He waved at Xiao Xun'er and the others, then Xiao Yan stepped out of the plaza with Old Man Huo amidst a sea of burning gazes and exclamations of admiration around them.
Before long, the two returned to the Medicine Cauldron-shaped building, headed straight down to the basement, and stopped before a bluestone door.
Xiao Yan looked closely. The stone door rippled with a lustrous glow; though not as intensely bright as the stone door in the Magic Beast Mountain Range, its energy was internalized, and the array placed upon it was far from ordinary.
Old Man Huo retrieved a jade token from his storage ring, pressed it against a depression in the stone door, and instantly all the radiance receded like a tidal wave into the token. With a gentle push, the stone door swung open.
Treasure light burst forth, casting a dazzling myriad of colors across Old Man Huo.
"The things inside this room are my collections over many years. Some are rare curiosities I obtained in my youth, and others are magnificent treasures I acquired through the wasted years. Feel free to choose."
Xiao Yan smiled and nodded, then stepped into the stone chamber.
Right before him stood rows of magic core weapons—sabers, spears, swords, and halberds of all kinds. Judging by the shimmering light that coursed over them, even the lowest in quality was embedded with a third-tier magic core.
Xiao Yan cast his gaze over them and discovered a large saber equipped with a sixth-tier magic core among the array of weapons, matching the type of weapon he currently used.
Regrettably, this was a water-attribute magic core weapon, which conflicted with his own attribute.
Finally, Xiao Yan stood before that weapon wall, clicking his tongue in appreciation for a moment.
Merely combining these weapons would be worth at least tens of millions of gold coins. The collection of a long-lived alchemist was truly terrifying.
Xiao Yan wanted many things, but in this stone chamber, he only hoped to find a fourth-rank medicinal formula, a fifth-tier Medicine Cauldron, a sixth-tier beast flame, or an earth-tier dou technique.
Today's refining of the Beast-Strength Pill let him realize that his alchemy art had imperceptibly reached the level of a fourth-rank alchemist.
That being the case, if there were new fourth-rank medicinal formulas to learn, he could begin refining them so long as he had the complete ingredients.
To refine higher-grade medicinal pills, the Medicine Cauldron naturally ought to be upgraded as well.
Old Huo's consideration of environmental changes made a lot of sense.
Xiao Yan did not know how many medicinal herbs and Magical Beasts had vanished to date, but a certain substance—gradually disappearing from the Dou Qi Continent beyond the grasp of what Old Man Huo could comprehend—was indeed producing a massive impact.
Origin Qi, the substance that helped people break through to become a Dou Emperor, was now so scarce that it made the already difficult breakthrough to the Dou Emperor realm increasingly arduous.
Alchemists who could reach this tier had not yet found a substitute. Only the Hun Clan possessed a bloody method: using the spiritual lives of ancient clans and most of the Central Plains to ripen the Emperor-Grade Nascent Pill, which contained a trace of Origin Qi, and thereby breaking through to the Dou Emperor realm.
The successive extinction of medicinal herbs and Magical Beasts, and even Origin Qi, were matters for the future. Xiao Yan still felt that focusing on the present was paramount; Medicine Cauldrons, medicinal formulas, and flames were what mattered most to him right now, and finding those would suffice.
Xiao Yan turned instead toward the rows of wooden racks on the right-hand side, upon which rested numerous peculiar items.
There were rare metals that served as prime materials for forging weapons, armor, and Medicine Cauldrons; there were pricey jade stones and the like that had little use for cultivation, but made for decent ornamental displays...
Xiao Yan looked as he walked. Along the way, he actually discovered some fine medicinal herbs, but those were already sufficient for refining sixth-tier pills. While they were quite exceptional, he could not make use of them given his current circumstances. Moreover, with the Palm-Heaven Bottle, forcing the growth of those not-so-hard-to-find seeds was exceedingly effortless.
"This is... a beast flame!" After walking for a while without finding the things he wanted, Xiao Yan fixed his gaze upon an emerald-green Jadeite box.
