Word Count: 3,439 Words
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Hidden within her black robe, Zi Yan condensed purple light in her fist as terrifying Spatial Strength suddenly blasted forth.
The two Profound Xuan Sect elders had no time to react. How could they possibly imagine that an 8-star Dou Ancestor could actually traverse space?! This was simply impossible!
Two resounding thuds echoed as Zi Yan's single punch sent both Profound Xuan Sect elders flying backward, crashing heavily into the mountain face.
Zi Yan currently possessed the strength of an 8-star Dou Ancestor. Though her opponents were one 8-star and one 9-star, she still held no fear.
"Hehehe, you two old codgers better not think about interfering in Xiao Yan's business," Zi Yan giggled. Her eyes narrowed, and in that instant, her body flashed as a burst of purple light exploded around her.
The purple light was beautiful and noble, and within this purple hue flickered a faint golden glimmer. The moment Zi Yan unleashed her bloodline strength, space itself seemed to tremble.
The expressions of the two Profound Xuan Sect elders changed instantly. Goosebumps rose all over their bodies as their hair stood on end! They actually felt a kind of suppression, as if facing some absolutely ferocious creature!
Neither dared hold anything back. They erupted with their strongest states as endless blood-light surged upward and their Dou Qi circulated frantically.
Zi Yan bent her legs slightly before stomping hard and charging forward at incredible speed. Her velocity was absolutely peerless. Her physical strength—let alone compared to Xiao Yan's—surpassed even ordinary half-step Dou Venerates and peak Rank 7 magical beasts.
"Profound Xuan Palm!" The two Profound Xuan Sect elders were startled. If fighting one-on-one, they would certainly die. They joined forces and simultaneously struck out with their palms.
Zi Yan's fists were like dragons emerging from a mountain. She showed no fear of the other party's Di Class Dou Technique. Instead, she met it with sheer physical strength!
A deafening boom erupted as both sides collided. The impact of Zi Yan's fists against their twin palms was like a meteorite crashing down. The terrifying collision generated brilliant light that illuminated a vast expanse of the land.
Crackling sounds filled the air as the Pill Realm's space actually shattered. Like glass, the entire space fractured piece by piece, revealing terrifying black holes and spatial turbulence.
The shattered space made it clear that the clash had been astonishingly powerful.
Xiao Yan smiled at Chen Xian. "Seems your backing isn't so reliable after all."
"You!! That's a magical beast?! How can a magical beast be an alchemist! What did you do?!" Chen Xian was dumbfounded. Where had this 8-star Dou Ancestor come from? Moreover, this Dou Ancestor's strength was almost at the half-step Dou Venerate level!
Due to their inherently weak Spiritual Strength, magical beasts rarely became alchemists. Chen Xian could never have imagined that Xiao Yan was cheating! Even less could he imagine that beneath that black robe was an Ancient Void Dragon.
"Die!" Chen Xian's eyes narrowed. Taking advantage of Xiao Yan's apparent inattention, he flashed forward and suddenly attacked, his right hand condensing a blood-red glow as he formed a hand-blade that chopped toward Xiao Yan.
The hand-blade fell with a swish, but the expected spray of fresh blood never came. The blood-light swept past the ground behind Xiao Yan, carving out a deep groove, while Xiao Yan's figure gradually faded.
"Sigh, hopelessly stupid. Even now you still can't see the gap between us. But no matter—even if you knelt and begged for mercy, I wouldn't spare you." Xiao Yan's voice seemed to come from all directions around Chen Xian like a demonic echo.
Chen Xian momentarily couldn't determine Xiao Yan's location. He looked around frantically but saw no trace of his figure.
"Come out! If you have guts, don't hide!" Chen Xian discovered that even with his middle-grade tier 7 alchemist soul, he couldn't detect Xiao Yan's presence!
Suddenly! The sun vanished, the world plunged into darkness, and the surrounding mountain ranges, as if splashed with ink, disappeared into the gloom.
"What is this?!"
Chen Xian's surroundings were completely enveloped in darkness, as if he had fallen into an abyss.
Clattering sounds echoed as several black soul chains shot out from the darkness, instantly binding his four limbs and suspending him in mid-air.
No matter how Chen Xian struggled, it was useless. He simply couldn't break free from the soul chains' power.
"This isn't real! This is a soul illusion!" Worthy of a 7th-tier alchemist, Chen Xian quickly realized he had fallen into a soul illusion. Xiao Yan actually understood such a profound soul illusion technique!
"You're right. You passed through the Pill Tower's Soul Fantasy Realm quite quickly. If you can pass through mine, then I'll let you out," Xiao Yan's voice came from the sky. Then, more clattering sounds arose.
