Sea Heart Flame

"Hey, did you forget I haven't had dinner yet?"

A somewhat childish voice rang out beside the ears of the two men and the soul.

Only then did Yao Chen notice that, at some point, a little purple-haired girl had appeared behind Sun Qi, her arms folded across her chest.

Looking at Zi Yan, whose purple eyes were wide with indignation, Yao Chen immediately sensed that, just like Sun Qi, the little girl was full of the presence of a magical beast!

"My good disciple, when did you have a daughter this big?!"

Sun Qi: ???

Zi Yan: !!!

Xiao Yan: What a thunderbolt of a remark?!

Seeing the three of them stare, Yao Chen, an elder with no sense of propriety, coughed. "Ahem, just kidding, just trying to liven things up."

Yao Chen could naturally tell that the little girl and his good disciple weren't even the same species.

But Yao Chen was even more curious: if his good disciple married someday, would his wife give birth to a stone or a monkey?

"Teacher, this is Zi Yan. I met her in the Black-Corner Region."

"Not bad, not bad. A fifth-tier magical beast at such a young age. She must have an extraordinary bloodline."

Yao Chen's eye was as sharp as ever. After all, he had traveled the continent for many years and seen plenty of magical beasts, but although Zi Yan carried the presence of the dragon race,

none of the dragon-type magical beasts he had seen matched her.

Seeing Yao Chen lost in thought, Sun Qi didn't disturb him. Instead, he took a few medicinal pills from his Storage Ring and began feeding them to Zi Yan.

"Ahem, teacher, senior brother, it's getting late. Why don't you stay at my home tonight?"

Sun Qi naturally had no objection, and neither did Zi Yan.

"All right. We can take our time catching up when we get back."

With that, Yao Chen zipped into Xiao Yan's Storage Ring.

There was still plenty of time. Although Sun Qi wanted to revive Yao Chen as soon as possible, one night wouldn't make a difference, and there was still a traitor he hadn't dealt with.

Without another word, Sun Qi grabbed Xiao Yan in one hand and soared into the air.

Suddenly hoisted off his feet, Xiao Yan felt the world spin around him. By the time he came to his senses, he was already standing before the Xiao Clan's gates.

"Sen... senior brother, slo... urgh~!" He braced one hand against his knee and pounded his chest with the other.

Looking at Xiao Yan, who had just flown for the first time, Sun Qi sent a wisp of Dou Qi into him.

"Junior brother, I'm helping you get used to it ahead of time. After all, once you can use Dou Qi Wings, it won't do if you can't handle flying."

Feeling his body ease up a little, Xiao Yan finally straightened. "Senior brother, the main thing is that you were too fast. I haven't even advanced to Dou Zhe yet."

Hearing Xiao Yan's words, Sun Qi realized that he was still only human, after all, and his body wasn't as tough as Sun Qi's.

"Hehe, that was an oversight on my part."

Xiao Yan waved it off. Though he felt terrible, he was still delighted.

With such a powerful senior brother, wouldn't he be able to walk backward through Wutan City from now on?!

At the same time, Xiao Yan's return also alerted the people of the Xiao Clan.

Xiao Yan was just about to enter when he saw the Xiao Clan elders all running toward him, their faces wreathed in warm, friendly smiles.

Xiao Yan was deeply moved by the sight. He hadn't expected the clan's elders to hold him in such high regard now.

They had all rushed out to welcome him when they learned he was at the gate.

Xiao Yan raised a hand and was just about to greet them. "Everyone..."

"Your Excellency, you've graced the Xiao Clan with your presence, and we failed to come out to welcome you. It was truly a failing on our part!"

"Yes, yes! Senior, please come in. The Xiao Clan has already prepared a banquet and was just waiting for you...!"

Xiao Yan stared blankly as the Xiao Clan elders ignored him and swarmed toward his senior brother.

He looked at Sun Qi, only to find Sun Qi looking back at him, also somewhat bewildered.

