Xiao Yan hovered high in the sky, his Crimson Wings gleaming with an eerie sheen under the support of Yao Chen's soul power.
He looked down at Wutan City as it gradually shrank beneath him, his heart wavering between shock and uncertainty.
"Teacher, what are you..."
"Dou Qi Transformation into Wings? That's the hallmark of a Dou Wang expert! With us leaving in such a conspicuous fashion, won't Father and the others be thrown into an uproar..."
Xiao Yan gave a helpless, wry chuckle, utterly bewildered.
"Are you saying that a mysterious Dou Wang expert appearing in a tiny place like Wutan City will draw unnecessary attention?"
Yao Chen's voice carried a teasing note, a hint of amusement beneath its aged timbre.
"Little Yanzi, do you think that after living most of my life, I'd still be bored enough to enjoy showing off before a crowd?"
Xiao Yan froze. "Then why did you..."
"Deliberately reveal my strength?"
Yao Chen chuckled. "That has to do with what we're going to do next. Of course, there's another reason..."
He paused, his tone turning quite serious. "To let people know, and to give them something to fear."
"If there's a Dou Wang or even a Dou Emperor in the city, then after you and I leave, any petty scoundrels who want to stir up trouble in Wutan City or make a move against the Xiao Clan will have to weigh the consequences."
"You should know that the Xiao Clan is now truly the target of every arrow in Wutan City."
Perhaps it was because the soul-nurturing wood had nourished and restored his soul power, greatly increasing his strength.
Yao Chen no longer concealed himself as he had along the course of the original story, constantly worrying about the Hall of Souls hunting him down and dreading the exposure of his whereabouts.
Instead, he was gradually revealing traces of his former pride.
Now, even facing a Soul Hall Heavenly Venerable, he could remain utterly fearless. Even with Xiao Yan in tow, he had more than enough strength to protect himself.
As for ordinary Soul Hall Protectors, they posed no threat to him-Venerable Yao, Yao Chen!
Xiao Yan fell silent.
He suddenly realized that Yao Chen's actions were not merely an indirect way of protecting the Xiao Clan, but also paving the way for their subsequent plans-
"Teacher, you really do think far ahead," Xiao Yan said sincerely.
"You mentioned what we're going to do next... what exactly is that?"
"Enough flattery."
"We have the medicinal ingredients, so naturally, we'll refine pills first."
Yao Chen snorted, folded his wings, and plunged like a meteor toward the mountain behind the Xiao Clan estate.
"Ten-year-old spirit-gathering grass, five qi-urging perilla leaves, one iceheart vine, and a rank-two wind attribute magic core."
Yao Chen calmly laid out the medicinal ingredients one by one in an orderly fashion, while Xiao Yan watched with his heart pounding despite himself.
Back when he had broken through to Dou Zhe again, he had not used Qi Gathering Powder, so in all his years, he had never taken a single high-grade pill.
"These are the ingredients needed to refine a Fourth-Grade Rapid Rotation Pill."
Rotation-Speed Pill: increased the rotation speed of a Dou Zhe's Dou Qi Vortex by thirty percent, boosting cultivation speed. Its effects lasted three days.
"According to my original preparations for you, even the lowest-grade pills used to assist your cultivation would be fourth-grade."
"As for higher-grade pills, those skinny little arms and legs of yours couldn't withstand their immense medicinal power yet."
Hearing Yao Lao say that even the lowest would be fourth-grade, Xiao Yan was delighted, but could not help feeling a headache coming on.
"Teacher, haven't you forgotten something? We already borrowed quite a bit of money from Father and Xun'er to gather the ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid and that Qi Gathering Powder..."
"And today, we left all the gold we earned at the auction with Ya Fei to buy more ingredients. We're genuinely broke now..."
"Heh, an alchemist worrying over a lack of gold-you must be the only one on the entire continent..."
Yao Chen was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
On his translucent soul projection, that smile looked distinctly eerie. His aged face curved into an expression that hardly belonged to a good man, and a dangerous light flickered in his cloudy eyes.
"Boy, do you know the saying, 'A horse won't fatten without night grazing, and a man won't grow rich without a windfall'?"
Xiao Yan's heart tightened. "Teacher, you..."
"How could refining and selling pills bring in money faster than scooping it up by the sackful?"
Yao Chen lowered his voice, giving it a strangely seductive resonance.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten. That brat from the Jia Lie Family truly wanted to take your life back then."
"Tonight, the moon is dark and the winds are high. It's just the time for..."
He left the sentence unfinished, but that sinister expression, coupled with the "kekeke" laughter spilling from his mouth, suddenly made Xiao Yan's hair stand on end.
Was this still my kind, benevolent teacher? Why did he seem so devious?
Whether it was because being captured by the Hall of Souls had left him numb, Yao Chen now looked nothing like a highly respected alchemist from the Pill Tower.
Instead, he looked more like a Soul Hall Protector who had spotted a soul.
"Teacher, don't tell me you're planning to..."
"Heh, I'm not the one planning it. You are."
At midnight, at the Jia Lie Family estate.
Dark clouds obscured the moonlight, shrouding the entire estate in thick darkness.
The patrolling guards yawned, completely unaware that a figure was scaling walls and darting over rooftops, racing toward the main hall like a ghost.
"Who's there!"
Inside the study, Jia Lie Bi abruptly raised his head, and Dou Qi Armor instantly covered his entire body.
As the head of his family, he had been pondering Wutan City's situation and trying to secure benefits for his family. Combined with the events at the auction that day, it had left him restless that night, and for once, he had not indulged in sensual pleasures.
Yet in the next instant, a pressure as vast as the sea crashed down upon him!
"What a powerful aura! Could it be a Dou Ling? Xiao Zhan?"
"No, w-wings... a Dou Wang?!"
Jia Lie Bi's pupils contracted sharply. Outside the window, a black-robed figure hovered in the air, crimson wings slowly beating behind him as he radiated a suffocating pressure.
"You're the esteemed senior from the Mittel Auction House today!"
Jia Lie Bi was shaken to his core.
Earlier that day, after the black-robed expert had revealed strength at least at the Dou Wang level and departed, the members of the three great families had erupted into an uproar, throwing all of Wutan City's upper ranks into utter chaos.
Surrounded by countless people probing for information, Ya Fei and Nigu had been completely dumbfounded as well.
They had thought the man was a high-grade alchemist of the third or even fourth grade, never imagining that he was also a Dou Wang expert!
Even the heads of the Jia Ma Empire's three great families were only Dou Wangs...
"Seeing how wealthy your three great families are, and since I'm a little short on funds lately, I'd like to borrow some gold to spend."
The hoarse voice reached Jia Lie Bi's ears, instantly sending an icy chill through his heart.
"Senior... surely you're joking, Senior. As an esteemed Dou Wang expert, you must be one of the empire's ten strongest experts. How could you possibly lack..."
Jia Lie Bi bent forward and cupped his fists, drenched in sweat and exceedingly respectful, yet one finger silently reached toward the Storage Ring on his middle finger.
"With your honored presence gracing our humble home, the Jia Lie Family will certainly prepare a warm welcome..."
Boom!
A violent lash of Dou Qi struck out, sending Jia Lie Bi stumbling to the floor. Though he was uninjured, the study had been reduced to a field of rubble.
"You talk too much!"
"I heard you won the Qi Burst Pill at today's auction? I'll give you a chance..."
"Take it!"
Before you continue