bookbashuk Chapter 223 The Cold Senior Brother Transforms into a Warm Pill
Chapter 223 The Cold Senior Brother Transforms into a Warm Pill
Chapter 223 The Cold Senior Brother Transforms into a Warm Pill (2-in-1)
A soft sigh fell, the void rippled slightly, and a young figure slowly emerged.
His gaze fell on the spot where Han Feng had died.
There wasn't even a speck of ash left there.
Seeing this, a hint of sadness welled up in his eyes, and he murmured softly.
"Oh, how did things turn out like this—I never intended to kill him."
Old Man Mu Gu caught sight of this figure out of the corner of his eye. His pupils contracted sharply, as if an invisible hand had gripped his heart. His eyes widened instantly, almost bursting out of their sockets, and his voice, filled with panic, practically screamed, "Yao Chen! You've actually been resurrected?!"
The young man's appearance was exactly the same as that of the spirited Yao Chen from back then! What made him break out in a cold sweat was that he hadn't even noticed when the other party had appeared there—it was as if the other party had been standing there from the beginning, and he was blind to have missed him. This feeling of being completely crushed made his whole body stiffen.
"You...you weren't watching from the very beginning, were you?!" Elder Mu Gu's voice trembled violently, his teeth chattering. He suddenly raised his voice, pressing on with a hint of despair, "You...you really did become a Dou Sheng?!"
"So what if it is? So what if it isn't?" The old man's tone was as cold as ice, without the slightest fluctuation, as if he were talking about a trivial matter. "You're about to die, is it necessary to think so much?"
These words were like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing the last glimmer of hope in Elder Mugu's heart.
His knees slammed heavily onto the ground with a dull thud, and he scrambled to his feet, prostrating himself before Yao Lao. Blood streamed from his forehead as he fell, and snot and tears smeared his face. He was a far cry from the dignified Dou Zun he once was: "Junior brother! I was wrong! Please spare me! For the sake of our shared mastery, please spare my life!"
"What's our relationship?" Yao Lao didn't even lift his eyelids, his tone filled with disgust like icy needles. "Don't keep calling me 'Junior Brother.' Who's being so affectionate with you? You were expelled from the sect by our master long ago. As a Dou Zun, facing death, you don't even have a shred of dignity?"
Driven to desperation by these words, Elder Mu Gu's eyes turned red, and his voice suddenly rose, filled with the panic of a dying struggle: "Junior Brother! Don't kill me! I have no grudge against you! I didn't kill you! It was Han Feng who killed you! I never even dared to have such a thought! Please, spare me!"
The old doctor gave a cold laugh:
"If Han Feng hadn't been constantly instigated by you, fueling his greed and ambition, how could he have gone so far as to kill his own teacher?"
"You say you don't want to kill me? Do you think I'm a three-year-old?"
"Master, why waste your breath on such a person?" Xiao Yan frowned slightly, his tone already showing some impatience, seeing that Elder Mu Gu still wanted to argue. "I happen to have a cheap disciple who is stuck at the sixth-grade alchemist level and is in dire need of pills to enhance his soul."
Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Yan had a small, antique box in his palm—the very one Xu Qing had given him earlier. As soon as the box was opened, an invisible suction force erupted instantly. Old Man Mu Gu only had time to let out a shrill, distorted scream before he was pulled straight into the box like a kite being dragged along.
The next second, the box suddenly burst out with a soft white light, and countless emerald green pills poured out like flowing water, instantly filling the air with a rich medicinal fragrance—the Azure Heaven Pill, which could enhance the power of the soul.
"Excellent! So many Azure Heaven Pills are enough to help several people break through to the seventh-grade alchemist level." The old alchemist looked at the pills scattered on the ground and nodded slowly, his tone filled with a sense of relief. "My once ruthless senior brother has now been transformed into pills that nourish the soul. It's quite a waste of his talents. Congratulations!"
It's important to understand that for alchemists below the eighth rank, enhancing their soul power is incredibly difficult: they either need to rely on years of refinement, accumulating it little by little, or they can nourish their soul while breaking through their battle qi realm. Only by reaching the eighth-rank alchemist level can one directly absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and actively temper their soul.
Xiao Yan looked at the pills, frowning in thought, when suddenly a question occurred to him, as if it connected to something.
"Could it be that the protectors and elders of the Soul Palace, who are capturing the souls of alchemists everywhere, also possess a method to refine souls into pills?"
After pondering for a moment, the old doctor slowly shook his head: "Perhaps, or it's possible that it's just extracting soul power and not necessarily refining pills."
"However, in order to gather soul power, they created such a huge super organization that spans the entire Dou Qi Continent. The Soul Clan must be planning something big."
Xiao Yan nodded in agreement.
But the next second, as if sensing something, he suddenly raised his hand towards the ruins not far away, his tone turning cold: "Ignoring you? You really think I didn't see you? You think you have the right to run away?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a cloud of black mist was forcibly pulled out of the ruins by Xiao Yan's soul power.
If it wasn't the Vulture Protector who had narrowly escaped before, then who was it?
