Living Flame Seed, Body Tempering Fluid

Having driven off that annoying fellow, Yao Wan finally let out a sigh of relief.

Now this was much more comfortable. With no one coming to disturb her, she was happy to enjoy the peace and quiet.

After raising a hand and temporarily covering the entire guest room with Dou Qi, Yao Wan lowered her head and slowly lifted her fingertips. A trace of blue-green light crawled up the girl's slender arm and reached her fingertips.

Then, the blue-green hue gradually shifted from a deep azure into a greener, more vibrant shade.

Yet that touch of green was terribly faint, like a fragile candle flame swaying alone in the wind, as though it might be extinguished at any moment.

Yao Wan said nothing. She merely continued pouring in her Dou Qi, nurturing this excessively fragile flame in silence.

...No, though it was a miraculous thing, it was far too weak in its current state.

Rather than a flame, it was more like a tiny spark of kindling.

This was the Living Flame Seed of the Living Flame that Yao Wan had received from the Clan Leader.

Yao Wan herself knew very little about this strange flame, ranked fifth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. She had only learned from the Clan Leader's scattered remarks that it possessed a vigorous vitality unmatched by any other Heavenly Flame, making it a flame every alchemist dreamed of obtaining.

The reason was not merely that it could greatly increase the success rate of pill refinement like ordinary Heavenly Flames. More importantly, its abundant life force could naturally nurture all kinds of Spiritual Medicine and heavenly treasures.

In other words, with the Living Flame, one would possess an inexhaustible supply of Spiritual Medicine.

Although the Living Flame lacked formidable destructive power, its effects alone were enough to make countless people covet it.

Unfortunately, the Living Flame in her possession was not a complete Living Flame. At most, it was merely a seed of flame.

Yet even such a weak flame seed had cost the Yao Clan dearly to obtain from Old Man Shennong, the holder of the Living Flame.

After all, with a flame seed came the possibility of turning it into another Heavenly Flame.

Though the hope was exceedingly slim, Yao Wan's talent and ability were enough to make the Clan Leader and the entire Yao Clan willing to give it a try.

Thus, aside from her daily cultivation, Yao Wan spent a long period nurturing the Living Flame within her body.

The Living Flame symbolized flourishing vitality, so it naturally was not as violent as other Heavenly Flames. Still, it was not so easily subdued either. The only reason Yao Wan could wield a strand of Living Flame Seed while merely at the Dou Wang realm was because it was so weak that she had refined it early on and made it her own.

However, nurturing a flame seed and igniting a Heavenly Flame had never been easy.

Yao Wan, who had been nurturing the Living Flame Seed with her very life force, understood that haste made waste. She therefore stopped clutching that little flame all day as she had at the beginning.

Besides her dull daily cultivation, Yao Wan inevitably dealt with all sorts of herbs as well.

Though she did not particularly enjoy pill refinement, she had some interest in tinkering with medicinal ingredients.

Ever since escaping the Shennong Mountain Range, what she did most often was concoct strange and unusual medicines, which always managed to cure stubborn illnesses the locals had deemed incurable.

No wonder people eventually gave her the nickname Medicine Fairy.

Even now, however, Yao Wan did not particularly like that title.

I worked so hard to save you people, and afterward you all wished you had loudspeakers growing from your mouths so you could proclaim my glorious deeds everywhere.

Repaying kindness with enmity, are we?

After cultivating through the night until the sun had climbed high in the sky, Yao Wan showed no trace of fatigue. Instead, on a sudden whim, she took several ordinary medicinal ingredients from her Storage Ring. Her slender fingers curled slightly, drawing forth a thread of Dou Qi flame.

With a flick of her fingers, she tossed those ingredients into the Dou Qi flame and refined them into a trace of crystalline, translucent green medicinal liquid.

For Yao Wan, whose soul had reached the Heavenly Soul realm, refining such a simple medicinal liquid was something she could accomplish with a mere thought even while asleep.

After all, a Heavenly Soul represented a mysterious realm that many alchemists who had yet to reach the pinnacle did not even dare dream of. Its wondrous uses needed no further explanation.

As for why she refined a medicinal liquid that was of no real use to her, it was probably no more than a matter of interest.

After all, compared to tediously refining pills according to Pill Recipes left behind by predecessors, merely to raise her own realm, Yao Wan found it far too boring and monotonous, especially when she already devoted most of her time to cultivation.

To her, it was much more interesting to casually concoct strange but effective Spiritual Medicine on a whim.

At least it could count as doing a good deed.

Though Yao Wan herself did not know whether doing good on the Dou Qi Continent could earn one any merit.

Whatever~~

Just as Yao Wan was thinking this, a knock sounded outside the door.

"Is Miss Wan in?"

Xiao Yan's voice came from outside.

Yao Wan silently put on her Bamboo Hat, then cleared her throat. "Mm, come in."

Only then did Xiao Yan push open the door. Yet the moment he entered, the faint medicinal fragrance in the room stole away the thoughts he had been occupied with moments ago.

He practically froze in the doorway, letting the medicinal scent wash over him.

"...It smells so good. Miss Wan, were you refining medicine?"

But soon after he entered, that faint medicinal fragrance gradually dispersed into the breeze flowing through the room.

Recalling that scent, so completely different from the fragrance of flowers or rouge, Xiao Yan's question naturally rose to the surface.

"Mm."

Yao Wan did not deny it, merely extending her slender jade fingers to catch the small snow-white jade bottle.

"It is only some Body Tempering Fluid I casually refined for fun when I had nothing else to do. Its grade is not particularly high."

"...If you want it, I do not mind giving it to you."

As she spoke, Yao Wan happened to recall how low Xiao Yan's cultivation currently was, with only a pitiful third stage of Dou Qi. She added, "But if your body is somewhat weak, use it in three portions. It will not have any remarkable effect on your Dou Qi cultivation, but it can strengthen your physique and nourish your meridians."

Before Xiao Yan could react, he saw the white jade bottle fly toward him.

He could only hurriedly catch the tiny jade bottle.

"Miss Wan... this..."

"I already said I was giving it to you. Why would I take it back?"

A trace of amusement entered Yao Wan's voice. She was rather curious: now that she, this butterfly, had appeared, with Xiao Yan's talent and potential, would he soar into the heavens after merely two years of obscurity?

Yao Wan was exceptionally curious about that.