A Showdown? I Want the Inheritance of a Grade-Eight Alchemy Technique!

"Ah? No problem. I'll ask my teacher when the time comes."

Xiao Yan nodded at this, indicating that it was no problem. However, Xiao Wujiu's next words gave him quite a fright.

"Isn't your teacher right here? Why wait?"

"W-What?"

"Senior, there's no need to keep hiding. With my current strength, I shouldn't be enough of a threat to you, should I?"

Xiao Wujiu did not answer Xiao Yan. Instead, he looked at the Bone Flame Ring on Xiao Yan's hand and spoke.

"I'm rather curious. With your strength, how did you discover me?"

Yao Chen's voice came from the ring. Then, a transparent elderly figure floated out from Xiao Yan's ring—it was Old Yao!

He stroked his beard and looked calmly at Xiao Wujiu. Just as he had said, the latter could not pose any threat to him at present.

"It wasn't difficult to notice. Perhaps you hid yourself well, Senior, but you underestimated me as a fellow alchemist."

As he spoke, Xiao Wujiu fully unleashed his Soul Power. A peculiar ripple spread out, and Yao Chen clearly sensed that Xiao Wujiu's Soul Power had actually reached the Great Perfection of the Mortal Realm!

"Your Soul Power has actually reached the Great Perfection of the Mortal Realm!"

"No wonder. No wonder you could sense the fluctuations of my spiritual power."

Yao Chen's face was full of emotion. He had not expected the young man before him to have already reached the Soul Power realm required to refine Tier 7 Pills. The only thing restricting him now was his Battle Qi cultivation.

Xiao Wujiu merely smiled without speaking. In truth, the increase in his Soul Power was also due to the benefits brought by the Crossing Gate residing in his mind.

"May I know your name, Senior? From what I understand, for a soul to remain as solid as yours after death, one would need a soul realm at least at the Spirit Realm or above, correct?"

"You sure know quite a lot, kid. You even know about the Spirit Realm. There's no harm in telling you—I am Yao Chen. Do you know me?"

A probing look filled Yao Chen's eyes as he stared intently at Xiao Wujiu. If the latter showed even the slightest sign of being suspicious, he would not hesitate to subdue him!

Xiao Wujiu felt far too mysterious to him. Although he knew the other's strength, soul realm, and identity as an alchemist like the back of his hand, there was always an impenetrable fog shrouding him.

"So it is Venerable Yao. It seems we are not enemies."

Xiao Wujiu put on a look of sudden realization, and a gentle smile returned to his face.

"As for how I discovered you, Senior, it was merely a coincidence."

"Although Cousin Xiao Yan said that he had taken a teacher, that teacher had never appeared. I assumed he was a difficult senior to get along with, yet he gave me a method to cure poison. That showed he was not someone impossible to approach."

"So I began paying attention to Cousin Xiao Yan's actions and heightened my awareness of my surroundings. A probing force swept over me just now, and coupled with Cousin Xiao Yan's earlier glance at his ring, I roughly guessed the truth."

After hearing Xiao Wujiu's explanation and analysis, Yao Chen inwardly sighed. Young people these days truly were meticulous beyond measure.

It was not as though he had never observed Xiao Wujiu. The youth was not only cautious in his actions, but consistently low-key as a person, and his talent was not bad either. The talent he had displayed back then, only a notch below Xiao Yan's, had likely been deliberate.

At the time, he had not paid much attention to him, nor had he possessed the spare strength to investigate the other's true power. Looking at it now, the youth was truly terrifying.

Coupled with this mindset and ability to handle matters, Xiao Wujiu's future was likely a great unknown.

"Speak. Besides discussing alchemy with me, what did you mean by saying we are not enemies?"

Yao Chen looked at Xiao Wujiu and ignored the stunned Xiao Yan beside them.

Xiao Yan, meanwhile, silently watched the man and ghost converse. His thoughts were in turmoil, and the joy and pride he had felt at breaking through to the eighth stage of Dou Qi had vanished.

Since when had Cousin Wujiu become able to converse so pleasantly with his teacher?

Had the gap between them truly been narrowing?

"Because Old Yao's enemies are my enemies—or rather, the Xiao Clan's enemies."

