Leaving Stone Desert

"You'd better not ask what I'm looking for. Knowing too much... won't do you any good."

Yan Qingshan put away the map. As he spoke the last words, he deliberately raised his head and gave her a warning look.

Although Xuelan meant well, he did not want too many people knowing about this. His strength was still too weak. A six-star Dou Zhe could be considered somebody in Qingshan Town, but in Stone Desert City, he was not particularly formidable.

Although Da Dou Shi were rare in Stone Desert City, there were still more than ten named Dou Shi. As a six-star Dou Zhe cultivating a Profound-tier High-grade Dou Skill Cultivation Method, he should have been invincible among the Dou Zhe of Stone Desert City.

But against Dou Shi, he could deal with low-level ones at most. Anyone at the intermediate level or above would be absolutely beyond his ability. Though he had other methods, those things could not be used often. Unless necessary, he would not stir up trouble or willingly get dragged into it.

"Tch~~~ What's with all the mystery?"

Xuelan grumbled in dissatisfaction, but she did not press the matter further.

"Young Master! Sister Xuelan!"

After finishing her work, Qingling, dressed in a blue-green long skirt, returned to the sitting room. This time, however, she did not leave. Instead, she obediently stood behind Yan Qingshan, her soft little hands gently massaging his forehead to ease the exhaustion weighing on him.

"That irritating, smug little brat. Qingling has never waited on me like that!"

Seeing Yan Qingshan close his eyes and enjoy himself, Xuelan felt a burst of annoyance. She muttered discontentedly under her breath. Qingling, standing behind Yan Qingshan, blushed slightly at those words, but her hands remained steady and gentle.

Leaning back in the cushioned chair with his eyes closed, Yan Qingshan replied without ceremony, "Qingling is my maid, so of course she has to wait on me. What status do you have that you'd even think about something like that? Someone like you is worse than Qingling. You couldn't even manage being a maid. At best, you're suited to be a personal guard."

Whether deliberately or not, Yan Qingshan even changed his tone when he said the words "personal maid."

"You bastard brat, I've put up with you for a long time!"

Xuelan was furious at first, but then she caught a few other implications in his words. Enraged, she sprang to her feet and tried to hit him, her jade-like leg sweeping directly toward his head.

"Sister Xuelan, don't!"

Qingling panicked at the sight. Calling out, she leaped forward, intending to shield Yan Qingshan. Yet after she flipped forward, the expected heavy blow never came. Just as she was about to fall, someone caught her, and she tumbled straight into Yan Qingshan's embrace.

"You... you're a Dou Zhe? That just now was..."

After acting on impulse, Xuelan had regretted it somewhat, but once her kick had been thrown, it was not easy to pull back. When Qingling rushed over to shield Yan Qingshan, she had been startled as well.

But just as her kick was about to strike Qingling, a streak of blue-green Dou Qi arrived later yet intercepted her boot first. Then a suitably measured force jolted her right leg back.

Recalling that flash of Dou Qi, Xuelan was dumbfounded. She had originally thought Yan Qingshan was merely some foolish rich young master who had come to Stone Desert City for sightseeing. She had even wondered why this young master had not brought any guards.

But after Yan Qingshan revealed the strength of a Dou Zhe, she no longer had any doubts. A Dou Zhe was only one realm above Dou Qi, but the significance was completely different.

The overall environment of the Jia Ma Empire was relatively peaceful. Dou Zhe were not uncommon, but a young Dou Zhe with a few life-saving methods was unlikely to encounter danger while traveling through the empire, so long as they did not deliberately court death. Thus, many cultivators from prominent families began their own training journeys after becoming Dou Zhe.

Yan Qingshan revealing his strength as a Dou Zhe had indeed surprised Xuelan, because he was far too young. He looked no more than fifteen or sixteen, yet he was already a Dou Zhe capable of traveling for training. In tiny Stone Desert City, that was simply unimaginable.

But more importantly, Yan Qingshan's Dou Qi confirmed Xuelan's earlier guess. Even in little Stone Desert City, Xuelan was considered a talented young woman. Naturally, she understood and yearned for high-grade Dou Qi.

A commoner mercenary like her could only come into contact with Yellow-tier Dou Qi. She had also experienced the Yellow-tier Dou Qi of ordinary Dou Zhe. Yet that mere wisp of Dou Qi had made her own Dou Qi tremble. It was certainly a higher-grade Dou Qi than Yellow-tier.

A Dou Zhe at such an age, with high-grade Dou Qi—if Yan Qingshan told her his true identity now, she would not believe him. Yan Qingshan's outstanding qualities simply fit every characteristic of a cultivator from a great family out on training.

"This is a gift of thanks for you. It isn't included in your payment. It should increase your chances of breaking through to Dou Zhe, but this method is only suited to you. If someone else uses it, it might become poison instead, so be careful."

Yan Qingshan tossed out a scroll. Xuelan caught it instinctively, only for the Dou Qi carried by the scroll to yank her forcefully out of the sitting room. Before she could even realize what had happened, the door slammed shut with a bang.

"You brat, would it kill you to say a few more words?!"

