The Ten Great Experts of the Jia Ma Empire

"Master, help me with one more thing."

After speaking, Sun Qi took out a Storage Ring and handed it to Yao Chen.

"Master, help me refine the medicinal ingredients inside into pills. They just need to taste good."

Hearing his disciple ask him to refine medicine, Yao Chen was momentarily caught off guard. He examined the medicinal ingredients in the Storage Ring.

"Holy crap, where did you get such a massive amount of medicinal ingredients?!"

To exaggerate a little, the Storage Ring was already stuffed full of medicinal ingredients. Although the ingredients inside were not particularly high quality, they would have been highly sought after in a small place like Wutan City.

As for where the medicinal ingredients had come from, Zi Yan had naturally saved them up through years of hard work. Though only five percent were her savings, the rest had come from cleaning out Han Feng's residence and the Eight Gates, as well as picking up a tiny billion or so from Jia Nan Academy.

With Yao Chen's discerning eye, he could naturally guess that these were definitely not for his disciple to eat.

Glancing at Zi Yan, whose eyes were sparkling beside Sun Qi, Yao Chen understood at once.

"Very well. I have nothing to do on this journey anyway, so this old man will show you a bit of cauldronless pill refinement."

"Little Yanzi, watch closely and learn."

With that, a white flame rose in Yao Chen's hand, and he proceeded to demonstrate refining pills by hand.

Simply refining medicinal ingredients into pills did not require a formula, so the process was not as complicated as proper pill refinement.

Jia Ma Imperial Capital, Nalan Mansion.

"So you finally remembered to come home!" A booming voice rang throughout the mansion.

Nalan Su had just returned from leading troops at the Jia Ma border when he found his father sitting in front of the main hall with a fine steel rod in hand.

Before he had even entered the house, the sight of Nalan Jie had given him a fright.

"Father, what are you..." Nalan Su had no idea what had happened, and he understood even less why his father was so angry.

"Heh, you certainly raised a fine daughter. She became the young sect master of the Misty Cloud Sect at such a young age!"

Hearing that his daughter had become the young sect master, Nalan Su was naturally delighted, but that only made him even more puzzled as to why the old man was so furious.

"That daughter of yours is something else. The first thing she did as young sect master was go to the Xiao Clan and break off the engagement in public!"

This time, it was Nalan Su's turn to be dumbfounded.

"Yanran broke off the engagement? With that Xiao Clan boy?"

Now Nalan Su finally understood why the old man was so angry. He had heard about the Xiao Clan's third young master.

If his daughter had to marry beneath herself to a good-for-nothing, he naturally would not have been willing.

But Nalan Yanran had actually hidden it from her family and used the Misty Cloud Sect's name to break off the engagement. Moreover, according to the news...

The young man named Xiao Yan seemed to have begun cultivating again, and his cultivation speed was no slower than it had been back then.

"Go to the Misty Cloud Sect right now and take Nalan Yanran to the Xiao Clan to apologize! Otherwise, don't ever set foot in this house again!"

That left Nalan Su at a loss. How had this become his problem too?

"Father, I've only just returned from the border..."

"Get out! Another word and this old man will beat you all the way to the Misty Cloud Sect!"

With that, Nalan Jie lunged at Nalan Su with the fine steel rod in his hand.

Seeing this, Nalan Su knew his father was not joking. Without even stopping to change his clothes, he hurried toward the Misty Cloud Sect.

(P.S.: Found the only person in Battle Through the Heavens who has a mother.)

Meanwhile, at the Misty Cloud Sect.

Gu He was visiting the Misty Cloud Sect with his disciple Liu Ling.

In the sect master's bedchamber, a plain dress wrapped around the woman's full, shapely figure, and a strange slender sword lay beside her.

Knock, knock-!

"Sect Master, Master Gu He has come to visit with his disciple Liu Ling."

Yun Yun slowly opened her beautiful black eyes, a hint of confusion in them.

The Misty Cloud Sect hasn't asked him to refine any medicine recently, has it? What has he come to the Misty Cloud Sect for at a time like this?

Nevertheless, out of courtesy, she turned and headed to the sect master's hall to meet Gu He.

After all, he was the only sixth-tier alchemist in the Jia Ma Empire, someone all the major factions in the empire competed to recruit.

In the Misty Cloud Sect's main hall, Yun Yun sat upright in the seat of honor. As soon as Gu He entered, he was drawn to her elegant bearing.

His gaze lingered for two whole seconds.

Yun Yun did not like being stared at, so she promptly interrupted him. "Master Gu He, have you come to the Misty Cloud Sect on some business?"

At that, Gu He immediately realized he had been somewhat discourteous.

He hurriedly took a pill formula from his Storage Ring and said to Yun Yun, "Sect Master Yun, I did indeed come to ask you for something."

As he spoke, he used Dou Qi to float the pill formula in his hand over to Yun Yun.

"I obtained this pill formula while exploring some ruins. It can greatly increase cultivation speed. I would like to offer it in exchange for your help on one occasion, Sect Master Yun."

As soon as Gu He finished, Liu Ling quickly stepped forward from the side. "Sect Master Yun, when Yanran broke off her engagement to the young master of the Xiao Clan, they made a Three-Year Agreement."

"This time, Master wishes to refine a pill for Yanran to help increase her strength."

Hearing this, Yun Yun understood at once that Liu Ling had been urging him on behind the scenes.

Still, since it could help increase Yanran's strength, she could hardly refuse as her teacher.

"My Misty Cloud Sect has all the other medicinal ingredients in this pill formula. The only thing we lack is Purple Spirit Crystal."

Hearing Yun Yun accept, Gu He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sect Master Yun, you can go and look for the Purple Spirit Crystal first. My own matter will take some time. Once I have everything gathered on my end, I will come visit again."

With that, Gu He took his leave and departed from the Misty Cloud Sect.

He had offered this pill in exchange for Yun Yun's help for the sake of the Heavenly Flames in the Tagor Desert.

Not long ago, news had spread that Heavenly Flames would soon appear in the Tagor Desert. However, there was an immensely terrifying existence within the desert.

He still needed to gather some helpers.

Yun Yun did not delay on her end either. She had nothing to do at the moment, so after arranging the sect's affairs, she set off toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

"Sun Qi, how much longer until we reach that what's-it-called Misty Cloud Sect?"

Zi Yan ate the pills Yao Chen had refined as she asked Sun Qi, bored out of her mind.

"Heh, there's no need to hurry, young lady. We only need to fly over the next two mountain ranges to reach the Jia Ma Imperial Capital."

Hearing this, Zi Yan grumbled to herself and continued eating her pills.

Just as Yao Chen finished speaking, Yao Chen, Sun Qi, and Zi Yan suddenly looked ahead warily.

Beside them, Xiao Yan, who had nearly fallen asleep, was jolted awake by the sudden turn of events.

"What is it? What is it? What are you..."

"A Dou Huang expert is flying rapidly in this direction."

"Master, this person seems to be just passing through. By the looks of it, she should be an expert from the Jia Ma Empire."

Yao Chen nodded.

When the three of them detected Yun Yun, she also detected three utterly unfamiliar presences.

"Two Dou Wang experts?"

"These presences don't seem to belong to people from the Jia Ma Empire. Could Gu He have invited them?"

Other than an invitation from Gu He, she could not think of a reason for experts to come to the imperial capital.

Surely they can't have come to attack the Misty Cloud Sect?