'Three Purple Bluegrass, two Bone Washing Flower, and one Rank 1 Wood Attribute Monster Core.' Xiao Yan took out all the materials listed in the Foundation Pill Recipe from the ste ring.

  The Monster Core still had blood stains on it, as it had obviously beeracted from the body of a magical beast not long ago. To be more precise, it was the one Xiao Yan had hunted himself this m.

  All alchemy processes required a Monster Core that came from magical beasts as an essential energy source.

  Besides supervising the m training of the disciples, Xiao Yan would patrol the market with Xun Er. After lunch, he would usually veo the forest to searedial herbs and hunt magical beasts. In the evening, he would head to the back mountain to practice his Dou Teique and cultivate his Dou Qi.

  sistently, day in and day out, for ten years.

  This was not only because he possessed the talent of an alchemist, but also because his ste ring tained a vast colle of pill recipes, ranging from 1st-tier to 8th-tier pills, providing him with all the necessary requirements for alchemy.

  Pill recipes, alchemy teiques, a pendium of medial herbs, and alchemy insights filled up a rge portion of the ste ring. Xiao Ya a full ten years reading through all of them.

  However, while he had read through them, uanding them was another matter altogether.

  In fact, when Xiao Yan picked up the pill from the ground and immediately reized it as a Qi Gathering Pill just by smelling it in the m, it proved that he already had siderable knowledge of medial pills.

  However, his image was just to within the Xiao , and since even the Grand Elder knew what a Qi Gathering Pill was, no one doubted that a fourteen-year-old boy shouldn't know about it.

  Even Xun Er and Xiao Zhan didn't think much about it. They just assumed that Xiao Yan might have heard about Qi Gathering Pills from somewhere.

  An hour ter, with a loud bang, the energy within the Monster Core ihe medial cauldron suddenly surged. The terrifying high temperature swept through the cauldron, instantly turning the herbs that were still being purified into ashes.

  The alchemy had failed.

  "Sigh, refining a 2nd-tier medial pill is really too difficult."

  Xiao Yan wiped the ash from his face. His expression was one of helplessness. Even someone like Xiao Yan was only a novice alchemist without the guidance of a Master.

  "It took me three years just to master the refi of 1st-tier medial pills. My progress is too slow..."

  If any other alchemist were to hear this, they would probably be livid with rage. To learn on his own and reach the level of a 1st-tier Alchemist in only three years without any formal guidance, his alchemy talent might even surpass his cultivation talent.

  Xiao Yaook out a sed set of ingredients to tinue refining. In essence, alchemy was like leveling up by grinding monsters. It rocess of stantly gaining experience.

  After reag the Dou Practitioner realm, he would refine whenever he gathered enough herbs, whether by pig them in the wild or buying some affordable ones from the market.

  Until his Dou Qi was exhausted, Xiao Yan was uo refihe Foundation Building Pill.

  "My Dou Qi is still too weak. Using Dou Qi to produce fmes for alchemy is too ineffit."

  Just as Xiao Yan was about to pce the medial cauldron bato the ste ring and start cultivating his Dou Qi, a powerful surge of Spiritual Strength suddenly desded. It not only sealed the entire room but also locked Xiao Yan's body in pce, rendering him pletely immobile.

  "Jie Jie, I've heard rumors about a talented young man with the surname Xiao in this remote Jia Ma Empire. I didn't expect to find such a big fish here. The heritage of the Xiao is actually hidden in such a remote pce."

  A figure bck robes appeared in front of Xiao Yan in a ghost-like manner. After which, the ste ring on Xiao Yan's hand flew towards him with a slight flick of his finger.

  "Return... it... to me!" Xiao Yan gred as he struggled against his restraints, his entire body surging with Dou Qi in an attempt to break free. However, in front of the man in the bck robe, his strength was as insignifit as a mayfly shaking a tree.

  The bck-robed man paid no attention to Xiao Yan's anger. Were it not for certain reservations, Xiao Yan would have been a corpse by now.

