A month flew by in the blink of an eye. During this time, Xiao Yan enjoyed a rare period of leisure. No longer wandering the world in search of Heavenly Fmes, he lived like a graduate student about to plete his studies. Every day, he either refined and perfected his self-created Angry Buddha Lotus Fme Dou Teique, immersed himself in alchemy, or cultivated his Qi Method and Dou Teiques.

  In the end, he eveed his own 4th-tier pill recipe using the Core-Fire Lotus Seed as the main ingredient. This pill not only had the effect of removing fire poison from the body and clearing the mind but also allowed his cultivation to advance by oar, reag the 4-star Dou Grandmaster stage.

  What was somewhat regrettable was that his alchemy skills only reached the minimum goal he had set for himself. He achieved the peak of the 4th tier but couldn't break through to the 5th tier. Currently, with the assistance of the Heavenly Fme and the Bck Demon Cauldron, he had a nearly 100% success rate in refining 4th-tier medial pills and often produced multiple pills in a sich.

  However, he still couldn't successfully refih-tier pills, and even the weakest 5th-tier pills had never been successful.

  He had also exhausted the medial herbs obtained from the cave of the Poison Scripture and Little Fairy Doctor's valley. Fortunately, he had taken the opportunity to loot Yao Li's ste ring and Queen Medusa's treasury back then. Otherwise, he would now be so poor that he wouldn't even have any ingredients to practice with.

  Indeed, being an alchemist was both a money-making and money-draining profession! Earning money was faster than robbery, but losing money made you want to go rob.

  Night fell, and darkness enveloped the nd. In the sky above, the silver moon hung high, its faint moonlight gently dispelling some of the darkness. In a month's time, the Desert Metal Merary pany had been rebuilt. A grand pavilion now stood tall in Rock Desert City.

  Iranquil pound, the three brothers y on fortable lounge chairs, gazing up at the star-filled sky. Occasionally, they would lift their wine gsses, k them together, and chat leisurely about life.

  There seemed to be a tacit uanding among the three brothers—they all khat Xiao Yan would be leaving the day.

  After downing the wine in his cup, Xiao Yan turo look at his two slightly intoxicated elder brothers and slowly stood up.

  He took four scrolls from his ste ring aly pced them on the small table beside Xiao Ding and Xiao Li.

  Xiao Ding smiled and shook his head, while Xiao Li looked someuzzled. Xiao Yan expined, "Here are two High Xuan Css wood-attribute and lightning-attribute Qi Methods, as well as two Intermediate Xuan Css Dou Teiques without attribute requirements—one is an agility teique, and the other is a defeeique. They happen to be suitable f Brother and Sed Brother to cultivate."

  Xiao Yan did not give them any attack-type Dou Teiques; he only hoped that his two elder brothers would stay safe and sound. If they couldn't win a fight, at least they could escape.

  Even the slightly drunken eyes of Xiao Ding and Xiao Li suddenly lit up when they heard this. They immediately sat up straight.

  Just a single High Xuan Css Qi Method riceless treasure in the Jia Ma Empire. Although Xiao Zhan had once bought a High Xuan Css 'Hurrie t' at an au for hundreds of thousands of gold s, that Qi Method had serious fws, which was why it was left unsold until it reached Wu Tan City.

  Adding two more Dou Teiques on top of that, these four a scrolls were valuable enough to purchase the entire merary pany!

  If Xiao Yan hadn't helped Xiao Ding and Xiao Li solidate all the merary panies in Rock Desert City, he wouldn't have dared to give them such precious items.

  Even someone as calm and steady as Xiao Ding couldn't help but show a trace of desire on his fa the presence of such rare treasures. As for Xiao Li, he grabbed the silver scroll the moment Xiao Yan finished speaking and couldn't put it down as he exami from top to bottom.

  But that wasn't all. Xiao Yan took out more than a dozen ornate boxes from his ste ring. Each box tained pills that were entig just to look at.

  "These are 4th-tier Hidden Spirit Pills. They help a 9-star Dou Master break through to the Dou Grandmaster realm without any side effects. They prevent unstable Dou Qi and also increase the ce of breaking through to the Dou Spirit realm by 10% afterward."

  "These are 4th-tier Detoxification Pills; these are 4th-tier Great Blood Recovery Pills for healing injuries; and these are 4th-tier Beast Strength Pills, which temporarily enhahe user's physical strength."

