I'm Done Pretending, I Deliberately Made You Owe Me!

After leaving the Mittel Auction House, Medicine Elder swiftly returned control of the body to Xiao Yan.

Several streets away from the auction house, Xiao Yan wound through dark alleys for quite some time.

Only after repeatedly confirming that no one was tailing him and that nobody had discovered his whereabouts did he cautiously take off the oversized black robe, toss it into a foul-smelling ditch, and return to his youthful appearance before quickly heading back toward the Xiao Household.

As he walked home, Xiao Yan recalled everything that had happened in the VIP lounge. His heart felt as though it were being scratched by a cat's claws. Unable to suppress his curiosity any longer, he asked in his mind:

"Teacher, there's something I don't understand. You clearly had the upper hand just now, so why did you only ask him to owe you such a vague favor? Judging by how far he was willing to go for that girl, if you'd put on a little more pressure, you might have been able to make him bleed a little more and extort some good stuff from him."

Medicine Elder chuckled, his laughter carrying a teasing note as though he had seen through his disciple's thoughts. "What? Are you upset that I didn't fight for more benefits on your behalf? Or... are you coveting that brat's overbearing essence blood?"

Having his thoughts exposed so directly, Xiao Yan blushed and coughed awkwardly.

"Cough... I am a little tempted. You said it yourself, the energy contained in that essence blood is incredibly terrifying. If I could obtain a drop to temper my body, my physical body would definitely undergo a qualitative leap!"

"Stop coveting it. Put those thoughts away."

Medicine Elder mercilessly poured cold water over him. "You'll never be able to use that thing in your lifetime!"

"Huh? Why?" Xiao Yan asked, utterly confused.

"First of all, such a tiny drop of essence blood is nowhere near enough to transform your body completely. At most, it would slightly increase your physique's resilience."

Medicine Elder patiently explained, "More importantly, the attribute of that drop of essence blood itself is an absolute taboo you must never touch!"

"Xiao Yan, since you aspire to become a great alchemist, you should know very well what the most fundamental soul trait of an alchemist is—it is primarily fire, yet it must also contain a trace of endlessly renewing wood attribute!"

"But within the laws of the Five Elements' mutual generation and restraint, metal restrains wood!"

"Not to mention that the Geng Metal Qi contained in that brat's essence blood is overbearing and razor-sharp to the extreme! If you truly absorbed that drop of essence blood without regard for your life, your physical constitution would indeed improve drastically, but!"

"As the price, that crucial trace of wood attribute in your soul would be completely shredded into nothingness by that terrifying Geng Metal Fiendish Qi the instant the essence blood entered your body! Even the foundation of the fire attribute you cultivate would be severely affected by that killing aura!"

"Of course, if you decide now to give up alchemy and no longer want to be an alchemist, then I wouldn't mind swallowing my pride and finding a way to swindle another drop of essence blood from him for you. You could use it to temper your body and walk the path of a martial cultivator instead. The choice is yours."

After hearing this, Xiao Yan froze in fright, cold sweat pouring down his back.

"Th-then forget it!"

What kind of joke was that?!

He had pinned all his hopes of returning to his peak—and even surpassing it—on the noble profession of alchemy.

Abandon his cultivation and destroy the foundation of his talent as an alchemist just for a tiny increase in physical strength?

His brain wasn't full of water! No matter how incredible An Yi's essence blood was, he would never touch a single drop!

Mittel Auction House.

After Xiao Yan left, An Yi did not waste any time and immediately went to find Ya Fei, who was still busy at work.

He handed her the long list Medicine Elder had written, filled with rare and mild medicinal herbs, and asked her to gather everything as quickly as possible.

Ya Fei was equally decisive. After accepting the list and giving it a single glance, she immediately instructed her subordinates to inventory the auction house's storerooms.

If any herbs were missing, she would immediately use the Mittel Clan's vast commercial network to urgently transfer stock from auction houses in other cities.

An Yi had complete confidence in Ya Fei's efficiency.

Once he had arranged the important matter, An Yi finally let out a long breath.

