Chapter 20: Old Lord: Why Are You Collecting All This Junk?

"Women..." Xiao Yan muttered under his breath.

They were impossible to figure out, always getting angry without warning.

Just like Xun'er.

Despite his grumbling, he still bent down and hoisted Xiao Yi Xian onto his back. Then he flexed his knees slightly and shot forward like a cannonball, leaping nimbly between the branches.

He had never practiced a proper movement Dou Technique, but the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts... were versatile enough for anything. At least when it came to speed, they delivered.

In mere moments, Xiao Yan carried Xiao Yi Xian to the cliff's edge. The girl was slender and frail, like a delicate, sickly beauty, and she weighed next to nothing. Yet she was surprisingly well endowed where it mattered, and the soft sensation against his back was giving Xiao Yan quite a headache.

"It should be down there..." Having recovered some strength, Xiao Yi Xian wrapped one slender arm around Xiao Yan's neck. Color had returned to her pretty face, and she pointed down the cliff with her other hand.

"Be careful."

Before she could finish, Xiao Yan jumped straight down.

After zigzagging a few times along the cliff face, he landed on a steep ledge.

"This should be it." Xiao Yan smiled. He had no interest in the Black Rank Dou Technique, Lion's Roar, but the Flying Dou Technique and the map fragment for the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame were worthwhile. They made the trip worth it.

"Let's go." He dusted off his hands and headed straight inside.

Xiao Yi Xian hesitated for a moment, then hurried after him. The cave was pitch-black and hardly seemed safe.

If some vicious creature lurked inside, she would have to rely on Xiao Yan to deal with it.

"Hm!"

Xiao Yan suddenly stopped, a thoughtful look crossing his face.

"Ow~"

The girl behind him promptly bumped into him chest-first. She looked up, her pretty face flushed with embarrassment and irritation. "What?"

"Shh..." Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes and looked behind Xiao Yi Xian.

Her face went pale. She hurried behind Xiao Yan, tugging at his sleeve with one delicate hand and nervously peeking out.

"Must have heard wrong. I thought someone had followed us." After a while, with nothing but silence around them, Xiao Yan smiled.

Xiao Yi Xian: "..."

Aaaaaah!!!

Why was this bastard so infuriating?

She had just relaxed and was glaring at Xiao Yan with puffed cheeks when he suddenly spun around, his eyes turning cold. An ink-black Mystic Staff had appeared in his hand at some point, and he hurled it.

Boom!!!

Under Xiao Yi Xian's stunned gaze, a piercing scream suddenly rang out from the dark cave behind them.

"Is that... Mu Li?!!"

Only when she drew closer did she see his gruesome state. The Mystic Staff had pierced his chest and pinned him to the cave wall. The blow had clearly struck his heart, and after struggling for only a few seconds, Mu Li went limp, his head drooping.

"Heh. Trash." Xiao Yan's lips curled into a smile. He grabbed the Mystic Staff and yanked it free, sending Mu Li's body sliding to the ground like a heap of sludge.

"You're a Dou Shi?!!" Xiao Yi Xian exclaimed, her beautiful eyes wide with shock.

Only a Dou Shi could have disposed of Mu Li, a Seven-Star Dou Zhe, as easily as slaughtering a chicken.

"Mm-hm." Xiao Yan wiped the Mystic Staff against Mu Li's corpse to clean off the blood, then calmly headed deeper into the cave.

With his speed, he could have easily left Mu Li behind even while carrying Xiao Yi Xian. The only reason Mu Li had caught up was that Xiao Yan had deliberately held back.

Mu Li probably possessed some sort of movement Dou Technique, while the mercenary group members accompanying him did not. That made him the fastest of the bunch.

"Let's go. If we take much longer, they'll block the entrance."

Xiao Yan smiled.

Xiao Yi Xian's red lips parted slightly. Even she was startled by Xiao Yan's ruthless decisiveness. Although she had earlier been annoyed at him over the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's retaliation and had deliberately acted close to him to provoke Mu Li into taking revenge, she had never intended to get Xiao Yan killed.

Before becoming the Heavenly Poison Woman, the leader of the Poison Sect who struck terror into the world, she was still an innocent young girl who dreamed of treating illnesses and saving lives. Otherwise, with the constitution she had in the original story, which had allowed her to reach Dou Zong after consuming poison for five years, her current cultivation might well have rivaled Xiao Yan's.

"Have you lost your mind?! Mu Li was the young leader of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group. Even I wouldn't dare provoke him! You... the leader of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group is a two-star Dou Shi!" Xiao Yi Xian's pretty face was full of worry.

"Relax. I'm a four-star Dou Shi myself." Xiao Yan smiled and walked straight into the cave.

"You..." Xiao Yi Xian parted her red lips, clearly unconvinced, then shook her head.

If he wasn't worried, why should she be?

Besides, Mu She probably wasn't here. Fighting their way out wouldn't be too difficult.

Before leaving, however, she sprinkled some medicinal powder over Mu Li's corpse. It instantly dissolved into a puddle of blood that seeped into the ground.

At the end of the cave, a stone door barred their way.

Xiao Yi Xian pressed her delicate hand against it and said thoughtfully, "This door is very thick. It would probably take at least a Dou Shi striking with all their strength to break it open. But..."

The girl glanced to one side. "There's an Earth-Element Mechanism Technique here. Let me see if I can undo it."

"Move aside."

Xiao Yan put away his staff and spoke calmly.

"You..." Xiao Yi Xian stared at him in astonishment.

The next instant, Xiao Yan threw a perfectly composed punch. With nothing but his physical strength, he made the entire cave shudder. The door instantly shattered into rubble, while Xiao Yi Xian's previously fair, clean face was coated in dust.

"Xiao Yan!!!" Xiao Yi Xian gritted her teeth. "I was just about to undo the mechanism!"

"The result's the same, isn't it? If you don't want the treasures inside, I'll take them all." Xiao Yan grinned.

"You..." Half her anger dissipated at once, and Xiao Yi Xian hurried to his side, gazing at the medicinal herbs piled like a mountain inside the cave.

One herb after another, all exceedingly difficult to find on the market, came into view. "Half each," Xiao Yan said, raising an eyebrow.

In the original story, cultivating the Flame Mantra required refining a fifth-grade pill called the Blood Lotus Pill, making the most valuable herb here, Ice Spirit Flame Grass, one of the greatest gains of this trip. Now, however, he had no need for it.

"Then could I have this Ice Spirit Flame Grass, and give you a larger share of the other herbs?" Xiao Yi Xian's pretty face flushed slightly. Although they were working together, Xiao Yan had actually done most of the work. Besides, this was the most precious herb here, worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins outside, and impossible to buy even if one had the money.

"Sure." Xiao Yan smiled.

Next came three stone chests, containing the advanced Black Rank Dou Techniques Eagle Wings and Mad Lion's Roar, along with the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture.

Naturally, he gave the latter to Xiao Yi Xian.

As for the Dou Techniques, since Xiao Yi Xian had already taken the valuable herb and did not cultivate Dou Qi herself, she generously let Xiao Yan have both cultivation methods.

"Quite a haul."

Xiao Yan grinned.

But this stirred the Old Lord inside the Storage Ring. "What are you collecting all this junk for?"

The Old Lord sounded rather puzzled.

The corner of Xiao Yan's mouth twitched. "..."

Because I want to! Is that a problem?!