Devouring Owl Saint

"My meaning is very clear. Impossible. Choose another condition."

Yao Chen said with a grim expression.

He would never give the Bone Chilling Flame to Xie Tianxiao. Even if he was no match for Xie Tianxiao, he did not believe Xie Tianxiao would kill him, an eighth-tier peak alchemist, over a Heavenly Flame.

Since the other party knew him, he surely also knew of his influence in the Central Plains. That made it even less likely that he would do something so foolish, where the losses outweighed the gains.

"Hmph, you are the first person to defy my will since I came to this continent!"

Xie Tianxiao's face darkened. Then he said coldly, "However, as the publicly acknowledged number one alchemist of the Central Plains, you are qualified for me to give you another chance!"

"What do you mean?"

Yao Chen frowned tightly. He sensed an intense aura of danger, and his heart jolted.

"Aren't you curious about my identity?"

Xie Tianxiao gave a cold laugh as his aura slowly began to rise.

A powerful presence abruptly burst forth from his body, throwing the surrounding energy of heaven and earth into chaos.

Feeling that aura, Yao Chen's expression changed drastically. Carrying the unconscious Xiao Yan, he retreated rapidly, putting dozens of meters between himself and Xie Tianxiao.

"I am Xie Tianxiao, the Devouring Owl Saint!"

Xie Tianxiao slowly enunciated his name, word by word.

What?!

The Devouring Owl Saint!

The moment he heard the word "Saint," Yao Chen's face filled with horror, disbelief flashing in his eyes.

A Saint, a Saint—what was a Saint?

They stood at the absolute peak of the entire Battle Qi Continent!

Every action of a Saint could cause an enormous stir, even setting off a bloody storm!

Even in the Central Plains, a place filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers, there were only a handful of factions guarded by Dou Saints.

Moreover, those Dou Saints either lived in seclusion or remained in closed-door cultivation, ignoring worldly affairs.

Yet now, this Dou Saint-level expert named Xie Tianxiao had appeared in the Xiao Clan of tiny Wutan City, in the northwestern Jia Ma Empire. What kind of joke was this?!

"I truly did not expect you to be a Dou Saint expert!"

Yao Chen took a deep breath, and a trace of respect appeared on his face.

No wonder Xie Tianxiao knew him and claimed to be giving the number one alchemist of the Central Plains another chance. He had hidden himself so deeply!

Although Yao Chen was confident that, in the past, with his Nine Transformation Dou Venerate cultivation and his status as an eighth-tier peak alchemy grandmaster, he could have ranked among the top five publicly known figures in the Central Plains, he was still far inferior to a Saint like Xie Tianxiao.

After all, he had yet to become a ninth-tier alchemist. The pills he refined would not be of much help to a Dou Saint expert.

"It seems you have not gone senile yet."

Xie Tianxiao said indifferently, "Unfortunately, you are mistaken. I have not yet entered the true Dou Saint realm."

"But you called yourself—"

Yao Chen froze for a moment before suddenly understanding. "So you are a Half-Saint expert with one foot in the Dou Saint realm!"

Earlier, because Xie Tianxiao had merely released a little of his aura and called himself a Saint, Yao Chen had assumed he had already reached the Dou Saint level.

Now that Xie Tianxiao had said this, Yao Chen realized that the feeling he had given him earlier was far weaker than the Dou Saint elders he had once seen in the Yao Clan!

So he was only a Half-Saint, not a true Dou Saint!

Above the nine stars of the Dou Venerate realm were the Nine Transformations. After the Nine Transformations came sainthood—not Dou Sainthood, but Half-Sainthood, still separated by a small realm!

Half-Saint experts had only just entered the Saint realm and far surpassed the Venerate realm.

Though they had only one foot across the threshold, they still carried the word "Saint" and could call themselves Saints.

"That is indeed the case."

Xie Tianxiao nodded, then slowly said, "You should know what Saints represent in today's continent!

