"Is there any need for me to deceive you?"
Yao Lao calmly retorted, extending a finger to point forward.
Xiao Yan immediately felt his body stiffen, unable to move, and couldn't sense the Dou Disciple within his dantian.
However, after just a few breaths, as Yao Lao withdrew his hand, he felt himself recover.
Clearly, even without wearing the ring now, the Medicine Spirit could still control him.
"Is this giving me a stick first, then a carrot—coercing and enticing me?"
As a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, Xiao Yan expressed his understanding of military strategy and tactics.
This Yao Lao had harmed him so much, yet wanted to tame him.
What did he take Xiao Yan for?
Did he not understand the backbone of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor?
Thump!
Xiao Yan directly knelt down: "Master above, please accept your disciple's bow."
This Yao Lao really read people well—he was indeed the one nicknamed the Perceptive Young Gentleman.
A man's knees bear gold; descendants of the Yellow Emperor have backbone, but there is heaven, earth, sovereign, parents, and teacher.
Kneeling to acknowledge a master is perfectly reasonable!
Yao Lao: "..."
For a moment, he felt he might go blind again.
"From now on, you are my disciple, my only personal successor." Yao Lao composed himself and offered benefits: "The pill your fiancée needs, I can refine it, but the required medicinal ingredients are still beyond your reach."
"Right now, the most important thing is for you to start cultivating again and rapidly improve your cultivation."
"In my time, I created a Fourth-Grade Pill called Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, which can be refined using only first-grade medicinal ingredients and a Magic Core, achieving effects comparable to Thousand-Year Stalactite Spirit Liquid."
"Next, you go raise funds, and I'll refine the medicine for you."
Xiao Yan was instantly stunned.
Didn't this mean Yao Lao could mass-produce Thousand-Year Stalactite Spirit Liquid using first-grade medicinal ingredients and Magic Cores?
At this moment, he began to grasp a fraction of this teacher's immense power.
"Teacher, please instruct me. Your disciple will prepare the ingredients." Xiao Yan's tone grew increasingly eager.
"Easy enough." Yao Chen smiled slightly and recited a formula: "Three complete Purple Leaf Orchid Grasses—the older the better; two Bone Cleansing Flowers—any age will do; and one wood-attribute first-level Magic Core. These are all low-grade materials, so you should be able to obtain them easily."
But the more Xiao Yan listened, the deeper his frown became, his smile completely vanishing: "These items cost at least a thousand gold coins. After years of scrimping and saving, I only have four hundred gold coins in savings now. Where am I supposed to get them?"
"That's your problem." Yao Chen's eyes held a teasing glint: "You have a fiancée—you can live off her, can't you?"
Xiao Yan: "..."
How could I, Xiao Yan, possibly live off a woman?
Time passed, and several hours later, the banquet ended.
Xiao Yan escorted Nalan Yanyun to the courtyard where she was staying, rubbing his hands: "Yanyun, could I ask you for a favor?"
"Brother Xiao Yan, why be so formal with me?" Nalan Yanyun smiled brightly, looking at the man she would spend her life with.
"Could you... lend me some money?" Xiao Yan averted his gaze, his cheeks burning and ears turning red.
"Borrow money?" Nalan Yanyun was slightly taken aback, then asked gently: "How much does Brother Xiao Yan need?"
"Um, how about a thousand?" Xiao Yan tentatively asked.
"That's too little. It's uncertain whether even one batch can be refined with that. What will we do then?" Yao Lao's voice sounded in Xiao Yan's ear.
"Even asking for a thousand already feels excessive to me," Xiao Yan replied.
He had a plan: first, he would continuously produce Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid to aid his cultivation.
Once his cultivation recovered to the fourth stage of Dou Disciple, he would tell his father that his talent had been restored.
By then, everyone would assume he had used the Thousand-Year Stalactite Spirit Liquid.
But he would sell it off to obtain a large sum of startup capital.
"Is a thousand too little?" Nalan Yanyun gently brushed her hair and took a gold card from her Storage Ring, handing it to Xiao Yan. "This is my monthly allowance from the family over the years. I've had no use for it. Brother Xiao Yan, take it for now. There's no hurry to return it."
The gold card represented a credit limit of ten thousand gold coins. In the Jia Ma Empire, only core members of first-rate families (Dou Spirit) could possess and use it, symbolizing status.
After a brief hesitation, Xiao Yan accepted the gold card. "Thank you, Yanyun."
Now he was truly living off a woman's support.
