Xiao Yan had no intention of relocating the entire Mittel Clan to the Black-Corner Region. In his eyes, that family would only be at its most useful if it remained within the Jia Ma Empire. After all, the Mittel Clan owned auction houses spread across various cities, which made it particularly effective at intelligence gathering. If he moved them to the Black-Corner Region, it would only backfire.
So instead, he merely instructed Hai Bodong to return with an elite group of members and establish Mittel Auction Houses across several cities in the Black-Corner Region. With that, both wealth accumulation and intelligence collection would become far more efficient than anything the Xiao Sect could currently manage. As for the Mittel Auction Houses in the Jia Ma Empire, Xiao Yan sent Hai Bodong back with a batch of pills—products already selling like hotcakes in the Black-Corner Region, so their popularity in the empire would be guaranteed.
After sending Hai Bodong off, Xiao Yan resumed his cultivation of the Nine Revolutions Spirit Refinement. The soul flame he had previously condensed during their time in the Fallen Grounds had already been used up. To wield it again, he would need to condense a brand-new one—a tedious process. If he wanted to summon the soul flame at will, then he had to forge the fire seed at its core.
Of course, creating a fire seed wasn't something that could be achieved in a short span of time. It required persistent effort over a long duration, which was exactly why Xiao Yan hadn't attempted it before. But now that he had time to spare, he intended to condense the fire seed in one go.
Meanwhile, after a day of rest, Qing Lin gradually returned to her usual self. Perhaps it was the words Xiao Yan had said to her, but when she woke, her demeanor had changed—she was much more cheerful and had even taken the initiative to learn how to manage the Xiao Sect. During Hai Bodong's absence, she alone kept the entire sect running in an orderly manner. This growth was a great relief to Xiao Yan, who had been secretly observing her.
However, he soon noticed something amiss.
After finishing her duties, Qing Lin would often come into his room offering to "warm his bed." When she encountered something troublesome, she would cuddle into his arms and act spoiled. Sometimes she even brought meals she had made herself and insisted on watching him eat them.
If the former Qing Lin was just a timid, self-effacing girl, then the current her had all the vivacious traits expected of someone her age—and more importantly, she was very clearly a girl in love.
But this enthusiastic behavior was starting to overwhelm Xiao Yan. Her frequent offers to serve him in bed made him especially helpless. Not only was he not a lolicon, but from a cultivation perspective, indulging her might also affect her potential. She was still too young—if anything stunted her growth, the loss would be immeasurable.
Eventually, after a long series of heartfelt conversations in the name of "protecting her physical development," Xiao Yan finally convinced Qing Lin to stop insisting on sharing his bed. Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, however, he discovered that Qing Lin had started collecting a stack of those little books—books that made even him blush—and was reading them intently, cheeks red as cherries.
Three days later, she ran to him brimming with excitement, claiming she had learned other ways to "serve" him. She barely got the words out before Xiao Yan smacked her on the head and threw her out the door.
Her suggestions left him speechless. He regretted ever encouraging her to be her "true self." Was this the price of honesty? While he truly wasn't a lolicon, having a young girl say such things to his face felt like being lured into committing a crime.
Of all the people caught in this chaos, Zi Yan was the most frustrated. Ever since she and Qing Lin had sworn sisterhood, she'd been proudly playing the big sister role. But now that Qing Lin had fallen for Xiao Yan, she spent all her time running off to see him. They rarely even met anymore. And when they did, Qing Lin wouldn't stop talking about "Young Master Xiao Yan" this and that, completely ignoring Zi Yan's "big sister" status.
Zi Yan had no idea what had happened to Qing Lin that could have caused such a massive shift.
Why did things turn out like this…? For the first time in her life, she'd found someone who would make pills just for her. She had a real sister. Two wonderful things overlapping—should've been a dream come true. So why had it all gone so wrong?
Baffled and unable to come up with an answer, Zi Yan decided to go ask Xiao Yan directly. But as soon as she pushed open his door, before she could even speak, Xiao Yan pulled her inside and said, "Perfect timing. I was just about to look for you."
"Huh? Me? What for?" Zi Yan asked curiously. Usually, she only went to find Xiao Yan when she ran out of medicinal pills. What was this about?
"Ahem, here's the thing," Xiao Yan coughed. "I'm cultivating a new technique, and I've just reached a crucial bottleneck. I need someone to watch over me while I break through. Hai Bodong already went back to the Jia Ma Empire, so I'll have to trouble you with this for now."
Truthfully, even if Hai Bodong were still around, Xiao Yan wouldn't have asked him to guard him. He still didn't trust the old man completely.
Over the past few days, Xiao Yan's cultivation of the Nine Revolutions Spirit Refinement had reached a critical point. He was close to forging the fire seed. Once it was formed, the soul flame would spread throughout his body, leaving him in a temporarily vulnerable state. Even if the weakness would only last a short time, he still preferred to have someone reliable guard him—hence, Zi Yan.
"Hmph. I knew you were up to no good." Zi Yan snorted, then rubbed her fingers together. "If you want help, you'll have to give me something in return."
"You've been living here for free all this time, eating and drinking without paying a single coin. Now you want compensation for a bit of help?" Xiao Yan said, exasperated. Still, seeing her smug little face, he sighed and pulled out a crystal bottle containing a golden pill. "Here, I figured you'd want this."
During their trip to the Fallen Grounds, he'd found three stalks of Dragon Saliva Fire Spirit Grass. Naturally, he kept two for himself and refined the third into a pill to give to Zi Yan.
Zi Yan's eyes lit up as she saw the transparent jade bottle holding the golden pill. She happily accepted it, pulled out the pill, and was about to eat it when Xiao Yan stopped her.
"Hold on. This herb's medicinal power is stronger than most. Even with your magical beast body, you might not be able to fully absorb it in one go. I recommend splitting it up—don't eat it all at once."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Zi Yan waved him off impatiently. "Weren't you going to cultivate? Hurry up and go, don't interrupt me while I'm eating."
(End of Chapter)
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Huge Shoutout to Gabriel Coelho for Joining us and Becoming a Member of Diamond.
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