First Meeting with Teng Shan

Wu Yan had already figured out the current point in time:

The previous Cloud Sect Master, Yun Shan, had entered seclusion more than ten years ago.

The new Cloud Sect Master, Yun Yun, was not yet thirty and was already a Dou King expert, as well as the youngest Dou King in the Jia Ma Empire.

A few years ago, Gu He, the champion of the Alchemist Tournament and a fourth-tier alchemist, had joined the Cloud Sect as a guest elder.

Nalan Yanran, the eldest granddaughter of the Nalan Clan, one of the three great families alongside the Mittel Clan, had been born three years ago.

In other words, the future Flame Emperor, the current Xiao Yan, was still just a little brat.

Therefore, Wu Yan could conclude that as long as he did not court death, he would remain quite safe within the Mittel Ancestral Grounds.

That being the case, there was no need for Wu Yan to rush around and create unnecessary trouble for himself.

Wouldn't it be better to keep using Wood-Attribute Effect Energy Liquid to build his foundation?

As for what effects energy liquid converted from Magic Cores of other attributes might have, he would naturally find out in the future. There was no need to rush.

That Little Blue Bottle was inside his soul. It was not going anywhere!

He was only a two-star Dou Practitioner now. What if he messed around and got himself into trouble?

He had been reborn into a familiar supernatural world, possessed a cheat, was more than ten years older than the protagonist, and had over a decade to grow stronger. In the future, he might even have a chance at immortality...

With such a perfect start, why should he throw it away?

There was a saying Wu Yan liked very much: The victory was already decided, so why rush for quick success?

Knock, knock, knock.

"Yan, the Clan Head wants to see you. Stop for now."

A knock sounded at the door, and Wu Yan's mother spoke to him from outside.

Wu Yan replied after withdrawing from his cultivation state. When he walked into the courtyard, he saw the elder who had brought his family here.

"Greetings, Elder."

"Mm. Come with me. The Clan Head wishes to see you."

The old man in a pale yellow robe smiled and nodded.

As he followed the elder toward the central area of the ancestral grounds, a thoughtful look flashed through Wu Yan's eyes.

The Mittel Clan's strongest expert, an extraordinary Dou King, wanted to see a mere Dou Practitioner like him. Did he intend to nurture him?

Only a few hours earlier, the Mittel Clan juniors had finished testing their cultivation. Being summoned now probably was not a bad thing.

Before long, Wu Yan followed the elder into a quiet courtyard.

Inside the pavilion, the Mittel Clan Head, Mittel Clan Teng Shan, watched the aloof youth behind the elder with narrowed eyes. The boy seemed to radiate an aura that kept strangers away.

"Clan Head, Wu Yan has arrived."

After reporting, the elder turned and left, leaving Wu Yan alone to face this great figure who could make the Jia Ma Empire tremble three times over.

When he had read Battle Through the Heavens before, he had never thought much of a mere Dou King. Only when facing an expert of this level in person could one understand why Dou Kings were considered true powerhouses.

Though Teng Shan had not deliberately released his aura to pressure him, Wu Yan's exceptional senses could still perceive just how powerful the faint trace of aura he unconsciously leaked was.

It was an aura that utterly transcended mortals.

A Dou King expert had already begun to truly rise above the mundane!

Fortunately, Wu Yan could be considered one of the Mittel Clan's own, and Teng Shan was very friendly toward this talented junior of his clan.

"Hehe, since you're here, sit down. There are no outsiders here."

"Yes, Clan Head."

Adhering to the principle that doing less meant making fewer mistakes, Wu Yan sat down before Teng Shan.

Wu Yan accepted the tea Teng Shan pushed toward him with both hands and carefully took a small sip. His movements carried obvious restraint and unease.

But that was only normal. It was normal for a Dou Practitioner to be nervous when meeting a Dou King. After all, he was still a child...

Teng Shan took in all of Wu Yan's reactions. His sharp perception and insight, along with his incomparably solid aura, ranked among the very best of the countless Dou Practitioners Teng Shan had seen.

A touch more gentleness and approval appeared in his expression. Teng Shan felt that this junior had the potential to become a new pillar of the Mittel Clan.

He did not expect Wu Yan to become a powerful Dou Emperor like Elder Hai.

As long as he could reach Teng Shan's own level, having one more Dou King would be an enormous increase in the Mittel Clan's strength.

"I heard from the elders that you possess ice-and-water dual-element Dou Qi from the same source, Wu Yan. You can achieve twice the results with half the effort. You need only cultivate a technique of one attribute for the Dou Qi of the other attribute to improve as well, giving you twice as much Dou Qi as others."

"These next few days are when the family opens the Cultivation Pavilion. Have you decided which attribute of technique you wish to cultivate?"

According to Mittel Clan rules, the Cultivation Pavilion was only opened for juniors who had just become Dou Practitioners during the few days after the year-end testing.

First, it was a clan rule and made management easier.

Second, it tempered the youngsters' temperaments. Whether their cultivation progressed a little faster or slower would not make much difference over a few months.

"Ice-element techniques."

Wu Yan was sparing with his words.

Teng Shan nodded slightly. Then, in the next moment, he said something startling.

"Mysterious Ice Art, a high-grade Profound Tier technique. It is the main cultivation technique of Hai Bodong, the Ice Emperor. I think it would suit you very well."

!

Wu Yan fell silent for a moment. In truth, Teng Shan's words had stunned him.

"Clan Head... you overpraise me. Thank you for your guidance. I will try cultivating that technique."

"Don't be nervous. It is only a technique."

Teng Shan smiled, easing Wu Yan's somewhat anxious unease.

"At the end of the day, it is only a technique. Over the past ten-plus years, no fewer than a hundred people have cultivated it, yet no second Ice Emperor has appeared."

"It was the Ice Emperor who made that technique famous, not the technique that made the Ice Emperor."

"So, you need not feel any pressure. Do your best, and have no regrets."

"I understand."

Wu Yan naturally understood Teng Shan's meaning. If that technique truly was so incredible, the Mittel Clan would have been producing Dou Emperors in batches long ago.

The Jia Ma Empire would not have only so few Dou Emperors that they could be counted on one's fingers.

Watching Wu Yan's departing figure disappear into the distance, Teng Shan slowly sighed and silently said in his heart, "He is already the one hundred and thirty-seventh..."

He might not have said those words to me alone. The Mittel Clan has nurtured so many people; I do not think I am the special one.

At least, with my current performance, I am not qualified to make a Dou King expert regard me differently.

After walking quite a distance away, Wu Yan's expression returned to its usual calmness.

Praise from a powerhouse sounded pleasant, but after listening to Teng Shan talk for so long, Wu Yan's cultivation had not improved by even a single star. At most, he had learned that the technique cultivated by Hai Bodong, the Ice Emperor, was kept in the Mittel Clan's Cultivation Pavilion.

Other than that, he had not gained even a single extra gold coin.

Having lived two lives, Wu Yan was cold by nature and paid even greater attention to his own gains and losses.

It might sound unpleasant, and some people might see it as a lack of unity.

But this was the Dou Qi Continent, a supernatural world where might belonged to the individual.

Only by possessing sufficiently powerful strength himself could he truly control his own fate.