Xuelan shouted indignantly. She raised her hand, then lowered it again, turning toward the courtyard gate to leave. On the way, she opened the scroll, and another shriek came from her. "Golden Silk Cistanche, Yin-patterned Scorpion ground into powder, a first-tier earth-attribute Magic Core... My heavens, these things together cost at least five thousand Gold Coin, right? What kind of method did that little bastard give me..."

At the eastern gate of Stone Desert City, two desert beasts swiftly left the city and headed into the vast, endless eastern desert.

Within the boundless desert, wind and sand raged. A lightly dressed youth, whose clothing barely blocked any sunlight, walked barefoot through the storm. Blue-green Dou Qi resembling a gauze-like robe swirled around his vital areas as he slowly pressed onward against the wind and sand.

Behind him, the rows of Footprints deeply sunken into the yellow sand soon became blurred by the wind and sand, the impressions of five toes vanishing from sight.

After some time had passed, even those Footprints were buried by the wind and sand, concealing every trace beneath the desert.

The youth was not alone. Two desert beasts followed behind him, carrying ample dry rations, clean water, and other necessary supplies. A girl wearing a blue-green outer robe sat atop one of them.

Wrapped tightly from head to toe and protected from the wind and sand, the girl's face was filled with worry. As she looked at the youth ahead, there was even a hint of heartache in her eyes.

The environment within the Tagore Desert was harsh beyond imagination. The yellow sand beneath their feet had been baked by the blazing sun until it was nearly as scorching as tiny iron pellets, making anyone frown and purse their lips with pain every time they stepped down.

That was with desert boots on. If one stepped on it barefoot without any protection, blood blisters would form before long. Walking barefoot like this youth was practically suicidal.

Yan Qingshan was naturally not seeking death. Rather, he was using the harshest environment to temper himself, strengthen and refine his Dou Qi, making it more condensed and pure.

Among all types of Dou Qi, Wood-attribute Dou Qi was almost the most disadvantaged. In terms of destructive power, it could not compare to Lightning, Fire, or Wind; even Earth Attribute was stronger. It was not particularly strong defensively either, and in support and healing, it was inferior to Water. Aside from the exceptional recovery abilities of Wood Attribute cultivators themselves, it could be said to have no other advantages.

However, due to its attribute, Wood Attribute Dou Qi was easily suppressed by Fire and Lightning, just as tender plants would perish when faced with high temperatures. Wood Attribute was too easily targeted and restrained, and even cultivating higher-grade Dou Qi would not change that.

Under such circumstances, some Wood Attribute cultivators naturally refused to remain suppressed, which led to all kinds of trials and training methods. What Yan Qingshan was using now was a method tailored to himself: using the desert's extreme environment to refine his Wood-attribute Dou Qi so that high temperatures and Fire Dou Qi would no longer greatly affect it.

Furthermore, the desert did not merely have an extreme environment—its sudden dangers and weather conditions were equally extreme. Walking barefoot through the desert and cultivating in such conditions would definitely be an important experience for him.

Yan Qingshan cast aside every other thought and focused entirely on walking forward slowly. The Dou Qi around him was like a wisp of blue-green candle flame in a gale, flickering as if it might go out at any moment, yet stubbornly refusing to extinguish. Amid the raging wind and chaotic sand, it became increasingly solid and powerful.

Yan Qingshan continued forward at a slow pace. The oncoming gale carried fine sand that struck his face painfully, as well as every other part of his body not covered by clothing. He had to maintain a sufficient membrane of Dou Qi to avoid being disfigured by the wind and sand.

After traveling for most of the day, Yan Qingshan could feel that nearly seventy to eighty percent of his Dou Qi had been depleted. Yet the remaining Dou Qi was incomparably pure and condensed. He could also sense that his cultivation, which had reached a bottleneck, seemed to have loosened slightly.

Yan Qingshan looked up at the sky. The blazing sun hung high above, releasing its scorching heat. Wave after wave of sunlight brought dense yang energy, and the fire-attribute energy in the air was exceptionally active, making him feel as though he were standing inside a furnace.

Even though he desperately circulated his cultivation technique, sending the Dou Qi through his body at high speed, there was simply too little Wood Attribute spiritual energy in the outside world. Even running the technique at full capacity, his recovery rate remained painfully slow.

If the Magical Beast Mountain Range was a paradise for the Wood Attribute, lush and flourishing with boundless vitality even in the depths of winter, then the Tagore Desert was the Wood Attribute's hell. Even the most basic recovery of Dou Qi was exceedingly difficult.

This was because Yan Qingshan cultivated a Profound-tier High-grade Cultivation Technique. If it had been a Yellow-tier Cultivation Method, he could circulate it for most of the day without recovering even a trace of Dou Qi.

"Qingling!"

Yan Qingshan's parched lips had turned somewhat pale. When he turned his head and rasped out her name, his upper and lower lips nearly split apart from opening, and the torn skin stung sharply.

"Young Master!!!"

Qingling hurriedly guided the camel beast over to Yan Qingshan's side, positioning the two camel beasts in front of and behind him before carefully setting up a frame and a large piece of tarp, forming a simple sunshade that blocked the wind reasonably well.

Qingling took out the prepared supplies from the Storage Ring Yan Qingshan had given her. After soaking a clean towel, she wiped down Yan Qingshan's face and body, then carefully reapplied the ointment that protected him from sand and sun.