Yao Chen's Soul Force surged through Xiao Yan's body like a tide.
In moments, Xiao Yan felt his meridians fill with immense power, every inch of his bones groaning with pleasure.
"Teacher, in your current state, how strong can you be at most?"
Feeling the power he had just unleashed, Xiao Yan suddenly asked in a quiet voice.
"Why?" A casual question came from the pitch-black ring on his finger.
"Boy, don't tell me you're worried your teacher can't protect you?"
"Though I exist only as a soul, I'm no longer a mere remnant soul. In this insignificant Jia Ma Empire, no one can threaten you."
At those words, delight touched Xiao Yan's face, but a cold glint flashed through his eyes.
"Then I'm sorry for the trouble, Teacher. You were right earlier. I'm starting to lose patience with dragging things out with the Jia Lie Family. Before I leave, I might as well end it all once and for all..."
"Heh, as I see it, keeping him alive would be more useful than killing him outright."
Jia Lie Bi staggered to his feet, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with horror and venom. He stared fixedly at the black-robed figure hovering outside the window, his nails digging deep into his palms.
"Senior... I don't believe I've ever offended you. Must you truly slaughter us to the last man?"
"Hehe..." Controlling Xiao Yan's body, Yao Chen let out an aged, hoarse chuckle.
"You know perfectly well whether you've offended me."
He slowly raised his hand. Bone Spirit Cold Flame welled up from his palm, its ghostly white flames flickering like will-o'-the-wisps in the night, radiating a bone-piercing chill.
"But if you don't swallow that pill soon, I'm afraid you really won't live to see that day."
Jia Lie Bi's face turned deathly pale.
He knew he had no choice-before a Dou Wang expert, a mere Da Dou Shi like him was no different from an ant.
If he could become a Dou Ling, perhaps he would have a sliver of hope...
"Fine... fine!"
Trembling, he took the crimson pill from his Storage Ring. Violent fluctuations of energy rippled across its surface.
The Qi Burst Pill was a forbidden fourth-tier pill. Taking it caused one's strength to soar, but brought severe aftereffects.
Yet now, refusing it meant waiting for death. This was his only chance!
The pill melted the moment it entered his mouth, and savage energy rampaged through his body like an erupting volcano.
Jia Lie Bi's eyes instantly turned blood-red. His Dou Qi surged, and wisps of bloody markings appeared on his pale-green Dou Qi Armor. His aura actually began brushing against the threshold of Dou Ling!
"Aah!"
With a howl of agony, a blood-red Dou Crystal abruptly formed inside Jia Lie Bi's body!
Yet the Dou Crystal was covered in incomplete markings, as though it might shatter at any moment.
Feeling the power within him grow several times stronger than before, Jia Lie Bi's mind became exceptionally clear.
Even if I become a Dou Ling, I'm absolutely no match for a Dou Wang expert!
My only option is to use my familiarity with the terrain and see whether I can escape by some stroke of luck...
While Jia Lie Bi's thoughts raced, "Xiao Yan" beneath the black robe nodded slightly upon seeing that he had obediently complied.
"That will do. Go to sleep."
With his goal achieved, Yao Chen had no interest in toying with a mere Dou Ling. He condensed a fist-sized ball of cold flame in his palm and gently pressed it against Jia Lie Bi's brow.
Bang!
Ice and fire intertwined. Jia Lie Bi felt as though his heart had plunged into an ice cellar, his pupils contracting sharply. His entire body flew backward like a kite with its string severed and slammed into the study's ruined walls, knocking him unconscious instantly.
"Teacher, is he... dead?" Xiao Yan hurriedly asked in his mind.
"Relax. I know how far to go." Yao Chen curled his lip. "I only froze a few of his meridians. Add the pill's backlash, and he'll be bedridden for a few months."
"It's just that, once he wakes up, he may be missing a few memories he doesn't need..."
Yao Chen steered the body toward the doorway. His Soul Force spread like a tide, precisely locking onto two rapidly approaching Da Dou Shi auras.
"Two more... I'll take care of them too."
A short while later, in the Jia Lie Family's rear courtyard.
Two white-haired old men lay sprawled on the ground, covered in a thin layer of frost, their breathing weak but steady.
Both were elders of the Jia Lie Family, a One-Star Great Dou Master and a Two-Star Great Dou Master, yet neither had lasted a single move against Yao Chen.
There seemed to be another Jia Lie elder, who was not at home at the time.
