[Recommendations wanted! Please send recommendation votes!]
Liu Huabai and Liu Xincheng wore grave expressions as they continuously released the Dou Qi within them, struggling to resist the heat coming from outside.
Unfortunately, formidable as they were, the billowing waves of heat pouring out of the room were far beyond their ability to withstand.
Sweat poured off the two men like rain, vanishing into nothingness the instant each drop fell. They strained to hold themselves up, brows tightly furrowed and faces contorted, unable even to make a sound.
Suddenly, the surroundings fell silent, and everything between heaven and earth returned to normal. Bent over with their hands on their knees, the two men swallowed with difficulty, their throats dry, and gasped for breath.
Xiao Yan's slightly apologetic voice came from inside the room, making the corners of their mouths twitch.
"Hehe, sorry about that. I haven't refined pills in ten years, and when I got started today, I didn't quite keep things under control."
Liu Huabai and Liu Xincheng gave a few awkward laughs and exchanged a glance, each seeing a trace of astonishment and helplessness in the other's eyes. When a senior made a mistake, who wouldn't give him a chance?
Inside the bedroom, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged on the floor. A crimson medicinal cauldron stood silently before him. He waved his hand, and a flash of light swept past. Great piles of heavenly treasures appeared in the room, with all manner of spiritual herbs tossed casually on the floor.
Xiao Yan waved his hand, and hundreds of spiritual herbs shot out of the piles. He struck the medicinal cauldron before him with his palm, producing a clear metallic clang. The lid opened, and the hundreds of herbs entered the cauldron together. Xiao Yan struck out again, slapping his palm against the cauldron's fire inlet.
"Boom!"
A muffled roar of kindling flames sounded inside the cauldron. A cluster of brilliant flames churned ceaselessly within, extracting every bit of the required essence from the hundreds of spiritual herbs in an instant.
Xiao Yan's ten fingers moved in rapid succession. As the Heavenly Flames churned, the refined herbs inside the cauldron continuously changed and fused. After a while, waves of pill fragrance wafted out of the cauldron, lingering in Xiao Yan's bedroom before gradually spreading to fill the entire courtyard.
In the courtyard, Liu Huabai and Liu Xincheng's eyes widened, and profound shock surfaced in their gazes.
The two exchanged a glance, each seeing a trace of excitement in the other's eyes. From the pill fragrance drifting out of the room alone, they were certain that the pills Xiao Yan was refining were at least Eighth-Tier. Judging by what Xiao Yan had said earlier, there were probably quite a few of them.
Under the pretext of thanking them, Xiao Yan was raising the overall strength of their Liu Clan in one stroke. Liu Huabai and Liu Xincheng exchanged another glance and both frowned.
"It seems Senior Xiao Yan is about to leave. Otherwise, he wouldn't be giving us so much."
Liu Xincheng nodded slightly and sighed in a low voice, a trace of reluctance in his tone. Liu Huabai, however, smiled at his words and said to him:
"All right. How could our Liu Clan possibly keep him here forever? The Heavenly Lightning Oath is only a safeguard. As long as the senior has the intention to protect our Liu Clan, that's enough. Heh... our Liu Clan is still too weak, after all."
The two smiled at each other and said no more, sitting down beside the stone table to wait quietly.
The pill fragrance spread like mist, blanketing the entire courtyard. It was so thick that one could not even see things within three zhang.
Yet the two men remained seated quietly beside the stone table in the courtyard.
Time passed, and before they knew it, two hours had gone by since Xiao Yan entered the room. Heaven and earth remained calm throughout, but Xiao Yan frowned slightly, finding it very strange, for he had yet to see any Pill Lightning.
"Strange. Why haven't any of these Eighth-Tier Pills drawn a lightning tribulation? It seems this world has many differences too!"
Xiao Yan sighed briefly, then stood up and waved his wide sleeve, collecting all the pills he had just refined into jade bottles. The seals formed by his hands began to change.
As Xiao Yan's hand seals continued to change, all the pill fragrance in the house and courtyard began to churn at that moment, gathering toward the room.
Xiao Yan's hands formed a final seal, and all the mist in the bedroom began to condense. In only a few breaths, it had formed an enormous white dragon.
Xiao Yan changed his hand seal again, and the dragon soared up in response, flying ceaselessly above his room.
"Th-this... this is... pill Qi forming a dragon!"
Liu Xincheng's eyes were filled with shock at the sight. Pill Qi could only form a dragon when pills were of the highest quality. But now, judging by the dragon's size and the pure pill Qi on its body, perhaps all the pills Xiao Yan had refined this time were of the highest quality.
