Chapter 37: The Miraculous Nine-Hearted Begonia

Hearing her name called out suddenly, Dugu Yan finally could no longer pretend to be an ostrich. Blushing, she poked her head out from Chen Ming's embrace. Upon discovering that the person before her was Ye Lingling, who shared her dormitory, she felt a wave of embarrassment, yet she breathed a sigh of relief.

Although she had not known Ye Lingling for long, Dugu Yan held her in high regard. Ye Lingling was introverted but gentle, possessing her own unique insights into the arts of medicine, toxins, and disease. Despite being younger than Dugu Yan, she possessed a benevolence rarely found even in eighty-year-old healing Soul Masters, proving herself fully worthy of the reputation the Nine-Heart Begonia had maintained for thousands of years.

Dugu Yan did not respect many people at the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, but Ye Lingling was undoubtedly among them. Though it had never been explicitly stated, Dugu Yan felt that Ye Lingling regarded her as a friend as well.

As expected, Dugu Yan’s assessment of Ye Lingling was correct. While Ye Lingling was immensely curious as to why Dugu Yan—who usually showed no interest in any man—would be lying in the arms of a male companion like a young woman, her clothes appearing somewhat disheveled, she was far more concerned with the injury than with gossip.

She carefully guided Chen Ming to lay Dugu Yan on the ground, then grasped Dugu Yan’s wrist, cautiously probing the injuries within her body with her soul power.

Although Ye Lingling’s soul power and spiritual strength were merely at the respectable level of a Great Soul Master, unable to perceive the state of Dugu Yan’s body as easily as a high-level Soul Master might, she relied on the expertise of the Nine-Heart Begonia lineage and the spirit’s keen sensitivity to life force. Within moments, she had identified the issue.

Discovering that Dugu Yan had only suffered minor damage to her meridians and internal organs—with no threat to her life and no impact on her future cultivation or daily activities—Ye Lingling breathed a sigh of relief. She summoned her Nine-Heart Begonia spirit, and two yellow soul rings shimmered around her.

The Nine-Heart Begonia was a unique spirit. Regardless of the soul power level, the number of soul rings, or the age of those rings, the spirit possessed only one healing skill. The soul power level merely determined the intensity and range of the healing. Like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, the soul rings only affected the consumption of soul power. A nine-thousand-nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine-year soul ring provided the same healing power as a ten-year soul ring; the latter simply consumed ten times more energy than the former.

As for what a hundred-thousand-year soul ring might do to a Nine-Heart Begonia, no one knew. After all, no Soul Master with this spirit had ever absorbed a hundred-thousand-year ring. Thus, no one could be sure whether it would grant an additional skill or simply amplify the existing healing capabilities.

Ye Lingling channeled her soul power and released her healing skill twice. As the first wave of healing touched Dugu Yan, her complexion instantly returned to normal, and the minor abrasions on her body vanished completely. Although the second healing brought no visible change, once the radiance faded, Dugu Yan sat up abruptly and covered her face with her hands.

Under normal circumstances, Chen Ming should have paid attention to Dugu Yan’s emotional state. In reality, however, his focus was entirely captivated by Ye Lingling—or more accurately, by the Nine-Heart Begonia spirit in her hands.

While Chen Ming’s "cheat" was often mysterious and inconsistent due to its complex nature involving spirit and essence, he could clearly feel a unique sensation within Ye Lingling’s soul power as she cast her skill.

How to put it? It wasn’t a matter of strength, but rather that in a fleeting moment of perception, Chen Ming felt as though Ye Lingling’s soul power possessed a special "authority." This authority felt higher than anything he had sensed before, even surpassing the laws contained within the soul rings he had encountered during his own absorptions.

It was a difference in priority—much like a "priority +1" move in a Pokémon battle. This effect transcended any stat; it was a noble mechanism that could not be achieved through simple accumulation. Although he had never seen the gods or similar entities of this world, Chen Ming instinctively felt that Ye Lingling’s spirit was connected to the divine or the God Realm itself.

Feeling Chen Ming’s burning gaze, Ye Lingling’s body stiffened slightly. Only when she turned to see that his gaze was fixed on her spirit rather than herself did she relax.

"He must be shocked by the power of the Nine-Heart Begonia," she thought to herself. As a successor to the Nine-Heart Begonia, she was accustomed to others being stunned by its efficacy, never guessing that in those brief moments, Chen Ming had sensed a secret that the Nine-Heart Begonia lineage itself did not know—or perhaps dared not confirm.

At this moment, Dugu Yan, still covering her face, became somewhat displeased.

Though she was conflicted and kept her face hidden, Dugu Yan had been monitoring Chen Ming’s movements. When she realized he had spent a long time without coming over to speak to her, she parted her fingers slightly. Seeing Chen Ming’s gaze fixed "affectionately" on Ye Lingling, Dugu Yan felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of grievance and began to sob behind her hands.

Hearing the sobbing, Chen Ming finally realized what was truly important. He crouched down beside her and tapped her shoulder.

"Miss Dugu? Miss Dugu Yan?"

"Call me Dugu Yan!" Dugu Yan gave him a light nudge with her elbow, answering from behind her hands.

"Yan—no, Dugu..." Chen Ming slipped up. He started to correct himself, but after another light nudge from Dugu Yan, he chose to selectively ignore the minor issue.

"How are you feeling now? Are you still in pain? A mishap during cultivation is no small matter; if the meridians are damaged, it’s difficult to resolve. Give me your hand, let me check your condition."

Without waiting for her reply, Chen Ming pulled her hand away from her face and probed her condition with his soul power.

The damage to her meridians was completely repaired, her internal organs showed no signs of injury, and even the turbulence in her Dantian caused by the agitation of her soul power had been fully settled. The effect of the Nine-Heart Begonia was beyond his imagination—it was truly worthy of its legendary reputation for bringing the dead back to life and regrowing flesh and bone.