The black mist, twisted and struggled violently in mid-air by Xiao Yan's soul power, from which came the terrified, distorted voice of the Vulture Protector: "Xiao Yan! Let me go! I am a protector of the Soul Palace! You have already killed an elder of the Soul Palace! If you dare to harm me again, the Soul Palace will surely grind you to dust!"
But as soon as he finished speaking, the soul power at Xiao Yan's fingertips suddenly tightened, and a heart-wrenching cry of pain immediately echoed from within the black mist: "Ah Yi! Spare me! Lord Xiao Yan, spare me!"
Xiao Yan glanced at him coldly, then asked again, "Do you know what use the Soul Palace has for so many souls?"
"I don't know. Our mission is simply to search for souls and capture them back to the Soul Palace. As for what the Soul Palace wants with the souls, nobody knows. I'm not lying. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do." Protector Vulture said without thinking. Seeing Xiao Yan's face darken after he finished speaking, he quickly added.
"Where is the headquarters of the Soul Palace located?"
"I don't know either," said Protector Vulture with a helpless expression.
"So where do you hand over the souls you capture?" Xiao Yan asked with a cold look as he stared at Protector Vulture, noticing his helpless expression.
"We have a quota each time, and we must complete the quota within the specified time before we can go back to hand it in. However, this is not going back to headquarters—the Soul Hall has many branch halls on the continent, and the place where we hand in our souls is in those branch halls."
"Do you know the locations of several branch halls?" Xiao Yan pressed on.
"One, each time they go out to do a mission, a human-level guardian is only qualified to know the location of one branch hall, an earth-level guardian can know two, and a heaven-level guardian can know three."
His gaze lingered on the wall of flames surrounding him, and feeling the intense heat within, the Vulture Guardian's soul trembled slightly before he could reply.
"Where?" Xiao Yan asked slowly, his eyes narrowed.
Upon hearing this, Protector Vulture gritted his teeth but shook his head, saying, "This is a secret of the Soul Palace. If it's exposed, my fate won't be much better than dying at your hands!"
A cold glint flashed in Xiao Yan's dark eyes, and he suddenly clenched his fist. The invisible wall of flames immediately contracted and adhered to the Vulture Protector's body. The sound rang out again, and the Vulture Protector's miserable scream followed.
"You have two choices: either die now from the scorching flames, or pray that your leak won't be discovered by the Soul Palace," Xiao Yan said indifferently, looking at the Vulture Protector who was emitting white smoke.
"You—bastard, ah, I'll talk, I'll talk, let me go!" The Vulture Protector had just cursed when the temperature of the invisible flames suddenly rose, and in the pain, he hurriedly shouted.
Upon hearing his voice, the tightly packed wall of flames slowly expanded, revealing the listless soul.
"The branch temple I know of is extremely far from the Izumo Empire, in a place called Tianzangjian within the Tianxin Empire, near the junction of the continent's center and the northwest region." The Vulture Protector's soul trembled slightly before he finally said dejectedly.
As soon as Protector Lu finished speaking, the last trace of warmth in Xiao Yan's eyes faded, leaving only a cold hatred for the Soul Palace in his dark eyes.
Once such a traitor has revealed the information, there's no need to keep him around.
Without uttering any unnecessary words, he flicked his finger, and the antique little box floated back into his palm.
The lid clicked open, and an even stronger invisible suction force swept out instantly, causing the airflow to be slightly distorted.
Upon seeing this, the Vulture Protector was immediately filled with terror.
The black mist around him churned violently, and his voice was filled with the terror of impending death. There was no trace of the arrogance he had shown as a protector before.
"No! Xiao Yan! How dare you! I've already told you the location of the branch hall, you can't kill me!" He tried to break free from Xiao Yan's soul restraints, but the power within the box had already blocked his escape route, and he could only watch helplessly as he was pulled towards the box by that suction force.
"Don't you know how many alchemists' blood is on the hands of the Soul Hall members? You've committed heinous crimes and still expect to be spared? There's no such thing as a free lunch. Are you dreaming?"
Xiao Yan's voice was completely calm, and with a slight exertion of force in his palm, the suction suddenly surged.
"I kept you alive until now only to get an address. Now that I've achieved my goal, do you think you still deserve to live?"
The black mist was forcibly pulled towards the box's opening, and the Vulture Protector's scream was piercingly sharp: "The Soul Palace will not let you go! They will avenge me!!"
Before he could finish speaking, the entire cloud of black mist was forcibly sucked into the box.
A mournful wail suddenly emanated from inside the box, and the patterns on the box's surface faintly glowed. However, the scream was completely silenced in the blink of an eye, and then all was quiet again.
Then, one after another, the large, emerald-green pills were expelled.
Upon seeing these pills, Xiao Yan couldn't help but think to himself how convenient the treasures given by Pavilion Master Xu were.
It saves me the trouble of killing people myself, turning waste into treasure, and saving me the effort of alchemy.
Even for an eighth-grade alchemist, a powerful alchemist capable of absorbing spiritual energy, these pills are rare and precious natural treasures.