"Stop calling me Senior every other word. Just call me Old Yao. And what do you mean when you say my enemies are the Xiao Clan's enemies?"

Yao Chen waved his hand, signaling that Xiao Wujiu need not be so formal. Then he frowned tightly and looked at him with a grave expression.

On the smaller scale, his enemies were that traitorous disciple and his junior brother. On the larger scale, they might even involve the Soul Hall in the Central Plains. That force was filled with powerful experts. How did Xiao Wujiu, a mere two-star Dou Ling, dare regard the Soul Hall as his enemy?

Xiao Wujiu was not surprised by this. It was already fortunate that Yao Chen had not mistaken him for a member of the Soul Hall and suppressed him on the spot. The fact that he was willing to hear him out meant that he was relatively mild-tempered and did not put on too much of an expert's airs.

Of course, the Soul Suppression of his Martial Soul, the Creation Cauldron, was no mere decoration either.

"It is not that I wish to make an enemy of the Soul Hall. This matter is also tied to an ancestral grudge that I have learned of." Xiao Wujiu glanced at Xiao Yan, who was immersed in his own world, and smiled knowingly. "Why not think about it, Old Yao? What surname does our clan bear?"

"Your clan? Naturally, your surname is—"

Yao Chen stopped halfway through his words. His voice seemed caught in his throat, and he could not utter another word as he looked at Xiao Wujiu in astonishment.

"Could it be...?"

Xiao Wujiu raised a finger to his lips, stopping Yao Chen from continuing. "That is why I said that Old Yao and I are not enemies. We could even be called allies."

"...Did you come specifically to tell me this?" he asked after a moment of silence.

He did not believe the other had risked being killed merely to tell him such things.

"Old Yao, I have a deal. Are you interested?"

"A deal?" Yao Chen brushed his translucent beard and examined the young man before him curiously. "What could make you so confident in proposing a deal to me? Since you know who I am, you should know that ordinary heavenly treasures cannot catch my eye."

"It is not a heavenly treasure, but a Tattered Map. Although I have not obtained it yet, you will certainly be interested, Old Yao."

Xiao Wujiu's smile became mysterious as he slowly said, "Has Old Yao ever heard of the Saint of the Purifying Demonic Lotus and the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame?"

"The Saint of the Purifying Demonic Lotus? A Dou Sheng expert?"

Having regained his senses, Xiao Yan heard Xiao Wujiu's words. Even Yao Chen showed surprise on his face, much less Xiao Yan, whose composure was inferior to Yao Chen's.

Anyone who used "Saint" as the final part of their title was an existence whose strength had reached the pinnacle, standing at the top of the continent's pyramid.

Wait, weren't they discussing medicinal ingredients just now? How had they suddenly started talking about a Dou Sheng expert? Their gap...

Before Xiao Yan could let his imagination run wild, Xiao Wujiu continued, "That's right. What I wish to trade is one quarter of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Remnant Map."

"The Saint of the Purifying Demonic Lotus was a peerless expert whose strength had reached the Peak Nine-Star Dou Sheng. His title came from the fact that he was the master of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame. The Tattered Map I speak of was left behind by him before his death, so that those fated to come after could gather all its pieces and inherit the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame!"

"And what I wish to trade is this quarter of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Remnant Map!"

Yao Chen pondered for a moment, narrowing his eyes slightly. "How certain are you that you can obtain the Tattered Map? And tell me, what do you want?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the Earth Dragon Golden Melon placed nearby. It was indeed a medicinal ingredient he had never seen before and carried a peculiar charm, but figuring out how to refine it was not particularly difficult.

"I do not believe you would go to such lengths merely to have me determine the method for refining these medicinal ingredients."

Hearing Yao Chen's reply, Xiao Wujiu inwardly thought, This is settled.

He immediately stated his request. "If I obtain this Tattered Map, I wish to exchange it with you, Old Yao, for the inheritance of a Grade-Eight Alchemy Technique, as well as some matching high-grade pill formulas!"

"Old Yao, you should understand that an alchemist's inheritance can be acquired through other means. I could simply wait until I reach the Central Plains and exchange for one at the Pill Tower. But this Demon Flame Remnant Map is something that can only be encountered by chance!"