Mid-Stage Dou Zhe?

That night, Xiao Chen did not sleep.

He sat cross-legged in the small courtyard, replaying everything that had happened over the past half year in his mind again and again. Xiao Yan's speed in breaking through to Dou Zhe had far exceeded the original story, Ya Fei's Mittel intelligence network had begun to take shape, and the Xiao Clan Apothecary's signs now hung throughout the streets and alleys of Wutan City...

Everything was racing in a better direction.

During the day, he watched Xiao Yan train beside the martial arts field. The youth was now at the mid-stage Dou Zhe realm. Every move he made sent Dou Qi howling through the air, and his fists carried fierce force, leaving the Xiao Clan disciples staring in stunned silence.

"Young Master Xiao Yan has practically become a different person over the past half year!"

"Isn't that so? Half a year ago, everyone called him trash. With his current strength, he may well break into the clan's top ten!"

"It's all thanks to Elder Xiao Chen... Tsk, tsk. That elder truly turns stone into gold!"

The next day.

Xiao Chen personally went to the back mountain and found Xiao Yan, who was training.

"Uncle Xiao?"

Xiao Yan stopped moving, wiped away his sweat, and greeted him with a smile.

"What brings you here?"

"I came to see you."

Xiao Chen smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Little Yan, Uncle has something to tell you. From now on, the Warm Nourishing Pills will be delivered once every five days. Cultivation requires balance between exertion and rest. If you keep force-feeding yourself pills, you may damage your foundation instead."

Xiao Yan froze for a moment before nodding heavily. "Uncle Xiao is right. Yan'er will remember!"

Though he did not understand the deeper meaning, he had absolute faith in Xiao Chen's words.

Over the past half year, this Uncle Xiao had pulled him out of the pile of trash step by step. Xiao Chen's words had long become immutable laws in his heart.

As he watched Xiao Yan throw himself back into training, a complicated look flashed through Xiao Chen's eyes.

"Xiao Yan, it's not that Uncle begrudges you those few pills..."

"It's that Uncle thinks advancing too quickly could leave your foundation unstable."

He took out a brand-new cultivation manual—the fragment of the Gu Clan technique, the Qi Condensation Chapter, that he had obtained from Xun'er—and handed it to Xiao Yan.

After leaving.

Xiao Chen first took a round through the Drug Hall and instructed the medicine boys to slow Xiao Yan's pill supply by thirty percent, changing it to one delivery every five days.

He then went to the merchant caravan and gave a few instructions, telling them to hold back on several businesses that had originally been meant to expand quickly.

"Elder, these ventures are all profitable businesses. Wouldn't it be a pity to hold them back?" the caravan manager asked in confusion.

"Money can never all be earned."

Xiao Chen smiled faintly. "Sometimes, slow is fast."

The manager nodded as though he understood, though he did not dare ask further.

He vaguely felt that this unfathomable guest elder was playing a grand game that no one else could understand.

And while Xiao Chen was making his arrangements.

A thousand miles away, at the mountain gate of the Misty Cloud Sect, beside a cliff shrouded in clouds and mist, an incomparably beautiful woman in a white dress stood with her hands behind her back.

"How did the investigation go?" she asked softly.

"Reporting to the Sect Master."

A man in black behind her bowed.

"The Xiao Clan of Wutan City has indeed been making considerable moves recently. Their apothecary has opened branch after branch, their trade routes now stretch in all directions, and that trash young master of the Xiao Clan is said to have already reached the mid-stage Dou Zhe realm..."

"Mid-stage Dou Zhe?"

The woman's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

"Half a year ago, wasn't he only at Three-Stage Dou Qi?"

"It is said that an elder of the Xiao Clan named Xiao Chen has been secretly supporting him all along..."

"Xiao Chen?"

The woman softly repeated the name.

"Interesting. Investigate this man."

"Yes!"

The clouds surged and gradually swallowed the figure by the cliffside.

That night.

In the western outskirts of Wutan City, at the Xiao Clan's heavily guarded warehouse.

For several days in a row, Xiao Chen had sensed a faint, lingering gaze of surveillance.

Without revealing anything, he secretly stationed a tight net of men around the warehouse.

"Elder, will someone really come?" an attendant asked in a low, nervous voice.

"They will."

"The Jia Lie Family has been driven to the brink by our Xiao Clan. They will surely jump the wall in desperation. Tonight will be when they strike."

"But what if they hired experts..."

"Experts?"

Xiao Chen chuckled.

"If they were experts, they would not be doing this kind of sneaky work. At most, the ones coming will be desperate criminals."

Sure enough.

Around midnight, more than a dozen black shadows silently crept toward the warehouse, carrying earthen jars filled with pitch-black blazing oil.

"Burn it! Burn it all to the ground!"

