Word Count: 3,055 Words

******

"Intermediate 2-star Dou Saint." Xiao Yan lightly waved his hand. "You think too highly of yourself. Besides, I have no interest in your First Tianzun seat."

"Late 2-star Dou Saint..." Third Tianzun Gui Ming stared until he was dumbfounded. Back then, after obtaining Xiao Yan’s Nine Revolutions Heaven-Changing Pill, he had refined it for a very long time and supplemented it with soul essence before finally raising his cultivation to the intermediate Half-Saint level. Only then had he gained a chance to catch up to Second Tianzun.

Yet the Xiao Yan who had once needed his help had not only surpassed him but left him far, far behind!

Gui Ming’s entire worldview shattered. How on earth had this fellow cultivated?!

’Is the Bodhisattva Heart truly that incredible?’ Second Tianzun Gu You knew more than the others, and he had naturally heard the legends surrounding the Bodhisattva Heart. The previous person to gain the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree’s opportunity had entered as a 2-star Dou Venerate, yet emerged a Dou Saint!

That was why the legend existed that the Bodhisattva Heart could allow one to become a Saint on the spot.

"Cough, cough... you!" The First Tianzun’s eyes were locked on Xiao Yan. His finger trembled as it pointed, and disbelief filled his face. "Your strength..."

Compared with the Third and Second Tianzuns, the First Tianzun had personally crossed blows with Xiao Yan and understood the situation most clearly. Xiao Yan was far more than a simple late 2-star Dou Saint. Without using a single Dou Technique, relying solely on his control of Dou Qi, he had shattered a Low Tian Class defensive Dou Technique with one finger.

This could only mean one thing: Xiao Yan’s Dou Qi was incomparably condensed, and its quality was many times higher than his own!

"You cultivate a High Tian Class Qi Method..."

The moment those words left the First Tianzun’s lips, every pupil in the chamber trembled violently, and terror filled their gazes as they turned toward Xiao Yan.

It was entirely reasonable that First Tianzun had failed to block Xiao Yan’s finger. The Qi Method he cultivated was only Low Tian Class, while Xiao Yan’s Flame Mantra was not only High Tian Class, but his Dou Qi also contained the might of Heavenly Flames. Even an ordinary Dou Technique in Xiao Yan’s hands would be stronger than what others could unleash, let alone when his cultivation was already higher than First Tianzun’s.

On the surface, the difference in their cultivation did not seem large. It was only a small half-level. Yet after exchanging blows, the First Tianzun understood that the gap between them was far greater than any small half-level. It was the distance between heaven and earth! Even the late 3-star Dou Saint Deputy Hall Chief Hun Zhu had never pressed him with such crushing force!

This Xiao Yan really could fight above his level and crush Deputy Hall Chief Hun Zhu!

A Dou Saint crossing levels in battle... he had never even heard of such a thing! Wasn’t it supposed to be impossible? Even crossing a small half-level should have been impossible!

After repelling the First Tianzun with a single finger, Xiao Yan spoke calmly. "If even you have no objections, I intend to take all the soul essence here."

Would Xiao Yan stand on ceremony with the Hall of Souls? How could that be possible!

This was another of the differences the Sixth Tianzun had once spoken of. Once they became one of the Ten Great Tianzuns, they were no longer mere hired labor. In a sense, they had become shareholders of the Hall of Souls and were entitled to enjoy its resources.

That was precisely why the Man Hall did not have a Soul Offering Altar. Soul bodies handed in here yielded no soul points. Instead, all the soul essence in this place could be freely absorbed by the Tianzuns themselves. If they needed Qi Methods or Dou Techniques, they had to complete missions assigned by the Hun Clan.

The Ten Great Tianzuns already counted as members of the Hun Clan.

Generally speaking, however, the Deputy Hall Chiefs and Hall Chief drew their resources directly from the Hun Clan, acting essentially as supervisors dispatched from headquarters.

The space before Xiao Yan twisted the moment his words faded. A figure slowly took shape from within the warped air, and at the same time, an unusually formidable aura swept through the sealed underground chamber.