He raised his hand to close the box lid, then looked at the old doctor:
"Teacher, now that we have the address of the Soul Palace, we should act quickly. The Soul Palace's henchmen are a hidden danger if we stay any longer, and who knows how many alchemists will die."
The old doctor nodded slowly: "You're right. Destroying the Soul Palace isn't just about avenging me. It's best to deal with this kind of evil organization as soon as possible."
Xiao Yan raised his eyes and looked towards the distant horizon, his gaze falling on the direction of the Heavenly Burial Ravine. His knuckles tightened slightly. "However, teacher, this time I still want you to let me take action alone. Including the subsequent destruction of the other branch halls, teacher, you just need to watch from behind."
Following his gaze, the old apothecary looked at him with a hint of solemnity in his eyes, but also with a touch of expectation: "The Soul Palace branch has been operating for many years. Although the strength of a single branch is not strong, your strength is sufficient. However, the entire Soul Palace definitely has Dou Sheng experts. Your strength is still a bit lacking."
Xiao Yan smiled upon hearing this:
"Teacher, that's not difficult at all."
After saying that, he looked toward the place where Han Feng died.
The three strange flames still floated quietly in mid-air. The pale blue flames of the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame licked the air, the bone spirit cold flame shone with a chilling white light, and together with the strange flame left behind by Han Feng, the three heat waves, enough to incinerate metal and stone, intertwined, making the rubble of the surrounding ruins faintly hot.
Xiao Yan looked up at the three flames, took a deep breath, and his soul power spread out like a tide, instantly enveloping the three strange flames and locking them firmly in front of him, leaving them no room to break free.
"Teacher, watch carefully." Xiao Yan turned his head and said to Yao Lao, his tone filled with certainty. Before Yao Lao could respond, he stretched out his right hand, palm facing up, and a gentle yet irresistible suction force slowly emanated from it.
In the blink of an eye, the three strange flames flew into Xiao Yan's body.
Three strange flames converged in his dantian, instantly unleashing terrifying energy.
Xiao Yan's dantian vortex spun violently, and his Dou Qi at the Dou Wang realm expanded wildly like boiling water.
He could clearly feel that with each wisp of strange fire's power infused into him, the battle qi in his dantian grew stronger, and the energy flow in his meridians increased.
"boom!"
A muffled thud came from Xiao Yan's body, the surrounding air suddenly distorted, the rubble on the ruins was blown away by the invisible fighting spirit, and even the distant clouds were shaken apart.
His aura surged instantly, the barrier of the peak Dou Wang realm shattered like paper, and his Dou Qi broke through directly, stepping into the Dou Huang realm!
But that's not all.
After absorbing the three strange flames, the Xuan-level technique, Burning Blade, shattered. The Dou Qi vortex circulated within Xiao Yan's body, frantically devouring the energy of the strange flames and soaring rapidly.
High-grade Xuan level, low-grade Di level, mid-grade Di level —
Ultimately, the Burning Technique's cultivation level remained at the advanced Earth Rank, and the technique's aura became heavy and domineering.
At the same time, countless streams of spiritual energy from heaven and earth surged in. With the fusion of the strange fire and the improvement of his cultivation level, Xiao Yan was like a black hole.
As countless energies of heaven and earth and the power of strange fire poured in, his Dou Qi realm directly stepped into the peak of the Nine-Star Dou Zong!
Seeing this, even the old apothecary couldn't help but widen his eyes.
"The Burning Technique actually has such power?!" Yao Lao muttered to himself, his eyes filled with amazement.
Xiao Yan's combat strength had already reached the peak of Dou Zun, so Yao Lao was certainly not marveling at his peak Dou Zong strength.
He was shocked that devouring the strange fire could actually increase his strength!
This is practically cheat code!
The old doctor immediately regretted not having cultivated the Burning Technique.
But then he had a change of heart.
Not to mention how difficult it is to find different flames, there are only twenty-three of them in the entire Dou Qi Continent. Cultivating this technique is too difficult, and fusing with different flames is not so easy.
It should be noted that even Han Feng, a nine-star Dou Huang, suffered a backlash from a strange fire after absorbing it, causing him unbearable pain.
Moreover, the explosion that occurs when three different flames merge is something that ordinary experts simply cannot control.
With each additional element of different flames fused together, the power increases exponentially.
If it were anyone else, let alone three strange flames, even two strange flames colliding in the dantian meridians would have burned them to ashes long ago, even if they were a Dou Zong or Dou Zun powerhouse.
Even if one is well-prepared with elixirs and various rare and precious herbs, the survival rate will definitely not exceed 50%.
Not to mention swallowing three strange flames at once.
That's basically equivalent to swallowing a violently erupting volcano! Letting those volcanoes explode inside your body!
But Xiao Yan not only withstood it, he was also able to guide them to merge.
This is not only due to Xiao Yan's powerful physical body, but also because his powerful soul force made it possible.
Anyone else who tries to fuse with the strange fire will almost certainly die; it's practically suicide.
This is also why Master Yao did not cultivate this technique in the first place.
They're all alive and well, who would be so bored as to experiment with this technique and think they're lucky to be alive?