As the alchemy session finally came to an end, Xiao Feng slowly let out a breath.
The room was filled with the faint fragrance of medicinal pills.
Rows upon rows of jade bottles were neatly arranged on the shelves around him.
Most alchemists would have been celebrating after such a productive session.
However, Xiao Feng's thoughts were elsewhere.
His gaze unconsciously landed on a few empty jade boxes nearby.
Inside those boxes had once been precious ingredients meant for refining a Seventh-Tier medicinal pill.
Unfortunately, he had failed once again.
Although his soul strength, flame control, and cultivation had improved greatly compared to before, the leap from a Sixth-Tier Alchemist to a Seventh-Tier Alchemist was still enormous.
The difference was not something that could be crossed casually.
More importantly, Seventh-Tier medicinal ingredients were incredibly rare.
Even with Xiao Feng's current wealth and influence, gathering another complete set would take considerable time.
Thinking of this, he shook his head.
"Forget it."
"No point forcing it."
"My foundation is still lacking."
"I'll attempt it again after accumulating more experience."
With that thought, Xiao Feng temporarily put the matter of Seventh-Tier pill refinement aside.
Now that his immediate alchemy tasks were completed, his attention turned toward another matter.
New formations.
New pills.
New inventions.
Anything that could strengthen himself, the Xiao Family, or his future allies.
Xiao Feng leaned back in his chair and began organizing his thoughts.
Just then—
His eyes landed on several letters that had arrived from the Xiao Family.
Letters from Wu Tan City.
Letters from the Inner Academy.
Letters from various branches of the Fire Faction.
Seeing them, a thought suddenly appeared in his mind.
"A communication device..."
His eyes slowly brightened.
Of course, not a modern mobile phone from his previous world.
Such technology was impossible under the current conditions of the Dou Qi Continent.
But perhaps...
A simple communication formation.
Something capable of transmitting short messages between two locations.
The more he thought about it, the more interested he became.
Immediately, he took out the ancient Formation Master's inheritance he had obtained from the mysterious cave.
Flipping through the records, he quickly found something familiar.
A warning formation.
One capable of sending simple signals from one formation node to another over long distances.
Although primitive, it provided a foundation.
Seeing this, Xiao Feng's engineering mindset from his previous life immediately began working.
Various ideas rapidly appeared in his mind.
Signal transmission.
Relay nodes.
Formation arrays acting as communication towers.
Energy conversion.
Message encoding.
Information compression.
His eyes became brighter and brighter.
If he combined modern communication concepts with formation techniques...
Then perhaps a completely new system could be created.
However—
The excitement only lasted for a few moments before he gradually calmed down.
Because he quickly realized the terrifying implications.
The Dou Qi Continent was not a peaceful technological civilization.
It was a world ruled by strength.
A world where secrets determined life and death.
The current communication methods were relatively slow.
Most people relied on letters, flying magical beasts, communication tokens, or personal messengers.
Only true experts such as Dou Zongs and above possessed special methods capable of transmitting information over vast distances.
Even those methods were limited.
And because communication was slow, information naturally traveled slowly.
Many powerful factions could not react instantly.
This was one of the hidden reasons why Xiao Yan had been able to survive so many crises in the original story.
His enemies often received information too late.
By the time they arrived, Xiao Yan had already escaped or grown stronger.
But if a rapid communication network existed...
Everything would change.
The Hall of Souls.
The Soul Clan.
The ancient clans.
The Central Plains factions.
All of them would immediately recognize its value.
The moment such a technology appeared, countless experts would desperately try to obtain it.
Even if Xiao Feng kept only a prototype, there would always be risks.
If the Soul Clan learned of its existence, they would likely stop at nothing to acquire it.
A method capable of accelerating information flow throughout the continent was simply too valuable.
The advantages were enormous.
But the dangers were equally terrifying.
Thinking this far, Xiao Feng slowly closed the inheritance scroll.
Silence filled the room.
After nearly half an hour of contemplation, he finally made a decision.
"For now..."
"I won't create it."
The risks outweighed the rewards.
At least at his current level.
However, that did not mean the idea was completely useless.
After some thought, Xiao Feng came up with a safer alternative.
Instead of creating a continent-wide communication network, he could construct a series of hidden warning formations.
Simple.
Secure.
And far less likely to attract attention.
He could secretly place formation nodes between Canaan Academy and Wu Tan City.
If either location faced danger, a warning signal could travel through the formation chain.
No detailed messages.
No complex communication.
Just a warning.