Since Medicine Elder, under the guise of an "Eighth-Rank Alchemy Grandmaster," had agreed to take over this matter, then with his abilities, as long as the materials were ready, Little Fairy's procedure to use essence blood to suppress her poison could basically be considered foolproof.

After a full day of running around, An Yi stretched, yawned, and leisurely headed toward the guest room Ya Fei had arranged for him.

If he had returned alone today, given the ambiguous relationship between him and Ya Fei, she definitely would not have minded having a wonderfully huggable human body pillow added to her soft, spacious bedchamber.

But unfortunately, he had returned this time with Little Fairy, a delicate and refined girl who was clearly deeply fond of him.

Ya Fei was a clever woman. Though she appeared generous and composed on the surface, as a woman, she still felt a trace of jealousy upon seeing a pretty younger girl by An Yi's side.

Thus, the shrewd chief auctioneer decisively and "thoughtfully" arranged two separate guest rooms for An Yi and Little Fairy, not far from each other.

Did he want to shamelessly climb into Ya Fei's bed like before? Not a chance!

An Yi pushed open the door to his guest room, just about to throw himself onto the bed and get some proper sleep.

But the moment he looked up, he froze.

Little Fairy, who should have been resting in her own room, was quietly sitting on the edge of his bed.

Under the dim candlelight, the girl had her head lowered, her expression hidden from view.

"What's wrong?" An Yi walked into the room in confusion and casually shut the door. "Didn't I tell you to get some rest early? What are you doing in my room?"

Hearing An Yi's voice, Little Fairy slowly raised her head.

Her once clear, lively eyes were now filled with incredibly complicated emotions. There was heartache, anger, grievance, and a deep sense of helplessness.

She stared at An Yi, biting her red lip, then suddenly accused him, "An Yi... you've gone too far!"

An Yi was utterly bewildered by the sudden accusation. "What? What did I do?"

"When you do things... can't you discuss them with me first?!"

Little Fairy's eyes instantly reddened. Tears swirled in them as her voice trembled with a sobbing tone.

"Why didn't you tell me?! You silently drew your own essence blood to help me! How could you make such a rash decision about something that damages your foundation?!"

"You've done this much for me... wh-what am I supposed to do from now on?!"

An Yi walked over and sat beside Little Fairy, finding her logic both amusing and exasperating. "What do you mean, what are you supposed to do from now on?"

Little Fairy turned her head and stared straight into An Yi's eyes. Taking a deep breath, she asked the question that had been circling in her heart all along:

"An Yi... do you really like me?"

"Of course!"

An Yi answered without even a second's hesitation. "You're so beautiful, and you have such a good personality. Isn't it only natural that I like you? Did you think my brain was full of water, that I had nothing better to do than harm myself by drawing my own essence blood for a woman I don't even like?"

Hearing words that were practically a confession, Little Fairy's heart skipped a beat. Yet she still bit her lip and asked in a low voice:

"But... what if that old gentleman's essence blood procedure fails? What if... I still die from the poison?"

"If it fails, then it fails. Nothing in this world has a one-hundred-percent chance of succeeding."

An Yi shrugged indifferently. "At worst, we'll find another way. You saw it too, didn't you? That scroll also recorded a Poison Pill Method."

"Those things may be beyond our reach right now, but as long as we're alive, we can keep looking for them. Heaven never seals off all paths."

Listening to his seemingly casual yet powerful reassurance, Little Fairy could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes, and they finally spilled over.

She gritted her teeth and glared fiercely at the young man before her, who was always grinning so frivolously.

"You've been so good to me... was this all something you planned on purpose?!"

"You only wanted to make me owe you a debt of gratitude I could never repay! You wanted me to forever feel guilty toward you! And then... for the rest of my life, I'd never be able to reject you with my head held high?!"

Faced with Little Fairy's soul-piercing question.

An Yi showed not the slightest embarrassment at being exposed and calmly nodded.

"Yep."

"..."

Little Fairy froze instantly, even forgetting to cry.

"Yep?!"