Slowly, an Asura demon ghost appeared, its entire body bound in soul chains that dragged along the ground, its face twisted and ferocious.
Seeing Chen Xian suspended in the air, the Asura bared its teeth in a grin, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs. Its long tongue licked its lips as it stared at its prey with blood-red eyes.
"Be careful now. It likes to perform death by a thousand cuts, slicing off soul flesh piece by piece to eat."
The Asura waved its hand with a swish, and the black sword in its grasp sliced off a piece of soul flesh from Chen Xian's arm.
"Ahhh!!!" The pain made Chen Xian scream and cry out, "What is this!! What are you going to do!"
"This is a Soul Skill," Xiao Yan replied.
"Soul Skill?! The Pill Tower couldn't possibly have such an evil Soul Skill!!" Chen Xian exclaimed in shock.
"Jie Jie Jie, of course the Pill Tower doesn't have it, because this comes from the Hall of Souls." A strange laugh entered Chen Xian's ears. Only now did he finally realize why Mu Gu hadn't dealt with Xiao Yan!
Because Xiao Yan was also an alchemist of the Hall of Souls!!!
Of course, he would never leak this information in this lifetime, because he no longer had a lifetime left.
Meanwhile, outside, Chen Xian was seen throwing a hand-blade strike at Xiao Yan's Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body, after which he collapsed to the ground with vacant eyes.
Xiao Yan pondered for a moment. Making Chen Xian food for the Asura beneath Abyss Submersion seemed a fitting end. Collecting him into the Soul Command Token would be letting him off too easily!
Chen Xian had tried to kill him twice. He, Xiao Yan, was thoroughly enraged.
Before long, the two Profound Xuan Sect elders were also killed. Not even the 9-star Dou Ancestor could escape because Xing Tian was providing support and preventing any retreat.
"Oh ho! This guy is so ugly, but his storage ring has so many high-grade medicinal ingredients!" Xiao Yan's eyes narrowed with delight.
He truly hadn't expected it! Chen Xian's storage ring not only contained quite a few tier 7 medicinal ingredients but even two stalks of tier 8 ones, probably collected by other Profound Xuan Sect elders and given to him.
Besides that, there were also several tier 7 pill recipes and ingredients for three batches of Ancestor Progression Pills. He guessed Chen Xian had planned to refine the Ancestor Progression Pill for the third stage.
Zi Yan wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had fought to her heart's content, working up a good sweat, and her mood had improved considerably.
"Want to take a rest?" Xiao Yan asked.
"No need! Let's dig up more, and you can make more candy pills for me." Zi Yan revealed her cute little tiger teeth and dimples. She was smiling with pure happiness.
There was no helping it. She had endured hard, poor days at Jia Nan Academy. Now, with a rare opportunity, how could she not seize it to make a big haul!
Xiao Yan smiled at Zi Yan's eagerness and took out his Medicinal Cauldron. Taking several tier 7 medicinal ingredients, he refined them into candy pills and tossed them to her.
"Eat some so you don't get hungry. We still have plenty of work ahead."
"Hehe, that's more like it."
…
In the following days, Xiao Yan and Zi Yan, these two 'mountain bandits,' hunted through every area, digging up an unknown quantity of natural treasures. They found not only tier 8 medicinal ingredients but even several stalks of tier 9 ones.
However, these were all medicinal ingredients, not natural treasures that could be used directly like Core Mother Jade. For Xiao Yan, therefore, the greatest fortune remained the Core Mother Jade and Core Soul Marrow he had encountered on the first day.
Along the way, Xiao Yan encountered that little girl Dan Chen, but he and Zi Yan were busy 'doing bad things' and didn't talk much. He merely asked Dan Chen what medicinal ingredients she needed, gathered enough for her, and then left.
Dan Chen thus naturally became the first alchemist to complete the task and leave the Pill Realm.
"Damn it! Don't let me find out who those two are! When we get out, even if I have to bankrupt myself, I'll hire experts to vent this anger!"
"Count me in! Damn it, I finally found two items on my list, and they stole them all! Those two black-robed thieves are truly hateful!"
The entire Pill Realm soon filled with complaints. Over sixty percent of alchemists had fallen victim to Xiao Yan and Zi Yan's evil hands. Some lucky ones hadn't found any good medicinal ingredients when first robbed and escaped disaster, but quite a few suffered repeated attacks.
The unluckiest alchemist was robbed by Xiao Yan and Zi Yan five times in a row! Every time he found something good, the two of them would appear right on time, more punctual than students going to class!
The alchemists gathered here were all gnashing their teeth in hatred.
Cao Ying and Song Qing were completely bewildered by the many alchemists' curses and wishes to tear the culprits to pieces.