"Xiao Yan, you may freely absorb the soul essence aura here, but you cannot refine all of it away. This Soul Light Cluster must be handed over to the clan." The voice was low and ghostly, like something rising from a tomb.

Xiao Yan looked at the figure completely wrapped in black fog. He did not need to ask to know that this was naturally the Hall of Souls’ Deputy Hall Chief, Hun Zhu, who had not appeared during the ceremony back then.

The light cluster here was vast, yet even the First Tianzun and the others had only dared sit at its edge, circulating their Qi Methods to slowly absorb the soul aura it released. None of them had dared swallow it whole.

If anyone could truly devour such a vast mass of soul essence, even the Third Tianzun would likely be able to ascend straight into the Dou Saint realm!

Xiao Yan smiled and shook his head. "You should know that I did not come here to negotiate. With your strength, you cannot stop me."

The black fog slowly rippled, then revealed the Deputy Hall Chief’s true appearance. It was an unusually pale face, one that did not look old at all. On the contrary, it resembled the face of a youth. The sinister chill in his voice, however, told Xiao Yan that his true age was nothing like what his appearance suggested.

"You are strong, but the Hall of Souls is not a place where you alone have the final say."

Xiao Yan shook his head. "You are wrong. This is what I am owed."

Hum!

The Soul Command Token Xiao Yan had thrown out suddenly erupted with an extraordinarily powerful soul fluctuation. A Soul Path opened in an instant, and an old man in a black alchemist’s robe stepped through it.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

Hun Zhu and every Tianzun present dropped to one knee before the old man in unison and cried out together, "Greetings, Lord Pill Saint."

Zhai Xing, who had been watching from the side, heard the words and dropped to the floor with a thud. He prostrated himself fully, not daring even to glance at the old man.

’The Hun Clan’s Lord Pill Saint!!’ Zhai Xing was so terrified he nearly lost control of himself. This was an invincible figure!

The only person in the entire chamber who did not bow was, naturally, Xiao Yan.

Hun Huzi’s lips curved into a faint smile as he sized Xiao Yan up. "I can smell the scent of Tier 9 Treasure Pills on you, and more than one kind. You should already be capable of refining Tier 9 Treasure Pills, with no small success rate."

Xiao Yan shrugged. His refinement of the Nine Yin Yellow Spring Pill was no secret. Plenty of people had witnessed it. But the fact that Hun Huzi could tell at a glance that he had successfully refined other Tier 9 Treasure Pills as well showed just how terrifying this man’s perception was.

"I thought you would come in person this time." Xiao Yan glanced at Hun Huzi and spoke calmly.

The Hun Huzi before him was still not the real body, only a soul projection. Now that he thought about it, Xiao Yan realized he had never actually seen Hun Huzi’s true body.

"High-level Dou Saints above 7-stars from the Hun Clan and the Gu Clan keep watch on one another. None of us can simply step out as we please," Hun Huzi replied noncommittally.

Xiao Yan’s eyes flickered. Whether they truly could not step out as they pleased was another matter. He did not believe for a moment that the Gu Clan could keep the Hun Clan in check.

If they really could, would the Ling Clan have ended up the way they had?

"Did you obtain the item?" Hun Huzi asked.

Xiao Yan wasted no breath on pleasantries. He drew a pill recipe scroll from the Nihility Space and said, "You should know the value of this thing. I paid no small price for it."

"When the time comes, although other clansmen will go to compete for it, Hun Mie Sheng will assist you with all his strength," Hun Huzi said. "As for that item, Hun Mie Sheng will deliver it to you personally."

Hearing Hun Huzi assign the Hall Chief to run an errand and deliver something to Xiao Yan caused cold sweat to seep from Deputy Hall Chief Hun Zhu’s forehead. He could not help screaming inwardly, Isn’t this Xiao Yan merely Lord Pill Saint’s disciple?! Why does this tone sound nothing like that?!

