Xuelan, the Young Girl

"Bastard, I hate you rich bastard, you little brat..."

The girl ground her teeth in indignation, but could only draw back her long, beautiful legs. After shooting Yan Qingshan a fierce glare, she sat back down.

The girl across from Yan Qingshan was not very old, perhaps seventeen or eighteen. Her pretty face was quite delicate, and her lightly arched brows carried a faint, untamed pride like that of a young female leopard in the desert.

That temperament, paired with her domineering figure, gave her a uniquely captivating charm. This desert flower was beautiful, but covered in thorns and possessed of a truly terrible temper—at least where Yan Qingshan was concerned.

Her attire was rather bold and revealing, somewhat like the hot-bodied cheerleaders from Yan Qingshan's previous life. Her sexy, bronze-toned slender waist was exposed right before his eyes.

Yan Qingshan had woken up that morning feeling somewhat restless, and his gaze was unconsciously drawn to the sight before him, moving down from the delicate navel on her lower abdomen.

Beneath the equally short leather skirt, a pair of sexy, slender legs lay just a hand's reach away. It seemed that with only a slight stretch of his hand, he could experience the enchanting feel of those long legs.

"Heh... you little pervert!"

Naturally, the girl noticed Yan Qingshan's gaze. Yet bold as she was, she did not mind his peeping in the slightest. A faint smile even appeared at the corner of her lips, and she seemed rather pleased that he had been drawn in by her.

Of course, the prerequisite for a man to look at a girl like that without being disliked was that he needed to be reasonably handsome himself. If he were some greasy, lecherous middle-aged uncle, just see whether she would call him a hooligan.

"You're staring so intently. Want to touch?"

Yan Qingshan was somewhat lost in thought when the girl's red lips moved. A seductive voice sounded beside him, and a round, slender thigh was placed beside his hand.

"Ahem, this... another day, another day..."

Yan Qingshan was no saint either; this scene was only a step away from him reaching out. But the girl's sudden change in attitude put him on guard. With a sweep of his peripheral vision, he noticed approaching footsteps outside the door. He immediately straightened his expression, adjusted his posture, and leaned back in his chair.

"Hmph... a little brat with the heart but not the guts. You only know how to bully little girls..."

The sexy girl withdrew her long leg somewhat unhappily. A petite figure in green entered the room carrying a basin of water and washing supplies. After calling him "Young Master" in a crisp voice, Qingling helped Yan Qingshan wash up.

After he finished washing up with a few gurgles, Qingling tidied the things and left. She then returned pushing a cart, setting out dishes, bowls, plates, and portions of food one by one before pushing the cart away again with the miscellaneous items.

Once this entire process was over, Yan Qingshan, now composed, raised a cup of black tea toward the sexy girl. He took a light sip, set down the cup, and said, "Xuelan, you got results on the matter I asked you to handle, right?"

The girl across from Yan Qingshan wrinkled her delicate nose at him in displeasure. But since they were discussing serious business now, she could not very well lose her temper. She merely took out a rolled-up map from beside her. "This is what you wanted.

"I had to ask my father and several uncles to find quite a few people before we got such detailed information about that area. What exactly are you looking for?"

The girl was named Xuelan, a local of Stone Desert City born into a mercenary family. Her family's circumstances were considered fairly good among mercenaries. Her father even held a mid-level position in a mercenary group. He did not favor sons over daughters and had carefully nurtured Xuelan since childhood.

Xuelan's talent was quite good. Before reaching nineteen, she had already attained the ninth stage of Dou Qi. She had attempted several breakthroughs to Dou Zhe without success and was now at the peak of the ninth stage of Dou Qi. It was said that she planned to attempt another breakthrough after some time.

At her age, such cultivation would have been enough for admission to Jia Nan Academy. Of course, this talent would not be considered especially outstanding at Jia Nan Academy, at least nowhere near Yan Qingshan's current level.

"Thank you."

Yan Qingshan accepted the map from the girl. It clearly marked the detailed conditions within a region east of Stone Desert City, including specific terrain and water sources. It also indicated the types and territories of Magical Beasts active nearby, as well as the Snake-people Race's area of activity east of Stone Desert City.

"Hey, brat, what exactly are you looking for?"

Seeing that Yan Qingshan's attention was entirely on the map and that he had no intention of responding to her, Xuelan immediately got annoyed. She leaned close to him, trying to draw his attention, but this time she failed. Yan Qingshan had no intention of turning his head at all.

"This area isn't particularly cold at night, is it?"

Yan Qingshan finally turned his head, though not because he had been attracted by her figure or beauty. Instead, he pointed to an area marked as sandy terrain on the map and asked.

"Uh..."

Xuelan was visibly taken aback. But with Yan Qingshan's map already right in front of her, she could only take it and inspect it before saying, "That area does seem to be like that.

"I went there with Father once. When we camped overnight, the sand was very warm, unlike other places where it got extremely cold.

"But there's nothing in that area except yellow sand. Forget water sources—even mountains and rocks are absent. There are no mineral deposits either. Some people tried digging down, but all they dug up was more sand."

"Is that so..."

