Ya Fei's Longing

"This feels... really hard."

Lu Heng shook his slightly numb right hand.

Second-tier magical beasts had a protective Dou Qi Veil similar to that of a Dou Master. Coupled with the naturally powerful flesh of a second-tier magical beast, although Lu Heng's punch had landed, it felt as if he had struck a thick layer of rubber, with more than half the force absorbed.

The Shadow Leopard rolled over and climbed to its feet, the pain in its abdomen thoroughly enraging it.

It arched its back, and a faint glow lit up its silver forehead as the wind elements around it began to rage.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three wind blades formed out of thin air and came spiraling toward Lu Heng in a triangular formation.

"Damn, it can attack from range too?"

Lu Heng let out a strange cry and performed a clumsy roll across the ground, narrowly avoiding two of the wind blades.

But the third one was far too tricky, slicing directly across the outside of his thigh.

His pant leg burst apart, leaving another wound so deep that bone was visible.

If it had been an ordinary Dou Zhe, they would have been on their knees by now.

But the green Qi Vortex within Lu Heng spun wildly, and a cool current instantly wrapped around the wound. The excruciating pain began to fade within only a few breaths, while the edges of the wound even started to stop bleeding and scab over.

"As long as you can't kill me in one shot, I can wear you down!" Lu Heng grinned, his eyes filled with ruthless determination.

He charged forward again.

A primal hand-to-hand battle had begun!

In the forest, man and leopard rolled about in a savage struggle.

Lu Heng was sent flying again and again, his body covered in wounds, as though he had just been fished out of a pool of blood.

Yet he was like an unkillable cockroach. Every time he fell, he quickly got back up, and his counterattacks became increasingly vicious and unpredictable.

Ten minutes later.

Bang!

With the final dull impact, Lu Heng straddled the Shadow Leopard's back, his legs tightly locking around its waist and abdomen. His fist, already a bloody pulp, carried the last trace of Separating Fire Dou Qi as it brutally smashed the Shadow Leopard's throat bone.

The second-tier magical beast twitched a few times before finally falling silent.

"Ha... ha..."

Lu Heng slid off the leopard's corpse as though all strength had left him, gulping down air.

Amid the extreme exhaustion and pain, he clearly sensed that the Dou Qi Whirlpool within his body was undergoing a subtle change.

The bottleneck had loosened.

"Still not quite enough..."

Lu Heng swallowed a pill, then circulated his wood-attributed Dou Qi to recover from his injuries, though a smile hung on his face.

"Training continues!"

Meanwhile, in Wutan City several hundred miles away.

Inside the luxurious office on the top floor of the Miteer Auction House.

Ya Fei sat behind a large mahogany desk, holding an exquisite feather pen as she stared blankly at the mountain of account books before her.

Her pretty face, usually adorned with a shrewd smile, was now full of boredom.

"Why are these account books so thick... Just looking at them gives me a headache."

Ya Fei irritably tossed the pen onto the desk and slumped gracelessly into her chair. Her long legs were crossed and propped against the edge of the desk, while the high-slit hem of her red dress slipped down, revealing a large expanse of fair skin.

If the men outside saw this scene, their eyes would probably pop out of their heads.

But the only other person in the room was Gu Ni, who was sorting through a list of medicinal ingredients.

Gu Ni raised his head, pushed up his reading glasses, and sighed helplessly.

"Miss, that's already the eighth time you've sighed today.

"If you really don't want to look at the account books, go take a walk downstairs. The Xiao Family patriarch came again just now and said he wanted to reserve another batch of Beast Power Pills."

"Not seeing him. I'm annoyed."

Ya Fei lazily waved her hand.

"Tell Xiao Zhan that Beast Power Pills are produced in limited quantities. If he wants them, he can bid for them at auction. Private deals are out of the question.

"The Miteer rules cannot be broken."

"Tch, you used to love this kind of business delivered right to your door." Gu Ni teased. "What, after someone left, you don't even feel like earning gold anymore?"

Having her thoughts exposed, Ya Fei's cheeks reddened slightly before she glared at him.

"Uncle Gu Ni, stop being so sarcastic. I'm... I'm thinking about how to make the business bigger!"

"Yes, yes, bigger and stronger."

Gu Ni shook his head and turned back to sorting things out.

"But seriously, that boy Lu Heng has been gone for nearly ten days, hasn't he?"

At the mention of Lu Heng's name, Ya Fei's gaze dimmed somewhat.

She subconsciously touched a small jade bottle she carried with her. It was the Yuan-Nurturing Powder Lu Heng had given her before leaving.

Over the past few days, she had taken it every night before bed according to Lu Heng's instructions.

Its effects were frighteningly good.

Her sixth stage of Dou Qi, which had stagnated for several years, had actually broken through to the seventh stage of Dou Qi in just ten short days!

For someone with such poor cultivation talent as her, it was nothing short of a miracle.

"That little rascal..."

Ya Fei uncorked the bottle and gently inhaled its faint fragrance, the corners of her lips unconsciously curving into a tender smile.

She had once believed she could only depend on her family, relying on her beauty and methods to navigate the world.

But now, this younger brother who had not even fully grown up had truly become someone she could rely on.

"You'd better come back in one piece."

Ya Fei gave a soft snort, straightened up again, and picked up her pen. Her eyes regained their usual sharpness.

"Since you're risking your life to grow stronger, your sister can't sit around either. When you come back, I'll show you a bigger treasury at this Miteer Auction House."

"Uncle Gu Ni, send word out. Raise the standards for next month's auction by another level!

"Also, send people to open up channels in Black Rock City. Beast Power Pills cannot be sold only in Wutan City. I want them spread throughout the entire province!"

Watching Ya Fei recover her fighting spirit, Gu Ni was briefly stunned before smiling in relief.

Those two siblings really were a perfect match.

The doors of the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion in Green Mountain Town stood open, while the open space outside was as noisy as an exploded marketplace.

More than twenty people had crowded around the place, sealing it off completely.

They wore no uniform attire. Some wore animal-hide vests, exposing bodies covered in black hair.

Some wore old, half-worn iron armor that clattered as they walked.

Others simply went bare-chested, with all kinds of chaotic ferocious-beast totems tattooed across their chests.

They were a small mercenary group in town called Mad Blade. Their overall strength was at the Dou Zhe level, while their leader was at the peak of the nine-star Dou Zhe stage and was said to be on the verge of becoming a Dou Master.

"Boss, why hasn't Xiao Yi Xian from the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion come out yet?"

A tall, toothless man squatted on a stone block, complaining crudely.

The burly man called boss was Baldy, his face full of fierce flesh as he held a thick-backed Mountain-Splitting Blade in his hand.

He slapped the back of the thin, tall man's head and cursed.

"Toothless, shut your damn mouth! The Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion isn't easy to provoke."

Just as the group of rough men chatted idly, several people emerged from the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion.

The previously noisy crowd instantly fell silent.

The person at the front was Xiao Yi Xian.

Today, she was not wearing the loose white robe she normally wore while seeing patients, having changed instead into a plain pale-white dress that allowed for easier movement.