Xiao Yi Xian leaned softly against the headboard, watching Ye Xiu get up and head for the door.
When he reached the door, Ye Xiu looked back at her.
"Next time you can't handle the cultivation, say so. Don't push yourself."
Xiao Yi Xian's face reddened again. She lowered her head and murmured, "Mm."
The door closed.
She sat alone in the darkness, covering her burning face, and didn't move for a long time.
After quite a while, she finally muttered, "Master is way too strong..."
Then she buried herself under the covers and curled into a ball.
Ye Xiu went downstairs, asked the innkeeper to prepare some food, and carried a tray back upstairs.
When he pushed open the door, Xiao Yi Xian had already recovered. She was sitting on the bed, straightening her clothes. Seeing Ye Xiu come in, she stood up, took the tray from him, and set it on the table.
"Master, let me."
Ye Xiu sat down at the table and watched as she set out the dishes and handed him a pair of chopsticks.
They ate in silence.
After they finished, Xiao Yi Xian cleared the dishes and carried the tray, ready to take it downstairs.
She paused at the door and looked back at Ye Xiu.
"Master, shall we cultivate together again tomorrow?"
Ye Xiu glanced at her. "Do you want to?"
Xiao Yi Xian nodded and said softly, "I do."
"Then we will."
Xiao Yi Xian smiled sweetly and went out, closing the door behind her.
Ye Xiu leaned back in his chair, looking toward the doorway.
This little girl was becoming more and more uninhibited.
He stood up, went to the window, and pushed it open.
Mo City lay beneath the night sky. The earthen-yellow houses shimmered faintly silver in the moonlight. Farther west, all was pitch-black, and nothing could be seen.
That was where the Tagor Desert lay.
The Snake-People Tribe, the Green Lotus Core Flame, Queen Medusa.
Ye Xiu narrowed his eyes.
Soon.
Once he succeeded in checking in and broke through to Dou Huang, that woman would have to make way for him.
He closed the window, returned to the bed, sat cross-legged, and began to regulate his breathing.
After the cultivation earlier, the Dou Qi inside him was more active than before. He closed his eyes and continued circulating his cultivation technique, slowly grinding away at the bottleneck.
The moon outside rose higher, then gradually sank.
Just before dawn, Ye Xiu opened his eyes.
He looked down at his hands and clenched his fists.
He was one step closer to becoming a Four-Star Dou Wang.
At this rate, another four or five days of cultivation should be enough for him to break through.
Then he could go check in at the Snake-People Tribe and become a Four-Star Dou Huang outright.
Ye Xiu's lips curled into a smile.
But before that, he had to meet someone and get something.
Ye Xiu told Xiao Yi Xian he was going out, then left the inn.
He walked down the street and turned through several alleys. Before long, he spotted a shop with a wooden sign hanging over its entrance. Two characters were written on it: Gu Tu.
This was the place.
Ye Xiu pushed open the door. The shop was quite dim, with maps of every size and age hanging all over the walls. Behind the counter sat an old man with white hair and deep wrinkles, his head bowed as he drew a map.
Ye Xiu gave him a brief look.
The old man seemed ordinary, but a sweep of Ye Xiu's soul power revealed that something had sealed the Dou Qi within his body. His foundation was still intact, though. It had to be Hai Bodong.
Ye Xiu said nothing and began looking around the shop.
As he walked, he swept the maps with his soul power. There were too many to search by hand; it would take ages to go through them one by one. Using his soul power was much faster.
Before long, Ye Xiu sensed it.
On the shelf by the wall, on the third tier, a tattered piece of hide was wedged among a pile of scrolls. A strange aura faintly emanated from it, unlike anything else around it.
Ye Xiu walked over and pulled out the fragmentary map.
It was small, about the size of two palms placed together, with its corners rotted away. It was covered in a jumble of lines and looked no different from an ordinary map. But Ye Xiu knew this was one of the fragmentary maps of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
He carried it to the counter and set it down.
"I'll take this map. Name your price."
The old man raised his head and glanced at Ye Xiu, then at the fragmentary map. His eyes shifted, but his expression remained unchanged.
"Young man, this map isn't for sale."
Ye Xiu looked at him and smiled. "It's not for sale? Then why put it in your shop?"
The old man replied, "Can't I just display it?"
Ye Xiu said nothing. He simply stared at him.
The old man began to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. He was about to lower his head and continue drawing when Ye Xiu suddenly spoke.
"Hai Bodong."
The old man's hand trembled, and the brush nearly fell onto the table. He looked up at Ye Xiu, his expression changing instantly.
"What did you call me?"
Ye Xiu said, "Hai Bodong, one of the top ten experts in the Jia Ma Empire, the Ice Emperor. Queen Medusa sealed your cultivation, and you hid in Mo City, opening a map shop. You've been hiding here for decades. Am I wrong?"
Hai Bodong's expression darkened, and his aura surged. Though his cultivation was sealed, he still had plenty of fight in him.
"Kid, who are you?"
Ye Xiu said, "You don't need to know who I am. I want this map. Name your price."
Hai Bodong sneered. "Do you even know what this map is? And you still dare ask for it?"
"Whether I know or not is none of your concern," Ye Xiu replied.
Hai Bodong's expression grew even darker.
He stared at Ye Xiu, then slowly stood up as the Dou Qi in his body began to circulate.
"Kid, even with my cultivation sealed, I'm not someone just anyone can bully. If you don't explain yourself today, you won't be walking out that door."
As he spoke, a bone-chilling aura spread from him, and the temperature in the shop dropped several degrees.
Ye Xiu looked at him without moving.
"Dou Ling?" Ye Xiu said. "That's it?"
Hai Bodong's expression changed. Before he could react, a terrifying aura erupted from Ye Xiu.
It came crashing down like a mountain, instantly crushing the Dou Qi he had just gathered. Hai Bodong's legs gave way, and he nearly dropped to his knees.
He stared up at Ye Xiu, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head.
"Dou... Dou Wang?!"
Ye Xiu said nothing. He simply looked at him.
Hai Bodong's face turned pale, then flushed. He had spent decades among the powerful in the Jia Ma Empire; what kind of person hadn't he seen? But he had never seen—or even heard of—a Dou Wang this young.
"Y- who are you, really?"
Ye Xiu withdrew his aura and leaned against the counter. "I told you, you don't need to know who I am. Are you selling the map or not?"
Hai Bodong fell silent for a long while.
He looked at Ye Xiu, then at the fragmentary map on the table, and steeled himself.
"I'm not selling!"
Ten minutes later.
Hai Bodong sat behind the counter, his face bruised in several places and a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. He had tried to fight Ye Xiu, only to be pinned down and beaten. Now he had learned his lesson.
Ye Xiu stood before the counter, holding the fragmentary map and looking at him.
"So, how much?"
Hai Bodong rubbed his face, wincing in pain.
"F-fifty thousand."
Before you continue