Interception: Suction Palm Upgraded from Black Tier to Earth Tier

[Detected Xiao Yan nearby. Host, proceed to kill Xiao Yan!]

Early in the morning, Xiao Yan awoke from cultivation. This time, Yao Lao had not absorbed his Dou Qi again, and his Dou Qi, which had been stuck at the third stage for three years, had finally improved somewhat.

Sure enough, the system's voice urging him to kill himself sounded once more.

Xiao Yan rolled his eyes and ignored it.

[What's going on? You got ahead of Xiao Yan and took Yao Lao as your master, so why is there still a soul body by Xiao Yan's side?]

At that moment, the system's confused voice rang out.

Xiao Yan: ...

"System, Xiao Yan is the protagonist favored by heaven and earth. If he loses one opportunity, another one will appear."

"So we mustn't rush. We need to plan things out slowly."

Xiao Yan comforted the system.

[System: ...]

Xiao Yan's expression remained indifferent as he changed clothes and prepared to head to the marketplace to buy the materials needed for the Foundation-Building Spirit Liquid.

Foundation-Building Spirit Liquid materials: three intact Purple Leaf Orchid Grass plants, two Bone-Washing Flowers, and one first-tier wood-element magical beast core.

Altogether, these items would cost at least a thousand gold coins.

A poor scholar and a rich martial artist—this was also an eternal truth on the Dou Qi Continent.

For an ordinary family, twenty gold coins were enough to cover a year's expenses.

In Xiao Yan's memories, he had some gold coins, but nowhere near enough.

When he thought of borrowing money, the first person Xiao Yan thought of was Xun'er.

As the young mistress of the Gu Clan, Xun'er was quite a little rich girl.

When Xiao Yan asked to borrow money, Xiao Xun'er readily agreed.

To repay the girl, Xiao Yan decided to take her around Wu Tan City, which could also deepen their relationship.

Besides, he remembered that the original story mentioned that "Xiao Yan" would pick up the Suction Palm at a stall.

It was a Low Profound Tier Dou Technique.

If he intercepted this opportunity, the system would surely give him another reward.

So he had to search carefully and could not miss this opportunity.

Xiao Yan stretched his limbs and changed into another set of clothes.

As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw Xiao Xun'er approaching. He immediately took her small hand and left the clan grounds with her.

Watching Xiao Yan dart around wildly between the various stalls, the girl's lovely lips pouted high.

"Brother Xiao Yan, slow down. I'm exhausted from walking."

Hearing the girl's complaint, Xiao Yan finally snapped out of it. He had been so focused on finding the Suction Palm that he had neglected Xun'er.

But she was already at the Ninth Duan Dou Qi. How could such a short walk tire her out?

She was merely acting cute with him.

Xiao Yan did not expose her and instead apologized to her.

"Sorry, Xun'er. I was supposed to be accompanying you shopping, but I started browsing on my own first."

The girl was already delighted just to be with the Xiao Yan she liked, so she was naturally not truly angry.

Now that Xiao Yan had sincerely apologized, it showed that he cared about her, making her even happier.

The girl immediately laughed sweetly.

"Brother Xiao Yan, it's fine. There's still plenty of time, so we can take our time looking around."

Xiao Yan stroked her silky black hair, his eyes full of affection.

"Xun'er is right. We'll take our time."

Only then did Xiao Yan notice that the girl had changed into a fitting pale green dress today. The light color made her seem even more pure.

"Xun'er, this outfit is really beautiful."

The girl first gave a soft snort, then spun around like a fluttering butterfly.

"This is the first time Brother Xiao Yan has gone shopping with me in three years. Of course I had to dress up nicely."

Xiao Xun'er's eyes curved into beautiful crescents as she smiled playfully.

The two of them chatted and laughed as they slowly strolled through the marketplace.

During that time, Xiao Yan spent more than nine hundred gold coins at a medicinal herb shop to buy three twenty-year Purple Leaf Orchid Grass plants and two five-year Bone-Washing Flowers.

As for the first-tier wood-element magical beast core, he did not find one at the herb shop.

As a primary ingredient in alchemy and something that could be embedded into weapons, magical beast cores had always been in short supply.

The moment one appeared, it would immediately be snatched up.

Because magical beast cores were so valuable, some mercenary groups made their living solely by hunting magical beasts.

And magical beast cores were not easy to obtain. Aside from the strength of magical beasts, not every magical beast had a core within its body.

Often, a mercenary group would go through a brutal battle to kill a magical beast, only to discover that it had no magical beast core. This was not an uncommon occurrence.

