Calamity-Breaking Pill, Ice Emperor as a Three-Year Hired Hand

Desert City, the backyard of the Ancient Map Shop.

Hai Bodong paced back and forth through the courtyard, occasionally glancing at the tightly shut door ahead.

Like a husband waiting for his wife to give birth, he could neither sit nor stand still, his expression full of anxiety.

Behind that closed door, Xiao Yan was refining a fifth-tier Calamity-Breaking Pill. He had already been inside for three days.

This Calamity-Breaking Pill determined whether Hai Bodong could remove the Serpent Sealing Curse within his body and return to the Dou Huang Realm.

Therefore, even though Hai Bodong had once been a Dou Emperor powerhouse, he found it difficult to calm himself at this moment.

Suddenly, a purple ripple of energy spread out from behind the tightly closed door, surging more than ten meters beyond the Ancient Map Shop before stopping.

Two powerhouses with the strength of Grand Dou Masters happened to be nearby. Sensing the eruption of energy, they instantly shot into the shop.

"Get lost!"

Hai Bodong shouted furiously, and the aura of a Dou Spirit within him crashed down upon the two men.

The two Grand Dou Masters immediately spat out blood with a "pfft," their eyes filled with terror as they fled in panic.

After driving away the two Grand Dou Masters, Hai Bodong stared nervously at the door.

With a creak, the door opened. Xiao Yan emerged holding a jade bottle, a smile on his face.

"Fortunately, it was successfully refined!"

With that, Xiao Yan tossed the jade bottle to Hai Bodong.

The latter immediately used every skill he had learned in his life to carefully and steadily catch the jade bottle.

"Little ancestor, be careful."

Holding the jade bottle, Hai Bodong said with a face full of grievance.

"Hehe, it doesn't matter if the bottle breaks. If the pill gets dirty, just wash it and eat it."

Xiao Yan shrugged and cracked a joke.

Hai Bodong's mouth twitched. He had been sealed for decades—who knew how he had endured those decades?

Now that hope stood right before him, it was only natural for him to be anxious about gaining and losing it.

"Little Friend Xiao, I'll go remove that damned seal from my body now."

As he spoke, Hai Bodong entered a room and pressed a hidden mechanism. A passage leading underground appeared.

As the passage opened, wisps of cold air rose from below, causing the temperature in the room to drop rapidly and become refreshingly cool.

Xiao Yan did not follow him down and instead waited in the courtyard.

He had gained quite a lot from refining the Calamity-Breaking Pill for Hai Bodong this time.

He obtained a prescription for the Calamity-Breaking Pill.

On the Battle Qi Continent, when asking an Alchemy Master to refine pills, one not only had to provide the medicinal ingredients personally, but also had to prepare the pill prescription if the Alchemy Master did not have it.

Moreover, after the refinement, the prescription had to belong to the Alchemy Master.

This Calamity-Breaking Pill was a fifth-tier medicinal pill. It could remove most seals, and after taking one, a person could also become immune to certain sealing curses in the future. It was considered top-grade even among fifth-tier pills.

This time, Hai Bodong had prepared a large quantity of medicinal ingredients. Medicine Elder had successfully refined the pill using only one portion, so the remaining ingredients naturally belonged to Xiao Yan.

As long as he found Snake Mandrake, Xiao Yan could refine another Calamity-Breaking Pill.

And his queen wife was the queen of the Snake People. Obtaining Snake Mandrake would be effortless.

Thinking of the queen, Xiao Yan gently stroked the Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python still sleeping around his wrist.

The little fellow was rather greedy. When he absorbed the Green Lotus Core Flame, it had forcibly swallowed some of the overflowing energy.

As a result, just after digesting the energy from the Companion Purple Crystal Source and the Earthfire Lotus Seeds, it fell asleep once more.

After Xiao Cai protested by twisting its seven-colored snake body a few times, Xiao Yan smiled and stopped stroking it.

After all, no one liked being disturbed while sleeping.

After waiting for a little over half an hour, a powerful wave of energy suddenly came from the basement.

Then, the temperature throughout the courtyard rapidly dropped. Even the tea in Xiao Yan's cup quickly froze, wisps of cold air rising from it.

A figure flashed, and Hai Bodong appeared in the courtyard, floating in midair.

"Boom!"

A green flame rose from Xiao Yan's right hand. The ice in the cup instantly melted, and the tea gently boiled, giving off wisps of steam.

The thin layer of frost on the table also vanished, revealing the dry wooden tabletop.

"Now that your strength has just been unsealed, are you planning to have a fight with me, Mister Hai?"