  "And these are peak 4th-tier Spirit Breaking Pills, which increase the ce of breaking through to the Dou Spirit realm by 30-40%. Wheogether with the Hidden Spirit Pills, the ce should increase to 50-60%. It's a pity that I haven't reached the 5th-tier alchemist level yet; otherwise, I could refih-tier Spirit Breaking Pills, which would allow a 9-star Dou Grandmaster to directly break through to the Dou Spirit realm."

  Xiao Ya a bit regretful. 4th-tier pills could only increase the success rate, whereas 5th-tier pills could lead to a direct breakthrough to the Dou Spirit realm. Unfortunately, he had used up all the ingredients for the Spirit Breaking Pill and hadn't succeeded even once.

  Listening to Xiao Yan's introdu, Xiao Ding and Xiao Li's mouths dropped open wide enough to fit a duck egg.

  They had thought that the Qi Methods and Dou Teiques were already astonishing enough, but they hadn't expected something even more eous!!! Any one of these 4th-tier pills could cause an uproar iire Rock Desert City!

  There were five types of pills. Except for the Great Blood Recovery Pills, which had six boxes, the other funal pills had two boxes each, making a total of fourteen ornate boxes!!!

  Hair-raisiravagant!!

  "And there's more..."

  "You have more?!!!" Xiao Ding and Xiao Li excimed in unison. That's enough already!

  Xiao Yan chuckled and took out two more items, "These two things aren't worth much."

  "In this small bottle is a miniature Angry Buddha Lotus Fme. If you enter an enemy you 't handle, just i Dou Qi and throw it out. It should unleash the power of a full-strength attack from a high-star Dou Spirit." He pced two bottles taining four-colored lotus fmes—red, green, bck, and white—oable.

  To preserve them, the amount of fme inside was very small, only enough for refining a 2nd-tier pill, but they tained four kinds of Heavenly Fmes!

  "And finally, these are two Soul unication Jade Pendants. Crush oo send a spiritual uniessage."

  Life-saving trump cards and emergenunication jade pendants!

  Seeing these invaluable items filled with heartfelt iions, Xiao Ding and Xiao Li picked them up with great care. pared to the scrolls of Qi Methods and Dou Teiques and the pills, these two items were the most precious in their hearts.

  "I'm truly ashamed; I have nothing to give you as y brother." Xiao Ding shook his head with a bitter smile.

  Suddenly, a cluster of green fmes slowly rose from Xiao Yan's palm, illuminating the faces of the three brothers. Xiao Yan said, "This is the gift from you two brothers; I've just received it in advance."

  Although Xiao Ding and Xiao Li hadn't directly helped him obtain the Heavenly Fme, he khat if his two elder brothers hadn't kept his casual words in their hearts, he might not have been able to obtain the Green Lotus Core Fme.

  The rest of the night was filled with chatter and ughter.

  …

  Early the m, Xiao Yan quietly flew away from Rock Desert City and head straight toward the capital city of the Jia Ma Empire with Hai Bodong.

  Apart from occasionally stopping iies along the way to see if there were any medial ingredients for the Spiritual Recovery Purple Pill, the two of them spent almost all their time flying.

  Several days ter, they gazed upon the majestic city that appeared beh the clouds and mist—that was Jia Ma Sacred City.

  Suddenly, Xiao Yan's gaze suddenly shifted toward the northern part of the capital city. There stood an enormous mountain rahat could only be described as majestic, lying like a giant dragon, faintly exuding an aura that soared into the sky.

  That was the location of the colossal entity of the Jia Ma Empire—the Misty Cloud Sect!

  However, her the Jia Ma Empire nor the Misty Cloud Sect was signifit. What truly made Xiao Yan somewhat expet was the Hall of Souls hidden within the Jia Ma Empire!

  He hadn't fotten that the reason Hun Huzi knew about the Xiao back then was because his reputation had reached the ears of the Hall of Souls in the capital at that time.

  Xiao Yan guessed that the people from the Hall of Souls hidden in Jia Ma Sacred City had e to iigate the Xiao d discovered something. Not daring to act rashly, they reported their findings to their superiors, which eventually led to Hun Huzi's arrival.

  As for the specifics, Xiao Yan would have to personally visit the Hall of Souls in Jia Ma Sacred City to find out.

  "Hall of Souls of the Jia Ma Empire, here I e. Jie Jie Jie."

  "Why are you ughing sely?"

  "You wouldn't uand; it's tradition."