Breaking the Seal

"Since I can refine a sixth-grade medicinal pill like the Break-Ero Pill, I can also refine a high-grade pill that will help you break through the Dou Zong barrier that has trapped you at the peak of the Dou Emperor realm for so many years." Xiao Yan rose and walked to the doorway, then suddenly spun around, his gaze locking firmly onto Hai Bo Dong.

The suddenly appearing, familiar profound aura clearly reminded Hai Bo Dong of how he had just been subdued in a single move. Faced with Xiao Yan's approach of wielding both a stick and a carrot, Hai Bo Dong ultimately agreed to Xiao Yan's terms. After all, his life and his hope of breaking the seal were both in Xiao Yan's hands. He had no choice.

"Fine, I agree. As long as you can help me break the seal successfully, I will serve you for twenty years." Hai Bo Dong finally said with a grim expression.

"Now that's more like it." Xiao Yan quickly stepped up to Hai Bo Dong and lightly patted his shoulder with his right hand. The pale, illusory flames within Hai Bo Dong's body immediately streamed out in a rush, scattering into the air and gradually fading into wisps of smoke.

Hai Bo Dong silently rose and stretched his limbs, then stood wordlessly at Xiao Yan's side.

"Don't just stand there foolishly. Prepare two rooms for Xiao Yi Xian and me. We need to rest." Xiao Yan said as he took Xiao Yi Xian's hand and headed down from the back courtyard.

The next day, in the back courtyard of the Ancient Map shop.

Hai Bo Dong and Xiao Yi Xian sat facing each other. Xiao Yi Xian calmly ate pastries, while Hai Bo Dong pretended to drink tea calmly as well. Yet from the way he kept glancing toward the tightly shut room at the end of the courtyard, and the way his right hand clenched the corner of his clothes, it was obvious that he was nowhere near as composed as he looked.

After an unknown amount of time, the energy above the courtyard suddenly began gathering on a massive scale, forming the shapes of various strange beasts in the sky. Soon after, a pleasant medicinal fragrance drifted from the room.

Bang! A powerful burst of force shot out from the room, scattering the beast-shaped energy clouds that were about to take form in the sky.

Seeing this, Hai Bo Dong excitedly rose to his feet and stared intently at the room's door. Xiao Yi Xian, who had no idea what was happening, watched the strange old man with mild curiosity.

With a creak, the room's tightly closed door opened from within. Xiao Yan held a jade bottle in his hand and tossed it toward Hai Bo Dong, whose face was full of excitement. "I have not failed you."

Hai Bo Dong swiftly caught the jade bottle and opened it, staring at the round purple pill within, which emitted an enticing medicinal fragrance.

"That's right, this is it. Just like the records in the ancient texts." Hai Bo Dong said, trembling all over.

"Alright, hurry up and break the seal." Xiao Yan casually waved his hand.

"Mm!" Hai Bo Dong replied excitedly.

Before long, Hai Bo Dong's aura inside the room suddenly began to tremble violently. Then it surged sharply and began rising at a rapid pace. His aura started changing from the Dou Ling realm, soaring all the way to the Seven-Star Dou Emperor realm. After lingering briefly at Seven Stars, it continued to rise before finally stabilizing at the Nine-Star Dou Emperor realm.

"Hai Bo Dong is rather fortunate. Thanks to the tempering of Queen Medusa's seal over the past two years, his Dou Qi cultivation has been continuously refined. Who would have thought that, by taking advantage of this chance to break the seal with the Break-Ero Pill, he would leap from the Seven-Star Dou Emperor realm to the Nine-Star Dou Emperor realm in one go?" Yao Lao said to Xiao Yan from within the Storage Ring.

At that moment, a powerful aura suddenly spilled out from the room in the courtyard. Immediately afterward, a formidable old man with ice-white Dou Qi Wings emerged from the room and flew into the air.

Hai Bo Dong flapped his Dou Qi Wings and hovered in the sky. Throwing his arms wide toward the heavens, he shouted to his heart's content, "I, the Ice Emperor Hai Bo Dong, have returned!"

"Do you have a death wish?" A clear male voice suddenly came from below.

Hai Bo Dong was brimming with high spirits, finally able to hold his head high again. How could he possibly tolerate that? Just as he was considering how to teach the little pest below a painful lesson for repeatedly provoking the dignity of a Dou Emperor, a mysterious aura several times stronger than his own newly restored aura suddenly locked onto him, rendering him completely unable to move.

Once Hai Bo Dong understood the situation, he finally came to his senses and hurriedly withdrew his Dou Qi Wings before landing on the ground.

"Hehe, wasn't I just excited after breaking the seal? Just excited, that's all." Hai Bo Dong had none of a Dou Emperor's dignity left as he shamelessly tried to ingratiate himself.

"You seemed rather disobedient just now." Xiao Yan walked over and patted Hai Bo Dong's shoulder. Several more pale, illusory flames swiftly burrowed into Hai Bo Dong's body and vanished without a trace.

"..." Hai Bo Dong's eye twitched as he watched Xiao Yan's hand. He felt that he had truly brought this upon himself—he had only just escaped the wolf's den, only to walk straight into the tiger's mouth.

"Alright, since you've already broken the seal, let's discuss proper business." Xiao Yan said seriously.

"I need the fragmentary map you obtained deep in the desert years ago, along with your detailed map of the Tager Desert showing the possible locations of Heavenly Flames," Xiao Yan said.

Hai Bo Dong looked somewhat fearfully at the young man before him, who seemed to know every one of his secrets, while he himself knew only that the youth was called Xiao Yan and nothing else.

What a mysterious and terrifying young man. Hai Bo Dong secretly sighed to himself, then went to retrieve the two maps he had treasured for so long.

Xiao Yan casually put away the fragmentary map that marked the whereabouts of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, then unfolded the detailed map of the Tager Desert.

Seeing three flame symbols marked on the eastern, western, and northern parts of the map, Xiao Yan smiled faintly and pointed at the flame in the east. He murmured, "The Green Lotus Core Flame is east of Mo City? Then the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils should be making an appearance as well."

"Hai Bo Dong, I need you to handle something for me." Xiao Yan suddenly turned to Hai Bo Dong, who stood respectfully nearby.

"Master, please give your orders," Hai Bo Dong said.

Xiao Yan nodded with a relaxed expression, clearly quite pleased with Hai Bo Dong's new form of address.

"I imagine that even when you only possessed Dou Ling strength, you were probably still the greatest local power in Mo City," Xiao Yan said.

"Of course. Even with my Dou Emperor cultivation sealed, the Mo City Lord still had to treat me with the utmost respect," Hai Bo Dong declared proudly.

Xiao Yan looked at Hai Bo Dong with slight helplessness, then smiled and shook his head. "In that case, I need you to find someone for me."

"A three-year-old girl with jade-green pupils and some green snake scales on her arms. She is a mixed-blood child of the Snake-People Tribe and humans. Oh, right, her name is Qing Lin. Within three days, I want you to bring her to me," Xiao Yan instructed Hai Bo Dong carefully.

"Yes, Young Master. I'll take care of it immediately." Seeing his first opportunity to prove himself before Xiao Yan, Hai Bo Dong answered excitedly.

Three days later.

Hai Bo Dong arrived before Xiao Yan, carrying a little girl with jade-green pupils who looked like a beautiful porcelain doll.

"Young Master, I've brought her," Hai Bo Dong said, eager to claim credit.