Time to Take Flight

"I didn't. You heard wrong. Don't talk nonsense." Yao Chen denied it outright.

"You clearly said it." Xiao Yan wasn't senile. How could he have misheard?

"You said it first, and I just followed along." Yao Chen spread his hands, indicating he had merely joined in.

"You said it way too smoothly!" Xiao Yan said suspiciously. Something felt off.

"So young, yet you ask endless questions! An old man saved your life, and you can't even thank him?" Yao Chen rapped Xiao Yan on the head again.

"You saved me? Why would you save me? Aren't you a ghost?" Xiao Yan realized that if no one had saved him just now, he would already be a smear of pulp.

"I'm not a ghost. I'm a soul," Yao Chen said wearily. "Some people in this world leave souls behind when they die. Apart from having no physical body, they're basically the same as when they were alive. That's completely different from a ghost."

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Xiao Yan sprang to his feet like a carp flipping from the water. If Yao Chen wasn't a ghost, that changed everything!

"Thank you, senior! If you hadn't saved me, I'd probably have died again." Xiao Yan sincerely thanked the old man who was now only a soul.

He had slipped and fallen off a cliff today. If he had died, rumors would probably have swept Wutan City tomorrow: the Xiao Family's young master had jumped off a cliff because he couldn't bear having his engagement broken!

"It's nothing. Consider today's rescue repayment for the Dou Qi you supplied me these past three years." Yao Chen spoke with laughter in his voice and mischief in his eyes.

"Supplied you Dou Qi for three years?"

"Three years?!" Xiao Yan froze, then raised his voice and shouted at Yao Chen.

"You're the reason my Dou Zhi Qi kept vanishing for no reason these past three years?!"

"Fuck, my Dou Zhi Qi just dropped again! You're already out of the ring, and you're still draining it?!" Xiao Yan was furious beyond words. It was one thing when he hadn't known Yao Chen was draining him. Now the old man stood right in front of him and still dared? This was daylight robbery!

"I had no choice. Without your Dou Zhi Qi, I would have vanished into smoke three years ago." Yao Chen looked embarrassed. What he had done was underhanded. But then he grew puzzled. He was already out of the ring, so when had he drained Xiao Yan's Dou Qi again?

"I took the Dou Qi he lost just now. I wanted to study it."

The message reached Yao Chen through a sound transmission. He understood what had happened, but as he looked at Xiao Yan, he had a grievance he couldn't voice.

He couldn't very well say there was another person hiding in Xiao Yan's ring who had started drawing his Dou Qi again, could he? That would be taking bullying too far...

Meng Chuan kept a wisp of his divine sense on Yao Chen and Xiao Yan while he studied and dissected the Heavenly Flame. As for Xiao Yan's Dou Qi, Yao Chen had drained it for three years. What did that have to do with Dao Shi? Meng Chuan had taken only a trace. If he hadn't deliberately let Xiao Yan feel it, Xiao Yan would never have noticed.

"But this isn't flame. These are Heavenly Laws and Origin..." As Meng Chuan gazed at the Ancient Spirit Cold Flame, Chains of Order interwove in his eyes.

"Fuck! Give me back my Dou Zhi Qi!" Xiao Yan lunged at Yao Chen in fury, only to pass straight through him.

"Kid, you saved my life, and I saved yours. Doesn't that make us even?"

"Even, my ass! If you hadn't drained my Dou Qi, would I be here today? Would I have suffered so much humiliation these past three years? Would I have made my father lose face today?" Xiao Yan roared.

"I'll make it up to you." Yao Chen didn't say, as he had in the original story, that draining Xiao Yan's Dou Qi had also helped him grow. How was that different from saying, I hurt you, but it was for your own good?

Realizing there was nothing he could do to Yao Chen, Xiao Yan gradually calmed down.

"What could you possibly do to make it up to me? I don't need anything!" Xiao Yan said stubbornly.

The thought that his Dou Zhi Qi had disappeared through no fault of his talent, and that he still had that talent, offered Xiao Yan some comfort.

"Don't worry, kid. I won't need to absorb your Dou Zhi Qi anymore. Just now was the last time!" Yao Chen took the blame on himself.

"As for what I can do to make it up to you, would making you a Dou Di count?" Yao Chen said confidently.

