Six Years

"Teacher, have some tea." Xiao Li poured a cup of tea and handed it to Wang Ming.

Wang Ming gulped it down.

"Ah—Jia Ma Empire is still more comfortable." Wang Ming found a reclining chair, leaned back in it, and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

Xiao Ting and the others did not dare disturb Wang Ming. After all, President Wang was friendly to the Xiao Clan only because of Xiao Li. Although Wang Ming had taught Xiao Li for six years, he had never given the Xiao Clan any benefits.

If they wanted pills refined, they still had to follow the old rules: provide their own medicinal ingredients, with no responsibility taken whether the refinement succeeded or failed.

The Xiao Clan was able to do pill business entirely because of Xiao Li. From First Grade Pills to Fourth Grade Pills, the Xiao Clan could even compete with the Alchemist Guild for business.

Of course, all of this required President Wang's tacit approval. He was only responsible for teaching his disciple; he did not care if his disciple used Alchemy to benefit his clan.

Besides, even if the entire Xiao Clan were sold, they could not repay President Wang for what he had invested in Xiao Li over the past six years. Everyone in the Xiao Clan knew their place. At any rate, the outcome was quite good—their clan now had a Rank 4 Alchemist.

Watching Wang Ming sleep soundly, Xiao Li could not help but smile. Over these six years, he had come to know his teacher inside and out.

On the Dou Qi Continent, master-disciple relationships had always been close. Aside from a very small number of scum, such bonds could be as intimate as blood relations, or even closer.

Xiao Li was now at the Peak Six Star Dou Grandmaster realm. In the eyes of ordinary people, that was already an astonishing level, and at least within the Jia Ma Empire, it was absolutely unprecedented.

However, Xiao Li had not devoted himself entirely to cultivation over the past six years. Most of his time had been spent painstakingly studying Alchemy and tempering his foundation. He had consumed no small number of pills over the years.

As long as Wang Ming knew how to make a Foundation Building Pill, whether it was fifth grade or sixth grade, so long as he could refine it, he would make it for Xiao Li to consume. Xiao Li truly ate pills as though they were meals.

That was not all. Xiao Li not only had to consume pills, but also had to use Medicinal Baths to assist with absorption. All of this was Wang Ming laying his foundation. The process was somewhat painful, but Xiao Li had also forged a Physical Body no weaker than that of a Magical Beast.

That raised another question: why did Old Wang know so much? Was he not merely a Rank 6 Alchemist from the Jia Ma Empire? How could an Alchemist from such a Remote Place know all these things?

Heh heh! You did not understand, did you? Xiao Li had not understood before either. Gu He of the later generation was also a Rank 6 Alchemist, yet he had not exactly raised Liu Ling particularly well.

It turned out that Old Wang had originally been a Central Continent Native. His family had once been located in Windcloud City of the Southern Region of the Central Continent. The Wang Clan, to which Old Wang belonged, had been one of Windcloud City's top clans. Old Wang's Grandfather had been a Dou Ancestor Expert, his father a Dou Emperor Expert, and his mother a Peak Rank 5 Alchemist.

When Old Wang was young, he had studied Alchemy under his mother and had built a certain foundation.

According to Teacher Old Wang, his childhood had been the happiest period of his life. But good times did not last. After Wang Ming condensed his Dou Qi Vortex and became a Dou Zhe at Twelve Years Old, his Special Physique awakened.

Shocking! Old Wang actually possessed a Special Physique! That was right—Wang Ming possessed a Special Physique known as the Heavenly Yang Physique. If this physique were paired with Heavenly Treasures of an Extreme Yang Attribute, he would surely become an exceptional figure in the future!

Old Wang's awakened Special Physique caused the Wang Clan Flourished, but possessing a Special Physique in the Central Continent was instead a danger!

When Old Wang Fifteen Years Old, Ice River Valley, one of the Three Valleys, suddenly attacked the Wang Clan. Three Dou Ancestors led the assault, along with Countless Dou Emperors and Dou Kings. The Wang Clan, which had once made Windcloud City Once Prospered, was annihilated. Wang Ming was captured and taken back to Ice River Valley, where the Heavenly Yang Physique Origin was stripped from him, leaving him on the verge of death.

But he was fortunate. Old Wang had once consumed a Life-saving Sixth Grade Peak Pill in his childhood, allowing him to survive with great difficulty.

