulnerable to blades and spears, invincible in battle, when it came to women, bards would say bathing in Dragon Blood granted eternal youth and prevented aging.

Yuan Chen ate with satisfaction, while the Fleshfang Hunters beside him found it somewhat difficult.

It wasn't that the taste was bad, but their tongues were more sensitive than humans', and everyone knew how hot freshly made Blood Curd Noodles were.

After breakfast, everyone began to pack up for a while. As noon approached, Audan arrived at the village with the Road Protectors.

Walking through the overgrown woodland, the Road Protectors, clad in silk cloaks, walked beside Audan.

As mentioned before, thanks to powerful Elemental Magic and the tall, majestic mountains, Ixialia's Miasma Jungle did not have conventional armies.

The Road Protectors shouldered some of the army's functions. They patrolled endlessly along the routes between the great towers, maintaining the roads so they wouldn't be overgrown by vegetation. They also delivered the Yuan Chu Axiom from the front lines of Yishuaoken to every Axiom Great Tower and conveyed the royal decrees from King Yuenale, earning them respect.

Even so, very few Road Protectors came to this village.

This was because the Road Protectors knew that the exiles here were political prisoners with a history of rebellion.

Although the elemental scholars of Yuentar argued with King Yuenale that a noble Elemental Master should not be executed due to guilt by association, paying for others' foolishness.

But the final result was that the Lupe Family was exiled to the remote borderlands, which were considered remote even within the sparsely populated Ixialia.

After the Lupe Family and others were exiled here, the Road Protectors came even less frequently.

And now, after Audan went to the prefecture to submit an application, it wasn't long before the leader of the prefecture—

A noble Yuenale immediately dispatched Road Protectors to accompany Audan back to the village to verify the truth of the matter.

As a Road Protector tasked with verifying the truth of Audan's report, Kacang was one of the few who knew the content of the message the village Audan was in had reported—to be honest, Kacang didn't believe it.

He glanced at Audan behind him from the corner of his eye, looking at the dark-skinned youth's astonishment upon seeing his elemental skills. Kacang increasingly felt that his trip might be in vain.

It wasn't that Kacang shouldn't have thought this way. After all, it was an Elemental Drake! Even with the word "Drake" in its name, in the common understanding of the mortal world, it was an invincible Dragon capable of easily destroying cities and fortresses!

Such a terrifying creature, when enraged, was something no mere village could withstand...

In fact, even a city would have to pay a great price.

And according to Audan, they, a group of outsiders from another world, had actually killed a Dragon together and planned to present it as a congratulatory gift to King Yuenale at the Elemental Festival...

This sounded too unreliable—

It was like someone telling you Hawking faked out James Curry Harden with a crossover and a spin move, then dunked on O'Neal, but just as the ball went through the hoop, Kobe won his comeback match, resurrected through Edo Tensei, and stole it.

I actually kind of want to see that.

In fact, halfway there, Kacang had already prepared to return the same day they arrived.

"We're almost there! I can see the village already!" Audan said excitedly.

He knew the villagers were all waiting for him. Once everything was confirmed, they could all head to the prefecture together, live, and study in a more comfortable environment.

Walking along the road, Kacang looked closely. Aside from the empty Meat-toothed Beast tents, what caught his eye was a wall covered in white Square Characters: "How bold are people, how miserable are sub-dragons."

Seeing these words, Kacang felt they had prepared them in advance just to fool him.

By noon, as they got closer, Kacang and Audan could smell the aroma wafting from the village.

Every household was preparing food. And it was real feasting, with plenty of meat and alcohol, because everyone knew they were about to leave this poor, remote place.

They would take everything they could carry, and anything they couldn't would naturally be dealt with on the spot, so as not to benefit any wild animals that might enter the village later.

"I'm back!" Audan burst into the village excitedly, waving to everyone.

"The Road Protector is here too! Once the Road Protector confirms, we can set off!"

The villagers let out a cheer. Kacang, meanwhile, stared in disbelief at what was being stewed in the large pot.