"The courtyard that has been prepared is the Blooming Phoenix Courtyard."
When Fan Li Jie heard this, his grip on his cousin's hand tightened momentarily before it relaxed as if nothing happened.
Having felt his reaction, Fan Zhu Xia's interest was piqued, after all, from what she observed from Fan Li Jie before, her cousin seemed to be usually aloof and indifferent with a stoic demeanor and for her to get so many reactions from him, she really had to put in an effort yet when he heard Grandpa Guo say that she'll be staying in this particular courtyard, he reacted to it. Although his reaction was subtle and hard to discern, Fan Zhu Xia was able to notice because he was holding on to her hand.
Just what was special with this Blooming Phoenix Courtyard anyway?
Despite her growing curiosity, Fan Zhu Xia refrained herself from asking and instead surveyed their surroundings.
Indeed the Fan family residence was quite vast and magnificent, truly deserving to be otherwisely known as the Lei Palace.
It had numerous flowering gardens which pathways wound about leading to different courtyards, buildings and grounds which made everything interesting.
As they went to the inner part of the residence, they passed several smaller courtyards and Fan Li Jie opened his mouth and started talking while pointing to them.
"There are different courtyards here and if you look closer, you'll actually be able to tell. The ones with more elaborately decorated arches are usually prepared for guests and any unexpected visitors from noble families while the simpler ones are usually courtyards that we prepare for those who have simpler tastes or the army officers who come by to stay for a bit since the simpler courtyards have bigger spaces inside that's big enough to train in."
Humming her acknowledgement, Zhu Xia turned to gaze at whichever direction Li Jie was pointing at while Guo Ji just silently walked in front with a faint smile on his face.
"Xia'er, do you see that building over there?"
"En... What's it for Big Brother?"
"That's one of the buildings where we store our weapons. It serves as our main armory while the other building we have which also contains some weaponry is located on the other side of the residence and is also our weapon smithery."
"You have your own smithery?" Zhu Xia asked with a mixture of wonder and amazement.
"Mhmm, yes we do. We also have a rather sizeable courtyard where our head doctor stays with his two disciples that serves as our infirmary. Their courtyard even has it's own herb garden that they tend to, it's where our family usually gets its supply of medicinal herbs."
"Really?"
Noticing her interest, Fan Li Jie nodded once and shot her a glance as he replied, "Yes. Would you like to go and drop by later?"
"Oh can we Big Brother? Can we?" Zhu Xia asked with excitement, her eyes glittering as she looked at him.
"Yes we can but we can do that after you're settled."
"Alright then... Remember Big Brother, you mustn't forget to bring me there later!"
"Ahh don't worry Little Xia'er, I would not forget..."
With a satisfied grin, Zhu Xia happily responded, "Good!"
After a couple of more minutes of walking, they came upon a bamboo forest that they were walking just alongside the perimeter of, and just as they were about to pass it and leave it behind, just beyond it, they could faintly hear the sound of people and the clang of weapons hitting each other which made Fan Zhu Xia gaze ponderingly towards the direction of it.
"Beyond this bamboo forest is the training grounds that is located near the back of the residence, nearer to the foot of the mountain. The Blooming Phoenix Courtyard is located near here." Fan Li Jie explained when he saw Fan Zhu Xia look back towards the bamboo forest.
"Oh, is that so? Then would it be noisy at my courtyard?"
"Replying to Young Miss... The Blooming Phoenix Courtyard should still be quiet and peaceful since the noise coming from the training field should only travel a few meters away from the perimeter of the bamboo forest. The Young Miss' courtyard is still a bit too far for the noise to breach." Min Guo Ji answered in reply before Fan Li Jie could even start.
"Then are we close?" Fan Zhu Xia inquisitively inquired while taking note of her surroundings.
What she saw was the leveled, stone pathway that was had winded around the residence but soon, aside from this, a cluster of cherry and plum blossom trees scattered about and as they walked further in, a couple of flowering dogwood trees can be seen scattered among the other trees which made everything all the more breathtakingly beautiful and with the mixture of whites, pinks and reds from the trees made the whole scenery all the more enchanting.
The delicate yet fragrant scent of the tree blossoms permeated the air around them while the wind blew and the slight breeze carried some leaves and stray flowers from the trees down, making it fall gently around them, making a tranquil and peaceful scene surrounded by the sounds of nature as a couple of birds chirped and sang their bird songs.
As Fan Zhu Xia looked around and took delight in her surroundings, the moment she glanced in front, she saw a courtyard with tall walls that had blooming firethorns with its vivid evergreen leaves and clusters of red, yellow and orange-colored berries covering it, making it look like the walls are covered with elegant blooming flowers made out of fire which inspired awe with its beauty especially coupled with the forest of flowering trees and the intricately-carved archway made out of deep red wood which Fan Zhu Xia had only seen once before and is called the Vermillion Blaze Wood which is even more expensive than the Onyx Blood Darkwood that she had seen earlier at the Na Huan Pavillion.
It was said that Vermillion Blaze Wood is a very expensive and rare type of wood since it's from an already rare Fire Ruby Tree that had a mutation prompted by the fire of a high-leveled spirit beast. The fact that its usually only found at the Spirit Forest due to it's strict requirements for mutation is already a vast indicator of it's rarity and price.
Even the Fire Ruby Tree which is desired by a lot of alchemists for the fruit it produces, The Flamed Ruby which despite the name is not a type of crystal but is actually a fruit that has immense medicinal fire properties and a rare medicinal ingredient, although it is rare, it can still be found in other places and is possible to cultivate in very carefully controlled conditions. Even before back in the Mystic Terra Mountain, Zhu Xia had only seen a total of three Fire Ruby Trees that were meticulously grown by her mother.
So for her to see Vermillion Blaze Wood here, Fan Zhu Xia was in shock!
Noticing her wide-eyed stare, Fan Li Jie gently pulled her hand and drew her closer to the courtyard while teasingly asked, "Do you like the entrance of your courtyard that much Xia'er?"
Coming out of her daze, Fan Zhu Xia switched her gaze to stare at her cousin in shock.
"Big Brother...don't tell me, this is the Blooming Phoenix Courtyard?!"