Medicine Elder: This Kid Was Truly Terrifying! An Yi: Stop Hiding. Aren't You Tired After Following Me All This Way?

In the blink of an eye, night had arrived.

Because An Yi's antics on the arena had been far too outrageous and shameless, he had forcibly turned a highly anticipated challenge match into a ridiculous farce.

Still, it was fortunate that it had become a farce.

If they had truly fought seriously today, even if Nalan Yanran had merely accidentally injured An Yi, Xiao Zhan would never have been able to save face.

And if Nalan Yanran had genuinely won, that old man Ge Ye would have had no idea how to wrap things up.

With An Yi causing such a scene, although the result had nominally been declared a draw, neither side had seriously exchanged blows. An Yi had even taken the chance to "act like a hooligan" by grabbing someone and wrestling her to the ground, so everyone simply treated it as a joke.

It was neither a serious match nor a case of the Cloud Mist Sect bullying the weak with its power, cleverly defusing the tense atmosphere.

Of course, as the price for all that "nonsense," Nalan Yanran was dragged back to the guest room by a grim-faced Ge Ye and harshly scolded.

Night fell, and a bright moon hung high overhead.

As usual, An Yi changed into a neat black outfit and silently slipped out through the gates of the Xiao Household.

Avoiding the patrols on the main roads, he left Wutan City by way of secluded paths and headed toward the uninhabited mountain range beyond the city.

Several hundred meters behind him, within the shadows—

With the help of Medicine Elder's powerful soul force, Xiao Yan had perfectly concealed his aura. Draped in a broad black robe, he followed quietly after An Yi like a ghost.

I want to see just what shady business this bastard keeps running out of the city to do in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. Xiao Yan gritted his teeth inwardly.

An Yi moved extremely fast ahead of him.

Under the moonlight, he appeared to be strolling carelessly through the forest. Yet strangely, with every seemingly casual step, his body would cross an immense distance in an instant, as though he had shrunk the earth beneath his feet.

It felt as though he were gliding close to the ground—light and uncanny.

Not wanting An Yi's monstrous intuition to discover them, Medicine Elder simply took temporary control of Xiao Yan's body. He wrapped it in soul force and kept a safe distance as he tailed An Yi from afar.

"Teacher, what's going on with him?"

Watching from within the Mind Sea, Xiao Yan could not help asking in astonishment, "He clearly isn't using any high-level movement technique, and there isn't even the slightest sign of explosive exertion. How is he moving so quickly?!"

"Take back the word 'walking.' What he's doing isn't ordinary walking."

Medicine Elder controlled Xiao Yan's body, silently leaping between the treetops under cover of darkness as he explained, "It looks like he's walking, but in truth, every time he takes a step, during that brief instant when his body is slightly airborne, he precisely releases a tiny yet highly explosive burst of Dou Qi beneath his feet to propel himself forward."

"This technique sounds simple, but in practice, the precision it demands in Dou Qi control is outrageously high! If there is even the slightest error in the frequency or force of the Dou Qi output, then instead of gliding along gracefully as he is now, he'd lose his balance and fall flat on his face."

Medicine Elder's voice could not conceal his admiration. "To use such an advanced micro-control technique as naturally as breathing in his everyday walking... this kid really is remarkable."

Xiao Yan's eyes burned with envy as he asked, "Teacher, do you know a technique that's both flashy and useful like this? Can you teach me?"

"What, you want to learn to walk like him too?"

Medicine Elder mercilessly poured cold water over him. "Never mind reaching his level, where it has become as effortless as instinct—you'd need at least four or five years of hard training. And based on your own conditions alone, you absolutely couldn't do it."

"Why not?" Xiao Yan protested.

"Because your attributes don't match." Medicine Elder patiently explained, "Your soul origin is fire-attributed. Although you have yet to condense a Dou Qi Vortex again and become a Dou Practitioner, the Dou Qi within you naturally leans toward the violent, restless nature of fire. If you used fire-attributed Dou Qi for this kind of micro-control, the explosive power would certainly be strong enough, but the stability would be terrible!"

"You could use it for short-distance instantaneous bursts of speed, but if you tried to imitate him and maintain high-precision, stable output for a long time as though taking a stroll, that would be absolutely impossible. You'd blow yourself away like a firecracker."

Medicine Elder looked at An Yi's back ahead of them and continued his explanation:

"His Dou Qi, on the other hand, is the rare metal attribute. The greatest traits of this type of Dou Qi are stability and heaviness. Therefore, cultivators of metal-attributed Dou Qi possess defense that can be called invincible among those of the same rank. Moreover, metal-attributed Dou Qi itself possesses sharpness, making its offensive power equally terrifying."

"However, everything must be balanced. The flaw of metal-attributed Dou Qi is also extremely fatal. Because the Dou Qi is too heavy, its cultivators have very poor agility, and their movements are exceptionally cumbersome."

"Furthermore, this kind of Dou Qi specializes in close combat. Once it encounters an opponent with a speed advantage, or one adept at keeping their distance and kiting from afar, it becomes extremely passive and turns its user into a living target."

"For that reason, metal-attributed Dou Qi is not popular among human cultivators. Our human bodies are inherently weak, and once we fall into a passive position where we can only take hits in battle, we are practically waiting to die. As a result, people with metal-attributed constitutions have become fewer and fewer."

At this point, Medicine Elder seemed to sink into some memory.

"However, this type of Dou Qi is exceptionally popular among the Outland Barbarian tribes in the northern part of the continent. Those barbarians, who drank blood and ate raw meat and loved body refinement, all possessed terrifying physiques comparable to ancient magical beasts. Paired with metal-attributed Dou Qi, they could even tear apart the void with their bare hands! When I traveled the continent in my youth, I once fought one of their experts. If not for the Heavenly Flame protecting me, I might truly have suffered a major loss."

Xiao Yan wore a strange expression as he listened from within the Mind Sea.

Looking at An Yi's ghostlike figure darting through the woods ahead, he could not help interrupting:

"Teacher... are you sure metal-attributed Dou Qi is cumbersome and lacking in agility? Then what is going on with that guy ahead, who's moving as fast as the wind? His agility is even more terrifying than those who cultivate wind-attributed Dou Qi! How is that cumbersome?!"

Medicine Elder was also left speechless. After a moment of silence, he finally said:

"That is exactly why I said he's bizarre! His Dou Qi is definitely not ordinary metal-attributed Dou Qi. Most likely, it underwent some kind of mutation, or perhaps it produced some unusual chemical reaction with the mysterious ancient bloodline power in his body, perfectly making up for metal's shortcomings."

As they spoke, An Yi had already stopped.

Not far ahead lay the enormous waterfall where he usually checked in.

Under the silvery moonlight, the water poured down like a heavenly river, its thunderous roar deafening.

Yet An Yi did not leap directly into the cave behind the waterfall. Instead, he slowly turned around.

Facing the empty, dark forest, he spoke calmly:

"You've followed me for so long. Aren't you bothered by all the mosquitoes in the forest in the middle of the night? It's time to come out, isn't it?"