You're not messing with me?

A while later, when Yao Lao and Zhang Tian returned to the cave abode, the screams from inside had turned into Xiao Yan's comfortable moans.

"Why does this little fellow sound so lewd?" Yao Lao stroked his beard. Since he could make such sounds, he should be fine.

Xiao Yan felt indescribably refreshed. Countless streams of energy, like tiny brushes, continuously washed through his body and meridians. The itchy sensation of his strength constantly rising made him suffer and rejoice at once.

Four-Star Dou Shi, Five-Star Dou Shi—his realm continued to rise without encountering the slightest obstruction. Under the Flame Mantra's tyrannical refinement, he reached Six-Star Dou Shi in an astonishingly short time.

At this moment, the Flame Mantra had evolved to Yellow Rank High. It was only a sliver away from crossing the threshold into a Mysterious Rank Technique.

As the Purple Flame was devoured by the Flame Mantra, Xiao Yan's Dou Qi fluctuations finally stabilized.

After reaching the Dou Shi realm, not only could one condense the Dou Qi within one's body into a gauze-like Dou Qi garment, but one could also transform Dou Qi into liquid form, greatly improving its quality and purity.

As the vortex in his Dantian spun rapidly, the Purple Flame was completely refined, turning into endless threads of purple liquid energy. It fell like a light rain within his Dantian, and the energy droplets nearly filled more than half of Xiao Yan's Dantian.

Once he filled his body with Dou Qi and compressed it into solid, diamond-shaped Dou Qi crystals, he could advance to Great Dou Shi. At that point, transforming Dou Qi into armor would greatly enhance his offensive and defensive abilities.

"The eighth star, break for me!" Xiao Yan bit his lip and gave a low cry, his clenched fingers turning pale.

As the Purple Flame was completely refined, the descending rain of energy abruptly stopped. Yet at the final moment, it still completely filled Xiao Yan's Dantian.

"Eight-Star Dou Shi." Xiao Yan rose to his feet and punched the air, sending ripples through the airflow and producing successive sonic booms.

There was still half a month until the one-year agreement he had made with his teacher, yet he had already surpassed the Seven-Star Dou Shi goal they had set.

Although Dou Zhe cultivated several times faster than one at the Dou Qi stage, the Flame Mantra's contribution could not be overlooked either.

Only now did Xiao Yan truly believe that he had obtained an extraordinary technique.

"At this rate, I wonder if it can reach the level of the legendary Heaven Rank Technique." Xiao Yan flashed a wicked smile. He was now brimming with confidence, and a faint smile lingered at the corners of his lips.

He was also grateful from the bottom of his heart that he had found such a good master. Though they said that a teacher for a day was a father for life, how many masters truly gave their all to their disciples?

Feeling the liquid Dou Qi within him, so full it was nearly overflowing, Xiao Yan knew that Nine-Star Dou Shi involved further compressing this Dou Qi. Once the compression was complete, he would naturally advance to Great Dou Shi.

When Xiao Yan walked out, he saw Zhang Tian and Yao Lao waiting outside.

At this moment, Zhang Tian had already completed his breakthrough at tremendous speed. The countless surging streams of Dou Qi within him were incomparably docile, as though they had already been refined.

"Eight-Star Dou Emperor." A Dou Wang could draw upon a small amount of power from heaven and earth, while a Dou Emperor could mobilize large amounts of energy of the same attribute. This was the momentum of heaven and earth. High-level Dou Emperors could even remain suspended in the air for brief periods without external aid.

"Eight-Star Dou Shi?" Seeing Xiao Yan emerge, his clothes burned to tatters but his eyes shining with vigor, Zhang Tian raised his brows.

"Sure enough, nothing can escape Teacher's eyes. I've never felt this good before." Feeling the power within him that could easily shatter boulders, Xiao Yan was immensely satisfied.

"Hehe, Yao Lao, it's your turn. Give that thing to Xiao Yan." Zhang Tian laughed heartily and spoke as he and Yao Lao had agreed earlier.

"Hehe, all right. Little Yan, catch." Yao Lao took out an enormous object from his storage ring, something resembling a door panel nearly as tall as a person.

Xiao Yan accepted the black object, two chi wide and nearly a person's height, looking somewhat puzzled. But the moment it touched his hands, he was startled. An icy aura like cold iron traveled through his palms, and the object weighed heavily on his hands, as if he were lifting a thousand-jin boulder.