  Everything ihe ste ring spilled out in an instant with a light touch of his fihen, his powerful Spiritual Strength enveloped all the items, and among all the inanimate objects such as Dou Teiques, Qi Methods, and Pill Recipes, one 'living' thing stood out.

  It was a mysterious white fme that emitted a cold aura.

  This fme was sealed ihe ste ring, and it was the ohing that Xiao Yan treasured the most.

  Bone Chilling Fme, ranked 11th on the Heavenly Fme Ranking.

  The mere description of this fme in the books was enough to make Xiao Yan aware of its preciousness and its terrifying nature.

  It was the target of tless alchemists on the ti!

  Xiao Yan's body was wracked with surges of Dou Qi and Spiritual Strength as he desperately tried to break the seal. Even with blood dripping from the ers of his mouth and his body almost at the breaking point, he refused to give up.

  "Huh? This isn't the heritage of the Xiao ?"

  The man in the bck robe swiftly sed all the items with his Spiritual Strength. He paid special attention to items like jade pendants and checked them multiple times. However, to his bewilderment, after a thh iion, he found that none of the items seemed to belong to the Xiao . The Qi Methods and Dou Teiques were not those he ko be possessed by the Xiao he was familiar with.

  He had initially heard from his subordihat there was a Xiao Wu Tan City, which had produced a young genius. The young man's fame had even reached the imperial capital of the Jia Ma Empire, prompting him to e here specifically.

  This artly due to Nan Yanran's grandfather, Nan Jie. He was quite satisfied with Xiao Yan's cultivation talent and had often boasted in the capital about having a talented grandson-in-w with the surname Xiao.

  However, he did not expect that the bination of the words "Xiao" and "genius" would attract such trouble.

  The man in the bck robe had a furrowed brow as he watched Xiao Yan's desperate struggle. Due to the overexertion of his Spiritual Strength, blood tears began to seep from the ers of his eyes at this moment.

  The man in the bck robe discreetly g the room where Xun Er was. Soon after, his Spiritual Strength subtly swept over everyone in the Xiao territory except Xun Er, but he did not find what he was searg for.

  He clicked his tongue and released the spiritual restraint. Then he grabbed Xiao Yan by the neck, his voice sinister as he threatened, "Boy, tell me where the a jade is, or I'll annihite your entire Xiao ."

  "I don't know what you're talking about. Return the Bone Chilling Fme to me!" Xiao Yan tio attack with the Oe Bst. However, the move that had defeated Nan Yanran couldn't evehe bck-robed man's clothes.

  This terrifying gap in strength made Xiao Yan realize that the man in front of him was likely strohan a Dou Spirit, perhaps even strohan a Dou King!

  "Bone Chilling Fme? This trashy Heavenly Fme?" The bck-robed man flicked his finger lightly, and the Bone Chilling Fme, ranked 11th in the Heavenly Fme Ranking and coveted by tless alchemists, was being toyed with in his palm like a child's pything.

  The man in the bck robe smiled slightly aingly said, "Boy, tell me where the a jade is and I teach you alchemy."

  Xiao Yan had already given up fighting when he saw the Bone Chilling Fme being toyed with in the palm of the bck-robed man's hand. He wasn't stupid. He uood that this bck-robed man's strength was far beyond his prehension, and the only reason he hadn't killed him robably because of some reservations.

  The bck-robed man released his grip once he noticed that Xiao Yan had stopped his struggle. He was actually afraid of killing Xiao Yan. In case that person had left some sort of measure on Xiao Yan, it would pose a dao himself as well.

  Xiao Yan his point as well. The bck-robed man had only used his Spiritual Strength and had not dared to use any Dou Qi, as if he was afraid of revealing his Dou Qi fluctuations.

  He regained his usual ess, his voice cold as he said, "You've seehing I own. I don't know what a jade you're talking about. You are also not qualified to teach me alchemy."

  The man in the bck robe ughed as if he had heard the fu joke, "Jie Jie! Not qualified? Not qualified! I, Hun Huzi, am not qualified to teach you alchemy?!!!"