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  Seeing that Lin Yan was on the verge of tears, Xun Er decided to be siderate and softly said, "Xun Er should get back to cultivating; otherwise, the gap with Xiao Yan ge-ge will only widen."

  Xiao Yan affeately stroked her silky hair and then cupped her delicate fa his hands. A warm sensation spread from his palms. Gazing at Xun Er's rosy lips, he couldn't help but swallow.

  Xun Er's cheeks flushed crimson. She lowered her head slightly and murmured, "Xun Er will head back first."

  Before Xiao Yan could speak, Xun Er, giving him no isbehave, swiftly dashed back to her courtyard.

  Xiao Yan gave a faint smile as he watched Xun Er run away shyly. Indeed, public dispys weren't appropriate, and besides, that fellow Ling Ying was watg.

  Meanwhile, Lin Yan stood to the side, staring bnkly at Xiao Yan. Big brother, there's still someone else here! Could you be a bit more mindful!!

  Gng at this third wheel, Xiao Yan said, "e with me."

  …

  Inside Xiao Yan's room.

  Xiao Yan began examining Lin Yan, who was seated before him, and asked, "How long has the fire poison been accumuting in your body?" He o uand the situation clearly before helping to expel the poison.

  Lin Yan's expression turned somewhat grim as he replied, "Around a year and a half." The fire poison had already deeply affected his mind, making him extremely irritable.

  "Back then, I was desperate to improve my strength, so I went into closed-door cultivation in the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower for one or two months at a stretch. The fire poiso accumuting and, by the time I realized it, had bee tightly iwined with my Dou Qi and couldn't be separated."

  Xiao Yan couldn't help but look down on Lin Yan. Isn't it just closed-door cultivation in the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower for one or two months?

  Xiao Yan said calmly, "In a moment, bear with it. I'll use fmes to enter your body and burn away the fire poison."

  Lin Yan was stunned.

  I'm afflicted with fire poison, not ice poison! You're adding more fire? Isn't that like adding fuel to the fire?!

  Xiao Yan noticed Lin Yan's skeptical look and replied ftly, "If you don't trust me, you still choose to take four hundred days' worth of Fire Energy. I give it to yht now."

  "Heh heh, how could I not trust you? I trust you, I trust you." Lin Yan had no other choice. Even if he had the Fire Energy, he wouldn't be alive to use it. Right now, Xiao Yan was his only lifeline.

  Turning his back to Xiao Yan, Lin Yan nervously asked, "Brother Xiao Yan, what's your success rate?"

  Pg his palm on Lin Yan's back, Xiao Yan said with a fident smile, "Someone asked me the same question before, and my answer is still the same."

  Whoosh!

  A burst of energy shattered Lin Yan's robe into powder, exposing a muscur body.

  "One hundred pert."

  Xiao Yan instantly activated the Fme Mantra. The Nihility Dev Fme flowed through his meridians to his palm, and with his immensely powerful Spiritual Strength, he guided the bck fme to drill into Lin Yan's body.

  With a thud, Lin Yan's body suddenly trembled. His already muscur physique swelled as if infted, doubling in size! His entire skin turned bright red, resembling a cooked prawn.

  "Ahhh!!!" Even a madman like Lin Yan who disregarded his own life couldn't help but let out an agonized howl at this moment. g his teeth tightly, despite his crazed willpower, he couldn't suppress his screams.

  "Bear with it. Rex your Dou Qi; don't use it to resist." Xiao Yan shook his head with a smile. This Lin Yan didn't seem as tough as the Inner Academy made him out to be. Even the old man Nan Jie could eter than him.

  Lin Yan's fire poison was simir to the Searing Poison. The poison invaded his meridians, internal ans, flesh and blood, bones, and even skin.

  Therefore, to pletely remove it, the Nihility Dev Fme had to thhly sweep through his entire body without missing a spot, dev all the fire poison.

  The terrifying, high temperature of the Nihility Dev Fme caused pain to surfa Lin Yan's face, and his hands ched tightly with blue veins bulging on his arms.

  However, the current Xiao Yan was not the same as when he helped Nan Jie expel the Searing Poison at the Nan Mansion. Not only had the Nihility Dev Fme's Seed Fme bee stronger, but his own Spiritual Strength was also inparable to what it had been before.

  Moreover, Heavenly Fmes ily attracted each other. Wherever the Nihility Dev Fme passed, the fire poison of the Falle Fme was revealed. The bck fme devoured it all like a greedy serpent.

  After about thirty minutes, Xiao Yaracted all the bck fmes. Lin Yan looked as if he had been through an ordeal, lying oable with vat eyes and panting heavily, his whole body limp and motionless.

  Xiao Yan exhaled and said, "It's done. Put your clothes ba and go home."

  "Is it... done?! Just like that??" Lin Yan hurriedly sehe dition inside his body. Sure enough, he found that all the fire poison had disappeared!

  "You're making a fuss over nothing. It was just a small poison." Xiao Yan opened his palm and raised an eyebrow, signaling that Lin Yan should pay the treatment fee.

  Only then did Lin Yan snap out of his astonishment. A bit embarrassed, he said, "Well, I'm not sure if the fire poison has been pletely expelled. If by any ce..."

  Xiao Yan couldn't help but recall that old fellow Hai Bodong, who also tried to weasel out of payment, "Why are you all like this? Fine, fine. I don't think you'd be foolish enough to skip out on paying. I'll give you seven days to assess your dition properly."

  After sending Lin Yan off, Xiao Yan ted on his fingers and muttered to himself, 'Now I still he Asparagus Ice Fire Fruit and a Rank 6 ice-attribute Monster Core.'

  'There's just over half a year until the Strong Ranking Grand petition. I must refihe Ground Spirit Pill within this time.'