In truth, Yao Chen and Xiao Yan's relationship was complicated. Yao Chen was the culprit behind the humiliation Xiao Yan had endured these past three years, and the reason his cultivation had stalled.

But without Yao Chen, if Xiao Yan had followed the path his natural talent allowed, forget becoming a Dou Di—he would probably have been a middle-aged man by the time he became a Dou Huang, let alone a Dou Zong. Reaching Dou Zun would likely have been beyond him.

Yao Chen could be called the most important person in Xiao Yan's life when it came to cultivation. In his personal life, too, Yao Chen was one of the most important people to him.

Xiao Yan's heart skipped a beat. A Dou Di stood at the very peak of the Dou Qi Continent. He didn't know exactly how powerful one was, but...

Then Xiao Yan looked at the old man claiming he could make him a Dou Di. The old man's spectral form brought his excitement steadily back down.

If you can make me a Dou Di, how did you end up in this ghostly state?

"You saw through me, kid." Yao Chen gave him a look that said, Aren't you clever? He had no way to prove he could make Xiao Yan a Dou Di, nor did he want to.

Xiao Yan rolled his eyes and said to Yao Chen, "Whatever the reason, you did save me just now. Since you don't plan to keep absorbing my Dou Qi, you can leave. I don't want any compensation, either."

"But you can't take this ring. It's a keepsake from my mother!"

"My talent's back now. I can cultivate on my own, so sorry for the trouble."

Xiao Yan had no intention of pursuing the matter further, but he didn't want to see the old man anymore, either. One word: annoying!

"Kid, your talent really is excellent. But you're already fifteen, and you're only at the third stage of Dou Zhi Qi. Yes, that's my fault. I admit it. So could you stop looking at me like that?"

"And from what I hear, your Coming-of-Age Ceremony is next year, right? If you haven't reached the seventh stage of Dou Zhi Qi by then, you'll be sent away, won't you? Do you think hard work alone can get you to the seventh stage in a single year?"

"More importantly, you made that Three-Year Agreement with Nalan Yanran. Her talent might not match yours, but it's still decent. You've fallen so far behind that catching up with her and surpassing her won't be easy. In fact, it's practically impossible." Yao Chen added with a smile on his aged face.

"But with my help, it'll be easy."

Having his sore spot prodded left Xiao Yan furious all over again.

"If it weren't for you, she'd be eating my dust! And you have the nerve to say that!"

Looking at the old man's unbroken smile, Xiao Yan felt a stir of hope. Maybe Yao Chen really had a way. After all, in the novels and shows he had seen in his previous life, people who could die and still have their souls bouncing around were rarely weak.

"What's your plan?" Xiao Yan asked tentatively.

"Oh, I have plenty of ways!"

Xiao Yan brightened. "If you can help me reach the seventh stage of Dou Zhi Qi within a year, I'll let the matter of you draining my Dou Qi for three years go!"

Yao Chen shook his head, and Xiao Yan's face fell. Had he been indulging in wishful thinking after all?

"Why stop at the seventh stage of Dou Zhi Qi? At the very least, I'll make you a Dou Zhe!"

Meng Qi: Let me see who's showing off.

Lu Mingfei: Why, it's our Yao "Drains People's Vitality" Tiga Chen.

Yao Chen: You brat!

After taking a moment to send a message to the group, Yao Chen looked at Xiao Yan. "Well? Will you accept my offer to make it up to you?"

"Please keep your word, senior!" Xiao Yan suppressed his delight and cupped his fists toward Yao Chen.

"This old man's word carries the weight of nine tripods!"

Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes at Yao Chen and beamed. "How are you going to help me get stronger, senior?"

"I have Three Paths to Heaven. Any one of them can make you stronger." A smile tugged at Yao Chen's lips. There was something odd about it.

Meng Chuan: Xiao Yan, run! Someone's up to no good!

Watching the scene outside through his divine sense, Meng Chuan sent a message to the group.

He had been studying the Bone-Chilling Flame just now and had only found time to see what was happening outside.

"What three paths?" Xiao Yan could hardly wait. Three of them? Was he about to take flight?

I've been too busy these past two days. Thanks, everyone, for the recommendation votes. Please send another wave of votes and add this to your collections!