That explained why he had stressed not letting the Dragon Clan notice their actions. Who among the Dragon Clan wouldn't want to present the Ancestral Dragon Grass as a birthday gift to the Old Dragon Emperor and win his favor?
Li Haoran's guess was right on the mark; that was precisely what the black-robed dragon was thinking.
He had even considered that if there was still no progress after three days and no Ancestral Dragon Grass could be found, he would look for something else as a birthday gift.
Lu Yang had never heard of any Ancestral Dragon Grass. When he asked the Immortal Fairy, she also said she had never heard of it.
"It's probably had a name change; we didn't call it that back in our day. As for a grass that Ao Ling liked—since when did she ever like grass? ...Oh, I remember now! There was a period when she pretended to be a refined lady, raising flowers and growing herbs and whatnot, all to attract Immortal Kirin's attention. She made Immortal Kirin constantly suspect back then whether someone had seized Ao Ling's body.
"Later, seeing that the ploy didn't work, Ao Ling gave up on raising flowers and herbs and gave them all to me. Seeing how well she'd raised them—the flowers and herbs were so lush and hearty—I loved them to bits, so I cooked them all into dishes and laid out a huge feast. I called it the Hundred Herbs Banquet and invited the four of them—Immortal Suiyue and the rest—as well as Ao Ling and Lianyi.
"Later on, someone started a rumor claiming that Immortal Jiuchong had tasted a hundred herbs and collapsed on the way home.
"What utter nonsense! I clearly saw Immortal Jiuchong was having a great time while eating, hopping and jumping about all over the place."
Lu Yang thought to himself, *Wasn't he just hallucinating from food poisoning?*
Lu Yang remembered that on the second level of the secret realm where Senior Lianyi slumbered, many rare ancient flowers and herbs were planted, among which the Ancestral Dragon Grass should be included.
However, the Dragon Palace was far too distant from the Demon Domain. By the time they made a round trip, Xiao Xinghai's injuries would probably have healed on their own.
...
An inn.
Though called an inn, what it provided was not actual rooms, but grotto-heavens meant for cultivation.
The Four Thieves of Juxuan Island had rented a grotto-heaven.
"We'll lay low here for a few days. Unless absolutely necessary, none of us leaves the grotto-heaven during this time," the eldest brother said.
The eldest brother then recalled something. "By the way, Fourth Brother, when we stole the supreme treasure, a member of the Dragon Clan ran into us. After we destroyed the corpse and erased all traces, we also took the box from his hands. What was inside that box?"
"I was in a hurry back then, so I just opened the box and took a quick glance. It was a stalk of grass, though I don't know what species it is."
The shifty-eyed Fourth Brother fished out a wooden box. Quietly lying inside was a stalk of grass shaped like a dragon claw.
The eldest brother looked it over from every angle, unable to discern its origin. "What is this thing? Does anyone recognize it?"
"No clue."
"Is it Dragon Claw Grass?"
"Third Brother, you know it?"
"Uh, no. I just thought it looked like a dragon claw and made up a name on the spot."
"...Shut up if you don't know!"
"Okay."
"This thing is probably worth a fortune. Even though not a trace of ash remained of that dragon, this box and this grass are completely unscathed."
...
The elders searching for the Dragon Clan's supreme treasure dispatched their subordinates to take action first, while they gathered together to analyze the situation. "The dragon pearl cannot be stored inside a storage ring, so the thieves who stole it will definitely look for other ways to wrap and contain it.
"Furthermore, it must be capable of blocking divine sense to prevent us from probing with our divine sense."
Chapter 850