Terrifying Indeed

[You spent barely any gold to obtain a Low Xuan Tier battle technique, and you were thrilled beyond measure.]

[You had to know that the most profound battle technique in your own clan was only at the mid Xuan Tier, and only the clan head and several elders were qualified to learn it.]

[Medicine Elder completely dismissed the Absorbing Palm battle technique and had you prepare a large basin of water.]

[Medicine Elder used a pale white flame to refine the materials you had bought into a drop of jade-like liquid.]

[After dripping it into clear water, you began soaking your body in it to cultivate.]

[However, this medicinal solution only lasted two months, so you had to buy more every other month.]

[To become an alchemist, to fulfill the Three-Year Pact, and to gain great strength, you cultivated with exceptional diligence.]

[In ten days, you broke through from Three-Stage Dou Qi to Fourth Stage Dou Qi.

After another half month or so, you broke through from Fourth Stage Dou Qi to Fifth Stage Dou Qi, at a speed far beyond Medicine Elder's expectations.]

[However, the medicinal potency of the Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid had also been exhausted.]

Xiao Yan forced a smile. "I took a Primordial Origin Pill. If I hadn't made that crazy choice, I should've been a Great Dou Master by now."

"It seems that choice wasn't too bad. If I can raise my strength through the Dou Qi stages this quickly, then with a good cultivation method, I should be able to make up for the time I wasted."

[To ensure you would continue having Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid to use, you asked Medicine Elder whether inferior materials would work. He replied that they could, though the effects would be worse, and you nodded slightly.

You weren't planning to use it yourself. You intended to auction it off and use the proceeds to buy better materials.]

[Medicine Elder paid no mind at all to refining inferior medicine.]

Xiao Yan sighed inwardly. Though selling fake medicine isn't good, anyone who can afford Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid must belong to one of Wutan City's major clans. Letting those clans' geniuses rapidly improve their strength wouldn't benefit the Xiao Clan.

[Concealing your figure beneath a black robe, you arrived at the Mitre Auction House.]

[The appraiser couldn't determine the effects of the Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid and summoned the Second-Rank Alchemist Gu Ni, who confirmed that it was genuine.]

[You entered Auction Room Number One and waited for the Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid to be sold. At the same time, you saw Ya Fei, the Mittel Auction House's chief auctioneer.]

Under the lights at the center of the auction house, Ya Fei wore a vivid red, form-fitting qipao that perfectly outlined her exquisite curves. A stretch of dazzlingly fair, long legs beneath her brocade robe stirred a burning impulse in people's hearts. A silver sash wrapped around her slender willow waist, displaying its delicate contours to the fullest.

Not far away, a man concealed in the darkness stared hotly at Ya Fei on the stage. As her cherry lips, which gave off a crisp, intoxicatingly soft voice, parted and closed slightly, his hands kept moving...

[Seeing this, you could only cry out in your heart: terrifying indeed!]

[You chose...]

[A: Use both hands and give Ya Fei a little pressure.]

[B: Quickly look away.]

"Am I going crazy again?" Xiao Yan rolled his eyes.

Ya Fei truly was a seductive beauty who could set a man's heart and blood aflame, but in broad daylight, with Medicine Elder still on his hand, he would have to be completely insane to choose A.

Xiao Yan silently chose B.

[You quickly looked away and unexpectedly spotted your father, as well as the heads of the other two major clans.]

[Not long afterward, your Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid was brought out. Amid Ya Fei's alluring, soft voice, it sold for forty thousand gold coins.]

[However, what left you both amused and helpless was that your father had bought this inferior medicine.]

[Hurting others and yourself!]

[After that, the auction's grand finale began.]

[It was a High Xuan Tier cultivation method, the Wind Scroll Art.]

[With your father's clever bidding, Jia Lie Bi, the Jia Lie Clan head, spent the exorbitant price of five hundred and fifty thousand gold coins to claim the cultivation method.]

[After the auction ended, you returned to the appraisal room to wait for your gold coins. A fragrant breeze swept over you, followed by a soft, sweet laugh at your ear.]

The woman in the red dress who approached with graceful steps was none other than Mitre Ya Fei.

At close range, Ya Fei's mature charm was even more enticing than it had been from afar.

On her smiling, lovely face, a pair of long, beautiful eyes shimmering with moisture seemed to cast their allure upon men at every moment. Your gaze drifted imperceptibly over her elegant, slender neck, only to nearly be drawn into the deeply exposed snowy cleavage below. Her snake-like willow waist swayed with natural seduction, making one want nothing more than to force her to the ground and ravage her.

[After dealing with her for a while, aside from the auction proceeds, you also received a Mitre Auction House VIP card. It granted you VIP treatment at any auction house under the Mitre Clan, reducing the auction fee from five percent to two percent.]

[With enough gold coins, you purchased a large quantity of materials.]

[Just as you were preparing to rest, Xiao Zhan arrived and handed you that Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid. You were deeply moved.]

[After Xiao Zhan left, you called out Xiao Xun'er, who had been hiding in the shadows and eavesdropping.]

[With a woman's keen sense of smell, she had detected the scent of another woman on you.]

[The next day, rather than continuing your grueling cultivation, you went to the Xiao Clan's Battle Technique Pavilion.]

[You would need to fight others in the future. Having only a realm without battle techniques wouldn't do.]

"Didn't I still owe money?" Xiao Yan realized a problem. "Was it hard to explain where the money came from?"

[On the way, you saw Xiao Xun'er sparring with Xiao Ning. Xiao Xun'er's extraordinary strength allowed her to defeat Xiao Ning with ease, even while somewhat distracted.]

[Upon noticing you, Xiao Ning mercilessly mocked you and declared that he would cripple you at the coming-of-age ceremony a year from now.]

[After bringing a bundle of battle techniques back to your room, Medicine Elder wore a look of utter disdain.]

[You gloomily said that you needed battle techniques. Medicine Elder helplessly agreed to teach you a High Xuan Tier battle technique, casually saying that someone had once cried and knelt before him, begging him to accept it, as though he were talking about trash on the ground.]

"Teaching me trash?" Xiao Yan's face darkened. As expected of an alchemist who treated the Pill King Gu He like dirt—when he got ruthless, he didn't even spare his own disciple.

[After learning about Eight Extremities Collapse, you discovered that it was a close-combat battle technique. Once mastered, each attack could secretly contain eight layers of force. Stacked together, their power rivaled a Low Earth Tier battle technique.]

[Medicine Elder warned you that Eight Extremities Collapse placed extremely high demands on physical strength. If you wanted to master it quickly, it would be best to take a severe beating.]

[You chose...]

[A: Strip naked and leave your back to Medicine Elder.]

[B: Ignore Medicine Elder's teaching-through-beatings method and head to the back mountain to show off your powerful physique.]

Looking at the first option, Xiao Yan shuddered with revulsion. Was this cultivation, or what...?