Next Stop, the Chu Yun Empire

"Master?"

Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin had been cultivating on the Xiao Clan's back mountain when a black hole suddenly opened around them and drew them in. After the world spun around them, they found themselves before Xiao Xuan.

"Mm!"

Xiao Xuan answered calmly, then said, "I'm taking you out to cultivate for a while."

"The Chu Yun Empire and the Heavenly Snake Empire!"

Xiao Xuan had thought of these two promising places nearby. They could gain something, however much or little, in both.

"Yes!" The two girls naturally obeyed respectfully, but after glancing at Mo Xuan standing nearby, Xiao Yi Xian plucked up her courage and asked, "Master, who is this senior?"

It had to be said that appearances were important sometimes.

"I am Mo Xuan, a close friend of your master. This is our first meeting, and I don't have much to give you."

Mo Xuan smiled as he spoke, looking every bit an immortal sage. With a casual gesture, he sent two little beasts floating over to the girls.

His eyes betrayed an unbearable ache.

They were pills that had gained spiritual form, each at least an Eighth-Tier Pill with seven- or eight-colored Pill Lightning!

Although they hadn't evolved as perfectly as Mo Xuan had, they were still astonishing enough. Given sufficient affinity and fortune, they might even cross the threshold into the ninth tier.

And truly develop intelligence!

But these two girls were not only Xiao Xuan's disciples; each of them also had impressive talent. Mo Xuan had a very discerning eye, and a glance was enough for him to see that the two girls had awakened the Woeful Poison Body and the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.

He would treat it as building a good relationship in advance!

"Accept them!" Xiao Xuan smiled faintly. Mo Xuan had given him such face in front of his disciples that he was naturally in high spirits.

It seemed that not robbing him of all his accumulated treasures earlier had been the right choice after all.

Of course, the main reason was that Xiao Xuan hadn't thought much of them.

After all, he was a supreme expert at the Peak Dou Sheng level. Though he was a little short on resources for the time being, he had no need to take the knife to an ally at his side.

Mo Xuan's strength as a High-Level Dou Sheng was enough for Xiao Xuan to take him seriously.

Besides, he knew how to conduct himself and could become an important member of the Xiao Clan in the future.

Some sufficiently precious pills could be created by means other than an alchemist's hands.

Sometimes, an unconventional method of forming pills could seize the fortune of heaven and earth.

Xiao Xuan could tell that if the two little Eighth-Tier Pill beasts hadn't stayed by Mo Xuan's side, they would likely have been lost to the passage of time long ago. No matter how extraordinary Yun Yangtian's small world was, it couldn't erase the power of time.

Only after hearing their master speak did the two girls happily gather the little beasts, one shaped like a tiger and the other like a rabbit, into their arms. Their hearts bloomed with joy.

They were so cute!

"What are these? Magical beasts that Senior Mo Xuan subdued?"

Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin were still young, so they naturally couldn't resist the lure of cute animals. Besides, pills that had gained spiritual form all gave off a presence that drew people close.

No wonder the two girls liked them so much.

"These two little things aren't bad. They're Eighth-Tier Pills that gained spiritual form, and your Uncle Mo Xuan has been nurturing them all along. Keep them by your side to assist your cultivation; it's much better than refining them outright."

With the two girls' cultivation, taking an Eighth-Tier Pill directly would be rather wasteful even if they reached Dou Zun, not to mention that they had no need for outside help from pills in their cultivation.

That would be a real waste.

"Pills?"

The two girls exchanged a glance, both looking utterly shocked.

Alchemists really could seize the fortune of heaven and earth!

"Pills aren't the exclusive preserve of alchemists!" Mo Xuan spoke as calmly as a passing breeze and stole the limelight for himself.

Xiao Xuan shot him a glance, but had no intention of casually exposing his identity, even in front of his disciples.

"Get closer to your Uncle Mo in the future and coax some good things out of him. He's no pauper; he'd be embarrassed to bring out anything below an Eighth-Tier Pill."

After praising him a little, Xiao Xuan promptly dug a big pit for him.

The two girls' eyes sparkled.

Mo Xuan's face turned bitter, but Xiao Xuan had no intention of continuing the small talk.

"Enough talk. We'll go to the Chu Yun Empire first!"

He had a faint feeling that the Nether Poison Flame might truly exist there.

A Space Wormhole tore open, and after checking their location several times, Xiao Xuan and his companions finally arrived at the Chu Yun Empire's central city, its gates visible in the distance.

"A country of poison masters?" Xiao Yi Xian, following behind, wrinkled her cute little nose, disgust in her eyes. Even with her Woeful Poison Body, she had no fondness for those poison masters.

"Are we here to look for poisons?"

Xiao Yi Xian was a little puzzled and somewhat guilty. If her master had brought her junior sister and the other senior all this way solely for her cultivation, she would feel terribly sorry.

Besides, when it came to simply preparing poisons, Xiao Yi Xian was the expert. She had been studying the Poison Scripture her master had given her day and night.

She had long since left the Chu Yun Empire's poison masters countless leagues behind.

"No, poisons are secondary. If there are any rare and precious ones, we can collect them, but the purpose of this trip is to see whether we can find a Heavenly Flame."

Xiao Xuan explained gently as his soul power spread rapidly outward.

"Is it for Brother Xiao Yan?" Xiao Yi Xian was a little puzzled. She had spent some time with Xiao Yan while she was in the Xiao Clan.

She naturally held the younger clansman her master valued in high regard, and Xiao Yan had a good personality as well. The two had soon become friends.

Xiao Yi Xian naturally also knew what he needed for his cultivation: a continuous supply of Heavenly Flames.

She had been utterly shocked when she first learned of it. She had thought the requirements for cultivating the Woeful Poison Body were already monstrous enough, but she hadn't expected a true monster to cultivate with Heavenly Flames, divine things born of heaven and earth.

But only a clansman valued by her master received such treatment.

Xiao Yi Xian couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

"Little Yanzi's Heavenly Flame isn't here. I feel that the Chu Yun Empire has the conditions for a Nether Poison Flame to be born."

With his eyes closed, Xiao Xuan was bearing an increasingly heavy strain.

The Chu Yun Empire's territory was much larger than the Jia Ma Empire's, though of course, it was nothing but barren mountains and hostile waters.

"Ah?" Xiao Yi Xian cried out in surprise, a note of delight in her voice.

She knew about the Heavenly Flame Ranking too, which was why she was so moved.

It wasn't necessarily true that the higher a Heavenly Flame ranked, the more precious it was. Often, finding any Heavenly Flame at all was a gift from the heavens.

"Master, I'm sorry to have made you go to such trouble." Xiao Yi Xian lowered her head, deeply embarrassed. She had even less idea what she could do to repay her master in the future.

As Xiao Yi Xian saw it, her supposed duty to protect her master's clan was nothing more than words to comfort herself.

Wouldn't it be simpler to use the time, effort, and resources spent nurturing her to nurture her master's clansmen instead?

After all, talent generally wasn't the decisive factor.

"There might be something to gain over there!"

Without attending to his young disciple's feelings, Xiao Xuan withdrew his soul power.

He had roughly identified a few places, but he would have to visit them and investigate in person to know for certain.

These poison lands were simply too effective at blocking perception.

"Looking for a Heavenly Flame? Why don't you go on without me? I don't like places like that."

Mo Xuan frowned as he spoke. He would rather wander around the Chu Yun Empire's chaotic cities than approach something like a Heavenly Flame of his own accord.

What pill would willingly go near a Heavenly Flame?!