"Did they encounter mountain bandits?" Song Qing looked puzzled; they belonged to the fortunate ones who hadn't encountered the black-robed male and female bandit duo.
"Never mind that. Let's focus on important matters. We don't have many days left." Cao Ying's expression was somewhat grave.
She had originally planned to search for medicinal ingredients by herself. However, she still hadn't gathered them all even after searching the Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range for several days. She later discovered that the lord of the mountain range had monopolized most of the precious ingredients and moved them to its cave dwelling.
Therefore, she had no choice but to find Song Qing and organize a punitive expedition together.
Her beautiful eyes swept over the crowd of several dozen people in front of her, and her delicate brows furrowed slightly. She did not see Xiao Yan.
'Could it be that he has already passed the stage?' For some reason, she felt a little disappointed and indignant in her heart.
Song Qing saw the somewhat downcast expression on the beauty beside him and patted his chest, his expression resolute. "Sister Cao Ying, rest assured. I've gone to check. The lord of that mountain range is at most at the half-step Dou Venerate stage. Moreover, magical beasts' Spiritual Strength has always been weak. If you and I simultaneously use Soul Techniques to restrict it, I believe the other alchemists, if they join forces, will also be enough to deal with that Magical Beast Lord."
Cao Ying lazily glanced at Song Qing, instantly concealing all her inner emotions and revealing a charming smile. "Elder Song is truly reliable. In that case, I shall await the good news."
Song Qing felt his blood boil when he heard Cao Ying call him reliable. Taking a deep breath, he even felt somewhat light-headed. Never mind what to name their children—he had already fantasized about where he and Cao Ying would be buried together!
Cao Ying's smile quickly vanished as she watched Song Qing confidently walk into the crowd, begin discussing various matters, and make a string of enthusiastic assurances.
Her choice of attire was a black dress that was particularly captivating. Her jade-like hand played with a strand of black hair while her languid expression revealed she wasn't paying attention to his words at all.
If Xiao Yan were here, he would certainly pity this Song Qing. Wasn't this just like a cartoon scene where the white cat toys with Tom, playing him in the palm of her hand?
However, Xiao Yan wasn't there because he and Zi Yan had already entered the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range.
Over the past few days, Xiao Yan had visited the other two treasure lands, relying on Zi Yan's exceptional treasure-hunting ability to unearth numerous treasures.
This Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range was the final treasure land.
It wasn't that he didn't want to complete the Pill Gathering task earlier, but Zi Yan had told him this mountain range was very strange. There was one place where energy was particularly abundant, with an enormous number of medicinal ingredients gathered together.
Xiao Yan immediately understood: the medicinal ingredients of the Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range had been gathered in one place.
Each of the three great treasured lands had its own lord, but no lord could control an entire area due to the presence of many Rank 7 magical beasts. Even a half-step Rank 8 was still within the Rank 7 category and couldn't possibly deal with all of them.
If someone could collect all the medicinal ingredients in the entire treasured land, then there was only one conclusion: the hegemon of the Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range had broken through to Rank 8!
A Rank 8 magical beast! Wasn't that just like Venerable Yan She? Venerable Yan She was merely a Rank 8 magical beast, equivalent to a terrifying 3-star Dou Venerate expert!
If the Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range's overlord was only a 1-star Dou Venerate, Xiao Yan and Zi Yan joining forces should be able to take it down. A 2-star Dou Venerate would mean a hard fight, and against a 3-star Dou Venerate, Xiao Yan would have to devise another plan.
He had been able to confront Venerable Bing head-on because Little Fairy Doctor was present. Even his strongest Nine-Color Lotus Flame could only severely injure a 3-star Dou Venerate, not kill it. After unleashing the Nine-Color Lotus Flame, he would have no combat strength left, and relying on Zi Yan alone to handle the aftermath would likely be difficult.
That was why he had left the Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range for last, lest he get injured and become unable to 'dig for treasure.'
"Xiao Yan, we're almost there." Zi Yan had already removed her black robe; her face showed a trace of nervousness.
Directly confronting a Rank 8 magical beast! This would definitely be a hard battle!
"Mm, be careful. If this mountain range overlord's strength is too high, we'll change strategies. I'll hold it off for one minute while you go to its cave dwelling and steal all the medicinal ingredients." Xiao Yan said in a deep voice, having prepared a Plan B early on.
"Mm."
After communicating their plans, they began to fly toward the place on the mountaintop where the powerful aura emanated.
Under Zi Yan's guidance, Xiao Yan reached the mountain peak within minutes. The first thing to catch his eye was an enormous stone palace. At its entrance, two magical beasts with ferocious auras lay prostrate.