Enough to alert him or the Xiao Family that something was wrong.
That way, the advantages remained while the risks were reduced dramatically.
Thinking of this, Xiao Feng nodded in satisfaction.
"This is much safer."
"And far more practical."
With a plan finally decided, he took out a blank scroll and began sketching formation diagrams.
Soon, the quiet alchemy room was once again filled with the sound of a brush moving across paper as Xiao Feng began laying the foundation for a secret warning network that would one day connect Canaan Academy and the Xiao Family.
As Xiao Feng continued sketching the warning formation network, another thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
The more he thought about formations, the more he realized just how terrifying the truly powerful formations of the Dou Qi Continent were.
Slowly putting down his brush, he leaned back in his chair.
His eyes became thoughtful.
The first thing that came to mind was naturally the infamous formation of the Soul Clan—
The Devouring Spirit Eliminating Life Formation.
An ancient and vicious formation capable of covering enormous territories.
Once activated, every living thing within its range would be turned into blood and life essence.
The harvested bloodline power would then be extracted and refined to strengthen the Soul Clan.
Even by the standards of the Dou Qi Continent, such a formation could only be described as inhumane.
Then his thoughts shifted to another terrifying formation.
The Death Realm Grand Formation.
During the final war of the original timeline, four 8-Star Dou Sheng experts had each controlled a Gate of Deathly Silence.
When the four gates combined, they formed a complete Death Realm.
A terrifying domain capable of sealing, suppressing, and gradually consuming everything trapped within it.
Even peak experts feared such a formation.
Then there was the famous defensive formation of the Yun Lan Sect—
The Cloud Mist Covering the Sun Formation.
A formation capable of shrouding the entire sect in endless mist.
Not only could it hide the sect from enemies, but it could also suppress intruders and trap them within the formation's boundaries.
For weaker opponents, entering such a formation was equivalent to walking into a prison.
Then there were other famous formations.
The Star Field that had once sealed a Ninth-Rank Heavenly Flame.
The naturally formed formations surrounding the Starfall Pavilion.
Ancient cave formations left behind by Dou Sheng experts.
Ancient clan defensive formations.
And countless lost formations that never appeared in the original story.
The more Xiao Feng thought about them, the more interested he became.
Compared to alchemy, formations had far fewer practitioners.
Yet at the highest levels, they could threaten entire regions.
Some could trap Dou Shengs.
Some could suppress Heavenly Flames.
Some could protect clans for thousands of years.
And some could wipe out entire bloodlines.
A formation master who reached the peak could become just as terrifying as a peak alchemist.
Thinking this, Xiao Feng slowly opened a new scroll.
On the top, he wrote:
Future Formation Research Plan
Then he began listing names.
Devouring Spirit Eliminating Life Formation.
Death Realm Grand Formation.
Cloud Mist Covering the Sun Formation.
Star Field Formation.
Starfall Pavilion Natural Formation.
Ancient Clan Defensive Formations.
Ancient Cave Saint Formations.
After writing the list, his gaze naturally stopped at one particular name.
Devouring Spirit Eliminating Life Formation.
His fingers lightly tapped the table.
A dangerous thought appeared in his mind.
"If one day I obtain a complete blueprint..."
"Could I secretly modify it?"
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Destroying a formation from the outside was difficult.
But destroying it from within was another matter entirely.
If he could make several extremely small modifications...
Tiny changes hidden deep within the formation's core structure...
Then perhaps the formation would appear completely normal during ordinary use.
Yet during a critical moment—
When the Soul Clan needed it most—
The entire formation could suddenly become unstable.
At best, it would fail.
At worst, it would backfire upon its users.
The idea was attractive.
Extremely attractive.
However, after only a few moments, Xiao Feng shook his head.
"No."
"I'm thinking too far ahead."
Such a thing was impossible for his current self.
The Devouring Spirit Eliminating Life Formation was one of the Soul Clan's greatest trump cards.
Countless formation grandmasters and experts had likely worked on it for generations.
To secretly alter such a formation without detection...
One mistake would expose everything.
To achieve such a feat, he would need an understanding equal to or greater than the formation's creators.
In Xiao Feng's estimation, he would need to become at least an Eighth-Rank Formation Grandmaster.
Possibly even Ninth-Rank.
Only then could he analyze every layer of the formation.
Only then could he hide modifications so deeply that even Soul Clan experts would fail to notice them.
And only then could he confidently manipulate the formation's operation during a critical moment.
Until reaching that level, even attempting such a thing would be suicide.
