Yao Chen returned to Xiao Yan, a beaming smile on his face.
"Heh, heh, heh."
"Little Yan, do your best tomorrow. If you don't bring back the championship..."
Seeing Xiao Yan's aggrieved look, Yao Chen reined in his smile and grew serious.
"If you don't win, haven't you always wanted to cultivate immortality and martial arts?"
At this point, a sinister look crossed Yao Chen's face.
"Then I'll teach you the Sunflower Manual!"
Xiao Yan looked outraged. You're a native of the Dou Qi Continent, yet you say "Sunflower Manual" more naturally than I do!
"And if he does win, how about I teach you the Sunflower Manual?"
An eerie voice sounded. Xiao Yan's expression turned grave. He hadn't sensed anyone approaching!
"Haha, Great Emperor, you jest." Yao Chen's expression remained unchanged, as though nothing had happened.
"This little brat, win the championship?"
Meng Chuan appeared before them and glared at that old geezer Yao Chen.
He didn't seem to realize that, by age, he was dozens of times older than Yao Chen...
"Not bad, kid." Meng Chuan turned to Xiao Yan. "A one-star Dou Ling and a fourth-tier Alchemist. To have reached this level at your age makes you as rare as a Phoenix feather or a qilin horn in the entire Jia Ma Empire, even across the fringes of the Dou Qi Continent."
Indeed, at this point in the original story, Xiao Yan had yet to break through to Da Dou Shi. But now that he had an absurdly powerful old grandpa backing him, he was already a Dou Ling.
He had practically taken flight!
"You're..."
Xiao Yan studied Meng Chuan in puzzlement. The longer he looked, the more familiar Meng Chuan seemed, until he finally remembered something.
"You're the person inside that furnace three years ago?"
The