  Xiao Yan suddenly felt a surge of pressure because he only had o of materials for the Ground Spirit Pill; failure was not an option.

  'I'll focus on practig alchemy these days.'

  …

  As expected, seven days ter, Lin Yan cheerfully handed over the Green Wood Celestial Vio Xiao Yan.

  Xiao Yan shifted his focus to alchemy during the ten-day period. Fortunately, he had collected some main ingredients for tier 6 pills from the Misty Cloud Sed the treasury of the Snake-People Tribe back then, enough for him to practice with.

  Utilizing the powerful abilities of the Bck Demon Cauldron and after wasting seves of medial ingredients, he finally succeeded in refining a tier 6 healing pill on the ninth day. With more practiprove his success rate, he would bee a 6th-tier alchemist!

  Oenth day, Zi Yan finally emerged from the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower. After inf Xiao Yan, she immediately ventured into the deep mountains to search for heavenly treasures.

  With the No. 1 cultivation room now avaible, Xiao Yan halted his alchemy practid proceeded to the No. 1 cultivation room on the seventh floor to start cultivating.

  Passing through the tral rest area on the seventh floor, a series of spacious cultivation rooms appeared in his view. As he walked closer, he could faintly sehe pure energy overflowing from these rooms.

  Along the way, he noticed the room numbers on the doors, starting from twenty. The further he went, the more potent the warm energy that permeated from the rooms became. By the time he reached rooms numbered within ten, he could even see wisps of pale red energy drifting in the air like fihreads. This bizarre sight left him secretly amazed.

  His footsteps halted outside a spacious cultivation room at the deepest part. This cultivation room was somewhat strange. While the other rooms had robust energy spilling out, here it was pletely empty. Standing outside, he couldn't sehe slightest bit of energy within.

  'Tsk tsk, this No. 1 cultivation room even requires a barrier to seal it to prevent energy leakage,' Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength clearly sehat a barrier existed outside the cultivation room. One could imagine how terrifying the No. 1 cultivation room was.

  Uhe dumbfounded gazes of the experts orong Ranking, Xiao Yan took out a token given by Zi Yan, pressed it against the door, and pushed it open. With a creaking sound, a burst of pale red light suddeed.

  When he saw the crimson fire-attribute energy ihat resembled a sea of fmes, he couldn't help but excim in admiration, "This energy is truly astonishing. I wonder how much more incredible the Heavenly Fme space where the Falle Fme's essence resides must be."

  Xiao Yan didn't waste time after entering the cultivation room. He took out a Fire Crystal Card and tapped it.

  'Thirty... truly an astronomical price, but worth every bit.'

  With a fsh of green light, the Green Lotus flew out from his ste ring. The snake-bodied Medusa poked her head out from the lotus ptform and looked around, "The energy here is much denser."

  "The price is quite steep too. You should first absorb the Heavenly Fme energy to dense your snake body. O day, I'll use the Ten Thousa Fme to help you refihe Heavenly Fme energy."

  "Mm."

  Not wasting any more time, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged ooform and began frantically cirg the Fme Mantra to cultivate. Medusa coiled atop the Green Lotus and greedily absorbed the fire-attribute energy floating within the No. 1 cultivation room.

  One person and one snake became like two vortices, voraciously abs. Large clusters of Heart Fme appeared within Xiao Yan, being purified into strands of exceedingly pure Dou Qi.

  Cultivation knew no day ht. In the blink of awenty days passed. The terrifying enviro of the No. 1 cultivation room allowed Xiao Yan to advanother star in just twenty days, reag the 6-star Dou Spirit stage!

  By now, the Heavenly Fme energy within the No. 1 cultivation room had visibly thinned; fortunately, this was the No. 1 cultivation room, so the energy replenished quickly.

  Sitting cross-legged ooform, a ball of blood-red fmes tinuously refined under Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength. Through that special soul tract with Medusa, he transmitted the Heart Fme drawn from the stoform to her, using the pure Heart Fme to accelerate the formation of her Heavenly Fme Snake Body.

  'This time, Medusa should achieve Dou Aor-level bat strength.'

  Although Medusa's body had not yet grown to its plete form, the Heavenly Fme Snake Body Xiao Yan was refining for her had brought her strength close to the Dou Aor realm.

  Just as Xiao Yan was secretly delighted at soon having a Dou Aor-level ally, an ued ge occurred!

  Boom! Boom! Boom!!! Suddenly, the entire cultivation room began to tremble.

  "What's going on? Is the Falle Fme ag up? No, this is—!" Xiao Yan's eyes sharpened as he looked at the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python withien Thousa Fme. He sehat this tremor was caused by its energy outburst.

  "Energy rampage?! Hey, Medusa, are you alright?!" Xiao Yan's heart tightened. He had never used a Heavenly Fme to help someone dense a physical body before, and he had no idea what might happen!

  Suddenly, the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python withien Thousa Fme opes eyes and stared fixedly at Xiao Yan. Its eyes glowed with a blood-red iy, just like Lin Yan's.

  'You've got to be kidding me! How did someo the Dou Emperor level get fire poisoned!!' Xiao Yan was greatly armed. He could handle Lin Yan, but how was he supposed to deal with a Dou Aor-level Medusa!!

  A seven-colored divine light abruptly erupted from the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python's body. An immense force violently flung Xiao Yan away, and with a heavy thud, his entire body smmed against the wall.

  Shaking his head to clear his dizziness, Xiao Yan found his hands suddenly seized and pinned against the wall before he could react. In his bewildered state, he felt something soft press against his lips.

  Xiao Yaire body jolted! His pupils widened dramatically. It was as if he had been struck by lightning. His body went rigid as he stared at the blushiy before him. He let out a muffled, (My first time is meant for Xun Er!) tragic wail…