Spoiled and Arrogant?

"Your own Pill Recipe?"

Old Yao murmured instinctively, without the slightest doubt.

Because this girl had undoubtedly already met every condition required to independently develop a Pill Recipe and refine it successfully.

She could even produce more than a dozen such pills in a single opening of the furnace.

Even Old Yao could not help but sigh at such talent. The younger generation truly surpassed the old.

The girl lacked nothing, and she had an entire clan supporting her. It could be said that, based on everything she had displayed so far, surpassing him was merely a matter of time.

"In my view, this pill can be considered a sixth-tier pill... Since it is a pill you formulated yourself, what is it called?"

Old Yao asked.

"I never really thought about naming it..."

Yao Wan shook her head. "But since we've brought it up today, let's call it the Clear Spirit Pill."

"Clear Spirit Pill? A truly fine name."

Old Yao praised her, though he could not help sighing inwardly.

Then Xiao Yan suddenly noticed his teacher glance at him.

"Teacher?"

"No, it's nothing."

Old Yao paused slightly, then shook his head, with no intention of saying anything further.

How could he put it? He could not blame Xiao Yan over something like this. It depended on who he was being compared to.

"Oh, right. Three days ago, I sensed some rather unusual auras nearby. Did something happen?"

Recalling the disturbance from three days ago, Yao Wan could not help asking.

"It was nothing much. A group of bandits came by looking for easy prey. They saw Miss Wan refining pills and got evil ideas."

Yao Wan raised a brow, inwardly cursing her bad luck. She had barely sat down to refine pills before running into this sort of nonsense.

"How was it resolved afterward? Xiao Yan, did you kill them all?"

Yao Wan asked with a trace of curiosity.

"Sigh, they had a Da Dou Shi, three Dou Shi, and over a dozen Dou Zhe. That group was nearly half as strong as the Xiao Family. What was I supposed to use against them?"

Xiao Yan shook his head, folding his arms across his chest with a sigh.

"Then did Old Yao step in?"

"Hehe, I did not intervene this time. Xiao Yan relied on his own wisdom to drive the enemy away."

"Oh?"

Yao Wan became even more curious upon hearing that.

Xiao Yan then explained how he had driven off the bandits with an Empty Fort Strategy.

"...I see."

Yao Wan nodded. The Empty Fort Strategy was indeed clever, though a little too dangerous. If Old Yao had not been there to back Xiao Yan up, she would likely have had no choice but to abandon her refinement and endure the soul backlash from its interruption in order to slaughter every one of those fools.

"Hah..."

Yao Wan let out a breath of stale air, her beautiful eyes beneath the black gauze of her Bamboo Hat calm as still water.

"By the way, Xiao Yan, did you notice which direction those bandits went?"

Xiao Yan was stunned. In that brief instant when their gazes met, he had unmistakably felt Miss Wan's killing intent.

This was the first time he had ever seen her like this in the year since they had met.

"I didn't notice... I doubt they went this way either... Miss Wan, you...?"

Xiao Yan hesitated.

Yao Wan naturally knew what he wanted to ask. As it happened, the unspoken guess he had buried in his heart was correct.

"What do you think? Of course I want to wipe them out completely."

The words came from Yao Wan's lips with such matter-of-fact certainty.

"Once someone has revealed killing intent toward me, they no longer deserve to live in this world."

This was probably the first time in all the time they had known each other that Yao Wan had revealed her principles to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan more or less agreed with the sentiment itself.

But since nothing had actually happened, Xiao Yan naturally would not go looking for trouble with them—especially since he currently lacked both the ability and the opportunity to take revenge.

"I don't think that's necessary, is it?"

Xiao Yan considered his words before looking into Yao Wan's eyes—though the black gauze prevented him from seeing them clearly.

"Our priority right now is finding the Heavenly Flames, right? If that bandit gang has hidden their lair well, we might have to spend who knows how much time tracking them down."

"...That makes sense."

Yao Wan nodded, accepting Xiao Yan's view.

"Then we'll see whether these rats show themselves when we return."

As she spoke, Yao Wan put away the square bronze cauldron.

"Alright, the Clear Spirit Pills are finished. Leave them with you for now, Xiao Yan. We should prepare to depart for the Cloud Empire. The journey may be dangerous, so it won't be suitable to continue cultivating."

"Old Yao, you have no objections, do you?"

"The girl is right. The Cloud Empire is indeed far more dangerous than the Jia Ma Empire. We should avoid unnecessary complications along the way."

Old Yao nodded slightly. He had no objections to Yao Wan's decision.

Compared to the Jia Ma Empire, the Cloud Empire was far more chaotic and dangerous. Those Poison Masters who spent all day soaking themselves in vats of poison were not quite right in the head either, each one more sinister than the last. Xiao Yan was only a Dou Zhe, after all. Even with a Dou Wang like Yao Wan protecting him, remaining in the Cloud Empire would still be far too dangerous.

"Then let's go, Xiao Yan."

As she spoke, Yao Wan tossed another bottle of pills to Xiao Yan.

"What is this?"

Xiao Yan poured out one of the pills, but it appeared utterly ordinary.

"This is...?"

Even Old Yao was somewhat curious. From Yao Wan, he had repeatedly gained a fresh understanding of pills.

"A pill I refined when I was a Da Dou Shi. It's called the Feather Flight Pill."

"Feather Flight Pill? Could it be...?"

At Yao Wan's gesture, Xiao Yan swallowed a Feather Flight Pill. His body immediately felt light, and Dou Qi Wings—the kind only those at the Dou Wang realm could unfold—spread from his back.

"You guessed correctly. It allows someone to form Dou Qi Wings like a Dou Wang or Dou Emperor for a certain period of time."

Seeing Xiao Yan's delighted expression, Yao Wan's voice also carried a hint of laughter.

"What a clever girl... She can even refine a pill like this."

Old Yao shook his head, though the corners of his mouth curled upward. This girl truly brought him more and more surprises.

If an old fossil like himself had refined such a novel pill, Old Yao would never have been so surprised and astonished. Yet these were all the accomplishments of a girl barely sixteen years old.

No wonder she carried around a little treasury with her, casually producing heavenly treasures like Heavenly Heart Glazed Dew, things even he found interesting.

Within her clan, aside from the Clan Leader, she was probably the one whose word went.