Foundation-Building Elixir

After the commotion, Xiao Yan returned to his room, shut the door, and placed the medicinal ingredients on the table.

Medicine Elder floated out of the ring and teased, "Back from shopping with your little girlfriend?"

"What little girlfriend? Xun'er is still so young!" Xiao Yan rolled his eyes and replied speechlessly.

"Hehe, fourteen isn't that young. It's exactly the age when feelings begin to blossom. I think that girl already likes you. You really are lucky!" Medicine Elder said with a grin.

"What nonsense are you talking about? I only see her as a younger sister." Influenced by his life in the future, Xiao Yan had always regarded Xun'er as an underage child. At her age back where he came from, she would have only just finished middle school.

"Really?" Medicine Elder asked with a smile.

"Of course it's true," Xiao Yan said firmly.

Seeing Xiao Yan stubbornly deny it, Medicine Elder merely said, "It won't be easy for you to have her, even if she herself is willing. Her family..." Once he mentioned her family, Medicine Elder fell silent.

Although Medicine Elder had left his words unfinished, how could Xiao Yan not understand? Even a Dou Huang would be no more than an ordinary soldier in those people's eyes! Only a Dou Zun or Dou Sheng would be worth considering. As for whether he truly had feelings for Xiao Xun'er, he still did not know. But he knew that if one day Xun'er were held in someone else's arms, he would definitely feel uncomfortable.

Medicine Elder ignored the dazed Xiao Yan, casually picked up the medicinal ingredients from the table, and instructed him, "Go prepare a large basin of clean water first." Seeing that Medicine Elder seemed about to begin refining medicine, Xiao Yan eagerly went to prepare it.

In the quiet room, Medicine Elder picked up a Purple Night Orchid Grass in his left hand and narrowed his eyes slightly. A white flame rose once more from his left palm and swallowed the Purple Night Orchid Grass... As the flames churned, the herb almost instantly turned into a mass of green liquid...

After all three Purple Night Orchid Grasses had been refined into green liquid, he continued using the searing flames to burn away the impurities within until they had all been removed.

Next, Medicine Elder threw two Bone-Washing Herbs into the flames. After refining them with the fire, he merged them into the green liquid...

Finally came the Magic Core. Of the three ingredients, the Magic Core was the hardest to refine. It burned in the flames for over an hour before finally turning into a mass of pale-green liquid. He merged this pale-green liquid into the green liquid he had just refined, and the two gradually fused together.

The white flame in his palm vanished, leaving a drop of jade-colored liquid floating above Medicine Elder's hand.

Looking at that jade-like drop of liquid, Xiao Yan secretly marveled. He had not expected the violently energetic Magic Core to become exceptionally mild after being balanced by the other two ingredients.

"Hehe, the core ingredient in medicinal refinement is actually the Magic Core. The process of refining medicine is one of constantly using medicinal ingredients with other properties to balance the Magic Core until it becomes a pill that can be consumed."

Medicine Elder casually took out a small jade bottle and poured the Foundation-Building Elixir into it.

"Teacher, your skill in refining medicine is truly breathtaking! Refining medicine is as easy as drinking water for you! Even Gu He, the Pill King and a sixth-tier alchemist of the Jia Ma Empire, is nothing but fart compared to you!" Xiao Yan rubbed his hands together and said with a beaming smile.

"Enough with the flattery! Though what you said is true! A sixth-tier alchemist truly amounts to nothing in my eyes." Though Medicine Elder said not to flatter him, he was quite pleased inside. With a flick of his finger, a tiny drop of jade liquid fell from the bottle into the basin of clean water in the room. Instantly, the clear water turned green.

"From now on, cultivate in this. With your talent, raising your Dou Qi by several levels a year won't be a problem," Medicine Elder said with a smile.

"Teacher, with this Foundation-Building Elixir, can I reach Dou Zhe within a year?" Xiao Yan asked as he looked at the green liquid in the wooden basin.