The leading man in black shouted in a low voice. More than a dozen shadows raised their hands at once, splashing blazing oil over the warehouse doors as their fire starters flared to life.

"Move!"

Just as the fire starters were about to leave their hands, a calm voice suddenly rang out.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time."

The moment those words fell, countless torches suddenly lit up around the warehouse, illuminating the area for hundreds of yards like broad daylight!

Xiao Zhan led dozens of Xiao Clan guards in closing in from every direction, surrounding the dozen or so men in black!

"Damn it! It's a trap!"

The black-clad men's expressions changed drastically as they turned to flee.

But since Xiao Chen had dared to let them enter, how could he possibly leave them any room to escape?

A gray-robed figure slowly drifted down from the rooftop, blocking the men in black. Dou Qi surged around him, giving off a faint cyan glow.

That faint cyan glow was as thin as gauze, yet as solid as if it were tangible, enveloping Xiao Chen's entire body.

"Dou Zhe Peak!"

The leading man in black's pupils shrank sharply, his face filled with horror.

"You... you're Xiao Chen?!"

"That would be me."

Xiao Chen smiled faintly.

"Since you've come, why not leave your lives behind?"

"Cut the nonsense! Brothers, charge out!"

The man in black roared, drawing his longsword. Wrapped in Dou Qi, it slashed viciously toward Xiao Chen.

The blade light was incomparably sharp, tearing through the air with a low sonic boom!

"With only that much skill, you dare cause trouble in the Xiao Clan?"

A mocking curve rose at Xiao Chen's lips.

He shifted slightly to the side, and the blade light grazed past his robe.

Then, he struck out with his backhand!

The palm wind howled, carrying faint cyan Dou Qi as it thundered toward the black-clad man's chest!

As that palm descended, the air itself seemed to ripple under the pressure. An invisible gust swept up every speck of dust from the ground!

"Puh—!"

The man in black spat out blood and flew backward like a kite with its string cut, smashing heavily into the wall. Blood poured wildly from his mouth, and he could no longer rise.

"Who else wants to try?"

Xiao Chen stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze calmly sweeping over the remaining men in black.

The group of men in black were already scared out of their wits. They were merely desperate criminals paid to do a job. When had they ever seen such terrifying skill?

Dou Zhe Peak, crippling a man with one palm strike—how could an ordinary elder possess such strength?!

"Run!"

No one knew who shouted it, but the dozen or so men in black immediately scattered like frightened birds.

But with Xiao Clan guards surrounding them on all sides, where could they possibly flee?

"Take them down! Don't let a single one escape!"

At Xiao Zhan's command, the Xiao Clan guards pounced like wolves and tigers, subduing every one of the black-clad men, who had already been scared out of their souls.

From beginning to end, it had taken less than the time needed to drink half a cup of tea.

"Elder Xiao Chen, you're incredible!"

Xiao Zhan strode over, his face full of amazement.

"How did you know they would come tonight?"

"I guessed."

Xiao Chen smiled slightly, then bent down and searched the leading black-clad man's robes, pulling out a token engraved with the words "Jia Lie."

"Still, they delivered the evidence right to my door."

"Good!"

Xiao Zhan clapped his hands and laughed, then said with lingering fear, "If Elder hadn't prepared in advance, this warehouse would probably have been burned to the ground tonight!"

At dawn.

The Xiao Clan escorted the night attackers' confessions and token, along with the dozen or so men in black, to the busiest street in Wutan City and publicly revealed everything!

"The Jia Lie Clan hired thugs to raid the Xiao Clan warehouse at night. The culprits and evidence have all been captured!"

"What a Jia Lie Clan! They seek peace openly, yet stab others in the back!"

"Bah! Despicable!"

The news swept through Wutan City like a storm, and public opinion overwhelmingly turned toward the Xiao Clan.

Everyone cursed the Jia Lie Clan for being despicable and shameless. The Jia Lie Clan's reputation was utterly ruined overnight.

Galle Bi, the head of the Jia Lie Family, came to the Xiao Clan in disgrace.

"Clan Head Xiao, Elder Xiao... the Jia Lie Family was in the wrong in this matter! This old man is willing to offer compensation and apologize. I beg the Xiao Clan to show mercy!"

"Compensation and an apology?"

Xiao Chen leisurely took a sip of tea.

"When you're out in the world, you follow rules."

"But since you insist on talking about strength, then our Xiao Clan will have to show you what we're capable of!"

"Of course, our Xiao Clan still prefers to reason things out..."

"Today, the Jia Lie Family can either bow their heads and submit... or wait for the Xiao Clan to uproot the Jia Lie Family entirely and erase it from Wutan City!"

Galle Bi's face turned deathly pale. In the end, he lowered his head in defeat.