"One-Star Dou Zhe!"
"Xiao Yan, One-Star Dou Zhe, Grade: Advanced!"
The tone of the old man beside the Testing Magic Stone Tablet carried excitement and fanaticism.
Standing beside him was a boy who looked very young, his expression carefree and detached, but with a trace of blatant arrogance hidden deep in his eyes.
"Is... is this right?"
The youth in white, crouched atop the courtyard wall, looked at the scene before him with a blank expression.
Bro, where did you send me? Is this still Wutan City?
Wasn't I supposed to watch the Third Stage of Dou Qi? What the hell is a One-Star Dou Zhe?
"Strange... Could it be that I came too early, bro?"
Scratching his head, Sun Buxiao jumped down from the wall and carefully tried to recall those... plots that he no longer remembered very clearly.
In other words, he had actually arrived three years early, and Yao Lao hadn't started draining Xiao Yan's Dou Qi yet?
"Looks like I came too early. I might as well come back in a few years. Time to go."
Strolling leisurely into the market of Wutan City, the youth mentally calculated the approximate timeline in his memory.
Xiao Yan practiced Qi at four years old and reached Dou Zhe at eleven-a peerless talent in a small place like Wutan City. Then... then there was no more "then".
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Yao Lao sucked Xiao Yan's cultivated Dou Qi and his arrogance completely dry, and it wasn't until after the Three-Year Agreement that Yao Lao awakened, allowing Xiao Yan to finally regain his incomparable talent for cultivation.
Sun Buxiao had originally intended to come and befriend Xiao Yan after the latter had learned his lesson, reined in his arrogance, and strived to grow stronger. Now, it was obviously not the time yet.
He was also a transmigrator.
Reincarnation was probably a more fitting term.
In his previous life, after staying up all night at an internet café, Sun Buxiao planned to grab a bite to eat before going home to sleep. Instead, he made a misstep at a breakfast shop and fell right into a cauldron of congee. After completing the achievement of being soloed by a bowl of porridge, he opened his eyes again to find himself in this world.
And he was in a baby's body, at that.
The Chu Yun Empire neighboring the Jia Ma Empire, a father who had vanished without a trace, a mother addicted to refining poison, and... Sun Buxiao, born with the Porridge Bowl.
The environment of the Chu Yun Empire was far more hostile than that of the Jia Ma Empire. Swamps and miasmas filled its borders, and its residents naturally loved dabbling in such things, producing all kinds of formidable poison masters. Sun Buxiao's mother was one of them, but unfortunately, her skills were quite mediocre. When Sun Buxiao was ten, she successfully managed to refine herself out of existence, unlocking the orphan achievement for him.
After burying his mother and kowtowing a few times, Sun Buxiao began his wandering life with his Porridge Bowl... Though strictly speaking, it wasn't all that wandering.
Sun Buxiao's talent for practicing Qi was exceptionally strong. While he didn't know how it compared to Xiao Yan's, at the very least he was considered a talented youth even in the Chu Yun Empire-he found the knack for practicing Qi at two, advanced to Dou Zhe at seven, started street brawls at ten, and advanced to Dou Shi at twelve by tinkering with things using his Porridge Bowl. Now, at sixteen, he was just a step away from becoming a Da Dou Shi.
Yet, despite his formidable cultivation talent, Sun Buxiao wasn't nearly as arrogant as Xiao Yan had been in his childhood. He understood that there were always people beyond people and heavens beyond the heavens in this world. Before you truly grew up, as long as someone could snuff you out, what good was having great talent?
Xiao Yan was indeed worth befriending since he was the future Flame Emperor, but for now, forget it.
Let's wait.
As for the present, focusing on breaking through to Da Dou Shi was far more important.
"Hey, bro, let me ask you, how do I get to the auction house around here?"
He randomly grabbed a passerby and asked.
"Huh? Oh, head that way, pass two intersections, then take a left and go straight."
The place Sun Buxiao wanted to go was actually quite famous.
The branch of the Mittel Auction House in Wutan City, run by the Mittel Family-one of the three major families of the Jia Ma Empire. Sun Buxiao liked to call this place the starting point of the entire Depression Firmament.
The future head of the Mittel Family, what was her name again... Mittel Ya Fei. That was where the depression began.
That woman probably wasn't training at this branch right now, and she wasn't who Sun Buxiao was looking for. He was after someone else.
Though this person didn't make many appearances in the original story and completely vanished from the narrative once Xiao Yan left Wutan City, he was quite useful to the current Sun Buxiao.
The alchemist of the Mittel Family, Second-Rank Alchemist Master Gu Ni.
Master...
Though it remained unclear why a Second-Rank Alchemist was called a master, he was still the highest-level alchemist Sun Buxiao could currently reach... Uh, considering that over on the neighboring brain-rot continent there was someone who could become a master purely by plagiarizing theories, it didn't really matter, right?
At least Gu Ni actually knew how to refine medicine.
Depression Firmament, the Brain-Rot Continent, and the ultimate simp series, Dragon Clan.
To witness the legendary spectacle of the Third Stage of Dou Qi, Sun Buxiao had headed straight for Wutan City after inquiring about the route, so he hadn't bothered looking for other alchemists along the way-though you couldn't find many alchemists in that ghost place of Chu Yun anyway; poison masters, on the other hand, were a dime a dozen.
The Mittel Auction House was closed today, looking rather desolate and deserted.
"Is anyone there? If so, open the door!"
Sun Buxiao wore a somewhat worn yet clean white robe, which gave him quite a refined air.
At least the maid who came running out upon hearing his voice looked clearly uncertain about what was actually going on.
"Um... Who are you?"
"Sun Buxiao, a wandering rogue cultivator."
Sun Buxiao tilted his head.
"Is there something you need?"
Upon hearing the words "wandering rogue cultivator," the maid's attitude noticeably relaxed as she looked Sun Buxiao up and down.
"I'm here to see Master Gu Ni. He should be here right now, shouldn't he?"
"You're looking for Master Gu Ni? He is indeed here, but..."
The maid wore a troubled expression.
It wasn't that she looked down on people, but Master Gu Ni, as a Second-Rank Alchemist, was undoubtedly a big figure in Wutan City. He wasn't someone an unknown rogue cultivator could just see whenever he wanted.
"Please go report it for me. Just say I've come to ask him to refine a second-rank medicinal pill. I'll provide my own herbs, and the price is negotiable."
Sun Buxiao smiled casually, fished a few gold coins from his storage ring, and tossed them into the maid's hands.
"Ah... Alright!"
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There was no reason not to accept a tip delivered right to your door. Catching the gold coins, the maid immediately beamed with joy and hurried inside to report.
Sun Buxiao followed her into the hall, sat down on a luxurious-looking sofa, and twirled his Porridge Bowl.
Before long, the maid returned with a middle-aged man dressed in cyan robes.
"You're the Sun Buxiao who wants me to refine a second-rank medicinal pill?"
Gu Ni glanced back at the maid, then narrowed his eyes and sized Sun Buxiao up twice, clearly feeling rather skeptical.
What is going on? Whose kid is this?