Two Dou Di of the Xiao Clan, a Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact Refiner, and the Artifact Refiner Alliance

[Xiao Yan was utterly shocked to see Xiao Yan, a Nine-Star Dou Sheng, and you, a Seven-Star Dou Saint.

The first thing he asked was how much time had passed. When he learned that only twenty-odd years had gone by, and that you and Xiao Yan had risen from Dou Zun and Dou Zong respectively to your current cultivation realms, he was astonished. He could not understand how you had suddenly advanced so quickly.

You and Xiao Yan said little, instead asking Xiao Yan what exactly had happened and how he had come back from the dead.

Xiao Yan explained that he had never actually died.

Before taking revenge on that prodigy of an Emperor Clan, he had visited a Dou Di Secret Realm. The remnant soul of the Dou Di within had taken a liking to him and given him a token. Activating it would transport him to the secret realm immediately.

With that insurance in place, he had gone to take revenge on the Emperor Clan prodigy. After killing him, he had activated the token before the clan's Dou Di could destroy him, using a secret art to create the appearance of his death.

Ever since, he had been cultivating with Gu Yue'er in that Dou Di Secret Realm. As soon as he reached the Dou Di realm, he had left the secret realm and come to see you.

After learning the whole story, you were somewhat speechless, but more than anything, you felt relieved.

You had known that someone as cautious as Xiao Yan would never choose to throw his life away.

Yet his feigned death had put you and Xiao Yan through the wringer. All those years of desperately pushing yourselves had left you both a little obsessed.

Now that you knew he was alive, you suddenly felt no need to keep growing stronger.

You recalled your earlier travels across the continent and felt that was the life you truly wanted.

You told Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan that you wanted to travel.

Both father and son supported you, though they hoped you would stay and live with them a while longer.

You did not refuse.]

[Year 127: Xiao Yan's return made both you and Xiao Yan abandon your relentless pursuit of advancement.

For a full six months, you and Xiao Yan refined neither a single pill nor a single artifact.

You asked Xiao Yan whether he intended to take revenge on that Dou Di.

Xiao Yan confirmed it. "Father, I originally wanted to reach a higher realm before taking revenge on that Dou Di. After all, it's difficult for one Dou Di to kill another.

"I never expected this boy Xiao Yan to reach his current cultivation during the years I was gone. I intend to nurture him properly and help him become a Dou Di too. Then, with two of us against one, we'll surely be able to kill him."

After learning Xiao Yan's plan, you did not stop him. The Emperor Clan prodigy who had killed Xiao Huo had belonged to the Yuan Clan. The Yuan Clan was not powerful and had only one Dou Di, Yuan Di. That long-dead prodigy had been the most talented member of its younger generation.

The Yuan Clan could not produce a second Dou Di anytime soon, nor could Yuan Di reach a higher realm. As long as Xiao Yan also became a Dou Di, a two-on-one fight would indeed leave victory firmly in their grasp.

In the second half of the year, you decided to leave the Flame Flame Sect and formally begin your travels across the continent.

When Xiao Yan learned that you were leaving, he refined pills for the first time that year, directly attempting a Ninth Grade Golden Pill to give you as a farewell gift.

Refining a Ninth Grade Golden Pill was undoubtedly extremely difficult. Even your incarnation from two deployments ago had only refined one middle-quality Ninth Grade Golden Pill before exhausting his essence and dying.

Fortunately, Xiao Yan's Nine-Star Dou Sheng cultivation was powerful enough.

After two attempts in total, he finally refined a Ninth Grade Golden Pill roughly equivalent to an Eight-Star Dou Sheng in strength.

Those two attempts also kept you at the Flame Flame Sect for several more months.]

[Year 128: You left the Flame Flame Sect with the Ninth Grade Golden Pill to travel across the continent.

You went to the Northwest Continent, the place you knew best and where you had first made your fortune.

Mo Xi was actually still alive. Your earliest mentor was now old and decrepit, but he was indeed still living. He had probably taken some low-grade life-extending pills, though he had now reached the end of his life.

You did not simply watch him die. Instead, you took an Eighth-Tier Pill from your Storage Ring and gave it to him, helping him advance, recover, and improve his talent.

Mo Xi had never imagined that you, now one of the continent's foremost artifact refiners, would still acknowledge him. He was deeply moved.

You remembered Mo Xi's kindness. Without him, you would not have abandoned the path of artifact refining, but you certainly would have been delayed for a time. In his later instruction, he had also spared no effort in teaching you.

