Time flew by.
After bringing the Sand Mercenary Group into the fold, Xiao Yan stayed in Shimo City for another month.
During that month, he and Medicine Elder worked together on Alchemy, producing large quantities of pills.
Most were First- or Second-Rank pills, of course: healing pills, Qi-Recovery Pills, strength pills, Windwalking Pills, and more.
To Xiao Yan, they were low-level pills. To mercenaries who risked their lives every day, they could mean the difference between life and death.
Once Xiao Ding began rewarding his best men with pills, the entire mercenary group sprang to life with renewed energy.
Xiao Yan also used his standing as a Third-Rank Alchemy Master to recruit a First-Rank Alchemy Master who had traveled to Shimo City.
With Xiao Yan's promise of a Second-Rank pill formula, the Alchemy Master, Di'er Menghuan, agreed to make pills for the Desert Iron Mercenary Group for three years.
With Di'er Menghuan supplying a steady stream of pills, the Desert Iron Mercenary Group was sure to become a force no one would dare underestimate in three years.
On the night before his departure, Xiao Yan drank and talked with his two elder brothers in the courtyard.
Xiao Yan took two old scrolls from his Storage Ring and placed them on the stone table. Smiling, he said:
"These are two High Profound Tier cultivation methods, one wood and one lightning. Each comes with a matching High Profound Tier Dou Technique. Switch from your current methods, and your strength will improve enormously."
The faint drunkenness in Xiao Ding's and Xiao Li's eyes vanished at once.
Each grabbed the scroll that matched his own attribute and held it tight against his chest.
They had no qualms about accepting gifts from their younger brother. Having a powerful little brother felt damn good.
"Big Brother, Second Brother, I'm leaving tomorrow."
"Take the Desert Iron Mercenary Group's growth slowly and steadily. If you run into something you can't handle, make sure you survive. As long as you're alive, you can always start again."
Xiao Yan took a sip of strong liquor and spoke in earnest.
Xiao Ding patted Xiao Yan's shoulder and smiled.
"Don't worry, Little Yanzi. Your second brother and I have been out in the world long enough to know there's always someone stronger. We won't act recklessly. Go do what you need to do."
Early the next morning, Xiao Yan and Hai Bodong left the Desert Iron Mercenary Group without waking anyone.
They flew to Tango City, then boarded a Flying Beast bound for the Imperial Capital.
"Xiao Yan, we could've flown straight to the Imperial Capital. This Flying Beast is far too slow."
High in the sky, Hai Bodong stood by the window of their room on the Flying Beast's back. Watching the white clouds drift past, he frowned.
Xiao Yan sat at the wooden table and sipped his fiery-cloud tea.
"The Imperial Capital is thousands of miles from here. Even flying nonstop would take more than two days."
"I'm in no hurry, so why wear ourselves out?"
Xiao Yan shook his head. He was going to the Imperial Capital only because Nalan Yanran had asked him to visit the Nalan Clan.
After cultivating for so long, couldn't he take a little time to enjoy himself?
"Mr. Hai, go back to your room."
After ushering Hai Bodong out, Xiao Yan returned to the bed. He sat cross-legged, formed a cultivation seal with his hands, and closed his eyes.
His mind sank into the Fire God Space beside his Qi Vortex.
Inside the Fire God Space, the stone platforms atop three towering pillars were alight.
One flame was, of course, the Green Lotus Core Flame.
Of the other two, one was the Purple Flame contained in the Companion Purple Crystal Source, while the other was pale yellow.
Xiao Yan had possessed a Purple Flame before, but the Green Lotus Core Flame had swallowed it.
During his month with the Desert Iron Mercenary Group, he had spent his time making pills and cultivating. He had also consumed a bottle of Companion Purple Crystal Source, nurtured a new Purple Flame source within his Qi Vortex, and stored it in the Fire God Space.
The pale yellow flame was an Ordinary Flame.