Yan Qingshan's eyes shifted. He took note of this highly suspicious place, because it was very likely the target he sought.

Yan Qingshan had traveled all the way from the Magical Beast Mountain Range to Stone Desert City. His first purpose was naturally Qingling, a promising prospect. His other purpose, of course, was to find the location of the first Heavenly Flame acquired by the original protagonist—the Green Lotus Core Flame.

There were still several years before Queen Medusa used the Heavenly Flame to break through. According to the original story, Queen Medusa had attempted to evolve her bloodline and break through to Dou Zong half a year after finding the Heavenly Flame. This meant that the Green Lotus Core Flame was still in the place where it had been nurtured.

Of course, Yan Qingshan had no designs on the Green Lotus Core Flame for the time being. Although he had collected the ingredients for a Blood Lotus Pill, he truly had no intention of obtaining a Heavenly Flame yet.

Heavenly Flames were indeed precious treasures. Even without using one to evolve the Fennel Art, it was still a rare wonder of heaven and earth. But for Yan Qingshan, who was only a Dou Zhe and possessed the Wood Attribute, it was almost useless.

Fire restrained wood; their attributes were inherently opposed. And this was a Heavenly Flame. Forget absorbing it—even approaching it could easily get him killed.

What he wanted was not the Heavenly Flame, but another thing in the Green Lotus Core Flame's hiding place—or rather, a living creature. Its guardian, the extremely rare Magical Beast known as the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake.

The Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake generally grew in extremely hot places and survived by devouring magma. It possessed enormous potential for evolution. At birth, it was merely a First-order Magical Beast, but with sufficient fortune, it might evolve into a sixth-order Magical Beast comparable to a Dou Emperor.

The Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake at the Green Lotus Core Flame's place of birth was one such spirit snake with sufficient fortune. Because it was a place where a Heavenly Flame was nurtured, the magma in that region was far superior in quality to ordinary magma fields.

This Fire Spirit Snake had already become a fourth-order Magical Beast. Within the magma region, it was even stronger than a fifth-order Magical Beast.

Of course, its luck was also rather terrible. First, because it had to guard the Heavenly Flame, it was injured and driven away by Queen Medusa several years later. Before it could even recover from its wounds, the protagonist came knocking. After being subdued, it was ambushed and plotted against again. Its fate was truly...

A fourth-order Magical Beast, the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake was stronger in battle than an ordinary Dou Ling. Yet as a Magical Beast, its beastly nature still outweighed its rationality.

Generally, only fifth-order Magical Beasts or Magical Beasts with high-grade bloodlines possessed enough intelligence to try to escape the influence of their beastly nature.

Although Magical Beasts below the fifth order were stronger than humans of the same level in one-on-one combat, if they were surrounded, they could still be dealt with by opponents weaker overall who exploited the habits of their beastly nature.

But after reaching the fifth order, their intelligence was no less than that of ordinary humans. The schemes and methods humans used against Magical Beasts would rarely be effective then. At that point, it would be the Magical Beast slaughtering humans one against many.

When encountering a Magical Beast above the fifth order, if there was not an expert of the same level to hold it back, an entire party being wiped out was commonplace.

Yan Qingshan himself came from an ordinary background and had no backing. On this Dou Qi Continent, if one had neither backing nor trump cards, it was exceedingly difficult to grow stronger.

It was not as though avoiding trouble and hiding all the time would ensure that nothing happened. The world was unpredictable. So long as one lived, conflict could not be avoided. Even if one withdrew from the world and lived in seclusion, one might be drawn into grudges and feuds for all sorts of reasons. Besides, Yan Qingshan was not someone who wished to avoid the world entirely.

Precisely because he knew there was little point in hiding forever, Yan Qingshan chose to reveal his strength at the appropriate time.

Lionheart Baptism required a great many resources. It would be difficult for him to gather them all alone, and such a large quantity of precious materials would inevitably leave traces that others might notice. Rather than act in secret by himself, it was simpler and easier to take control of the Myriad Medicine Hall.

Since he had already revealed his strength, Yan Qingshan needed to pick up the pace. Having no backing or trump cards was not a problem—he could find or create them himself.

A fifteen-year-old Dou Zhe was absolutely a genius in any region. With his current strength and talent, no force in the Jia Ma Empire would refuse his membership.

However, he had no interest in the petty forces of the Jia Ma Empire. He wanted somewhere stronger and freer, and Jia Nan Academy was a good choice.

Joining Jia Nan Academy was a mid-term goal, so there was no need to rush it. After all, Jia Nan Academy only recruited during fixed periods.

But another short-term goal—creating a backing and trump card for himself—could be pursued now.

A fourth-order Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake, a fourth-order Magical Beast comparable to a Dou Ling, was naturally powerful. But knowing the Fire Spirit Snake's exact circumstances and targeting it specifically, it was still possible to subdue it.

Once he succeeded in subduing it, a fourth-order Magical Beast comparable to a Dou Ling would give Yan Qingshan a genuine trump card he could use.

And once he had a trump card, he would have much more room to maneuver in many matters. He would be able to make more plans, and carry them out more easily.