Above the Dou Zong

"Patriarch..." Seeing the Jia Lie Family's First Elder about to hand the Jade Bone Iron Orchid to Zhang Tian, the Third Elder suddenly spoke up. That medicinal herb was worth tens of thousands of gold coins. For a moment, his miserly instincts overcame his reason, and he forgot his fear as he was about to object.

Xiao Zhan looked at Zhang Tian somewhat awkwardly. His huge hand was neither raised nor lowered, and he opened his mouth several times without saying anything.

"Patriarch Xiao, you misunderstand. This Jade Bone Iron Orchid is of little use to me. It is meant to temper Xiao Yan's body. I happen to know a Three-Rank Alchemist," Zhang Tian explained briefly. As expected, Xiao Zhan immediately relaxed completely.

His hand lowered slightly, revealing a hearty smile.

"Elder Zhang contributed greatly to this operation. The Jade Bone Iron Orchid belongs to none but him." Though he was blooming with joy inside, he still spoke with the imposing air of a clan leader, his tone exceedingly solemn.

If he, the patriarch, were to take the Jade Bone Iron Orchid, it would be unreasonable. As patriarch, it was only right for him to contribute to the family; that was his duty. But since Zhang Tian had brought it up himself, and had rendered such great merit besides possessing overwhelming strength, no one dared utter a word of complaint.

Xiao Zhan became even more grateful toward Zhang Tian and secretly resolved that, even if he had to oppose the elders in the future, he would support him with all his strength.

"Who dares cause such a commotion in my Jia Lie Family?!" A violent aura, like that of an enraged lion, swept forth. In a secluded cultivation chamber within the Jia Lie Family, a silver-haired old man awoke, his aged face filled with ferocity and rage.

"This is... the Old Ancestor?!" "The Old Ancestor is still alive!"

Voices like these rose one after another, cries of shock and delight spreading through the crowd.

Only the First Elder's expression changed, as though he had thought of something dreadful.

"Old Ancestor, don't!"

But it was already too late. A figure blazing with silver-white radiance shot out. Dense Dou Qi instantly condensed into an impenetrable suit of armor around his body. His fist seemed to carry flames as a half-meter-wide fist imprint slammed into Xiao Zhan's body.

Xiao Zhan spat out a mouthful of blood. The aura around him shook violently, and the illusory lion head condensed over his chest nearly shattered.

The old man wore an arrogant expression and a gray robe. Tall and gaunt, he moved so fast that even experts below the Dou Shi realm could not catch sight of him.

He turned into another streak of light and arrived before Xiao Zhan again, only to find that a young man had appeared in front of Xiao Zhan at some point. Every movement he made radiated an unfathomable aura.

Without the slightest hesitation, before the others could even see clearly what had happened—

The tall, gaunt old man dropped directly to his knees. His knees sank several inches into the ground, and as he slid forward, they plowed a long furrow across the earth.

Then he smashed his head down viciously. Even the Dou Qi armor condensed by a Great Dou Shi was shattered by the impact, and his forehead blasted a crater about a foot deep into the ground.

From charging forward to kneeling and kowtowing, he completed the entire sequence in one fluid motion without the slightest pause, as though he had rehearsed it hundreds of times.

The moment Jia Lie Cong Tian sensed Zhang Tian's Dou Ling aura, he made his decision and fell to his knees without hesitation.

"This is... the Jia Lie Old Ancestor... So impressive..." The Xiao Family disciples drew sharp breaths. Such an invincible body was several times stronger than an ox-drawn plow. One headbutt had made a foot-deep crater.

Though his head was split open and bleeding, Jia Lie Cong Tian did not tremble in the slightest or let out a single groan of pain. He endured it all forcefully, powerful to the extreme.

The Xiao Family disciples could barely bear to watch. Their own heads hurt just looking at it, and they wondered whether the Jia Lie Old Ancestor had some grudge against the ground.

Xiao Zhan coughed up another trace of blood. He had been ambushed by someone four minor realms above him. Fortunately, the Jia Lie Old Ancestor was old and declining, and his combat strength had weakened considerably. Otherwise, Xiao Zhan would have suffered far worse.

"This Seven-Star Great Dou Shi has no backbone at all..."

"So this is the Jia Lie Old Ancestor? What a coward."

"That was so smooth. I heard he was this... rational when he was young, which was why he lived to be one hundred and thirty-seven."

Many onlookers from other factions whispered among themselves. They thought their exchanges were secret, but they could not hide them from Xiao Zhan and Zhang Tian. The two simply saw no need to act against them.

"Whew." The First Elder let out a breath of relief. Thankfully, the Old Ancestor had not acted rashly. Although he had utterly disgraced himself in Wu Tan City, at least he had not died. The First Elder rather admired him for it—able to bend and stretch as needed, truly worthy of being the Jia Lie Family's guardian.

"Come to think of it, the family genealogy says the Old Ancestor seems to be my great-grandfather." After thinking it over, the First Elder, already in his sixties, gazed happily at the Jia Lie Old Ancestor, preparing to catch up with his great-grandfather later.

Worthy of being his great-grandfather. Rational!

After returning to the Xiao Family, everyone suddenly discovered that their young master, Xiao Yan, was gone. Zhang Tian's heart stirred. Why had Xiao Yan not returned yet?

