Cleanup Work

Yan Li was sent flying more than a dozen steps before finally falling onto the ground. He stared in disbelief as the Purple Longsword slowly withdrew from his abdomen out of thin air, then flew back into its owner's hand as if it possessed intelligence. In an instant, blood gushed wildly from the wound in his abdomen, pooling across the ground.

"Ahhh! Pills, pills!" Yan Li screamed miserably as he hurriedly pulled out a large handful of colorful pills from his Storage Ring and stuffed them into his mouth.

Multicolored light emerged from his body and flashed in turns. Only then did the finger-long wound slowly stop spurting blood.

"My apologies. I seem to have accidentally pierced your abdominal artery. Though even if I told you, you probably wouldn't understand." Liuli slowly stepped out from beside Xiao Yan and gave her left hand a light flick. All the blood on the Purple Longsword was flung away.

"You little bitch, you actually launched a sneak attack!" Yan Li's face was deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot and vicious. Enduring the intense pain, he rose to his feet, his tone brimming with resentment.

"Who was the one trying to kill someone while they were breaking through?" Liuli chuckled softly and raised her left hand, pointing the sword's tip directly at Yan Li's brow.

"You're just a yellow-haired girl at Five-Star Dou Ling. I'm an Eight-star Dou Ling! Killing you would be as easy as lifting a hand!" Yan Li roared in rage and humiliation. Gray Dou Qi enveloped his entire body before transforming into a suit of gray Dou Qi armor.

Ghost Bone Palm!

Dou Qi continuously gathered in his hand before forming a massive black palm, which slammed heavily toward Xiao Yan.

"Sigh, don't you know? Anyone who interrupts the protagonist while he's breaking through usually ends up badly." Liuli sighed softly and twirled her longsword, drawing a flower of sword light.

The black giant palm rushed forward, only to be sliced apart by something invisible six feet away from Xiao Yan and Liuli, before slowly dissipating!

"Impossible! This is my trump card! Even strong individuals who have just entered the Dou Wang realm would have to treat this move with caution!" Yan Li stared dumbfoundedly as his charging steps abruptly halted.

"You really think too highly of yourself," Liuli said with an eye roll. "The Dou Wangs you faced must have either forced their way up with pills, or you ambushed them."

Yan Li fell silent, because Fa Ma had slowly descended before Liuli and was staring at him coldly.

"Yan Li, at this point, do you still intend to resist?" Fa Ma's voice was icy and filled with killing intent.

"You can't kill me!" Yan Li suddenly burst into laughter, pointing at Fa Ma's nose as he said, "If you kill me, everyone here will be buried with me!"

"Relying on that Dou Emperor of yours? Wa Ke has already been captured. Now you can go to prison and reminisce with him." Fa Ma lightly tapped the ground with his foot, and boundless Dou Qi descended from above, forcing Yan Li to his knees.

"What? Lord Wa Ke..." Yan Li's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Everyone, after extensive investigation and evidence gathering, we have confirmed that the masterminds behind the problems in the first round of this Alchemist Competition were these Alchemists from the Chu Yun Empire. This time, they even attempted to directly kill the contestants. The Jia Ma Empire will certainly pursue such vile acts to the very end!" Jia Xingtian stepped to the edge of the VIP platform, braced his hands against the railing, and spoke at the appropriate moment.

The entire audience erupted in an uproar, and they began cursing Yan Li, who was kneeling on the ground, along with the Chu Yun Empire behind him.

"What the hell is this Chu Yun Empire? They'll even throw away their dignity just for the championship!"

"Exactly! My cauldron exploded in the first round because of them, and I couldn't perform well in the second round either. Otherwise, I could have competed for the championship in the Finals too!"

"That's right! The Chu Yun Empire is already crawling with poison masters. No good people ever come out of that place!"

A torrent of insults crashed down upon Yan Li. Meanwhile, some people from the Chu Yun Empire in the stands were cursed at by the crowd and escorted out of the venue.

"What do you know? You're nothing but a pack of opportunists who follow the wind! For the Grand Plan, we're willing to pay any price. You call us vicious, but on the Dou Qi Continent, strength reigns supreme. What right do indecisive people have to contend for anything?" Yan Li raised his head and cursed furiously at the crowd.

Many spectators were stunned by his words and fell silent, though the hatred in their eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

Yan Li was not entirely wrong. The Chu Yun Empire had relied on precisely this ruthless style of action to annex four or five kingdoms of varying sizes in only a few decades. Its strength had faintly placed it at the forefront among the empires of this region.

The clearest measure was the number of strong individuals. The Chu Yun Empire's ten strongest individuals were all Dou Huang experts! Its foremost expert even possessed the strength of a Three-Star Dou Zong. Compared with them, the Jia Ma Empire was far inferior.

"After saying all that, you still can't conceal your despicable actions." Fa Ma sighed softly and waved his hand, ordering the elite guards who had been standing by in the plaza, "Put the Qi-Locking Shackles on him and take him away!"

"Yes!" Dozens of people marched forward in orderly formation. Their black mystical iron armor gleamed with a cold light, and every one of them possessed the strength of a Dou Shi.

"Get the hell out of my way!" Yan Li roared as gray Dou Qi began gathering in his hand.

"Hmph! Stubborn to the end!" Fa Ma pressed down through the air with his raised hand. The Dou Qi weighing down on Yan Li intensified, directly forcing him flat onto the ground.