These two ferocious beasts were not weak, both Rank 7 and equivalent to human 5-star and 6-star Dou Ancestors. Upon seeing Xiao Yan's unfamiliar face, they immediately stood, and low, angry roars resounded.
Xiao Yan stopped Zi Yan, who wanted to quickly deal with these two ferocious beasts, and summoned Xing Tian to handle the underlings. "Save your strength. Our opponent isn't these small fries."
Zi Yan nodded, adopted a stance, and stared at the stone hall's great door. Both sensed that a powerful aura had awakened.
Boom!
The stone door boomed open, blasted by an immense force, and a stalwart man over three meters tall emerged from the stone hall.
"Which damn bastard seeking death dares to disturb this lord's sleep!!"
The aura of a Rank 8 magical beast swept out like a storm, sending the surrounding grass flying.
Rank 7 magical beasts merely possessed the qualification to transform. Without pills like the Body Transformation Pill, they needed to undergo tribulations to do so. Rank 8 magical beasts, however, could definitely transform, as transformation was a condition for breaking through to Rank 8.
"1-star Dou Venerate... No, this guy's bloodline is somewhat strange. If his bloodline strength is factored in, perhaps his combat strength could approach 3-star," Xiao Yan assessed, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the burly man.
The duo exchanged a glance and nodded. The next second, Xiao Yan held nothing back, immediately initiating the Skyfire Three Mysterious Change!
Third Change!
Three clusters of Heavenly Flames erupted along special meridians. Xiao Yan's aura visibly surged, reaching the half-step Dou Venerate stage in the blink of an eye!
Boom! Boom!
Without wasting words, they moved almost in sync, stepping forward to create large craters in the ground as they transformed into two streaks of light charging at the burly man.
Xiao Yan and Zi Yan flanked him left and right, their legs like long whips as both lifted their legs to strike. The burly man sneered, taking a horse stance with both hands blocking simultaneously.
Boom!
Xiao Yan and Zi Yan's strength was absolutely unquestionable. The two attacking together could even create sonic booms. But they were still blocked by the burly man.
"Haha, two Dou Ancestors actually dare challenge this lord! Seeking death!" The Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range's overlord laughed loudly. His blocking hands crossed, grabbed Xiao Yan's and Zi Yan's calves, and violently threw them away.
Xiao Yan's eyes narrowed. Bone wings burst from his back, stabilizing his form. Purple light flashed in Zi Yan's eyes; Spatial Strength fixed her body, halting her in mid-air.
"Mm? Void power?"
The Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range's overlord's eyes narrowed, his gaze fixed on Zi Yan. A Dou Ancestor who can master Spatial Strength, and with more familiarity than even I, a genuine Dou Venerate?
Xiao Yan took out the Heavy Xuan Ruler. The Ancient Void Dragon bloodline within Zi Yan gradually awakened, enveloping her fists in a purple glow.
Heavenly Flame Dou Technique—Beast Spirit Descent!
Whoosh!
The bone wings behind Xiao Yan seemed to come alive. A pair of enormous fire feathers appeared, resembling a true Ancient Heaven Phoenix spreading its wings.
"Ancient Heaven Phoenix?! No, these are from the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe! You actually refined the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe's bone wings and essence blood!" The burly man's pupils contracted. He himself was somewhat special; even trapped in this Pill Realm, he knew of the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe.
"The Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe counts for shit!" Zi Yan shouted, instantly traversing the void to appear behind the large man. Her fist, enveloped in powerful Spatial Strength, punched out, making space surge.
A thump echoed as the large man, having no time to react, was sent flying backward by Zi Yan's strike.
The Ancient Phoenix Demon Wings beat once. Xiao Yan's speed was now no slower than an ordinary Dou Venerate's. He instantly appeared before the burly man and unleashed the Six Joint Body Flowing Ruler, striking the Heavy Xuan Ruler from different angles and smashing the burly man into the ground.
Boom!
Rocks flew in all directions. The burly man's face was filled with fury as he looked at Xiao Yan. His bloodline began to boil, and the space around him actually distorted!
Bloodline Awakening!
"You've angered me! This lord is an Ancient Dragon Bear!" The burly man let out a roar from his throat. The surrounding space began to shatter. His entire body's muscles bulged as his pores emitted wisps of blood mist. His combat strength soared frantically, actually reaching the late 2-star Dou Venerate stage!
A Dou Venerate had actually increased by a level and a half. This Bloodline Awakening's potency rivaled a quasi-Tian Class Secret Technique!
"Ancient Dragon Bear? What kind of dogshit thing is that? This lady doesn't recognize it." A smile touched Zi Yan's lips as she saw the Ancient Dragon Bear activate its bloodline strength. Talk about bloodlines?
Ever seen an Ancient Void Dragon?!