"With the Foundation-Building Elixir's help, reaching the seventh level of Dou Qi within a year won't be a problem. But reaching Dou Zhe will be rather difficult. Why are you suddenly so eager to become a Dou Zhe? You don't seem like the impatient type. Besides, there are still two years until the clan's coming-of-age ceremony," Medicine Elder said doubtfully.

"This... I have my reasons." Xiao Yan gave a bitter smile. Was he supposed to tell Medicine Elder that Nalan Yanran would come to the Xiao Clan in a year to break off their engagement? If he failed to reach Dou Zhe within a year, he would only be humiliated by her then, with no power to fight back, and would have to wait another three years to wash away that shame. He was not the Xiao Yan from the original story. He could not wait that long. Hadn't he begun cultivating early and persisted so diligently precisely so that, when Nalan Yanran arrived, he could ruthlessly say, "You want to break off the engagement? Then it will be the Xiao Clan breaking off the engagement with the Nalan Clan."

Seeing that Xiao Yan was unwilling to explain, Medicine Elder did not press him further. After all, everyone had their own little secrets. Stroking his beard, he said calmly, "There is a way to rapidly raise your Dou Qi, but you'll have to suffer a little."

"What's a little suffering? As long as I can rapidly increase my strength, that's all that matters," Xiao Yan said indifferently. Suffer? Had he suffered any less before being transported here? What did a little more suffering amount to?

Seeing Xiao Yan agree so readily, Medicine Elder said nothing more.

"If you want to rapidly increase your Dou Qi, you must increase your absorption speed. Dou Qi strengthens the body and bones. Therefore, the only way to improve the efficiency of Dou Qi absorption is to be beaten. The harder you get beaten, the better the effect."

"Fine! It's just getting beaten." Xiao Yan nodded again.

"Alright, then. It's already late today. Cultivate first. Training will begin tomorrow." Seeing Xiao Yan's determination, Medicine Elder gave a brief instruction before turning into a wisp of white light and entering the ring.

Xiao Yan removed his clothes, sat naked in the wooden basin with his legs crossed, clasped his hands together, formed a strange hand seal before his chest, and slowly closed his eyes. His breathing gradually steadied. As Xiao Yan's chest rose and fell faintly, the green water in the basin slowly released wisps of pale-green vapor. The vapor drifted upward before entering his body through his nose and mouth.

Sensing the Dou Qi in his body rapidly increasing, a blissful smile rose on Xiao Yan's young face. The Foundation-Building Elixir truly is extraordinary. My absorption speed has increased so much.

Having tasted its benefits, Xiao Yan cultivated even more diligently, greedily absorbing the gentle energy within the green liquid.

The green liquid seeped into Xiao Yan's body through the pores of his skin, nourishing the bones and meridians throughout his body. Under his ceaseless absorption, more and more vapor floated out from the basin. In the end, it even faintly enveloped his entire body.

His cultivation continued until the next day, when sunlight shone in through the window. Feeling the warmth of the sun, Xiao Yan knew dawn had come. He slowly absorbed the last wisp of vapor from the basin into his body. His eyelashes trembled slightly, and after a moment, his dark eyes suddenly opened.

A white gleam flashed through his black pupils as usual, though this time it carried a faint trace of pale green.

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, blinked, and gradually stood up. Cool water streamed down his body as he stretched lazily. Feeling the abundant Dou Qi within him, he said in a daze, "That felt amazing!"

"Feeling amazing, are you? Then it's time to start training!" An aged voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

Xiao Yan rolled his eyes. He then picked up a dry towel beside him and roughly wiped himself down. After getting dressed and eating something, he headed straight for the clan's back mountain...

After Xiao Yan left, Xun'er, who came every day to bring him food, arrived. She knocked on the door, and when there was no response, she gently pushed it open. After entering, she discovered that Xiao Yan was gone, while a fragrant scent lingered in the air. With her extensive knowledge, she immediately realized that it was something capable of helping someone rapidly increase their Dou Qi. Looking at the wooden basin in the corner of the room, she softly murmured with a smile, "It seems Brother Xiao Yan truly has quite a few secrets!"