"Though I have only stepped halfway in, I am still a Saint, an existence far superior to the Dou Venerate realm."

Hearing this, Yao Chen felt a surge of bitterness and said softly, "You are right. Saints truly stand above the continent."

Even Yao Chen in his prime had to maintain respect when facing a Saint, let alone now, when he was merely a soul body barely clinging to existence.

Seeing Yao Chen's respectful manner, Xie Tianxiao nodded in satisfaction and continued, "So you thought that because you were once the number one alchemist of the Central Plains, I would not dare kill you?"

"Your prestige in the Central Plains was indeed extremely high back then, but eighth-tier peak was still only eighth-tier peak. Without entering the ninth tier, you could not earn the regard of Saint-level experts."

"This is also why, despite your immense prestige in the Central Plains, no Saint-level expert ever joined your Falling Star Pavilion."

Yao Chen's expression turned ugly upon hearing Xie Tianxiao's words.

Although he had long understood this in his heart, having it laid bare before him still humiliated him beyond measure.

"Besides, everyone knows that you perished from the backlash of alchemy. Even if I erased your soul, your friends would never know."

"Or even if they did know, would they dare come and trouble me?!"

Xie Tianxiao spoke calmly, his tone filled with confidence and arrogance.

"This..."

Yao Chen's face turned ashen, yet there was nothing he could do.

Xie Tianxiao was right. No one would be foolish enough to offend a Saint for the sake of a dead man, even if that Saint was only a Half-Saint!

Seeing this, Xie Tianxiao looked at Yao Chen with a trace of displeasure and slowly said, "You were once the foremost alchemist of the Central Plains, and I have uses for you. That is why I gave you a chance to consider it."

"If it were anyone else, I would have already acted and erased them. I would not waste so many words."

Xie Tianxiao had come here not only to obtain Yao Chen's Bone Chilling Flame to advance his cultivation and check the progress of the plot, but also because he lacked the means to refine pills and did not know alchemy.

If he could subdue Yao Chen for his own use, it would be of considerable help to both himself and the faction he would establish in the future.

But if Yao Chen still refused to recognize the situation, Xie Tianxiao would not mind directly killing him and Xiao Yan, making the two of them disappear from this world entirely.

After all, there were quite a few eighth-tier alchemists in the Central Plains. Most of them simply belonged to the Pill Tower, making them much more troublesome to subdue.

"I understand."

Yao Chen let out a sigh as wave after wave of bitterness rose in his heart. At last, he requested, "May the Devouring Owl Saint allow me a few months before I hand the Bone Chilling Flame over to you?"

"As you can see, Saint, this newly accepted disciple of mine needs me in every regard. If I give it to you now, both my strength and alchemy skills will decline considerably."

"How about this? Once I have set Xiao Yan's cultivation on track over the next few months, I will personally deliver the Heavenly Flame to you."

"Furthermore, if your faction, friends, or juniors need any pills refined, Saint, simply come to me. I will certainly do everything in my power to help."

Although Yao Chen was extremely unwilling to surrender his Heavenly Flame, the other party was, after all, a Half-Saint expert who had no reservations about dealing with him.

If he remained so tactless, then he and his disciple Xiao Yan would likely both die at the hands of this Devouring Owl Saint!

"Fine, but you must join my command and refine pills for my future faction. If you refuse, you will be my enemy!"

"You should know that I do not mind erasing you, your disciple Xiao Yan, and the entire Xiao Clan right now..."

Xie Tianxiao spoke calmly, but his tone carried an irresistible majesty that made Yao Chen's entire body tremble.

Yao Chen had neither offended the protagonist nor had any conflict of interest with him, and the protagonist could not refine pills either, so our protagonist did not kill him outright.

Also, thank you all for your recommendation votes and monthly votes. I wanted to list your names, but I found that several of them were special symbols that I could not find. Awkward.