First Pot of Gold

Staring at the young man before him, Liu Xi had no idea why, but he suddenly shuddered.

However, the humiliation from earlier that day and the confidence brought by his strength as a Two Star Dou Zhe quickly stoked the anger in his heart, and a savage, cruel smile appeared on his lips.

"You little bastard, I never expected you to dare show your face before me again. Since you've come looking for death, don't blame me.

"I'll break all four of your limbs, then throw you into the river and drown you alive to avenge the humiliation I suffered today."

As his words fell, Dou Qi surged through his body, and he transformed into a white blur that shot toward Xiao Yan.

"I'm afraid you won't get the chance."

Watching Liu Xi charge at him, Xiao Yan had no intention of dealing with this fellow using his own strength. They were not far from the crowd, and if this man let out a few screams, it might attract attention instead.

"Teacher, lend me some fire."

He silently called out to Yao Lao in his heart, and a pale flame suddenly rose from Xiao Yan's palm.

Though it was clearly a flame, it caused the temperature around them to plummet, and frost even spread across the ground.

"This is... a Heavenly Flame!"

At the sight of that pale flame, Liu Xi's pupils contracted. Most of the drunken haze in his mind vanished instantly. Before he could react, a wisp of the pale flame flew from Xiao Yan's hand.

The flame streaked through the air, leaving behind a pale trail, and landed on Liu Xi's body.

"You—"

Liu Xi had barely begun to cry out in terror when an extreme burning pain swept through his body. Fortunately, the pain lasted only an instant before he lost consciousness.

Bang!

With a dull muffled sound, his body exploded into countless specks of powder that fell to the ground, then gradually scattered into the world on the evening breeze.

The pleasure quarters in the distance remained filled with song and dance, with flirtatious laughter and lewd words occasionally drifting over. No one noticed that the Quasi-First Grade Alchemist who had strutted about so arrogantly during the day had now become a pile of ashes.

"Ah, my strength really is pitifully weak right now. I couldn't even control the power of the Bone Chilling Flame properly. I actually burned his Three Dou Qi Pills to ashes.

"Those Three Dou Qi Pills were worth over a hundred thousand Gold Coins."

Xiao Yan's face was slightly pale. When he had used the Bone Chilling Flame to attack Liu Xi just now, it had been Xiao Yan himself manipulating it with Soul Power, not Yao Lao acting on his behalf.

"Come on. You're still only at the Dou Qi stage, yet you can already wield the Bone Chilling Flame. Even if it's only a tiny wisp, it's still utterly unbelievable."

Yao Lao's astonished voice rang out in Xiao Yan's heart.

A youth who had not even cultivated Dou Qi could actually use Soul Power to control the Bone Chilling Flame and kill someone. It was as unbelievable as an ant lifting a drop of magma.

Having witnessed this, Yao Lao believed Xiao Yan's words a little more.

"That young girl and this brat both mentioned that there's a Third Grade Alchemist behind this fellow. This old man doesn't care about him, but how do you plan to deal with that man?"

The evening breeze carried a pleasant chill as Xiao Yan leisurely walked back toward the Xiao Family, Yao Lao's voice sounding by his ear.

"A Third Grade Alchemist?"

A smile appeared at the corner of Xiao Yan's lips. In his previous life, that Third Grade Alchemist had posed no small threat to the Xiao Family later on, before eventually dying at Cai Lin's hands.

But in this life, Xiao Yan did not intend to waste him so readily.

"No matter how quickly I rise, I won't have much spare energy over the next two years to look after the Xiao Family. If that old fellow comes knocking, he'll make a fine Medicine Slave for my Xiao Family."

Xiao Yan smiled faintly and returned to the Xiao Family on the evening breeze.

Everyone thought the young master of the Xiao Family had merely gone out for a stroll. None of them imagined that after Xiao Yan took a brief walk, there was one less living person in the world.

After killing Liu Xi, Xiao Yan's life returned to its day-after-day state of grueling cultivation. Aside from setting aside some time to accompany Xun'er, he devoted nearly all his attention to training.

He knew clearly that the enemies who truly threatened him were still in the distant Central State.

With his current strength, if Soul Hall casually sent over a Guardian, that person could likely kill him with ease. Therefore, he had to increase his strength as quickly as possible.

After all, having lived a second life, if Soul Hall captured his father and teacher again, then he would have lived his previous life for nothing.

Days passed, and Xiao Yan grew stronger with each one. In the blink of an eye, the scorching summer had passed, revealing the golden mountains and fields of the Xiao Family's Back Mountain.

Only half a month had passed since Liu Xi's death, yet Xiao Yan had already broken through to Dou Qi Level 6 with unstoppable momentum. His body had become even sturdier than before, and using Eight Extremes Collapse now came effortlessly to him.

It was on one autumn day that Ya Fei personally delivered another cartload of snacks and candied fruits to the Xiao Family.

Many members of the Xiao Family found this rather puzzling. But after seeing Ya Fei send half a cart's worth of wooden boxes to Xiao Yan, they understood that Ya Fei had taken a fancy to their young master's talent.

But since when had Xiao Yan liked snacks so much?

Fortunately, this did not arouse much suspicion within the Xiao Family. Even the family's elders merely laughed to themselves.

This woman looked so clever. How could she think that such childish things would win over Xiao Yan, that little brat?

Once he grew older, though, her beauty might stand a chance.

Compared with the adults' strange thoughts, the children were all delighted. The snacks Ya Fei brought were high-end goods from Wu Tan City. Even as children of the Xiao Family, they only got to eat them a few times a year.

Thanks to Xiao Yan, they had been eating to their hearts' content lately. The only one who felt somewhat worried was probably Xun'er.

That hateful vixen, always coming here to seduce my Brother Xiao Yan!

Looking at Ya Fei's seductive, alluring figure, Xun'er felt an inexplicable sense of crisis.

No matter how breathtakingly beautiful she was, she was still a girl under twelve. Compared with Ya Fei's figure that drove men mad, she still needed a few more years to develop.

Fortunately, Xiao Yan was perceptive. Whenever he sensed something was wrong, he would quickly coax her with a few words, leaving the little girl utterly smitten.

Behind this seemingly peaceful scene, after the first month of autumn had passed, Ya Fei once again emerged from a visit to the Xiao Family.

This time, however, her ample chest rose and fell slightly, revealing the unrest in her heart.

Inside the exquisite Storage Ring on her slender jade fingers lay sixteen bottles of Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.

"The last two bottles of Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid sold for a hundred thousand Gold Coins. What astronomical price will these sixteen bottles fetch?"