Wutan's Foremost

Back in his room, Xiao Yan had no sleepiness at all. Brimming with excitement, he took out the items from Han Bo's Storage Ring one by one.

"A third-tier medicinal cauldron, the recipe for Force-Accumulating Pills, the recipe for Wound-Recovery Pills, the recipe for Qi-Boosting Powder, the recipe for Qi-Restoring Pills, the recipe for Bone-Rebuilding Pills, and the recipe for Spirit Awakening Pills. There are also Magic Cores, medicinal ingredients, and scrolls of Dou Techniques and cultivation methods..."

Xiao Yan looked at the items scattered across the floor with a smile and nodded in great satisfaction.

His own medicinal cauldron was merely a second-tier cauldron suitable for beginners. Since he had lacked experience at the start, failures had been as commonplace as daily meals.

Especially during his experiments with Blood-Clotting Powder, Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, Vein-Guarding Pills, and Iceheart Pills, the failures had damaged the cauldron badly. He had long needed a better one, and this third-tier medicinal cauldron had arrived at precisely the right time.

Moreover, as a self-taught alchemist without proper guidance, aside from Rejuvenation Powder, which he had learned from an authentic recipe, he had inferred and tested everything else himself, feeling his way through the refining process based on the few details he knew. What he lacked most were all kinds of medicinal recipes.

Han Bo had collected quite a few recipe scrolls, including a third-grade recipe for Spirit Awakening Pills. Not only was it enough to let him use it as a reference and refine pills up to the third grade, it could also accelerate cultivation.

Spirit Awakening Pills could make a person in a cultivation state more sensitive to the energy of heaven and earth around them, while moderately increasing the speed at which they absorbed energy. They were useful even to Dou Practitioners.

Xiao Yan still remembered that the ingredients for this pill were thirty-year-old Clearheart Trifoliate Herb, a mature Buddha-Heart Fruit, ten-year-old Spirit-Absorbing Tree, and a third-tier Magic Core of unknown attribute.

Judging from his previous alchemy experiments, attempting second-grade pills without knowing the precise methods and ingredients would not only consume huge quantities of materials, but could also lead to the dangerous explosion of the cauldron.

Third-grade pills... Even if the cauldron were blown to pieces, he might not be able to figure them out.

Now, he finally had complete recipes!

Aside from the medicinal cauldron and recipes in the Storage Ring, the materials inside could be used for his alchemy studies and practice.

As for the dead Han Bo's crystal savings card, cultivation methods, Dou Technique scrolls, and the like, Xiao Yan did not intend to use them directly. When he had time, he would hand them to Ya Fei and have her find a way to deal with them, laundering them into clean assets.

After sorting and categorizing everything, Xiao Yan stored one portion in his own Storage Ring and placed another portion in Han Bo's Storage Ring, to be handed over to Ya Fei.

Afterward, he eagerly used his soul perception to read through the recipe scroll for Force-Accumulating Pills and learn how to refine a new medicinal pill...

Over the following days, the amount of Rejuvenation Powder sold at the Jialie Family's marketplace grew smaller and smaller.

When the last bottle of Rejuvenation Powder had been sold, the Jialie Family member selling the medicine could only force an awkward smile at the mercenaries waiting in line and offer repeated apologies.

Upon hearing that there was no medicine left, the mercenaries glared viciously at him for a long while before leaving amid curses and grumbling.

When the news spread through Wutan City, the mercenaries who had once gritted their teeth and bought overpriced Rejuvenation Powder because the Jialie Family had monopolized it for huge profits all rejoiced at their misfortune. The clans that had hoped to watch the Jialie Family and the Xiao Family fight until both sides were battered and broken, so they could profit from the chaos, felt deeply regretful...

The Jialie Family had been far too arrogant from the start and had created an utterly ugly image for itself. As sales of Rejuvenation Powder ran dry, the flow of people at its marketplace plummeted, until it was so deserted that birds could have nested at its gates.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yan had mastered a new recipe. The sale of the first-grade Force-Accumulating Pills pushed the Xiao Family marketplace's popularity to a new peak.

