Restrictions Within Wutan City

A full month had passed since Xiao Yan began cultivating with the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid.

During this time, with Old Man Yao's Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid and Hun Ruoruo's Pure Water Dou Qi assisting him, Xiao Yan's cultivation progress could no longer be described as merely advancing by leaps and bounds.

By now, his cultivation had even reached the bottleneck of the Fifth Stage of Dou Qi!

One had to know that the Dou Qi stage served to strengthen the body and lay a foundation. Cultivation at this stage was usually extremely slow; even improving by one stage a year would qualify someone as seed-level talent within the Xiao Family. Yet Xiao Yan had spent only a single month and was already about to break through two consecutive stages of Dou Qi. It was clear just how astonishing that was.

Though the two of them had contributed greatly, at the end of the day, it was Xiao Yan's intense desire to grow stronger. The mockery he had endured for three years had made him understand just how important strength was on the Dou Qi Continent.

For this reason, he kept to himself. Aside from various trivial matters, he almost never appeared before the other members of the Xiao Family. This unintentional behavior gradually shrouded his image in mystery within their minds.

The youth who often sat alone somewhere on the Training Ground seemed to have undergone some change they knew nothing about.

Outside Wutan City, within the mountains and forests.

A Girl in a black dress sat upright upon a meditation cushion, her eyes shut tight. Her aura was gathered but not dispersed, while rings of pale purple light continuously spread outward like ripples across a lake.

Yet when those pale purple halos expanded to a certain extent, they seemed to touch an invisible barrier. In an instant, they merged into it, then gradually faded and dispersed.

Several hours later, the Girl slowly rose to her feet and withdrew her aura. The pale purple halos that had continuously spread outward also contracted back into the space between her brows. Purple Light flickered, lending several traces of bewitching allure to her pure, ethereal face.

"The Ancient Clan's only Dou Emperor expert, you really have made Ruoruo suffer." The Girl's voice was languid and soft, yet it seemed to contain no small amount of mockery.

With such a tone, she was naturally none other than Hun Ruoruo.

While helping Xiao Yan continuously improve in his cultivation, she naturally would not neglect her own cultivation progress.

Because cultivating Soul Dou Techniques produced Special Fluctuations, Hun Ruoruo had chosen to build a small wooden cabin for daily life in a forest far outside Wutan City, setting up several barriers to isolate her aura.

This was not to guard against Old Man Yao, but rather to deal with Ling Ying, the Dou Emperor of the Ancient Clan hiding within Wutan City and occasionally using his senses to protect his Miss.

Even if Ling Ying's Soul Force was likely only at the weakling level of someone who had just entered the Mortal Realm, the years of living in constant fear in the Soul Realm had made Hun Ruoruo incomparably vigilant and cautious. Any potential risk would be snuffed out by her in advance.

Putting away her playful mood, the Girl immersed her consciousness in her soul world and quietly sensed the subtle changes in her Soul Force after cultivation.

"As expected, it's impossible to improve Soul Force in Wutan City as I did before." Hun Ruoruo sighed, unsurprised.

"Since I can't become an Alchemist, it seems I can only keep improving my Soul Force through using Soul Skills."

As the most honored profession on the entire Dou Qi Continent, becoming an Alchemist required extremely harsh conditions—

First, one's Soul Force had to surpass that of ordinary people.

Second, one had to possess the special Dou Qi attribute of Wood element within Fire.

These were not multiple-choice conditions where fulfilling either one was enough. One had to possess both in order to qualify as an Alchemist.

Therefore, despite Hun Ruoruo's Soul Force far exceeding that of ordinary people, her Pure Water Dou Qi meant that she no longer had any possibility of becoming an Alchemist.

Without being an Alchemist, she could not strengthen her Soul Force through methods such as refining medicinal ingredients. Thus, the best approach was to continuously use Soul Skills to squeeze out her potential, gradually raising her Soul Force until she broke through.

But within Wutan City, there was clearly no situation where she could unleash her Soul Skills with all her strength.

With no one around, Hun Ruoruo could not be bothered to maintain appearances. She simply leaned against the meditation cushion and lay down on the ground, her beautiful eyes half-closed as her voice drew out lazily.

"Devouring souls is still the fastest way to improve. I wonder if there's anyone in Wutan City worth eating. Ah, I almost forgot. Those little lackeys probably can't even condense the slightest trace of Soul Force. Eating them would be pointless."

Pouting somewhat regretfully, the Girl muttered, "Forget it. I'll leave those lackeys for the protagonist to raise his Soul Force. Once we leave Wutan City, there will be plenty of chances to devour souls."

Other than the protagonist's group, everyone else was merely nourishment for increasing her strength in Hun Ruoruo's eyes. There was nothing worth paying much attention to.

Only the protagonist and Old Man Yao were worth her effort—worth slowly laying plans for and waiting to savor the joy of the final harvest.

Perhaps even the Girl herself had not realized that, in this regard, her actions seemed no different from those of the Soul Hall.

Xiao Family, Xiao Manor.

Having finished cultivating, Xiao Yan climbed out of the wooden barrel with careful, cautious movements, afraid of splashing the spiritual liquid inside.

He turned to look at the pale cyan liquid. In merely a month, the medicinal power within the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid had almost been completely absorbed by him. Let alone lasting another month, it would be difficult for it to hold out even another two or three days.

Although Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid could be refined at any time and he did not need to worry about money, the thought of going to Hun Ruoruo again to "buy" Bone Washing Flowers made Xiao Yan shudder, his entire body feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

"Forget it. I'll use it for as long as it lasts." Xiao Yan muttered to himself, his expression bitter.

The reason he said "for as long as it lasts" was mainly because Hun Ruoruo's teasing had frightened him badly. The rumor among the Xiao Family's younger generation that Xiao Yan had gone mad from frustration had still not died down.

Though he was rather displeased, Xiao Yan did not dislike this mysterious and peculiar Miss Ruoruo in the slightest. Aside from enjoying teasing and flirting with him, making it difficult for him to save face, she had never done anything excessive.

In fact, he owed his current progress to her resources and assistance, so he was truly grateful to her—

A Girl who had not looked down on him at all when he was at his most helpless and miserable, and had even spared no effort in helping him... Even if Xiao Yan wanted to dislike her, he likely could not bring himself to have such thoughts.

As for whether she had some agenda, he found it even less important. When had good fortune ever simply fallen from the sky for no reason?

Didn't Old Man Yao have an agenda as well?

Help was help. As long as what she wanted did not threaten him or his family, Xiao Yan did not care in the least.

The breeze outside drifted through the gaps in the window lattice and brushed against the youth's skin, still stained with spiritual liquid. It brought threads of coolness and interrupted his thoughts.

"Heh, I've only made a little progress. Why am I already thinking about the future?" Xiao Yan rubbed his nose, feeling that he seemed to be getting carried away.

After three years, the sensation of once again having his body filled with Dou Qi was truly intoxicating, so it was only natural that he would begin to yearn for and look ahead to the future.

As the sunlight outside the window gradually weakened and the room unknowingly turned somewhat cooler, the youth took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and held it before his chest.

All his despair and unwillingness had now been fixed in the past. What Xiao Yan had to do was continue cultivating tirelessly, until the name of the Xiao Family's former genius resounded once more!