"I suggest you learn some stronger Dou Techniques. Your performance in the last battle didn't match a Three‑star Dou Zong."
"All right, I'm done. Goodbye, Great Elder."
Xiao Tian watched Su Qian's expression darken, then he shut the door and streaked away like a flash of light.
Su Qian stared at the closed door, his earlier scowl melting into an amused, helpless smile. Xiao Tian wasn't wrong—he was a little lacking. It seemed he would have to use his privileges to enter the Scripture Collection Pavilion. After that fight, Su Qian had finally seen his own shortcomings.
...
After leaving Su Qian's pavilion, Xiao Tian went to the Boundless Gate station. Xiao Yu and Hu Jia weren't there; instead, a white figure stood on duty. When he asked, he learned they were handling Boundless Gate's affairs. Since Xiao Tian had revealed his Dou Huang strength, more people wanted to join, and the Gate's workload had increased.
Xiao Tian entered the main hall and ruffled the head of the figure who had been meditating with closed eyes. "Little Zi Yan, what are you doing here?"
Zi Yan felt the playful hand and opened her eyes, ready to glare at the intruder. When she saw Xiao Tian, her anger vanished and she adopted a look of wounded grievance. "Xiao Tian, you're finally back! I've been waiting here all day."
"Do you need something? No one in the Inner Academy bullied you, did they?" Xiao Tian asked, amused by her theatrical pout. Half of her grievance was an act, but there was real distress beneath it.
"Who would dare touch me besides you, Zi Yan?" she said, striking an arrogant pose with her hands on her hips. Then she flipped her pill bottle upside down and shook it. "All the pills you refined for me are gone. If you hadn't come back, I'd have to chew raw medicinal herbs again."
Xiao Tian pinched her soft, youthful cheek. "Why don't you ask the Alchemy Department to refine them for you?"
He asked what had puzzled him in the original story—Zi Yan rarely sought help from the Alchemy Department even when she ran out.
"Well, um," Zi Yan fidgeted, rubbing her small hands. "I don't like them. They ask for too much compensation and secretly take my ingredients." She scowled. "Old Su just waits for me to go to him so he can make me do hard labor to get ingredients for free. I prefer you. You don't take my ingredients, your fee is fair, and you don't try to use me like the others. Do they think I don't know? Humph."
"The most important thing is I can feel you genuinely care about me." Zi Yan swung her short legs and smiled.
Xiao Tian chuckled. He truly had no intention of exploiting her. "Little Zi Yan is so cute—how could I bear to use you?"
He noticed her earlier fidgeting and suspected there were other reasons. When he connected it to the medicinal ingredient storeroom, he understood, but he didn't press the matter. Zi Yan was perceptive and would figure things out herself.
"Hehe, Xiao Tian, you're such a good person." Zi Yan's smile revealed two tiny canine teeth. Was she giving him a 'good person' card?
Xiao Tian studied her. Though at least a thousand years old, she still behaved like a child. By magical beast lifespans, Zi Yan was in infancy—equivalent to a human adolescent. In the original story, her growth would accelerate after breaking through to Dou Huang and absorbing the Dragon Phoenix Origin Fruit, reaching maturity only after breaking through to Dou Sheng.
"Where are your medicinal ingredients?" he asked.
"Already prepared." Zi Yan waved her hand, and a pile of herbs appeared on the table. A few still had soil on them; most had been harvested long ago. Noticing Xiao Tian's look, she added, "Old Su gave these to me." A flicker of emotion crossed her face. Old Su had called them discarded ingredients, but there's no such thing as truly discarded herbs.
Xiao Tian saw the expression but said nothing. Zi Yan was clever and understood more than she let on.
"I'll refine the pills now, but there are a lot so I won't do it here." Xiao Tian gathered the herbs.
"Okay, but be quick. I can't wait any longer." Zi Yan rubbed her stomach, impatient.
"All right, all right. It'll be done soon." Xiao Tian stroked her twin pigtails gently. Joy lit Zi Yan's face; she had grown used to his touch and seemed to like it. She looked up with eyes full of anticipation and a little pleading. "Then hurry. I can't take it anymore. I've been waiting so long."
He carried the ingredients to the cultivation room and set up his Mountain Melting Cauldron. Zi Yan hopped off her chair and followed. As Xiao Tian began refining, Zi Yan idly looked around his simple, tidy room.
"Can I lie down for a bit?" she asked, sleepy.
"Yes," Xiao Tian replied without looking up.
Zi Yan ran to his bed and flopped down. The softness relaxed her; her dark eyes shone with contentment. When the cauldron reached the right temperature, Xiao Tian added the herbs in order. Heavenly flames burned each cluster separately. After some time, he opened the cauldron and a rainbow of pills formed, flying into jade bottles. Three large jade bottles were filled; each pill brimmed with potent medicinal energy. If Zi Yan saw them, she'd probably be unable to move and would drool on the floor.
Xiao Tian walked to the bed and found Zi Yan asleep. He gently removed her shoes, revealing tiny socked feet, straightened her, and smiled at her peaceful face. He covered her with a blanket, careful not to wake her.
When everything was done, he sat cross‑legged and began to cultivate. The sun sank, and twilight filtered through the window like a thin veil, bathing the room in a dreamlike glow. Xiao Tian, deep in cultivation, suddenly opened his eyes, a look of barely contained joy and excitement on his face.