Indeed, after many people learned that Xiao Yan was the Tenth Tianzun, they had assumed that Xiao Yan, the Pill Gathering champion, was Hun Huzi’s personal disciple and the Hun Clan’s second Pill Saint. That was why his status was so transcendent.

Yet after hearing this exchange, why did Xiao Yan’s status seem to be not much lower than Hun Huzi’s own???

Could it be that he was not a disciple at all?! 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Every Tianzun present caught the scent of something extraordinary in the air. They could feel the undercurrents surging across the Dou Qi Continent.

They were like leaves caught in the great waves of an era. Stand on the wrong side, and at any moment those waves might swallow them whole, leaving them to die without even a corpse to bury!

"By the way, I’ll need the soul essence here for my breakthrough." Just as the Soul Path projection was on the verge of collapsing, Xiao Yan spoke with deliberate casualness. "Though I hear it’s supposed to be returned to the Hun Clan?"

"Jie Jie Jie, with strength like yours, do you really need to ask?" Hun Huzi let out his strange, rasping laugh. "The Hall of Souls isn’t a place that bothers with rules. Here, strength is the rule. If others refuse to give, can you not simply take?"

Those final words struck Deputy Hall Chief Hun Zhu and First Tianzun like icy water down their backs.

The Hall of Souls might have been a domain where the strong reigned supreme, but that did not mean the people here were fools.

"Lord Pill Saint Yan, hehehe, this old man truly had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai." First Tianzun Ming Jin produced a smile so warm one might have thought he had not been the one Xiao Yan had wounded only moments before.

"Hehe, since Lord Pill Saint has spoken, the Soul Light Cluster here naturally belongs to Lord Pill Saint Yan. None of us have any objections whatsoever." Deputy Hall Chief Hun Zhu nodded lightly with a smile of his own, looking like a different man entirely from the one who had stood there minutes earlier.

A short distance away, Zhai Xing wore an oddly bewildered expression. Every person here was countless times stronger than him, yet why did each of them seem almost no different from him??

As the saying went, one did not slap a smiling face. Xiao Yan saw no reason to dwell on the matter. What mattered now was the complete Emperor Soul Technique and the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.

If he could finish cultivating the Emperor Soul Technique, then a single roar from him would be enough to reduce the Northern Dragon King’s soul to dust.

A Dou Qi Method and a Soul Training Method, both of High Tian Class. Even Xiao Yan himself could not fathom the heights to which his combat strength would soar!

Hun Mie Sheng did not make Xiao Yan wait for long. He crossed a distance of tens of millions of miles and arrived within the Man Hall with astonishing speed. To have a half-step 5-star Dou Saint powerhouse deliver something like a courier was something only a handful of people across the entire Dou Qi Continent could enjoy.

"This is what you wanted."

Within the Soul Pool of the Man Hall, Hall Chief Hun Mie Sheng handed a scroll to Xiao Yan without any expression and exchanged it for the incomplete pill recipe. Although his expression did not change much, a trace of surprise still flashed through his eyes.

Clearly, despite knowing Xiao Yan’s identity, and even knowing about the Di Pill Plan as well as Xiao Yan’s role, Hun Mie Sheng was still deeply shocked by the speed of Xiao Yan’s improvement.

He even suspected that the reason the Ling Clan had been eliminated ahead of schedule was because Xiao Yan’s strength had risen too quickly, creating a butterfly effect!

"When will the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame descend?" Xiao Yan did not immediately open the Emperor Soul Technique and instead asked this question.

"Two months from now, three at the latest. The exact day, I cannot say. But I have been watching that region without pause. The instant the Demon Flame appears, you will be the first to know." There was nothing about Hun Mie Sheng in this moment that resembled the Hall Chief whose name had once made the Dou Qi Continent tremble.

He had now received orders from the Hun Clan’s Council of Elders. He was required to assist Xiao Yan with all his strength in obtaining the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame!

So, who exactly was the Hall Chief here?

Xiao Yan’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he gave a small nod. Two months would be more than enough to master the Emperor Soul Technique and absorb the entirety of the Soul Light Cluster.

