Journey to the Imperial Capital

"Phew, that should be about enough. Rise!"

He withdrew the flame and lifted the lid in one smooth motion.

With a wave of Chen Mo's hand, three round Great Return Pills fell into his palm.

"The Great Return Pill is considered one of the finest Grade 2 Pills. In less than two months, I can already refine pills of this level. I should be able to get by at the competition."

As this thought flashed through Chen Mo's mind, he immediately stored the pills in his Storage Ring. With a flick of his hand, he decided, Screw it, I'm done refining pills.

He pressed the switch and left the secret chamber.

After coming out, Chen Mo headed straight for the secret chamber where Nalan Yanran was in seclusion.

With the Three-Year Agreement drawing near, Nalan Yanran had been entering seclusion every few days. The day before yesterday, Chen Mo had exchanged a Three-Pattern Azure Spirit Pill for her through the system. She was likely at the critical point of breaking through from Dou Master to Great Dou Master.

Chen Mo placed particular importance on Nalan Yanran's breakthrough and had specifically arranged for two Great Dou Master subordinates to stand guard outside the secret chamber at all times.

Sure enough, as Chen Mo approached the chamber where Nalan Yanran was in seclusion, the surrounding Dou Qi began to shift. The flow of energy there was clearly different from elsewhere.

Large amounts of Dou Qi from outside were being drawn into the secret chamber.

"Overall Pavilion Master." Seeing Chen Mo, the two burly men hurriedly greeted him, but after Chen Mo made a silencing gesture, their voices gradually lowered.

Chen Mo also began waiting outside the secret chamber.

As time passed, the changes in the surrounding Dou Qi gradually settled.

Inside the secret chamber, Nalan Yanran focused her mind on the azure diamond-shaped crystal above the Qi Cyclone within her body. The instant this crystal appeared, she could clearly feel an indescribable sense of comfort welling up from the depths of her soul.

It was the crucial object that represented becoming a Great Dou Master.

"Dou Crystal."

She, Nalan Yanran, had officially entered the ranks of Great Dou Masters.

Nalan Yanran slowly opened her beautiful eyes. With a light tap of her feet, her body landed gracefully on the ground. Every movement she made now carried an aura utterly different from yesterday.

"I wonder how Junior Brother is doing now. I'll go take a look." Nalan Yanran's eyes flickered as she pressed the switch to the secret chamber.

As the Stone Gate slowly opened, a familiar face entered Nalan Yanran's sight.

"Junior Brother!" Without caring that others were beside Chen Mo, Nalan Yanran suddenly threw herself into his arms.

Chen Mo's waiting outside had moved her.

"What's this about?" Chen Mo froze. They had only been apart for a day, and she missed him this much?

And there were people right beside them.

Senior Sister usually wasn't this uninhibited.

"Junior Brother, I've advanced to Great Dou Master." Nalan Yanran shared the good news with Chen Mo.

"Really? That's wonderful." Although Chen Mo had sensed her Great Dou Master aura the moment she emerged, he pretended not to know and shared her excitement.

"Junior Brother, how is your pill refining going?"

"Not bad." Held tightly in Nalan Yanran's embrace, a wicked fire rose in Chen Mo's lower abdomen. Leaning close to her ear, he said, "Senior Sister, I want to show you a treasure."

"What treasure?"

Chen Mo whispered softly.

"Junior Brother, you're awful. Besides, it's still daytime."

"So it would be fine if it weren't daytime?"

That night, after eating vegetarian for so many days, Chen Mo finally got his wish and had some meat.

What?

You want to ask about the process of eating meat?

Sorry, there wasn't any.

One month later.

"What's your name?"

"Ye Liangchen."

"Cultivation?"

"Three-star Great Dou Master."

"Not bad!"

"And you?"

"Zhang Han, Two-star Great Dou Master."

In the courtyard, Chen Mo was selecting a group of people to accompany him to the Imperial Capital.

As the master of a pavilion, he needed at least a little pomp.

He selected more than thirty people in total, with the weakest among them being Five-star Dou Masters.

Dressed uniformly in black robes and wearing Lingyan Pavilion's exclusive insignia, they looked rather imposing standing together.

"Set out!"

More than thirty flying magical beasts beat their wings and took off.

They were flying magical beasts called Purple Spirit Sparrows. Though they were not as fast as Green Beak Eagles, they had great endurance, lived in flocks, and were easy to command. Most importantly, they were cheap.

Leading them were naturally Chen Mo and Nalan Yanran, sharing a Green Beak Eagle.

More than thirty flying magical beasts flew over Desert City, naturally drawing the eyes of the people below.

"Who are they? They look pretty impressive."

"You don't know Lingyan Pavilion? You must be from out of town."

"Mm, I just arrived today."

"Oh? What did you just say?"

"I said I arrived yesterday."

"The sentence before that."

"Boss, I bought this refined steel longsword from you yesterday. It broke after I used it to kill just one second-tier magical beast. Isn't that ridiculously shoddy?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Everything sold at my stall is top-quality. How could there be such a shoddy longsword?"

"I don't care. Replace it for me."

"Sorry, once a sword leaves its sheath, no returns or exchanges."

On the official road along the northeastern border of the Jia Ma Empire.

Several carriages traveled in orderly succession, and the relatively lavish carriage in the middle bore quite a few insignia.

"We're about to pass Black Flag Mountain. Stay sharp, everyone!" A burly middle-aged man with chains hanging from his body shouted.

In truth, even without his shout, the mercenaries guarding the carriages had already become alert.

Bandits were everywhere here, all of them desperate outlaws with no regard for rules. Not only did they rob passing merchants of their money, they also took lives.

In the bandits' own words, whether you were from a great clan or a minor faction, as long as they silenced everyone, no one would know it was them.

Even merchant caravans with powerful guards would be bitten at by these bandits by every means possible.

"Captain Tieshi, I'll be relying on you with everything." The valiant woman riding alone rather than sitting in a carriage cupped her fists toward the middle-aged man.

"Rest assured, Miss Qiuyun. Though Lingyan Pavilion was only established recently, among all the mercenary groups in the empire, we are still among the very best." The middle-aged man called Tieshi patted his chest in assurance.

Hearing Tieshi's guarantee, the worry on Qiuyun's face lessened somewhat, but she still could not put her mind at ease.

They had purchased a batch of goods with distinctive local characteristics from a small city on the empire's northeastern border, intending to transport them to the Imperial Capital for resale.

They had asked several mercenary groups along the way. Upon hearing that they were headed for the Imperial Capital, those groups either refused outright or demanded prices higher than the value of the goods themselves.

Only Lingyan Pavilion had accepted the job, and their price was reasonable as well.

She had heard of Lingyan Pavilion's reputation, but that was only hearsay. Who knew what they were truly like?

"I hope his words are true," Qiuyun murmured softly.

There were five others traveling with Qiuyun, all of them Dou Shi.

They did not know much about Lingyan Pavilion's actual circumstances either. They only knew that this newly established faction had been expanding aggressively.

As the group spoke in low voices, shouts of battle soon came from ahead.

In front of the convoy, more than a hundred vicious-looking bandits wielding blades had surrounded the carriages from all sides.