Zhu Kong shook his head repeatedly, stunned beyond words: "Unbelievable, truly unbelievable. How can there be so many Dragon Blood Blossoms on the island, and... all of such high quality?"
In truth, when Yang Kai had made his bold proclamation half a year ago about compensating for the Dragon Blood Blossoms he had plundered back then, nobody among the Dragon Clan truly believed he could do it. They had set only a modest expectation: just return the Dragon Blood Blossoms he still had on hand, and that would more or less settle the matter.
After all, who could expect someone to spit back out what they had already swallowed?
So before coming here, several of the Dragon Clan Elders had already prepared themselves mentally, roughly estimating what Dragon Blood Island might look like now. At best, a few hundred Inferior-grade Dragon Blood Blossoms.
But what they saw before their eyes far exceeded a few hundred Inferior-grade ones. The Middle-grade Dragon Blood Blossoms alone outnumbered that figure.
Yang Kai had not only returned every single Dragon Blood Blossom he had plundered back then, but had repaid the debt several times over — even tenfold or more!
Where had he gotten so many Dragon Blood Blossoms?
Fu Xuan gazed at Yang Kai and asked: "Exactly how many Dragon Blood Blossoms are on the island?"
Yang Kai smiled faintly and replied with a calm air: "Two hundred Superior-grade, five hundred Middle-grade, one thousand Inferior-grade, and as for the unclassed ones... roughly two thousand!"
Although everyone had formed a vague estimate while surveying Dragon Blood Island moments ago, hearing Yang Kai rattle off those numbers still made them jump.
Two hundred Superior-grade?
Five hundred Middle-grade?
Had they heard correctly? If Yang Kai had said this upon first arriving at Dragon Blood Island, the Dragon Clan Elders would never have believed him. After all, back in the day, the entire island had held fewer than thirty Superior-grade Dragon Blood Blossoms — the gap between that and two hundred was staggering. The Middle-grade ones had numbered only around two hundred as well, whereas now there were over five hundred.
And then there were the thousand Inferior-grade blossoms and the two thousand unclassed ones...
Those terrifying figures alone represented more than a fourfold increase over the original numbers.
Yet having seen it all with their own eyes, everyone felt that these figures were... probably not far off. Yang Kai wouldn't have exaggerated about something like this — after all, the Dragon Clan could conduct a thorough count at any time. If the actual numbers diverged from what he claimed, his reputation would suffer greatly.
In other words, all those high-quality Dragon Blood Blossoms genuinely existed.
If what he saw before his eyes hadn't looked completely real, Zhu Yan might have suspected that Yang Kai had spent the past half year setting up some staggering illusion array to trick them all.
But... half a year. Only half a year. How could such a thing have happened?
Four pairs of eyes stared at Yang Kai as though they had seen a ghost in broad daylight. Only Zhu Qing wore an expression of calm composure — she had known the outcome all along. Over these past six months, she had watched the island's transformation unfold day by day.
Under everyone's scrutiny, Yang Kai let out a wistful sigh: "What a pity I couldn't cultivate any Supreme-grade Dragon Blood Blossoms. That's truly a regret."
Mu Zhu and Mu Na were certainly capable of producing Supreme-grade blossoms, but it would have taken another ten or twenty years. Yang Kai simply didn't have that kind of time to spare. Even the Superior-grade ones had been painstakingly nurtured one by one by the two Wood Spirits at no expense to effort or energy, using the existing Middle-grade Dragon Blood Blossoms as a base.
For this endeavor, Yang Kai had released at least a full vat's worth of his Golden Blood. Fortunately, his recuperative ability was strong and the process had been spread out over half a year — otherwise, a genuine regression of his bloodline might have occurred.
"Supreme-grade Dragon Blood Blossoms are exceedingly rare. It's perfectly normal that you couldn't cultivate any." Zhu Kong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. If Yang Kai had actually managed to produce Supreme-grade blossoms, that truly would have been beyond belief.
That's exactly what I was waiting to hear! Yang Kai was delighted inwardly. He ignored the others and fixed his gaze solely on Fu Zhun: "What does the Second Elder think? Has everything I've done here compensated for Dragon Island's losses from all those years?"
His expression was arrogant and triumphant, his eyes fierce, with the unmistakable look of someone daring Fu Zhun to utter a single word of dishonesty — at which point he would gladly throw down.
Fu Zhun said nothing, mainly because he genuinely couldn't bring himself to speak anything but the truth.
"It is more than sufficient to compensate for the loss of the Dragon Blood Blossoms all those years!" Zhu Yan nodded gently. Though two Supreme-grade blossoms were missing, the Superior-grade, Middle-grade, Inferior-grade, and even unclassed Dragon Blood Blossoms now on Dragon Blood Island far surpassed anything from the past. If this still didn't count as adequate compensation, it would be absurd. One could even say that not only had the debt been repaid, but the Dragon Clan had profited enormously.
"Hahahaha!" Yang Kai burst into hearty laughter. Half a year of grueling effort had finally paid off. With the Grand Elder's words, the matter was essentially settled — Fu Zhun's silence carried no further weight. Overcome with emotion, he even pulled Zhu Qing into an embrace right in front of everyone and planted a kiss on her cheek, leaving Zhu Qing's face flushed crimson all the way down to her neck.
Zhu Yan stared at the spectacle, dumbfounded, then cleared his throat awkwardly: "Boy, how exactly did you manage all this? Did you already have this many Dragon Blood Blossoms on hand?"
Yang Kai eyed him warily: "The Grand Elder needn't concern himself with how I did it. What I'm about to say might sound disrespectful to an elder, but I'd advise the Grand Elder to abandon whatever thought is forming in his mind. I paid an enormous price to cultivate these Dragon Blood Blossoms, and this result cannot be replicated. From now on, the Dragon Blood Blossoms are your own concern — I will not be cultivating any more of them for Dragon Island."
"Just asking, merely asking." Zhu Yan looked thoroughly embarrassed. He had hoped to get to the bottom of things, since if the Dragon Clan could master such an miraculous technique, they would never need to worry about Dragon Blood Blossoms again, and their clansmen could enjoy an abundant supply to refine and enhance their bloodlines. But Yang Kai had seen right through his intentions and shut the door before he could even walk through it.
Yang Kai said with an air of nonchalance: "Now that Dragon Blood Island has Purple Soul Grass, the Dragon Blood Blossoms will only grow better in the future. The Dragon Clan has been cultivating Dragon Blood Blossoms for years — you hardly need me to tell you how it's done. Right, let this matter rest here." With that, he raised his chin slightly, pointed it directly at Fu Zhun, and enunciated each word with deliberate weight: "I. Want. To. Enter. The. Dragon. Temple."