Xiao Xun'er vs. Xiao Yi Xian (Please Keep Reading!!!)

Wutan City.

The Xiao Clan.

It was late at night.

A pale golden streak crossed the night sky and drifted down into a courtyard. Xiao Yan glanced at the sleeping girl, whose arms were wrapped tightly around his neck. He gently kicked open the door and laid her on his bed.

The room was still clean and tidy. Though he had been gone for three months, someone had clearly come to clean it every day.

"Mmm..."

Xiao Yi Xian's lashes fluttered, but the scent of Xiao Yan filled her nose. Her brows gradually relaxed, and she fell into a deep sleep.

A faint blush still lingered on her pretty face.

"Phew..." Xiao Yan let out a long breath. He had finally managed it.

She had been anything but quiet on the way back. One moment she wanted him to hold her slender waist tighter; the next, she was afraid of falling. Now, at last, she was sound asleep.

He wondered what she would be like when she woke tomorrow. Would she be so embarrassed that she refused to leave the courtyard?

The thought brought a smile to Xiao Yan's face.

He rubbed his hand, where the soft sensation seemed to linger. Xiao Yi Xian's slender waist really was something else: supple, delicate, and small enough to encircle with one arm.

And now...

A wicked glint flashed in Xiao Yan's eyes. Heh, heh, heh. A beauty lay on his bed, dead drunk and oblivious. Naturally, he would not let this chance slip by.

So he made himself a bed on the floor, sat down cross-legged, and began circulating the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts to cultivate.

What else? With such a perfect opportunity, not cultivating would be a waste of his youth!

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the patterned window, casting matching shadows across the room. Xiao Yan, still seated on the floor, finally breathed out a wisp of white mist.

The pale yellow Dou Qi surging around him flowed into his nostrils, and his aura seemed to grow a little stronger.

The peak of Five-Star Dou Master!!

He was only one step from six stars. As expected of the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts. It was the foundation of his cultivation, driving his strength upward each day while keeping that foundation remarkably solid, without a hint of instability.

He settled his mind and looked inward.

Ink Green Dou Qi circulated through his meridians before flowing into his dantian. With every circuit, it expanded slightly. The change looked tiny, but to anyone else, the rate of growth would have been astonishing.

And then there was...

Xiao Yan flicked up a little Ink Green flame at his fingertip, his expression turning strange. This thing was perfect for catching people off guard.

He formed it by forcibly compressing the Netherworld Ghost Flame into his fingertip. He could launch it without warning, and the slightest contact with a target would make it explode, engulfing their entire body.

The vicious part of this move was not the force of the Netherworld Poison Flame's explosion. It was the "poison" left behind.

It would eat through flesh, bone, and blood until nothing remained but a puddle of putrid liquid.

By his estimate, even a Da Dou Shi could fall victim to it!

Even Dou Armor would struggle to stop it.

He happily drew the flame back into his body. He was all but immune to poison now, so he need not fear being poisoned if he had physical contact with Xiao Yi Xian in the future.

He pushed open the door in high spirits.

Wutan City, I, Xiao Yan, am back!

The Xiao Clan's council hall.

Dressed in fitted fighting clothes, Xiao Yan sat in the seat of honor. Even Xiao Zhan occupied only the seat beside him, followed by several elders and the Xiao Clan's many elite members. In the Xiao Clan, whoever was strongest took charge.

And Xiao Yan's sudden rise had breathed new life into the entire clan. It was only natural that he took the foremost seat.

Looking around, he saw that the Xiao Clan had recruited several experts recently. Among them was a middle-aged Dou Ling who gazed at him eagerly and hurried to smile when Xiao Yan looked his way.

The man's heart was in turmoil. An Alchemist of the Third Rank so young might be unmatched in the entire Jia Ma Empire. Even the long-famous Pill King Gu He might not have surpassed him at the same age.

Then there was the mysterious Miss Xun'er. This little Wutan City truly was... full of hidden talents.

"May I ask your name?" Xiao Yan said calmly, holding his teacup.

"Mu Wen!" The middle-aged man licked his lips, quickly stood, and cupped his fists with considerable respect.

Xiao Yan nodded slightly and rubbed his Storage Ring, his expression thoughtful.

The Xiao Clan needed enough protection when he was away. He could not allow his father to be captured as he had been in the original story.

But his father and the elders were too weak. Xiao Yan did not trust even a shortcut that pushed the limits like the Life Devouring Pill. Their Dou Qi bloodline was nearly nonexistent, and their aptitude was simply too poor. He could not count on them.

As for the younger generation, Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu were still too young. Even with resources poured into them, they could not support the Xiao Clan yet.

That left him with no choice but to seek help from others.

Mu Wen might be worth testing.

It was also time to call back Eldest Brother and Second Brother. What prospects could they have on that godforsaken imperial frontier? Xiao Yan remembered that Second Brother had decent talent. In the original story, he had risen to power with the Life Devouring Pill and even broken through its three-year death curse.

A family needed three kinds of people above all: a strategist to coordinate everything, a lone wolf to eliminate threats, and... a genius!

The last was the most important, the foundation of a family's rise.

Fortunately, the Xiao Clan had all three.

Now it was time to soar!

"From now on, every Xiao Clan member may receive one Qi Recovery Pill each year. Those who have yet to become Dou Zhe may also receive one packet of Qi-Raising Powder..."

Xiao Yan tapped his fingers lightly on the table as he spoke.

For the Xiao Clan as it stood, the quantity was enormous, but this was only temporary. The clan would recruit Alchemists in the future, and he would no longer need to make everything himself. For now, he was simply setting the rules.

As for the guards, he glanced at Mu Wen and the others.

"You may also receive pills according to your cultivation, but... only after serving the Xiao Clan for three full years. What you receive will depend on your contributions."

Xiao Yan's voice remained calm.

He handed Xiao Zhan a Storage Ring. "Father, these are the pills I refined today. From now on, the Xiao Clan will no longer sell its remaining high-grade pills. They're for clan members alone."

There was no need to do business anymore. At the Xiao Clan's Coming-of-Age Ceremony in a few days, he only had to show a little of what he could do, and investors would come knocking one after another.

That was the impact a gifted young Alchemist could have on his family.

"Good!" Xiao Zhan grinned from ear to ear. He carefully accepted the Storage Ring and tucked it into his sleeve like a treasure.

Below them, the Xiao Clan's elite members and newly recruited guards all brightened, gazing longingly at the ring.

Xiao Yan smiled. He had given them the carrot. As for the stick... that would come in time. Every tree grew a few crooked branches, but he would wait for certain people to reveal their true colors before cutting them off himself.

Boom!

In the next instant, however, Xiao Yan's face stiffened.

Through the window, everyone could see two surges of Dou Qi rising into the air in the distance. One was pale gold, blazing and dazzling; the other was light purple and gave off a dense poisonous aura.

"No way!!!"

Xiao Yan's eye twitched wildly.

This is bad!