Returning to his room, Xiao Yan went straight to the alchemy chamber. With a wave of his hand, the Heavy Xuan Ruler transformed into his medicine cauldron with a heavy thud. He then retrieved the pile of medicinal ingredients Hu Jia had procured.
It was time to get to work. During his recent… excursions, the burden of pill refinement had fallen entirely on Xiao Yan's shoulders. The younger man had essentially become the Pan Gate's chief alchemist—a dedicated workhorse. More than half of the pills in their inventory bore Xiao Yan's spiritual imprint, a fact Xiao Yan justified as 'necessary training to hone his skills.'
Warm the cauldron. Refine. Fuse. Condense. Collect.
The process was mind-numbingly repetitive. After half a day, the floor around him was littered with jade pill bottles of various sizes.
"This should be enough to restock for a while," Xiao Yan muttered, standing up with a series of popping joints. His spirit felt dulled from the monotony of mass-producing low-grade pills; it was a different kind of exhaustion than the thrilling strain of refining a high-tier pill.
After tidying up, he dragged his weary body to the bathing chamber. The tub was already half-filled. Without ceremony, he poured in fifteen or sixteen drops of the emerald-green, pure Earth Core Body Tempering Fluid, followed by a prepared neutralizing powder.
Ahhh…
Shedding his clothes, he sank into the water. A wave of profound warmth enveloped him, seeping into his bones and drawing an involuntary groan of pleasure from his lips. It was the second time today he'd made such a sound.
He closed his eyes, circulating his Dou Qi art, and began guiding the potent medicinal energy into his body.
As he cultivated, Xun'er arrived at his door. Sensing the stable, surging energy fluctuations within, she didn't disturb him. Instead, she sat gracefully outside, a silent, beautiful guardian.
Far away, in what was once Mu City—now renamed Boundless Heaven City—the turbulent underbelly of the newly established power was being purged with cold steel.
Yun Yun stood in the main hall of Boundless Heaven Hall, her expression frostier than the highest peaks of the Misty Cloud Sect. Reports of covert provocations and assassinations against their interests lay before her.
"They grow restless. They've even begun sending Dou Huangs to test our boundaries," Xiao Ding reported, his voice grave as he looked to Yun Yun for direction. She was the pillar holding their nascent empire together, while he and Hai Bodong managed the logistical web.
"Then it is time their hands feel the sharpness of our blade," Yun Yun stated, her voice devoid of all warmth. Under Xiao Yan's influence and through the bloody work of consolidating the city, her once-principled heart had forged a core of tempered steel. She would protect what was his.
A faint, bloodthirsty excitement flickered in the eyes of the Double-Headed Flame Spirit Snake, White Fang, coiled nearby. After becoming Qing Lin's companion, its life had been one of lazy comfort or being used as a punching bag for sparring. Now, it remembered the thrill of the hunt.
"I will handle this one personally," Yun Yun declared. "Let the vultures circling in the dark understand that the sword of Boundless Heaven Hall is always sharp."
Her aura turned piercingly cold. With a thought, a massive sword constructed from solidified Dou Qi materialized behind her. She stepped onto it, and with a sonic boom, shot through the main gate and vanished into the horizon.
High above a secluded mountain ravine, Yun Yun looked down. A disorderly cluster of new tents sprawled below—a forward base for those conspiring against her home. Her eyes, sharp as the sword in her hand, held no mercy.
A slender, golden-red longsword appeared in her grasp, its blade shimmering with a deadly, autumnal light.
"Your lives end today," her voice, calm yet resonant, echoed down into the ravine like a pronouncement from heaven. "This is the price for reaching towards what is mine."
Figures poured out of the tents, their shouts of anger turning to confusion, then dread as they looked skyward.
Yun Yun raised her sword. She did not chant. She did not form seals. She simply drew it across the air.
"Sword Qi: Flowing River."
Whoosh—!
An entire river of azure sword light, tangible and roaring, cascaded from the sky. Each strand of sword qi was a harbinger of annihilation. The air screamed as it was torn apart.
The makeshift camp had no chance. Defensive Dou Techniques shattered like glass. Weapons were sheared in half. Tents and bodies were rended indiscriminately. The ground itself was carved with deep, smoking gullies where residual sword intent hissed.
In moments, the ravine fell silent, transformed into a grisly painting of severed limbs and spilled blood. The two-star Dou Huang sent to lead the operation lay among the ruins, his eyes wide in permanent surprise, never having had the chance to utter a final word.
Yun Yun's gaze was impassive. She cast one final, deliberate look at a particular pile of debris before turning and shooting back towards Boundless Heaven City.
Five minutes after she left, a trembling hand pushed a corpse aside from that very spot. An old man, drenched in blood and other foulness, crawled out, his face a mask of utter terror.
"A slaughter… a goddess of slaughter…" he whimpered, scrambling away without a backward glance, the image of that cold, beautiful face and the descending river of light forever burned into his soul.
He was her messenger. The message was fear.
Back in the main hall, Yun Yun gave a brief report to Xiao Ding. "The nuisance in the Black Roc Valley has been cleared. Handle the aftermath." Her tone suggested she had done nothing more significant than clearing weeds.
With that, she retreated to the tranquility of the Eternal Heaven Realm, leaving the worldly affairs behind.
Back in the Inner Academy, the energy within Xiao Yan's bathing chamber had reached a fever pitch.
As he absorbed the last dregs of the Earth Core Body Tempering Fluid, a profound transformation swept through him. His bones hummed, his marrow brightened, his flesh and meridians were tempered and expanded. The Dou Qi in his dantian churned violently, compressed to a critical point.
Crack!
A barrier shattered within him. His aura erupted, soaring from the peak of the eight-star Dou Wang to the nine-star, then climbing relentlessly towards the pinnacle.
He felt the momentum stutter, the energy insufficient to breach the great wall between Wang and Huang.
Then, a final, potent drop of emerald liquid, hidden at the bottom of the tub, melted and surged into his meridians, providing the last, crucial push.
"BREAK!!!"
Xiao Yan roared. The formidable Dou Huang barrier, which had halted countless geniuses, shattered before his furious advance.
A new, vast, and mighty aura bloomed from his body, stabilizing with profound solidity.
One-Star Dou Huang.
He stood, water streaming from his powerful frame, and clenched his fists. Power, several times greater than before, thrummed through his veins. The world seemed clearer, the energy of heaven and earth more palpable.
"Finally… Dou Huang," he whispered, a fierce grin spreading across his face. "The road to Dou Di… seems a little brighter."
Pfft—
A soft, suppressed laugh, like silver bells, rang out from the direction of his bedroom, followed immediately by a short, flustered gasp.
"Ah!"
Xun'er stood frozen just inside his bedroom door, one hand covering her mouth, her face instantly blooming a brilliant scarlet. In her other hand was a tray holding a simple meal. She had come in quietly, thinking he was still immersed in cultivation, only to find him standing victorious… and very much unclothed, in the adjacent bathing chamber.
Xiao Yan turned, his triumphant grin turning into one of playful mischief as he met her wide, mortified eyes.