After tucking away the complete Emperor Soul Technique, Xiao Yan turned his gaze downward to the enormous pit below, where the Soul Light Cluster pulsed with an alluring radiance. A surge of late Heavenly State Spiritual Strength erupted from his body.

"Late Heavenly State Spiritual Strength?!"

Whuuuuuuuu—!

A bone-chilling, otherworldly shriek tore from within Xiao Yan’s body. In the same instant, a tide of dark power swept through the entire Man Hall. A series of clanking sounds rang out as thick Soul Chains shot out from the Asura Abyss. The heavy chains bound the enormous Soul Light Cluster and slowly dragged it into the abyss. This cluster, formed from the soul essence of an unknown number of millions or tens of millions of soul bodies, was swallowed whole.

The Soul Light Cluster harbored an immense reservoir of negative emotional energy. But for Xiao Yan, who cultivated both the Asura Soul Reaping Technique and the Emperor Soul Technique, any negative force hoping to influence him would likely require the personal hand of a Dou God.

With everything in hand, Xiao Yan paid no further mind to Hun Mie Sheng’s astonishment and departed the Man Hall.

...

Rather than returning to the Yan Alliance, Xiao Yan made his way back to the Yellow Springs Mountain Range.

Two years of growth had transformed the Snake-People Tribe almost beyond recognition. Towering structures rose from the earth in every direction, and what had once been scattered snake-people settlements now stood as great holy cities forming a protective ring around the Snake-People Sacred City.

At the very center of the Sacred City rose a massive statue, carved in the likeness of a Seven-Colored Giant Python. The colossal serpent reared toward the sky with its jaws flung wide. Mighty and domineering, it commanded the eye of every soul who passed beneath it.

There could be no mistake. The statue depicted the ruler of the Snake-People Tribe, Cai Lin, Xiao Yan’s wife.

"Daddy, you’re back!"

"Hiss hiss~~"

Two streaks of light shot out from within the residence, resolving into Xiao Yan’s two beloved daughters, Xiao Xiao and Xiao Cai.

"That’s right." Xiao Yan smiled and gathered them both into his arms. "Have my little ones been good? Have you been listening to Qing Lin?"

"Young Master Xiao Yan." Sensing his return, Qing Lin emerged in a flowing green gauze dress, carrying a basin of hot water and a clean towel.

Xiao Yan wiped his hands with the warm cloth and asked, "Nothing’s happened while I was away, has it?"

Qing Lin shook her head with a gentle smile. She had reached the Half-Saint level by now, and with his Spiritual Strength Xiao Yan could plainly sense a strand of negative emotion lingering within her, eerily similar to what had been sealed inside the Soul Light Cluster.

The Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils could absorb the cultivation of snake-type slaves and convert it directly into her own. While this made her cultivation soar, it came with its own drawbacks.

"Where is Zi Yan? She should have arrived earlier than me." Xiao Yan looked around but did not see her.

"Zi Yan is at the Nine Serene Yellow Spring." Qing Lin’s smile turned amused. "When she heard that Young Master Xiao Yan had learned the Yellow Spring Divine Anger from the stone tablet, she said she wanted to learn it as well."

"Oh?" Xiao Yan blinked, momentarily caught off guard. He had nearly forgotten. The first sonic Dou Technique he had ever obtained had been developed from the roar of the Ancient Void Dragon Race. When it came to sonic Dou Techniques, the Ancient Void Dragon Race surely could not be outdone by the Ancient Heaven Serpent.

Without further hesitation, Xiao Yan tore open space and stepped through to the Nine Serene Yellow Spring.

When he once again arrived at the Nine Serene Yellow Spring, he saw Zi Yan, who had returned to her grown-up appearance. Her eyes were tightly shut, and beads of sweat dotted her forehead. Her right hand touched the Yellow Spring Stone Tablet while waves of purple light radiated from her body.

It was clear that even for Zi Yan, the Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe, weak Spiritual Strength remained the ever-present curse of magical beasts. To withstand the trial barrier of the Yellow Spring Divine Anger was far from easy, even for one such as her.