After finishing his conversation with Yao Lao, Xiao Ce sent a voice transmission to the Ninth Grade Golden Pill, asking it to open the barrier and let Yao Lao out.
In the courtyard.
Alone, Xiao Ce thought absently, In about another month, Jia Nan Academy will come to Wutan City to recruit students.
I need to go to Jia Nan Academy, but not necessarily as a student. Becoming an elder or working with them would both be good choices.
"Perhaps... I could establish a force of my own." Xiao Ce was somewhat tempted.
Putting aside how establishing a force would make it easier to form a partnership with Jia Nan Academy, it could also help him gather resources and grow faster.
Hadn't all those forces on this continent originally been established because some powerful individual wanted more people to help gather resources for them?
Clearly, establishing a force was an approach many people approved of.
"In that case, I can't miss out on those two promising seedlings, Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin. Hai Bodong, that angel investor who repays kindness, might also be brought under my command. Dou Emperor strength is quite respectable in the Northwest Continent." Xiao Ce spoke silently to himself, his plans gradually taking shape.
"Yes, once Jia Nan Academy finishes recruiting, I'll visit the Tagor Desert, recruit that Ice Emperor, and look for Qing Lin.
"I also need to get the Green Lotus Core Flame, and I must search carefully for the inheritance my clone left behind. Once I find it, that'll be another huge improvement."
Having settled his plans for the next few months, Xiao Ce entered his room and began cultivating in meditation, his presence slowly fading into nothing.
Back in the valley in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, although he had devoted most of his time and energy to those two Dou Techniques, he had not neglected the Breath-Concealing Technique.
He intended to bring the Breath-Concealing Technique to major accomplishment in the month before Jia Nan Academy's recruitment.
While Xiao Ce cultivated in his courtyard, the Xiao Clan was anything but peaceful.
After all, he had directly crippled the Xiao Clan's three elders.
The three elders represented more than just themselves. Behind them stood entire branch lineages and supporters; saying that plucking one hair would move the whole body was no exaggeration.
With all three elders crippled at once, more than half the Xiao Clan had erupted into an uproar. Even Xiao Zhan's personal intervention could not restore the clan's former order.
Until Body-Recovery Pills went on sale in the Xiao Clan's market.
This first-grade pill, whose effects far surpassed Rejuvenation Powder, immediately won the favor of all the surrounding mercenaries as soon as it went on sale in the Xiao Family Market.
The entire Xiao Family Market instantly bustled with business, drawing far greater crowds than before.
With those enormous crowds, the merchants who had left began returning, and lost profits came back doubled. In just a few short days, the Xiao Family Market, once on the verge of closing, came back from the dead.
By contrast, the Jia Lie Family Market was so deserted that sparrows could gather at its gates. Even several price cuts to Rejuvenation Powder only brought back a small number of customers, and the revenue could not even cover the payment the Jia Lie Family owed Liu Xi.
To save itself, the Jia Lie Family urgently sent people to investigate which alchemist was refining Gathering Qi Pills for the Xiao Clan, determined to poach that person even at enormous cost.
But soon, their spies unearthed a piece of news that plunged them into despair.
The alchemist supplying pills to the Xiao Clan and refining Body-Recovery Pills was no stranger recruited from elsewhere, but Xiao Ce, the Xiao Clan's good-for-nothing who had been mocked for over a decade!
When this news emerged, not only the Jia Lie Family but every member of the Xiao Clan found it unbelievable.
A good-for-nothing who had only reached the Fifth Stage of Dou Qi at eighteen had raised his cultivation to Eight-Star Dou Zhe in one year.
Not only that, after returning from a mere two months away, he had actually become an esteemed alchemist?!
Many members of the Xiao Clan immediately began to understand why the crippling of the three elders had not been met with fierce resistance.
His fourth son's talent had recovered and surpassed what it had once been, while his third son had encountered an opportunity and become an alchemist. With Xiao Zhan now holding power, no one could resist unless they intended to rebel against the Xiao Clan entirely.
Clearly, no one wanted to do that.
Thus, without any suppression or mediation, Xiao Zhan simply ran the Xiao Family Market as usual and encountered no further obstacles, as though all that earlier resistance had been an illusion.
Nor did Xiao Zhan settle scores afterward. He merely replaced those in important positions with people from his own branch, step by step.
From beginning to end, Xiao Ce did not intervene in the matter again.
He simply stayed in his courtyard, occasionally refining some Body-Recovery Pills for his father, Xiao Zhan, to sell, and honing his Breath-Concealing Technique.
Come to think of it, over nearly a month, Xiao Ce's biggest outings had been when Xiao Xun'er invited him to go shopping. Apart from those, he had never even left his courtyard.
Knock, knock, knock-
A knock sounded at the courtyard gate, and Xiao Ce said, "Xun'er, come in."
The gate opened. Xiao Xun'er wore a long blue-green dress, her eyes and brows like a clear mountain spring, her smiling eyes curving into crescents with a reddish tint at their corners.