The two exchanged a glance at the sight, each seeing profound shock in the other's eyes. Then they both flew out of the courtyard, their hand seals changing as curtains of light spread across heaven and earth, enveloping the entire courtyard.
The two men landed at the entrance to Xiao Yan's courtyard and stood guard at the gate, driving away everyone who came to watch and refusing to let anyone take a single step closer. Those who had come to see the divine dragon curled their lips and left dejectedly.
A moment later, the wooden gate opened, and a white-robed figure walked out. Liu Huabai and Liu Xincheng hurriedly bowed in greeting. Xiao Yan waved his hand, telling them to enter the courtyard.
Xiao Yan sat down at the stone table and waved his wide sleeve. A great pile of jade bottles flew out, forming a small mountain twice a person's height before the three of them.
Xiao Yan looked at the two men and said:
"There are thirteen thousand four hundred pills here in total. Of those, six thousand three hundred are Seventh-Grade Pills, four hundred are Sixth-Grade Pills, and the rest are Eighth-Tier Pills."
With that, Xiao Yan took the Storage Ring off his hand and said to Liu Huabai:
"This Storage Ring is full of Eighth-Tier Pills for the little fellow to eat. Remember, don't even think about trying to take these pills from it. I won't interfere, but if any of you really do try to take them, you'll bear the consequences yourselves!"
Liu Huabai and Liu Xincheng frowned at his words, but said nothing. Since the senior had spoken, they only needed to listen carefully. If one day they really did accidentally offend this senior, they would have to bear the consequences themselves.
"All right, take these pills back with you first. Before I leave, I'll give you this Storage Ring and the little fellow."
With that, he tossed the Storage Ring to the little beast and started to turn back toward the room to continue cultivating. Seeing this, Liu Xincheng frowned slightly and hesitated for a moment, but could not resist speaking up:
"Senior, please wait! I think there are some things I should explain to you clearly. Otherwise, if you go out like this, I'm afraid our Liu Clan will bring harm to you. If that happened, wouldn't our Liu Clan become sinners for all eternity?"
Hearing this, Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Liu Xincheng again. Seeing the sincerity on his face, Xiao Yan's lips curved into a slight smile.
It seems there are some secrets to these Heavenly Severing Steps after all. Now that's interesting. Let's hear them.
With that thought, Xiao Yan sat back down beside the stone table and gestured for Liu Xincheng and Liu Huabai to sit as well. Liu Xincheng understood what Xiao Yan meant and did not stand on ceremony. The two sat down beside the stone table, and Liu Xincheng wasted no time, speaking directly.
The afternoon passed just like that. After seeing Liu Xincheng and Liu Huabai off, Xiao Yan understood some of the secrets behind the Heavenly Severing Steps. Of course, they might have been secrets to Xiao Yan, but for the people of the Western Region, all they had been doing was waiting-waiting for the Heavenly Severing Steps to appear, waiting for a great opportunity.
Xiao Yan learned from Liu Xincheng that the Heavenly Severing Steps were one of the three Dou Techniques that had made Venerable Heavenly Severing, a mighty ancient figure of the Western Region, famous. They possessed unsurpassed power.
Venerable Heavenly Severing had once been famous throughout the Western Region. He had first made his name five thousand years ago and taken only a thousand years to ascend to the rank of Dou Di. Over the following hundred years, he had broken through again and again, becoming an Origin Transformation Realm expert in one fell swoop. But after that, he vanished without a trace or a word, leaving behind only the three Dou Techniques that had made him famous.
All three were Human Class Dou Techniques, but each was an exceptional art among Human Class Dou Techniques. They were the Heavenly Severing Palm, the Heavenly Severing Finger, and the Heavenly Severing Steps.
Of the three, the Heavenly Severing Palm was said to be capable of veiling heaven and earth with one palm and transforming the firmament with another. It was the most powerful of the three Dou Techniques.
Next was the Heavenly Severing Finger, renowned for its ruthlessness. It was said to extinguish ten thousand spirits with one finger and shatter an immortal soul with another.
Last were the Heavenly Severing Steps. Though they were a Human Class Dou Technique, their true power was indeed beyond anyone's knowledge or reach. Not even Venerable Heavenly Severing could fathom it.
Their steps surpassed all under heaven, each step treading upon the sky. At their highest level, one could move through heaven and earth as though traversing the boundless void, using speed to break ten thousand techniques.
These three Dou Techniques of Venerable Heavenly Severing were also the greatest treasure in the Western Region, for they were the key to opening the cave abode he had left behind. Only with the three Heavenly Severing techniques could one open the Tomb of Heavenly Severing.