It came from burning wood and charcoal, absorbed as Xiao Yan sat amid the flames to cultivate.
Ordinary though it was, it was fire in its purest form. Xiao Yan had nurtured it into a source flame and placed it in the Fire God Space as well.
As his understanding of flame deepened, his control over fire kept improving.
With his mind, he drew a wisp of Green Lotus Core Flame from the Fire God Space and left it burning quietly above his Qi Vortex.
He did the same with the Purple Flame and the Ordinary Flame, leaving three differently colored wisps suspended above the Qi Vortex.
Xiao Yan set his Qi Vortex turning and sent three streams of Flame Mantra Dou Qi into the flames overhead.
Fed by the steady flow of Dou Qi, each wisp grew into a fist-sized mass.
Then Xiao Yan's powerful soul force spread like a vast net around the three flames, drawing them together to fuse.
The flames resisted slightly, but under Xiao Yan's suppression, they merged.
With the Green Lotus Core Flame as its foundation and the Purple Flame and Ordinary Flame supporting it, a Three-Colored Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus took shape.
The Flame Mantra's Dou Qi could fuse flames. Added to that were the restraint of Xiao Yan's formidable soul force and the suppressive Fire God Domain formed within him by the Myriad Flame Emperor Physique.
That was why Xiao Yan could fuse and condense a Three-Colored Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus so easily within his dantian.
The power of a Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus depended on the quality and number of flames fused into it, as well as how much Flame Mantra Dou Qi was poured in.
The Three-Colored Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus slowly revolved within his dantian. Terrifying energy lay inside it, but suppressed as it was, the powerful Fire Lotus sat as obediently as a little girl who had been subdued.
Once released outside his body, though, that terrifying energy would rapidly burst forth.
After more than a month of practice, Xiao Yan could now make Buddha's Fury Fire Lotuses of varying power with ease.
He stored the newly fused Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus in the Fire God Space.
In one corner of the Fire God Space, dozens of Buddha's Fury Fire Lotuses of varying power revolved quietly. Xiao Yan could summon one whenever he needed it.
By the time Xiao Yan had condensed three more powerful Buddha's Fury Fire Lotuses, seven days had passed. The Flying Beast landed in Jia Ma Sacred City, the capital of the Jia Ma Empire.
From high above, Xiao Yan looked toward the north of the city. A vast mountain range lay there like a coiled dragon, shrouded in mist and looking every bit a paradise.
That was the Misty Cloud Sect.
If Xiao Yan hadn't imprisoned Nalan Yanran in his Portable Space the night before she came to break off their engagement, he probably would have made the Three-Year Agreement with her to wipe away the humiliation.
By his reckoning, he would have had to go to the Misty Cloud Sect in a few months.
But now he had no need to go.
He would certainly visit the Misty Cloud Sect someday, though—not for Nalan Yanran, but for Yun Yun.
"Damn it. I'm never riding that lousy thing again. That crawling pace was unbearable."
As they emerged from the crowded air transport office, Hai Bodong grumbled beside Xiao Yan.
Up in the sky, there had been nothing to do but sit around. Cultivating would stir the surrounding energy and disrupt the Flying Beast's flight.
Not everyone could condense a Fire Lotus inside their body without letting a trace of energy escape, as Xiao Yan could.
To Xiao Yan, the seven days had gone by in a blink.
"They offered you a maid, but you turned her down. You could've made those days fly by."
Xiao Yan teased him as he took in the magnificent Imperial Capital.
"You'd settle for one of them?"
Hai Bodong's mouth twitched. He was nearly speechless.
"Come on, Mr. Hai. We're on your turf now. Shouldn't you show me some hospitality?"
Just then, Xiao Yan spotted the familiar Mittel Auction House and walked inside.
"So you even know I'm with the Mittel Family? Just how much do you know?"
Behind him, Hai Bodong stared at Xiao Yan's back in shock. He felt as though Xiao Yan could see straight through him, and a sense of helplessness rose within him.
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