Meeting Xiao Yi Xian and Claiming the Newcomer Gift Pack

Xiao Yan's first stop on his journey of training was Qingshan Town.

The town lay near the Magical Beast Mountain Range, and most of the people passing through were mercenaries who lived by the blade.

The strongest faction there was the Wolf Head Mercenary Group. Its leader was roughly a one-star Dou Shi.

Xiao Yan went straight to the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.

He had arrived several years earlier than he remembered, but he still wanted to try his luck and see if he could find some Blood Lotus Essence. He also wanted to see Xiao Yi Xian for himself.

Luck was on his side. He had barely stepped into the Myriad Medicine Pavilion when he spotted a figure in a white dress.

The girl wore a plain white dress. Her features were still youthful and not as exquisite as Xun'er's, but she had a graceful, ethereal air. Her slender waist, small enough to encircle with one arm, only added to her charm.

Her distinctive presence made even Xiao Yan take a second look.

"What can I get for you, sir?" Xiao Yi Xian asked softly.

Her gentle voice was pleasant to hear.

"Is this all the Yellow Lotus Essence you have?"

Xiao Yan drew his gaze away from Xiao Yi Xian and looked at the Yellow Lotus Essence on the counter.

"There's some more in the storeroom..." After a moment's thought, Xiao Yi Xian had the rest brought out.

"This is everything?" Xiao Yan swept his gaze over the batch, disappointment showing on his face.

"Yes, sir. This really is all the Yellow Lotus Essence we have," Xiao Yi Xian replied, a little puzzled.

"All right." Xiao Yan shook his head, then asked, "Do you sell maps for herb gathering? The kind that mark out the routes?"

"We do, sir." Though she had no idea what he was after, Xiao Yi Xian believed the customer came first. She fetched a map of the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's herb-gathering routes.

Xiao Yan studied the map. It was quite detailed, with the possible dangers along each route marked out.

After paying for it, Xiao Yan probed a little further, asking whether Xiao Yi Xian had ever discovered a cave.

Only after Yao Lao secretly confirmed that she was telling the truth did he leave the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.

"What a strange person," Xiao Yi Xian muttered as she watched the young man go.

Xiao Yan left the pavilion and followed the map straight into the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

Once he was sure no one was around, Yao Lao drifted out of the ring.

"Brat, I can't make sense of anything you've just done. You seem awfully interested in that girl," Yao Lao said, sounding puzzled.

"She's my future wife, more or less," Xiao Yan replied shamelessly.

"Can you be serious for once?" Yao Lao chided him with a laugh.

"Ahem. Teacher, didn't you notice anything unusual about her constitution?" Xiao Yan scratched his head with a grin and kept walking.

"It did seem... a little different," Yao Lao said uncertainly.

Xiao Yi Xian's Woeful Poison Body had not awakened yet, and he had not examined her closely. He could not be sure.

"The Woeful Poison Body."

At those four words, even Yao Lao cried out in astonishment. "That constitution!"

Yao Lao had traveled the continent in his youth and seen a great deal. Naturally, he had heard of this extraordinary constitution.

"You want to make her an ally? That constitution is no simple matter. One misstep, and everyone within a thousand li could suffer." Remembering the rumors about the previous bearer of the Woeful Poison Body, Yao Lao grew serious.

"Teacher, don't you have the Poison Pill Method? We can use it to suppress her Woeful Poison Body," Xiao Yan said with a smile.

"You know about that too? Just how much do you know?" Yao Lao's eyelids twitched in shock.

"Oh, I know plenty more..." Xiao Yan gave Yao Lao a meaningful look, then smiled and changed the subject. "I'll tell you another time. For now, help me find the cave."

That look made Yao Lao deeply uncomfortable. He felt as though the boy could see right through him. He had not felt that way in years, much less around a youngster.

"Ah, I'm doomed to work myself to the bone." Yao Lao complained, shook his head helplessly, and expanded his Soul Perception to investigate.

With Yao Lao's vast perceptive range helping him, and Xiao Yan searching along the cliffside with a clear destination in mind, it did not take long to pinpoint the cave.

Once he confirmed it was the cave he wanted, Xiao Yan descended the cliff without another word.

He needed no rope. Power surged into his fingers, and he drove their hooked tips into the rock, climbing steadily downward.

Perhaps because he had come so early, Xiao Yan did not encounter the Rock Snake hidden in a crack in the cliff.

With a few deft movements, he landed on a protruding stone ledge.

As expected, an opening lay in the cliff face, well concealed behind trees and loose stone.

Xiao Yan smashed through the debris blocking it with one punch, revealing an opening just wide enough for one person before teacher and disciple.

With the entrance open, Xiao Yan stepped inside in high spirits.

The deeper he went, the wider the passage became.

Before long, Xiao Yan stopped in front of a stone door.

The door looked ancient. Its inscriptions had long since faded beyond recognition, lending it an old, unadorned air.

Xiao Yan wasted no time. He threw a punch, and its Berserk force reduced the long-neglected stone door to powder.

The stone door broke open, and the entire scene inside the Secret Chamber was revealed to Xiao Yan and Yao Lao.

Moonlight Stones were set into the walls for illumination, and various medicinal herbs grew in one corner of the Secret Chamber.

Directly opposite them, a skeleton rested against the wall, with three wooden boxes placed before it.

Xiao Yan went to the herbs first and gathered them all.

Only then did he approach the skeleton, take three keys from it, and open the boxes one by one.

"A Flying Dou Technique... Quite a haul," Yao Lao said approvingly as he looked inside.

"Teacher, there's more." Xiao Yan grinned and pulled at the skeleton's arm. A fragment of a map slipped out from between the bones.

Xiao Yan picked it up and examined it closely.

"This shows... the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame!"

Yao Lao stared at the map fragment, especially the design drawn on it. Even with all he had seen, he could not help crying out in shock.

Seeing Yao Lao so stunned gave Xiao Yan a private thrill.

"A pity it's only a fragment," Yao Lao said after studying it carefully.

He turned to Xiao Yan, only to find no trace of regret on the boy's face. "Don't tell me... you know where the other pieces are?"

Xiao Yan smiled and nodded.

Yao Lao was floored. How was that any different from cheating? If Xiao Yan was not a reincarnated Dou Di, he would eat his words.

The speechless look on Yao Lao's face made Xiao Yan crack up again.

After collecting every treasure, Xiao Yan moved stones and earth to bury the skeleton properly, letting its owner rest in peace.

With that done, Xiao Yan took out the scroll for Purple Cloud Wings, a Flying Dou Technique.

He began practicing it at once.

After destroying the remnant soul of the Purple Cloud Eagle within the scroll in one stroke, a pair of Purple Pill Lightning, wing-shaped markings appeared on Xiao Yan's back.

With the slightest thought, a magnificent pair of wings formed from Purple Pill Lightning flames burst open behind him.

Xiao Yan turned his head to study the Purple Pill Lightning wings, his eyes bright with excitement.

"At last, I can find out what it feels like to fly."