Everyone knew that the Jialie Family's defeat this time had severely damaged its vitality. In the future, it would be difficult for its influence in Wutan City to remain at the level of one of the three great families.

Just as Xiao Zhan wondered why the Jialie Family's alchemist had become so utterly defeated that he could not rise again, another piece of good news came one after another—Jialie Family Patriarch Jia Lie Bi had died.

Although Xiao Yan had not personally acted this time, it was still connected to him to a certain degree.

That night, Jia Lie Bi had seen Xiao Yan's figure flying away and mistaken him for a Dou King Realm expert, leaving him terrified beyond measure. Then came the news of Han Bo's death and the collapse of the marketplace business to its lowest point. Anxious and furious, his heavily injured body finally could not withstand the blows. He spat out a mouthful of blood and died in bed.

Jia Lie Bi's death was undoubtedly like snow added atop frost to the Jialie Family's already dire situation. Who would take the patriarch's seat became a new problem for the family.

Some believed they should purchase top-quality healing medicine and help Jia Lie Nu, the strongest among them, recover as quickly as possible, then make him the new patriarch. Others believed Jia Lie Nu had injured his foundation and might even be short-lived like Jia Lie Bi. He was not worth spending a fortune to save, nor was he qualified to become the new patriarch.

Furthermore, the Spirit Gathering Liquid that Jia Lie Bi had once won at auction sparked a struggle within the clan, even leading to violent fights. Who would not want their descendants to become geniuses?

Beset by troubles within and enemies without, the Jialie Family, which should have been like a centipede that remained stiff even after death, became prey to rapid devouring.

Some Jialie Family higher-ups, disgusted after experiencing the infighting, chose to withdraw. They exchanged the resources in their hands for a sum of wealth and left Wutan City to live comfortable lives.

Other Jialie Family higher-ups had been grievously wounded in the fighting. Their former lofty ambitions could ultimately only be abandoned as they gave up what they held in exchange for peace and safety...

The Jialie Family's three medium-sized marketplaces and four small marketplaces in Wutan City—important places that accounted for half of the family's profits—were sold off one by one.

What astonished the remaining members of the Jialie Family was that, before long, the marketplaces that had been sold were transferred under the Xiao Family's name.

Every member of the Jialie Family let out a bleak sigh. From then on, the Jialie Family had truly fallen into the ranks of second-rate families in Wutan City.

Just as they were preparing to shake hands and make peace, then properly manage the family, the mercenaries who had either been sold overpriced Rejuvenation Powder or failed to buy any began their retaliation, beating the dog already fallen into the water.

The Jialie Family's few remaining businesses in the city began to be smashed and wrecked for no apparent reason. Their residence was set ablaze and attacked. The mercenaries had planned it all beforehand, striking once and retreating at once, leaving the Jialie Family unable to catch them.

After a round of wits and courage, the Jialie Family members, vastly outnumbered by the mercenaries, could defend the east but not the west. In the end, they could only sell everything off in pain and leave Wutan City with their tails between their legs.

It was said that not long after they left Wutan City, a group of people had already been lying in ambush. They did not make it very far.

Having swallowed all the marketplaces and most of the businesses in Wutan City in one gulp, the Xiao Family, through the steady sales of Rejuvenation Powder, Blood-Clotting Powder, and Force-Accumulating Pills, became Wutan City's number one family in a single stroke.

The Aoba Family, once on equal footing with the Xiao Family, was now utterly incomparable to it. A cliff-like gap had opened between them.

This struggle had lasted nearly two months. After killing Han Bo, Xiao Yan rarely acted again, spending almost all his time at home refining medicine and cultivating.

With the help of the luxurious Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, Xiao Yan absorbed the final trace of medicinal power and smoothly broke through to become a Seven-Star Dou Practitioner.