Xiao Yan led Xiao Xun'er slowly toward the marketplace controlled by the Xiao Clan.

Any mercenaries and merchants conducting business in the Xiao Family Marketplace had to pay the Xiao Clan a commission.

In return, the Xiao Clan maintained order and security in the marketplace.

After exchanging a few words with the captain of the Xiao Clan's guard, Xiao Yan dismissed him.

In his own clan's marketplace, Xiao Yan's safety was naturally guaranteed, allowing him to search each stall more carefully for the wood-element magical beast core he needed.

After passing an unknown number of stalls, Xiao Yan finally found the target he had been looking for at one of them.

"Young Master Xiao Yan, what would you like to buy?"

The stall owner was a somewhat shifty-looking mercenary. Recognizing Xiao Yan as the son of the Xiao Clan's patriarch, he asked with a smile.

Xiao Yan smiled and nodded in response. His hand swept across the stall before reaching for the green wood-element magical beast core.

At that moment, his soul sensed a strange ripple. The source of that strangeness was a black iron shard.

Xiao Yan's heart stirred. Could this be the black iron shard containing the Suction Palm Dou Technique?

"Hey, Xiao Yan, buy that black iron shard. It's good stuff!"

Yao Lao's voice sounded at just the right moment, making Xiao Yan even more certain.

However, he was rather dissatisfied with Yao Lao calling him Xiao Yan. It made him feel like some eunuch in the imperial palace.

Without giving anything away, Xiao Yan picked up the wood-element magical beast core and casually asked, "What kind of magical beast is this core from?"

A gleam flashed through the mercenary's small eyes as he enthusiastically replied.

"This is the core of a first-tier Wood-Eating Fox. It's considered top quality among first-tier wood-element magical beast cores."

"Our Sharp Fang Mercenary Group killed five whole Wood-Eating Foxes and lost two brothers just to obtain this one core."

"If Young Master Xiao Yan likes it, I'll give you a discount. You only need to pay five hundred gold coins."

Xiao Yan was speechless inside, though his childish face remained indifferent. As far as he knew, a first-tier magical beast core was worth around four hundred gold coins.

Good grief, you're charging me five hundred even after giving me a discount. Do you take me for a fool?

He grabbed several items from the stall, including the black iron shard, then said to the man, "Four hundred and seventy for all of this, and I'll take it."

The mercenary's eyes swept over the items in Xiao Yan's hands. Seeing that they were all cheap goods, he immediately nodded.

"Deal!"

Xiao Yan took out his money pouch, counted out four hundred and seventy gold coins, and tossed them to the middle-aged man.

Then he took the quiet and elegant girl beside him by the hand and turned to leave.

They soon left the Xiao Family Marketplace. Xiao Yan sent Xiao Xun'er away, much to the girl's displeasure.

After the girl left, Xiao Yan returned to his room, shut the doors and windows, then dumped out all the medicinal materials he had bought.

As well as that black iron shard.

After Yao Lao showed off for a while, the black iron shard indeed turned out to contain the Suction Palm Dou Technique.

Suction Palm: Low Profound Tier!

Once cultivated to great mastery, it could pull in boulders weighing a thousand jin. When facing an enemy, its fierce suction force could forcibly tear the blood from a person's body.

A delighted expression appeared on Xiao Yan's face.

"Look at how pleased you are. It's only a Low Profound Tier Dou Technique."

"This thing can only deal with opponents weaker than you or at your level. If you encounter someone stronger, pulling them over will only bring disaster upon yourself."

Yao Lao said disdainfully.

[Ding! The host has intercepted the Suction Palm. Judged to have weakened Xiao Yan by 2 stars.]

[Reward: Suction Palm upgraded to Low Earth-tier.]

[When cultivated to perfection, its suction force becomes immensely powerful and can even pull at souls.]

The system's reward notification rang out.

The Suction Palm, originally only Low Profound Tier, had actually risen by an entire major tier.

That was the main reason for Xiao Yan's surprise.

Dou Technique proficiency was divided into beginner, proficient, minor mastery, great mastery, and perfection.

To cultivate a Dou Technique to perfection, even a genius would need thousands upon thousands of repetitions.

Because even the person who created the Dou Technique would find it no easy task to reach perfection.

However, Xiao Yan possessed Peerless Comprehension. Reaching perfection would take only a few more rounds of practice.

"Go get a large basin of water."

At that moment, Yao Lao instructed Xiao Yan.