But soon, his eyes turned resolute.
As soon as he earned enough money, he would search for medicinal ingredients to refine a pill that could restore Nalan Yanyun's talent!
[Gu Xun'er is accompanied by two peak Dou Emperor guards. The substitute female guard, a peak ice-attribute Dou Emperor, noticed your Mortal Realm Middle Stage soul and, valuing your cultivation talent, wants to invest in you. She has already asked her brother Ling Ying to investigate you.]
[The Dou Venerable remnant soul Yao Lao has appeared. The third young master of the Xiao Family, Xiao Yan, has regained his cultivation talent. The specific dialogue between the two is as follows...]
In a tastefully arranged courtyard within the Xiao Family, Gu Han sat cross-legged on the bedroom's large bed, cultivating. Considering Xun Er's presence in the Xiao Family, he did not enter the Black Tortoise Mystic Realm.
Halfway through the Zi hour, he received the intelligence as soon as it was available.
He had little interest in the second piece of information, having already known the script.
The first piece, however, was significant intelligence.
After all, it meant gaining the favor of a peak same-attribute Dou Emperor expert who was willing to take him as a disciple.
"Take me as a disciple?"
After some thought, Gu Han felt he couldn't agree to this.
If he were just an ordinary genius, he certainly couldn't refuse a Dou Emperor's offer to take him as a disciple, especially since Ling Xiao was from the Gu Clan and had served as the clan leader's daughter's personal guard for ten years, sharing some camaraderie. She could provide him with a path for advancement.
In this world, what matters are background and connections!
But he was a cheat—that was a different story.
If he became Ling Xiao's disciple, his status would naturally be several levels lower in the eyes of the Gu Clan.
"I'll find a way to refuse when the time comes!"
The next day
[In the Xiao Family market, an iron fragment contains a Huang-ranked high-grade Dou Skill created by an Alchemist.]
Gu Han: Not interested.
[The Xiao Family possesses a fragment of the key to open the Dou God's cave dwelling, known as the Tuo She Ancient Emperor Jade, carried by the clan leader Xiao Zhan at all times.]
Gu Han: I don't want to court death.
The third day
[Miteer Yafei wants to meet you. If she finds your character satisfactory, she will want to invest in you.]
Gu Han: Truly the Golden Queen, discerning as ever.
[Ling Ying has completed gathering intelligence on you. After discussing with Xun Er, Ling Xiao has decided to find an opportunity to test your depths.]
Gu Han: Test my depths?
Gu Han couldn't help but feel anticipation.
But he waited until the day before Nalan Yanyun and Xiao Yan's engagement.
During these days, his life remained routine: starting from the Zi hour, he visualized the Black Tortoise Shell; at the Xu hour, he went to the Xiao Family's back mountain to absorb violet energy for one hour; in the morning, he returned to his room to meditate and cultivate; in the afternoon, he taught the Xiao Family's younger generation, enjoying their admiration.
From after dinner until the Zi hour, he either cultivated or practiced Dou Skills.
Of course, he occasionally went out to pick up Huang-level techniques or first or second-tier spirit herbs.
"Boom!"
Under the cover of a moonless, windy night.
Gu Han sat in meditation, forming hand seals while simultaneously absorbing the ice-attribute energy from the Ice Jade within the Black Tortoise Mystic Realm. He combined this with the energy from the Essence Crystal Jade Marrow, channeling it all into his Qi Cyclone.
A surge of compressed energy flowed through his limbs and bones, converging into the Qi Cyclone in his dantian, causing it to expand further and deepen in color.
Seven-Star Dou Fighter—achieved as naturally as water flowing downhill!
His deep blue Dou Qi compressed to its limit, beginning to shift toward a white hue.
Just then, Gu Han suddenly opened his eyes and turned toward the door that had been pushed open from outside.
A figure clad in black robes raised a hand and struck out with a palm, flames swirling around it.
"Who goes there?!"
Gu Han activated his Mystic Ice Force, raising his hand to gather Dou Qi and strike back with a palm covered in a layer of chilling cold.
"Bang!"
Flames and cold clashed, the two forces rapidly canceling each other out.
Sensing his Mystic Ice Force being suppressed, Gu Han used his other hand to grasp the hilt of the longsword resting beside him.
"Clang."
The sword left its sheath.
Snowflakes scattered.
A cold wind swept through, blowing off the black-robed figure's hood and revealing a face of exquisite, pure beauty.
Gu Xun'er: "..."