You reminisced with Mo Xi, took some pills and resources from the street and handed them to him, and also gave him several cultivation methods and Dou Techniques. You were not using these resources to sever your ties with him completely; you simply wanted to repay him.

You told him that if anything happened in the future, he could go to the Flame Flame Sect and seek out Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan. Then you left, continuing elsewhere to gain experience.]

[Year 129: You finished touring the entire Northwest Continent. Along the way, you met many people and encountered many things. Sometimes you played the pig to devour the tiger; at other times, you crushed everything with invincible strength.

During this process, you gradually discovered a game that interested you greatly.

You would pose as an unremarkable ordinary person and set up various crises for yourself. Whenever a kindhearted person chose to help you resolve one, you would reveal your true identity and bestow an opportunity upon them.

Some received pills, some received artifacts you had refined, and others received natural treasures.

During this time, you even refined and gave away two ninth-grade artifacts. However, their recipients wisely kept quiet about them, for spreading the news would only have brought trouble.]

[Year 130: As time passed and more such incidents occurred, the number of kind people in the Northwest Continent visibly increased. Many were willing to lend a casual hand to someone in difficulty.

Of course, some people deliberately performed good deeds, then flew into a humiliated rage when they received no reward and turned around to kill those they had helped.

After learning this, you began putting on another act, pretending that you would give no reward. Some people then tried to attack you, and you killed them all with a turn of your hand.

After enough such incidents, most people reined in their little schemes, merely doing some good deeds here and there without daring to demand a reward.

Having changed the atmosphere of the entire Northwest Continent, you felt a great sense of accomplishment.]

[Year 131: You felt somewhat weary and decided to digest and absorb the Ninth Grade Golden Pill in your Storage Ring to improve your strength, treating it as a diversion.

Pills at the level of a Ninth Grade Golden Pill had long since developed intelligence and were no different from humans.

This Ninth Grade Golden Pill was even stronger than you. Under normal circumstances, consuming it would have been extremely difficult-indeed, entirely impossible.

But you had a Dou Di for a son.

Xiao Yan had erased this Ninth Grade Golden Pill's intelligence as soon as it emerged, so devouring it would leave you with no repercussions.]

[Year 132: The Ninth Grade Golden Pill's energy was still too immense for you, and you continued digesting it.]

[Year 133: In the heart of the Northwest Continent, you fully digested the Ninth Grade Golden Pill's energy and reached Mid-Stage Eight-Star Dou Sheng.

You now had greater confidence in refining a Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact, but you still did not rush. You intended to play it safe: until you reached Nine-Star Dou Sheng, you would not attempt to refine one.

You had pushed yourself relentlessly for so long in this life. Now that you finally had time to travel and enjoy living, you did not want to die so soon.

You continued traveling across the continent.]

[Year 134: Your travels brought you to the Beast Region in the Central Plains. At this time, the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix Clan had not yet been wiped out.

Four great Magical Beasts-the chief of the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix Clan, the chief of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, the Nine-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, and the Ancient Heavenly Snake King-shared dominion over the Beast Region. Finding this interesting, you gathered the blood and souls of myriad beasts and refined an artifact.]

[Year 135: You entered the Void Lightning Pool and refined an artifact using its black devil lightning and a trace of nine profound golden lightning.]

[Year 136: You traveled to the far north and refined an artifact with the essence of ten-thousand-year-old ice as its foundation.]

[Year 137: During your travels, you reached late-stage Eight-Star Dou Sheng. Your soul power advanced further, though it remained some distance from an emperor realm soul.]

[Year 138: You visited a land of extreme yin and happened to discover nine nether wind flame, ranked tenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. This mysterious heavenly flame greatly interested you.

As your cultivation rose, your fire cloud water flame had long since grown incomparably stronger, so you had no intention of absorbing the nine nether wind flame.

You merely wanted to preserve this heavenly flame for your future self to absorb.

You began considering how to leave this heavenly flame for your future self.

First, you had to place a seal on the nine nether wind flame. Otherwise, like mysterious yellow flame, it would grow terrifyingly powerful with the passage of time.

For your future original self to absorb it, the nine nether wind flame absolutely could not be too strong. In fact, its infant stage would be the best option, allowing your original self to absorb it directly even at a lower cultivation.

After some thought, you decided to refine an artifact that could continuously absorb the nine nether wind flame's energy, keeping it perpetually weakened.

