A Branch of the Yao Clan, Yao Xuan

The Shennong Mountain Range.

Though this place belonged to the Central Plains, it lay in the far south, remote and somewhat desolate.

The Shennong Mountain Range was shrouded in mist year-round and teemed with poisonous insects and vicious beasts. On top of that, its miasma was highly toxic. Any ordinary Dou Emperor or weaker who recklessly ventured here would meet a gruesome end.

But this was the Yao Clan's territory, and the Shennong Mountain Range was home to countless top-grade spirit medicines. As a result, the energy of heaven and earth here was exceptionally dense.

The Yao Clan, one of the Ancient Eight Clans!

As an ancient imperial clan whose foundation rested on alchemy, the Yao Clan still ranked among the top on the Battle Qi Continent in terms of high-grade alchemists, even though its Dou Emperor Bloodline had begun to dwindle...

The Medicine Realm, in a remote mountain valley.

A white-haired boy sat cross-legged, his eyes slightly closed. He focused all his attention on using his soul power to control Dou Qi, purifying and refining the medicinal ingredients in the furnace before him...

No one knew how much time passed. The Dou Qi flames slowly faded, and wafts of pill fragrance drifted from the furnace.

The boy opened his eyes and gently raised a hand. A jade-green pill floated out of the furnace and into his palm...

He carefully studied the Third-Grade Pill in his hand, the Spirit-Congealing Blood-Nourishing Pill, and murmured softly:

"I did manage to refine it, but the quality still seems rather ordinary. Looks like I'll have to practice more..."

The boy was named Yao Xuan, and he came from a collateral branch of the Yao Clan.

However, Yao Xuan had not originally belonged to this world. He was a transmigrator. In his previous life, for reasons unknown, he had crossed over into this world known as the Battle Qi Continent.

Yet Yao Xuan hadn't been like other transmigrators, born as the young patriarch of some ancient imperial clan. Although he, too, came from the Yao Clan, he was merely a member of one of its collateral branches.

Still, he had at least been born into the Yao Clan, a clan that centered its legacy on alchemy. And as a transmigrator, Yao Xuan possessed somewhat stronger soul power than his fellow branch members. Coupled with the perfect ratio of fire- and wood-attributed Dou Qi within him, he had naturally become an alchemist.

Yao Xuan knew that although alchemists enjoyed the highest status on the Battle Qi Continent, they were practically everywhere in the Yao Clan.

So being an alchemist had brought Yao Xuan no change in status whatsoever. He remained an inconspicuous nobody in the Yao Clan.

Yao Xuan sighed softly, then put the Third-Grade Pill away in his Storage Ring.

Just as he was about to get up, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him. "Brother Yao Xuan!"

Yao Xuan turned at the sound and saw a breathtakingly beautiful girl hurrying toward him.

The girl was named Yao Ling. That was right—the direct-line Yao Ling, the person in the Yao Clan with the greatest hope of reaching the Emperor Realm in soul power.

Yao Ling came from the direct line, while Yao Xuan was only a collateral branch member. The two should never have crossed paths.

But though Yao Xuan's branch was collateral, it was the strongest among the collateral branches. So Yao Xuan had been in contact with Yao Ling since childhood.

In fact, Yao Xuan had been raised from a young age to serve as Yao Ling's bodyguard. But as time passed, the two grew closer and closer, until they even came to feel like childhood sweethearts.

Yao Ling hurried to Yao Xuan and leaned forward slightly, smiling sweetly at him.

"Brother Yao Xuan, I knew you'd be hiding here refining pills again..."

Yao Xuan smiled as well and pinched Yao Ling's cheek. "You little rascal, you sneaked out again, didn't you?"

Yao Ling nodded with a smile, then took a pill from her Storage Ring and handed it to Yao Xuan. "This is the Fourth-Grade Pill I just refined. If you take it, it'll do wonders for your cultivation, Brother Yao Xuan!"

The moment Yao Xuan took the Fourth-Grade Pill, he recognized it as an Origin-Weaving Pill.

Though it was only a Fourth-Grade Pill, it was specially made for the direct-line descendants of the Yao Clan.

The pill carried the properties of pill fire. It could stimulate the flow of blood and qi in the body, temper the physique, and aid both cultivation and alchemy.

It could be called one of the finest pills among Fourth-Grade Pills.

Yao Xuan smiled as he took the pill, then swallowed it without hesitation. In an instant, he could feel the Dou Qi in his body circulating much faster.

"Brother Yao Xuan, how is it? I refined this pill myself!"

Yao Ling lifted her chin with a proud smile, looking rather pleased with herself.

Yao Xuan nodded with a smile as well. "Not bad!"

"To refine a Fourth-Grade Pill so perfectly, it seems you're already a qualified Fifth-Grade Alchemist, Ling'er..."

Over the years, Yao Ling had given Yao Xuan plenty of pills that aided cultivation. So even though Yao Xuan came from a collateral branch and possessed only a trace of the Dou Emperor Bloodline, he had still reached the Two-Star Dou Spirit level at the age of eighteen.

His soul power had also reached the peak of the Mid-Level Mortal Realm, just a step away from the Late-Level Mortal Realm.

Yao Ling smiled and studied Yao Xuan seriously. "You're not bad yourself, Brother Yao Xuan!"

"You're a Fourth-Rank Alchemist now, too, aren't you? Your soul power is almost catching up to mine..."

"With talent like yours, you wouldn't be out of place even among the direct line!"

Yao Xuan smiled. "You're at the Mortal Realm Grand Perfection. I know full well how big the gap between us is..."

That was vastly different from Yao Xuan's Mid-Level Mortal Realm.

After all, cultivation was no easy matter, and cultivating soul power was even harder.

Though both of them were in the Mortal Realm, Yao Xuan knew the gap between them all too well.

Yao Ling smacked her lips. "Brother Yao Xuan, you cultivated your way step by step to the Mid-Level Mortal Realm. My innate Soul Origin is different from the start, so if we're talking about how fast we've cultivated, you really have caught up with me..."

What Yao Ling said wasn't wrong. Her soul power had started far beyond that of her peers, and the essence of her blood possessed the remarkable ability to nourish, repair, and replenish other people's souls.

Yao Xuan remembered that in the original story, when Xiao Yan's soul power had nearly run dry, Yao Ling had donated her blood. Xiao Yan's soul power had instantly recovered to its peak—and had even become a little stronger.

Yao Ling also knew how extraordinary the essence of her blood was. If the clan hadn't guarded it so carefully, she would have wanted to donate blood long ago to help Yao Xuan cultivate...

After all, in Yao Ling's eyes, Yao Xuan's talent was more than enough to warrant an exception and bring him into the direct line, where he could receive better resources.

Yao Xuan slowly stood and took the Spirit-Congealing Blood-Nourishing Pill he had just refined out of his Storage Ring, handing it to Yao Ling.

"This is the pill I just tried to refine. Take a look and see if it turned out all right..."

But Yao Ling took the pill without even looking at it and popped it straight into her mouth. She nodded with a smile. "If Brother Yao Xuan made it, it can't be bad..."

Given Yao Ling's status, she would never be short of pills. But every pill Yao Xuan refined, she ate. She trusted him completely...

Just as Yao Ling swallowed the pill, a figure slowly appeared in the sky behind them.

"Yao Ling!"