Her bearing was elegant and gentle, yet carried a hint of aloofness that kept others a thousand miles away. Only when she saw Xiao Ce did that aloofness vanish in an instant.
It was as though she had borrowed three parts of the white lotus's purity, three parts of the lily's approachability, and three parts of the rose's radiance, leaving the final part for Xiao Ce alone to stir.
"Brother Xiao Ce, would you go shopping with me?" Xiao Xun'er blinked. She did not pester him, yet somehow made it impossible to refuse.
Xiao Ce simply postponed refining the Body-Recovery Pills, put away the Falling Star Cauldron, and smiled at Xiao Xun'er. "Let's go."
Xiao Xun'er nodded, a trace of tenderness showing in her eyes. Her voice was barely audible as she curled her lips smugly. "Brother Xiao Ce really does spoil me... hee-hee... how lovely~"
In the market, Xiao Ce took Xiao Xun'er around the stalls, occasionally buying bracelets and necklaces that caught their eye.
"Xun'er, put this on." Xiao Ce slipped a pure white beaded bracelet onto Xiao Xun'er's wrist.
Xiao Xun'er accepted it with a smile, thinking about preparing another Storage Ring to hold the jewelry Xiao Ce had given her today.
"Brother Xiao Ce, let me give you a present too." As she spoke, Xiao Xun'er took out an exquisite-looking, silver-white shield-shaped ring and personally slipped it onto Xiao Ce's ring finger, the corners of her lips lifting happily.
Xiao Ce paid it little mind at first, until the Ninth Grade Golden Pill's surprised voice reached his ears. "This ring is very precious.
"It can store power at the Dou Sheng level and form a protective barrier.
"This girl is certainly generous to you, Father."
Xiao Ce parted his lips, feeling the weight of the ring.
Could this be something Gu Yuan gave Xun'er to save her life?
"Thank you, Xun'er." Xiao Ce met Xiao Xun'er's gaze and spoke earnestly.
Xiao Xun'er smiled, her eyes shimmering. "Do you like it, Brother Xiao Ce?"
"Yes, I like it very much," Xiao Ce replied, then took Xiao Xun'er's hand.
Xiao Xun'er froze for an instant, then firmly clasped his hand in return. "As long as you like it."
After Xiao Ce and Xiao Xun'er had wandered around the market for a while, Xiao Ce suddenly sensed several gazes watching him.
He turned to look, but that figure gave him no time to react, charging straight up to him as the cultivation of a Two-Star Great Dou Master erupted.
At the same time, the owners of the other gazes rushed out as well, unleashing all their Dou Qi. Not one had an aura below that of a Dou Shi.
"Brother Xiao Ce!" Xiao Xun'er cried urgently.
Watching these people attack him, Xiao Ce narrowed his eyes slightly. He neither dodged nor evaded, and did not even summon his Dou Qi gauze armor.
His powerful physique, comparable to a sixth-rank Magical Beast's, now showed its might. Their attacks landed on him, but merely dirtied his robes slightly, without moving his body in the slightest.
"Impossible!" The Da Dou Shi who had attacked first was stunned.
"Hmph." Xiao Ce snorted coldly, circulated the Dou Qi within him, and unleashed the Blazing Flame Sky-Splitting Palm. Flames gathered in his palm as it slammed into the attackers with unmatched force.
The next second, the Da Dou Shi and several Dou Shi surrounding Xiao Ce flew backward, smashing a nearby stall to pieces and losing their lives in an instant. A closer look revealed a scorched, palm-shaped wound in each person's chest, punched clean through from front to back.
Dead silence fell over the market. Everyone stared at the scene in disbelief.
The market's manager soon arrived. A Six-Star Dou Zhe, he bowed to Xiao Ce in terror and apologized.
Xiao Ce was not in the habit of venting his anger on his own people. He waved it off without pursuing the matter and merely told the manager to clean up the scene, not even asking him to investigate.
Only the Jia Lie Family had both the motive and the ability to send a Da Dou Shi to assassinate him. Since that was the case, there was no need to waste time.
I only intended to squeeze your Jia Lie Family out through business competition, but I never expected you to be so unwilling to appreciate the favor. In that case... Xiao Ce thought, icy killing intent flashing in his eyes.
Coming back to himself, he walked over to Xiao Xun'er, drew her into his arms, and patted her gently as he soothed her. "It's all right now, Xun'er."
Xiao Xun'er nodded and gave a quiet murmur, breathing in the scent of Xiao Ce's chest, her eyes lingering greedily. "Mm~"
After this incident, Xiao Ce took Xiao Xun'er straight back to the Xiao Clan and briefly explained what had happened to his father, Xiao Zhan.
Xiao Zhan was furious and wanted nothing more than to charge straight to the Jia Lie Family, but Xiao Ce stopped him.
It was not that Xiao Ce wanted to delay. On the contrary, he did not want to delay at all.
Night fell.
At the Jia Lie Family compound, Xiao Ce stood atop the wall in black robes.
A moonless night, a high wind-the night to wipe out an entire clan.
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