Seeing that the elders' enthusiasm was getting a little out of hand, Sun Qi coughed twice and said, "Everyone, I came this time to visit my junior brother, Xiao Yan."

At the words "junior brother" and "Xiao Yan," the Xiao Clan elders fell silent at once.

At the same time, their minds kept working over the connection between those two terms.

Boom!

"Wait? Junior brother Xiao Yan?"

Everyone turned to look at Xiao Yan. Just then, Xiao Zhan hurried out as well, hearing those words the moment he stepped outside.

"Yan'er, this is...?"

Sensing his father's confusion, Xiao Yan hurriedly explained, "Father, I took a teacher outside the clan. This is my senior brother!"

Sun Qi stepped up beside Xiao Yan and nodded in confirmation.

Boom-!

The Xiao Clan instantly erupted!

"I'm not dreaming, am I? Xiao Yan, did you join the Misty Cloud Sect?"

As far as the Xiao Clan was concerned, only the Misty Cloud Sect in the entire Jia Ma Empire could possibly have trained such a young Dou Wang expert.

They simply thought too highly of the Misty Cloud Sect.

Xiao Yan hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, no, my senior brother isn't from the Jia Ma Empire..."

Seeing that Xiao Yan was about to explain further, Xiao Zhan hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over. "All right, all right, what are you all doing blocking the entrance? You don't mean to leave Yan'er's senior brother out in the wind all night, do you?"

At that, everyone hurriedly made way and warmly invited Sun Qi, Zi Yan, and Xiao Yan inside.

The Xiao Clan had originally hoped they might be lucky enough to befriend this Dou Wang expert, but now it seemed the Xiao Clan was already about to take flight thanks to Xiao Yan!

A Dou Wang this young was bound to have a limitless future.

As long as they held tight to Xiao Yan's thigh, the Xiao Clan's return to its peak was only a matter of time.

The Xiao Clan held a banquet that night. After several rounds of drinks, the elders showed Xiao Yan every courtesy, afraid of leaving a bad impression on Sun Qi, who sat beside him.

During the banquet, Xiao Yan made a point of introducing Xiao Xun'er to Sun Qi, but he noticed that Sun Qi's attitude toward her was very cold.

In the end, the matter was simply dropped.

The main reason Sun Qi treated Xiao Xun'er that way was the clan behind her.

Even the Hall of Souls had gone out of its way to set up a Dou Emperor training course for Xiao Zhan, all for a piece of Ancient Jade.

But the Gu Clan had not only ignored the Xiao Clan's impending annihilation twice; its sole Dou Emperor had also been following Sun Qi the whole time.

Both were after the Ancient Jade: the Hun Clan had a Dou Emperor in ten years, the Gu Clan a Da Dou Shi in a thousand.

Though Sun Qi also hated the Hun Clan, he thought the Gu Clan shameless all the same.

In Xiao Yan's small courtyard, Sun Qi looked at Yao Chen. "Teacher, when do you plan to return to Starfall Pavilion? Because of what happened to you, Uncle Feng has already purged the entire pavilion."

Yao Chen also wanted very much to return to the Central Plains, but in his current state...

"Later. I've even lost my body now. I should at least restore it before going back, or it would be too embarrassing."

"Besides, your junior brother's current realm isn't very high. As his teacher, I must at least help him raise his cultivation."

Hearing that, Sun Qi took out the Soul-Trapping Bottle containing Han Feng's sealed soul. "Teacher, that traitor Han Feng has the Sea Heart Flame, ranked fifteenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. I have no use for it anyway, so take it and use it to refine a body."

At the mention of a Heavenly Flame, Yao Chen immediately perked up. The hardest part of refining a body was obtaining three different Heavenly Flames.

There were many Dou Zong on the Dou Qi Continent, but only twenty-three kinds of Heavenly Flames.

To put it bluntly, there were more Dou Sheng Experts on the Dou Qi Continent than Heavenly Flames.