The second encounter with Xiao Yi Xian occurred after Xiao Heng finished scouting the eleventh suspicious site. While chasing a Blue-Fanged Boar for dinner, he stumbled upon Ten Thousand Herb Hall's herb-gathering team being pursued by a pack of Crimson Flame Leopards.
The mercenaries escorting the team suffered heavy casualties. Xiao Heng intervened, rescuing Xiao Yi Xian from the beasts and safely escorting her back to Qing Shan Town.
These two encounters, coupled with his heroic rescue, significantly boosted Xiao Yi Xian's impression of him. Strong mercenaries were common, but someone as young and powerful as Xiao Heng was rare. During the journey back, they chatted extensively, and his tales of solitary cultivation in the Magical Beast Mountain Range left her deeply impressed.
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The cave's entrance was narrow. Xiao Heng descended using a wooden vine, tossing a ball of blue flame inside to illuminate the darkness. With a deft leap, he landed within.
Over the past two months of exploration, Xiao Heng's Dou Zhi Qi cultivation hadn't faltered. Limited by herbs and magic cores, his alchemy practice was sporadic, but he could now reliably refine basic pills like Blood Coagulation Powder. He attempted refining whenever he acquired a matching magic core, achieving a 40% success rate with first-tier pills, which required first-tier cores. The scarcity of cores was the main bottleneck.
Still, his soul perception, far stronger than average, gave him this respectable success rate after just four months of alchemy. While refining opportunities were few, he never slacked on fire control, practicing it through both pill-making and beast-slaying.
His Dou Zhi Qi cultivation had reached Nine-Star Dou Zhe. Advancing from Dou Zhe to Dou Shi required immense Dou Zhi Qi, and his Mid-Level Di Class Fire Cloud Art demanded even more. Energy droplets were now used to strengthen his Devouring Blue Flame, which, like Xiao Heng, needed gradual growth. Extracting droplets hadn't boosted the flame's power.
The Devouring Blue Flame, at Dou Zhe strength, surpassed ordinary Dou Zhi Qi flames due to its Strange Flame nature and unique properties, making it a potent weapon. The illuminating blue flame he conjured was fueled by his Dou Zhi Qi. A month and a half ago, Xiao Heng had hit Nine-Star Dou Zhe's peak, and the past half-month's droplets had all gone to enhancing the flame. Wonder when it'll develop sentience, he mused.
At Nine-Star Dou Zhe, Xiao Heng could handle more magical beasts, even solitary second-tier ones, and his flame's growth accelerated.
He ventured deeper into the pitch-black cave, a fist-sized flame lighting the way. The cave was silent, with a faint chill in the air.
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After ten minutes, a stone door emitting a pale yellow glow appeared. Xiao Heng crouched, searching for a mechanism. His strength could shatter the door, but collapsing the cave risked burying him alive. The mechanism was simple—even a dog could find it, he thought. Pressing a recessed spot, the door slowly opened, revealing a spacious stone chamber lit by moonlight, with stones on the walls.
At the chamber's center sat a skeleton on a stone chair, facing a stone platform with three locked stone boxes. Piles of gold coins and treasures filled three corners—Xiao Heng recalled there were over seven hundred thousand coins. The fourth corner held a small garden of rare herbs.
Among them, the most valuable was the Ice Spirit Flame Grass, its leaves split between white, icy crystals and fiery red flames, embodying the conflicting attributes of ice and fire. Xiao Heng carefully transferred the precious plants using specialized jade bottles and wooden boxes—some more like jade urns for larger herbs. Jade bottles were typically for pills, but these served for storage. He then swept the gold coins into his storage ring. Jackpot. I'm a tycoon now.
Next were the three stone boxes. The keys were nearby, and as he grabbed them, Xiao Heng spotted a small scroll fragment. Pocketing it, he hesitated before casting a blue flame onto the skeleton. "Since I'm taking your treasures, I'll cremate and bury you properly."
While the skeleton burned, he opened the boxes. The keys turned easily. The first contained a colorful, ancient scroll: Seven-Colored Poison Scripture.
The second held a black scroll: High-Level Xuan Class Flying Dou Technique, Eagle Wings. Flying techniques were rare. Without one, brief flight required peak Dou Ling strength, and free flight demanded Dou Wang or higher. Dou Wang and Dou Huang used Dou Zhi Qi wings, while Dou Zong could stand in air via spatial control. In the Jia Ma Empire, Dou Zong was terrifyingly powerful. Xiao Heng stored the Eagle Wings, noting that Xiao Yan's got that shady old man, so he doesn't need this.
The third box contained a cyan scroll: High-Level Xuan Class Wind-Attribute Dou Technique, Mad Lion's Roar. Useless to him, it could fetch a good price at auction. Xiao Zhan, still using Mid-Level Xuan Class techniques, was likely destined to be a Hun Clan's Dou Huang pawn, so this was irrelevant for him.
As for the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's Jade, it held little value to Xiao Heng. He knew the location of the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's mansion, and opening its gate required all eight pieces. With my strength, I can't compete with the Hun Clan or Soul Hall for what's inside, he thought. Letting Xiao Zhan play the Dou Huang pawn could buy time to grow stronger, or he could trade the jade to the Gu Clan for Tian Class techniques, high-tier herbs, or lower-ranked Strange Flames.
The Xiao Clan couldn't hold the jade. Without it, they were nothing to the Hun Clan. Even an Eight-Star Dou Sheng wouldn't faze Hun Tian Di—only the Yan and Lei Clan leaders mattered to him. Either Xiao Zhan becomes a Soul Hall pawn, or Xun'er calls that old fox Gu Yuan to reclaim it for the Gu Clan.
"Burying your ashes repays taking your coins and techniques," Xiao Heng said, scooping the ashes into a wooden box. Among them, he found a gray stone resembling a storage ring, with a perceptible space inside.
"A Spirit Container!" he realized after pondering. Not useful for me now, but it might be for someone close later. He stored it, buried the ashes in the garden, and left the treasure cave.