You began refining the artifact. After spending some time on it, you produced a ninth-grade artifact and sealed the nine nether wind flame inside.]

[Year 139: A piece of news reached your ears.

Xiao Yan had become a Dou Di. Together with his father, Xiao Yan, he had attacked and slain the Yuan Clan's Dou Di, and the Yuan Clan had been destroyed.

Dou Di stood at the pinnacle of the Dou Qi Continent. Although they were nowhere near as rare as they would become later, they still numbered among the very few at the top. The death of a Dou Di undoubtedly caused a considerable stir throughout the continent.

The father-and-son Dou Di, Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan, instantly became famous across the continent. The Xiao Clan was established and immediately became one of the continent's foremost families.

After learning the news, you returned to see Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan and congratulated them.

During your visit, you learned that at some point Xiao Yan had found a woman he loved, married her, and had a son named Xiao Yan.

You remarked that this family simply could not get away from fire.

After staying in the newly established Xiao Realm for a while, you prepared to leave and resume your travels across the continent.

Before leaving, you gave Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan the ninth-grade artifact you had refined to seal the nine nether wind flame. You told them they must instruct their descendants to pass this artifact down, cherishing it deeply through the generations and never allowing it to be lost.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan did not understand why you were so insistent, but they still obeyed and conveyed your wishes to their descendants.

You did not know whether this would work, but it was already the best method you could think of.

In your memories, the Xiao Clan would certainly endure. If the ninth-grade artifact could truly be preserved, your future self would easily be able to obtain it and absorb the nine nether wind flame within.

Besides the ninth-grade artifact, you also left a copy of your artifact-refining legacy in the Xiao Clan, though it would most likely be of little use.

Before you left the Xiao Realm, Xiao Yan stopped you and gave you a Ninth Grade Golden Pill he had hurriedly refined during this period, telling you to use it to improve your cultivation. This Ninth Grade Golden Pill was of even better quality; in terms of strength, it was already comparable to a late-stage Nine-Star Dou Sheng.

You did not refuse. You could use this Ninth Grade Golden Pill to advance your cultivation and see whether you could refine a Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact.]

[Year 140: After leaving the Xiao Realm, you found a secluded place and absorbed the Ninth Grade Golden Pill alone.

This Ninth Grade Golden Pill had also had its intelligence erased, so absorbing it went smoothly. You only needed to digest its immense energy to improve your cultivation.]

[Year 141: You fully digested the Ninth Grade Golden Pill's energy and reached mid-stage Nine-Star Dou Sheng.

You felt that your current strength was more than sufficient to refine a Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact.

Filled with excitement, you were just about to begin when you discovered that the materials you had were nowhere near adequate for refining a Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact.

You therefore returned to the Xiao Realm and asked Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan for materials. After all, they were the son and grandson you had raised; asking them for some materials was no great matter.

Once you had the materials, you began refining a Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact.

You succeeded on your first attempt. A Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact emerged, and you became a Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact refiner.

There were currently no emperor-grade artifact refiners on the Dou Qi Continent, so you already stood at the pinnacle of artifact refining. You felt that you had reached the peak of your life and had nothing left to pursue.

You did not take the Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact with you. Instead, you left it in the Xiao Realm as a gift for your great-grandson, Xiao Yan.

Afterward, you left the Xiao Realm again to travel across the continent alone.]

[Year 142: Having become an artifact refiner of the highest caliber, you felt that you should do something for artifact refiners as a whole.

You thought of the Pill Tower of later generations. Could you follow its example and establish a force belonging to artifact refiners?

You felt that your idea was feasible, so you established the Artifact Refiner Alliance.

With your reputation as a Ninth-Grade Gold Artifact refiner, the newly established force immediately attracted the vast majority of the continent's artifact refiners.

You encountered some trouble while establishing the force, but before you could act, those people learned that you had two Dou Di, Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan, behind you and immediately beat a retreat.

The Artifact Refiner Alliance began developing rapidly.

You felt that, with the path of disposable artifacts you had originally pioneered and the Artifact Refiner Alliance you had now established, the profession of artifact refining would very likely avoid dying out in later generations.

If the Artifact Refiner Alliance truly endured, it might be the best vessel for the legacy you left behind.

Of course, based on your previous experiences leaving legacies, you felt that the more you left behind, the greater the chance that your future original self would obtain one.

You decided to leave your legacy in multiple places, using multiple forces as vessels. The Xiao Clan was one, and the Artifact Refiner Alliance was the second!]