"Never mind. The Myriad Beast Spirit Fire is a Heavenly Flame, after all. Perhaps fate led you to find it in the Pill Realm."
Ling You waved his hand, though a knowing smile played across his face.
"I heard from Xuan Kongzi's disciple that you found some other treasures in that space belonging to the Pill Tower?"
Cao Ying and the Dan Family Siblings had left the space belonging to the Pill Tower long ago.
Naturally, news that Ling Xi had obtained the Purple Abyss Cauldron in that space had spread after the three of them left.
"That's right, Teacher. Take a look."
Ling You was his teacher, so Ling Xi had nothing to hide from him.
A flash of light passed over the Nakai Ring on Ling Xi's finger, and a purple medicinal cauldron appeared in the room.
"As expected of the Purple Abyss, the third-ranked treasure on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking—a divine treasure of Alchemists that had been lost for a thousand years!"
Ling You ran his hand over the somewhat rough Purple Abyss Cauldron, his expression full of emotion.
"Your luck is truly heaven-defying, you rascal..."
Ling You shook his head, then teased him.
"You went into a space opened by the Pill Tower and not only obtained the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire from the Heavenly Flame Ranking, but also got your hands on the third-ranked treasure from the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking."
"Just as I thought. You were born to be an Alchemist."
Ling Xi scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
The Myriad Beast Spirit Fire had been a system reward he received after checking in, but the Purple Abyss Cauldron really had just fallen into his lap.
"Xuan Kongzi's disciple said you'd wanted to refine a fifth-grade Blood Lotus Pill not long after entering that space belonging to the Pill Tower."
As if he'd just remembered something, Ling You asked curiously,
"Release your soul power and let me see how strong it is now."
To be honest, Ling Xi had no idea what level his soul power had reached.
At Ling You's words, he didn't hesitate. A surge of soul power spread outward from between his brows.
The space throughout the room shuddered violently beneath the force of that soul power.
"Damn... Spirit Realm soul power..."
Ling You's cheek twitched.
He'd known Ling Xi's soul power was impressive, but Spirit Realm soul power was still far beyond anything he'd expected.
Even Ling You's own soul power was only at the Late Spirit Realm.
Yet that Late Spirit Realm soul power was enough to make him one of the few eighth-grade Alchemists on the continent.
"Not even in the Ling Clan has anyone reached the Spirit Realm at your age."
Ling You's teeth practically ached with envy.
"All you lack now is experience in Alchemy and the strength of your Dou Qi."
"Once you gain enough experience and steadily improve your Dou Qi, you won't encounter any obstacles before advancing to an eighth-grade Alchemist."
"You've grown far faster than I imagined. That means I can finally stop worrying."
Ling You stepped forward and patted Ling Xi on the shoulder, his face warm with satisfaction.
"Teacher, now that we've met again, I feel like you've aged a lot."
After hesitating, Ling Xi finally voiced the words that had been weighing on his mind.
"Your... your injuries. Is there really nothing that can be done?"
Dou Venerates were supposed to be able to maintain their youthful appearance and live long lives.
But in just two and a half years, Ling You had become terribly old.
"Come to think of it, there are some things I ought to tell you."
Ling You plopped down on Ling Xi's bed, a trace of sorrow passing over his face.
"After I advanced to an eighth-grade Alchemist, I devoted myself to finding a Heavenly Flame, hoping to improve my Alchemy with its power."
"After searching for years, my wish was finally granted. I found the Wind Fury Dragon Flame in the Extreme West."
Ling Xi's brows rose slightly, and he murmured,
"The Wind Fury Dragon Flame, eighteenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking..."
Ling Xi had read about the Wind Fury Dragon Flame in Ling You's collection of books.
This Heavenly Flame was born in the eye of a fiery whirlwind in an ancient desert.
Unlike other Heavenly Flames, the Wind Fury Dragon Flame had no fixed location. On the hottest days of each year, it appeared at random somewhere in the desert, making it exceptionally rare.
Whenever it appeared, it took the form of a tornado. Wind and fire intertwined, and its flames soared hundreds of meters high. Like a giant fire dragon, it roared and spun forward, wreaking terrible destruction and leaving a sea of fire in its wake.
"Teacher, with your strength back then, refining the eighteenth-ranked Wind Fury Dragon Flame shouldn't have been too difficult, right?"
Heavenly Flames were powerful, but the Wind Fury Dragon Flame only ranked eighteenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.
For a Dou Venerate like Ling You, absorbing a Heavenly Flame ranked below the top fifteen should have been no problem at all.
"With my strength at the time, refining the Wind Fury Dragon Flame should have been easy. But at the most critical moment, two Soul Clan experts stronger than me ambushed me."
At this point, Ling You's voice turned dark. It seemed he still remembered the incident all too well.
"In that moment of crisis, I detonated the Heavenly Flame and burned through my own essence to kill those two Soul Clan experts!"
"I'd long known the Soul Clan was gathering the soul power of Alchemists all over the continent, but I never imagined I'd become one of their targets!"
Ling Xi fell silent. The Soul Clan's insidious strategy of boiling the frog was indeed formidable.
The other Six Ancient Clans had stood by while the Soul Clan destroyed the Xiao Clan. What had become of them afterward?
At least the Xiao Clan had left behind some surviving bloodline, but the Ling Clan and Shi Clan had been wiped out completely.
The Ancient Clan wasn't any better.
After the Xiao Clan was destroyed, the Soul Clan had also suffered heavy losses. Even Hun Tiandi had been left on the brink of death by Xiao Xuan.
In that state, the Soul Clan couldn't even track down the Tuoshe Ancient Jade belonging to the Xiao Clan, let alone find their spatial realm.
So where had the Xiao Clan's accumulated wealth from a thousand years gone? What about their high-tier cultivation methods and Dou Techniques?
They'd all ended up in the hands of the Ancient Clan.
Otherwise, how could the Ancient Clan have become, on the surface, the strongest of the Eight Ancient Clans?
"My body was caught in the Heavenly Flame's explosion, and my soul origin was damaged. Even a ninth-grade Alchemist couldn't save me."
Ling You showed little resistance to his own death. He only looked at Ling Xi with pride.
"But I've passed on everything I learned to you, so I can say I haven't lived in vain."
As he spoke, Ling You took a scroll with an unusually potent spiritual aura from his Nakai Ring.
"This is a Soul Technique... a skill that can only be used with soul power. It's also the most precious thing I received from the Ling Clan's inheritance."
"It was thanks to this Soul Technique that I managed to kill the two Soul Clan experts who'd surrounded me."
Ling Xi took the scroll from Ling You. The surging soul power within it made his own soul uneasy.
"High Earth Tier: Eye of the Netherworld!"
Before you continue