Mittel City was one of the largest cities in the Jia Ma Empire.
It might not have been as prosperous as the imperial capital, but to the Mittel Family, one of the Jia Ma Empire's three great families and renowned for its commerce, a hundred imperial capitals could never replace Mittel City.
That was simply because Mittel City was the ancestral home of the Mittel Family. Long ago, before the family had made its fortune, their ancestors had already settled and thrived here.
As the Mittel Family's power continued to grow, they gradually swallowed up the surrounding lands, until Mittel City became their private property.
Hundreds of years passed, and the city's original name had long since been forgotten.
Another year was drawing to a close. Most of the Mittel Family's senior members had returned to their ancestral home to see how the younger generation had fared in their cultivation that year.
More than ten years ago, the Mittel Clan's Grand Elder, the previous Ten Great Experts of the Jia Ma Empire—Ice Emperor Hai Bodong—had suddenly vanished without a trace. Without this Dou Huang expert to hold down the fort, the Mittel Family's strength had plummeted.
Fortunately, the family head, Mittel Teng Shan, had done his utmost to manage the clan, and he himself was a Dou Wang expert.
Thus, although the Mittel Family had lost its Dou Huang expert and could no longer stand alongside colossal powers like the Misty Cloud Sect and the Imperial Clan, it still wasn't someone others could casually push around.
The collapse of the three-way balance had sharpened tensions between the two colossal powers, the Imperial Clan and the Misty Cloud Sect, in recent years.
The many forces within the empire could now play both sides against each other, and the Mittel Family's commercial empire had even expanded considerably.
But Teng Shan knew very well that this was only temporary. No one knew when the two colossal powers' patience would finally run out.
Without a Dou Huang expert to hold down the fort, the Mittel Family might not be able to stay out of it.
Teng Shan's narrow eyes nearly disappeared as his brows unconsciously drooped. A touch of resentment welled up inside him.
Old Hai, where have you gone? You haven't even sent us a word...
"Wu Yan, Two-Star Dou Zhe!"
"Mm~"
The call made Teng Shan's narrow eyes open slightly. His gaze settled on the boy walking away from the Magic Stone Stele.
He had some impression of the child. He came from a distant branch of the Mittel Family.
The kind of branch so far removed that even if the entire clan were executed, they wouldn't be caught up in it.
But the little fellow's talent was simply too dazzling. At eleven, he had reached the Ninth Stage of Dou Qi, and the family's senior members had brought his entire family back to their ancestral home.
"If I remember correctly, this child hasn't even been back for a year, has he?"
"Eight and a half months, Family Head."
After receiving the precise answer, Teng Shan's eyelids drooped shut again, making it impossible to read his thoughts.
Eight and a half months, from the Ninth Stage of Dou Qi to Two-Star Dou Zhe...
After his cultivation had been tested, Wu Yan returned to his parents amid the envious, astonished gazes of the clansmen.
"Xiao Yan, you did very well."
Wu Yan's father, Wu Qiang, patted his son on the shoulder, a proud smile on his face.
After the ceremony, the clansmen around him invited him to share his experience raising children.
"Leave your father be. Let's go home and eat."
Wu Yan's mother, Mittel Linghua, took her elder son and young daughter by the hand and led them toward their home—a new home for them.
It was a spacious courtyard, more than enough for their family of four.
Half an hour later, Wu Qiang returned with the gifts the clansmen had given him.
Linghua was preparing a lavish lunch in the kitchen, and the whole courtyard was filled with a happy warmth.
In that atmosphere, Wu Yan, who had lived two lives, softened his expression a little as he played with his younger sister, Wu Yue, who had just learned to walk.
They had been a family living in a remote little town. But thanks to their exceptionally gifted son, the main clan—which had seemed a world away—had brought them back, allowing the whole family to cross into a different social class.
He had just displayed his talent in front of the clan's senior members, too. It was certainly worth celebrating.
The couple were naturally pleased with their eldest son, whose temperament was rather solitary.
They thought he was a little withdrawn, but his talent more than made up for such unimportant things.
Back in his room, Wu Yan gathered his thoughts.
What no one knew was that, besides being a reincarnator, deep within his soul he possessed a water-blue little bottle that only he could see.
Wu Yan picked up a cup of water. Just as it touched his lips, a drop of emerald-green liquid flowed out of the finger-sized blue bottle.
It entered Wu Yan's mouth along with the water in the cup and slid down his throat.
As Wu Yan entered a state of cultivation, he could clearly feel that, as a Dou Zhe, his meridians were being nourished and widened by a gentle energy brimming with vitality.
Wu Yan was only twelve, yet his meridians weren't as fragile as those of other children his age. Even some adults couldn't match their breadth and resilience.
That was mainly thanks to his Companion Spirit Item—the Little Blue Bottle.
Wu Yan had discovered the Little Blue Bottle when he was ten.
After two years of experimenting, he had figured out some of its functions.
The first function, Wu Yan called "Extraction."
If he put medicinal ingredients into the Little Blue Bottle, after a while he would obtain their medicinal liquid, whose effects matched those of the ingredients themselves.
Perhaps because the Little Blue Bottle extracted them so purely, the liquid was even more potent than eating the ingredients directly.
The other function of the Little Blue Bottle had to do with where that drop of emerald-green liquid came from.
Magic Cores.
That's right—the Magic Cores everyone knew, which contained energy so violent that humans couldn't consume them directly.
Perhaps because the Little Blue Bottle was his Companion Spirit Item, it could transform the violent energy within a Magic Core into Energy Liquid that Wu Yan could consume directly.
Based on Wu Yan's own experiments, Energy Liquid transformed from wood-attribute Magic Cores helped his growth and development, with a particularly noticeable effect on his meridians.
Wu Yan hadn't tested Magic Cores of other attributes yet, for several reasons.
First, having lived two lives, Wu Yan firmly believed that he must never let anyone else learn about his Little Blue Bottle, especially while he was still weak.
Not even his own parents... Wu Yan didn't want to take that chance.
He wasn't an Alchemist. Why else would he buy so many Magic Cores?
To attract attention?
Second, it was the same problem: he was still too weak and couldn't afford to take risks. It was better to maintain the status quo.
The Energy Liquid transformed from a single first-tier wood-attribute Magic Core would last Wu Yan a long time. At his current rate of two or three drops a day, it would be enough for half a year.
Energy Liquid transformed from wood-attribute Magic Cores was also the most beneficial to Wu Yan right now.
He was still young, only twelve, and this was the perfect time to build a solid foundation. Using Wood-Attribute Effect Energy Liquid to strengthen his body was definitely the right choice.
After all, Wu Yan was now sheltered beneath the Mittel Family's great tree, right here in their ancestral home. There was no need to rush.
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