He turned into an afterimage and rushed to the Xiao Family's back mountain, where he finally saw Xiao Yan's small figure standing alone atop a cliff, with a pale white figure floating beside him.

"I'm telling you, that fellow you call your teacher—his talent is passable, but his strength is pathetically weak." Yao Lao kept embellishing as he filled Xiao Yan's head with ideas. Unlike his mysterious and profound image in the Original Work, Yao Lao was pulling out all the stops to raise his own standing, constantly badmouthing Zhang Tian.

"Teacher is still a Four-Star Dou Ling expert. He's not as terrible as you make him sound, old man." Xiao Yan shook his head helplessly. He understood some of Yao Lao's intentions, but he was not a three-year-old child. How could he be so easily fooled?

"Besides, he is a genius disciple of the Yun Lan Sect, a transcendent force that stands above even the Gama Royal Family."

The Yun Lan Sect?

Yao Lao was somewhat baffled. After thinking carefully for a long time, he seemed to finally recall Yun Tian's sect.

"The one founded by Yun Po Tian? Then turned by his descendants into some trash sect with only a One-Star Dou Zong left?"

Yao Lao was not quite sure. So many years had passed. Could it be that some later generation of the Yun Lan Sect had restored its glory, turning it into a force comparable to the Four Directions Pavilion?

"What Dou Zong? I don't understand what you're talking about." Xiao Yan rolled his eyes at Yao Lao. In the Gama Empire, Dou Zong was nothing more than a legend.

"The current sect leader of the Yun Lan Sect, Yun Yun, is a Dou Emperor expert. Every elder possesses the strength of a Dou Wang!" Xiao Yan spoke with a touch of admiration and yearning, as well as a faint confidence in his own future.

"That's it?" Yao Lao froze.

That's it?

Since when were small fry at the Dou Wang level worthy of being mentioned separately, much less called experts?

Wasn't it reported like this in the past? Today, we destroyed a certain faction. Their Five Star Dou Zun sect leader resisted desperately. One of our Dou Zuns was seriously injured. We captured three enemy One-Star Dou Zuns and eight Dou Zongs, killed seven of them, over a dozen Dou Emperors, and a whole bunch of others.

Weren't Dou Wangs included in the "whole bunch of others" part?

Had the world gone to shit?

"Are you insane?" Xiao Yan rolled his eyes. If Dou Wangs were not experts, then Wu Tan City did not even have a single Dou Ling apart from Teacher. A Dou Wang could hold a place in the Gama Empire, all right?

"You're the insane one. Back then, someone like a Dou Emperor could offer me their entire fortune for a single pill, and I still couldn't be bothered to look at them." Yao Lao blew his beard and glared. At his peak as a Dou Zun, he truly had never regarded anyone below the Dou Zong realm.

Still, Yun Po Tian truly was miserable. Such an incredible man, a legendary Dou Zun, had founded the Yun Lan Sect only for his descendants to reduce it to a sect with merely one Dou Emperor and a handful of Dou Wangs.

Yao Lao could not help sighing. A gleeful smile hung on his old face. If Yun Po Tian knew, he would surely crawl out of his coffin.

"What are you two talking about?" Zhang Tian's voice rang out softly, carrying a trace of confusion.

Yao Lao's expression stiffened. Caught badmouthing someone behind their back, even he, an old monster who had lived for a thousand years, could not help feeling his face flush with embarrassment.

"Nothing, nothing. Just chatting." Yao Lao waved awkwardly, not knowing where to put his hands. In his transparent soul form, even putting his hands behind his back would not hide them.

"By the way, sir, your Soul Power is powerful enough for your soul to survive outside your body. You must be an alchemist, correct?" Zhang Tian wanted to ask Yao Lao to help refine some pills.

"Right, Teacher. This old fellow was just trying to trick me into taking him as my master." Xiao Yan pulled Zhang Tian over to complain. Since he had been somewhat frightened staying alone with Yao Lao, he had agreed to him.

"Of course! This old man is one of the continent's... cough, cough, a highly accomplished alchemist." The moment alchemy was mentioned, Yao Lao immediately regained his confidence.

"I saw that your Dou Qi contains a trace of wood-attributed Dou Qi mixed within its fire attribute. On top of that, your Soul Power barely meets the standard, so I was prepared to take you as my disciple." Yao Lao snorted and glared at Xiao Yan irritably. Questioning his alchemy skills was absolutely unforgivable.

"The continent? Old man, you're that amazing?" Xiao Yan, however, was absorbed in Yao Lao's earlier words. After pondering them, his eyes began to gleam.

"Cough, cough." Yao Lao choked again, blowing his beard and glaring.

"What old man? Show some respect. I... What I said was roads. I often refine pills on the roads. I'm very famous... everyone knows me... everyone knows me."

"You sell them on the roads?" Xiao Yan was stunned. What alchemist did that kind of business? Were alchemists not all lofty and incomparably honored? The light in his eyes dimmed somewhat, and the way he looked at Yao Lao changed.

He was reminded of the people selling miracle pills beside train stations on that azure planet from his previous life.

Zhang Tian leaned over as well and said with a mischievous smile.

"'Old' means venerable, and 'head' is the foremost of the five yangs. Therefore, 'old man' is an honorific."

Yao Lao was speechless, utterly defeated by the shamelessness of this master and disciple pair.