Yao Lao's Shock

In the quiet courtyard, more than a dozen sets of ingredients for Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid were laid out before Xiao Yun.

After taking a breath, Xiao Yun rolled his neck and reached forward with one hand. The medicinal ingredients on the ground instantly rose into the air.

"Appear."

As Xiao Yun spoke, a flame emerged above his palm. It was golden in color, swaying with remarkable vitality.

Xiao Yun had obtained this flame as a reward from the system.

The flame originally had no name, but Xiao Yun had named it according to its abilities.

Its abilities were ridiculously overpowered. It could help its host cultivate faster, improve the host's comprehension of cultivation methods and Dou Techniques, automatically lock onto enemies when thrown in battle, and generate a protective barrier when used defensively. Those were only some of its abilities.

The moment Xiao Yun obtained such an overpowered flame, he fell in love with it. After that, he had not bothered seeking out any Heavenly Flames, intending to remain devoted to this one alone.

And Xiao Yun had given this incredibly overpowered flame a name: Universal Key Flame!

He had taken the name from some software from his previous life.

Well... it sounded a little tacky, but Xiao Yun was quite satisfied with it.

The usually silent system suddenly spoke up:

[An Imperial-grade flame was actually given such a tacky name by its host.]

[What a sin.]

Xiao Yun thought, This name is awesome, all right? System, do you even understand the value of a universal key?

Xiao Yun was somewhat unconvinced by the system's mockery, but the system could not be bothered arguing with him and fell silent again.

It was already evening, yet Xiao Yan was still cultivating his Dou Qi. During the day, after a friendly discussion with Yao Lao, he had chosen to become Yao Lao's disciple.

Yao Lao had also promised to train him with everything he had, as compensation for absorbing his Dou Qi for an entire year.

At that moment, the fully absorbed Xiao Yan did not see that Yao Lao had already emerged from the storage ring, staring in shock toward a certain direction.

"What is in that direction? It actually caused the Bone Chilling Flame to react and try to leave me!"

Just moments ago, the Bone Chilling Flame that Yao Lao had obtained through countless hardships suddenly stirred and submitted toward a certain direction.

Yao Lao dearly wanted to investigate, but he eventually gave up. He did not dare wander around recklessly now.

After returning to the storage ring, Yao Lao began studying his Bone Chilling Flame, trying to understand why this Heavenly Flame had suddenly submitted.

Xiao Yun knew nothing about the Bone Chilling Flame's abnormal reaction. He had already begun refining pills.

Controlling the Universal Key Flame, Xiao Yun chose to simultaneously burn and extract more than a dozen sets of ingredients for Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.

Handling so many medicinal ingredients at once was a major challenge for an alchemist, but Xiao Yun did it with effortless ease.

After the time it took to burn an incense stick, Xiao Yun suddenly shouted, "Condense!"

The next moment, all the medicinal ingredients were completely refined. They gathered together and ultimately formed more than a dozen drops of jade-colored liquid.

With a wave of his hand, more than a dozen jade bottles appeared and stored the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid. Refining these batches was effortless for Xiao Yun; he had even found it too troublesome to use a medicinal cauldron.

"The Universal Key Flame really is overpowered. It has brought my pill-refining success rate close to one hundred percent."

Xiao Yun sighed. Ever since obtaining the Universal Key Flame, he had never failed at pill refinement.

The Universal Key Flame had played no small role in allowing him to become a Ninth Grade alchemist at the age of twenty.

After putting away the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, Xiao Yun stretched and walked over to sit in a small pavilion nearby.

"Brother Xiao Yun, you've worked hard. Xun'er will massage your shoulders."

The moment Xiao Yun sat down, a pair of fair, delicate hands landed on his shoulders and began gently kneading them.

Enjoying Gu Xun'er's gentle service, Xiao Yun teased, "Xun'er is so virtuous. Whoever marries you in the future will have earned eight lifetimes of good fortune."

Gu Xun'er's cheeks reddened slightly. "Brother Xiao Yun, you're awful. Xun'er is only eleven. What are you talking about?"

"Hahaha." Xiao Yun laughed heartily.

The next day.

Today was a lively day. Many people had come to Xiao Yun's courtyard.

Xiao Yan, Xiao Yu, Xiao Ning, Xiao Mei...

Seven or eight talented young members of the family stood properly in Xiao Yun's courtyard.

That morning, they had been awakened by their elders and sent here.

When Xiao Yun opened his door, he immediately saw seven or eight people standing in his courtyard and inwardly sighed in helplessness.

His eldest brother was far too impatient. He had only mentioned last night that he should find some talented juniors, yet they had been arranged to come first thing this morning.

His usually empty courtyard had suddenly gained so many people, making Xiao Yun somewhat unaccustomed to it. Still, he had called them here himself, so it would not be appropriate to drive them away.

"Hello, everyone." Xiao Yun walked over and greeted them.

"Hello, Uncle Xiao Yun."

The group immediately greeted Xiao Yun in unison upon seeing him.

Their elders had specifically instructed them that morning to show Xiao Yun respect and sweet-talk him a little. Otherwise, if they lost out on the benefits, there would not even be a place to cry with regret.

However, Xiao Yun had kept a low profile ever since returning. Some of them had never even met him before and only knew that he was the clan leader's second younger brother.

So after greeting him, they all fell silent, not knowing what to say.

After looking around, Xiao Yan was ultimately the one who stepped out from the crowd with a face that looked as though he had been beaten up. "Uncle Xiao Yun."

Seeing Xiao Yan's bruised and swollen face, Xiao Yun asked in surprise, "Little Yan, what happened to you? Weren't you fine yesterday?"

Xiao Yan glanced at someone behind him, then shook his head with a helpless smile. "Thank you for your concern, Uncle Xiao Yun. I'm fine."

Gu Xun'er suddenly appeared beside Xiao Yun and said with a smile, "Brother Xiao Yan was beaten up by Cousin Xiao Yu, wasn't he?"

Xiao Yan nodded helplessly upon hearing that.

At that moment, an obviously older girl in the crowd snorted coldly. "Xiao Yan deserved it."

Xiao Yun instantly understood what had happened.

A year ago, while cultivating in the back mountain, Xiao Yan had accidentally seen his cousin Xiao Yu's body.

At the time, Xiao Yu had chased Xiao Yan through several streets with a longsword, trying to chop him down. The commotion had become known throughout the entire Xiao Family.

Xiao Yu had even declared that she would beat Xiao Yan every time she saw him in the future.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Xiao Yan had avoided Xiao Yu for the past year. Who would have thought that he would happen to run into her on the way here today?

Although Xiao Yan's talent had returned, he was currently only a weakling at the third stage of Dou Qi Force, while Xiao Yu had already reached the eighth stage of Dou Qi Force.

Unsurprisingly, Xiao Yu easily caught Xiao Yan and gave him a severe beating.

Xiao Yun looked at Xiao Yu and Xiao Yan, amused as he thought, So they really are enemies destined to clash.

Xiao Yun could not interfere in matters between juniors, so he stopped dwelling on Xiao Yan's situation. With a wave of his hand, he directly took out the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid he had refined the previous night.