Yan Li's eyes nearly split apart as he felt the icy touch of the stone floor. The madness within him surged to its peak.

"You'll all be buried with me! Everyone, detonate the Poison Root!" Yan Li screamed madly, his voice turning hoarse.

Everyone fell silent.

"Hahaha! All of you, go die! Taking tens of thousands of rats and thousands of Alchemists to hell with me isn't a loss! Hahahahaha!" Yan Li shook the only part of his body that could still move—his head—his excitement driving him mad.

"Yan Xiao, Jia Nan Academy genius, all of you will become rotting corpses under this deadly poison!"

Yet Yan Li shouted to himself for an entire minute, and not the slightest abnormality occurred in the arena.

"What?!" Yan Li stopped his crazed antics and raised his head, looking around in confusion.

"Where are they? Didn't they say they would follow orders? Act!" Yan Li shouted again several times. "Ao Baima, Bai Deng, Te Labu!"

"Are you looking for them?" Just then, a clear, nimble voice rang across the plaza.

Atop the tallest building in the Royal Plaza stood a Pink-haired Woman in a magnificent blue robe, gazing down with great interest.

Beside her were Black Robes who had been skewered together by an enormous sword. They were dead beyond any doubt!

"Did you think we didn't know what the Chu Yun Empire was like? As early as last night, we secretly investigated every person from the Chu Yun Empire staying in the Holy City's inns. And did you think that after Wa Ke fell into our hands, we wouldn't obtain anything valuable from him?" Jia Xingtian said with a genial smile.

"Lady Yu Gongtian did not attend today because she was helping us deal with these petty scoundrels." Fa Ma stroked his beard, his eyes filled with sympathy as well.

Yan Li's face finally turned completely white. Only now did true despair rise within his heart.

"But... but we spoke just before this." Yan Li numbly raised his head, staring at the dead soldiers skewered like meat on a skewer.

"Is it that difficult to instantly kill four Dou Lings and twelve Da Dou Shis?" Yu Gongtian lightly waved her Jade Hand. The Dou Qi longsword dissipated, and the corpses fell from the sky like dead insects, striking the ground with dull thuds.

Each sound was like a spike, driving heavily into Yan Li's heart.

Yan Li completely gave up. His entire body went limp as he lay sprawled on the ground, no different from those dead soldiers over there.

"Take him away!" Fa Ma ordered again.

"Yes!" Upon receiving the command, the guards split into two orderly groups. One escorted Yan Li, while the other dragged away the corpses, and they slowly withdrew from the arena.

"Hehe, my apologies for making a spectacle of ourselves. I never expected the Alchemist Competition to cause such trouble. This old man offers everyone his apologies!" Once the matter had been resolved, Fa Ma regained his benevolent expression and bowed lightly to the crowd.

"President Fa Ma, you are too courteous!" Everyone returned the gesture with great politeness.

"Then this Alchemist Competition has come to an end. As you can see, our champion is busy breaking through, so the award ceremony likely cannot be held here. Everyone, please leave in an orderly manner!"

Thus, the competition officially came to an end. And Yan Xiao, the young man who had turned the tide several times during the competition and even displayed formidable fire-control Pill Refining techniques at the very end, would be spoken of by the departing crowd and become known throughout the entire empire!

"I knew that kid Yan Xiao would definitely win the championship!" Nalan Jie watched the people who still lingered unwilling to leave and could not help slapping his thigh as he laughed heartily.

"Mm." Nalan Yanran nodded. Looking at the black-haired Young Man seated on the ground in meditation, her eyes held a trace of tenderness. "He truly is outstanding. Exceptional."

"More than exceptional," Nalan Jie sighed. "At such a young age, he can already refine a Fifth-grade Pill. His future is limitless. In time, empires and even major factions beyond the empires will surely extend invitations to him."

"If he could come to the Misty Cloud Sect, his future achievements would definitely surpass Elder Gu He's." Nalan Yanran's bright eyes shifted as she smiled.

"Hehe, are you recruiting for the Misty Cloud Sect, or is this your own selfish motive?" Nalan Jie teased.

Nalan Yanran blushed, shooting her grandfather an annoyed glare as she muttered softly, "Although I admire him very much, he seems to have some prejudice against me."

"If you like him, you should work hard to win him over. Look, there's no shortage of pretty girls around him. That student from Jia Nan Academy has been very close to him these past few days." Nalan Jie pursed his lips toward Liuli, who was standing guard beside Xiao Yan.

"They probably knew each other before!" Nalan Yanran said uncertainly.

"Judging from Yan Xiao's reaction when he first saw them, I don't think so." Nalan Jie shook his head and stroked Nalan Yanran's hair. "Yan Ran, your grandfather did not think things through back then, which led to the current situation between you and that boy from the Xiao Family. So I will no longer interfere too much with your love life. I do not have much time left, and I hope you will have a good companion by your side."

"Grandfather..." Nalan Yanran looked up at Nalan Jie's gentle gaze, and her eyes could not help reddening. "Mm, Yan Ran understands. I'll definitely work hard to win him over."

"No rush. That boy will probably stay in the Imperial Capital for a while. Once you fulfill the Three Year Agreement and put down your burdens, you'll have plenty of time to spend with him." Nalan Jie chuckled and used his aged hand to wipe away the moisture at the corner of the Young Girl's eye.

The Three Year Agreement...

Nalan Yanran was dazed for a moment, but her expression soon became resolute once more.

She would win honorably, let go of the past, and become the person she wanted to be!