Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Xu Lingguang refined four Spirit Nourishing Pills. It seemed simple, but in reality, it took him six hours, from afternoon to late at night.

For six hours, he had to maintain a high level of concentration while also drawing upon his meager spiritual energy until he had exhausted every last drop of spiritual energy before he could barely succeed in refining it.

After the initial excitement of successfully refining the elixir, a profound sense of exhaustion overwhelmed him. Xu Ling was dizzy and his vision blurred. He didn't even bother to take a bath by the stream. He simply cast a cleansing spell and collapsed onto the bed, sleeping soundly until noon the next day before the exhaustion that had seeped into his bones finally dissipated.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, and Xu Lingguang groggily opened his eyes, still somewhat dazed. He felt heavy and had some difficulty breathing.

He was still somewhat groggy, wondering if he had ruined himself by refining pills too harshly, when he felt a furry head approach him, followed by Yu Rong's voice: "You're awake?"

Xu Lingguang's eyelashes trembled, and he became a little more awake, only to find four little ones squatting in a row on the blanket.

Zhao Ling and Mu Yun were small and not heavy, but Yu Rong and Yun Feng were quite heavy. No wonder he felt heavy and had difficulty breathing. Anyone would have difficulty breathing if they had two heavy balls of fur on their chest.

He lifted Yunfeng and Yurong to the side, one in each hand, and his breathing finally became easier.

"Why aren't you going out to play?" Xu Lingguang asked casually.

When he woke up earlier, the cubs had already gone off to play by themselves.

Yun Feng said, "It's already noon!"

Yu Rong said, "I thought you were sick."

Zhaoling chirped in agreement.

Mu Yun seemed very experienced, grumbling, "I told you he was just sleeping, but none of you believed me."

Xu Lingguang understood; she was worried about him.

A warm feeling welled up in his heart, and he patted each of the cubs on the head: "They were just tired from refining pills yesterday."

Xu Lingguang glanced at the sun's position outside the window and saw that it had already begun to tilt westward. He estimated that it was past noon, so he quickly got up.

—He and Lan Jian had arranged to go to the Huangzu area today.

Xu Lingguang washed up first, then quickly prepared lunch. After eating with the children, he headed to the clan's territory.

The cubs had already taught him how to find his way, but Xu Lingguang was certain that going to Chenghuang's territory had nothing to do with finding his way. The most important thing was to get Chenghuang's permission, so he could go whichever way he wanted, and he would get there eventually.

This time, none of the kids came along. Yu Rong was probably still holding a grudge against Lan Jian for making him lose weight, and Mu Yun was too timid to come. Since the two of them weren't coming, Yun Feng and Zhao Ling naturally didn't want to come either, so Xu Ling Guang ended up coming to see Lan Jian alone.

He took a deep breath and encouraged himself.

After several encounters, he discovered that Lan Jian actually had a pretty good temper, but he was a bit quiet, his voice was a bit cold, and his physique was very imposing, which gave people the illusion that he was aloof and unapproachable.

Xu Lingguang mentally prepared himself before stepping into the cave.

When he came the day before yesterday, he only stayed outside, but today he wanted to go deeper. The further he went in, the more Xu Lingguang realized that this was not a cave at all, but an underground palace.

The entire palace should be nestled among the majestic mountains you see upon entering. After entering through the cave outside, there is a long corridor paved with an unknown white stone. To the left is flowing water, and to the right is a giant tree with a canopy that blocks out the sky.

The giant tree wasn't close to Xu Lingguang, but because it was so enormous, it was still clearly visible even from that distance. Xu Lingguang estimated that the trunk was at least ten meters tall, with countless branches extending outwards from the thick trunk like a giant umbrella, the very top branches even reaching into the clouds.

Xu Lingguang had never seen such a large tree before; it looked even taller and more sacred than the World Tree he had seen in movies before.

He stood there for a long time before continuing to walk forward.

The stone path connects two caves, and at the end of the path is another smaller hall, which is exquisitely and luxuriously furnished, clearly a place for entertaining guests.

Xu Lingguang didn't go any further. He found a place to sit down properly in the hall and waited for Lan Jian to come over.

A moment later, Lan Jian emerged.

Xu Lingguang stood up somewhat awkwardly and greeted, "Clan Chief Lan."

"Come with me." Lan Jian nodded to him and then turned to walk deeper into the area.

Xu Lingguang followed behind him somewhat nervously, her eyes constantly scanning the surroundings.

Lan Jian led him to a more spacious room. The room was not furnished, but everything was exquisite, and even Xu Lingguang could tell that it was very valuable.

Logically, this room, located deep in the mountains, should have been somewhat dark. However, countless light-transmitting holes were carved into the ceiling, allowing sunlight to stream in and cast circular patches of light on the floor. Xu Lingguang felt that the patterns formed by those light patches looked familiar, and after staring at them for a while, he realized that it resembled some kind of star chart he had seen before.

—The light-transmitting holes on the ceiling of the room were arranged according to the constellations in the sky.

Xu Lingguang took a deep breath, put on a professional service industry smile, and asked, "What do I need to do?"

Lan Jian lay down on the huge white jade bed in the center of the room and pointed to the multi-functional shelf on one side of the wall: "The tools and ointments you need are all there. I've listed the steps and precautions. Take a look first, and ask me if you don't understand anything."

Xu Lingguang walked to the shelf and found it filled with all sorts of jars and many utensils whose purpose was unclear.

There were several sheets of paper on the table in front of the shelf.

Xu Lingguang sat down, took out a piece of paper and began to read it carefully. But as he read, his expression changed from serious and focused to a subtle and indescribable change.

He refrained from turning around, but he couldn't suppress the urge to rant.

No wonder, no wonder Lan Jian asked him for help.

Two days ago he was thinking, "It's just brushing my fur, what's so difficult about that?" Now he realizes he was too naive.

Lan Jian's fur, smoother and shinier than the finest silk, was certainly not something that came out of thin air.

The saying that it takes countless amounts of money to acquire an air of nobility is absolutely true.

Xu Lingguang stared at the paper in front of him, which was densely covered with various tools, ointments, and their uses and precautions, and his expression gradually became blank.

Is this the life of the rich?

Lan Jian wasn't just grooming her fur; she was clearly giving her a competition-level shampoo and conditioner.

No, even premium shampoo and conditioner don't have such complicated and troublesome steps.

Money is indeed not so easy to get. Before, Xu Lingguang felt a little guilty for taking so much money just for taking care of three cubs. Now, looking at these three pieces of paper that are as heavy as Mount Tai, he felt that it was still too little.

Such a large golden retriever, following this process of cleaning, combing, applying ointment, then cleaning again, applying ointment again, cleaning again, combing again, applying ointment again... even if he worked from morning till night, from dawn till dusk, he might not be able to finish.

Don't ask him why he's applying so much ointment, because Lanjian has all sorts of ointments—cleansing, moisturizing, adding shine… they have all kinds of uses, too many to count. You could even open an ancient mythical beast fur care shop :)