Through the translucent green jade wall, a flame flickered, its color seemingly even more verdant than the box itself.
Seeing that Xiao Yan still hadn't chosen anything from his collection, Old Man Huo muttered inwardly, wondering whether his collection was too poor, or if a genius like Xiao Yan had too high a standard.
Seeing that Xiao Yan had finally found something that caught his interest, he smiled and introduced it, "This is the beast flame of a sixth-tier Magical Beast, the Moon-Howling Azure Wolf. It no longer offers me any enhancement, but if you fuse with it, you will reap considerable benefits."
With his discernment, he had long since noticed that the beast flame Xiao Yan used was the Lionheart Sacred Flame of a fifth-tier blazing male lion. While decent, it would not be of much help to Xiao Yan's future refining of fourth-rank or even higher-grade medicinal pills.
"It's actually the beast flame of a Moon-Howling Azure Wolf." Surprise surfaced in Xiao Yan's eyes. He had heard of this Magical Beast; it was said to possess a marvelous ability to control trees and was formidable within forests.
Xiao Yan smiled and said, "Old Huo, I'll choose this as one of my items."
Old Man Huo smiled and nodded. "Then you can only choose one more thing."
Stashing the emerald Jadeite box into his storage ring, Xiao Yan stepped out from this wooden rack section and headed straight for the other side, where scrolls were placed. He wondered if there might be any premium medicinal formulas or dou techniques.
If there happened to be a suitable earth-tier cultivation method, it would also be worth picking. After all, with so many items in the Scripture Pavilion, there was no guarantee he would be able to pick the Ninefold Phoenixfire Art.
To Xiao Yan's slight disappointment, there were no medicinal formulas here at all. They were entirely cultivation methods and dou techniques, and their ranks hovered around the profound tier. Very few were suitable for fire-attribute dou qi cultivation, and their grades were also at the lowest end.
Xiao Yan patiently searched from the corners and crevices. A scroll of an earth-tier dou technique caught his eye, and he picked it up with no intention of putting it down again.
This was the first time he had obtained a scroll like this, but the contents within felt somewhat familiar.
Old Man Huo spoke up at this point. "This scroll is indeed a rare earth-tier dou technique, but because it is incomplete, its quality is ordinary among earth-tier dou techniques. Quite a few students in the Alchemy Department, and even myself, have attempted to cultivate it, only to end in failure. Lacking the prerequisite cultivation content, trying to master it is practically impossible."
"Earth-tier dou techniques are rare, and this kid would like to give it a try," Xiao Yan said as he rolled up the scroll.
Old Man Huo pondered for a moment and said, "With your talent... I hope you can manage to master it."
Xiao Yan tucked it into his storage ring, feeling immensely happy while harboring a few suspicions.
Earlier, he had assumed that the First Sun Scorching Sky dou technique produced by Xiao Xun'er was an ancient clan heritage dou technique similar to the Emperor's Seal Technique—one that would grant access to subsequent contents of the dou technique as one's strength increased, making it quite practical.
Yet viewed now, it seemed not to be the case.
First Sun Scorching Sky might simply be an incomplete dou technique collected by the Ancient Clan, possessing an advanced profound tier level and functioning as a flame-control method, which had thus fallen into Xiao Xun'er's hands.
The scroll Xiao Yan had just acquired originated from the exact same lineage as First Sun Scorching Sky; it was precisely the subsequent content of First Sun Scorching Sky.
Although he did not know if it was completely whole, if he were the one cultivating it, this dou technique—which Old Man Huo described as extremely difficult to practice—would see a drastic reduction in difficulty for him.
Having stowed the scroll away, Xiao Yan and Old Man Huo left the stone chamber.
Old Man Huo closed the stone door and re-laid the barrier.
After expressing his gratitude for the other's generosity, Xiao Yan stepped out of the Medicine Cauldron-shaped building carrying the earth-tier dou technique and the beast flame.
With these two items, his chances of winning the upcoming Fire-Energy Hunting Competition would be even greater.
Before you continue