Mysterious Purchase

The man in black held a medicinal herb—a orchid surrounded by specks of light like stars in the night sky, breathtakingly beautiful. A Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid! A herb that had nearly gone extinct. Even Yao Lao had only seen one before, never obtained one. Its effect was simple—directly enhancing soul power.

Soul power was the foundation of any alchemist's livelihood. To Xiao Yan, this Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid held even greater significance—it could restore Yao Lao's strength. Back when Soul Hall had pursued him, Yao Lao's soul had escaped, but it had still suffered considerable damage. Though he had been able to manifest by absorbing Xiao Yan's Dou Qi, and had recovered somewhat after absorbing the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame, he remained far from his peak.

But if Xiao Yan obtained this treasure, comparable to a peak sixth-grade pill, Yao Lao's return to the peak of his soul strength would no longer be a dream.

Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes. "I need it badly. Name your price!" He abandoned all pretenses. He would not give this herb any chance to slip away before his eyes.

"You tell me. What price can you offer?" The man in black sounded somewhat anxious, frequently looking back as though he were worried about something.

"Five sixth-grade pills?"

The man in black was startled by Xiao Yan's offer, then immediately nodded, as if afraid Xiao Yan would regret it. He continued, "I have one more condition. There's a puppet here—you must take it, and you can't tell anyone that I gave it to you. How about it?"

Xiao Yan found this strange, not for any other reason than because the man's asking price was far too low. Although the Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid was as effective as a top-tier sixth-grade pill, it directly enhanced soul power! Pills that enhanced Dou Qi were as common as hairs on an ox, but even as a fifth-grade alchemist with Yao Lao, a grandmaster alchemist, by his side, Xiao Yan had never encountered anything that could enhance soul power. He had even prepared to offer more than a dozen sixth-grade pills.

Xiao Yan looked at the man in black. There was only one possibility now—the puppet the man had mentioned was problematic! Otherwise, he would never have so readily handed over such a precious Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid.

Seeing Xiao Yan's doubts, the man in black immediately explained, "This puppet has reached the Dou Emperor level. As long as you recharge it in time, it's equivalent to having a Dou Emperor expert. I'm giving it to you for free, so you definitely won't lose out!"

Though Xiao Yan had many misgivings, the Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid was simply too precious for him to pass up. He nodded and handed five sixth-grade pills to the man in black. The man eagerly passed the Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid to Xiao Yan, then gave him a Storage Ring. Taking the pills, he immediately disappeared into the crowd.

Xiao Yan knew that this fellow had likely seen his earlier transaction and wanted to sell his goods to him. After all, only an alchemist could hand over pills so readily, and the Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid was something no alchemist could possibly ignore.

After examining it, Xiao Yan knew there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid. Therefore, the problem could only lie with the puppet the man in black had forced on him. But the Small Market was crowded and full of prying eyes, so Xiao Yan could not take out the puppet and inspect it on the spot. He could only control the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame to envelop the Storage Ring and wait until they had left the Small Market before making further plans.

When Xiao Yan returned to find Yang Lingyan and the other man, the two had nearly finished browsing as well. Both wore excited expressions, clearly having gained something from the Small Market. At Xiao Yan's signal, the three did not linger and flew away directly. As for those who wanted to follow them, Xiao Yan found them too troublesome and refused. Chu Qun and the other man now obeyed Xiao Yan's every word, doing whatever he told them to do.

After flying some distance, Xiao Yan and the others found a secluded cave. Xiao Yan lightly tapped his Storage Ring and released a man. Though the man's aura was intact, his eyes were vacant and he was not breathing. He was merely a puppet. Xiao Yan sensed his aura—it was genuinely that of a Dou Emperor expert. Chu Qun and Yang Lingyan were both shocked. They had not expected Xiao Yan to find such a treasure.

Xiao Yan injected Dou Qi into the puppet, but it showed no reaction whatsoever. Startled, Xiao Yan increased his output. Only after he had poured nearly twenty percent of his Dou Qi into it did the puppet suddenly rise to its feet. It stood before Xiao Yan, who used his soul power to command it. The puppet threw a punch at the cave wall, directly cracking it open.

Xiao Yan nodded. It truly was a fine assistant. But upon probing it further, he discovered something was wrong. Deep within the puppet was a nearly undetectable aura. Moreover, Xiao Yan tried to remove it, only to find that ordinary methods could not do so. This was probably why the man in black had been so eager to sell it to him.

Xiao Yan smiled faintly, and a blood-colored flame flickered in his hand. Yet to his surprise, the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame, which he had always fully controlled, suddenly rushed toward the puppet as though it had gone out of control.

The puppet's entire body began to burn. The terrifying heat even caused the cave walls to start melting.

Xiao Yan felt the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame's ability to burn evil intent being pushed to its utmost limit. He even heard faint wails coming from the burning puppet. The entire puppet blazed fiercely, and Xiao Yan's brow furrowed slightly. If the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame was burning it like this, what exactly was this ghostly thing?

After the time it took to burn an incense stick, the mark had indeed disappeared—but the Dou Emperor puppet had also been completely burned away by the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame. Xiao Yan felt that the backlash from the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame had nearly vanished. In the past, no matter how he burned the evil intent of others, some backlash would always affect him. Now, there was almost none at all.

Yang Lingyan asked, "Xiao Yan, isn't your Heavenly Flame a little too terrifying?"

Chu Qun and Yang Lingyan were both prodigies of the Northwest Region, so they had naturally recognized Xiao Yan's Heavenly Flame long ago. They had simply never expected it to possess such horrifying destructive power, enough to burn a Dou Emperor puppet into nothing.

Xiao Yan shook his head. "There was something wrong with that thing."

As he spoke, he told Chu Qun and Yang Lingyan about the puppet's origins. After listening, the two also found it rather strange.

Chu Qun comforted him, "Don't dwell on it. That thing's origins definitely aren't simple, but it's been completely burned away by the Heavenly Flame now. We can just leave—who would know it was ever in our hands?"

Xiao Yan could only comfort himself with that thought. After all, he had genuinely obtained the benefits of the Star Spirit Soul-Nurturing Orchid.

The three then departed at once. This was not a place where they could remain for long.

About half an hour after Xiao Yan and the others left, six people flew rapidly to the area and searched the cave where the three had stayed.

If Yang Lingyan or Chu Qun had been there, they would certainly have recognized the leader of this group—the second most important figure from the Mystic Pattern Sect on this expedition.

A genius of the Mystic Pattern Sect second only to Lu Zhi—Lu Mingzhe!