Thinking this, Xiao Feng crossed out the idea for now.
But only for now.
He did not erase it completely.
Instead, he wrote beside it:
Long-Term Objective
Study. Understand. Improve. Counter.
A true formation master should not merely know how to create formations.
He should also know how to break them.
How to counter them.
And how to turn an enemy's greatest weapon against them.
As the candlelight flickered within the room, Xiao Feng continued writing.
One formation after another.
One theory after another.
His cultivation might still be far from the peak of the continent.
But from this moment onward, another goal had quietly been added to his future path.
One day—
He wanted to stand at the pinnacle of Formation Dao itself.
After spending several hours studying formation scrolls, making notes, and recording his ideas for future projects, Xiao Feng was finally interrupted by a gentle knock on the alchemy room door.
Knock... Knock...
The sound immediately pulled him out of his thoughts.
Closing the scroll in front of him, Xiao Feng slowly stood up and walked toward the entrance.
Even before opening it, his powerful soul perception had already identified the person waiting outside.
A smile unconsciously appeared on his face.
Click.
The door opened.
Standing outside was none other than Qing Lin.
The moment Xiao Feng saw her, he carefully scanned her aura.
Compared to before, Qing Lin's strength had improved significantly.
She had successfully advanced to 4-Star Dou Grandmaster.
Not only that—
Because she had always focused heavily on cultivating her soul skills, combined with the soul-strengthening medicinal pills and soul-nourishing pills Xiao Feng had personally refined for her, her spiritual cultivation had also advanced considerably.
She had officially stepped into the Middle Mortal Soul Realm.
For someone of her age, such progress was astonishing.
The moment Qing Lin saw Xiao Feng looking at her, her emerald eyes immediately brightened.
A proud expression appeared on her delicate face.
Her chin lifted slightly.
Then she quietly tilted her head toward him.
The meaning behind the action was obvious.
Praise me.
Pat my head.
Tell me I did well.
Seeing this familiar behavior, Xiao Feng almost laughed.
In front of others, Qing Lin was already a respected young expert of the Fire Faction.
But in front of him—
She still acted like the little girl he had taken care of.
Looking at her sparkling eyes full of anticipation, Xiao Feng suddenly felt a strong urge to spoil her endlessly.
If possible, he wanted to treat her like a princess and give her everything she wanted.
Fortunately, his rationality was still intact.
Suppressing those thoughts, Xiao Feng stepped forward.
He gently cupped Qing Lin's cheeks with both hands.
Her soft face immediately puffed up slightly under his palms.
Then he lightly rubbed her cheeks before moving one hand to the top of her head.
Pat.
Pat.
Pat.
A warm smile appeared on his face.
"Good job, Qing Lin."
"You've done amazingly well."
"4-Star Dou Grandmaster and Middle Mortal Soul Realm."
"Even I didn't expect you to improve this quickly."
Hearing his praise, Qing Lin's eyes immediately curved into beautiful crescents.
The happiness on her face was impossible to hide.
It was as if all her hard work had been worth it for this single moment.
"Hehe..."
"I knew Brother Xiao Feng would be happy."
She unconsciously leaned her head further into his hand like a small cat enjoying affection.
Xiao Feng smiled helplessly and continued patting her head.
"Of course I'm happy."
"But don't become arrogant."
"Your talent is excellent, but cultivation is a long journey."
Qing Lin immediately nodded.
"I know."
"Brother Xiao Feng already told me many times."
"I'll continue working hard."
Seeing her serious expression, Xiao Feng couldn't help but chuckle.
Then he asked,
"So?"
"What brings you here today?"
The moment he asked, Qing Lin's eyes lit up once again.
Excitement immediately appeared on her face.
"I came to tell you the good news first."
"And..."
She paused dramatically.
"And?"
Xiao Feng raised an eyebrow.
Qing Lin suddenly grabbed his arm.
Then she smiled brightly.
"I also missed Brother Xiao Feng."
For a moment, Xiao Feng was stunned.
Then he laughed and gently flicked her forehead.
"You little rascal."
Qing Lin immediately covered her forehead and pouted.
But the smile on her face only grew brighter.
The atmosphere between the two became warm and relaxed.
For Qing Lin, there was nothing more satisfying than receiving praise from the person she respected most.
And for Xiao Feng, seeing Qing Lin grow stronger step by step made him feel as though all the effort he had invested in her had been worthwhile.
For a while, the two simply stood at the doorway chatting casually, enjoying the peaceful moment before returning to their respective cultivation duties.