Medicine Venerable?

After a brief exchange, Xiao Yan had Ka Gang, who was exhausted, remain behind to recover his Dou Qi while he himself rushed toward the front of the Merchant Caravan.

Watching the young man's retreating figure, Ka Gang looked somewhat dazed, his tone filled with indescribable complexity.

"Brother Yao Yan must be some top genius sent out to train from one of the great powers in the Imperial Capital."

Thinking back to when he had invited the other party to Qingshan Town, he had harbored a few thoughts of his own, hoping to recruit this youth who had ventured alone into the Monster Beast Mountain Range into his Mercenary Group.

Now that he thought about it, Ka Gang found it utterly laughable.

A small place like Qingshan Town was clearly somewhere the other party would never be willing to go. That was simply not his stage.

After standing there in a daze for a moment, Ka Gang shook his head with a bitter smile and hurriedly circulated his cultivation technique, rapidly restoring the Dou Qi he had exhausted.

"To forge a good bond is already no easy thing. To desire anything more would be far too greedy."

Along the way, Xiao Yan raced in the direction of the Merchant Caravan. When he saw the bloody scene around him, his brows immediately furrowed deeply.

The Merchant Caravan had little combat strength to begin with, and it had been ambushed by bandits at night. Clearly, it had no room to fight back.

It was a completely one-sided situation.

Two days was not a long time, but the Merchant Caravan's members had treated Xiao Yan well enough and had shown him no hostility. Now that they had suffered such a calamity, he naturally could not stand by and watch.

Not to mention the intense killing intent the bandits had shown toward him.

Knowing that this matter could not be settled peacefully, Xiao Yan's gaze turned cold, and he simply attacked without hesitation!

With Soul Force enhancing him, he recalled the vicious angles Scar had used earlier, imitating and refining them as he continuously sought breakthroughs in combat techniques.

First came a tangled fight, then a one-sided slaughter, until the final blow killed with a single strike.

Just like that, the youth's experience in killing soared at an astonishing rate amid tonight's baptism of blood and fire.

Among the numerous lackeys, most had not actually reached the Dou Zhe realm. After all, while Dou Zhe were not scarce around the edges of the Monster Beast Mountain Range, they were by no means common.

Apart from a handful of Dou Zhe, most were cultivators in the middle and upper stages of Dou Qi. He did not even need to use Fire Blowing Palm; his long-tempered body alone was enough to kill them in a single exchange.

Before long, the few surviving Merchant Caravan members under the mercenaries' protection appeared in Xiao Yan's sight.

At the same time, everyone locked in battle on the field could not help turning their eyes toward Xiao Yan—

His hands were covered in thick crimson blood, and his clothes were completely soaked, though not with sweat. He looked as fierce as a young demon god.

In such a scene, where was even a trace of the calm youth from before?

Even several mercenaries who had long grown accustomed to life and death could not help being shocked and moved.

One mercenary gathered his courage and could not help asking in a trembling voice, "Brother Yao... do you need Hemostatic Liquid?"

Xiao Yan laughed lightly. "Thank you, but the blood on me did not come from me."

As soon as those words fell, the mercenaries and Merchant Caravan members all swallowed hard, unable to utter a single word.

At this moment, everyone shared only one thought: these bandits were completely finished.

Because they had provoked someone they should never have provoked.

When the many bandits not far away heard this, their legs trembled, and they nearly gave up resisting.

They exchanged glances, their expressions changing again and again, before finally gritting their teeth. "Fight!"

If they did not fight, their ending was already decided.

"Eight Extremes: Shatter!"

Several men fell to the ground with lifeless eyes. Their only thought was that fighting had led to a decided end anyway; if they had not fought, perhaps they could have died more easily.

"Damn, he's way too strong!"

With that thought, their consciousness sank into darkness.

Retracting his aura, Xiao Yan sensed the cyclone rotating like a nebula within his body. It was much dimmer than usual, yet it spun at an incomparably rapid speed, displaying the excitement coursing through his body.

Slowly exhaling a breath of foul air, Xiao Yan's voice unconsciously carried a faint trace of killing intent. "I have already done all I can. When I killed Scar earlier, he mentioned that there was still a Great Chieftain behind these bandits. As for that person's strength, I doubt I can contend with him."

"Scar?!"

"So he was a traitor! That damned bastard."

Upon hearing this, everyone was first filled with hatred, then their expressions became complicated. Yet they could no longer bring themselves to beg anything more from Xiao Yan.

This blood-soaked youth before them had merely met them by chance, yet he had done far more than his duty. This was a genuine life-saving grace.

After thinking it over, one elderly servant finally could not help kneeling before Xiao Yan and kowtowing. "Venerable Yao, Immortal Yao, please save Miss! She was taken away by those villains. Who knows what suffering she might endure—"

Seeing this, a mercenary who had worked with the Merchant Caravan many times before changed expression drastically and rebuked her in a low voice, "Do not speak nonsense!"

Xiao Yan immediately felt a headache coming on. Just as he was about to help the old servant up, he saw the bright red blood on his own hands and could only give up helplessly.

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he said, "Grandma, I am merely an early-stage Dou Zhe. How could I possibly deserve to be called a Venerable or an Immortal?"

Of the title Venerable Yao, only the word "Yao" suited Xiao Yan at present.

Even the surname Yao had been something he had casually made up based on his Teacher's name. Speaking of Venerable Yao, Xiao Yan felt that Old Man Yao was more suited to that title, though he did not know his Teacher's precise cultivation, so he could not make careless guesses.

Yet the old servant was usually responsible for daily care and knew nothing at all about cultivation. Having never seen such a scene of slaughter, she only kept kowtowing desperately.

Left with no choice, Xiao Yan sighed and nodded. "I can try, but if the other party is too strong for me, there will be nothing I can do."

Then, beneath everyone's hopeful yet reverent gazes, Xiao Yan sped toward the place where Miss had been taken.

He did not know the Great Chieftain's strength. With his peak One-star Fighter strength, at most, he could swiftly kill a Four-star Dou Practitioner by catching him off guard.

Any higher than that, and he had no such confidence.

Therefore, if he wanted to act, the only method he could rely on was the Soul Dou Technique Hun Ruoruo had given him.

A Soul Dou Technique killed invisibly. Even if the opponent's cultivation was far above his own, their soul would ultimately have no guard against it.

Firmly believing this, Xiao Yan considered it again and again before deciding to put it into action.

He first spread the Bitter Grass Liquid borrowed from the mercenaries all over his body, masking the thick scent of blood. Then, hunched over, he moved with extremely light steps toward the depths of the forest.

Before long, he finally saw several scattered bandits, as well as the sturdy man at their head.

He should be the Great Chieftain.

When he used Soul Piercing Strike again after so long, it did not feel unfamiliar in the slightest. That wonderful sensation of controlling and plundering Soul Force stirred wicked thoughts in Xiao Yan every time he used it, forcing him to suppress them.

Had it not been for Old Man Yao's guidance and instruction, with the temperament he had possessed back then, he likely would not have been able to resist its temptation.

The thought flashed by, and Xiao Yan's gaze became indifferent. A strange purple glow gradually gathered in the depths of his eyes, combining with his ink-black pupils to make him handsome yet sinister.