Meeting Hun Tiandi Again

Outside the gate tower of Qingshan Town.

A man wearing a bamboo hat and fitted black clothes strode into town, his steps swift as flight. A few passing mercenaries noticed him, but they soon turned away.

By now, Qingshan Town had completely recovered from the destruction of the Myriad Medicine Pavilion. No one grieved, and no one mourned. A town bustling with people coming and going had no room for sorrow.

The man entered a small tavern, casually ordered two ounces of strong liquor, and sat down in an inconspicuous corner.

He did not drink, merely listening as the mercenaries around him noisily discussed their recent experiences.

This man was none other than Xiao Yan.

After listening for quite some time, Xiao Yan still heard nothing about Xiao Yi Xian, leaving him deeply disappointed.

The two of them had caused a major stir in Qingshan Town twice, so they were bound to be recognized the moment they showed their faces. Besides, Xiao Yi Xian had already been famous here.

"This is going to be troublesome." Xiao Yan set down the cup he had been holding for show, slapped a gold coin onto the table, then rose to leave.

On the bustling street, Xiao Yan suddenly hesitated. Where should he go now?

Keep searching for Xiao Yi Xian? Or...

If he went looking for Xiao Yi Xian, where should he look? Even if he found her, how would he explain being alive and well?

He remembered Hun Miesheng, the Dou Sheng at the Mittel Auction House, solemnly declaring that if he died during his training, he would resurrect him as a young girl.

In that case, the Hun Clan ought to have a way to resurrect people.

So Xiao Yi Xian would most likely seek out Hun Tiandi or Hun Miesheng to resurrect him. Following that logic, perhaps he should go home or return to the place where he had died?

But the one who had killed him was a guard at Xiao Xun'er's side. Wouldn't going back now just get him killed all over again?

So he could not go home either.

Return to the valley and wait for rescue?

That was too dangerous. With the Amethyst Winged Lion King dead, other magical beasts were bound to come claim its former territory. A vicious battle would be unavoidable.

"What a headache..." Xiao Yan could not help complaining.

"Who exactly are you calling a headache?" A cool, familiar voice came from behind him.

Xiao Yan turned around in surprise. An extraordinarily beautiful young woman stood with her hands behind her back, looking at him with a slight frown. She was none other than Xiao Yi Xian.

Xiao Yi Xian trotted over to Xiao Yan, circling him and examining him from every angle. Finally, she even reached out and pinched his cheek before saying in disbelief, "You really didn't die?"

Xiao Yan let Xiao Yi Xian knead his face and sighed helplessly. "Senior Sister, isn't it a good thing that I'm alive?"

"That's not what I meant, but I clearly saw someone from the Gu Clan smash you into a meat patty." After confirming that the person before her really was alive, Xiao Yi Xian stepped back twice and stuck out her tongue.

"Oh, your master is here too." Xiao Yi Xian blinked.

Only then did Xiao Yan notice the man standing behind her. He wore an ivory-white, round-collared robe, and his face had sharply sculpted features. He looked like an exceptionally handsome scholar, yet the indifference that occasionally slipped into his eyes gave him an air far removed from the mortal world.

Hun Tiandi!

Xiao Yan recognized his nominal master at a glance. Seeing the two of them together, he could easily deduce that Xiao Yi Xian had used a Secret Art to seek out Hun Tiandi and ask him to resurrect him.

"Master." Xiao Yan hurriedly bowed.

"It's been a while." A kindly smile curved Hun Tiandi's lips. His gaze swept over Xiao Yan's face before looking straight into his dantian.

Xiao Yan distinctly felt the Nihility Devouring Flame inside him suddenly surge with emotion. Flames continuously gushed out of the Naling, raging above his qi whirlpool. Had the Nihility Devouring Flame not already become his origin flame, he would surely have been burned to ashes.

What was going on?

The Nihility Devouring Flame's fury seemed intent on reducing everything to nothingness. Alarmed, Xiao Yan tried desperately to control it, but he could not.

Hun Tiandi narrowed his eyes, gently raised his right hand, then pressed it down sharply!

In an instant, the wind died and the waves stilled.

The Nihility Devouring Flame reluctantly settled down, sinking into silence once more.

"It seems this origin flame of yours is quite unwilling to submit." Hun Tiandi chuckled. Milky-white flames flickered in his eyes, making him look especially uncanny. Any ordinary person who glanced at him at that moment would inexplicably become emotionally agitated.

But the milky-white flames lingered only briefly before fading from Hun Tiandi's eyes. Xiao Yan guessed they belonged to a heavenly flame ranked extremely high on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, though he could not tell which one.

"That's a long story." Xiao Yan rubbed his nose, deeply embarrassed.

"If it's a long story, then let's find somewhere for you to tell me how you escaped from the Netherworld," Hun Tiandi said calmly.

The moment he finished speaking, the scene before Xiao Yan's eyes shifted as though the stars themselves had changed places. When his vision cleared, they were already inside an exquisitely elegant private room.

Hun Tiandi took the seat of honor, then amiably invited Xiao Yi Xian and Xiao Yan to sit as well.

Xiao Yi Xian sat beside Hun Tiandi, while Xiao Yan sat directly opposite him.

Xiao Yan stroked the wooden armrest of his chair, filled with a sense of unreality. Shifting the stars and changing the world in an instant-is this the power of a Dou Sheng Expert?

Over the past year, he had imagined countless times how powerful his nominal master, Hun Tiandi, truly was: shattering space with a raised hand, destroying an empire with a single strike.

But after personally experiencing a Dou Sheng Expert's extraordinary abilities, he realized that his imagination had still been rather conservative.

A masked attendant entered the private room, silently set down the three cups of clear tea they were carrying, then turned and left.

The three cups rose from the table on their own, then settled before the three of them.

Hun Tiandi lifted his cup and took a sip, then looked at Xiao Yan with an amused expression, waiting for him to recount what had happened.

After a period of awkward hesitation, Xiao Yan finally described his experiences, though he deliberately concealed the details concerning his memories of his previous life.

The first half of his account elicited no reaction from Hun Tiandi. What Xiao Yan failed to notice, however, was that when he described completing his fusion with the Nihility Devouring Flame, lingering in the Netherworld for a long time, and barely surviving on a platter of fruit...

A barely perceptible flicker of anger crossed Hun Tiandi's eyes.

Someone was about to suffer.

"That really is bizarre..." Xiao Yi Xian was utterly stunned by Xiao Yan's experiences. This was the first time she had heard that something called the Netherworld actually existed. "Still, what matters is that you're all right. Otherwise, if Adoptive Father resurrected you, we would have needed to prepare a Dou Zong's corpse. Where would we find a Dou Zong in the Jia Ma Empire?"

"Killing a Dou Zong on the spot would indeed be troublesome, but it would hardly be difficult," Hun Tiandi said calmly, setting down his tea.

Looking at Hun Tiandi's unruffled expression, Xiao Yan could not help marveling. He spoke of killing a Dou Zong as though discussing slaughtering a chicken. He truly lived up to the name of a Dou Sheng Expert.

If only he, too, could advance to Dou Sheng one day.