Choice

Old Yao picked up an Ink Leaf Lotus and tossed it into the pale-white flame. The moment the two came into contact, the Ink Leaf Lotus was refined into a mass of inky-black liquid.

Old Yao controlled the Bone Spirit Cold Flame and continued roasting the inky-black liquid. If the temperature rose even slightly, the liquid would instantly vaporize into nothingness. Before long, yellow impurities were roasted out of the black liquid. With a flick of his finger, Old Yao expelled them. A few more impurities surfaced afterward, and Old Yao removed them all.

Only when the inky-black liquid had shrunk to the size of a thumb and turned a deep, profound black beneath the pale-white flame, like a black pearl, did he stop.

Old Yao then refined the other four Ink Leaf Lotuses into four more masses of pure liquid resembling black pearls.

He then used the Bone Spirit Cold Flame to refine and merge the five dark liquids together, shrinking them once more to thumb size. He also left a trace of flame within the liquid to maintain its temperature.

Old Yao immediately picked up a Snake Saliva Fruit and threw it into the Bone Spirit Cold Flame. The instant it touched the flame, it turned into an emerald-green liquid carrying faint chills. After removing the impurities, he immediately covered the black liquid with the emerald-green liquid.

Sizzle, sizzle. The two liquids with different medicinal properties immediately produced an unusual sound upon contact, and faint white vapor rose within the flames.

Before long, the white vapor weakened, and the embryonic form of a pill emerged. Old Yao then tossed in the Spirit Gathering Grass and a second-tier water-attributed Monster Core, refining them into liquid, removing the impurities, and fusing them together. The complicated yet delicate process was completed by Old Yao in one smooth motion.

The Spirit Gathering Grass injected the neutralized Monster Core energy into the pill embryo. The originally uneven pill gradually became smooth, and when the final drop of blue energy entered it, a smooth, round pill was refined.

Old Yao withdrew the flames, took out a jade bottle, stored the pale-blue Qi Gathering Powder inside it, and tossed it to Xia Mo and Xiao Yan. "Take a look."

Xia Mo casually checked the pill's quality before tossing it to Xiao Yan. He had not had such a thing when he advanced to the Dou Zhe level. He had heard that Qi Gathering Powder could guarantee the formation of a Dou Zhe Qi vortex.

Xiao Yan took it, sniffed it, and wore an intoxicated expression. Then he smiled, looking somewhat lascivious, as though he had thought of something...

After three days of preparation, Xiao Yan successfully advanced to Dou Zhe in the Xiao Clan's back mountain, under Old Yao and Xia Mo's protection.

Old Yao then took out two cultivation techniques, one black and one red. The black one was the Flame Mantra, while the red one was a low-grade Earth-tier fire-attributed cultivation technique.

Old Yao had Xia Mo and Xiao Yan choose between them. Xia Mo said he already had a cultivation technique and did not need either, but Xiao Yan fell into a dilemma. One was only low-grade Yellow-tier but could evolve, while the other was Earth-tier with a fixed upper limit.

"Xiao Yan, your little girlfriend's faction is very powerful. Only by cultivating the Flame Mantra will you be qualified to stand before them. They do not care about talent; only strength that earns their recognition matters," Old Yao said.

"Then if I cultivate it, can I gain that kind of power?" Xiao Yan asked.

"No. Only if you successfully cultivate the Flame Mantra will it be possible." Old Yao shook his head and spoke to Xiao Yan with a grave expression. "And I am currently only in a soul state. If I want to escape this illusory state, I also need the Flame Mantra.

"The Flame Mantra records how several Heavenly Flames can work together to forge a body capable of housing a soul. At that point, I could be considered reborn."

In the end, Xiao Yan chose the Flame Mantra.

Over the next two months, the conflict between the Xiao Clan and the Jia Lie Family erupted. The Jia Lie Family relied on Liu Xi to suppress the Xiao Clan, while Xiao Yan began learning alchemy. Xia Mo handed all the medicinal powders he had refined in the past to Xiao Yan, and within a month, they had suppressed the Jia Lie Family so thoroughly that it could not lift its head.

Then a conflict broke out at the Marketplace, and Liu Xi somehow disappeared, making matters even worse for the Jia Lie Family.

After that, Xiao Yan completely cut off the Jia Lie Family's source of Medicinal Herbs in Wutan City. To keep going, the Jia Lie Family planned to purchase a batch of Medicinal Herbs on credit from Talan City.

Thus, Xia Mo and Xiao Yan waited along the route indicated by their intelligence for the Jia Lie Family's medicinal herb convoy. The blazing sun hung high in the sky as seven or eight carriages traveled onward. The convoy guards constantly shouted curses, and their chaotic noise made them seem even more like a disorganized rabble.

Jia Lie Nu, one of the Jia Lie Family's two elders, was a three-star Da Dou Shi with a water attribute.

"Teacher, watch over me later. I want to test the strength of a Da Dou Shi," Xia Mo said.

