Han Feng's Temptation!

Xiao Yan's days became routine and oppressive.

Every day, he had to offer most of the Dou Qi he had painstakingly cultivated to Han Feng within the ring, nourishing that unfathomable soul in his eyes.

He devoted all his remaining time to practicing alchemy and cultivating the strange Cultivation Method known as the Flame Mantra.

But alchemy was an expensive craft.

Even the medicinal ingredients required for the lowest first-grade pills came at no small cost.

Xiao Yan's meager monthly allowance from the Xiao Family had long been exhausted. He had even secretly pawned some of the not-so-valuable keepsakes left by his mother, yet the Gold Coins he received vanished into the bottomless pit of medicinal ingredients.

Looking at his empty money pouch and another batch of ingredients beside the Medicine Cauldron that had failed to refine and turned to charcoal, Xiao Yan sat dejectedly on the ground, his face filled with anxiety and unwillingness.

"Teacher, I've run out of medicinal ingredients again," Xiao Yan reported bitterly in his heart.

"Hmph. Can mere money truly stump a cultivator?" Han Feng's cold voice carried disdain. "If you remain so timid and hesitant, when will you ever achieve anything?"

"But I truly have no other way," Xiao Yan said helplessly.

Ask the family for help? He could not bring himself to do it, especially after his cultivation had regressed and he had endured so many contemptuous looks.

"No way?" Han Feng sneered. "Since ancient times, the fastest way to make money has been murder and plunder! The strong live, the weak die—such is the law of heaven!"

"Murder and plunder?" Xiao Yan's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively felt resistance.

He was still a youth, after all. Though he had experienced a low point and his temperament had grown darker, directly committing such evil still made him hesitate.

"What? Afraid?" Han Feng's voice was filled with mockery.

"With courage like yours, you still dream of becoming strong? You still want revenge on that brat named Gu Long? What a joke!"

Gu Long's name was like a needle, viciously piercing the most sensitive and vulnerable part of Xiao Yan's heart.

Humiliation and unwillingness instantly crushed the hesitation in his heart.

"Teacher! What should I do?" Xiao Yan's gaze turned fierce.

"Now that's more like it." Han Feng laughed sinisterly.

"Wutan City is not large. Aside from your Xiao Family, the Jia Lie Family and Ao Ba Family are the strongest forces.

Both families have their own medicinal shops and transport channels.

From what I sense, the Jia Lie Family has a shipment of Blood Coagulating Grass and Vitality Fruit purchased from elsewhere arriving at night in the coming days, taking the old western road.

As for the Ao Ba Family... one of their stewards often embezzles medicinal ingredients for himself and hides them in his residence outside the southern part of the city."

Han Feng's Soul Power far surpassed that of ordinary people. Even while residing within the ring, his sensory range and sensitivity to energy were enough to cover all of Wutan City. Gathering intelligence on these ordinary families was effortless.

"Go rob them!" Han Feng's voice was bewitching and cruel.

"You'll obtain the medicinal ingredients you urgently need while weakening your opponents as well—killing two birds with one stone! Remember, the path of cultivation is a struggle against men and against heaven! If your heart is not ruthless, you cannot stand firm!"

The last trace of hesitation in Xiao Yan's eyes was completely ignited, transforming into flames of ruthlessness.

His desire for power, his hatred for Gu Long, and his dissatisfaction with his current situation overwhelmed the moral bottom line in his heart.

"I understand, Teacher!"

That night, the moon was dark and the wind fierce.

On the old western road, a Jia Lie Family convoy made up of several carriages was moving slowly. The guards yawned, looking somewhat lax.

This was within Wutan City. They did not believe anything major would happen.

Suddenly, a black shadow shot out from the forest beside the road at astonishing speed!

The figure was covered from head to toe in a loose black robe, with black cloth masking his face. Only a pair of eyes, gleaming with cold light in the darkness, could be seen.

It was Xiao Yan!

Without wasting a word, the Dou Qi within him surged wildly. His fists whistled through the air as he charged straight at the convoy's guards.