"Teacher, what is this thing?" Xiao Yan had a faintly bad feeling.

Sure enough, in the next instant, Yao Lao gave a sly chuckle and said, "This is a training weapon I forged. Its greatest characteristic is that it weighs as much as a thousand jun."

Xiao Yan weighed the massive black ruler in his hands and found that it was indeed incredibly heavy.

"It is pretty heavy."

"That's not all. Try carrying it on your back."

Following Yao Lao's words, Xiao Yan strapped the Mysterious Heavy Ruler to his back. His body sank slightly, but he quickly straightened his waist again.

Yao Lao drifted behind Xiao Yan at incredible speed. Before Xiao Yan could react, he slapped the Mysterious Heavy Ruler. The activated ruler emitted faint light, its strange patterns glowing softly, and the Mysterious Heavy Ruler suddenly became much heavier.

Xiao Yan instinctively circulated his Dou Qi, only to discover that the Dou Qi he had just broken through to control as easily as his own limbs had become strangely sluggish. It was incredibly difficult to circulate.

"Fuck." Xiao Yan instinctively cursed as the Mysterious Heavy Ruler pressed him down another notch. He hurriedly held his breath, his face turning red as he barely managed to straighten himself.

"This treasure has another greatest feature: it can suppress the Dou Qi within your body. So, are you surprised? Was it unexpected?" Yao Lao chuckled wickedly. Dignified and venerable? That was impossible. He could never be dignified and venerable in this lifetime.

He could only occasionally tease Xiao Yan to entertain himself.

Seeing Yao Lao behave so improperly for his age, Zhang Tian sighed as well. Though Zhang Tian knew Yao Lao was doing it for Xiao Yan's sake, it really looked as if he was constantly pranking Xiao Yan.

"Boy Zhang, why are you so absent-minded?" Yao Lao suddenly asked. Although Zhang Tian had only lost focus for an instant, it still could not escape Yao Lao's notice.

Logically speaking, Zhang Tian should not have any worries, right?

"It's nothing. There are just some matters I may need to go out and handle. This time, I might be gone for quite a while. I may not even remain within the Gama Empire." Zhang Tian had a headache as well. He would be leaving for a long time this time, and there might even be some trouble, since the journey truly was rather far.

Only after reaching the Dou Zun realm would it become somewhat easier, as one could tear through space to travel.

"Mhm." Yao Lao nodded. Zhang Tian leaving one day was beyond his expectations, yet also perfectly reasonable.

After all, at Zhang Tian's level of cultivation, with no attachments holding him back, few people would refrain from going out to explore.

Jia Xing Tian was too old and knew he had no hope of breaking through, while he also needed to protect the imperial family. Yun Yun, meanwhile, bore the responsibility of being the Yun Lan Sect's Sect Master.

What Yao Lao had not expected was that this day would come so soon.

"Master, you're leaving?" Xiao Yan, carrying the Mysterious Heavy Ruler, had gradually adapted to it. Hearing that Zhang Tian was leaving, he revealed a trace of reluctance.

"It's all right. When the time comes, I'll ask Sect Master Yun Yun to look after you. You've also reached Eight-Star Dou Shi and are close to Great Dou Shi now, so let's go annul that marriage agreement." Zhang Tian smiled and rubbed Xiao Yan's head. Back then, it had been Nalan Yanran's immaturity that created such a farce.

Had Nalan Jie and Nalan Xiao handled matters their way, even if they wished to annul the engagement, they would have discussed it carefully with Xiao Zhan and waited for Xiao Zhan to take the initiative to dissolve it, rather than coming to his door to cancel the marriage.

"Mm, I said it back then: never look down on a young man for being poor. Now that a year has passed, I'm no longer the same." At first, Xiao Yan had been somewhat reluctant when he heard they were going to the Yun Lan Sect, but the moment the annulment was mentioned, he immediately became interested.

Then Xiao Yan spoke again with a trace of emotion.

"If I had been an Eight-Star Dou Shi a year ago, instead of at the Fifth Stage Dou Qi, who would have dared to look down on me like that?"

Yao Lao snorted and replied irritably.

"If you had been a Dou Shi back then, there would still have been Great Dou Shi, Dou Ling, Dou Wang, Dou Emperor, Dou Zong, Dou Zun, Dou Sheng who could look down on you. Oh, and there's also a Dou Di."