"Go ahead. The others will not disturb you," Old Yao said.

A guard at the front of the convoy told Jia Lie Nu that someone was blocking the road. When he stepped forward, he saw two black-robed figures ahead, one tall and one short, their faces hidden from view.

Without saying anything, Xia Mo summoned his Dou Qi Veil, stomped fiercely against the ground, and charged straight at Jia Lie Nu. Seeing that he was merely a Dou Shi, Jia Lie Nu's face instantly darkened. "Good, very good. What kind of stray cats and dogs dare bully my Jia Lie Family now?"

Seeing that Xia Mo was only a Dou Shi, Jia Lie Nu did not retreat. Pale-blue Dou Qi gathered around his fist as he stepped forward. Seeing him underestimate his opponent so greatly, Xia Mo gathered even more power into his own fist.

Sensing Xia Mo's aura, fierce Dou Qi surged from Jia Lie Nu's body and wrapped around his fist. With a sharp whistle of wind, he charged at Xia Mo.

At the instant their fists collided, Xia Mo clenched his fist tightly, force swirling around it, and coldly shouted in his heart, Eight Level Collapse! His fist smashed forward with a sonic boom, striking Jia Lie Nu's fist viciously.

Bang!

After a dull impact, everyone suddenly heard a sharp crack. The Jia Lie Family guards burst into laughter. "Haha, that guy's arm was broken by the elder!" "Exactly! A mere Dou Shi actually dared challenge a Da Dou Shi!"

Of course, it was not Xia Mo's arm that had broken. He shouted in his heart, Explode! A hidden force erupted within Jia Lie Nu's arm, rendering it useless. Seizing the initiative, Xia Mo abruptly closed in. Ancient Dragon Fist! His fists, filled with fierce force, struck Jia Lie Nu's body again and again.

The instant he came into contact with Xia Mo, Jia Lie Nu sensed something was wrong. He condensed a Dou Qi Armor around his body, but under Xia Mo's nearly nonstop brute physical strength and Profound-tier high-grade Dou Technique attacks...

Amid one dull bang, bang, bang after another, Jia Lie Nu discovered that his Dou Qi Armor was gradually shattering. Seeing this, Xia Mo gathered force around his fist once again and shouted in his heart, Eight Level Collapse!

This punch was the last straw. Jia Lie Nu's Dou Qi Armor shattered, and the fierce fist struck his chest, sending him sliding several meters backward.

Jia Lie Nu's chest had caved in while his back bulged outward. Without high-grade healing medicine, he clearly would not survive.

"How... can this be..." Jia Lie Nu raised his head to glance at Xia Mo, spat out a mouthful of blood, then tilted his head to one side. His breath vanished.

Xia Mo bent over and panted heavily. That string of violent attacks had exhausted him considerably. "Teacher, deal with the others too."

Pale-white flames rose up as Old Yao stepped forward. The pale-white flame swept through the Jia Lie Family guards in a flash, leaving nothing behind.

"Teacher, burn these Medicinal Herbs too," Xiao Yan said.

"Are you stupid? These Medicinal Herbs are worth four hundred thousand gold coins. Once you refine them into medicine, how much will they be worth? What a wastrel!" Xia Mo hurried forward and said.

Xiao Yan thought about it and agreed, but his low-grade Storage Ring could not hold so many Medicinal Herbs. "Teacher, can you put them away?" Old Yao's soul force flashed, and he stored the Medicinal Herbs in his ring.

Only after the Medicinal Herbs had been put away did they let Old Yao set the carriages on fire...

After Xia Mo and Xiao Yan seized the Medicinal Herbs, they returned to the Xiao Clan. Following the battle, Xia Mo's aura surged, and he sensed that he was about to advance to Seven-Star Dou Shi. He immediately entered seclusion.

One day later, Xia Mo successfully broke through to Seven-Star Dou Shi. That evening, Xiao Yi Xian prepared a lavish dinner, and Xiao Yan shamelessly brought Xun Er over to mooch a meal.

One day afterward, while Xiao Yan was cultivating, Old Yao said to Xia Mo, "Xiao Mo, you're still young, and your strength isn't sufficient. You don't need to come along for training. Go straight to Jia Nan Academy instead. After some time, I'll bring Xiao Yan to find you. Since there are still half a month before Jia Nan Academy begins, go gather the Medicinal Herbs for a Three-pattern Green Spirit Pill. I'll refine one for you so that you can advance to Da Dou Shi before you leave."

"Alright, Teacher," Xia Mo replied.

Xia Mo knew he definitely could not stay with Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan needed to travel in search of Heavenly Flames, while he needed to head to the academy to rapidly increase his strength and gather information about Bodhi Body Transformation Saliva.

It would be even better if he could obtain it early, but all of that required strength...

PS: The numbers are a little lackluster, friends. Throw your recommendation votes, bookmarks, monthly votes, and tips at me!