Although he had luckily survived, his physique had been crippled and his cultivation foundation destroyed. Old Wang's body was already riddled with damage. He was no longer the Windcloud City Genius Youngster he had once been.

With his clan destroyed and his loved ones gone, Old Wang had once wanted to take his own life. But the desire for revenge kept him alive.

Old Wang began cultivating diligently and targeting Ice River Valley Disciples. But how powerful was Ice River Valley? It was a Top Central Continent Power, one of the Three Valleys, surpassed only by One Hall, One Tower, Two Sects.

During one instance of Hunting Ice River Valley Disciples, he was discovered by Ice River Valley Experts. Wang Ming was pursued, and in the end, he was forced to jump off a cliff.

A saying circulated on the Dou Qi Continent: if one day, you fell off a cliff and landed in a cave, do not panic. Take two steps forward, and perhaps you would become an expert!

That joke actually happened to Wang Ming. After Old Wang fell from the cliff, he did not know how long it took before he regained consciousness. There, he discovered a skeleton.

Upon hearing Wang Ming's account, Xiao Li felt that this sounded far too much like a Protagonist Template. Clan Destroyed in Youth, physique crippled, falling off a cliff and obtaining an inheritance.

According to Old Wang, he had obtained the inheritance of a Peak Rank 7 Alchemist. That Alchemist had himself been a Dou Ancestor Expert, but he had never become a Rank 8 Alchemist in his entire life. Failing to become a Dou Zun had been the regret of his life.

After obtaining that Alchemist's inheritance, coupled with the Alchemy knowledge he had learned from his mother since childhood, Old Wang taught himself Alchemy.

He cultivated until reaching the Dou King Level before leaving the mountains. After killing Two Ice River Valley Dou Kings, he left the Central Continent for the Northwest Continent and eventually settled in the Jia Ma Empire.

Old Wang had endured countless hardships in his life. Though he still had Enemies left alive, Wang Ming had already come to terms with it. Passing down all his Alchemy was what mattered most.

Xiao Li had heard Old Wang say this more than once.

Old Wang said, "My Luck has already been good enough. After living for so many years, what is there left to be dissatisfied about? When my Approaching Death comes, I will open up a cave and leave behind my inheritance. That will count as seeing things through from beginning to end."

Xiao Li knew that Old Wang carried severe Old Wounds. That was why he looked so aged, and why, despite clearly being a Six Star Dou Emperor, he could only display combat power equivalent to three or four stars.

This was also why Old Wang could not refine Sixth Grade Peak Pills. First of all, Soul Growth was limited by one's own Dou Qi Cultivation.

Although Old Wang had fortunately survived, his talent had been utterly destroyed. Old Wang often said that his current cultivation was thanks to the inheritance of that Rank 7 Alchemist. Otherwise, he would have found it difficult even to step into the Dou Emperor realm.

Naturally, Xiao Li wanted to heal his teacher. Over the years, his teacher had given him quite a few treasures.

First were an Earth Grade Low-level Cultivation Method and its Matching Dou Techniques. Then, when Xiao Li was Twelve Years Old, Old Wang gave him a Rank 6 Beast Flame, the Purple Tiger Flame, taken from a Rank 6 Magical Beast, the Purple Emperor Tiger King.

Then there was the Medicine Cauldron Xiao Li had just used. It was a Rank 5 Medicine Cauldron that Old Wang had previously used often, called the Blue Flame Cauldron.

Everything had been Given by Old Wang. Xiao Li was not some shameless beast who betrayed his master and destroyed his ancestors. He despised such people most in his life. The two most notorious beasts on the Dou Qi Continent who had betrayed their masters and destroyed their ancestors were Han Feng and Hun Xuzi.

Old Wang had already nurtured Xiao Li's Bone Structure and Foundation. Before long, his cultivation would Explode Like a Fountain.

Old Wang had invested far too much in Xiao Li. Old Wang said that, barring any accidents, what he had invested would allow Xiao Li to smoothly become a Dou Zun Expert. That was right—a Dou Zun!

Old Wang was, after all, a Central Continent Native. In the Central Continent, Dou Zuns were everywhere. Especially in the Central Region of the Central Continent, Dou Zuns gathered in great numbers, and even Dou Shengs could appear there!

Old Wang hoped his disciple could become a Dou Zun Expert capable of dominating one side. Dou Zongs merely ruled as tyrants in this Remote Place.