"Enemy attack!" the captain of the guards cried, hurriedly moving to meet him.

However, Xiao Yan was now a One-Star Dou Practitioner. Though his foundation was unstable, he still held an absolute advantage over guards whose highest cultivation was merely Dou Qi.

His fists and kicks were vicious, striking specifically at vital points. With several sinister techniques taught by Han Feng, he quickly knocked several guards to the ground, leaving them groaning in pain.

But Xiao Yan did not kill them. That was the last of his inner bottom line.

He swiftly rushed to the carriages and lifted the tarps. Inside were bundles upon bundles of fresh Blood Coagulating Grass and Vitality Fruit.

Without ceremony, he tore several packs from the guards' bodies and rapidly packed away the most valuable medicinal ingredients. Then, with a flash of his body, he vanished into the dark forest once more.

The entire process took less than the time it took to burn an incense stick.

A few days later, at the Ao Ba Family's residence outside the southern part of the city.

Xiao Yan used the same method, sneaking in under cover of night and subduing the steward, who possessed only Eight-Stage Dou Qi.

From a hidden compartment in the man's bedroom, he seized quite a few precious medicinal ingredients that had been embezzled, along with several first-grade pills of decent quality.

Xiao Yan handled both operations cleanly and decisively. He hid his identity behind a mask and fled immediately after succeeding.

The nervousness and guilt he initially felt were swiftly replaced by a twisted thrill and the illusion of being "powerful" once he obtained those weighty medicinal ingredients and pills.

Look, this was power! With power, he could obtain everything he wanted!

He used most of the stolen ingredients to practice alchemy, while carefully hiding the finest portion and those few pills as his trump cards.

With an abundance of materials, his alchemy finally made slight progress. At the very least, his success rate in refining Blood Coagulating Powder had improved somewhat.

The Jia Lie Family and Ao Ba Family were robbed one after another. Although their losses were not crippling, they still caused considerable alarm and suspicion.

The two great families accused one another, each believing the other was responsible. For a time, the atmosphere within Wutan City became somewhat tense.

Within the Xiao Family's small courtyard.

Gu Long listened as Ling Ying expressionlessly reported the recent "interesting events" in Wutan City.

"The Jia Lie Family's medicinal ingredients were robbed, an Ao Ba Family steward's hidden stash was discovered, medicinal ingredients and pills were stolen..."

Gu Long lightly tapped his fingers against the stone table, a knowing curve forming at the corner of his lips.

He could almost be certain that this was Xiao Yan's handiwork.

This style of action carried the ruthlessness and immaturity of someone driven into a corner. It was impossible to separate it from the guidance of that old fox Han Feng.

"Just a clown leaping about," Gu Long muttered.

This was exactly the situation he was happy to see.

Under Han Feng's guidance, Xiao Yan was heading step by step further down the wrong path, while his conflicts with Wutan City's other forces were also silently accumulating.

To Gu Long, this brought only benefits and no drawbacks. He could not be bothered to stop or expose Xiao Yan.

Let Xiao Yan struggle in the mire. The harder he struggled, the deeper he would sink.

"Old Ling, just keep watching. No need to interfere," Gu Long instructed.

"Yes." Ling Ying's figure silently disappeared.

Gu Long raised his head and looked toward the depths of the Xiao Family. His gaze seemed able to pierce through the walls and see the youth in a dark corner, struggling to cultivate a flawed Cultivation Method with plundered resources, his heart filled with hatred and twisted desire.

Plunder is only the beginning, Gu Long thought indifferently. Han Feng, I hope you won't disappoint me. Teach your disciple well.

He was very curious how far Xiao Yan could ultimately go down this carefully designed crooked path.

As for himself, he only needed to wait quietly and continue accumulating his own strength.

The resources gained from daily sign-ins, the increasingly refined Dou Emperor cultivation within his body, Dragon Domain developing far away in the Black Corner Region, and Yao Chen's soul sleeping in the System Space... these were his true foundations.

In his eyes, Xiao Yan's petty disturbances were merely the powerless agitation of a single chess piece on the board, incapable of changing the overall situation.