Xiao Yan drained the hot tea in his cup in one gulp and spoke with a light laugh.

In midair, Hai Bodong looked at the green flame in Xiao Yan's hand. The terrifying aura contained within it was even more frightening than the purple flame from before.

Having just recovered his strength as a Dou Emperor, the emotions Hai Bodong had suppressed for decades erupted. He regained the cold and domineering bearing he had possessed in his youth.

Now, he could clearly see Xiao Yan's strength.

A Four-Star Grand Dou Master, a Fourth-Tier Physical Body, and fairly impressive skill in controlling flames.

Before his strength as a Two-Star Dou Emperor, all of that was like chickens and dogs.

The thought of taking back the mysterious fragmentary map could not help surfacing in his heart. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Xiao Yan, whose calm expression made him seem unfathomable, and he hesitated.

"If you want to fight, you can. But this time, the price won't be three years of working for me—it'll be your life!"

Xiao Yan spoke indifferently, but a chilling killing intent burst from his eyes.

If Hai Bodong truly repaid kindness with enmity, he would not mind letting Medicine Elder possess him and kill the man.

Now that he was a Four-Star Grand Dou Master, Medicine Elder's possession allowed him to wield the strength of a Four-Star Dou Emperor, far surpassing Hai Bodong.

Furthermore, Medicine Elder possessed the Bone Chilling Flame. In an actual battle, he would not need ten exchanges to kill Hai Bodong.

And Xiao Yan still had the Portable Space. Any Dou Emperor below Four Stars who entered it would have their life and death completely under Xiao Yan's control.

If Hai Bodong truly dared to make a move, Xiao Yan had a ninety-nine percent chance of killing him.

Seeing Xiao Yan's confident demeanor, Hai Bodong could not understand what backing the other party possessed to casually claim that he could take his life.

He was a Dou Emperor. Even if the other side were a Dou Emperor of the same rank, taking a Dou Emperor's life would not be easy, would it?

However, when the thought of attacking arose in his mind, a shiver came from the depths of his soul, as if he really would die.

Hai Bodong's expression was unreadable. A few minutes later, the aura around him dispersed, and he smiled.

"Little Friend Xiao, my apologies. I just recovered my strength and couldn't control my aura for a moment, causing you to misunderstand."

Xiao Yan smiled, gave Hai Bodong a deep look, and then said.

"You made a wise choice. Since that is the case, fulfill our agreement and serve as my bodyguard and hired hand for three years."

Hai Bodong stroked his white beard and said calmly, "I, the Ice Emperor, have roamed the world all my life and value contracts above all else. Since I gave my word, I will keep it."

Xiao Yan gave a light laugh. "All right. Tomorrow, I'm going to Shimo City. Settle the remaining affairs of the map shop."

In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.

Xiao Yan and Hai Bodong left Desert City and stood atop a towering sand dune.

"Mister Hai, how about we compete to see who reaches Shimo City first?"

Gazing at the massive Desert City in the distance, Xiao Yan asked with a soft smile.

"Sure." Hai Bodong smiled as well. As a Dou Emperor, he naturally had no fear of competing in speed.

Xiao Yan spread the Purple Cloud Wings behind him, leaped into the air, and flew swiftly toward the distant horizon.

Looking at Xiao Yan, who had already become a black speck in the sky, Hai Bodong smiled faintly. Cold mist surged from his body and condensed behind him into a pair of crystal-clear ice wings.

He shot vertically into the sky, leaned forward, then flashed dozens of meters away, chasing after Xiao Yan at incredible speed.

The pair of icy wings streaked through the air like a meteor.

Sensing Hai Bodong pursuing him from behind, Xiao Yan murmured, "Medicine Elder, it's your turn."

Hai Bodong closed to within a dozen meters behind Xiao Yan. In the next instant, he would overtake him.

However, Xiao Yan's speed suddenly increased, widening the distance between them once more.

"Brat, you've got some skill."

Hai Bodong muttered as he gave chase with all his strength.

Yet no matter how hard he pushed himself, he could never catch Xiao Yan, while the latter appeared completely at ease.

Thus, flying at such astonishing speed, the two arrived at Shimo City in less than a day.

After landing from the sky, Hai Bodong looked at the composed Xiao Yan and silently rejoiced that he had not attacked at the map shop. Otherwise, his life and death might truly have been uncertain.

The young man before him possessed cards as deep as an abyss and as vast as the sea, utterly unfathomable.

At that moment, Hai Bodong was completely convinced. Never again did he dare harbor any thought of resistance.