You Have a Mole on Your Butt

Hai Bodong's eye twitched violently.

He stared at the boy before him, utterly dumbfounded.

What the hell?

The rights to... use me?!

"Kid, you'd better explain what the hell you mean!" Hai Bodong nearly lost his composure. His calm vanished, replaced by a flash of anger.

"Pfft."

The next instant, Xiao Yan's expression remained calm as ink-green poisonous fire surged from his body. It formed an ink-green fire serpent that coiled around him and flicked its tongue at Hai Bodong.

"Condensing Dou Qi into flame... You're a Fourth-Rank Alchemist!" Hai Bodong's pupils contracted.

"Third-rank." Xiao Yan shook his head. "But I'll be fourth-rank soon. Elder Hai should understand what I mean."

Hai Bodong swallowed. His eyes were full of shock. With his experience as a Dou Emperor, he could tell that the boy's control over fire was worthy of a peak third-rank Alchemist. And as the boy had said, reaching fourth-rank would not take long.

A Fourth-Rank Alchemist of sixteen or seventeen? There probably weren't five in the entire Northwest Continent, let alone the Jia Ma Empire.

And he had been lucky enough to encounter such a prodigy?

No. The boy had come looking for him.

Hai Bodong took a deep breath and slowly suppressed his shock. He looked at Xiao Yan with mixed feelings. "You want me to follow you for three years. What do I get in return?"

"A Barrier-Breaking Pill." Xiao Yan played with the fire serpent and smiled at Hai Bodong. "Queen Medusa sealed you, so what you need is a pill that can break her curse. As far as I know, only one Sixth-Grade Pill fits the bill. Right?"

"..." Hai Bodong's face twitched.

Under that gaze, which seemed to see through everything, he felt as though none of his secrets could be hidden. After a long silence, he finally asked, "Why?"

"With your talent, you could become a fifth-rank, perhaps even a Sixth-Rank Alchemist, within a few years. By then, a wave of your hand would bring countless Dou Wangs and even Dou Huang experts rushing to help you. And I'm just a broken-down Dou Emperor who was nearly crippled. Right now, I can barely muster the strength of a Dou Ling."

"So why... come to me?"

Hai Bodong's gaze was complicated. He did not believe such good fortune simply fell from the sky, much less that it would land on him. He remained cautious; he needed a more convincing reason from the boy.

"You're right. That makes sense." Xiao Yan nodded earnestly. "In that case, this deal isn't worth it. Let's forget it."

With that, he turned to leave.

Hai Bodong: "..."

This kid doesn't play by the rules!

He swallowed, his mind racing. If he let the boy leave, he might never get another chance to have a Barrier-Breaking Pill refined in his lifetime. Even Pill King Gu He could not make one.

After all, refining a Barrier-Breaking Pill required... Heavenly Flames.

And what the boy had just displayed was almost certainly Heavenly Flames.

"Wait!" Hai Bodong's face twitched. He cupped his fists. "Here's the Fragmented Map. I'll give it to you. Three years is too short—five would be better. Once I regain my Dou Emperor strength, I'll follow you for five years!"

"Hmph..." A smile tugged at Xiao Yan's lips.

Trying to bargain after getting the better end of the deal?

Dream on.

He stopped and glanced back at Hai Bodong's earnest face, then offered him a friendly smile. "If Elder Hai is willing to follow me for five years, five years it is. And I promise to refine a Barrier-Breaking Pill for you within three."

Once he broke through to Da Dou Shi and began cultivating the Three-Turn Profound Art, his alchemy should advance rapidly as well. By then, he might just be capable of refining this Sixth-Grade Pill.

As for his teacher... Xiao Yan was certain that if he dared trouble Old Lord over such a lousy pill, Old Lord would give him a sound beating. He would never hear the end of it for disturbing him over something so worthless.

"Pack up. Let's go. There's no reason to linger here." Xiao Yan waved a hand.

He took the two "quarter" pieces of the Fragmented Map. Evidently, Hai Bodong had played no tricks and had handed over both cut pieces.

That gave him half the map.

"Hey, how do you know everything?" Xiao Yi Xian asked. She watched in astonishment as Xiao Yan handled Hai Bodong with ease. The man had once been a Dou Emperor, yet a few words from Xiao Yan had left him with no fight in him.

Thinking back, she realized he had done much the same to her. It was as if he could see the future; he had recognized her Woeful Poison Body at a glance.

If she had not read the Poison Scripture, she would not even have known about her Woeful Poison Body.

"I can tell fortunes." Xiao Yan smiled. "I can divine anything under heaven. For instance, you... have a Seven-Colored Line Across the Abdomen."

Xiao Yi Xian's pretty face reddened slightly. After a moment, she realized he had read the Poison Scripture too, and protested, "That doesn't count!"

"Then what about the mole on your butt?"

Xiao Yi Xian: "..."

Her fair face turned crimson, and the tips of her ears flushed red. She glared at Xiao Yan through gritted teeth.

Xiao Yan froze too. "Wait. You really do?"

"Stop pretending!"

Xiao Yi Xian glared at him fiercely and folded her arms across her chest, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"Well..."

Xiao Yan's gaze drifted downward before he could stop it. The girl blushed and moved out of his line of sight. He rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed. "Ahem. Would you believe me if I said it was a wild guess?"

She clenched her small fists and glared at him, cheeks puffed with anger.

Then she instinctively reached back to touch her butt.

"Stop looking!"

Hai Bodong watched the quarrelling pair with an odd look in his eyes. They seemed like young lovers, bickering and teasing each other, yet something about their relationship felt off. Then he saw the girl swallow a poisonous Pill Pellet, and his expression changed entirely.

"Keep everything you've seen and heard to yourself..." Xiao Yan sat with his arms folded and eyes closed, speaking calmly.

"Don't make things difficult for me."

"Mm..." Hai Bodong swallowed. He had lived most of his life, yet a junior was threatening him, and he could not muster the slightest temper.

Earlier, each time he had nearly made a move, he had sensed deadly killing intent from the boy. Years of experience told him that if he attacked, he would be the one to die...

"Where are we going?"

Hai Bodong looked away awkwardly and glanced down from Blue Bird. He had no idea what else the boy had come here to do.

"To find my elder brother," Xiao Yan said calmly.

"Your elder brother is here too?" Hai Bodong was startled. If this boy was such a prodigy, how formidable must his elder brother be?

Yet despite living here for years, he had heard nothing about him.

"Stone Desert City. The Desert Iron Mercenary Group."

Xiao Yan smiled.

Hai Bodong looked at him strangely. Could his brother be hiding his strength?

"He isn't hiding his strength. Right now, my elder brother should only be in the Dou Shi Realm. I'm the Xiao Clan's only genius."