"Done."
After directing Xiao Yan to strip every treasure vault in the area bare, Yao Chen clapped his hands and turned his gaze toward the men on the ground.
With a sweep of his immense Soul Force, he lifted the three unconscious men like dead dogs and left them floating in the air.
"Come on. Next stop."
"Teacher, what are we..."
"If you're putting on a show, you have to see it through."
Yao Chen chuckled wickedly, the sound especially sinister in the night wind. "The Three Great Families ought to make a complete set."
At the Ao Ba Family Residence, the moon was likewise hidden and the night wind strong.
Having just acquired a Xuan-Tier Dou Technique, Oba Pa was in an exceptionally good mood that night.
Upon returning home, he had ordered the family servants to forge him an exceptionally sturdy iron hammer, determined to practice that miraculous Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer himself!
For now, however, the iron hammer sat on a wooden table.
At that moment, he lay on the bed with a lecherous grin, wielding his soft chisel as he frantically bored into the plump, snowy-white figure beneath him.
"..."
Without the slightest hesitation, an enormous soul palm descended with precisely controlled force, instantly knocking both people on the bed unconscious.
Yao Chen floated inside. A sweep of his Soul Force revealed every storeroom and secret chamber in the place.
With a slight shift of his intent, Oba Pa's Storage Ring silently floated over.
Yao Chen waved his hand, dumping the unconscious Jia Lie Bi and the two elders into Oba Pa's bedroom. He also deliberately tossed the empty Qi Burst Pill bottle from Jia Lie Bi's hand onto the floor, scattering shards everywhere.
A wisp of ghostly white flame drifted from his fingertip and lightly touched each man's brow. A mysterious soul fluctuation quietly spread.
"Teacher, what are you doing?"
"A little trick. I'm erasing their soul memories of the past hour and planting a few psychological suggestions," Yao Chen said evenly.
"You could call it a form of hypnosis. It's merely an application of Soul Force."
"Tomorrow morning, all they'll remember is this-Jia Lie Bi obtained a Qi Burst Pill, but his greed knew no bounds. He led his elders in a late-night ambush on Oba Pa, intending to take the pill, advance to Dou Ling, and seize the Xuan-Tier Dou Technique and cultivation method."
"But Oba Pa fought desperately, and a passing Xiao Clan Elder discovered them. Seeing injustice, he stepped in to stop it..."
Xiao Yan gaped. "Teacher, you..."
"What?" Yao Chen drifted closer. In the firelight, the confident smile on his spectral face carried the air of a wily old schemer.
"You brat, how do you think I made my way across the continent back then?"
He stretched out an illusory finger and tapped Xiao Yan's forehead.
"To reach the pinnacle of alchemy, you need a nimble mind too. In this world, if all you can do is foolishly refine pills, people will devour you until not even your bones remain."
"This way, once Oba Pa wakes up, he'll feel at least some gratitude toward the Xiao Clan for saving his life. At the same time, he'll inevitably turn against the Jia Lie Family..."
"None of these men will be getting out of bed for several days. After that, with the right maneuvers, the Xiao Clan can dominate Wutan City without spilling a drop of blood."
Yao Chen gently stroked his beard, as though describing something that was about to happen.
"So you can play it like that." Xiao Yan's eyes were filled with astonishment.
"Father and the Three Great Elders plotted to kill Jia Lie Bi several times before, but never thought of making him and the Ao Ba Family tear each other apart."
"Brilliant, Teacher! Just what I'd expect from you! You sly old bastard!"
"I'll go back right away and tell Father, the First Elder, and the others!"
"You brat, is that any way to speak to your teacher?"
Yao Chen smacked Xiao Yan on the back of the head.
"You won't need me to handle the rest, will you? Take every gold coin and medicinal ingredient in storage! Remember, use sacks!"
"If we don't have sacks, can we use Storage Rings?"
"Scram!"
The following day, in the Xiao Clan Hall.
Holding a teacup, Xiao Zhan listened to the clansman's report below him with a show of composure.
He acted as though he had not been the one to wake those men from their stupor yesterday and ease the atmosphere of drawn swords and taut bows alongside the First Elder.
"Clan Leader! Something terrible has happened!"
A clansman stumbled into the hall, his face as white as paper.
"The leaders of the Jia Lie Family and the Ao Ba Family, along with one of the Jia Lie Family's Da Dou Shi elders, all... all disappeared after returning home yesterday!"
"What?!"
Before you continue